Joko administration its own worst enemy - Jakarta Globe Editorial. January 19, 2015
Monument to stupidity - Jakarta Post Editorial. January 17, 2015
'Je suis KPK' - Jakarta Post Editorial. January 16, 2015
With Budi, Indonesia at a crossroads now - Jakarta Globe Editorial. January 16, 2015

West Papua

Labora Sitorus listed as most wanted in West Papua

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Labora Sitorus, a chief brigadier police officer in Raja Ampat, West Papua, has been included on the list of most wanted fugitives in West Papua and a team has been established by the state prosecutor's office in Sorong to hunt him down to serve his 15-year prison sentence.

"Labora Sitorus has been included in the list of fugitives because when the state prosecutor's office wanted to execute the Supreme Court's verdict, he was not found in Sorong Prison," the head of the state prosecutor office in Sorong, Damrah Muin, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

During an appeal hearing in September 2014, the Supreme Court sentenced Sitorus to 15 years imprisonment and ordered him to pay Rp 5 billion in fines to the state. State prosecutors made the appeal to the Supreme Court after the Sorong District Court sentenced Sitorus to only two years imprisonment and ordered him to pay Rp 500 million in fines to the state.

Sorong Prison head Malii Hasan said Sitorus was allowed to leave the prison for health reasons in March 2014, but he did not return.

"Since leaving the prison for medical treatment, he has yet to come back to his cell and he has been declared a fugitive," he said, adding he had not been in the prison yet when Sitorus was allowed to undergo medical treatment outside the prison.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/labora-sitorus-listed-most-wanted-w-papua.html

West Papua situation did not improve in 2014 – AWPA

Dateline Pacific - January 19, 2015

The Australia West Papua Association says there was no improvement in the human rights situation in the region in 2014, despite some governments claiming abuses against Papuans are a thing of the past.

Transcript

It says there were regular clashes and shooting incidents between Indonesian security forces and the rebel OPM organisation, or unidentified armed groups.

Its secretary, Joe Collins, says these operations resulted in military sweeps which commonly resulted in citizens' houses, food gardens and livestock being destroyed and the people left traumatised.

Joe Collins: The year began in January 2014 with the military conducting a couple of sweeps in response to an attack on a police station and of course it ended tragically with the killing of five civilians in December, when security forces shot into a crowd of approximately 800 people, killing five. I mean, we always hear from governments that there's an improvement in West Papua – there's not an improvement in West Papua, in actual fact, it's worse and even as of January the 1st, 2015 again there was another sweep in response to police being killed and a security guard at Freeport [mine] and up to 116 people were originally arrested, I think the majority have been released, but they have now arrested 13 people from an armed group and a local minister has just come out saying they should be really careful that they're distinguishing between what they call separatists and the local civilian population. One of the factors of the security forces in West Papua is that they are not very well trained and this why abuses will continue, there is definitely no improvement in the situation in West Papua at all as far as we're concerned.

Mary Baines: Do you think it's actually got worse?

JC: I think it is getting worse, I mean it depends how you look it. During the bad old days of Suharto, probably more serious military operations took place and more people were killed. I mean now, it's more of just traumatising the local people through sweeps. I mean the new Indonesian president is Jokowi [Joko Widodo] as he's popularly known, and people are beginning to think 'oh we're going to have a real improvement in West Papua,' but I think if you look at the ministers he has planted in cabinet, they are cause for concern. If you look at the new Minister for Defence, Chief Theys Eluay was killed back in 2001 – this is like the equivalent of killing a Prime Minister because Cheif Theys Eluay was elected by the people to represent them and [then General Ryamizard Ryacudu] who is now our new Minister for Defence in Indonesia said 'oh what did they actually do wrong? To me they're heroes, all they did was kill a separatist leader.' It's not a good look for Jokowi to have him as the new Minister for Defence, I mean he's a part of the old hardline crowd. The West Papuan people are facing really great challenges; we're not even talking about the HIV/AIDS, the rip-off of resources, we have massive plans for palm oil plantations which not only will destroy forest cover, but will bring in more migrants and then you will have more conflict between Papuans and migrants, so it's definitely going to get worse.

MB: So do you think Jokowi as President will make any positive changes?

JC: Not really, I know he has said he's going to look at Papua and try and solve the problems there, but I think he's going to come up against the old elites, the hardliners in the military. Basically it's business as usual in West Papua.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/20163992/west-papua-situation-did-not-improve-in-2014-awpa

West Papua group to submit MSG application in February

Radio New Zealand International - January 19, 2015

The international spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua says the group will submit its application to join the Melanesian Spearhead Group in February.

The ULM was formed in Vanuatu in December when three independence groups agreed to form a unified voice on political fronts. A bid by West Papua to join the MSG was knocked back last year because the bid was not deemed to be representative.

The ULM's spokesperson, Benny Wenda, says once the latest bid is lodged, a massive campaign will be launched to try and gain West Papua admission.

"We are excited and I am really confident. Our people back home already support it that's why I hope that this is also really positive for our struggle and I hope our brothers and sisters across Melanesia and across the Pacific will pray for this."

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/263959/w-papua-group-to-submit-msg-application-in-february

Fiji opposition announces support for West Papua

Radio New Zealand International - January 17, 2015

Fiji's opposition parties have rallied behind the Free West Papua Movement in a move they hope will put pressure on authorities to act.

The Opposition leader, Ro Teimumu Kepa, says the Melanesian people of West Papua have been terrorised for years and hopes for freedom have been suppressed.

The Fiji Times reports the opposition is hoping authorities will be pressured to hold the Indonesian government to account for human rights abuses in the restive province.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/263888/fiji-opposition-announces-support-for-west-papua

West Papua villagers flee from police to mountains, says activist

Radio New Zealand International - January 16, 2015

An exiled West Papuan independence leader says people from a remote village near the Freeport mine have fled into mountains for fear of the Indonesian military.

Benny Wenda says Indonesian authorities have conducted mass arrests and burned down homes in the village of Utikini.

The police have confirmed that a 500-strong joint police and military force has been deployed to the Timika region in response to the shooting of two officers and a Freeport mine security guard on New Year's Day.

However, Mr Wenda – who says he has spoken to people from the village – says the military has beaten and tortured innocent people in their hunt for the perpetrators and burned a number of houses after finding independence flags.

"[in the] last four days, most of the people in the villages have run, and some of them are still hiding because this village, the Indonesian police and military have occupied and all the roads are blockaded and there is no way to go out."

Benny Wenda has questioned the speed of the response to the shootings, when there is still no resolution over the deaths of five protesters allegedly shot by the military in Paniai last month.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/263827/west-papua-villagers-flee-from-police-to-mountains,-says-activist

Aceh

The Aceh lecturer's case: Pushing for safe space for discourse

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2015

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The smiling woman pictured in a black veil, Rosnida Sari, is the lecturer of gender studies at the center of the latest uproar in Banda Aceh.

Earlier reports exposed her like a criminal, her jovial face in curls, unveiled and hugging a dog, reportedly from her Facebook account, which she closed following all the pressure. Her sin: engaging in a "wild" method of teaching, in the words of one Aceh politician, for taking students to a church to hear a pastor explain gender relations in Christianity.

The Ar Raniry State Islamic University (UIN) issued an apology through Rector Farid W. Ibrahim and said Rosnida had not committed an academic violation, but that there were social perspectives to be considered.

Following outcry over what many saw as tramping on academic freedom, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin tweeted that the lecturer should be protected, though the protesters also demanded that the minister more explicitly lend support to Rosnida.

A meeting of the Dakwah (Islamic propagation) Department, where Rosnida teaches, recommended that she be suspended "for a semester or two", while the young lecturer was "guided to better understand Islam and local wisdom".

Outsiders might sigh in exasperation, apathy or amusement: "What do you expect? This is Aceh," the only province allowed to issue sharia-based bylaws following the 2005 peace agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Thus, no one, the government included, would touch Aceh with a 3-meter pole because even Acehnese critical of the bylaws, including many at UIN, are considered anti-Islamic.

Worse, Rosnida was accused of apostasy, although fortunately there is no bylaw so far on that issue. The uproar followed the publication of her story in early January on the Australia Plus website, where she said she had been influenced by her multicultural surroundings when studying at Flinders University in Adelaide.

She had said her students were unexpectedly enthusiastic and raised many questions for the pastor. But she was later swamped with intimidating messages, even death threats.

We need to support Rosnida and other lecturers trying to instill a critical mind in their students, to stop this bowing to pressure in today's continuous contest for power to determine what's right and wrong in religious and political views.

It's not only Aceh that has become such a battleground since the New Order ended state dominance over defining taboos. Cities outside Aceh are teeming with the highly educated, who are much more timid than one would expect from one of Asia-Pacific's "giants".

The Wahid Institute, focusing on interfaith relations, for instance, listed West Java as the most intolerant province with 55 incidents of faith- related violence last year. Have intellectuals and graduates from renowned university campuses been totally helpless? The supposedly tolerant Yogyakarta ranked second, with a drastic increase of one incident in 2013 to 22 last year.

Among such incidents was the dispersal of a screening of the controversial Senyap documentary on the 1960s bloodshed at the renowned Gadjah Mada University (UGM). It was heartening that Rector Dwikorita Karnawati slammed the dispersal. A far cry from the banning of a 2012 discussion at UGM featuring Irshad Manji, a Canadian Muslim scholar, by the previous rector Sudjarwadi.

Thus UGM is also among many institutions needing continuous support to retain academic freedoms given such strong challenges.

In Banda Aceh, a dialog group of pluralism and academic freedom supporters, which met online and also in town on the issue of Rosnida, was voluntarily ended for safety reasons, one of the participating researchers said – reflecting both the widespread desire to overcome the threat to openness in Aceh and the strategic decisions necessary for the safety of everyone and their families.

Public support is crucial for freedom of expression and academic freedom as we cannot rely on leaders, including the embattled President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. Though a champion in bureaucratic reform, he could use a much bigger boost of confidence in backing the battle for the freedom to think; one that is equally, if not much harder to fight than combating corruption and red-tape.

Even with such support, the government would still be tiptoeing on Aceh. Typical reactions would be "here comes Jakarta again", mainly by Aceh's politicians. Indeed some Jakarta politicians, backed by military hawks, keep reminding us that the Helsinki agreement was only a memorandum of understanding mediated by a private party, though it led to the 2006 law on Aceh governance.

But even many Acehnese no longer buy the constant blame on Jakarta when it comes to failed expectations in their elected leaders and representatives, such as rushed bylaws said to be based on the Koran, compared to slow realization of election promises.

One might be bemused over today's reports on intense debates in Aceh's capital, such as over which and whose Islamic activities are allowed at the iconic Baiturrahman Grand Mosque, and the ban on New Year celebrations because Muslims should not party over the Gregorian calendar.

But other centers of intellectuals do not have much to be proud of, as long as they do not speak up loud and clear over attempts to dictate dogma in our blossoming democracy, including on their campuses.

[The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/18/view-point-the-aceh-lecturer-s-case-pushing-safe-space-discourse.html

Human rights & justice

Investigation into activist shooting continues

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The police continue their investigation into Tuesday's nonfatal shooting of anticorruption activist Mathur Husaini, 47, of Bangkalan regency, Madura Island, East Java.

East Java Police's spokesperson Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said that East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anas Yusuf had given serious attention to the case.

"A special team, the Cobra team from the Jatanras unit, has been deployed to pursue the perpetrator," Awi said, Wednesday. He added that East Java Water Police director Sr. Comr. Agus Duta had been appointed to lead the investigation.

Awi said that the examination of the projectile removed from the victim revealed it had a calibre of 9-millimeters, was copper plated and had no groove. Yet, he said, the police had yet to know the type of the gun used by the shooter.

He added that the police were currently intensively interrogating five witnesses, two of whom were family members of the victim and three of whom were the victim's colleagues.

"Of the five, one did witness the shooting," said Awi. He said that the interrogations had been underway since Tuesday, but one witness was frightened for his or her life.

As reported previously, Mathur was shot by an unidentified person in front of his house on Jl. Teuku Umar on Tuesday at about 2 a.m.

The head of the Dr. Soetomo Hospital's emergency ward, Urip Murtedjo, said on Wednesday that Mathur's condition was getting better after the projectile was removed from his body through surgery.

Fellow activists have linked the shooting with the investigation of a corruption case allegedly involving Bangkalan legislative council speaker Fuad Amin, who is also a former Bangkalan regent, by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Fuad is currently in KPK detention.

Meanwhile, dozens of people claiming to be grouped under an alliance of students and non-governmental organizations in Bangkalan staged a rally in front of the local police headquarters to show solidarity over Mathur's shooting.

Carrying posters and conducting speeches, they demanded the police to quickly apprehend the shooter. "We ask the police to move soon to arrest the perpetrator," protest coordinator Badrus Syamsi said on the sidelines of the rally.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Natalius Pigai of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said the commission urged the police to thoroughly investigate the case because it was not an ordinary crime.

"When no theft or robbery element is found in an incident, it indicates that this is not an ordinary crime," Natalius said.

Natalius said that an open, transparent and accountable investigation into the incident was very important because the incident threatened democracy and press freedom in Indonesia.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/investigation-activist-shooting-continues.html

Reconciliation best solution to past rights abuses: Attorney General

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Although President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has yet to formally discuss measures taken to end prolonged unresolved human rights abuses in the past, Attorney General HM Prasetyo has suggested ruling out the judicial process.

In his speech in a seminar discussing challenges to law enforcement in Indonesia at the House of Representatives on Thursday, Prasetyo cited the length of time since many of the incidents as the most challenging factor in the attempt to reopen investigations.

"So reconciliation is the best solution to settle [cases of rights violations that occurred in the past]," Prasetyo said, without adding more details.

The unresolved cases of human-rights violations consist of the 1989 Talangsari massacre, the forced disappearances of anti-Soeharto activists in 1997 and 1998, the Trisakti University shootings, the Semanggi I and Semanggi II student shootings in 1998 and 1999, the mysterious killing of alleged criminals in the 1980s, the anti-communist massacres of 1965 and various abuses that took place in Was I or and Wamena in Papua in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

Prasetyo's remarks seem to contradict a previously revealed plan to set up human rights tribunals to hear such cases. In his speech, Prasetyo, a former NasDem Party politician, also highlighted the problems of funding needed to establish such tribunals.

"So it is not because we don't want to resolve these cases. But we are carefully handling the matter because we don't want to disappoint any related parties," he stressed.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/reconciliation-best-solution-past-rights-abuses-attorney-general.html

KPK: Activist shot in East Java is one of our sources

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Fana F.S. Putra & Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, on Wednesday confirmed that an activist in East Java who was recently ambushed and shot by unknown gunmen had been helping it in its investigation of a well-known local politician.

Mathur Husairi, 47, the director of a local group named Islamic Center for Democracy, is in recovery at Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya after he was shot by two unidentified gunmen at 2 a.m. on Tuesday. He was shot in the hip and the bullet lodged in his stomach, doctors said after surgery to remove the projectile.

Bambang Widjojanto, a deputy chairman of the antigraft commission, also known as the KPK, said on Wednesday that Mathur had been tipping off the agency about corruption cases plaguing his home district of Bangkalan, on the island of Madura off the northeastern tip of East Java. The tips had made the KPK pay more attention to Bangkalan, Bambang said.

Last month, the KPK arrested Fuad Amin Imron, the speaker of the Bangkalan district legislature, for allegedly taking a kickback from an energy company in connection with a natural gas concession.

Although denying that Fuad's arrest was directly linked to a report from Mathur, Bambang said law enforcement officers should protect all antigraft activists, particularly those who had received numerous threats, including Mathur. "Hopefully in the not-so-distant future we will know the true motive behind the shooting," Bambang said.

Another Bangkalan-based activist, Tamsul, said Mathur had been critical of Fuad ever since he became the district legislative speaker, accusing him of being involved in a litany of graft cases.

Tamsul said Mathur had been threatened several times, especially since Fuad's arrest by the KPK. "Mathur has helped unravel many corruption allegations involving Fuad Amin Imron and his family," Tamsul said on Tuesday after the shooting.

Abdul Harris Semendawai, the chairman of the government's Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK), said his office would offer Mathur protection. "We will deploy a team to expedite the protection process," he said.

Semendawai said Mathur's status as the victim of a shooting qualified him for LPSK protection. More protection will be given, he added, if Mathur "has important testimony that can lead to the uncovering of a corruption case."

East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said Mathur was returning from his office when he was ambushed. He said the gunmen appeared to have been waiting for just that moment. As Mathur stepped out of his car to open his garage door, a motorcycle with two people on it drove up to his car and the person riding pillion fired at Mathur, Awi said. The gunmen then fled the scene.

Mathur was taken to a nearby hospital, but because of the severity of his injuries, was transferred to a better-equipped facility in Surabaya.

Police said an investigation into the shooting had been launched by the Bangkalan Police, with several officers from the provincial police's violent crimes unit assigned to provide assistance.

Doctors at the hospital treating Mathur said that his condition was stabilizing following an operation to remove the projectile from his body.

Andi Irfan of the human rights group the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said the case served as yet another example of how law enforcement agencies, in this case the police, continued to provide very little protection for activists and whistle-blowers.

Kontras noted that this was not the first time an antigraft activist in Bangkalan had been violently attacked. Last month, three activists from Madura Corruption Watch were severely beaten by an assailant whom police have still not identified.

Andi also called for the government to draft legislation that would provide protection for activists and penalize those threatening or intimidating them and those interfering their work.

The same call was aired by several NGOs in 2010 after Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Tama Satrya Langkun was severely beaten by unknown assailants following his investigation into suspiciously large bank accounts of several police generals, including Budi Gunawan – who was recently named a candidate for police chief. Budi is now under investigation by the KPK for bribery.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/kpk-activist-shot-e-java-one-sources/

Activist shooting renews calls for NGO protection law

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Bangkalan, East Java – Activists have called for a draft regulation to protect nongovernmental organization workers after an activist in Bangkalan, East Java was ambushed and shot in front of his home on Tuesday.

Mathur Husairi, 47, the director of a local group named Islamic Center for Democracy is now in critical condition at the Soetomo Public Hospital in Surabaya after he was ambushed by two unidentified gunmen at 2 a.m. on Tuesday. He was shot in the hip and the bullet lodged in his stomach.

East Java Police spokesman, Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono said Mathur was returning from his office.

The gunmen, the officer said, were waiting for Mathur to come home. After he stepped out of his car to open the gate to his garage, a motorcyclist appeared and shots were fired.

Mathur tried to go after his assailants but collapsed after a few meters from the massive lost of blood. The activist was then rushed to a local hospital but, due to the severity of his injuries, was transferred to Surabaya. "We have managed to obtain the projectile. We will examine it at the Surabaya forensics lab to determine the type of gun and bullet used," Awi said.

The police spokesman said an investigation into the shooting has been launched by the Bangkalan District Police and several officers from the Provincial

Police's violent crimes unit have been deployed to provide technical assistance. Dr. Urip Murtedjo said Mathur's condition is stabilizing following an operation to retrieve the bullet.

Mathur is known as a fierce critic of the Bangkalan district government, fellow activist Tamsul said, particularly against district head Fuad Amin Imron.

Tamsul said Mathur had been criticizing Fuad ever since he became speaker of the Bangkalan Regional Council, accusing him of being involved in several graft cases.

Mathur, Tamsul continued, has been receiving threats because of his work, particularly after Fuad was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "Mathur has helped unravel many corruption allegations involving Fuad Amin Imron and his family," Tamsul said.

Andi Irfan of the human rights group, the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said the case serves as an example of how law enforcers provide very little protection for activists.

"We have once called for a regulation from the government which offers activists protection but the government seems to think that this [law] was not important," Andi said.

Petition

A 2010 petition from several NGOs called on the government to enact a law that would provide protection for activists and penalize those threatening or intimidating them and those interfering their work.

The petition was created after Indonesia Corruption Watch activist Tama Satrya Langkun was severely beaten by unknown assailants following his investigation into the suspiciously large bank accounts of several police generals, including Budi Gunawan – who was recently named a police chief candidate. Budi is now under investigation by the KPK.

Kontras noted that this is not the first time an activist in Bengkalan was attacked. Last month, three activists from the Madura Corruption Watch were severely beaten by an assailant who still remains unidentified.

"There is not a single assault or murder case against activists that has been uncovered so far and the perpetrators brought to justice," Kontras chairman Haris Azhar said.

"Instead it is often activists who are penalized for doing their work, silenced through the use of criminal defamation."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/activist-shooting-renews-calls-ngo-protection-law/

Probe urged into shooting of activist

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has urged the police to thoroughly investigate the shooting of an anticorruption activist in Bangkalan, Madura Island, East Java.

The activist, 47-year-old Mathur Husairi, was shot and wounded by an unidentified person in front of his house on Jl. Teuku Umar at about 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

"The police have to act firmly soon to investigate the case," Kontras Surabaya coordinator Andi Irfan told reporters in Surabaya, East Java, on Tuesday.

He said that if the case was related to Mathur's activities in criticizing Bangkalan legislative speaker and former regent Fuad Amin, who is currently being detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), then Mathur should report the incident to the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

Bangkalan Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sulistyono said that Mathur was shot as he got out of his car and was about to enter his house. Based on witness statements, the perpetrator was riding a motorcycle, Sulistyono said.

"We are still investigating the motive of the shooting. We are currently processing the crime scene," he said.

Based on provisional results of the crime scene examination, he said, the victim was shot once at close range. Mathur is currently being treated at the state-owned Dr Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya.

Meanwhile, East Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Awi Setyono said the hospital's medical team had succeeded in removing the projectile that hit the right side of the victim's belly and intestine.

"We will bring in the projectile to have it examined at the forensic laboratory to find out the type of bullet and gun," Awi said.

He said the police would be serious in investigating the case. So far, five witnesses had been questioned by the police, he added. Awi also said the police had deployed a team to help the Bangkalan police identify the perpetrator.

For the last few months, Mathur has been known for his strong criticism of policies made by Bangkalan legislative speaker Fuad Amin, who is also a former regent of Bangkalan.

Fuad has long been known for his attempts to establish a political dynasty in Bangkalan that controls many of the regency's state projects. Fuad served as Bangkalan regent for two terms starting in 2003.

He officially ended his term in March 2013 and was replaced by his son, Imam Buchori Makmun Ibnu Fuad, who won the regency election.

Fuad, a politician from the Gerindra Party, was arrested by the KPK on Dec. 2, 2014, for his alleged involvement in a bribery case involving a private-sector company and gas supplied to a regency-owned company.

The KPK declared the cleric-turned-politician a graft suspect for accepting Rp 700 million (US$56,910) in cash from a businessman in connection with a gas contract he approved in 2007 when serving as regent.

The KPK has said that it would charge Fuad with money laundering after it found evidence that the former regent had bought assets with his ill-gotten funds.

Besides Fuad, the KPK also nabbed a Navy officer identified as Darmono, Fuad's adjutant identified as Rauf, as well as businessman Antonio Bambang Djatmiko, the director of PT Media Karya Sentosa. The antigraft body is reportedly scheduled to question Fuad's son, Bangkalan Regent Makmun.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/probe-urged-shooting-activist.html

LPSK focusing on rights abuse, corruption

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2015

Jakarta – The Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) reported on Sunday that most witnesses that had applied for protection last year were involved in cases of alleged corruption and human rights violations.

LPSK head Abdul Haris Semendawai said the agency received requests for protection from 664 witnesses in human rights violation cases, 144 from trafficking cases, 43 from corruption cases, 210 from general crime, and nine from domestic violence.

From the human rights cases, many came from Central Java and West Sumatra, linked to cases concerning the 1965 killings, in which people were accused of being communists and were killed.

LPSK deputy head Hasto Admodjo Suroyo there were still many witnesses that could not access protection because of a lack of information.

He said the agency had tried to improve protection in various ways, including arranging video conferences in court so witnesses did not have to be present in courtrooms.

"We used [video conferences] so children in the [Jakarta Intercultural School] molestation case did not have to attend South Jakarta District Court," said Hasto as quoted by detik.com on Sunday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/19/lpsk-focusing-rights-abuse-corruption.html

UN presses Indonesia on human rights progress report

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHR Committee) has demanded that the Indonesian government fulfill its promise of submitting a long-overdue report on the state of the country's human rights. Indonesia should have submitted the report before a July 2014 deadline.

UNHR Committee member and special rapporteur for Indonesia, Cornelis Flinterman, said on Friday that Indonesia must submit the report as a follow-up to a UN review session in Geneva in July 2013.

During the review session, members of the UNHR Committee questioned Indonesia's commitment to resolving human rights abuses, protecting religious minorities and curbing the use of excessive force, after which the UNHR Committee issued a list of recommendations for the government to act upon.

"We adopted 26 concerns and identify four which require immediate attention from the government. Then the government was required to submit a follow-up report [on the four recommendations] by July 2014. Regrettably, the committee has not received any report," Flinterman told a press conference in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Friday.

As the Indonesian government had not made any follow-up report on the recommendations, two UNHR Committee members flew to Jakarta earlier this week to talk with members of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the UNHR Committee, facilitated by Human Rights Watch Group (HRWG) and the Center for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR), met officials from some government institutions, including the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the Home Ministry.

"The experience that we had is that the issues are being discussed in a serious manner and we hope the response from the government will come soon," Flinterman said.

During the meeting, the Foreign Ministry revealed that the government was caught up in other human rights issues in 2014, which also happened to be an election year, he said. "That made it impossible for the government to comply [with the report deadline]," Flinterman said.

The four urgent recommendations from the UNHR Committee are the abolition of the death penalty, the repeal of Law No. 1/1965 on defamation of religion, the abolition of female genital mutilation practices and the prosecution of cases involving past human rights violations, including the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.

From these four recommendations, only the practice of female genital mutilation had been abolished with the repeal of the Health Ministry's regulation No. 1636/2010 that authorized the performance of female genital mutilation by medical practitioners.

"That's a positive development. But there are also some regressions, such as the death penalty, and some issues that are stagnant," UNHR Committee member Victor Manuel Rodrigues-Rescia told The Jakarta Post.

In December 2014, President Jokowi said that he would reject requests for clemency for 64 drug traffickers who are currently on death row, something that Rodrigues-Rescia believed to be wrong as he said drug trafficking should not be considered a crime for which the death penalty could be justified.

As for the stagnant human rights issues, Rodrigues-Rescia cited past human rights cases that the government had failed to act upon so far.

The government also still had a lot of work to do in eradicating discrimination against minorities in the country, he said. Rodrigues-Rescia gave an example of how fatwa or edicts issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) could sometimes be used as a basis for discrimination.

The latest legal edict issued by the MUI was late last year on homosexual acts, which the fatwa considered a sexual crime.

"Any kind of fatwa that leads to discrimination or persecution is unacceptable. When a religion criticizes or condemns a person because of his or her sexual orientation, then there's discrimination according to human rights," Rodrigues-Rescia said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/un-presses-indonesia-human-rights-progress-report.html

Sexual & domestic violence

Sexual violence against children increasing in NTB

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Cases of sexual violence against children in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province have been increasing year after year.

The latest case was revealed only this week when the Central Lombok Police arrested a 47-year-old informal Islamic religion teacher, identified by the initials AQ, of Sepakat subdistrict, for allegedly sexually assaulting nine of his pupils aged between 9 and 12 years old.

At almost the same time, the principal of the Senior Vocational High School (SMK), Central Lombok, identified as MJ, 40, and the school's Islamic religion teacher, called AW, 35, were reported to the local police for allegedly assaulting seven first-grade students of the school.

Head of the NTB Child Protection Agency's (LPA) law and advocacy division, Joko Jumadi, said that in the first 20 days of this year alone his agency had handled 19 cases of sexual violence against children. The figure for the whole of 2014 was 147 cases.

"Yes, there is a tendency toward increasing cases of violence against children that are dominated by sexual violence," Joko told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Joko said the police's arrest of AQ for sexually assaulting his nine pupils was made possible after the parent of one of the victims reported the case to his agency. This later led to the other eight victims in the case being revealed.

The assaults were committed when AQ asked his students to massage his body and feet after teaching them. Then they were told to touch his genitals and commit oral sex.

In the case at the SMK, the seven victims reported that the principal and the religion teacher told them to show their breasts, reportedly for medical checkups.

Both the principal and the teacher argued to the police that as stewardess candidates the students had to have certain breast sizes and health conditions to meet the required standards.

For victims categorized as children, the LPA provides legal assistance and helps rehabilitate their psychological conditions.

Together with AQ's nine victims, four of the SMK Nusa Dirgantara students have been placed in the victim shelter of the Paramitha Mataram rehabilitation center under the supervision of the NTB Social Agency.

"Two other SMK victims are still under the supervision of their respective parents, as their parents were not willing to have their daughters rehabilitated at the center.

Meanwhile, the head of LPA's network and organization development, Warniati, said that the increasing numbers of cases of sexual violence against children in NTB, some of which were committed by educators, showed that there has been extraordinary moral degradation. "This needs serious attention from all parties," she said.

Warniati blamed the situation on a lack of familiarization and the limited knowledge of people regarding the matter. Based on the LPA's field experience in NTB, she said, in many cases many of the victims did not even know that touching a child's genitals was a violation of the law and could be reported to the police.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/sexual-violence-against-children-increasing-ntb.html

Freedom of speech & expression

Minister calls on press to respect Islamic code

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said on Thursday that the media could uphold free speech while still respecting the religious codes, including the Islamic injunction against the portrayal of Prophet Muhammad.

Lukman issued the statement in response to the distribution of the latest Charlie Hebdo issue with a cartoon of the Prophet on the cover.

Lukman is currently in Saudi Arabia to meet with several Saudi officials on matters related to haj. Lukman said the recent killing of Charlie Hebdo journalists in Paris must be a lesson for all sides to respond with restraint to the incident.

"The emotional reaction of a massive mobilization of power through the distribution of a caricature on a large scale to show support and sympathy for the journalists killed could result in harsher reactions," he pointed out.

The minister called on all sides, especially Muslims, to exercise restraint. "No matter how deep our disappointment and anger over the insult to our faith is, we must not take the law into our hands and spread violence that can cause the deaths of others," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/minister-calls-press-respect-islamic-code.html-0

Political parties & elections

Golkar negotiations in deadlock

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Jakarta – Negotiations between two conflicting camps in the Golkar Party were deadlocked on Thursday, and the two sides have agreed to settle the conflict in court.

"The camp in favor of which the court decides will take the initiative and set up a new executive board," said MS Hidayat, a negotiator in current chairman Aburizal Bakrie's camp, after the negotiations reached a dead end at the party's headquarters in West Jakarta on Thursday.

Bakrie's camp has filed a lawsuit with the West Jakarta District Court to seek the court's approval for the executive board formed during the party's national congress in Bali in November.

Meanwhile, challenger Agung Laksono filed a similar suit with the Central Jakarta District Court seeking the court's officialization of the executive board formed during the party national congress held at a hotel in Ancol, North Jakarta, in December.

Agun Gunanjar, a negotiator in Agung's camp, said the camp that won the court verdict would have the authority to set up a new executive board including members of both camps.

"The winning camp won't only pick people from its own side, but also members of the losing camp to be included in the new executive board," he asserted.

He further revealed that the agreement had been made after Agung and Bakrie failed to reach a peaceful settlement to the prolonged conflict.

"The two senior party leaders are very defensive and disinclined to seek a win-win solution," he said, adding that most party cadres desired the two conflicting figures to reconcile and retract their lawsuits, for the sake of the party's future.

The conflict occurred when Agung and a number of other party cadres opposed the Bali congress, which they said had been engineered to reelect Bakrie for the 2014-2019 period. Agung and his camp then held an alternative congress in Jakarta to elect a new chairman.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/golkar-negotiations-deadlock.html

Direct elections reinstated

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang and Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Following the unanimous endorsement of two regulations in lieu of law (Perppu) to reinstate direct elections for regional heads, the House of Representatives and the government are now working against the clock to settle differences over technicalities, with registration for candidates to contest this year's 204 regional elections set to open in less than a month.

The House was given the option on Tuesday to either endorse or reject the Perppu, with their content to be deliberated only once they had been approved.

All 10 of the political factions at the House approved the two Perppu regulating the issue, No. 1/2014 on local elections and No. 2/2014 on regional administration, but the majority of them also requested changes to stipulations deemed problematic.

The list of problematic stipulations includes the role of the General Elections Commission (KPU) in managing local elections; the procedure for voters to register to participate in the elections; requirements for candidates to run in the elections; and a fixed schedule for local elections to take place simultaneously.

"We really appreciate lawmakers' endorsement of the Perppu so that we can reinstate direct elections. We are open to discussion of revisions needed to improve the regulations," Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo told a House plenary meeting on Tuesday.

According to the newly endorsed regulations, the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the regional Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) have been reinstated as the organizers of local elections. Law No. 22/2014, which was endorsed last year by the House and which scrapped direct elections for regional leaders, gave the authority to organize elections to the regional legislative councils (DPRDs).

Following the endorsement, lawmakers began to debate the details of how the elections would proceed. In addition to improvements in voter registration so as to encourage equal participation, some lawmakers also demanded revision of requirements for candidates to run in local elections.

A majority of factions have proposed "package" nominations in order to allow a political party or a coalition of political parties to endorse candidates together with their running mates.

This contradicts the newly endorsed Perppu, which allows elected local heads to later appoint their deputies, stipulations on the nominee making no mention of a candidate's running mate.

Article 7 of the regulations, meanwhile, stipulates that there must be a public review of candidates lasting between three and five months. The Golkar Party has demanded a shorter period of public review, claiming that a lengthy process could delay the whole election procedure.

The new regulations also aim to prevent the formation of political dynasties in local politics. Article 7, for instance, stipulates that wives, husbands or children of an incumbent may not run in local elections, and can only join the race two terms after their relative's tenure ends.

However, parties including the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have called for a more lenient stipulation, fearing the rule may strip people of their political rights.

Then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued the Perppu in October following public outcry against his Democratic Party's decision to walk out of a plenary session held to vote on the scrapping of direct elections.

Political factions supporting the conservation of local elections were outnumbered in a direct vote following the Democratic Party's decision to abstain. Many accused Yudhoyono of lying and working behind the scenes to scrap direct elections while issuing public statements in their favor.

Following the reinstatement of the direct-election system for regional heads, the KPU said that it would draft a number of recommendations on how best to amend the Perppu.

"However, we haven't made any formal decision. We will have a meeting tomorrow but we've already had some input from experts," KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay told reporters at the commission's headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Hadar said that the recommendations would aim at allowing the KPU to work more efficiently in organizing dozens of local elections simultaneously. One of the recommendations would include revamping the institutions tasked with settling election disputes, he revealed.

"One of the things that we could recommend is to reduce the length of direct regional elections. There are some stages that are too long, such as the registration of pre-candidates six months before the registration of candidates."

Key articles

Article 1: Elections for governors, regents and mayors take place directly and democratically and uphold the principles of honesty, freedom and justice.

Article 3: Local elections will take place simultaneously throughout the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia every five years.

Article 7: Candidates must undergo public review and must not have family ties with incumbents.

Article 8: Election organizers include the General Elections Commission (KPU) and its regional offices.

Article 40: Political parties or coalitions of political parties must secure at least 20 percent of seats in Provincial Legislative Councils (DPRDs) or a minimum of 25 percent of the vote in regional legislative elections to nominate candidates.

Article 201: Simultaneous elections will take place in 2015 to select local leaders whose terms end in 2015; and in 2018 for those whose terms end in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/direct-elections-reinstated.html

Direct elections 'bring democracy back' to Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Jakarta – The House of Representatives on Tuesday ratified into law an emergency government regulation that restores direct elections of regional leaders in Indonesia.

The ratification quickly drew praise from analysts who said that Indonesia's democracy was back on track. "It's a people's victory," said Arie Sudjito, a political expert from the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

In September, the House agreed on a proposal put forward by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to give local legislative councils the power to appoint district heads, mayors and governors, ending nearly a decade of direct elections.

The move sparked anger from people across the country, accusing the House and Yudhoyono of betraying the people, and claiming Indonesia's democracy had returned to a system similar with that of Suharto's totalitarian New Order regime.

Many also feared the opposition would dominate the regional leaders posts because they dominate most of the legislative councils, opening the possibility for them to block any policies by President Joko Widodo, who at that time was declared the president-elect by the General Elections Commission (KPU) after he defeated Prabowo Subianto in a tightly contested national election.

After seeing the public anger, Yudhoyono backpedaled, saying that he never wanted indirect elections as his Democratic Party had proposed as a revision to the existing system of direct elections.

He quickly proposed an emergency government regulation, known as perppu, while declaring that indirect election law was scrapped. "Now, the perppu has become a law. So we can begin direct elections in many regions across the nation," Arie said.

But the KPU would not be able to make preparations for some 200 local elections, set to be held simultaneously this year, as nine of the 10 factions at the House demanded some changes in the newly passed law.

"Each faction has presented its views, which in general accepts the perppu to be ratified into law," said Rambe Kamarul Zaman, chairman of the House Commission II, which oversees home affairs.

Rambe was referring to the government regulation in lieu of law passed by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his last days in office.

The perppu annulled the 2014 regional elections law, which eliminated regional elections and instead provided authority for local legislatures to appoint governors, district heads and mayors. However, Rambe said that most factions have urged for some changes to the new law.

"We will propose a bill, drafted by House Commission II, which will improve the new law pertaining to candidate eligibility, stages of elections and public hearings, among others," the Golkar Party politician said.

The Democratic Party, chaired by the former president, was the only party that opposed any revision arguing the law is already perfect.

"We don't want any more revisions. The regulation itself already contains enough substance on the direct regional election system and revisions from the previous law. It already includes suggestions to make the elections better," Commission II member Saan Mustopa, a Democrat, said on Tuesday.

Moreover, making revisions will take time and Indonesia needs the new law immediately, Saan added, as more than 200 local elections are set to be held this year.

The process of preparing more changes will affect the preparations for local elections, he stressed. "It will be difficult for the KPU to do its job," the politician said.

Last year, parties from the opposition Red-White Coalition, including representatives of the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Golkar Party and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), voted in favor of abolishing regional elections. But their stance changed after the Democratic Party announced that it would be leaving the bloc.

All 10 factions at the House on Monday expressed their commitment to ratify the perppu. House Speaker Setya Novanto called on Commission II members to expedite the drafting of the new bill and conclude the ratification process before the House sitting period ends on Feb. 18.

"I have asked each faction to conclude the revision during this sitting period so they would not disrupt the simultaneous regional elections schedule," said Setya, who is also a Golkar politician.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon, of Gerindra, said the revision would not change the substance of the newly passed law. He added that the changes "are very technical."

Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the government was open to revisions and pledged to work with the House "intensively" on the planned revisions.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/direct-elections-bring-democracy-back-indonesia/

KPU to hold simultaneous elections in 204 regions this year

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) will organize 204 simultaneous local elections this year following the endorsement by the House of Representatives of government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) No. 1/2004 on local elections and Perppu No. 2/2014 on regional administration.

"The KPU is prepared to organize the first ever direct local elections as of this year in accordance with the two newly endorsed regulations, provided the House, the government and other relevant authorities are ready to support it," KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Hadar said after coordinating with the Home Ministry, 204 regions, including 18 newly formed regions, would hold direct local elections simultaneously.

"The 204 regions comprise eight gubernatorial elections to elect governors and deputy governors, 170 regent elections and 26 mayor elections," he said. He said the commission was still preparing three regulations – on election preparation guidelines, data upgrading and voter lists.

Hadar also said he appreciated the hard work of the government and the House in endorsing the two new Perppu, after all 10 House factions finally agreed to support simultaneous direct elections.

He said the simultaneous direct local elections would likely be held by the end of this year to allow all stakeholders adequate time to prepare.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/kpu-hold-simultaneous-elections-204-regions-year.html

Commission II approves decree to restore direct regional elections

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2015

Hotman Siregar, Jakarta – House Commission II for home affairs has approved a presidential regulation in lieu of law that reinstates direct regional elections in Indonesia.

The commission, which oversees political and domestic affairs in the House of Representatives, or DPR, informed government representatives at a meeting on Monday.

The meeting resolved that the emergency executive decree, issued last October by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, should be strengthened.

The regulation still has to be revised, then approved by lawmakers at a House plenary session before becoming legally binding. A revision of the law is scheduled to take place on Feb. 18.

"The most moderate way out is by approving the presidential regulation, but the revision should be finished before the second term ends," Golkar lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said on Monday.

The presidential decree, or perppu, restored regional elections for governors, mayors and district chiefs by superseding a law enacted by the House that, days prior, scrapped direct regional elections for sub-national executive offices in favor of legislative appointments by regional legislative councils, or DPRDs.

Opposition parties from the Red-White bloc, including representatives from the National Mandate Party (PAN), Golkar and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), supported the law at the commission meeting today. All were instrumental in abolishing direct elections.

National Mandate Party (PAN) politician Sukiman said his party had decided to accept the law and it was now up to the House to approve. Like other opposition parties, Sukiman said PAN still wanted revisions made.

Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said the government was open to revisions. "If the plenary decides to approve it, we'll be open to suggestions to improve the regulation so regional elections can go on well," Tjahjo said before the meeting.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/commission-ii-approves-decree-restore-direct-regional-elections/

Surveys & opinion polls

People starting to lose faith in Jokowi, says survey

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – A new public opinion survey has found that only three months after taking office, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is losing popularity, with his approval rating starting to drop.

The survey, conducted by the Social and Political Study Center (Puspol) Indonesia and released on Wednesday, showed that 51 percent of respondents were losing faith in Jokowi's presidency.

The survey asked questions to 756 respondents in Jakarta, West Java and Banten with multistage random sampling from Jan. 6 to 16. It has a 3 percent margin of error.

The survey put questions to respondents on six issues: Education policy, maritime policy, Jokowi's social protection cards, subsidized-fuel policy, currency policy and the general public's perception of Jokowi's performance.

When asked about the President's decision to cut the fuel subsidy, which has always been a sensitive issue in the country, 44.44 percent of respondents said it was the incorrect decision, especially when the global fuel price was declining.

Meanwhile, 20.64 percent of respondents said they did not have a problem with the policy if it could be implemented effectively. Some 51.85 percent of respondents did not believe that government money from the fuel subsidy cut would be used to drive development.

The respondents also reacted negatively to the education policy rolled out by Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan.

More than 60 percent of respondents disapproved of Anies' decision to drop the controversial 2013 national curriculum and order schools to revert to the 2006 version. Twenty two percent said the government had made the right decision.

"The 2013 curriculum was only implemented in July 2014. So it had been in effect for less than one year, but already it has been scrapped," Puspol Indonesia director Ubedilah Badrun said.

The only policy that elicited a positive response from respondents was Jokowi's maritime policy. The survey found that 74.07 percent of respondents applauded the move to sink foreign ships carrying out illegal fishing activities in the country's territorial waters.

"Some [respondents were] quite positive on Jokowi's decision to sink foreign ships. But when the policies concerned the operational side, then the public started to ask questions," Ubedilah said.

Overall, the survey found that 74.60 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Jokowi's governance in his first three months at the helm.

The survey also asked the respondents to score, on a scale of one to 10, Jokowi's communication skills and appearance. The result saw Jokowi receive 5.76 for communication and 5.8 for appearance.

"While the public admire his blusukan [impromptu visits], they perceive his communication skills to be lacking. It's a far cry from former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who many saw as being an intelligent communicator. Therefore, I believe he needs a spokesman," said Ubedilah.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/people-starting-lose-faith-jokowi-says-survey.html

Environment & natural disasters

Forest damage 'to blame' for yearly flooding

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Environmental activists have blamed annual floods in Langkat regency, North Sumatra, on serious forest damage in the plateau area of Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL).

Large-scale illegal logging has also led the lowland area's mangrove forests to the brink of extinction, hindering its ability to absorb water, according to the activists.

"Within the TNGL area there are now thousands of houses erected illegally by illegal loggers. But the authorities don't do anything about it," local environmental activist Tajruddin Hasibuan told The Jakarta Post recently.

Hasibuan said that Langkat had been a flood-free region when both the forests in TNGL and the mangroves in the lowland area were left untouched. But now, with both upland and lowland forest seriously damaged, the regency is plagued by floods.

Hasibuan revealed that there was only a small area of forest remaining in the mountainous area, while much of the lowland had been converted into housing complexes or plantations, making it unable to absorb rainwater.

He added that in the 1980s, there had been about 35,000 hectares of mangroves forests in Langkat. The figure has decreased to 18,000 ha presently, of which 6,700 ha is damaged.

Similarly, within the TNGL, around 40,000 ha of forest had been damaged, the activist explained. Of this, 2,000 ha had been converted into a housing complex for some 1,500 families of illegal loggers.

Hasibuan said that the damage in TNGL and mangrove forests in Langkat continued to increase year after year. The government, he asserted, turned a blind eye to the practice of illegal logging.

Langkat regency administration spokesperson Rizal Gultom denied the accusation, arguing that it had repeatedly tried to curb the practice, but had not yet succeeded.

He claimed the sheer numbers of illegal loggers in the area made them difficult to handle. "We don't want to be accused of violating human rights. That's why we handle them delicately through calls and discussions," Rizal told the Post on Sunday.

He did not deny that damage in TNGL and mangrove forests had led to floods in Langkat. Many of the land conversions committed by the illegal loggers, he said, had violated the regency's spatial planning laws.

"That's the problem. In the future, we will put this in order so the annual floods do not return to Langkat," Rizal said.

Flood have inundated thousands of homes in five districts in the regency for more than a week, with three villages in Tanjungpura district the worst hit.

The floods in Pekubuan, Lalang and Pekan Tanjungpura have not subsided, with more water flowing in from neighboring Hinai district, Tanjungpura district chief Surianto said.

In Pekan Tanjungpura, hundreds of houses and a public hospital are still flooded, forcing around 500 villages to take refuge in emergency camps set up by the Langkat disaster mitigation office (BPBD). Relief aid including food and mineral water has been sent to flood victims.

The BPBD recorded that floods had submerged at least 7,791 houses in five districts, killing one villager. Floodwaters between 50 and 110 centimetres high have affected 22 villages across Langkat.

Water swamped 4,184 houses in Tanjungpura district, 433 houses in Sawit Seberang, 667 houses in Batang Serangan, 1,913 houses in Hinai and 594 houses in Wampu district. The floods in the district were triggered by heavy downpours that started on Jan. 14. A day later, the floods had spread to a number of villages, including Pematang Cengal Barat, Pekubuan, Lalang, Baja Kuning and Teluk Bakung.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/forest-damage-blame-yearly-flooding.html

Indonesia must boost disaster prevention efforts: Experts

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2015

Jakarta – As natural disasters continue to hit parts of Indonesia, more regional leaders are asking for an increase in disaster relief funding from the central government.

Should Indonesia fail to boost its prevention efforts, state spending on rescue operations and the rebuilding process will only continue to expand, experts on the matter have argued.

The budget, they added, could otherwise be used for other purposes, such as developing the nation's infrastructure.

Officials estimate natural disasters incur losses of up to Rp 30 trillion ($2.3 billion) on average, while disaster relief funds available for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) total only Rp 3 trillion per year.

Officials from East Nusa Tenggara's local disaster-management agency reported on Saturday that natural disasters, including floods and landslides, have killed seven people across 13 districts so far this year, causing billions of rupiah in damages.

"These disasters have not only killed our people, they have also destroyed houses and public infrastructure," said Tini Thadeus, head of the East Nusa Tenggara disaster agency.

The province's East Sumba district has so far reported losses of up Rp 1 billion from floods and torrential rains, during which some 700 houses were damaged.

The local disaster agency is still estimating losses caused by natural disasters in 12 other districts and has asked for help from the BNPB, Tini said.

Floods and landslides are common occurrences throughout the archipelago during the rainy season, which usually runs from October to April.

The BNPB said as many as 270 districts and municipalities in Indonesia, a majority of which are on the islands of Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, are prone to landslides. These areas are home to 124 million people – about half the country's population.

According to a 2012 study sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund, BNBP and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 99 percent of Indonesia's population of 250 million people lives in an area with "very high risk" of natural disasters, meaning at least one natural disaster has occurred in the area in the past five years.

Experts have agreed that with global warming and climate change disrupting weather patterns, including by triggering more frequent and heavier rainfall, the prevalence of natural disasters might continue to increase, posing even more threats to Indonesia.

A recent landslide in Banjarnegara, Central Java, claimed 39 people after heavy rain triggered the disaster, burying dozens of homes. More than a dozen of people were injured and more than 70 others remain missing, while a total of 577 people have been displaced from their homes and are now staying in temporary shelters, the BNPB says.

Geologist Haryadi Permana of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, and Gede Suantika, an official with the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PVMBG) both agreed that the country need to boost its preventive measures to avoid more victims and damages.

"We must intensify warnings against disasters ahead of rainy months," Gede said.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/indonesia-must-boost-disaster-prevention-efforts-experts/

Marriage & polygamy

Group petitions to end early marriage in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Divya Pridhnani – Under Indonesian law, the minimum age of marriage is a tender 16 years; for boys, the minimum is 19.

Because of this age disparity and the dangerously low age requirement for teen girls, young women in Indonesia face health risks that range from complications in pregnancy to gender-based violence, both of which can – and all too frequently do – result in death.

Nationwide, 6 percent of boys and 13.7 percent of girls aged 15-19 are already married, according to the Ministry of Health's 2013 National Basic Health Research Survey (Riskesdas).

The same study found that more than 22 million Indonesian girls and boys aged 10-14 were already married, with the proportion evenly split between the genders.

This practice persists despite the the official age requirements due to a loophole that permits families to circumvent the marriage law if they grant their permission – effectively rendering the it moot. It's common enough in some areas to raise concerns among public health officials.

Girls aged of 10 and 15 are at five times greater risk of death in pregnancy – and those aged 16 to 19 at a twice greater risk – compared to women aged 20 to 25.

Although just 1.9 percent of women and girls in Indonesia say their ideal age at the time of having their first child is 19 years or younger, according to the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) 2012 Indonesia Demographic Health Survey, the same survey found that 9.5 percent of teen girls had given birth or were pregnant, suggesting we should be alarmed for their health, rights and preparation for marriage.

Births in early marriage, contribute to the nation's worsening maternal mortality ratio: for every 100,000 live births, an estimated 359 women and girls die in the process, according to the IDHS. That's a significant increase from 2007, when the figure stood at 223.

Tellingly, the same survey found fewer than 10 percent of never-married girls and boys between the ages of 15 and 19 had been exposed to messages in the media urging them to postpone marriage.

A grassroots movement that calls itself Koalisi 18+ (Coalition 18+) is dedicated to increasing Indonesia's minimum age of marriage and strengthening enforcement to eradicate forced marriages.

"Inexperienced and vulnerable young brides are not physically, mentally and emotionally ready for marriage and pregnancy, as they are still at a crucial age of development," said Anggara, one of Koalisi 18+'s founders.

"Early marriages deprive girls of educational opportunities and their fundamental rights. They perpetuate a vicious cycle of poverty and death, with teens forced to give birth to infants and raise families without proper knowledge and access to health services."

Koalisi 18+ has started an online petition on Change.org to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls 18-years-old, the same age it also seeks to set for adolescent boys. The petition has so far gathered 13,000 signatures and counting, just 1,000 shy of the group's goal before submitting it plans to submit its petition to the Constitutional Court in an effort to revise the law.

"Public awareness of girls' rights, welfare and equality has to be promoted, as well as the importance of them reaching their full potential for themselves, their children and the country," Anggara said. "Laws alone cannot provide the solution."

Since its founding last July, Koalisi 18+ has been busy with social media campaigns such as #stopperkawinananak and #aksi2015, empowering women through education and seminars. Koalisi 18+ also works with other groups such as Yayasan Kesehatan Perempuan (Women's Health Foundation).

Due to conservative religious beliefs, cultural conceptions, family shame and honor, economics, poor education and sexual taboos, early marriages and pregnancies have become a dangerous tradition passed on across generations.

"Nothing positive can come from early marriages," said Koalisi 18+ campaign manager Reza Gardi. "Marriage should be a beautiful chapter that is experienced by one's own voluntary choice. Let's give our girls the right to be educated, the right to their own body and the right to live a normal childhood."

He also adds that disempowered and vulnerable young brides are mostly married to men twice their age, elevating the risk of physical and mental violence throughout their lives, and enabling, in his words, a pedophilic culture and sexual abuse in Indonesia.

"Marriage is not just merging of two bodies," said psychologist Anna Surti Ariani, the founder of Pranikah, a foundation devoted to the sanctity of marriage. "There are other underlying issues that is attached to it. Therefore, marriage requires mental, emotional as well social preparedness and stability, which can't be found in early marriages."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/group-petitions-end-early-marriage-indonesia/

Graft & corruption

KPK expects to charge more lawmakers with graft

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stepped up its investigation into a bribery case surrounding the discussion of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry budget at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The antigraft body has charged the ministry's secretary-general, Waryono Karno, with corruption for allegedly collecting illegal payments from agencies under the supervision of the ministry, including the former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) and state- owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina.

The money was then distributed to pay lawmakers at House Commission VII overseeing energy, which oversees the ministry, when it was led by Democratic Party politician Jero Wacik, who wanted to get the ministry's budget endorsed by the House.

To confirm the information, the KPK questioned on Tuesday former House Commission VII chairman Sutan Bhatoegana. Sutan was earlier charged with corruption by the KPK in a separate graft case.

Speaking before his questioning session, Sutan declined to comment on the matter to reporters. "This is just a regular questioning session," said Sutan, a founding member of the Democratic Party along with Jero, a known confidant of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the chairman of the Democratic Party.

KPK deputy chairman Adnan Pandu Praja said that with the questioning of Sutan, the antigraft body would expand its investigation to look into possibilities of charging other members of Commission VII with graft for allegedly accepting money from the ministry.

"It is highly possible because decisions [at Commission VII] are made collectively, not individually," Pandu said at KPK headquarters.

In February 2014 during the trial of former SKKMigas chairman Rudi Rubiandini, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for accepting bribes from oil and gas companies, Didi Dwi Sutrisno, former financial head at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, acknowledged that he had delivered US$140,000, taken from SKKMigas' coffers, to an aide of Sutan.

"Pak Waryono then called a member of his staff, Ego Syahrial, for assistance. After speaking with Ego, Pak Waryono asked me to call a SKKMigas officer named Hardiono. I handed the phone to Pak Waryono and they had a conversation."

Soon after the conversation, Didi said, Hardiono arrived with $140,000 in cash. "Pak Waryono then wrote down the names of the people set to receive money based on their positions: the chairman, deputy chairmen, administrative staff and members [of Commission VII]," Didi said.

The money was placed in four envelopes, each containing $7,500, for the chairman and deputy chairmen; 43 envelopes for members, each of which contained $2,500, and one envelope containing $2,500 for Commission VII administrative staff.

Didi said the ministry also gave "pocket money" for overseas trips taken by a number of Commission VII members, but he did not disclose the total amount.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/kpk-expects-charge-more-lawmakers-with-graft.html

Governance & administration

Jokowi picks advisors from parties, Muslim groups

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo inaugurated on Monday nine members of the Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres), the establishment of which is mandated by the Constitution.

Six figures coming from the political parties that support Jokowi's administration are among the nine new members sworn in at the State Palace.

They are National Awakening Party (PKB) deputy chairman Rusdi Kirana, who is also co-founder and former chief executive of Lion Air, one of the largest low-cost carriers; Jan Darmadi of the NasDem Party, who is also a property tycoon; and United Development Party (PPP) senior politician Suharso Monoarfa, who is also a former public housing minister.

Other political figures, who are also retired generals, are Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) senior politician and former People's Representative Council (MPR) speaker Sidarto Danusubroto; Hanura Party's Gen. (ret.) Subagyo HS; and Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) secretary-general Lt. Gen. (ret.) Yusuf Kartanegara.

Sidarto is also a former West Java Police chief, while Subagyo is a former Army's Special Force (Kopassus) commander and former Army chief of staff.

Abdul Malik Fadjar, an executive at the country's second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah; Hasyim Muzadi, a noted figure in the largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU); and Gadjah Mada University economist Sri Adiningsih are also among the nine.

State Secretary Pratikno defended Jokowi's decision, saying that "we need persons who have strong networking and competency to advise the President".

Previously, others said to be among the candidates included former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Gen. (ret.) AM Hendropriyono and Mustika Ratu president Mooryati Soedibyo, who is said to be linked to Jokowi's party, the PDI-P.

Hendropriyono, Pratikno said, rejected the offer "because [he] had been involved for too long in government matters." As for Mooryati, Pratikno said he did not know the reason why she was not among the inaugurated members.

Citing his age as his main concern, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, a renowned pluralists and former chairman of Muhammadiyah, previously rejected Jokowi's offer, which opened the slot to Abdul Malik Fadjar.

"There were endorsements of candidates by the chairpersons of the political parties," Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanyo said, adding that Sri was proposed by PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, while Sidarto was personally asked by Jokowi to be on the board.

Andi also confirmed that Malik Fadjar replaced Syafii Maarif following the latter's rejection. Sidarto said Jokowi needed "political backup and backup from mass organizations and the military and police", since he was neither a general nor a political elite.

"[Because] in making a decision, a person needs to pick [the best] among [many] options," Sidarto said on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony at the State Palace.

Citing a 2006 law, Andi later reminded newly inaugurated members that they should resign from any executive posts in political parties, state-owned or private companies and civil society organizations at least three months after their inaugurations.

Rusdi said the law indeed required him to step down from any top business position in the next three months. Pratikno said Wantimpres had a different role to that of the office of the presidential chief of staff, explaining that, "Wantimpres gives advice, while the presidential office is a direct support system for the President".

The 2006 law on Wantimpres stipulates that Wantimpres should be formed at least three months after a president's inauguration.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/jokowi-picks-advisors-parties-muslim-groups.html

How Jokowi wasted his mandate in just 88 days

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2015

Jakarta – It probably began in late October, when Indonesia's newly elected seventh president, Joko Widodo, announced his cabinet lineup. Critics noted that more than half of the ministers were political appointees – and most of them affiliated with his patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, PDI-P, that she chairs.

Most of his supporters forgave Joko's apparent betrayal of his campaign promise not to base his appointment of cabinet members on political horse- trading.

They understood he needed the backing of political parties that supported his administration, under the banner of the Awesome Indonesia Coalition (KIH), to counter aggressive anti-democratic maneuvers by the opposition Red-White Coalition (KMP), which held a majority of seats in the House of Representatives.

The KMP was largely perceived then as the main threat to Joko's presidency. Analysts called their loyal opposition in the House as exemplifying "vindictive politics," following the bitter defeat of their candidate, Prabowo Subianto, in the July 9 presidential election.

Less than a month later, on Nov. 18, Joko raised prices of subsidized fuel, saying he did not mind sacrificing his popularity for the sake of saving trillions of rupiah from the subsidy, and reallocating them toward infrastructure development.

The Indonesia Survey Circle (LSI), which conducted a poll shortly after the hikes, found Joko's popularity dropped, even among his own voters. Only 48 percent of the respondents who voted for him in July said they were satisfied with his leadership; 42 percent said they were dissatisfied.

The LSI said most of his former supporters who began to abandon him came from low-income families living in rural areas, among those hit hardest by inflation as a result of the fuel price hikes.

Most of Joko's more educated, higher-income supporters, meanwhile, seemed to stick with him, understanding that Indonesia needed to reduce its reliance on fuel subsidies, and that some of the subsidy funds would be better spent on "productive" programs.

The next major shock came as Joko appointed National Democrat Party (NasDem) politician H.M. Prasetyo as attorney general, to the outcry of antigraft activists, who argued the position should not be given to someone with a party affiliation.

Joko asked Prasetyo to quit NasDem, a member of the KIH that supports his administration, which he did.

Activists remain skeptical, however, with the justice and human rights minister position also having been given to a politician, Yasonna Laoly, of Joko's PDI-P. That means those who are supposed to be at the forefront of Indonesia's law enforcement are disturbingly partisan.

In December, the president provoked the ire of human rights activists, who accused Joko of betraying campaign promises of settling unsolved cases of gross human rights abuses.

To activists, the first sign something was amiss was the justice minister's approval of parole for Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda Indonesia pilot convicted of murdering rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.

The murder has been linked to top officials in the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), then headed by A.M. Hendropriyono.

While Pollycarpus was believed to have acted on intelligence officials' orders, Hendropriyono has never been charged in the case. Pollycarpus's parole has been read as a lack of commitment to hold those responsible for Munir's murder accountable. Hendropriyono is now a senior political advisor to Joko.

The president further alienated rights activists when he refused to grant clemency for drug inmates on death row and ordered the Attorney General to dispatch the prisoners' death sentences as soon as possible.

Although drug trafficking is a crime punishable by death in Indonesia, Joko's predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had refrained from executing prisoners. Attorney General Prasetyo, however, on Thursday said his office was "preparing" to execute six of the inmates this Sunday.

Joko's plummeting popularity reached its newest low with the recent nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as his sole candidate for National Police chief. Joko did not retract the nomination, submitted last week for approval to the House, even after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him a graft suspect on Tuesday.

Antigraft activists' understandable opposition to the nomination stems from transactions in Budi's suspiciously "fat" personal bank accounts, in the words of a 2010 report by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), which identified Budi as among several police generals to raise the anti-money-laundering auditors' eyebrows.

KPK chief Abraham Samad said the antigraft body had been studying the case since July last year, and it found several irregularities in financial transactions involving Budi. Joko still refused to retract his nomination of Budi as the country's top cop.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives endorsed Budi's nomination in a floor vote in a plenary session. The only party to object was Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, which said the selection process for a new police chief should be delayed following the KPK's announcement.

Shame on you, Jokowi

Joko's critics – and apparently former supporters turned critics – publicly decried the president's latest controversial personnel pick on Thursday.

Musicians and other figures who volunteered for Joko during the election under his campaign's "Salam 2 Jari" ("Two-Finger Salute") banner wrote an open letter to the president on Thursday to criticize his choice of a graft suspect to head the National Police.

Salam 2 Jari was instrumental in galvanizing support for Joko's presidential campaign, staging a concert attended by tens of thousands at Jakarta's Bung Karno stadium on the final day of the election campaign.

The concert, coupled with a social media campaign, has been credited for his election victory, after an intense smear campaign against the former Jakarta governor and Solo mayor in the few months leading to the election day almost cost him the presidency.

"We are saddened to see Budi Gunawan's nomination to be the National Police chief, in defiance of the KPK's decision to name him a graft suspect," Abdee Negara, the lead guitarist of legendary rock band Slank, said in his capacity as Salam 2 Jari's spokesman.

"We know that this appointment is indeed your prerogative as the president. However, we are all hoping for a police chief with high integrity and a good track record. We suggest, Mr. President, that you fulfill your campaign promise to only pick those who do not have legal problems as public officials."

The letter was signed by dozens of public figures, including political observer Fadjroel Rachman, prominent poet Goenawan Mohamad, singer Tompi, activist Shafiq Pontoh, and media figure Ulin Yusron.

"Salam 2 Jari volunteers remain supportive of Jokowi," Fadjroel said. "But we disagree with B.G.'s nomination and his inauguration by Jokowi. I personally voted for Jokowi for one reason: to clean Indonesia from corruption."

He added that under former president Yudhoyono's administration, any member of the cabinet named a suspect by the KPK was immediately asked to resign, citing the case of former sports minister Andi Mallarangeng and former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali.

"Now someone already named a suspect will become the National Police chief? What will the world say?" Fadjroel said.

Activists' last hope is that despite the House's approval, Joko will decide against installing Budi as the new police chief.

"If [Joko goes forward with Budi's] inauguration, I will continue to terrorize Jokowi by continually seeking to see him," Fadjroel threatened at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Thursday, prior to a planned meeting between Salam 2 Jari volunteers and the president.

The meeting was subsequently re-scheduled for another day. The group threatened to take to the streets in protest if the president did not withdraw Budi's nomination.

On Twitter, the hashtag #ShameOnYouJokowi became a trending topic in Indonesia on Thursday. Two anonymous Twitter accounts known to be supportive of Joko ahead of the July 9 election are among those who popularized the hashtag.

"There is still time to fix this damage, pak @jokowi_do2. Postpone the inauguration of B.G. until the case is solved!! #ShameOnYouJOKOWI," @PartaiSocmed tweeted.

"Reminisce #99Movement volunteers' memory in Pluit, in support of @jokowi_do2. Sad now seeing #ShameOnYouJokowi," @Pskopdar_99 tweeted.

Other Indonesian netizens' comments on Twitter [sic throughout]:

@eki_poetra: "Sir, are you awake or drunk? #ShameOnYouJokowi."

@Nurreyzaputri: "#ShameOnYouJokowi I trusted you once. But I hate you for supporting corruption."

@desy_ayu: "Don't dash our hopes and dreams pak @jokowi_do2, and [don't] make our fight [for you] all these times a waste."

@AldilanoRendy: "I'm your supporter, bapak @jokowi_do2. please listen to our aspirations, the people's aspirations. don't betray us."

@ruaien: "The plan to inaugurate a police chief who has been named a suspect is the joke of the century. Thank you, my President. #ShameOnYouJokowi."

Political analysts called on Joko withdraw the nomination following the House's vote to approve it, saying he should not bow to political pressure at the expense of the people's trust in him.

Budi is a known close aide to PDI-P chairwoman Megawati, serving as her adjutant during her presidency from 2001 to 2004. Joko's nomination of Budi is widely believed to be based on her wishes, although the PDI-P has vehemently denied that this is the case.

"Don't squander the people's trust. Jokowi will really regret this if he neglects the people's rejection of B.G.'s nomination as National Police chief," said the Indonesian Institute of Sciences' (LIPI) Siti Zuhro.

"This isn't too late yet. Jokowi must wake up; he must cancel [Budi's] nomination, rather than risking hurting the people's feelings with a decision [to install Budi as the police chief]," she added.

LSI founder Denny J.A., whose tweet in July in support of Joko's candidacy was named by Twitter the second-most globally shared tweet of 2014 – with more than a million retweets – also criticized Budi's nomination in strong terms.

"Jokowi is losing the public trust concerning his commitment to upholding clean governance, even though that was part of his campaign. How would the public believe that Joko is in favor of clean government if he appoints a corruption suspect at the top law enforcement position?" Denny said through his Twitter account @DennyJA_WORLD.

"The public's hopes for Joko will soon evaporate. He was once believed to be different, but now he's just an ordinary politician. Jokowi was once [part of] us [the people]. Now, if Jokowi proceeds with inaugurating a corruption suspect as the National Police chief, Jokowi will be them [politicians who are enemies of the people]."

Dulu: Jokowi adalah kita. Sekarang jika Jokowi tetap melantik tersangka korupsi sbg Kapolri: Jokowi adalah mereka. – Denny JA (@DennyJA_WORLD) January 15, 2015

However, Muradi, a political analyst at Bandung's Padjajaran University, said Joko should not bow to public pressure and backpedal on Budi's nomination.

"[The president] must proceed with [Budi's] inauguration. This is to maintain the reputation of the presidential institution, that it cannot be dictated to; because Budi Gunawan's nomination is already an ongoing process," he said. Muradi also said the KPK's decision to name Budi a graft suspect reflected the nonpartisan antigraft body's "politicization."

"The KPK should have announced his status as a suspect before Joko submitted the nomination or while Budi was still serving [in his previous position], if they think he's unclean," Muradi said.

"If the KPK wants to continue pressing its case against him, then it can do it after Budi is inaugurated as the police chief, as long it's got enough evidence."

Vice President Jusuf Kalla defended Budi's nomination, saying Joko's administration did not care about its popularity – an assertion nobody is disputing. "We're not working for popularity. We're working to ensure development for people," Kalla said at his Jakarta office on Thursday.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-wasted-mandate-just-88-days/

Jakarta & urban life

Over 600 arrested in city-wide crackdown on crime

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2015

Bayu Marhaenjati & Priska Sari Pratiwi, Jakarta – Over 600 people identified by police as "thugs" were arrested on Saturday night in a Jakarta-wide operation against street crime.

Guns, sharp weapons, drugs and liquor were confiscated during the operation, which lasted from 9 p.m. on Saturday until 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, said Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul of the Jakarta Police. "A total of 625 people were apprehended during this operation," Martinus said.

Throughout Jakarta and the neighboring cities of Depok and Bekasi – both in West Java – people were arrested for such offenses as using narcotics, gambling, fighting, theft, illegal possesion of weapons, and running illegal street parking operations, the police spokesman said.

It was not immediately clear on Sunday how many people would face charges and how many were still being held.

In East Jakarta, more than 80 "thugs" and street children were picked up, East Jakarta Police spokesman Comr. Sri Bhayakari said on Sunday. Some were found to be carrying sharp weapons or in possession of alcoholic beverages. A total of 388 bottles of liquor were confiscated, Sri said.

"Those street kids and thugs who were not carrying sharp weapons will be registered and given guidance by social institutions, so that they stop causing trouble for society," the East Jakarta Police spokesman said, adding however that not all were in possession of identity cards (KTP).

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jakarta/600-arrested-city-wide-crackdown-crime/

'Model' Manggarai terminal failing in its functions

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – The Rp 12 billion Manggarai bus terminal in South Jakarta, hailed by then governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as a model for future terminals in the city, has instead proved to be a design failure less than a year after it opened.

The spaces intended for a library, convenience stores and other commercial purposes are deserted, while passengers complain of the taxing journey they have to make to traverse the terminal.

"It's pretty tiring to take the stairs but I don't have any choice," said Winda Oktaviani, 20, while catching her breath.

Winda, who travels from Depok on a commuter train, said she had to walk from Manggarai railway station to the Transjakarta bus stop to travel onward to her campus in East Jakarta. She said, however, that although she passed through the area almost everyday, she never entered the new terminal building.

Although the Transjakarta shelter is adjacent to the terminal building, passengers can access the shelter from the station without passing through the building.

The multistory building is built with facilities including escalators, elevators, air conditioning, a prayer room, spaces for convenience stores, an ATM center, a library and a food court.

However, the building is now largely empty save for the employees and a few vagrants sitting idly. Many facilities are broken or unused.

The design also fails to achieve an integrated function, as it does not connect with the Manggarai railway station or the nearby Pasaraya shopping center, only with the Transjakarta shelter.

"We are still waiting for [state-owned railway operator PT] KAI to connect the station to the existing crossing bridge," Waluyo, the operational team chief at the station said.

He said facilities intended to serve passengers, like the escalators, were largely unused. "The roof is leaking. We turn off the escalators as we are afraid somebody could be electrocuted during the rainy season," he said.

Waluyo said many facilities were useless, such as the air conditioners and electric fans. "What's the point of installing electric fans on the terrace?" he said, pointing at three fans facing the open space.

He added that some of the air conditioners were installed in spaces that were semi-open, making them more or less useless.

Waluyo explained that when the terminal was opened after renovation, three vendors rented space. "However, very few people went up to the third floor, so the vendors closed their businesses after two months," he said.

The terminal caters to five non-Transjakarta minibuses and minivans. A total of 212 vehicles and 1,146 passengers pass through the terminal daily.

National director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Yoga Adiwi-narto said the Manggarai terminal failed to address the needs of passengers.

Yoga said public transportation within the city did not need big terminal buildings, as most passengers were daily commuters who took short trips.

"What passengers need is easy and comfortable access when switching between public transportation," he said, adding that Manggarai terminal failed to facilitate pedestrian access.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/model-manggarai-terminal-failing-its-functions.html

Transport & communication

Local airlines struggling to meet safety standards

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – The country's airline industry may have grown fast over the past 15 years, but it has scored significantly lower on the effectiveness of its safety oversight system than the global average.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency whose standards and recommended practices (SARPs) guide its 191 member states in developing their national civil aviation regulations, has found that Indonesia scored below the global average in all eight areas it assessed during its national audit in May last year.

Among the eight areas, Indonesia scored lowest on organization, with a score of only 17.6 percent for "effective implementation", far lower than the global average of 64.8 percent. While the country scored 61 percent in airworthiness, this is still lower than the worldwide average of 73.9 percent.

Although ICAO has no law enforcement authority, its audits have been widely referred to by developed countries to impose a ban on airlines from countries with poor air safety oversight.

The ICAO audit in 2007, which spotted 121 loopholes in the Indonesian air safety oversight system, for instance, partly led to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Commission (EC) quickly imposing a flight ban on all Indonesian airlines, including flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, which had been struggling to rebuild its brand image after years of financial losses.

"Prior to the EC ban, there was no information forwarded to us airline operators by the Transportation Ministry, although we actually had a chance to deliver our 'defense argument'," Garuda operational director Capt. Novianto Herupratomo said, shifting the blame to the ministry for its poor coordination with airlines.

Although both organizations are yet to fully lift their ban, the EC has so far agreed to remove five Indonesian airlines, including Garuda and low- cost airline AirAsia Indonesia, whose flight QZ8501 recently crashed into the Karimata Strait, from the blacklist.

Responding to the country's poor track record in air safety audits, Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan said he was expecting to complete corrective actions the ICAO recommended by July, including issuing a series of new regulations to strengthen the country's air safety oversight.

"By mid year, I want to see the European Union lift its ban on Indonesian airlines and the FAA upgrade our [air safety] rating," he recently said.

Jonan, however, acknowledged that a lack of qualified law-enforcement personnel, particularly flight inspectors, had made it hard for the ministry to provide reliable supervision of the country's rapidly expanding airline industry.

There are 17 airlines providing scheduled commercial services and 45 airlines providing chartered services currently registered with the ministry. Data from the ministry shows that Indonesia posted an average of 13.8 and 19.3 percent growth in domestic and international passenger numbers, respectively, between 2009 and 2013.

Looking at the current size of the country's airline industry, public policy expert Agus Pambagio said the ministry needed to increase the number of flight inspectors from the current 60 to at least 300 to provide reliable air safety supervision.

"The ministry's Airworthiness and Aircraft Operation Directorate (DKUPPU) must also ideally become an independent body that serves as the airline supervisory and certification agency," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/local-airlines-struggling-meet-safety-standards.html

Criminal justice & prison system

After six executions, 60 more to follow

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Jakarta – After the recent execution of six death-row convicts, 60 more, including a number of foreigners, will soon follow, says Attorney General Prasetyo.

"We still have 'a stock' of 60 more who will be executed," he said in an editorial club meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Affairs on Tuesday.

He added that the executions would prioritize drug convicts but declined to reveal when and where the executions would be carried out.

"The most important thing is that Indonesia will not bow to foreign pressure in implementing the death penalty. It will continue. Indonesia must be rescued," he said as quoted by kompas.com.

On Sunday, six death-row convicts, including several foreigners, were executed in Nusakambangan and Boyolali, Central Java, sparking strong protests from the European Union, the Netherlands, Brazil and international human rights watchdogs.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said she was sure the executions would not disrupt the bilateral ties between Indonesia and countries whose citizens were executed.

"We want other countries to look at this serious problem wisely. Drug crime is a serious matter that affects the Indonesian people. I have explained this problem from the start and we are ready to boost bilateral ties with all countries," she said at the Presidential Palace on Monday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/after-six-executions-60-more-follow.html

Diplomatic appeals won't stop drug executions: Indonesia

Associated Press - January 20, 2015

Jakarta – Indonesia is sticking to its policy of executing drug offenders, including foreigners, and an official said Monday that the withdrawal of the Dutch and Brazil ambassadors would not disturb its diplomatic ties with those countries.

Jakarta brushed aside appeals by foreign leaders and executed six convicted drug traffickers over the weekend. One was an Indonesian woman and five were foreigners – men from Brazil, Malawi, Nigeria and the Netherlands and a Vietnamese woman.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Dutch and Brazil government have recalled their ambassadors for consultation, which he called a normal right of every nation.

"Indonesia should not fear in upholding the law," Nasir said. He repeated that Indonesia has been in a state of "drug emergency."

President Joko Widodo, who rejected clemency requests for all six convicts in December, refused a last-minute appeal by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the Dutch government to spare their countrymen – Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, and Ang Kiem Soe, 52, of the Netherlands.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Maurio Vieira said that the executions "create a stain, a shadow in the bilateral relationship." Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said the execution was "an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity." The Nigerian government also protested that the execution took place "against the grain" of its excellent bilateral relations.

Coordinator Minister for Political, Law and Security Tedjo Edhy was confident that executions would not disturb diplomatic relations, adding that executions of Indonesians abroad had no impact on diplomatic ties.

Edhy guaranteed that Indonesia would not discriminate in imposing the death penalty. "The president has insisted that this is the decision of the state and therefore the origin countries of the convicts, including those being executed, have to respect and honor our law," Edhy said.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation of 250 million people, has extremely strict drug laws and often executes smugglers. More than 138 people are on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About a third of them are foreigners.

Source: http://www.irrawaddy.org/asia/diplomatic-appeals-wont-stop-drug-executions-indonesia.html

Activists demand alternative to death row

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Slamming President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's decision to proceed with the executions of six drug convicts recently, the country's human rights activists have joined hands to call on Jokowi to spare the lives of other death-row inmates set to face the firing squad this year.

Instead of putting convicts, who according to activists are mostly low- ranking criminals, to death, Jokowi's administration is being urged to implement fruitful measures to comprehensively combat narcotics-related crimes in the country, from practicing corrupt-free law enforcement to hunting down key people behind such crimes.

Besides the six recently executed, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno previously revealed that 20 other death-row inmates were to be executed in 2015, the majority of whom were drug convicts.

"We hope the executions recently carried out will be the last in this country," National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairman Hafid Abbas said on Monday. "We all agree that we must eradicate narcotics- related crimes but imposing on the death penalty to fight such crimes is wrong," he added.

Hafid argued the death penalty was not an effective measure to exterminate narcotics-related crimes in Indonesia due to the country's unreliable legal system.

Together with Komnas HAM, critics of the death penalty also voiced concerns over Indonesia's efforts to uphold human rights, including the right to life, universally promoted as a non-negotiable right that must not be limited for any reason.

While many countries had eliminated the death penalty, Indonesia, on the other hand, regretfully still used it, activists slammed.

"We must include the removal of death penalty in the amendment of the KUHP [Criminal Code], an inheritance of the draconian colonial era," executive director of Jakarta-based human rights watchdog Imparsial said.

"In terms of the war on narcotics, the government must impartially enforce the law, including on officials who protect the 'big fish', while at the same time launch comprehensive preventive programs, particularly for young people," she emphasized.

Other groups that shared similar concerns included, among others, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), Setara Institute, Human Rights Working Groups (HRWG) and Migrant Care.

Migrant Care, which has been promoting the rights of Indonesian workers abroad, highlighted concerns over the fate of around 267 Indonesians who were facing the death penalty abroad.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/activists-demand-alternative-death-row.html

First executions under new Indonesia president regression for rights: AI

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2015

Jakarta – The execution of six drug traffickers in Indonesia early Sunday, the first since President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo took office, is a retrograde step for human rights in the country, Amnesty International (AI) has said.

Those executed by firing squad today, comprising one Indonesian and five foreign nationals, had been convicted on drug trafficking charges.

"This is a seriously regressive move and a very sad day. The new administration has taken office on the back of promises to make human rights a priority, but the execution of six people flies in the face of these commitments," AI's research director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Rupert Abbott, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The new government has announced that 20 more executions are scheduled for this year. In December 2014, it was also reported that President Jokowi would not grant clemency to at least 64 individuals who had been sentenced to death for drug-related crimes.

"The government must immediately halt plans to put more people to death. This is a country that just a few years ago had taken positive steps to moving away from the death penalty, but the authorities are now steering the country in the opposite direction," Abbott said.

"The use of the death penalty at home also makes the Indonesian authorities' efforts to fight it being applied to Indonesians abroad look hypocritical. Indonesia must impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its eventual abolition," he went on.

Five of the six convicts, comprising Ang Kim Soei (Dutch), Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazilian), Namaona Denis (Nigerian), and Rani Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (Indonesia), were executed on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java. Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnamese) was executed in Boyolali, also in Central Java.

AI says it opposes the death penalty in all cases and under any circumstances, regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to carry out the execution.

"The death penalty violates the right to life as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. The protection for the right to life is also recognized in Indonesia's Constitution," it said.

So far 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/18/first-executions-under-new-ri-president-regression-rights-ai.html

Death penalty for drug-related convictions 'deplorable', says HRW

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2015

Jakarta – The application of the death penalty for inmates convicted on drug trafficking charges is intolerable as international human rights law has limited the use of the death penalty to only "the most serious crimes", typically crimes resulting in death or grievous bodily harm, a New York- based rights group has said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted that the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee and the UN expert on unlawful killings have condemned using the death penalty in drug cases. The UN high commissioner for human rights and the director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime have likewise expressed grave concerns about the application of the death penalty for drug offenses, it said. "All this makes Indonesia's application of the death penalty for drug-related convictions particularly odious," HRW's deputy director for Asia division, Phelim Kine, said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Six death row inmates convicted on drug trafficking charges, namely Ang Kin Soei (who was Dutch), Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazilian), Namaona Denis (Nigerian), Rani Andriani alias Melisia Aprilia (Indonesian) and Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnamese), were executed by firing squad early on Sunday.

According to Kine, the government's decision to execute the six convicts contradicted its moves to save Indonesian citizens being threatened with the death penalty in other countries.

Citing an example, he said, the Indonesian government was working hard to prevent Saudi Arabia from executing Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, a domestic worker who has been on death row since 2010 for allegedly murdering and robbing her Saudi employer's wife.

The Indonesian government has launched a formal appeal to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to pardon Satinah. The paying to the victim's family of a legally recognized "blood debt" equivalent to US$1.9 million in late 2014 paved the way for that possible pardon, so Satinah may be spared execution.

Kine said Moreira, one of the six executed convicts, had been no less deserving of the Indonesian government's mercy than Satinah.

The Brazilian citizen, who was on death row in Indonesia since 2003 for drug smuggling, was less fortunate, however. According to Moreira's lawyer, the government had denied requests by the Brazilian government to extradite Moreira in order to allow him to serve a prison sentence in Brazil.

Kine said the Indonesian government's pursuit of clemency for Satinah in Saudi Arabia while ignoring its own continued use of the death penalty was more than just about hypocrisy over the right to life.

"It's an expression of recently elected President Joko Widodo's avowed support for the death penalty as an 'important shock therapy' for drug-law violators," he said.

Last month, the President denied petitions for clemency submitted by five of the ultimately executed convicts saying that the drug traffickers on death row had destroyed the future of the nation.

Sunday's executions were the first since the use of the death penalty on March 15, 2013, when Adami Wilson, a 48-year-old Malawian national convicted in 2004 of smuggling one kilogram of heroin into Indonesia, was killed by firing squad, a sentence that marked the end of a four-year unofficial moratorium on capital punishment.

"The President has an opportunity to demonstrate wise leadership by recognizing the well-documented failure of the death penalty as a crime deterrent and joining the growing number of countries that have abolished capital punishment," said Kine. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/18/indonesia-s-death-penalty-drug-related-convictions-deplorable-says-hrw.html

Drug convict executions spark international protests

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Fedina S. Sundaryani, Ina Parlina and Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The determination of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to turn down the appeals for clemency from six death-row drug convicts and his decision that they should face the firing squad on Sunday has sparked international outcry.

The high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, and vice president of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, said she deplored the executions because the EU opposed capital punishment in all cases.

"The announced executions of the six death-row inmates, including a Dutch citizen, for drug offenses is deeply regrettable. This would be the second round of executions since November 2013," she said in a statement issued in Brussels, Belgium on Thursday.

Federica said that the death penalty was cruel and inhumane. Furthermore, she called on the Indonesian government to stop the executions and consider establishing a moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a first step toward its abolishment.

The EU was not the only international organization to call Indonesia out. The UN Human Rights (UNHR) Committee also lambasted President Jokowi's decision to proceed with the executions.

UNHR Committee member and special rapporteur for Indonesia, Cornelis Flinterman, said that the government should abolish the barbaric practice.

"Crimes involving narcotics cannot be considered the most serious crime on which the death penalty can be used as a legitimate penalty," he said during a press conference in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Friday. Rights group Amnesty International also condemned Jokowi's decision on Thursday. National civil society organizations have similarly criticized the President.

On Thursday, Attorney General M. Prasetyo announced that five drug convicts – four men and one woman – would face firing squads on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java, while another female drug convict would be executed in Boyolali, also in Central Java.

Prasetyo said that the executions were a demonstration of the government's determination to crack down on drugs.

Attorney General's Office (AGO) spokesman Tony Spontana told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the convicts on Nusakambangan would face five separate firing squads at exactly the same time at midnight on Sunday in order for the executions to be humane.

"They're being executed at the exact same time for psychological reasons. After several practice runs, we discovered that the shots could be heard by the convicts since the execution area was close to their prison. It would be traumatizing for them," he said.

He also said that their final requests were simple; Dutchman Ang Kiem Soei and Vietnamese convict Tran Thi Bich Hanh had asked for their bodies to be cremated, while Indonesian woman Rani asked to be buried beside her mother in Cianjur, West Java.

Meanwhile, Malawian Namaoana Denis, Nigerian Daniel Enemuo and Brazilian Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira had not yet decided on their final requests.

"They had previously asked for their bodies to be sent back to their home countries but we told them and their embassies that the AGO could only be responsible for putting their bodies in coffins and transporting them to the nearest international airport. Their embassies would be responsible for sending them back home," he said.

Separately, National Police chief Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that the convicts would be taken blindfolded to their places of execution, which would be close to the prison. Then they would be asked if they would prefer to sit, stand or lie down for the execution.

"Twelve police personnel – including a doctor – will be lined up 10 meters away from the convict, where they will shoot from all at exactly the same time," he said, although he refused to disclose how many times the convicts would be shot and how many bullets would be used for the executions.

"Once the convicts have been executed, the assigned doctor will immediately approach the body to check if the convict has died, which they would announce aloud, specifying the official time of death," said Rikwanto.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/drug-convict-executions-spark-international-protests.html

Death row not a solution for fighting narcotics: Kontras

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Jakarta – The Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) joined forces with human rights NGOs to oppose the execution of six death-row convicts in Boyolali, West Java, and Nusakambangan Island, West Java, scheduled for Sunday, saying it would not solve the illegal drug problem.

"We are pessimistic that statements will be effective in stopping drug trafficking, because executing drug dealers and couriers will not be able to stop the global production of narcotics," Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said in a press release on Saturday.

Haris deplored the recent statement made by Attorney General Prasetyo who said that the execution was aimed at upholding the law and saving the country from the ravages of drugs.

He added that Prasetyo's statement went against the global trend of phasing out death sentences and said execution would tarnish Indonesia's image and credibility as an upholder of human rights.

He said that according to chapter 28 of the amended 1945 Constitution, all citizens, including death-row convicts, had the right to live and defend their living, which was consistent with chapter 6 of the International Covenant on Civilian and Political Rights, which has been already ratified by Indonesia with passage of Law. No. 12/2005.

Haris said the execution would add to the list of inconsistent human rights policies under new president Jokowi.

An alliance of human rights organizations, including Indonesian Solidarity For Women and the Setara Institute, joined forces on Friday to oppose the execution. The plan has also sparked protests in the EU and drawn criticisms from international rights groups.

The police have increased security on Nusakambangan Island and at Boyolali Prison, where the six death-row convicts will be executed Sunday at 12 a.m. West Indonesian time.(rms)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/death-row-not-a-solution-fighting-narcotics-kontras.html

Police sergeant arrested with thousands of ecstasy pills in West Jakarta

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2015

Bayu Marhaenjati, Jakarta – Narcotics detectives with Jakarta Police swooped on a West Jakarta Police sergeant in a hotel parking lot on Friday and charged him with possession with intent to distribute thousands of ecstasy pills and several hundred grams of crystal methamphetamine.

"We made the arrest. We're still developing the investigation," police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday.

Police sergeant Sudirman was arrested at the Mitra Kencana Lestari hotel in West Jakarta. Police found in his bags a total 712.8 grams of meth and 7,457 ecstasy pills, which have a combined street value of almost $300,000.

Martinus said that Sudirman had obtained the drugs about two weeks ago in Tambora, West Jakarta and was responsible for their sale. Police have launched an investigation into the identity of the buyer but would not be be drawn on detail.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/police-sergeant-arrested-thousands-ecstasy-pills-west-jakarta/

Police vs KPK

PDI-P says Abraham named Budi suspect out of personal spite

Jakarta Globe - January 22, 2015

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Fana F.S. Putra & Ezra Sihite, Jakarta – A politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, has launched a scathing attack against the chairman of the national antigraft agency over the probe against Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

The accusation was made by the PDI-P's acting secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto, who was previously part of President Joko Widodo's campaign team.

He accused Abraham Samad, chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), of retaliating against the party for its decision not to support Abraham's alleged bid to become vice president.

Before a press conference, Hasto, who claimed to be acting in his personal capacity and not as a PDI-P member, said Abraham met with the campaign team at least five times, expressing his wish to become Joko's running mate.

Hasto said Abraham promised to be more lenient toward PDI-P politician Emir Moeis, who was on trial for bribery at the time, in exchange for the party's backing. The PDI-P politician alleged that two of Abraham's associates, who he identified as "D" and "D," have continuously lobbied him since then.

Hasto said he met Abraham in May last year to break the news to him that Joko had chosen senior Golkar politician Jusuf Kalla as his running mate.

"I know [about Kalla] already, because I have wiretapped [your phones]," Hasto quoted Abraham as allegedly saying. "I know I failed [to become Joko's running mate] because of Budi Gunawan." Hasto said he had witnesses who could corroborate his version of the events.

The attack against Abraham follows the antigraft agency's naming of Budi, Joko's sole candidate for National Police chief, as a bribery and money laundering suspect.

The senior police officer is known to have close ties with PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri since the time he was the former president's security aide.

Hasto, who did not say what role Budi played in Abraham's alleged bid, said he was not attacking the KPK chief, nor seeking revenge for the antigraft agency stopping Budi from becoming the police chief.

"I am merely clarifying the blog post," he said pointing to a blog post on online forum Kompasiana titled "Abraham Samad's Glass House," which first aired the accusations.

In an extraordinary statement that could leave Hasto open to a defamation suit by Abraham, the PDI-P secretary general reported Abraham as having admitted to wire-tapping Budi to glean information that could affect his alleged political ambitions.

"[Abraham] said 'I know already because I wire-tapped [people from the PDI-P]. I know that Budi Gunawan was behind my failure'," Hasto said, quoting or paraphrasing Abraham. Hasto said Budi had nothing to do with the putative jilting of Abraham as Joko's political partner.

What nomination?

But Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto, who also served in Joko's campaign team, denied Hasto's remarks.

Andi said his team indeed considered Abraham as a likely running mate for Joko but that the proposal came from Joko's team and not from Abraham. Andi said it was Joko's campaign team who eventually approached Abraham for a possible nomination.

"But because of the strict code of ethics inside the KPK, it was impossible for [the campaign team] to meet, let alone interview Abraham Samad," he said. "To my knowledge it is impossible for Abraham to lobby someone freely without [other] KPK [officials] monitoring it."

Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, Hasto's former boss, also denied Hasto's story that the PDI-P had planned to back Abraham as a vice presidential candidate. Tjahjo, who was the PDI-P's secretary general before becoming a minister, said he never met Abraham privately.

"I have never heard [about the PDI-P considering Abraham to be vice president]. As a secretary general I never heard of it. The party never discussed [Abraham's nomination]," he said.

Siti Zuhro, a senior political analyst at the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said Hasto's accusations have only served as confirmation that the PDI-P was behind Budi's nomination.

"The KPK names a suspect based on consensus among all KPK leaders. Suppose one KPK leader did have a grudge, does that mean the others have grudges as well?" she said. "This is just a rumor to smooth [Budi's path] to becoming police chief."

Budi had been on the antigraft agency's radar since 2010, when the Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center (PPATK) flagged irregularities in Budi's bank accounts, which the anti-money laundering agency deemed problematic.

The KPK, which said it had intensified its investigation against Budi since mid-2014, named the three-star general as a graft suspect shortly after he was named as a police chief candidate.

Indonesia Corruption Watch deputy chairman Emerson Yuntho said Joko has been inconsistent with his anti-corruption pledge as well as the elites and politicians around him.

"What is so special about [Budi] that forces the politicians to keep pushing the president to inaugurate him? Politicians should listen to what the public wants and not the demands of a few political elites," he said.

University of Indonesia political analyst Cecep Hidayat noted that Joko's decision to leave the KPK out from vetting his police chief candidate is also inconsistent with the process in naming his cabinet members, during which the KPK actively conducted background checks on all names proposed by the president.

"It would be better if Joko restarts his nomination process for the National Police chief to prove that he will not bow down to any political party leader," he said.

However, the KPK has pledged to investigate Hasto's claims. "We will see how far this information is true," KPK chief of corruption prevention Johan Budi said. But he warned that the KPK could report Hasto for slander if the claims proved to be false.

Fighting back

However, Hasto is not alone in attacking the KPK. A nongovernmental organization known as the Indonesian Marginalized People Movement (GMBI), with support from lawyers representing Budi, has filed a report with the police against the antigraft agency on Thursday.

The group alleges that the KPK has not followed due process in its investigation into Budi, accusing the antigraft agency of having violated Article 11 of the 2010 Law on Money Laundering, according to which investigators are not permitted to disclose evidence before a public trial.

The KPK has so far said that Budi's case involve irregularities in his bank accounts and transactions, with very limited details having been made public.

The KPK has also come under criticism from lawmakers and Tedjo Edhy Purdijanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, over its handling of the case. Many have questioned the timing of the announcement, which has turned into a major political issue.

The GMBI was accompanied by Budi's lawyers Eggy Sudjana and Razman Arif Nasution. On Wednesday, the pair filed a pre-trial motion on behalf of Budi against KPK chief Abraham and also his deputy Bambang Widjojanto. They accuse the KPK leaders of negligence and abuse of authority in their handling of Budi's corruption case.

"We are reporting the KPK leaders to the Supreme Court regarding an allegation of abuse of authority, or negligence, or coercion," Razman said. "The process should involve questioning the person of interest, questioning witnesses, gathering evidence and then naming the suspect," he said. "In this case, they named the suspect first before conducting the questioning."

KPK deputy chairman Bambang has denied that the agency had any ulterior motives in its investigation, which he said would not be treated differently to any other.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/pdi-p-says-abraham-named-budi-suspect-personal-spite/

Hostilities mount against KPK

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2015

Haeril Halim and Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's pick for the position of National Police chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, has launched his first salvo in what many see as a repeat of the "gecko vs crocodile" standoffs that pitted the police against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

On Wednesday, the lawyers of Budi, whose inauguration as National Police chief has been postponed by Jokowi, filed a report with the Attorney General's Office (AGO) on the KPK's leadership, for what Budi called "an abuse of power" in naming him a graft suspect at the 11th hour before his expected inauguration as the new National Police chief.

The report follows Budi's decision to file a pre-trial petition with the South Jakarta District Court to challenge the KPK's move on Tuesday.

The pre-trial motion was filed after the online distribution of allegedly doctored intimate photos of KPK chairman Abraham Samad with Miss Indonesia Elvira Devinamira Wirayanti.

Earlier this week, the KPK faced more hurdles in investigating Budi after a number of active and retired police generals skipped KPK questioning, a move that prevented KPK investigators from collecting testimonies to build a strong case against Budi.

The KPK shrugged off Budi's latest move, with the antigraft body's deputy chairman, Zulkarnain, who has a background as a prosecutor, saying Budi was wrong to file his complaint with the AGO, as that institution did not have the authority to handle the case.

Zulkarnain also dismissed the pre-trial motion as irrelevant. "A pre-trial petition is a legal means to question a law enforcer's alleged misconduct in arresting or detaining a suspect. Legally, it has nothing to do with challenging a law enforcement institution's decision on an individual," he said.

Zulkarnain added that the only legal means for Budi to prove his innocence was through his upcoming graft trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court. The KPK deputy chairman further called on Budi not to complicate the KPK's work.

"We call on everybody to respect the legal process. Any action taken outside the legal process could impact on the investigation. We want the legal process at the KPK to be finished as soon as possible. Also, the public will be outraged with this kind of display, so let's respect the legal process," Zulkarnain said.

Meanwhile, KPK chairman Samad dismissed Budi's accusation, saying that the KPK had not breached any regulations in its decision to name him a suspect. "We have not committed any violations in this process," Samad said.

Separately, University of Indonesia legal expert Ganjar Laksmana said there was nothing in the Criminal Law Procedures Code or the 1999 Corruption Law that could justify Budi's latest move.

"There are many articles regulating the abuse of power, but I don't think there's one that regulates an abuse of power by a law enforcement institution to name someone a suspect," said Ganjar,

Although Budi's move on Wednesday could be considered a "joke", Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) warned that Budi's complaint to the AGO could be a threat to the KPK, as the AGO, led by HM Prasetyo, a former NasDem Party politician, would likely conspire with the police to criminalize the KPK by processing Budi's report.

Despite Budi's status as a graft suspect, the government has not withdrawn his nomination, which may be enough for Budi to gain the upper hand in a possible standoff with the KPK.

"Jokowi must take action to prevent the conflict from getting ugly," Emerson said, warning against a repeat of "gecko vs crocodile" episodes in 2009 that saw police officers surround the KPK's headquarters on two occasions, following the anti-graft body's alleged tapping into a senior police general in a graft case.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/22/hostilities-mount-against-kpk.html

SBY questioning Jokowi's motives

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Jakarta – Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has accused his successor of "cleaning up his men" following President Joko Widodo's decision to replace the National Police chief months ahead of time.

Gen. Sutarman, who was recently discharged from his post as National Police chief, was not due for retirement until October. But in a move that surprised many, Joko announced this month that he was replacing Sutarman with his sole candidate, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

In another shocking twist, the president was forced to delay Budi's appointment after the police general was named a suspect for bribery and money laundering by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Yudhoyono has taken to his Facebook page to criticize Joko's decision – not for naming a corruption suspect as his sole candidate for the role of the nation's top cop, but for replacing Sutarman, appointed under Yudhoyono's term.

The former president claimed that he had received word from one of his close associates telling him that Joko is planning to replace everyone installed during Yudhoyono's administration, including those in the military and police.

"I was stunned. If [Joko is replacing] people perceived as SBY's men in the politically appointed positions, the move still makes sense. But if those replaced are officers in the military and police who are doing their job professionally [...] then this is absurd," Yudhoyono writes in a post published on Monday evening.

The former president insisted that he had made the appointments transparently and with accountability. He then conceded: "I am not sure whether President Jokowi truly intends to conduct such a 'clean up.' But if it is the case, then Jokowi can expect the same actions by his successor," he writes, referring to Joko by his popular nickname.

In true social media form, the president responded to his predecessor's comments on his own Facebook page. "No such thing is happening; I am not 'cleaning up SBY's men.' This is not a political clash, nor is this a 'generational' war," he writes. "We aim to mend policies of the past that may not be very effective, and improve on those that are.

"If there are changes in the bureaucratic structure, it is merely to refresh the management of public policy and that is common practice." Joko maintained that any replacements made are based on the new appointee's merit and has nothing to do with politics.

Analysts and former police officers have questioned Joko's choice for Sutarman's replacement, saying it was unprecedented and triggered public suspicion that the president was forced by his party to make the move.

"I can't find any faults in Sutarman that would lead to his replacement. I'm 100 percent sure that he has not made any fatal mistakes during his tenure. He's clean and is not involved in any legal cases. Also, he still has nine months left before he is set to retire," said Comr. Gen (ret) Oegroseno.

Meanwhile, political science professor Salim Said offered up a reason politicians may be so focused on the post of National Police chief.

"The military is all about defense. The role of the National Police is more strategic. So don't be surprised that [politicians] are trying to control the police force," he said, adding that rivalries within the law enforcement agency may be working against each other to secure political backings.

To say that Budi's appointment has nothing to do with the fact that he once served as security chief for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri during her reign as president, would also be naive, he added, pointing out the longstanding bitter rivalry between Joko's political patron and Yudhoyono.

The relationship between the two soured when Yudhoyono resigned from Megawati's cabinet to run for president, ultimately foiling Megawati's bid for re-election in 2004.

But PDI-P politician Maruarar Sirait denied allegations Megawati was behind Sutarman's ousting, insisting that her chairman bore no ill will toward Yudhoyono. "SBY is being sensitive [for linking Sutarman's replacement with his differences with Megawati]," Maruarar said.

He also denied that the president is attempting to replace all officials appointed under Yudhoyono's term, saying the rumors may have been spread by those looking to stir up a new rivalry between Joko and Yudhoyono.

"Joko has met with the former president and the meeting could change the current political landscape because not everyone is happy about [the two seeing eye to eye]," Maruarar added.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/sby-questioning-jokowis-motives/

Tedjo slams KPK for failure to warn Jokowi about Budi

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno castigated the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday for its failure to warn President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo about Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's track record before Jokowi chose Budi as the sole candidate for National Police chief.

Tedjo – the head of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), an institution whose duties include issuing recommendations on senior police appointments – has repeatedly refused to be blamed for his failure to net an untainted candidate for police chief or to spot Budi's suspicious bank accounts.

Budi's nomination has become a hot topic among the general public and public officials since the KPK declared him a graft suspect last Tuesday, just a day before he underwent a screening at the House of Representatives.

"If there is a candidate and the KPK has detected something [wrong] in that person, please do meet the president [to warn him about the matter]. Don't let the president be humiliated by this kind of situation. Just openly tell the president; rest assured that he will take it into consideration," Tedjo said on Tuesday at his office as quoted by kompas.com.

Tedjo later, however, reiterated that the government had no obligation to involve either the KPK or the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) in helping the president to review a national police chief candidate, insisting that the onus was on those two institution to take the initiative.

The KPK should support Jokowi's commitment to creating clean governance by informing him of any allegations against candidates, Tedjo added. "We need to build communication," he said.

Tedjo has several times asserted that Kompolnas had had no access to the KPK or PPATK to verify the allegations against Budi.

"Where was the failure? I did not know that he [would] be a suspect. I felt that I had already verified [the suspicious bank accounts] through the National Police. I do not have access to the KPK or the PPATK," the coordinating minister said.

Last week, after the House's Commission III overseeing legal affairs approved Budi's nomination following a confirmation hearing, Jokowi announced that he had asked Kompolnas about the suspicious transactions in Budi's accounts. However, the President added that Kompolnas had looked into the transactions and found them to be above board.

A day later, a House plenary session officially endorsed Jokowi's selection of Budi as police chief to replace Gen. Sutarman, despite Budi having been named a suspect in a graft case.

On Monday, Tedjo accused the KPK of "seemingly wanting to make Budi fail [in his candidacy]", questioning why the KPK had not warned the President before it moved against Budi. At that time, Tedjo also urged the KPK to respect the government by bring a swift resolution to the case

"If the KPK does have strong evidence, I would like to see it process [the case] as soon as possible, whatever the result," Tedjo said, citing several examples of KPK cases that have been ongoing for a long time, including the Bank Century case.

However, Tedjo has also stated that the decision whether to select a new candidate is entirely Jokowi's prerogative.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/tedjo-slams-kpk-failure-warn-jokowi-about-budi.html

Budi Gunawan reports KPK leaders to AGO

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Jakarta – National Police chief hopeful Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan has reported Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad and KPK Deputy Chairman Bambang Widjojanto to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for alleged power abuses.

Eggy Sudjana and Razman Arif Nasution, two lawyers who accompanied Budi in the case, said they represented Budi in the filing of file the report with the AGO.

"We are representing Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan to report the two KPK leaders to the AGO," kompas.com quoted Eggy as saying before filing the report on Wednesday.

Samad and Bambang announced at a press conference a day before Budi underwent a confirmation hearing before House of Representatives Commission III on law last week that Budi had been declared a graft suspect in connection with fat bank accounts in his name.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has suspended the inauguration of Budi as the new police chief pending a KPK investigation into the case. The President has instead appointed deputy police chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti as acting police chief until the KPK has completed its investigation into Budi.

The director of investigation at the AGO, Suyadi, confirmed that his office had received the report and would follow it up immediately.

"We will study the report. We have 14 days to do it before deciding on whether the report should be followed up or dropped," he said. He added that his office would not yet summons Samad or Bambang but would first study the report.

The National Police have also filed for a pretrial hearing with the South Jakarta District Court regarding on the KPK's move to name Budi a suspect.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/budi-gunawan-reports-kpk-leaders-ago.html

National Police strike back to defend Budi

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2015

Haeril Halim, Bagus BT Saragih and Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – A number of police officers have again failed to answer summonses from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in relation to a case of alleged corruption implicating National Police chief hopeful Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, with the force appearing to be challenging the antigraft body's move against Budi.

The KPK has named Budi a suspect for financial misdeeds after finding that, in his capacity as head of the Career Development Bureau at the National Police headquarters from 2004 to 2006, he amassed a total of Rp 95 billion allegedly from bribery and gratuities, including bribes paid by officers in pursuit of power within the National Police.

The three witnesses scheduled for questioning on Tuesday were East Kalimantan Police head Insp. Gen Andayano, Jombang deputy police chief Comr. Sumardi and retired officer Brig. Gen. (ret) Heru Purwanto.

On Monday, only Insp. Gen (ret.) Syahtria Sitepu, one of three officials summoned that day, attended a questioning.

Syahtria, who is a former lecturer at the Police Education Institute (Lemdikpol) currently led by Budi, allegedly transferred billions of rupiah to Budi's bank account.

National Police general crime investigations director Brig. Gen. Herry Prastowo and Sr. Comr. Ibnu Isticha, Budi's subordinate at Lemdikpol, did not obey the KPK's summonses.

KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said it was possible that the KPK would dig deeper into other graft cases connected to the National Police if enough evidence were unearthed during the investigation into Budi.

"It is too early [to look into other irregularities at the National Police]. Let our investigators first work to collect testimony from witnesses in BG's case," Bambang said, referring to Budi by his initials.

Bambang further said that the antigraft body could, if necessary, force the witnesses to attend questioning sessions, but that for now they would simply issue repeat summonses.

In a countermove to KPK's prosecution of Budi, the National Police lodged a pretrial petition on Tuesday at the South Jakarta District Court against the KPK case, which they claimed to be flawed.

"According to the 2005 National Police chief regulation, any member of the police facing criminal investigation has the right to legal assistance. We will utilize any possible legal assistance to help defend [Budi] against the KPK's investigation," force spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny Sompie told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Commenting on the police's move, Bambang said that the KPK was ready to fight a legal battle in court to prove that its move against Budi had been in line with existing regulations, and not politically motived, as many have asserted.

Budi is the highest-ranking active police officer ever to be named a suspect by the KPK. In 2012, Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo was charged by the antigraft body with bribery and money-laundering during his tenure as chief of the National Police's Traffic Corps.

Djoko was suspended from his position only days after he was named a suspect, and, after his conviction, was forced to resign by an ethics tribunal. However, Ronny said there was no plan yet to set up an ethics tribunal for Budi.

Meanwhile, newly appointed detective division chief Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso, who is a close associate of Budi, hinted that someone within the police force may have helped the KPK pin down Budi Gunawan prior to his expected inauguration, which was postponed following the KPK's move.

"Yes, there is definitely the possibility that there is a traitor in our midst. If we find him or her, then we will deal with it internally," he said.

Waseso replaced Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, who was dismissed on Friday alongside National Police chief Gen. Sutarman. Although President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has not clarified the reasons for the dismissals, many have speculated that the pair had provided evidence to the KPK in relation to Budi's alleged misdeeds, in an act of opposition to the latter's nomination.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/21/national-police-strike-back-defend-budi.html

Supporter of 'fat account' suspect keeps own wealth concealed from KPK

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2015

Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The Indonesian police general who has been among the most vocal supporters of a colleague accused of graft linked to a "fat" bank account has apparently neglected to disclose his own wealth.

Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso, who was on Tuesday sworn in as the National Police's chief of detectives, admitted to reporters that he had never submitted a wealth report to the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, as required by law.

"It's in the process. I'll do it later," he said after his swearing-in at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

He added he did not know offhand the total value of his assets, and pledged to get an independent assessment made. "If I give an estimate, you'll say I'm lying. I've got to be honest," Budi said.

A KPK spokesman confirmed last Friday that Budi had never submitted any wealth reports during his time in the police force.

Budi, a known supporter of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, the governor of the police academy who was recently nominated by President Joko Widodo to become the National Police chief, was appointed chief of detectives, the second-highest post in the force, to replace Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius in an abrupt reshuffle last week.

Suhardi, reassigned to a desk job with little authority, said he felt he had been cut loose because he was deemed too close to the KPK and the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, or PPATK, the government's anti-money-laundering watchdog, after the KPK last week named Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect on the basis of suspiciously large bank transactions flagged back in 2010 by the PPATK.

Budi Waseso, speaking last week after news of the reshuffle first leaked out, said "There must be no traitors within the police force," in an apparent reference to Suhardi. "Even if he isn't a traitor, at the very least he's unprofessional."

The unusual circumstances of Budi Waseso's appointment continued to be apparent even in his inauguration, which was held behind closed doors without the customary prior notice sent out to the media. It was also the first ever presided over by an acting chief of the police, Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, following Joko's surprise decision last week – at the same time as Suhardi's reassignment – to dismiss the police chief, Gen. Sutarman.

In another clear display of his loyalty to graft suspect Budi Gunawan, Budi Waseso declared to reporters after his inauguration that he had long been one of the suspect's subordinates.

"I need to clarify that I used to be under [Budi Gunawan], so it's only reasonable for me to stand by him. I'm one of his men," he said.

Joko has chosen to delay inaugurating Budi Gunawan, a close associate of his political patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, as the new police chief, in light of the legal troubles he faces. The KPK has already vowed to arrest and indict him, but has not said when. The antigraft commission has a track record of never failing to win a conviction against anyone it names a suspect.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/supporter-fat-account-suspect-keeps-wealth-concealed-kpk/

Faldi Zon attacks KPK over 'political involvement'

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2015

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon criticized Indonesia's anti-graft agency on Tuesday, saying they had become untouchable and too caught up in politics.

In comments that are likely to stir fears that the House is trying to reign in the agency, Faldi said lawmakers were "seriously" considering the formation of a special committee to audit the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK. "It has to be done. KPK has to be open and transparent," he said.

The KPK is already audited by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), but Faldi insisted other areas needed to be reviewed. He said too many things were unclear about how the agency operated, making it seem untouchable.

Faldi raised issue with the KPK's wire tapping practises, questioned "how clean" members of the agency were themselves, and criticized its handling of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's graft case.

Budi was announced a corruption suspect by the agency last week, just days after he was nominated for the role of National Police chief by President Joko Widodo.

"It was a 2006 case, how come they just name him a suspect now?" he asked. "Why not last month before he was nominated for National Police chief position? What is their standard? For us, KPK has been involved in politics, maybe the internal police politics or other."

Faldi said the KPK's promise to disclose the names of ministerial candidates that were red flagged over possible corruption links was also a lie. "It's never been opened until now. They only gave out lies."

Faldi has previously denied neither his party, the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra), nor the House has any desire to reign in the KPK.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/faldi-zon-attacks-kpk-political-involvement/

Police officers skip questioning for Budi case

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) faced the first challenge in its investigation into graft suspect and National Police chief hopeful Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan after a police general and a mid-ranking officer failed to attend a questioning session at the antigraft body's headquarters on Monday.

Monday's grilling was the first round of questioning scheduled by the KPK since it named Budi a graft suspect on Tuesday last week, one day before the House of Representatives held a confirmation hearing for his nomination.

The officers' no-show increases the political pressure on the investigation into Budi, who was named a graft suspect in relation to bank accounts in his name containing billions of rupiah allegedly connected to bribes and gratuities. The government has expressed no intention to withdraw Budi's nomination.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha confirmed the absence of National Police general crime investigations director, Brig. Gen. Herry Prastowo, and Sr. Comr. Ibnu Isticha of the National Police. "Of the three witnesses scheduled for questioning today, only Insp. Gen. [ret] Syahtria Sitepu showed up," Priharsa said at the KPK headquarters.

Syahtria and Herry were issued with a travel ban by the antigraft body last week along with Budi and Budi's son Muhammad Herviano Widyatama, one of the beneficiaries of his father's allegedly illicit money, and Budi's assistant Iie Tiara, who is also a police officer.

Travel bans on witnesses are usually followed by graft charges, but Priharsa refused to comment on this possibility. Priharsa also did not elaborate on the roles that Herry and Ibnu are suspected of playing in Budi's alleged crime.

"Herry said that he was currently abroad, which is why he could not obey the summons, while we received no explanation from Ibnu for his absence," Priharsa said, adding that KPK investigators would reschedule another questioning session for the pair in the near future.

Having named Budi his sole candidate for National Police chief, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo postponed on Friday the three-star general's inauguration for an undecided period after the KPK named him a suspect for graft allegedly occurring between 2004 and 2005.

Immediately after postponing Budi's inauguration, Jokowi dismissed National Police chief Gen. Sutarman and assigned deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, who is widely known as a close associate of Budi, to take charge temporarily.

Many have predicted that the antigraft body will face difficulties in its investigation into Budi, who was endorsed by all political parties at the House of Representatives during his confirmation hearing.

The internal "cleansing" continued the same day, the National Police replacing its detective division chief, Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, who is known to have close ties with KPK leaders, with Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso – a subordinate of Budi who heads education and training for the high-ranking officer division.

State Secretary Pratikno, who earlier refused to comment on the matter, said on Monday, "Clearly, we should not leave someone in an uncertain situation for too long."

"We [all] need certainty as soon as possible," he added, saying that legal certainty would be good for everyone, including Budi himself and the government.

Meanwhile, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno urged the KPK to respect the government by bringing a swift resolution to Budi's case.

"Therefore, if the KPK has strong evidence, I would like to see it process [the case] as soon as possible, whatever the result is," Tedjo said, citing several examples of KPK investigations that have been ongoing for a long time, including the Bank Century case.

"The public must also play its part in pushing the KPK to quickly solve the case," he added. Tedjo said, however, that it was the prerogative of Jokowi whether to name a new candidate.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/police-officers-skip-questioning-budi-case.html

Rift within National Police may deepen

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Concerns over a leadership crisis within the National Police have mounted following President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's recent decision to dismiss Gen. Sutarman as police chief amid escalating opposition to the inauguration of a graft suspect to lead the institution.

Deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said on Monday that he had appealed to all police personnel to maintain unity amid circulating reports of looming infighting between different factions within the force.

"This morning I told all personnel that we should not be suspicious of each other or ignite friction. There should be no separate groups within the police force. We should all be united," Badrodin said at the Presidential Palace.

Jokowi discharged Sutarman on Friday after postponing the inauguration of his replacement, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who was declared a graft suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) the day after Jokowi requested the House of Representatives endorse Budi's nomination.

National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, meanwhile, followed Sutarman to the chopping block.

Jokowi did not disclose the reasons behind the dismissal of Sutarman and Suhardi, but speculation is rife that the pair had provided evidence to the KPK in relation to Budi's alleged misdeeds, in an act of opposition to the latter's nomination.

After taking office on Oct. 20, Jokowi's relations with Sutarman quickly soured, with many pointing to the slow progress in the prosecution of figures from the Obor Rakyat tabloid accused of defaming Jokowi during last year's presidential campaign. The tabloid falsely reported that Jokowi was a Christian of Chinese descent

The National Police named the tabloid's founder, Setiyardi Boediono, and its editor, Darmawan Sepriyossa, suspects in the case in July. Setiyardi was at the time an assistant to the special presidential staff in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, while Darmawan was a senior editor at online news portal inilah.com.

A source at the National Police said that Sutarman had requested an audience with Jokowi in private in early December to deny allegations that he was more loyal to Yudhoyono than to the new President.

Jokowi's hasty dismissal of Sutarman ahead of his retirement in October has raised fears of opposition from Sutarman's loyalists.

Factions within the police are created based on bonds formed during their cadet time at the police academy and by patronage nurtured by political elites, including the president.

Badrodin's appeal for unity to some 380,000 police personnel nationwide was deemed crucial amid escalating worries expressed by retired high-ranking police generals and observers who have pointed to a leadership crisis in the police force.

Former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Oegroseno said on Saturday that since Badrodin would not rise in rank, it would be difficult for him to enforce orders among fellow three-star generals.

"He will be facing difficulties in consolidating power among the three-star generals," he said. "The police's public service may be affected if Badrodin fails to enforce his orders."

There are currently nine three-star generals with the National Police, divided into factions based on graduation class and patronage.

Badrodin, who was among a number of generals to have held bank accounts considered suspicious by a money-laundering watchdog in 2010, insisted on the solidity of the police.

"I am the National Police deputy chief who has taken over the authority as well as the responsibility of the National Police chief," Badrodin said after a closed-door meeting at the Presidential Palace. He emphasized that his authority would include strategic decisions on personnel rotation and budget spending. Security observer Bambang Widodo Umar argued, meanwhile, that internal opposition would rise because there were still legal debates surrounding Badrodin's appointment, reflecting external interference from politicians.

Bambang questioned the use of a government regulation, instead of the 2002 Law on National Police, to justify Badrodin's assignment.

"The President can issue any regulation as a basis for his decision to appoint Badrodin because it's part of the president's prerogative. But it must with comply the law," Bambang said.

Several lawmakers, however, have noticed the legal flaw and demanded that Jokowi immediately appoint a permanent police chief or risk a House of Representatives inquiry.

The House's Commission III overseeing legal and security affairs is scheduled to finalize a plan to file an inquiry against Jokowi on Tuesday. The plan has gained support from the majority of lawmakers from both the ruling Great Indonesia Coalition and the opposition Red-and-White Coalition.

"The appointment of the acting chief has violated Article 11 of the 2002 Law on the National Police. We are demanding an inquiry be made into the President," Commission III chairman Aziz Syamsuddin said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/20/rift-within-national-police-may-deepen.html

19 police officers fired for drug trafficking and desertion

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2015

Suherdjoko, Semarang – Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Nur Ali said on Monday that 19 police officers had been dishonourably discharged in 2014 for involvement in drug trafficking and leaving their posts.

Of the total, six were dismissed in absentia at a morning ceremony at the Central Java Police Headquarters in Semarang on Monday.

"They were discharged dishonourably because they were found to have been involved in drug trafficking practices, leaving their assignments without notice or other violations," Nur Ali said.

He explained that those who were dismissed after they had left their posts for 30 days were guilty of what was termed desertion in the military.

The dismissal of the six officers was scheduled for the end of last year, but due to the intensity of work, due mainly to the maintainenance of security during Christmas and New Year, it was postponed until Monday.

"The dismissals were made after a thorough legal process. They were not present during the police trial and at this ceremony they were absent too," Nur Ali said.

Three of six officers dismissed on Monday were identified as First Brig. Kustiyoo from Jepara Police, First Adj. Insp. Joko Santoso from the Central Java Police's traffic directorate and Chief Brig. Agung Pujo Setiyanto. The three were involved in a drug trafficking network.

The three others fired for desertion were First Adj. Insp. Pudjo Suparwoko from Surakarta Police, First Brig. Denny Rico Sigit Yonanta from Central Java Mobile Brigade and First Brig. Andang Nofrianto also from the Central Java Mobile Brigade.

The Central Java Police have tried to locate the whereabouts of the six dismissed police officers to give them their dismissal letters. However, because they could not be found, the police asked their neighborhood heads to receive the letters. (hhr)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/19/19-police-officers-fired-drug-trafficking-and-desertion.html

Jokowi stumbles in interim police chief debacle

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2015

Jakarta – While Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's nomination as the new police chief was delayed due to suspicions concerning his "fat" bank accounts, another police general facing similar allegations was immediately appointed to fill the position temporarily, allowing the public barely any time to react.

Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, formerly the deputy of the National Police chief, accepted the interim role as the nation's top cop last week – replacing Gen. Sutarman, who was honorably discharged from the position without a clear explanation.

Sutarman was scheduled to retire in October, stirring further confusion as to why he was prematurely replaced.

Joko announced Badrodin's appointment on Friday night, following the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)'s move to name Budi a graft suspect after an investigation uncovered his suspiciously large bank account.

Joko merely postponed Budi's nomination – and his incontestable inauguration as he was the only candidate for the job – pending the anti- graft body's investigations into the case. "Postponed, not canceled," the president emphasized on a televised address on Friday night.

Dubious history

But the public's resistance against Budi was high even before last week's shocking turn of events.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) in 2010 released a list of police generals with hefty bank accounts. Budi's name was included but KPK had failed to name him a suspect until last week – three years too late.

Also on the list was Badrodin, who claimed he had already given reasons for his impressive bank balance to PPATK.

Despite having been caught in similarly suspicious circumstances, the public is not as angered by Badrodin because the interim police chief has remained off of Indonesia Corruption Watch's radar – unlike Budi, said Emerson Yuntho from ICW.

"What we worry about is the rising issue of Badrodin serving as the 'de jure' police chief, and Budi is actually the 'de facto' chief," Emerson, coordinator for ICW's legal and judiciary monitoring division, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

He added that the controversy surrounding Joko's appointment of National Police chief damaged the president's ability to manage the nation's law enforcement in the eyes of antigraft activists.

The president, formerly seen as a populist and reformist figure, has proven unable to fight political pressures around him.

Many see Budi's nomination as a move forced by Joko's political patron and chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Megawati Soekarnoputri as the police general had served as her adjutant during her 2001-2004 presidency.

Antigraft activists have earlier decried the appointment of National Democratic (Nasdem) lawmaker H. M. Prasetyo as attorney general and PDI-P politician Yasonna Laoly as justice and human rights minister.

Nasdem and PDI-P are members of the Awesome Indonesia Coalition, which supported Joko's presidential bid ahead of the July 9 presidential election last year.

"At the beginning we thought [Joko] was clean. But now that's becoming more and more uncertain," Emerson said, comparing Joko's personnel choice with that of his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudyono.

"He [Joko] has picked the wrong people for his anticorruption agenda. He has betrayed his campaign promises." Emerson urged Joko to stand up to the political pressures around him. "What we need is a real president, not a party officer," Emerson stressed.

Political observer Siti Zuhro of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the president should have understood that although political backing was necessary to support his presidency, the supremacy of law should be excluded from the political game.

"Crucial positions in the areas of law and justice cannot be comprised. The president must exercise his authority responsibly," Siti said. At the same time, she urged political leaders around Joko to make more responsible political suggestions and requests.

"Joko should not be using up his energy to serve the wishes of political powers and financiers around him," Siti said. "He must stay committed to his principles, beliefs and vision for developing the country; he must not stray even a bit in order to comply with the political power and financiers' interests."

Ari Junaedi, a lecturer in political communications with the University of Indonesia, warned the president that his failures to defy the power play around him could be political suicide for him.

"Joko's political opponents are probably enjoying the sight of him stumbling as he attempts to deal with the political turbulence. They don't need to strike out against him – he is causing enough damage to himself," Ari said as quoted by Tribunnews.com.

Lack of 'strategic thinkers'

But the political pressures and adverse influences around him is not Joko's only weakness threatening the quality of his administration's decision- making process and policies, noted Aleksius Jemadu, the dean of Pelita Harapan University's School of Social and Political Sciences.

Joko's government had a tendency to issue policies that might strike as populist at a glance, but were considered arbitrary, not well thought of upon closer inspections, he pointed out.

One example is Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan's decision to impose a limit on airfare for low-cost carriers following the Dec. 28 crash of and Indonesia AirAsia aircraft, citing safety precaution.

Unsurprisingly, the policy was met with widespread criticism, with critics calling it a knee-jerk reaction from someone who obviously has very little knowledge of the aviation industry.

Then there is also the draft regulation by the Manpower Ministry that will require foreign workers to pass an Indonesian language test before they can secure a permit to work here – deemed an unnecessary nationalistic approach that will create complications once implemented.

Meanwhile, Anies Baswedan, the minister of education and culture, said he is in the process of forming a "directorate of parents" within his office to educate and train Indonesia's moms and dads on how to better treat their children.

The move from a highly regarded intellectual like Anies, who was expected to become "one of the brains" within Joko's administration, quickly drew critics who accused the effort of being the government's unnecessary involvement in its citizens' lives.

Most recently, Sunday's executions of six drug inmates – which have triggered condemnations by right activists and governments around the globe – is seen by some local observers as the administration's misguided attempt to divert public attention from the police chief debacle.

Even Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti's instruction to burn every foreign-flagged vessel poaching in Indonesian waters is seen as lacking substance and is failing to address the more pressing issue of preventing Indonesian fishermen from sinking further into poverty.

"Those [arbitrary] moves probably have something to do with a [supposedly] populist president; he will be tempted to use his populist platform, while abandoning more strategic, more comprehensive and more in-depth policies," Aleksius said.

"Though some of his current ideas may sound like populist policies, when we inspect them closely, we see that they fail to touch the core of the problem. These regulation lack comprehensive, long-term planning; they are just a reaction to what hasn't been there before."

Aleksius urged recently appointed presidential chief of staff Luhut Panjaitan, an experienced bureaucrat and businessman, as well as a senior politician and retired Army general, to help Joko in creating more strategic policies.

The president may face yet another tidal wave of challenges with the establishment of a strategic policy think tank, the members of which are rumored to be inaugurated in Jakarta on Monday.

Former President Yudhoyono at least appointed real technocrats as his advisors during his terms in office, such as late former foreign minister Ali Alatas, another former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda, former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddique, Indonesian environmental guru Emil Salim and prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution.

More than half of the names rumored to become nine members of Joko's presidential advisory team, meanwhile, are politicians from the pro- government coalition: former People's Consultative Assembly speaker Sidarto Danusubroto of the PDI-P; former Army chief of staff Subagyo H. S. of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura); Yusuf Kartanegara of the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI); Jan Darmadi from Nasdem; Lion Air chief executive Rusdi Kirana, who is also a deputy chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB); and Suharso Monoarfa of the United Development Party (PKB).

Three other names circulating in the media are former National State Intelligence (BIN) chief A. M. Hendropriyono, a known close aide of Megawati; Hasyim Muzadi of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama; and prominent businesswoman Mooryati Soedibyo.

"Although it is too early to say whether Joko's administration will continue with its whimsical policy path for the next five years... I doubt that there are strategic thinkers among the names reportedly considered for the presidential advisory team," Aleksius said.

"They are veteran figures. But their political closeness [to Joko] sounds like the stronger reason for their appointment [rather than their knowledge and capabilities]," he added.

Next: impeachment?

In a bizarre turn of events, Vice President Jusuf Kalla finally spoke up Friday evening during an annual meeting for the country's financial service industry.

Kalla was slated to speak primarily on finance but shocked the audience and the entire nation when he conceded he and the president had just made a series of decisions that could possibly bear damaging political, legal and social ramifications – severe enough to merit "impeachment."

"I was late [to Friday's conference] because the president and I were delayed," Kalla began.

"Joko and I took great risks with several decisions we made recently – some might even say they could lead to impeachment. But we have made our decisions. Let's see what they lead to and then we can find ways to solve any more problems."

A number of legal experts have warned that nominating Budi as police chief would put Joko in "damned if I do, dammed if I don't" position. As the House had agreed on the candidacy, Joko is said to have no choice but to inaugurate the troubled police general.

"From a legal standpoint, Jokowi must inaugurate Budi after the House's approval. If not, then he violates the Police Law and could be accused of disrespecting the House," said Margarito Kamis, an expert on state law, referring to the president by his nickname.

He proposed that Joko inaugurates Budi, then directly declares him non- active pending legal investigation. Meanwhile, Feri Amsari, a legal expert from Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra, said that if Joko proceeds to inaugurate a graft suspect as National Police chief, the move would go against the very principles of running a nation.

"Joko's decision to appoint a graft suspect shows he is not professional or accountable. The move is not only catastrophic for his reputation as a populist leader, it also violates Article 7A of the Constitution that could very well lead to impeachment," he added.

Tjipta Lesmana, a political communication expert, sees the series of bizarre events as a carefully orchestrated plot formulated by Joko's opponents with the end goal of seeing the president impeached.

"The Red-White Coalitions seems to support PDI-P in Budi's nomination. It's very strange that, suddenly, they stand united behind Joko when only a few months ago they sought to prevent his inauguration," Tjipta pointed out. "These lawmakers knew that once Budi is approved, the public – even his supporters – will turn against Joko.

"But if the president does not inaugurate Budi, he may be accused of showing contempt for the House – that is a strong basis for impeachment."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-stumbles-interim-police-chief-debacle/

Budi is inevitable: Tedjo

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – A senior minister says President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will have to inaugurate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as National Police chief to avoid conflict with the House of Representatives, which has backed the President's choice of a graft suspect for the top-cop spot.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno said on Saturday that the President was in a difficult position, as he could not squander the political support from the House, which until recently has been very belligerent toward his administration.

"Pak Jokowi has to accommodate the [House's] political decision. If he doesn't, then it would be unconstitutional. He could be questioned or even undergo an impeachment process. His rivals in the House could focus on any mistake of his," Tedjo told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

It was impossible for Jokowi to back down and the President had only postponed Budi's inauguration, Tedjo said.

Tedjo called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) not to continue its public campaign against Budi, who it named a suspect in a bribery case. "We also ask the KPK to not make statements implying that [Budi's inauguration] should be canceled," Tedjo said.

The minister said it was suspicious that the KPK named Budi a suspect for alleged violations that took place when he headed the National Police's human resources development section from 2004 to 2006.

"Why was he named a suspect when he had already been nominated as the National Police chief? The case is already 10 years old. Since then, he has been declared clean and rose up the ranks until he got his three [general's] stars," said Tedjo.

He said the KPK did nothing when former vice president Boediono was inaugurated in 2009, despite allegations of his involvement in a graft case centering on the Bank Century bailout.

"When he [Boediono] was inaugurated, why did the KPK remain silent? There must be a reason," Tedjo said. "It means that the KPK wants to play by its own rules, like a superpower" Tedjo said. "The KPK is an ad-hoc body. It cannot act like a superpower. The KPK doesn't have a code of ethics."

Despite demands that Jokowi not inaugurate Budi, his backers in the Great Indonesia Coalition defended the President's decision.

"He [Jokowi] is being respectful to Kompolnas [the National Police Commission], the House, the State Secretariat and the KPK as one of the law enforcement agencies," NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella said on Saturday.

Patrice called on the KPK to expedite the prosecution of Budi's case. "The KPK must be really serious about this. It must be prepared to face a backlash because we suspect that there were political motives behind its decision," Rio said.

Earlier on Saturday, several prominent religious figures called on Jokowi to cancel Budi's inauguration. The secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), Edy Purwanto, said on Saturday that even if Budi turned out to be innocent, it was never a good idea to nominate a candidate with a questionable reputation.

"We demand that President Jokowi pick only those who have been confirmed not to be corrupt. We understand that the situation President Jokowi is in is not easy, but this is a test to see if he is truly a man of the people and willing to fulfill his promise of a better, cleaner government," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/18/budi-inevitable-tedjo.html

Crisis averted, heads roll

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Ina Parlina and Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has survived his first political crisis as he withstood on Friday pressure from the elites in his alliance to inaugurate graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the next chief of the National Police.

Jokowi said that although the House of Representatives endorsed Budi's nomination, it was necessary to postpone his inauguration as he was still being investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "Let me underline that [the inauguration] has been postponed, not canceled," he said.

His decision, however, was not made without compromise as he accommodated several of Budi's confidants to lead strategic positions within the National Police.

The President dismissed National Police chief Gen. Sutarman, and assigned his deputy, Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, widely known as Budi's close associate, as acting National Police chief.

Like Budi, Badrodin was among a number of generals to have held bank accounts considered suspicious by money laundering watchdog, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) in 2010.

The PPATK has recorded that he received monthly transfers from suspicious parties worth more than Rp 50 million (US$4,000) while serving as police chief in several regions between 2004 and 2005. Badrodin, who is set to retire in July next year, has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Minutes after the announcement, the National Police said that it had replaced its detective division chief, Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, with Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso – Budi's staffer who heads education and training for the high-ranking officer division.

Budi Waseso gained recognition for his arrest of National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2010 after the latter was declared a graft suspect by the police.

"As of this [Friday] morning, Suhardi is the secretary of the National Resilience Institute [Lemhanas]. Budi Waseso takes his place," said National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie.

Suhardi, who is known to have close ties with KPK leaders, is a reputable officer who has been spearheading reform in the detective division, particularly in cutting the long-running tradition where officers in the division give money to their superiors.

Jokowi did not disclose the reasons behind the dismissal of Sutarman and Suhardi, although the President did meet with Sutarman, Badrodin, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno prior to the announcement.

Speculation is rife that Sutarman and Suhardi helped provide information and evidence to the KPK in relation to Budi's alleged graft as a sign of opposition toward Jokowi's move to nominate Budi.

Sutarman, who was set to retire in October, refused to clarify the allegations. He only said Badrodin had full authority over operations and budgets at the National Police. "Now, all activities related to the police are under the deputy police chief. This also serves as an announcement to all police personnel."

Minister Tedjo dismissed allegations of defiance by Sutarman and Suhardi. "The issues were cleared up during the meeting." "Since the beginning, the President has always wanted to reform the police. He chose Budi based on the presumption of his innocence," Tedjo added.

Jokowi's patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has joined forces with NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh and Kalla in demanding Budi be installed as police chief.

Budi served as an adjutant to Megawati during her time as vice president in 1999 and 2001 and as president between 2001 and 2004. The two have enjoyed close relations since, with Budi reportedly being one of the few within Megawati's circle of confidants to have supported Jokowi in last year's presidential campaign.

After the House endorsed Budi's nomination on Thursday, Surya publicly urged Jokowi to move forward with the inauguration, despite the latter being named a graft suspect by the KPK on Tuesday.

As a new figure on the national political stage, Jokowi has weak party support. This has forced him to award Cabinet seats and top positions at state-owned companies to close associates of Megawati, Surya and Kalla.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/crisis-averted-heads-roll.html

Police chief forced to retire, detective head replaced

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Jakarta – Bowing to demands from graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, endorsed by the House of Representatives as the next National Police chief on Thursday, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has forced serving National Police chief Gen. Sutarman to take early retirement.

A source at the Presidential Palace said that Jokowi had also dismissed National Police detective division head Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius and assigned him to be secretary of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas).

"Figures in the top ranks who strongly opposed Budi's nomination as police chief have been replaced," said the source.

Sutarman and Suhardi, a promising officer who leads reform at the graft- ridden institution, have been accused of helping provide the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) with evidence to prosecute Budi following reports of suspicious bank accounts in his name.

With opposition widespread across civil society, Jokowi has yet to inaugurate Budi, who currently serves as National Police head of education and training.

Jokowi has furthermore appointed National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti as acting national police chief.

Like Budi, Badrodin is among a number of police generals to have held bank accounts considered suspicious by watchdog the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) in 2010. Badrodin is known to be a mentor of Budi.

Budi's assistant, the head of education and training for high-ranking officer Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso, is set to replace Suhardi. (ren)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/police-chief-forced-retire-detective-head-replaced.html

Budi's case exposes rivalry within police

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Bagus BT Saragih Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Irregularities surrounding the naming of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as a candidate for the role of National Police chief have prompted observers to suggest that the move was related to an ongoing rivalry involving the force's high-ranking generals, centering on the competition for the force's top job.

A number of retired police generals acknowledged that fractures within the National Police had begun to become visible ever since President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo planned to replace National Police chief Gen. Sutarman before the latter's scheduled retirement.

"We are suspicious of the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] because it is very strange to see it naming Budi a suspect while the latter had never been questioned before. Not to mention the timing, which inevitably prompted suspicion that the investigation had something to do with Budi's nomination," Insp. Gen. (ret) Sisno Adiwinoto said on Thursday.

Only a few days after Jokowi officially nominated Budi as a candidate for the role of National Police chief, the KPK announced that its investigators had named the latter a suspect in relation to alleged bribery and gratuities.

A plenary meeting at the House of Representatives on Thursday formally endorsed Budi's nomination, despite his status as a graft suspect.

Sisno's remarks seemingly affirmed speculation that suggested Budi's rivals within the National Police had helped provide information to the KPK in relation to his alleged graft.

"If you are a true statesman, why didn't you just go to the President to tell him that Budi's nomination was inappropriate?" the former South Sulawesi Police chief said, refusing to disclose who he was referring to.

"The KPK's investigation into Budi carries strong political intrigue. The tip-offs could have come from those who were disappointed by Budi," he added.

"This intrigue is not healthy for the police force and the government as it is [creating] conflict among a number of high-ranking police figures as well as politicians," Sisno said.

Former National Police chief Gen. (ret) Chaerudin Ismail also said he had heard that there was escalating tension within the force surrounding the nomination of Budi. "I cannot confirm details of what has been actually happening but this is very dangerous to the reputation of the police force," he said.

On Wednesday, incumbent National Police chief Gen. Sutarman expressed regret that Jokowi chose not to involve him and the National Police in the screening of his potential successors, as was done in the selection of previous police-chief candidates.

"Ideally, the National Police would have been asked to provide information about the candidates' track records, as we already have an assessment mechanism in place," said Sutarman.

Budi himself said that he had information indicating that a police general – one who had also been touted as potential police chief – had provided the KPK with evidence used to charge him with graft. "But I don't want to be trapped by negative thinking. Let's just wait and see," he said at the House on Wednesday.

Sutarman dismissed speculation that the sudden naming of Budi as a graft suspect was fueled by his disappointment in Budi's nomination, which could result in Sutarman's term being cut short before his scheduled retirement, or because of infighting among the force's three-star generals.

"We don't have any internal problems with Budi's nomination. I assembled all the three-star generals this morning to discuss the issue and we all agreed to support the President's decision," he said on Wednesday.

Desmond Junaidi Mahesa insinuated on Thursday that he had seen on TV that Sutarman showed "happy gestures" after the KPK named Budi a suspect. "I could spot the difference. Isn't that strange?" he said.

NasDem Party lawmaker Akbar Faizal said he was disappointed by the police's inability to settle the rivalry. "If you have issues related to rivalry, settle it first and don't throw the fireball at the House," he told Budi during a hearing at the House on Wednesday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/budi-s-case-exposes-rivalry-within-police.html

Elites gang up on Jokowi to stand by graft suspect Budi

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – A string of meetings with members of his inner circle occupied President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo until late Thursday, as he continues to mull a response to demands from political elites to appoint graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the next chief of the National Police.

Among Jokowi's close associates present at the Presidential Palace included FX Hadi Rudyatmo, Jokowi's mentor and successor as mayor of Surakarta in Central Java; Luhut Panjaitan, Jokowi's presidential chief of staff and long-time business partner; Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto; State Secretary and college friend Pratikno; and Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

"Options [regarding Budi's nomination] are still being discussed," said Andi.

Jokowi's patron, Megawati Soe-karnoputri, the leader of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has joined forces with NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh and Kalla in demanding Budi be installed as police chief.

After the House of Representatives endorsed Budi's nomination on Thursday, Surya publicly urged Jokowi to move forward with the inauguration, despite the latter's being named a graft suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday. "The faster the better," Surya said.

Kalla, Surya's golf buddy, also threw support behind Budi, saying that preliminary observations suggested the charges facing Budi, the current chief of the National Police's education and training division, had not triggered state losses. "The KPK should clarify which aspect of the case caused losses," he said.

Surya and Kalla have echoed an order made by Megawati during the PDI-P's anniversary celebration for complete party support for Budi's nomination.

Analysts say the favoritism has triggered envy. According to several PDI-P politicians, Jokowi is more accommodating of Surya's interests than of Megawati's or Kalla's.

In addition to securing three Cabinet seats in strategic sectors, confidants of Surya also received the post of attorney general when NasDem party legislator HM Prasetyo was appointed to the job last year.

Arya Fernandes, a political analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that intervention by powerful politicians surrounding Jokowi, such as Megawati, Surya and Kalla, could weaken the President's administration.

"The President could be seen as a weak leader without autonomous power," Arya said. "What is more dangerous is if the President loses his dignity. Then, the people's trust could plummet, which could incite unrest. He has assured the public that he is the one who has ultimate authority," he said.

Arya added that Jokowi should involve the public to help him fight elite demands running counter to the public interest.

The Golkar Party's Bambang Soesatyo has indicated that the controversy surrounding Budi's nomination has sparked infighting and a power struggle within Jokowi's Great Indonesia Coalition. During Budi's confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Bambang said that a powerful figure could be behind the scenes directing Jokowi's actions.

"I and all of you may not know what really happened between the [Presidential] Palace and Teuku Umar [the street where Megawati resides in Central Jakarta], because Budi was not the only candidate recommended for the position," he said.

"There were other candidates endorsed by other powerful figures within the Great Indonesia Coalition, including by the President himself. But for some reason, the PDI-P seems to strongly support you," Bambang told Budi.

[Bagus T. Saragih also contributed to the story.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/elites-gang-jokowi-stand-graft-suspect-budi.html

In war over top cop, KPK faces familiar threats

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2015

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo risks repeating a 2009 standoff between Indonesia's highly regarded antigraft commission and the country's notoriously corrupt police force if he goes ahead in swearing in a corruption suspect as chief of the National Police, analysts and activists warned on Thursday.

Both Joko and his pick to head the police force, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, have refused to back down in the wake of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, naming Budi a graft suspect in connection to reports of millions of dollars passing through his bank accounts.

Following the KPK's announcement on Tuesday, the National Police deployed dozens of plainclothes officers to stand guard outside Budi's house in South Jakarta, including from the heavily armed Mobile Brigade, or Brimob.

"We are preparing ourselves just in case the KPK plans to play rough," said a police general who asked not to be identified.

The case has drawn instant parallels with that of the infamous Susno Duadji, the police's chief of detectives back in 2009 who engineered a plot to have two KPK deputy chairmen brought up on trumped-up charges of graft.

An unprecedented hearing at the Constitutional Court later played back wiretapped phone conversations that showed the charges were fabricated and a conspiracy to discredit the KPK, which had been homing in on Susno's own indiscretions.

Susno, who inadvertently unleashed a torrent of support for the KPK by likening it to a gecko and the police to a crocodile – "How can a gecko win in a fight against a crocodile?" – was later charged and convicted on two counts of corruption.

Leading to chaos

Budi, flagged by the Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center (PPATK), the government's anti-money-laundering watchdog, for suspicious transactions amounting to at least $5.9 million through his bank accounts, was on Thursday approved at a plenary session of the House of Representatives as Joko's candidate for the National Police chief.

All that is left before he takes up the reins of the country's biggest law enforcement agency is an inauguration by Joko – something that would constitute a major betrayal of public trust, says Siti Zuhro, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI.

"Jokowi must stick to his principles," she said in Jakarta on Thursday. "He mustn't squander the trust of the people. He's going to regret it if he ignores the public outcry against [Budi's] nomination as police chief."

Adnan Pandu Praja, a deputy chairman of the KPK, warned of "chaos" if Budi was inaugurated while under the shadow of criminal charges.

"Imagine what would happen if we continued to investigate the case and raided [Budi's home], seized the personal property of a National Police chief," he said at the KPK office in Jakarta on Thursday.

"We would be accused of insulting the honor of the police force, and as a result there would be a conflict between our two organizations. That could lead to chaos."

Adnan said the KPK had no intention of making an enemy out of the police, pointing out that the antigraft commission relied heavily on police manpower in its investigations.

"Our fear is that this will affect the performance of the KPK, because much of our graft-prevention efforts in the regions that rely on support from the police will be affected. The way we cooperate at present is good," he said.

Taking measures

The police have ensured that any attempt by the KPK to arrest Budi will get ugly, by posting officers armed with assault rifles and semiautomatic weapons outside the suspect's house.

"If we come under an armed attack, we can't be expected to fight back with sticks, can we?" Insp Gen. Ronny F. Sompie, a police spokesman, said on Thursday. "We're taking anticipatory measures to prevent anything [from happening]."

But a top officer denied that the police were taking the issue as a personal affront. "We respect what the KPK is doing, even though we don't know what on grounds or evidence they are basing their decision to name [Budi] a suspect," Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, the current chief of detectives, said at the National Police headquarters on Thursday.

He also denied that the issue would devolve into a standoff as in Susno's case, with police fabricating charges against KPK officials. "We will never do such things," Suhardi said. "Right now there isn't a single case or information about alleged crimes involving leaders of the KPK."

The SBY way

Abraham Samad, the KPK chairman, warned that Joko was breaking with a positive precedent set by his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who, though notorious for his indecisiveness, always ensured that top officials charged with graft left office quickly.

Three serving ministers in Yudhoyono's cabinet were named suspects by the KPK in separate corruption cases, and each was made to resign shortly after.

"When the sports minister [Andi Mallarangeng] was named a suspect, he resigned. When Jero Wacik [the previous energy minister] was named a suspect, SBY asked him to resign immediately. It was the same when we named Suryadharma Ali [the religious affairs minister] a suspect; he was also asked to resign," Abraham said.

He called on Joko to carry on the tradition by withdrawing Budi's nomination. "He hasn't been appointed to the post yet, so if Joko wants to keep with the tradition, then he must rescind his nomination. If he doesn't, then he's breaking with the tradition," the KPK chief said.

Abraham added that the KPK investigators would question Budi soon. "There's a process to follow. At the KPK, we have a system where a suspect is arrested once the investigation is at least 50 percent complete," he said.

"But I must stress that the KPK has always arrested those who are named suspects. We also never drop a case, so [Budi's] case will go to trial."

That bodes ill for Budi: the KPK has a vaunted record of securing a conviction, whether in the initial trial or upon appeal, against every individual it has ever named a suspect.

Critics contend that nominating Budi was a concession by Joko to his party patron, Megawati Soekarnoputri, who Budi served as a security aide during her presidency from 2001 to 2004. His other security appointment, that of H.M. Prasetyo as attorney general, is also seen as a nod to another political backer, Surya Paloh.

Family funds

The KPK revealed late on Wednesday that it had applied to the Justice Ministry's immigration department for a travel ban on Budi and his son, Muhammad Herviano Widyatama, as part of the investigation.

Two now-retired police officers – Iie Tiara, Budi's former aide, and Syahtria Sitepu, a former general – have also been named in the travel ban request.

Budi continues to deny any wrongdoing in connection with the eye-watering sums passing through his accounts, handing out to reporters on Thursday copies of the results of a 2010 internal police investigation that cleared him of any criminal activity.

The document stated that the transactions flagged by the PPATK were business deals involving his son.

The transactions were made in July 2005 from a company named Pacific Blue International, which, according to Budi, agreed to provide $5.9 million in credit for Herviano's business. The funds, he added, were wired to his personal account "for convenience." Budi did not specify what business his son was involved in. Herviano was just 19 years old at the time.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/war-top-cop-kpk-faces-familiar-threats/

Opposition against Budi on rise

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2015

Ina Parlina and Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Angered by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's decision to nominate graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the next National Police chief, Jokowi's presidential campaign volunteers and members of civil-society organizations called on the President to not inaugurate the three-star police general in spite of the House of Representatives' official endorsement.

Early on Thursday, dozens of Jokowi's campaign volunteers and supporters from the Salam Dua Jari or the Two Finger Salute group, along with antigraft activists grouped under the Coalition of Civil Society and a number of religious figures, thronged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters to protest against Budi's nomination.

Representatives from the group demanded the KPK swiftly detain Budi, a move they considered the most effective to prevent Jokowi from inaugurating a graft suspect as the country's top cop.

"We have a responsibility to remind him that Budi is the wrong choice," television personality Olga Lidya of Salam Dua Jari said during a press conference. "We stand on the KPK's side," she added.

Rapper Joshua Matulessy, also known as JFlow, who took part in the Salam Dua Jari concert at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on the eve of the July 9, 2014 presidential election, read an open letter expressing the group's disappointment over Jokowi's pick.

"We hope this letter opens the President's heart to hear our voices. We must emphasize that our support for Jokowi was not like a blank check, but it was based on our big hope that Pak Jokowi could live up to his promises to support the country's corruption eradication efforts," he said.

Benny Susetyo of the Indonesian Bishops Conference called for more concrete action. "Truth must prevail. Arresting [Budi] is the only way to save the country," he said.

Over the past few days, social media has been abuzz with vitriol directed at Jokowi with the hashtag #ShameOnYouJokowi, making it the second-highest trending topic in Indonesia as of Thursday afternoon.

The hashtag was reminiscent of a movement to shame then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono following his party's move to drop the direct voting mechanism for local elections in a plenary session at the House of Representatives.

An online petition on change.org started by the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Jan. 9, when news about Budi's nomination broke, had 27,074 signatories as of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, some volunteers went to the Presidential complex in an attempt to meet with the President to air their complaints.

Former student activist Fadjroel Rachman was allowed to enter the State Palace but failed to meet Jokowi. Fadjroel pledged he would continue to make attempts to meet with the President to relay the volunteers' message.

"It is dangerous if a leader is aware they have made a mistake but refuses to publicly acknowledge they have done so and declines to fix it," Fadjroel said. Many believed that Jokowi bowed to political pressure in nominating Budi, who was the adjutant to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri when she was president between 2001 and 2004.

Several key political figures in Jokowi's coalition, including NasDem Party chief Surya Paloh and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, have been spotted coming in and out of the palace since Budi was named a suspect on Tuesday, raising speculation that they have discussed Budi's fate.

Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto said Jokowi had held several meetings over the past couple of days, including with Kalla.

Andi also said Jokowi held several closed-door meetings on Thursday, including with KPK leaders, and was "contemplating what would be the best option for Budi".

Also present at the palace was House Speaker Setya Novanto from the Golkar Party, who held a meeting with presidential chief of staff Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, during which he conveyed the House's official endorsement of Budi. "We have decided [to endorse Budi] and we have officially informed the President about it," Setya said.

Political analyst Gun Gun Heryanto said Jokowi's campaign volunteers could tip the balance in the standoff.

"The volunteers should keep criticizing Jokowi, particularly in Budi's case, to ensure Jokowi keeps his promise to create a clean government," Gun Gun added. "I'm afraid that if Jokowi continues to ignore public criticism, his administration will start falling apart."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/opposition-against-budi-rise.html

Fishing & maritime affairs

Indonesian fishermen stage protests against new regulations

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2015

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Fishermen across a number of Indonesia's regions have staged a wave of protests over the past few days against the fisheries minister's new set of regulations imposing restrictions on the fish they can legally catch.

Citing the need for sustainable and responsible fishing, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti recently issued a regulation banning the use of trawls and seine nets to catch fish in Indonesian waters.

Susi earlier this month announced new restrictions for catching lobster and crab. The regulation details that only lobsters more than eight centimeters in length, crabs measuring more than 15 centimeters and flower crabs longer than 10 centimeters can be caught; and none carrying eggs can be caught.

Fishermen also protested the minister's plan to soon limit fuel subsidies to fishing boats of less than 30 GT (gross tonnage).

On Monday, hundreds of fishermen in the Central Java town of Tegal staged a rally in front of the local maritime and fisheries office.

The chairman of the Tegal Fishermen's Association, Eko Susanto, argued that some 80 percent of fishermen across the northern coastal region of Central Java still used Danish seines; so the ban, without an alternative solution, would effectively snuff out their livelihoods.

On Tuesday, the deputy speaker of the Tegal City Council, Wasmad Edi Susilo, said his office would send a letter to Susi to voice the fishermen's objection.

"Minister Susi should have listened to the fishermen's aspirations before drawing up the regulations," Edi told Indonesian news portal Tempo.co.

Also on Tuesday, dozens of fishermen from Grajagan Beach in Banyuwangi, in the neighboring province of East Java, took to the streets to burn fishing nets and dump lobsters, in protest at the catch limits for lobsters and crabs. They argued that the new regulation would leave hundreds of fishermen in the area without a livelihood.

"I can't sell lobsters. I've suffered Rp 23 million [$1,840] in losses already these past couple of days," lobster trader Supariyanto told Metrotvnews.com.

"This regulation is harming the little people like us. I think Minister Susi is completely aware that lobsters in the waters off southern Java are less than eight centimeters in size. Don't say otherwise."

Supariyanto added he had been a lobster trader since 1987, and that most lobsters he had gotten from local fishermen were three centimeter long and weighed around 70 grams. Those are of export quality, he added.

As a compromise, he suggested that Susi ban the trade in lobsters weighing less than 100 grams. Local fishermen, he promised, will support the government's sustainability programs, but warned than catching lobsters weighing 300 grams or more, as the new rule implies, would be very difficult.

Fishermen also staged a protest against the new regulations in Batang, another Central Java town; Indramayu, West Java; Tabanan, Bali; and Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.

On Wednesday, members of the Traditional Fishermen's Union visited the House of Representatives in Jakarta to complain about the regulations.

"Minister Susi doesn't understand that fishermen are very much troubled by the fish size catch limits," the union chairman, Kajidin, told reporters after a hearing with legislators from House Commission IV, which oversees agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

"We reported [to the legislators] how concerned we are. It is difficult already to find something to eat from our fish catch, let alone with these kinds of rules."

Kajidin also criticized the fuel subsidy limitation, saying many fishing boats measuring more than 30 GT employed low-income fishermen. He said the new rule would cause hundreds of such boats to stop operating, depriving many poor fishermen of employment.

The head of the Tabanan office of the Indonesian Fishermen's Association (HSNI), Ketut Arsana, also spoke out against the new rules.

"All of us across Tabanan can't catch lobsters now. We'll die as a result," Arsana said. "If the ministerial regulation is not revoked, we will block access to Bali. Let the world see that we fishermen have a right [to earn a livelihood]."

A spokesman for the United Fishermen's Front, Bambang, called on President Joko Widodo to remove Susi from her position, arguing that although some of her policies had won plaudits from the public, many of them were afflicting fishermen. "These policies really affect our livelihoods, and they are ugly," he said.

"We deeply regret having to say this, but we call on Mr. President to replace the minister," Bambang told the hearing with House legislators. "We have asked her to have a dialogue with us, but she's allocated none of her time for that."

Susi defended her new policies earlier in the week, saying they were meant to ensure sustainable fishing, which would benefit fishermen over the long term.

She cited fishermen in West Nusa Tenggara who commonly caught lobsters and crabs weighing between 20 and 50 grams each, or around 40 lobsters per kilogram, usually for export to Vietnam.

"Usually 40 lobsters weight a kilo; imagine how many dozens of kilos they will weigh [if caught only when they are at least 300 grams each]," Susi said in Jakarta, according to Republika.co.id.

The same benefits apply to refraining from catching lobsters and crabs carrying eggs, she said. If fishermen are willing to wait longer before a haul, eventually they will have more lobsters or crabs to catch from the hatching eggs.

Susi added that the bans were necessary because Indonesian fishermen had become overly dependent on unsustainable fishing methods, including the rampant use of trawls, purse seines and even fish bombs.

She also said she had continued to disseminate information concerning the new regulations to make get local fishing communities to accept and abide by them.

Legislator Ono Surono of President Joko's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Susi must put more thought into the new regulations, considering the fishing communities were among the most vulnerable members of Indonesia's societies.

Citing 2011 data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Ono said nearly eight million Indonesian fishermen and their families lived under the poverty line, representing roughly a quarter of Indonesia's poor households.

"We estimate that [...] between 25,000 and 80,000 people will be unemployed, from the 1,200 to 4,000 fishing boats affected by [the fuel subsidy restriction] alone," said Ono, also the head of the West Java chapter of the HSNI.

Observers have called on the government to provide and support fishermen with alternative solutions if enforcement of the new regulations goes ahead.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/indonesian-fishermen-stage-protests-new-regulations/

Economy & investment

Fuel price cuts have little impact on economy

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2015

Satria Sambijantoro and Raras Cahyafitri, Jakarta – Cuts in fuel prices, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and cement announced by the government on Friday would have limited impact on the economy in the short-run as overall inflation was likely to stay high, analysts said.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo revealed that the price of Premium gasoline would be lowered to Rp 6,600 (US 52 cents) per liter from the previous Rp 7,600, effective next week. Meanwhile, diesel would be cut to Rp 6,400 from Rp 7,250.

He also said there would be an adjustment in the LPG price to Rp 129,000 from Rp 134,700, while the price of cement produced by state-run firms would be lowered by Rp 3,000 per 50-kilogram sack.

However, economists say the lower prices would not significantly boost the people's purchasing power or economic growth, as overall inflation is unlikely to return to pre-November levels before the fuel-price hike.

This was mostly because price levels in Indonesia had always been "sticky downward", noted Philip McNicholas, an economist with BNP Paribas.

"While this may give some relief for consumers, as many prices are 'sticky downward', the discretionary spending capacity should remain below its Oct. 2014 level," he said via an email interview on Friday. "As such, private consumption growth is likely to remain under pressure in the near-term despite the cut in prices."

The lower fuel prices might only push down Indonesia's annual inflation by approximately 0.2 percent this year, according to estimates from Bank Indonesia (BI). The central bank estimated inflation would hover around 5 percent.

Jokowi, meanwhile, was optimistic that inflation could fall below 5 percent this year, citing his success in controlling inflation during his tenure as mayor in Surakarta, Central Java.

Well-contained inflation would support Indonesia's economic growth, which the President hopes will be between 5.6 and 5.8 percent this year.

"All ministers, governors, regents and mayors must work to ensure that price levels will go lower," he said after announcing the fuel-price adjustment.

The adjustment in fuel prices will be different for each region. Premium gasoline in Java and Madura will be sold at Rp 6,700 per liter, while in Bali the price has been set at Rp 7,000 per liter as a result of the fuel tax applied in the area, according to Ali Mundakir, a spokesman for state- run oil and gas firm Pertamina.

The Premium fuel price of Rp 6,600 per liter would apply only for gas stations outside Java and Bali, he said. The price is lower because Pertamina partly pays for the distribution costs.

Despite the new fuel prices, the government is now considering the possibility of setting a floor price for gasoline; meaning that the government is not likely to make further price cuts even if the world crude oil price continues to decline.

The limit may be set at Rp 6,500 per liter for gasoline, according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said.

"The government is considering that, even if the oil price continues declining, it is better to save some money from the price difference," Sudirman told reporters. "We will have a kind of oil profit, which will be saved by the government and can be used to accelerate the development of infrastructure to support our strategic reserves," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/fuel-price-cuts-have-little-impact-economy.html

Analysis & opinion

Joko administration its own worst enemy

Jakarta Globe Editorial - January 19, 2015

Dominic Diongson – President Joko Widodo's administration could fail sooner rather than later if it goes on to make arbitrary and ridiculous decisions.

Many of us were afraid of the opposition's maneuvers. But now we know they don't have to do anything if the current idiocy continues. Joko and his ministers shoot themselves in the foot everyday. Two recent cases highlight how unprofessional and unprepared the administration is.

The saga of graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan being nominated by Joko as police chief defies common sense. While Joko could have withdrawn Budi's nomination to end the unnecessary complication, he dragged his feet because the three-star general is proposed by the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its chairwoman

Only after realizing the public anger, did Joko delay Budi's inauguration. But he only postponed handling the problem. He's now in a situation of "damned if I do, damned if I don't. If he doesn't

inaugurate Budi, the opposition – probably with the help of his own party – would use it to launch an impeachment effort. If he does inaugurate Budi, then he will face the wrath of his constituents.

We call on Joko to stand by the very people who voted for him, and oppose anybody forcing him to make poor decisions.

And then the administration was brought to a new low when the attorney general – a politician from Surya Paloh's National Democratic Party – in an apparent move to distract people's attention from Budi's case, announced the execution of six inmates for drug trafficking. How could killing people be used as a tool for distraction?

These questionable decisions distract the administration from its priorities as its resources have to be diverted toward dealing with the fallout.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-joko-administration-worst-enemy/

Monument to stupidity

Jakarta Post Editorial - January 17, 2015

The supporting poles of the monorail project along Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta and Jl. Asia Afrika in Central Jakarta have stood tall since 2004, tarnishing these prominent roads. Unfortunately, the fate of the concrete pillars is now uncertain after Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama decided to cancel the city's contract with PT Jakarta Monorail (JM).

That the governor has lost his faith in the company is understandable, the project having gone nowhere since its groundbreaking ceremony 10 years ago under then president Megawati Soekarnoputri. A relaunch in October 2014 by then governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo did not accelerate matters, and the city administration is doubtful of the company's ability to finance the project.

It is unfair to solely blame PT JM for the project's halting progress, however; it takes two to tango. The city administration's ambition to build a mass rapid transit (MRT) system has contributed to the failure, and it let the company initiate the project without a supporting financial institution in the first place.

Originally, there were two monorail routes planned – a 14.3-kilometer green line, extending from the city police headquarters to Satria Mandala Museum, both in South Jakarta, and a 13.7-kilometer blue line, extending from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Grogol in West Jakarta.

The monorail was one of three transportation projects initiated by then governor Sutiyoso. The two others were the MRT and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or busway. Jokowi tried to revive the monorail project which his predecessor, Fauzi Bowo, had suspended, but no progress has been made because of the absence of an agreement on financing between PT JM and the city administration.

The monorail project was problematic from the outset. Banking on support from the city administration, PT JM dared to start constructing the supporting poles. No financial institutions were interested in investing in the project, for fear it was not profitable. Fauzi put the project on ice after the central government refused to issue a letter of guarantee for the construction.

Governor Ahok has called the dozens of supporting pillars "a monument to stupidity". He must be referring to both the company and the past administration, which approved the project, which was financially unfeasible, without granting clear concessions to the company.

Therefore, if Ahok is to restore the project and open a new tender, he must first comprehensively reassess the project. The first thing he should consider is whether the city really needs a monorail as part of its MRT system.

Learning from the failure of the project, the city administration has to sign a clear agreement with the selected business partner. The deal should include details about distribution of responsibilities: who does what, who gets what and, above all, what concessions are offered to the company to make the project financially viable.

The project should teach the city administration a lesson so as to avoid repetition of such ignorance in the future.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/17/editorial-monument-stupidity.html

'Je suis KPK'

Jakarta Post Editorial - January 16, 2015

Crowds gathered on Thursday at the offices of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to demand a thorough investigation into suspicious bank accounts belonging to high-ranking police officers, including the sole candidate for the position of National Police chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan.

The protest followed remarks from President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo who said on Wednesday that the legal process should be respected – referring to the KPK's announcement that Budi had been named a suspect, despite questions over its timing – but that the political process should also be taken into account, referring to the endorsement of Budi's candidacy by the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs earlier on Wednesday.

The demonstration, then, was in support of the respected anticorruption body, as the suspicions of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) regarding Budi's bank accounts and those of his family – with funds reaching up to Rp 100 billion – remain unanswered.

But citing presumption of innocence, the House commission went ahead with Budi's confirmation hearing and the entire House almost appeared united, in Thursday's plenary, in its support for the police general and its dismissal of the KPK's announcement.

The President's statement was a shock to many and protesters included volunteers from Jokowi's presidential campaign who created the campaign jingle Salam Dua Jari (Two-Finger Salute, referring to Jokowi's candidate number), made posters and organized large-scale concerts.

The President should not go ahead with the installment of Budi as the new police chief. His explanations cannot dampen the intense sense of betrayal of the public trust that led to his victory.

The debacle, it is feared, will prove a turning point in the President's support. Disenchantment has been mounting with his policies, such as the nomination to key positions of persons with unclear track records but with clearly close ties to his political allies.

But the nomination of Budi is a new peak in that mounting disappointment, as he would be among the top law enforcers tasked with realizing the President's pledges regarding law and justice, following the installment of the equally controversial M. Prasetyo as attorney general.

A sketch currently circulating depicts Budi and Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which leads Jokowi's coalition. The captions echo phrases in elementary reading books, reading "Ini Budi" (This is Budi) and "Ini Ibu Budi" (This is Budi's Mother), reflecting cynicism over the growing influence of Megawati over the President.

Jokowi's road since his installment was always expected to be rocky, given that his coalition is a minority in the 560-member House. But this latest criticism reflects shock that the President would, in order to consolidate his coalition, go so far as to ignore the nation's bastion of graft eradication.

As one of Jokowi's campaign volunteers wrote in an open letter, "[...] our support was not a blank check. We supported and voted for you as we believed you would fulfill your promise to eradicate corruption and uphold the law

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/editorial-je-suis-kpk.html

With Budi, Indonesia at a crossroads now

Jakarta Globe Editorial - January 16, 2015

Until the very end, Joko Widodo insisted back in May to make Abraham Samad, chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK, his running mate.

Jusuf Kalla's name was put forward only after Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Surya Paloh, chairman of National Democratic Party (Nasdem), made it clear that Abraham was not the right option.

Joko was forced to give up after realizing that he would be without party support to run for president.

While he had to accept Kalla, it shows that Joko has high trust in Abraham and the KPK. That's why in choosing his cabinet members, Joko involved the KPK without hesitancy, resulting in uproar inside his coalition after many of their nominees were red-flagged – meaning they're implicated in graft.

It saved Joko from several tainted figures, including Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who was the PDI-P's nominee but among those red-flagged.

It's impossible that Joko could have nominated Budi as National Police chief if he was not forced by senior members of his coalition. After the House of Representatives approved Budi's nomination, Megawati, Surya and other leaders of the coalition met and agreed that Budi must be inaugurated quickly.

But if Budi is inaugurated, Indonesia will have a graft suspect as police chief, a humiliation for the nation, and Joko will face nationwide protest from the very people who helped him become president. Public protest and conflict between the police and the KPK will ensue.

This is at a crossroads for Indonesia, which will show if the nation should regret a vote for Joko.

Different from when he gave up on Abraham, Joko is now president. He doesn't need to bow to anyone. It's time to break ranks. He has little to lose, but his nation has everything to lose with Budi.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/opinion/editorial-budi-indonesia-crossroad-now/