Jakarta – Thousands of fishermen rallied in Central Jakarta's main streets on Wednesday (06/04), demanding President Joko Widodo dismiss Maritime Minister Susi Pudjiastuti for her strict policies on fishing activities.

The protestors, under the banner National Movement of Indonesian Fisheries Community (Germapi), celebrated national fishermen day by taking to the streets in front of the Maritime Ministry and the State Palace this morning to protest against the minister's policies on fishing activities.

"Minister Susi often closed her ears to listening to small fishermen's complaints, while most of the policies she made directly affected us," said a protester Bambang Wicaksana during the rally, as reported by Jitunews.

Ady Surya of the Fish Consumption Enhancement Forum (Forikan) told Kompas.com that the fishermen rejected the minister's moratorium on the use of formerly foreign owned vessels as it has compounded difficulty to do fishing activities.

They also demanded the ministry revoke ministerial regulations on the prohibition of ship-loading over the sea, the crab and lobster fishing moratorium and prohibition of the use of bottom otter board trawl.

Responding to the rally, Minister Susi said all ministerial regulations and policies are aimed at ensuring an increase in the fishermen's productivities and sustainability of the sea resources.

"We are giving the nature time for recovery and breeding – so we can take it someday. The president's vision is to make the sea to be the future of the nation. So don't exploit it today," Susi said at his office on Tuesday.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/thousands-fishermen-rally-in-jakarta-demanding-minister-susi-dismissal/

Bali fishermen rally against Susi's policies

The Jakarta Post - April 4, 2016

Hundreds of fishermen rallied outside the Bali Legislative Council building on Monday to protest a government moratorium on fishing that they claimed negatively impacted their livelihoods.

They headed to the compound carrying posters reading "President Jokowi, please stop Minister Susi's image building", "Return the sovereignty of traditional fishermen" and "Bali fishermen reject ministerial regulation", among other messages.

They opposed a 2015 ministerial regulation on catching lobsters and crabs and a 2014 ministerial regulation on a moratorium on issuing fishing licenses.

"Because of this, our catches have dropped significantly and many fishermen are now unemployed. In the past, we could send our kids to school, but now it's difficult just to buy food to feed them," said Bali Fishermen Association coordinator Ketut Aryana Yasa as quoted by tempo.co.

The protesters called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to pay attention to the matter, underlining that almost every fisherman supported him in the presidential election. They also urged the President to dismiss Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.

"Please, Mr. Jokowi, if the ministerial regulation is not repealed, just replace Minister Susi," Aryana added.

He also expressed hope that the Bali Legislative Council would convey the fishermen's concerns to the central government. They have vowed not to conduct anarchic acts as long as their grievances were addressed. (liz/ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/04/bali-fishermen-rally-against-susi%E2%80%99s-policies.html

West Papua

Yaung: Military and police back up liquor distribution in Papua

Tabloid JUBI - April 8, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – The biggest challenge to the Regional Regulation on Liquor Restriction is its implementation, an observer at the Cenderawasih University, Marinus Yaung, said.

"It's good on paper. The points are clear, but how to implement it is the challenge," he told Jubi in Jayapura on Thursday (07/04).

Yaung said the biggest protectors of liquors distribution in Papua are from the Military and Police. As long as the Military and Police are not involved in the signing of the Pact of Integrity, he believed the implementation would never succeed.

"So, I ask the Papua Governor to call the Military and Police to participate in the signing of the Pact of Integrity to ensure the implementation of restriction could be running well and optimal," he said.

Further, he explained, if not it would become a business in Papua. Therefore it needs a commitment from the Police/Military officials in Papua to dismiss their personnel who involved as back up or distributors.

"Such threat would make the Military personnel or police officers in field to stop their act to back up the crime related to the distribution of liquors in Papua," he said.

He gave an example: Waena traffic life, this place is very crowded from the morning till night, while it is located next to the Military housing which is supposed to be calm.

"But why in the Military complex, people are always crowded from the morning till night? This place is a location of people selling the liquors. This is a real example that both military and police personnel are backing up the distribution of liquors," said Yaung.

Five hundreds of people joined in the Coalition of Youths and Students and the Coalition of Papua Community held rally in front of the Papua Governor Office to challenge the Governor Lukas Enembe to prove his commitment eradicating liquors in Papua.

"We do not need promises or regulations but the real act. We need the real act" said protest coordinator Nelius Wenda in his oration in front of the Papua Governor Office.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Papua Legislative Council Yunus Wonda in his speech said the restriction against the production, circulation and distribution of liquors in Papua was officially started.

"The previous regulation about the restriction was established in 2004. Then in 2009, we invited the Papua Police to made presentation based on the actual cases that almost every years many Papuans died because of the liquors which triggered the traffic accidents, abuses and domestic violence," said Wonda. (Abeth You/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/yaung-military-and-police-back-up-liquor-distribution-in-papua/

Motives behind Indonesia's MSG bid questioned

Radio New Zealand International - April 8, 2016

There are more questions over the motive behind Indonesia's bid to become a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Indonesia was last year granted associate member status in the MSG but its Political and Security Affairs minister Luhut Pandjaitan visited Papua New Guinea and Fiji last week to lobby for greater participation by Jakarta.

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua was granted MSG observer status last year and its spokesman Benny Wenda said Jakarta's drive to engage with the Pacific was questionable.

He said until West Papuan membership at the MSG came about, Jakarta was barely interested in Melanesia. Meanwhile, Mr Wenda pointed out that this week West Papuans were arrested in Timika for showing support for Melanesian solidarity at a prayer event.

"There was 13 people arrested just for flying the Melanesian flags like Papua New Guinea, Solomon flag and Kanaky flag were raised with the banner for full membership campaign [for the Liberation Movement], just a prayer meeting. They were arrested, beating and torture. This is while [Minister] Luhut was campaigning for the joining full membership [for Indonesia] in Melanesia. And then back home, the killing continue."

Minister Luhut told media that his tour of Melanesia was partly about conveying accurate information about Jakarta's efforts in Papua region.

"Diplomacy is important," Luhut was reported by Antara news agency as explaining. "We should be aggressively explaining to states in the South Pacific about the conditions and situation in Indonesia including what we have been doing in the area of human rights."

However, signs continue that West Papuans are brutally denied their basic rights, including to freedom of expression.

Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission last month stated that in the past year more than 700 West Papuans had been persecuted through being arrested, beaten, and tortured by security forces.

For example, it said that last year on 1 December, eight West Papuans were shot and four more killed by the Indonesian military and police in Yapen for displaying independence aspirations.

Meanwhile, Minister Luhut's Pacific tour resulted in inter-government agreements for closer co-operation between Indonesia and both PNG and Fiji, including military co-operation. Fiji also received a $US5 million assistance package from Jakarta for cyclone recovery efforts.

The governments of PNG and Fiji have signalled their support for Indonesian sovereign control of Papua. Indonesian media reported that Fiji's Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola indicated his government's support for Indonesia to be "upgraded" to a full MSG member.

The other full members of the MSG – Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia's Kanak FLNKS movement – are more vocal about support for Papuan self-determination, and it remains to be seen whether they will support Indonesia becoming a full member.

MSG leaders are due to meet for a special meeting next month in Vanuatu's capital, where a new director-general is expected to be formally appointed. Fiji media is reporting that Amena Yauvoli, Fiji's Ambassador for Climate Change and Oceans, has been confirmed as the new MSG director-general by Ratu Inoke.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/301001/motives-behind-indonesia's-msg-bid-questioned

West Papua a regional issue, says Liberation Movement

Radio New Zealand International - April 7, 2016

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua says Papua remains an issue for the wider Melanesian region despite Indonesia's efforts to internalise it.

Since the Liberation Movement was granted observer status in the Melanesian Spearhead Group last year, Indonesia has increased its diplomatic engagement with MSG member states.

Jakarta, which has MSG associate member status, is lobbying to fend off support for West Papuan self-determination and said it had the support of Fiji and Papua New Guinea to become a full member. This follows last week's Indonesian ministerial visit to PNG and Fiji where Jakarta handed over five million US dollars in cyclone relief assistance.

One of the Liberation Movement's interior executives, Markus Haluk, said the lobbying was to be expected. "Indonesia lobby money and economy for Fiji and Papua New Guinea. But no problem, we are optimists, because West Papua problem is same Melanesia problem."

Markus Haluk said that in Papua itself, grassroots support for the Liberation Movement was huge. The opening of a ULMWP office in Wamena, Papua province, in February, was attended by an estimated five to six thousand Papuans.

However, following the opening, Indonesian police dismantled the Liberation Movement signage as well as detained Mr Haluk and a fellow ULMWP member for questioning over their involvement in establishing the office.

Leading Indonesian government officials have said that movements which harbour independence aspirations must be crushed. Yet Papuan leaders have repeatedly identified brutal treatment of their people by the security forces as a main driver of dissatisfaction with Indonesian rule.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/300903/west-papua-a-regional-issue,-says-liberation-movement

Vanuatu Free West Papua Association will support West Papua's bid for full MSG

Pina - April 7, 2016

The chairman of Vanuatu Free West Papua Association, Pastor Allan Navuki says his association's position to push for West Papua's full membership in the Melanesian Spearhead Group has not waned.

Pastor Navuki says in fact his association's position is not only to ensure West Papua's full membership but also to see Indonesia don't get full membership.

The Vanuatu Free West Papua Association is an NGO representing the civil society group and has organised marches through Port Vila in support of West Papua's struggle for independence. Such marches have seen national leaders taking the lead.

Pastor Navuki was responding to quotes from the Coordinating, Political, Legal; and Security affairs Minister of Indonesia that was carried by international media that Jakarta has won the support of Fiji and Papua New Guinea for its full membership status at the MSG.

During an official visit to Fiji and Papua New Guinea last week, Indonesia's Chief Security Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the two countries have agreed to endorse Indonesia as a permanent member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

"Fijian Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola said he would support a motion to boost Indonesia's status from an associate member to a full member of the MSG," Luhut claims. "Being a full member will strengthen Indonesia's position in the MSG."

PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato also showed his support for Indonesia to become a full member of the MSG. His country will host the MSG summit this year.

Pandjaitan said the provinces of Papua and West Papua are an inseparable part of Indonesia, and no country should meddle with Indonesia's sovereignty.

But Pastor Navuki who also holds the position of Clerk for the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu says the position of Fiji and Papua New Guinea will not deter the strong position of Vanuatu to fight for West Papua's full membership at the MSG.

Last month a high-powered 13-member delegation of the Indonesian Government including two major generals paid a low-key visit to Vanuatu. They are Major General Sumihajo Pakpahan and the First Deputy from the Ministry of Politics, Security, Defense and Justice Major General Yoedhi Swastong. A Catholic priest turned researcher for the Indonesian government, Fr Gregorious Neonbasu and the Indonesia adviser to Papuan Desk, Nicholas Simeone Messet, who was a former captain for Air Vanuatu, were also part of the visiting team.

In two separate encounters with the media, the team maintained they were in Port Vila as an advance team preparing for the visit of four Indonesian ministers and five provincial governors, and that politics was out of discussion in their meetings with officials.

They paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas and the Minister for Sports, Nato Taiwia, and held meetings with director generals.

One political observer who has close connection with West Papua and who has asked for anonymity said the visit was more to "test the waters" before the official ministerial visit this month.

"Vanuatu is very important to Indonesia because its support for West Papua is consistent unlike the other Melanesian states", the anonymous observer said.

According to Pastor Allan Navuki, Vanuatu will stand with Solomon Islands and the FLNKS to support West Papua's bid for full membership. (Vanuatu Loop/Pacnews)

Source: http://www.pina.com.fj/index.php?p=pacnews&m=read&o=4549083825706dece7937617cc6299

Independence activists detained in Papua

Jakarta Globe - April 6, 2016

Jakarta – At least 12 activists of pro-independence group the West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, were detained after a rally turned violent in Kampung Bhintuka-SP13 field in Mimika, Timika district, Papua on Tuesday (05/04).

Mimika Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yustanto said the protest was forcefully dispersed after rally coordinator Steven Itlay gave a speech about Papua independence. While police and military personnel dispersed protestors, Yustanto was allegedly attacked and beaten by the mob, leaving him with minor bruises to the face.

"They had earlier promised they would not speak about a referendum and such things. But, they did it during the rally," Yustanto said in Mimika, on Tuesday as reported by Antara news agency.

The 12 protestors were detained at a police's detention facility in Kuala Kencana for further investigation and questioning. Yustanto also called on religious figures in the area to avoid politically-driven activities in house of worships, including the movement to seek Papua freedom.

The rally took place at the same time as President Joko Widodo visit West Papua's Manokwari, forcing officials to beef up security parameters across the province.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/12-knpb-activists-detained-papua/

'Free West Papua' campaign turns to social media for global support

Global Voices - April 5, 2016

The 'Free West Papua Campaign' is asking Internet users to post photos supporting the hashtag #LetWestPapuaVote.

West Papua is currently a province of Indonesia, but there is a movement inside and outside the country calling for the establishment of an independent state. The social media campaign promoting the hashtag #LetWestPapuaVote aims to garner the support of the international community in time for the gathering of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP) in the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament on May 3. The campaign explains: This meeting is very important, as it will mark the official call for an internationally supervised vote in West Papua by the end of the decade.

A brief history of struggle of West Papua

West Papua was colonized by the Netherlands in 1898. After 62 years, the Dutch government began to prepare West Papua for independence. In 1961, the people of West Papua declared independence and raised their new flag – "The Morning Star".

The Indonesian military subsequently invaded West Papua. In 1969, a plebiscite was held where 1,000 delegates selected by the Indonesian military unanimously decided to remain part of Indonesia. It was called the 'Act of Free Choice' although Papuan nationalists derided it as the 'Act of No Choice'.

Indonesia is accused of committing systematic abuses against West Papuans. There are reports about heavy militarization in the region resulting in severe human rights violations. Meanwhile, the independence movement is treatedas a terrorist group. Media coverage about West Papua is strictly monitored so there's little information about the real situation of the people in the territory. West Papua is one of the resource-rich provinces of Indonesia, although it has a high poverty rate.

As Indonesian 'occupation' of West Papua continues, the movement supporting the independence struggle has broadened as well. Some lawyers and parliamentarians from across the world have endorsed the campaign urging Indonesia to organize another plebiscite regarding West Papua's right to self-determination.

#LetWestPapuaVote

The current initiative spearheaded by 'Free West Papua Campaign Australia' encourages netizens to express support for the struggle of West Papua by posting photos on social media in order to create stronger pressure on the Indonesian government. Below are some photos of individuals who have already joined the campaign:

Source: https://globalvoices.org/2016/04/05/free-west-papua-campaign-turns-to-social-media-for-global-support/

Fiji, PNG say they will support Indonesia's full membership in MSG

Jakarta Globe - April 5, 2016

Donny Andhika Mononimbar, Jakarta – Indonesia should have a larger presence in the South Pacific, as parts of the archipelago share the same cultural values with Melanesia, a top minister said.

During an official visit to Fiji and Papua New Guinea last week, Chief Security Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the two countries have agreed to endorse Indonesia as a permanent member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato also showed his support for Indonesia to become a full member of the MSG. His country will host the MSG summit this year.

Luhut said the provinces of Papua and West Papua are an inseparable part of Indonesia, and no country should meddle with Indonesia's sovereignty.

"Fiji and PNG are welcome to visit Papua and West Papua to see what we've done there. But I don't want any fact-finding mission or attempts to meddle in domestic issues. I will not let any country intervene in our business," Luhut said.

Indonesia's relations with MSG countries, especially Vanuatu, has been rocky to say the least. Over the past few years Vanuatu, and sometimes PNG and the Solomon Islands, have been criticizing Indonesia's handling of Papua and West Papua.

"We need to maintain good relations with [MSG countries] because those nations have influence. If they get the wrong information about Indonesia, they will take it up with the United Nations," Luhut said, adding that he brought along the deputy governor of Papua, the governor of Maluku, the governor of North Maluku and representatives of East Nusa Tenggara on his trip to show that Indonesia has many citizens of Melanesian descent.

Luhut said the Indonesian government was doing its best to improve the welfare of the citizens of Papua and West Papua. "We are doing the best we can to solve all the problems in those two provinces. We are trying to fix the entire management system there," Luhut said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/fiji-png-say-will-support-indonesias-full-membership-msg/

PCC: Like it or not, Luhut's visit seen as politically charged

Tabloid JUBI - April 4, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – A visit by Coordinating Minister for Security, Legal and Political Affairs Luhut Panjaitan to Fiji ostensibly to deliver the Indonesian government's aid to Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama should be seen as an attempt to influence the Pacific nation on the issue of Papua.

"It is the same minister who once asked Papuans to go out of their own land and to stay in Melanesia," the Secretary General of PCC the Rev. Francois Pihaatae told Jubi by phone from Suva, Fiji.

Luhut B. Panjaitan said he came to Fiji to deliver aid worth US$5 billion, but Pihaatae said this visit, like or dislike, must be noted as political.

"This minister is very articulated towards Papuan activists who fight for self-determination. Earlier, he also acknowledged that Indonesian relationship with Pacific countries was less warmed. Only Fiji and Papua New Guinea have good relation with Indonesia," added Pihaatae.

He hoped there is no requirement behind the Indonesian aid. Further Pihaatae who domiciled in Fiji admitted currently Fiji needs supports but it must be ensured the aid is free of political purpose or any conditions.

"That's what we called the humanity aid. We hope, whatever have been discussed between Fiji and Indonesia would not be affected by the aid," he said.

Fiji, according to him, has made clear on this matter to Australia and New Zealand, which have become 'enemies' of Fiji in Pacific. "It is must be applied to anyone who want to help Fiji," said Pihaatae.

Earlier, the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Human Rights Affairs, though acknowledged the relation between Indonesia and Pacific countries was not so close, but he said his visit to Fiji and Papua New Guinea had no connection with the strengthening of Indonesian position in Melanesia Spearhead Group (MSG) or Papua issues in the Pacific.

He also denied his visit to respond the failure done by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in treating the Papua issues in the Pacific. "No, it's not connected. I always consult with her (Minister of Foreign Affairs)," the Minister Luhut answering reporters.

"That's only because I am here (in Jayapura), so I will go directly there (to Fiji) because there was hurricane and other things," he added. (Victor Mambor/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/pcc-like-it-or-not-luhuts-visit-seen-as-politically-charged/

Papua activists discuss Freeport with US Ambassador

Jakarta Globe - April 2, 2016

Jayapura – Papuan activists met with US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Blake in the provincial capital on Tuesday to discuss human rights, politics and US-owned Freeport Indonesia.

"The US ambassador said that Papua was important to the US, and he felt it was necessary to pay a visit to Papua. He wanted to know about Papua's human rights and political condition," Yuliano Languwuyo, coordinator of local organization Justice, Peace and Unity Secretariat (SKPKC), said after the meeting on Tuesday night.

Yuliano said the organization was told in mid-2014 that the restive easternmost province of Indonesia would have civilian leaders and see a steady downgrade of military presence in the area. "If they disappeared, so would the violence. But it never happened," he said.

Tight military monitoring of Freeport Indonesia sites on the island have a largely negative impact on locals, including reports of violence from officers, Yuliano said.

"We asked the ambassador if Freeport had any control over security, and if they [security personnel] have any training in human rights while performing their duties. They have to be trained by the National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] so they will be less violent when protecting the areas," he said.

Blake reportedly questioned the necessity of human rights training and refused to comment on Freeport's security, Yuliano said. Blake also refused to take questions from reporters after the meeting.

The meeting was held at a restaurant in Jayapura's East Sentani district and was attended by Yuliano, chairman of the Papuan NGO Cooperation Forum Septer Manufandu, Papua Komnas HAM chairman Frits Ramandey and Papuan Peace Network activist Neles Tebay.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/papua-activists-discuss-freeport-us-ambassador/

PNG supports Indonesia to become member of Melanesian spearhead group

Antara News - April 1, 2016

Port Moresby, PNG – The Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) has supported Indonesia to get the status of associative member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and later become a full member in due course of time.

Indonesia's application to become a full MSG member was being processed, and thereafter, the way to obtain the full membership status would be opened, PNG Foreign and Immigration Minister Rimbink Pato informed Rahmad Nasution of ANTARA, here, Friday, following a bilateral meeting with the Indonesian delegation led by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

PNG will host the 21st Summit of the MSG in 2017. During its 20th Summit held in Honiara in the Solomon Islands on June 26, 2015, Indonesia had obtained the associative member status.

At the bilateral meeting, Pato stated that the constructive and open talks covered various cooperation opportunities including in the fields of economy, investment, trade, and energy, particularly LNG, and flights connecting the two neighboring countries. They also discussed cooperation between the two nations police and military, especially to guard the border areas.

PNG, which will host an APEC Summit in 2018, is eager to take a cue from Indonesia on ways to organize a major international meeting. According to Pato, the two countries have signed 11 memoranda of understanding and three agreements to strengthen bilateral partnership based on mutual respect.

"We will also learn from Indonesia's rich experiences in democracy, and we (PNG and Indonesia) will move together and work in tandem," noted Pato, who was accompanied by PNG Trade Minister Richard Mare and National Development Planning Minister Charles Abe.

In the meantime, Head of the Indonesian Delegation Minister Pandjaitan remarked that the two delegations also discussed cooperation in immigration affairs, trade, and the development of the palm oil industry.

"The Indonesian trade ministry's delegation and business mission will visit PNG in late April this year. Our relations are becoming closer," Pandjaitan affirmed.

At the invitation of PNG Prime Minister Peter ONeill, President Joko Widodo visited Port Moresby on May 11-12, 2015, to strengthen bilateral cooperation in economic, trade, investment, and infrastructure construction fields.

The two leaders also agreed to increase the value of bilateral trade beyond trading activities in the border areas that reaches US$4.5 million per year.(*)

Source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/103967/png-supports-indonesia-to-become-member-of-melanesian-spearhead-group

West Papuans object to Indonesian envoy idea

Radio New Zealand International - April 1, 2016

The United Liberation Movement for West Papua has objected to a move by Indonesia to commission an envoy to the Pacific on behalf of its Melanesian population.

Indonesia's Co-ordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said he would propose assigning a Foreign Ministry official to engage with Pacific neighbours and advance Indonesia's commitment to resolving complicated issues surrounding Papua.

Minister Pandjaitan made the call this week on his Pacific regional tour which included visits to Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.

His tour was described by Indonesian officials as a bid to suppress regional support for the Liberation Movement which was recently granted observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Advancing Papuan interests

Explaining the need for an envoy, Pandjaitan said it was crucial that Jakarta start to "aggressively" inform the international community on its many undertakings in Papua.

However, the Liberation Movement's ambassador for Oceania and the Pacific Islands region, Amatus Douw, pointed out that he already serves the role as envoy for Papuan interests in the Pacific.

The Australia-based diplomat warned that Indonesia's envoy plan was about expanding its colonialist agenda and nothing to do with representing the interests of Papuans.

The Liberation Movement was established in 2014 by a unification process involving all the major West Papuan political representative groups. Its admission into the MSG fold was an acknowledgement by the MSG full members (PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's indigenous Kanak movement) of West Papuan rights to regional representation.

Mr Douw said Indonesia should not interfere with the representations of Papuan interests in Melanesia and the wider Pacific region. "We never interfere over Asian affairs in your region," said Mr Douw. "Indonesia is not real Pacific or Melanesian states."

Indonesia opens wallet

Indonesia, which claims to have eleven million Melanesians across five provinces, was also granted associate status at the MSG last year.

Since then, Jakarta has shifted into diplomatic overdrive in the Pacific to subdue support for the Liberation movement, particularly where governments of independent Melanesian states are concerned.

According to Mr Pandjaitan, the Joko Widodo-led government is supporting Papua on a number of fronts, starting with increased regional funds, a renewed focus on health and education initiatives, the promise to resolve past human rights abuses and plans for more infrastructure and logistics projects.

While in Suva this week, Minister Pandjaitan handed a cheque for five million US dollars to Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama ostensibly for assistance in rehabilitation efforts following the devastation caused in the island nation in February by Cyclone Winston.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama receives a 5 million US dollar cheque from Indonesia's Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. Photo: Fiji Sun

However the Fiji-based Pacific Conference of Churches warned that donors and foreign governments must not attach conditions to relief efforts, amidst concern that Indonesia is using financial inducements to ensure silence among other governments regarding Papua.

PCC General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, said Minister Padjaitan had been "extremely vocal against groups seeking self-determination in Papua" and had publicly called for West Papuan activists to be removed from the country.

This comes after signs as early as 2014 that Fiji authorities were doing the bidding of Indonesia on the West Papua question. "By accepting conditional aid," Reverend Pihaatae said, "regional governments do their people a great disservice."

This sentiment was echoed by Amatus Douw who said that the support for West Papuan rights and self-determination efforts was very strong in Fiji.

"I strongly oppose Indonesia's use of natural disaster momentum to promote (its) political stand on West Papua's Independence movement in the Pacific region," he said. "If Indonesia really provide humanitarian aid, you must do with your good and pure heart without any dirty political motivation."

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/300412/west-papuans-object-to-indonesian-envoy-idea

Pacific churches warn about Indonesian conditional aid

Radio New Zealand International - April 1, 2016

The Pacific Conference of Churches says donors and foreign governments must treat victims of disaster with dignity and not attach conditions to relief efforts.

The call coincides with this week's visit to Fiji of Indonesia's Co-ordinating Minister for Political Affairs, Law and Security, Luhut Binsar Padjaitan.

Mr Padjaitain is reportedly to give Fiji an assistance package worth up to 5 million US dollars and a contingent of engineers for the country's rehabilitation efforts in the wake of the devastation caused by Cyclone Winston last month.

PCC General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae, said Indonesia's offer should be welcomed but noted that Padjaitan's visit had glaring political overtones.

He noted the minister had been "extremely vocal against groups seeking self-determination in Papua" and had publicly called for West Papuan activists to be removed from the country.

Diplomatic overdrive

Back in Jakarta, a senior government official told Indonesian media earlier this week that the ministerial visit was to suppress regional support for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua.

As the ULMWP was recently granted observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group, Jakarta has increased its diplomatic overtures to the region. But Reverend Pihaatae said that any bilateral talks between Indonesia and Fiji on the issue of West Papua should not be influenced by assistance to cyclone victims.

"We call on all donors – including NGOs – not to attach conditions to their aid and to refrain from providing assistance along with a discreet message to support a political cause," he said.

Paula Makabori of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua looks at Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama who has forged closer ties with Indonesia on behalf of his people.

The Reverend said that New Zealand and Australia – long seen as opponents of Fiji's prime minister Frank Bainimarama – had rushed to Fiji's aid following the cyclone, setting no pre-conditions for humanitarian assistance. "By accepting conditional aid," he said, "regional governments do their people a great disservice."

Self-determination talk off limits

As part of his Pacific trip, Luhut Binsar Padjaitan is also to visit Papua New Guinea where he is due to arrive in Port Moresby tomorrow.

PNG's Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato indicated that talk of West Papuan self-determination remains off limits. Mr Pato said that at the political level, PNG's relationship with Indonesia was at its peak, and people-to-people engagements are growing.

"For example, Papua New Guinea is, I think, the only country in the Pacific Islands that Indonesia has given free visas to. Every citizen from PNG can enter Indonesia without applying for visas," he enthused. "This is even better than visas on arrival."

But Rimbink Pato insisted his government considered West Papua an integral part of Indonesia and was committed to not discussing West Papuan self-determination. "So we're not interested in entertaining the issue of self-determination, because that's never an issue for us, and that's never a concern for us.

Mr Pato said however that PNG would continue to discuss concerns over human rights issues in Indonesia's Papua region, pursuant to a resolution by the Pacific islands Forum last year at its leaders summit in Port Moresby.

Mr Padjaitain last week announced government intentions to have a number of human rights abuses in West Papua probed.

However, earlier this month the provincial government of Papua province urged the minister, a former military leader, to resist from making provocative statements that might cause anxiety in the region, after he signalled a hardline security forces response to a recent multiple killing.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/300351/pacific-churches-warn-about-indonesian-conditional-aid

Five minutes with Ash Brennan, producer and director of Punks For West Papua

The Brag - April 1, 2016

Punks For West Papua deals with the ongoing West Papuan genocide. Can you give a brief rundown of the conflict for those who might not be aware of the tragedy?

After WWII, Indonesia and Papua, or the Dutch East Indies as it was known, was still a colony of the Netherlands. Indonesia officially claimed independence in 1949 after declaring war on the Dutch colonisers. President Sukarno had his eyes firmly set on West Papua as it's full of resources, including the world's largest gold and silver deposits. Over the last 50 years, it is estimated that over half a million West Papuans have been murdered. Waving a West Papuan flag, or any act of nationalism, is punishable by 15 years' prison.

The genocide is ongoing, as the Indonesian government forbids journalists or human aid workers into West Papua.

The documentary focuses on Jody Bartolo and his attempts to raise money and awareness for the Free West Papua cause. How did you become involved with him?

Neil Kellington, bass player for the Diggers With Attitude, is a long-time friend of mine. It was Neil that first contacted me regarding the first Punks for West Papua (P4WP) gig that the band had set up. He just asked me if I would be interested in shooting DWA perform at P4WP in June at the Town & Country Hotel in St Peters. Two weeks after that phone call, Jody called me to say Free West Papua campaign leader Benny Wenda was in town and offered us an interview to promo the P4WP gigs. Within that 30-minute interview, my life was turned on its head. Benny told us things that I didn't think were possible in this part of the world. That one gig at the Town & Country Hotel grew to 51 bands in seven cities around the country. In 2016, P4WP is now a global event.

Given its content, was the documentary difficult to make?

I never thought about making a documentary until after I spoke to Benny Wenda. Even then I had no real plan. I have worked in television for over 25 years and am quite handy with a camera and edit software, as well as producing. So I figured it would just come together. The main issue I had was footage from West Papua. I obviously wasn't going there, but I needed the rights for footage to tell my story. West Papua media and local West Papuan filmmakers helped me out with some great footage and it saved the day. Despite what most people may think, I did go easy on using footage that was too horrific. The pictures and video coming out of the place are just horrific.

Do you remain optimistic about the future of the West Papuan cause?

Indigenous West Papuans make up less than 50 per cent of the population. The Indonesian government opened up all the land for Indonesian citizens as free settlers. Even if another 'act of free choice' was held, the population on numbers would ensure Indonesia would continue its rule.

Indonesia is an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. As an associate member, it has the power to vote down West Papua's observer status, so their voices will never be heard. Thirdly, for West Papua to have any chance of self-determination, it needs the support of Australia. Unfortunately, successive governments on both sides of politics have publicly supported Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua. Punks For West Papua (dir. Ash Brennan) shows at Wayward Brewing Co. on Wednesday April 6; and is also available to rent at punks4westpapua.com and screening nationally.

Source: http://www.thebrag.com/arts/five-minutes-ash-brennan-producerdirector-punks-west-papua

Aceh

Aceh group calls on govt to protect Leuser through online petition

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie – People grouped under Gerakan Rakyat Menggugat (GeRAM) are raising awareness for the need to protect the Leuser Ecosystem Zone (KEL) in Aceh through an online petition.

Posted on change.org in February, the petition calls on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to protect one of the richest expanses of tropical rainforest in Southeast Asia. It has garnered 55,000 signatures as of Thursday.

Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio has also promoted the petition through social media following his visit to Mount Leuser National Park in late March.

The petition is among efforts to urge the government to revise an Islamic bylaw on spatial planning that does not include KEL as among the protected forests and national strategic areas in its land-use plan.

The group filed a class action lawsuit in January against Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and Aceh Legislative Council speaker Muharuddin at the Central Jakarta District Court.

The government has only made empty promises despite the group's push for KEL protection since 2013, Farwiza Farhan, chairperson of Forest, Nature and Environment Aceh (HAKA), said on Wednesday.

"We want the promises to be legally binding, so we took the matter to court," Farwiza told journalists at a press conference.

Three mediation attempts with the government resulted in a deadlock one month after the lawsuit was filed. The lawyer for the Aceh administration refused to continue negotiating and suggested that the case be taken to court, Farwiza said.

A lack of political will from the local government hampered the group's efforts in demanding KEL preservation, she added, with local officials having the tendency to accommodate the interests of business players rather than that of citizens.

"In the last few years, the Aceh administration has issued more permits and land clearing has continued, with land being converted to oil palm plantations," Farwiza said.

GeRAM member Abu Kari said the group aimed to fight for KEL to be included in the Spatial Planning Bylaw. As one of Asia's largest carbon sinks, KEL protection was important for the environmental balance in Aceh, he said.

Not only the general citizens, indigenous people living in the forests depend their lives in the unique tropical rainforest area where endangered species such as elephant, Sumatran rhinos, orangutan and Sumatran tigers all live in one habitat. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/aceh-group-calls-on-govt-to-protect-leuser-through-online-petition.html

Ban on outdoor music concerts in West Aceh due to Sharia law

Sydney Morning Herald - April 6, 2016

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Outdoor music concerts have been banned from a regency in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on the grounds they violate Sharia law.

Draconian regulations – such as a ban on women straddling motorcycles (they must ride side-saddle), unaccompanied women working or visiting night spots after 11pm and a requirement that boys and girls are taught separately at school – have been introduced in different parts of Aceh in recent years.

The province, the only part of Indonesia that enforces Sharia law, also outlaws gambling, drinking and even fraternising with the opposite sex outside marriage. Muslim women must wear a hijab in public and gay sex is punishable by 100 lashes of the cane.

The outdoor music ban comes after local singing sensation Ady Bergek was told he could not proceed with a gig on April 3 because it would violate Sharia law.

West Aceh regent (bupati) Teuku Alaidinsyah was quoted in Kompas saying the ban was based on a recommendation by Ulema (a body of Muslim scholars trained in Islamic law), who believed a concert had more disadvantages than advantages.

"We will not be issuing a permit for music concerts since the recommendation by the Ulema, but a music event in a cafe or warung kopi [coffee shop] is permitted," he said.

Human Rights Watch Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono said the ban was a concerning infringement on freedom of expression. "This is a result of the increased formalisation of Sharia in Aceh," he said.

Mr Harsono said local elections were becoming increasingly sectarian, there was a rise in support for Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative branch of Sunni Islam from Saudi Arabia, and a strengthening of legal infrastructure which discriminated against minority religions, homosexuality and women.

Bergek (whose name means unruly in the Acehnese language) is famous for his take on Dangdut, a genre that borrows from traditional Indonesian music as well as from Indian and Malaysian films. His greatest hit Boeh Hate (sweetheart) is part love song, part comedy.

But the Acehnese pop star fell foul of authorities after a concert in Banda Aceh, another regency of Aceh, earlier this year.

"For instance, there was no segregation between male and female spectators and the concert went into the evening, while according to Islamic sharia, a music concert should end before the evening," Teungku Faisal Ali, the deputy head of the Aceh Ulema Council, told Fairfax Media.

"After that we protested, also the mayor's office protested, because the organiser did not comply with the regulations, the Islamic Sharia. And later on the organiser extended their apology."

The central government in Jakarta granted Aceh's religious leaders the right to impose Sharia law in 2001 in a deal struck to quell a decades-long separatist movement in the province.

[With Karuni Rompies and Amilia Rosa.]

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/ban-on-outdoor-music-concerts-in-west-aceh-due-to-sharia-law-20160406-gnzvna.html

Human rights & justice

Government opens new routes to resolving rights abuses

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2016

Tama Salim and Margareth S. Aritonang – Despite an unwillingness to take judicial action to resolve past human rights abuses, the government has initiated several measures to mitigate rights violations.

The Law and Human Rights Ministry said on Wednesday that it was currently working on a long-awaited anti-torture bill. The head of the ministry's law research and development center, Agus Anwar, said that it was concentrating on the academic drafting of the bill before conveying it to the House of the Representatives for deliberation.

"All of the norms within the International Convention will be stipulated in the bill. We also plan to include gross violations of human rights, like genocide, in the bill, because it has a strong connection to the practice of torture," Agus told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a discussion in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"Provisions on torture are already stipulated in a vast number of regulations, including the Indonesian Criminal Code, the Criminal Law Procedures Code, the Penitentiaries Law and the National Police Law," Agus added.

The convention Agus referred to is the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment that was signed in 1984 and came into force in 1987 following ratification by all of its first 20 state parties.

Indonesia ratified this convention in 1998, a move touted by scholars and human rights activists as a major feat following the overthrow of the authoritarian New Order regime under former president Soeharto.

In the 18 years since the ratification, however, the government has faced criticism for not stipulating the convention's norms in specific legislation. The government has also been criticized for failing to resolve past human rights abuses.

Rights activists have expressed skepticism about a recent plan by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan to hold a public dialogue to reveal the truth about the past abuses.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) research director Puri Kencana Putri said a recent pledge by the government to expedite the resolution of 16 severe past rights abuse cases showed how it had failed to address the enormity of human rights issues by choosing methods that risked oversimplifying documented violations.

Puri suspected that the state's handling of the 1965 communist purge – by hosting a symposium for reconciliation on April 23 – was a shortcut for the government to say that all relevant stakeholders had been duly consulted, while the available legal means remained unused.

Puri also lambasted a recent comment by Luhut, who called on civil society to come forth with evidence related to the 1965 atrocities to ensure that due judicial procedure was observed.

She took issue with the coordinating minister's "arrogance" in assuming that 18 years of documentation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) of such cases was not considered sufficient proof to bring to court.

Komnas HAM reiterated again the importance for the government to reveal the truth surrounding past human rights abuses to truly settle the cases. The national rights body emphasized the significance of including truth-telling in the process of reconciling all stakeholders.

Head of the Komnas HAM task force in charge of the matter Roichatul Aswidah stressed that truth-telling should form part of the government's accountability in past abuse cases including the massacres that took place during the 1965 communist purge, which Komnas HAM has declared to be gross violations of human rights.

"We are still discussing the best way to resolve such cases, whether we solve them via a judicial mechanism or a non-judicial one. We have not reached a decision. However, regardless of where the discussion leads, truth-telling is a must," Roichatul said. (mos)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/government-opens-new-routes-resolving-rights-abuses.html

Resolving past rights cases within a year impossible: Komnas HAM

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2016

Bambang Nurbianto – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has voiced pessimism that the government will be able to solve six pass human rights abuse cases within a year because the work would include revealing the truth as well as reconciliation.

"It would be impossible to resolve all six cases within just one, two or even three years," Komnas HAM commissioner Dianto Bachriadi said, adding that revealing the truth required time and should include reconciliation. Revealing the truth should be facilitated by the state, he added.

Dianto was commenting on a statement by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who said the government would solve six human rights abuse cases, namely those on the 1965 communist purge; the 1989 Talangsari, Lampung, massacre; the Trisakti, Semanggi I and II shootings; and the 1998 disappearance of prodemocracy activists.

He questioned whether the government could resolve pass human rights cases and provide justice to the victims of rights abuses in such a short time. Problems faced by government include a lack of legal basis on the non-judicial mechanism, he added.

"The only non-judicial mechanism mandated by law is reconciliation through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission [KKR] as stipulated in the Human Rights Trials Law. But the Constitutional Court has repealed the law," said Dianto.

The rights body questioned the ability of the government to check data and facts from hundreds of thousands of victims across the country in such a limited time.

On top of that, people alleged to be involved in past human rights are still running the country, said Dianto. "They could be a hindrance to revealing the truth," he said. (vps/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/01/resolving-past-rights-cases-within-a-year-impossible-komnas-ham.html

Freedom of speech & expression

Yogyakarta art event disbandment criticized

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2016

Bambang Muryanto – Rights group Peaceful Yogyakarta Solidarity Forum have denounced the recent attempt by Islamic organizations and police personnel to forcefully disband Lady Fast 2016, an art event held by female artist group Kolektif Betina at Survive Garage, Yogyakarta.

At a press conference in Yogyakarta on Monday, the forum, which comprises artists, NGO activists and journalists, called on the State to protect the right of Indonesian citizens to express themselves.

"We condemn all forms of violence and intimidation which lead to the death of freedom to expression," said Anang Nasichudin, representing Peaceful Yogyakarta Solidarity Forum during the press conference held at the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Yogyakarta on Monday.

Dozens of Islamic mass organizations, supported by Kasihan Police personnel, disbanded the Lady Fast 2016 event on Saturday evening. Hate-filled statements were directed at several female artists and activists while a number of guests had been confronted with physical violence.

During the attack, the protesters had refused to mention the names of the organizations they represented. Some wore hats and T-shirts featuring "Forum Umat Islam (FUI)" or Indonesia Islamic Front and "KOKAM", an abbreviation for the Muhammadiyah Youth Force Command logos.

The Kasihan Police have asked local residents to temporarily seal a house owned by Survive Garage, reportedly so that members of the artist community cannot stay there. "We hope that all state apparatus can be present and side with minority groups. We want Yogyakarta to become a tolerant city again," said Anang.

Juwadi, an artist who came to the event together with his wife and their child, deplored the police's excessive dispersal measures in which they had fired warning shots into the air, causing children to become frightened. Juwadi said that several police personnel wearing civilian clothing had fired warning shots in close proximity to his 5-month-pregnant wife and their child.

"I complained about it. I told them if they wanted to fire warning shots, they should do it far from children. The police personnel kept silent. But one of the mass organization personnel asked me why I was so contentious. He even challenged me to fight," he said.

Juwadi deplored the police for not having allowed visitors at the event to feel comfortable. All this time, he added, Yogyakarta was safe and art events had always been 'family friendly'.

Juwadi said several children visiting the event with their parents continued to suffer from trauma. After the event had been disbanded, two children and eight adults took refuge at Survive Garage. Several police personnel broke down the main entrance of the house as protesters had reportedly forced them to search the house to see whether there were alcoholic beverages inside.

Kolektif Betina representative Andina Septia said Lady Fast 2016 was an event for female artists to perform their art. The group consists of 40 female artists from all over Indonesia. The event was initially scheduled to be held until Sunday and would have featured music, discussions, workshops and offered artworks for sale. "We initiated this event due to the lack of space for female artists to express themselves," Andina said.

Meanwhile, Survive Garage representative Bayu Widodo has rejected the accusation that his art space was a sinful place. If there were alcoholic beverages there, they were brought by the visitors and not offered as part of the event. "Since it was established six years ago, we have held a number of events and there has never been such a problem," Bayu said.

Kasihan Police chief Comr. Suwandi said that the Islamic hard-liner groups who had disbanded the event consisted of FUI, Islamic Jihad Front (FJI), and others. "We disbanded the event because it did not have a permit and had the potential to disturb the public order," Suwandi said.

LBH Yogyakarta director Hamzal Wahyudin said the event at Survive Garage had not needed a crowd permit since visitor numbers were less than 300 people, the minimum number of participants to require a permit from the National Police.

"We will report this case to the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) because this is a potential violation of human rights," Hamzal said. (afr/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/04/yogyakarta-art-event-disbandment-criticized.html

Political parties & elections

PKS politician's dismissal confirmed

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2016

Elly Burhaini Faizal – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) confirmed on Monday that one of its politicians, House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah, had been dismissed in a written statement signed by party's chairman, Sohibul Iman.

"The Tahkim [arbitration] council has decided to accept the party's disciplinary committee's [BPDO] recommendation to dismiss FH from PKS membership," Sohibul said on Monday in a statement uploaded onto the party's official website pks.or.id.

It was announced that the PKS's Tahkim council made the decision on March 11 and informed the party's central leadership board (DPTP) on March 20. "On March 23, the DPTP conveyed the decision to the PKS central executive board [DPP] to follow up on it in line with the party's rules of association and internal bylaws [AD/ART]," said Sohibul.

A copy of a letter on Fahri's dismissal circulated among the media on Sunday. When journalists asked Sohibul about the validity of the information, he refused to clarify. He simply stated that a decision on Fahri had been made.

Fahri is widely known for his controversial statements. In February, Fahri criticized President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's high-speed train project worth billions of dollars, saying that this project was not consistent with the President's maritime-axis vision.

Fahri claimed that the project would be a financial burden on the state budget and state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia, which would operate the high-speed train connecting Jakarta and Bandung, the capital of West Java. He also said the project could put at risk land belonging to the state and to local people, and trigger social unrest in areas affected by the project.

In January, the House deputy speaker bickered with Corruption Eradication Commission investigators after they searched the office of Budi Supriyanto, a Golkar Party faction member on House Commission V overseeing transportation and infrastructure, for evidence on the latter's alleged involvement in a graft case at the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry.

Fahri claimed that the KPK's move to involve Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel in the search was illegal. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/04/pks-politicians-dismissal-confirmed.html

Environment & natural disasters

Indonesia's orang-utans suffer as fires rage and land is cleared

New York Times - April 6, 2016

Joe Cochrane – Katty, a docile, orange-haired preschooler, fell from a tree with a thump. Her teacher quickly picked her up, dusted off her bottom, refastened her white disposable nappy and placed her back on a branch more than two metres off the ground.

Katty is an orang-utan, about nine months old, whose family is believed to have been killed by the huge fires in the Indonesian regions of Borneo and Sumatra last autumn.

The blazes are an annual occurrence, when farmers clear land by burning it, often for palm oil plantations. But last year's fires were the worst on record, and scientists blamed a prolonged drought and the effects of El Nino.

The blazes destroyed more than 26,000 square kilometres of forests, blanketing large parts of south-east Asia in a toxic haze for weeks, sickening hundreds of thousands of people and, according to the World Bank, causing $US16 billion in economic losses.

They also killed at least nine orang-utans, the endangered apes native to the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. More than 100, trapped by the loss of habitat or found wandering near villages, had to be relocated. Seven orphans, including five infants, were rescued and taken to rehabilitation centres.

"This is the biggest in the world for primate rehabilitation, not just orang-utans, but we're not proud of it," said Denny Kurniawan, the program director of the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, who oversees the care of 480 orang-utans at seven sites in Central Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo.

"The number of orang-utans here is an indicator of the mass forest destruction due to lack of law enforcement and the local government giving out palm oil concessions," he said.

The suffering of the wildlife is part of a larger story of corporate expansion in a developing economy crashing into environmental issues in an era of climate change.

Indonesia has approved palm oil concessions on nearly six million hectares of peatlands over the past decade; burning peat emits high levels of carbon dioxide and is devilishly hard to extinguish.

Multinational palm oil companies, pulp and paper businesses, the plantations that sell to them, farmers and even day labourers all contribute to the problem. Groups such as Greenpeace and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment put most of the blame for the blazes on the large plantations, which clear the most land.

While it is against Indonesian law to clear plantations by burning, enforcement is lax. Authorities have opened criminal investigations against at least eight companies in connection with last year's fires, but there has yet to be a single high-profile case to get to court.

The government in Jakarta, the capital, has recently banned the draining and clearing of all peatland for agricultural use, and it has ordered provincial governments to adopt better fire suppression methods. But it has not publicly responded to calls for better prevention, such as cracking down on slash-and-burn operations by large palm oil companies.

"Investment is good, but so is the environment," said Eman Supriyadi, the director of a satellite rehabilitation centre where two orphaned orang-utans – six-month-old Oka and three-year-old Otong – are bottle-fed human infant formula and sleep in bamboo cribs. "There has to be a balance."

The government has admitted that it made a "mistake" in granting large strips of land to big corporate palm oil and pulp and paper companies over the past 10 years, said Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia's co-ordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

"The Indonesian government has taken serious measures to freeze any new land rights or concessions for those giant industries," he said. "We are encouraging them to be more efficient, so productivity can grow without adding more land."

However, he said the main cause of the 2015 fires was the previous environmental destruction combined with the El Nino climate cycle.

Katty was found by villagers in a charred forest in Central Kalimantan last October and eventually brought to the Nyaru Menteng centre, which was established by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation in 1999.

She now lives with 20 other infants in an old, one-storey wooden house that was converted into an orang-utan nursery, where they sleep side-by-side in coloured plastic laundry baskets stuffed with leaves.

They will spend the next seven or more years learning from their human minders how to climb trees, make a nest of leaves, spot edible forest fruits and avoid snakes and other predators, before being released back into the wild as young adults.

At 7am each day, they are carted by wheelbarrow, three or four per load, to a fenced-off forest area about 100 metres away for survival classes. They subsist on fruit, mainly bananas and rambutan, and on human infant formula.

The minders take pains not to be overly affectionate with their adorable charges: the orang-utans need to learn to avoid humans and not be accustomed to their presence, in preparation for their return to the jungle.

Most of the centre's older orang-utans are also orphans, found alone and rescued by conservationists or villagers, or confiscated from people illegally keeping them as pets.

The centre aims to release 68 young-adult animals a year. Each returned animal is tracked by a computer chip implanted near the base of the neck that sends signals to the centre for about two years.

The release program has also been jeopardised by the fires, which have drastically reduced the potential orang-utan habitat.

Over the years, thousands of square kilometres have been cleared for plantations, mostly in lowland areas that are the prime habitat for orang-utans. The fires last year destroyed more than 4000 square kilometres of forest in Central Kalimantan alone, or 16 per cent of its total.

"Our challenge for now is, if we have information that orang-utans should be rescued, we don't know where we will relocate them because in Central Kalimantan there is no forest left," Mr Denny said.

"Every day it's estimated that we're losing forests the size of a football field, and that's orang-utan habitat."

Since 2012, his rehabilitation centre has returned 158 orang-utans into a 320-square-kilometre protected forest known as Batikap. But Batikap has reached its maximum recommended orang-utan population, Mr Denny said.

He said the centre was negotiating with the federal government to establish a 750-square-kilometre preserve in Bukit Baka-Bukit Raya National Park, in Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan provinces, for future releases.

Last year's fires caused such an outcry that the provincial government and local district chiefs in Central Kalimantan have approved no new palm oil concessions this year.

But with dry conditions again this year, new fires have broken out already. Last month, the Governor of Riau province in Sumatra declared a state of emergency because of fires, and the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency issued a warning about the increased risk of fire in Sumatra and Borneo until the end of April.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/indonesias-orangutans-suffer-as-fires-rage-and-land-is-cleared-20160406-gnzdpt.html

As forests burn, Indonesia's new anti-fire agency feels heat

Reuters - April 4, 2016

Jakarta – As forest fires raged like never before across Indonesia last year, President Joko Widodo announced he was setting up a special agency to tackle the annual scourge that shrouds parts of Southeast Asia in choking haze.

But, with this season's fires already blazing, the Peatlands Restoration Agency (BRG) has barely got off the ground and has a huge task ahead of it. Nazir Foead, who was appointed to lead the body, told Reuters it needed at least $1 billion in funding over five years, but that the government was unlikely to allocate a budget for another two months.

Foead, an environmental expert who was formerly the World Wildlife Fund's conservation director in Indonesia, so far has just a handful of staff and concedes the agency won't have the clout to force plantation companies to toe the line in helping restore dried-out peatland.

The fires are often started by palm oil plantation and paper firms or by smallholders who use slash-and-burn practices to clear land cheaply. Peaty soil, found in many parts of Indonesia, is particularly flammable when dry, often causing fires to spread beyond their intended areas.

"The authority to issue or freeze licences lies with the environment ministry and local governments, not with this agency," Foead said, referring to permits needed to operate the plantations that dominate swathes of the nation's landscape.

'Re-wetting'

Much of Southeast Asia was blanketed in acrid haze for several months last year and, as pollution levels spiked, thousands of people were afflicted by respiratory illnesses, while tourism, schools and flights were disrupted.

The agency's goal is to prevent fires by "re-wetting" 2 million hectares of drained and damaged peatland – roughly the size of Israel – with at least 30 percent of that carried out this year. The process involves raising water levels using dams and irrigation channels.

Nearly half the fires during 2015's prolonged dry season were on peaty soil. But the agency's budget has not been decided yet, and it has been operating since it started in January using money from around $80 million pledged by donors.

Presidential chief of staff Teten Masduki said the agency would also have access to funds already allocated to the environment ministry as a stopgap until its budget was finalized.

"The agency is just in the institution building and staffing stage," Masduki said, adding the government remained optimistic the body would achieve its targets this year.

State of emergency

As the agency looks to find its feet, fires are already flaring in some areas. Riau province on Sumatra island last month declared a state of emergency, with over 1,000 people deployed to manage the crisis.

The chief security minister, Luhut Panjaitan, said the government would declare emergencies in affected areas earlier this year to ensure firefighting resources were deployed quickly.

"Last year we didn't declare emergency until September, when the fires were already widely spread, that was our mistake," he said last month.

President Joko, who last year cut short a visit to the United States because of the disaster, has threatened to sack officials if they fail to contain blazes.

'Fighting to get basic data'

Foead and his fledgling agency want plantation companies to restore peatlands within their concessions. "There is no other choice for companies but to restore or they will risk huge penalties," he said. Although he added that the agency would have no legal authority to enforce this.

NGO sources said the agency would likely face challenges in convincing companies and communities, used to slash-and-burn clearing, to take responsibility for damaged land. Even getting relevant government institutions to cooperate in mapping and fixing the problem could be hard, said one NGO worker.

"[The agency] is having to fight to get basic data about land use and which companies are given permits," said the worker, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Foead said, however, that the whole of the government was on board with the idea of the agency and that "everyone is cooperating." He said he remained hopeful the agency had a chance of succeeding in the long-run because the initiative was a top priority for Joko's administration.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/forests-burn-indonesias-new-anti-fire-agency-feels-heat/

Greenpeace reveals Indonesia's forests at risk as multiple companies claim rights to

The Guardian (Australia) - April 2, 2016

Karl Mathiesen – Indonesia's palm oil, mining and logging industries are enmeshed in a cat's cradle of overlapping land claims and corruption that are hampering attempts to stop deforestation and fires, newly released maps reveal.

Compiled over almost a decade by Greenpeace using data from provincial governments, resource companies and others, the interactive maps highlight the vast scale of the concession overlap.

Across more than 7m hectares – an area equivalent to the Republic of Ireland – licences for the same concessions have been allocated to as many as four palm, pulpwood, logging or coal mining companies at a time.

With no central land registry in Indonesia, campaigners say the result is a mess of competing claims. Companies may end up thinking they have the right to clear land that another company or government body has pledged to protect from deforestation.

The federal ministry of environment and forestry grants the rights to develop land for pulpwood and selective logging, whereas coal mining and palm oil concessions are granted by local and provincial officials.

"You can't control forest industries if you don't know who controls the land," says Richard George, Greenpeace UK forests campaigner. "Almost anyone can pop up with a bit of paper that they've been given by somebody and say 'Well, actually, it's mine'." Indonesia's ministry of environment and forestry did not respond to the Guardian's requests for interview.

The overlap is exacerbated by corruption within different layers of government. According to Laode Syarif, deputy chief of the Indonesian government's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), many officials exchange land rights to raise money for election campaigns or to curry influence with powerful business owners, and bribes for concessions are commonplace.

Syarif blames the corruption on "collusion between private sectors and government officials at local, provincial and even national level". The fires that follow the clearing of land typically get worse around the time of an election, he says, when whole tranches of new land are opened up in corrupt deals.

The KPK has been asked by the Indonesian government to step in, says Syarif. Once it identifies concessions which have been handed out irregularly it demands officials revoke these licences. The commission has also prosecuted corrupt officials as high as the rank of provincial governor.

Since coming to power in 2014, president Joko Widodo has committed to reduce the deforestation and drainage of peat bogs. In order to combat corruption and illegal activity, his government has promised a national registry of land ownership, known as One Map.

But the initiative, which was supposed to be finalised last year, has been delayed until 2019. According to Syarif, recalcitrant ministries and local governments have been loath to hand over their records in case they expose criminal or negligent practices.

Aida Greenbury, managing director of sustainability at Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the world's biggest pulpwood suppliers, says overlapping licenses "have been creating big challenges for a deforestation-free supply chain".

She refers to an ongoing land dispute in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. In 2013, an APP supplier, Daya Tani Kalbar, was one of two companies accused of destroying forest and peatland in its concession area – known to be orangutan habitat.

An investigation by APP and its partner The Forest Trust found the forest was being cleared and planted by Gerbang Benua Raya (GBR), a palm oil company unconnected to APP which also claimed to be licensed to operate in the area. It is not clear how or from whom GBR attained their license. The RSPO does not list them as a member. Greenpeace's mapping tool suggests native forest continues to be denuded three years after the issue was raised with APP.

According to Tom Johnson, head of research at environmental investigations unit Earthsight, a "far bigger problem" than the encroachment of concessions with one another is the overlap of company concessions with lands claimed by local communities. On 16 March, Indonesia's Human Rights Commission published a 1,000 page compendium of recent land conflicts.

Johnson says many of these conflicts are triggered by various tiers of government laying claim to forests where indigenous people live, and handing them out to the private sector. In the Melawi district of West Kalimantan more than 95% of land is controlled by private companies.

Greenpeace hopes that, in lieu of a large scale release of up-to-date concession data from the government and the completion of the One Map, companies will now come forward to update its unprecedented – although not comprehensive – set of maps.

"Until we've sorted out land tenure in a way that allows for everyone – government, civil society, companies and the Indonesian people – to know who's actually responsible for controlling land," says George, "you are always going to have this buck passing."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/apr/02/greenpeace-palm-oil-logging-indonesia-overlapping-land-claims-greenpeace-forest-fires

Indonesian government threatens to deport Leonardo DiCaprio for palm oil criticism

The Guardian (Australia) - April 1, 2016

Ben Child – The Indonesian government has threatened to deport Leonardo DiCaprio after the Oscar-winning actor and film-maker made critical statements about the country's palm oil industry during a visit.

DiCaprio, an environmental campaigner, landed in Indonesia on 26 March from Japan. On Tuesday he posted a photograph to his Instagram highlighting the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation's plans with local partners to establish a "mega-fauna sanctuary" in the Leuser rainforest ecosystem, a lowland Sumatran national park where palm oil plantations, mining, logging and other developments are endangering local populations of Sumatran elephants, orangutans, rhinos and tigers.

"The expansion of Palm Oil plantations is fragmenting the #forest and cutting off key elephant migratory corridors, making it more difficult for elephant families to find adequate sources of food and water," wrote DiCaprio in his post.

The actor's presence in Indonesia does not appear to have gone down well with ministers, who appear to regard the Hollywood star as a troublemaker.

"If there are statements that discredit the government and the interests of Indonesia, he could be deported," immigration director-general Ronny Sompie told Republika, pointing out that the actor's tourist visa limited him to "excursions" only. "If he is in Indonesia for other purposes, by engaging in activities that disrupt public order and harm the interests of Indonesia, immigration authorities are ready to deport him," said the minister.

The only problem with the idea of deporting DiCaprio is that the actor appears to have already left Indonesia of his own accord. While he was still tweeting photographs of the Sumatran rainforest on Thursday, Eco Watch reported that the actor and activist was no longer on local soil.

DiCaprio's foundation, established in 1998, will partner with conservationist Rudi Putra to build a wildlife sanctuary in the 6.5m acre Leuser ecosystem, constructing barriers, training wildlife patrols and rangers and reporting habitat destruction. The actor has been in Asia in recent weeks to promote his role in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Oscar-winning western The Revenant, which debuted in China and Japan last month.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/01/indonesian-government-threatens-to-deport-leonardo-dicaprio-palm-oil-industry-criticism

Health & education

Quarter of Central Javanese still defecate in open

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2016

Suherdjoko – Almost 25 percent of the people of Central Java still defecate in the open, especially in rivers, putting them at greater risk of contracting water-borne diseases, a health official says.

Central Java Health Agency chief Yulianto Prabowo said in Semarang on Thursday that only 78 percent of residents in the province had toilets in their homes. Several regencies, especially in the western part of the province, still need to increase their awareness on environmental health, he said.

"Of the 35 regencies and municipalities in Central Java, those located on the western side of the province need to pay more attention to improving environmental health. These areas include Banyumas, Brebes, Cilacap, Pemalang and Tegal. The poverty level in those areas is relatively high and so improving the health of people there is important," said Yulianto.

Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo voiced apprehension about the matter. During the closing ceremony of a five-year partnership between US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Indonesian people and government via the Indonesia Urban Waste, Sanitation and Hygiene (IUWASH) program, Ganjar advised Wonosobo residents to stop the unhealthy practice of defecating in the open.

"Many people in Wonosobo still defecate in the open. Some of them are better off, but still they don't change their ways. I once urged a Wonosobo resident, who was building a house, to make an indoor toilet. A toilet was then installed in a tiny space in the house. This is part of efforts to encourage people to adopt a healthier lifestyle," said Ganjar.

In Central Java, IUWASH assisted in providing people with adequate access to clean water and sanitation in 10 regencies and municipalities over the past five years. They comprise seven regencies – Batang, Kendal, Klaten, Kudus, Rembang, Semarang and Sukoharjo – and three municipalities, namely Salatiga, Semarang and Surakarta.

Semanggi district, in Surakarta, for instance, has a poor community, which now has a public toilet and access to clean water provided by Surakarta tap water company PDAM. People in the district used to defecate in rivers.

Yulianto further explained that there was a need to improve environmental health, especially around public spaces and markets. On the other hand, Central Java provided access to clean water to 80 percent of its residents.

He said Central Java had 279 hospitals spread evenly across 35 regencies and municipalities across the province. A community health center with doctors can be found in every district.

"Community health centers are even available in remote areas such as Karimunjawa in Jepara regency and Kampung Laut in Cilacap," said Yulianto, adding that improvement was needed because to access hospitals, people in the remote areas had to travel by boat. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/quarter-of-c-javanese-still-defecate-in-open.html

Government program not effective yet for curbing teen pregnancy

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2016

There are 48 pregnancies in every 1,000 teenage girls across Indonesia, which is slightly above the government's target for the issue, the latest data from the National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) shows.

Previously, as mandated in Indonesia's 2010-2014 National Medium Term Development Plan (RPJMN), the government aimed to reduce the number of pregnancies to 30 out of 1,000 teenage girls aged from 15 to 19 years.

Responding to the figures, the family planning board has rebranded its Planned Generation (GenRe) program and put more focus on the prevention of pre-marital sex, early marriage and abuse of drugs, which are the main factors that lead to teen pregnancies.

"Based on the 2016 population projection, the number of teenagers within the ages of 10 and 20 is more than 66 million. It means that one out of four Indonesia citizens is a teenager," BKKBN chairperson Surya Chandra Surapaty said on Monday in Jakarta.

Based on the 2015 BKKBN report, he continued, 19.2 percent of teenage girls had planned to marry before the age of 22 and 46.2 percent of teenage boys had planned to marry within the ages of 20 and 25.

Pre-marital sex could lead to unwanted pregnancy, abortion and the spread of HIV/AIDS, while early marriage could lead to education and reproductive health issues, it reported.

The BKKBN also showed concerns about drugs problems as the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) had reported that there were 880,000 teenage drug abusers in 2013. "We want to improve the competency and character of teenagers to prevent further disaster," Surya said.

The GenRe program was launched in 2013 to prepare youths for a smooth and easy transition into adulthood by planning their education, careers and family and supporting them to become responsible members of society. (vps/ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/05/govt-program-not-effective-yet-for-curbing-teen-pregnancy.html

Rights body calls for revision of history textbooks

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2016

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has called on the government to revise school history books, which it believes have been manipulated for decades by those in power.

"We can't depend on the version of history that was provided by the New Order government [from 1966 to 1998], for example. There should be new lesson materials based on the process of revealing the truth," said Komnas HAM commissioner Dianto Bachriadi.

History textbooks should be revised after the government reveals the truth regarding past human rights cases, he added.

Komnas HAM has launched its own investigations into the cases but its recommendations have never been followed up by the Attorney General's Office. Dianto said the government should provide updated materials for history lessons in schools countrywide and compensate victims of past rights abuses.

However, Benny Susetyo of the Setara Institute said the most important thing in resolving past human rights cases was recognition and, therefore, the government should recognize the country's dark past in order to bring about justice for victims.

"Our society discourages efforts to recognize the truth of the past as it would threaten perpetrators' positions nowadays," said Benny.

The government has expressed its wish to resolve seven past human rights violations, namely a 1989 massacre in Talangsari, Lampung; the forced disappearance of anti-Soeharto activists in 1997 and 1998; the 1998 Trisakti University shootings; the Semanggi I and Semanggi II student shootings in 1998 and 1999; the mysterious killings of alleged criminals in the 1980s; the communist purge of 1965; and various abuses that took place in Wasior and Wamena, Papua, in 2001 and 2003.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on March 17 that the government expected to resolve at least six of those cases by May 2. (vps/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/03/31/rights-body-calls-for-revision-of-history-textbooks.html

Gender & sexual orientation

Safeguarding national security and the Indonesian LGBT community

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2016

Emerlynne Gil – Southeast Asian governments are increasingly restricting the work of human rights defenders, misusing a variety of laws supposedly aimed at defending "national security" or countering vaguely defined "terrorist threats".

The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, recently released his observations on the communications he sent to governments in 2015.

His observations reveal that human rights defenders in the Asia-Pacific region face increasing risks as they do their work promoting and protecting human rights, with governments continuing to disregard allegations of violations against them.

In 2015, the special rapporteur sent 66 communications to governments in the Asia-Pacific region – the highest number of communications sent compared to all the other regions in the world. To add to the problem, the response rate by governments in the region was 42 percent, the second lowest next to Africa's 21 percent.

The special rapporteur observed that there is a continued use of laws to criminalize the legitimate and peaceful activities of human rights defenders. He cites the use of Malaysia's Sedition Act of 1948 and Thailand's Computer Crimes Act to unduly limit the right to freedom of expression and opinion of human rights defenders in those countries.

He also expressed concern regarding the development of laws that negatively impact certain rights of human rights defenders, such as the rights to freedom of expression and association.

One of the most alarming manifestations of this unfortunate trend comes from Indonesia, where government officials have been citing "national security" to restrict human rights defenders working to protect the rights of people to be free of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Recently, Indonesia's defense minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, said that homosexuality is "a form of modern warfare, an attempt by Western nations to undermine the country's sovereignty". This comes on the heels of comments by former information and communications minister Tifatul Sembering "to kill all gay persons".

Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla recently called for funding to be discontinued to a UN program that is aimed at addressing the stigma, discrimination and violence toward LGBT persons. Furthermore, there have been reports of the State Intelligence Agency urging donors to stop funding LGBT groups on the premise that they cause destabilization and insecurity in the country.

In this context, Indonesian human rights defenders are rightly concerned about a draft bill on national security that is now being discussed in the legislature. Particularly problematic is the draft's very vague definition of what would constitute a "threat to national security".

In the most recent version of the bill, a "threat" to national security was any type of activity, whether done in Indonesia or abroad, that may endanger the nation's safety, security, sovereignty and territorial integrity. A threat could also be any action that endangers the "national interest", whether it is the nation's ideology, politics, economy, or socio-cultural life.

As demonstrated by recent statements, it is entirely possible that such a vague and ambiguous definition would be abused in Indonesia to harass and intimidate the country's LGBT community as a "threat to national security".

Indonesia must halt the creeping return of the nasty old habit of claiming that critical or marginalized voices threaten the country's national security. Indonesia's civil society has been able to flourish in the past few years since the fall of the Suharto government and this is a sign of a growing, vibrant, confident country.

Furthermore, as ASEAN touts its economic development and looks ahead to greater integration, it must create more, not less, space for civil society.

Indonesia leads among ASEAN member states in human rights promotion and protection. It should therefore ensure that any measure meant to safeguard national security does not target people who do not conform to traditional gender roles. Measures to safeguard national security should protect all Indonesians, without exception – including LGBT persons.

[Emerlynne Gil is the senior international legal adviser for Southeast Asia for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). The ICJ is a global organization of judges and lawyers dedicated to promoting and protecting human rights and upholding the rule of law. She can be reached at emerlynne.gil@icj.org.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2016/04/01/safeguarding-national-security-and-the-indonesian-lgbt-community.html

Graft & corruption

Politicians, private businesspeople main actors of corruption, study reveals

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2016

Slamet Susanto – A study has revealed that the majority of corruption perpetrators in Indonesia are politicians and private businesspeople.

"Politicians and private businesspeople have committed corruption collectively through the arrangement of laws and regional regulations," University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) School of Economics researcher Rimawan Pradiptyo said about the results of his study.

Although many private businesspeople had been proven guilty of corruption, there were no laws regulating corruption perpetrators from the private sector, he went on. "Laws only regulate corruption involving politicians and civil servants," said Rimawan.

The study's results and data from UGM's economic science laboratory show that during the period of 2001-2015, the number of corruption convicts, comprising politicians (legislators and regional heads) and private businesspeople, reached 1,420 people, with total state losses amounting to Rp 50.1 trillion (US$3.79 billion). Meanwhile, 1,115 corruption convicts were civil servants.

Rimawan said the funds returned to the state were small compared to state losses. Citing an example, Rimawan said a corruption case in Bantul regency involving 12 convicts with state losses amounting to Rp 16.3 billion only saw Rp.4.2 billion returned to the state.

He further said that in Denpasar, Bali, a corruption case involving 21 convicts with state losses of Rp 71.5 billion only saw Rp 1 billion returned to the state.

Rimawan said Greater Jakarta and Sumatra were among the most corrupt areas in Indonesia. The study found that Rp 121.3 trillion, 94.08 percent of Rp 195.14 trillion worth of state losses were incurred in corruption cases in Greater Jakarta and Sumatra.

Concerning the condition, Rimawan said Indonesia's corruption eradication strategy must be reoriented. "In principle, corruption starts from a conspiracy between politicians and private businesspeople during the arrangement of laws and regional regulations," he said.

Rimawan further said there also should be a revision to Law No. 20/2001 on corruption eradication, in which articles on corruption crimes perpetrated by private businesspeople and corruption practices among private institutions must be included. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/politicians-private-businesspeople-main-actors-of-corruption-study-reveals.html

Fadli Zon's wife defends Japanese holiday

Jakarta Globe - April 7, 2016

Jakarta – Grace Fadli Zon, wife of the House of Representatives deputy speaker, has hit back at criticisms of a holiday trip to Japan for members of the House wives association, or PAI, saying it had been planned last year.

"It was official with all members of PIA. Leaders of the association, including the chair of PIA acknowledged and supported the program," Grace said in a statement on Wednesday (06/04).

The holiday program is just one of the programs offered to association members, she said. The association also offers programs in the country, including providing free medication in Cilincing's Fishermen Village, North Jakarta, as well as the hygiene and dental health advisory in Mekarjaya elementary school, Depok.

She said dozens of other social activities has taken place before March, prior to the holiday visit. Grace said the visit was a holiday intended to strengthen the bond of PIA members, comprising of 10 factions of the House.

"The Japan trip uses personal fund, not state funds," she said, adding that they have not requested any travel perks from Indonesia's overseas mission in the country. The holiday schedule was arranged by PIA and guests stayed in three-star hotels.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/fadli-zons-wife-defends-japanese-holiday/

AGO stuck on Setya probe in Freeport case

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2016

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has hinted that it will soon halt its investigation into former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto in the Freeport lobbying case, citing an investigation deadlock as the main reason behind the plan.

The deadlock in question is the AGO's failure to summon for testimony oil and gas businessman Muhammad Reza Chalid, the alleged partner in crime of Setya in the case, who left the country just days after the AGO investigation began.

"The case has yet to be dropped, but as you already know, some people are not around to testify. We'll seek advice from legal experts on whether the case has garnered enough evidence [without Reza's testimony] or whether it still lacks evidence," Attorney General M. Prasetyo told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Setya and Reza allegedly met several times with then-Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin in 2015 to offer their help for the company to get a contract extension for its gold mine, one of the world's largest, in Papua. Setya allegedly claimed to have won the approval of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to secure shares and projects from Freeport Indonesia in exchange for helping the firm secure its contract extension.

The lobbying effort, some of which was caught on tape, forced Setya to sit through an ethics council tribunal at the House. The AGO also stepped in to prosecute Setya for graft in the Freeport case while the hearing was underway. Facing the threat of ethical and legal charges from the House and the AGO, Setya quit his job as House speaker, a move that forced the ethics council stop the hearing; and the AGO subsequently slowed down its investigation into Setya.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/national-scene-ago-stuck-setya-probe-freeport-case.html

In Indonesia, corruption 'subsidized' by taxpayers: Researcher

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2016

Anton Hermansyah – Fines and penalties levied on corruption convicts are far lower than the losses that they cause, indicating that the losses are indirectly "subsidized" by taxpayers, research shows.

According to a study by Gadjah Mada University, Rp 21.26 trillion was paid in penalties and fines by corruption convicts between 2001 and 2015. The amount is far lower than the state losses caused by corruption, which stood at Rp 203.9 trillion.

"There is Rp 182.64 trillion worth of unrecovered losses. Who bears the cost of the 'subsidy'? It is diligent taxpayers and even generations who are not even born yet," said Gadjah Mada University researcher Rimawan Pradiptyo in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The university team exposed another irony – those who stole larger amounts of state funds were fined less than people who stole less. Corruption convicts who caused state losses of less than Rp 10 million paid fines 3.43 percent higher than the incurred losses.

"On the other side, those causing state losses of above Rp 25 billion were fined only 8.3 percent of the losses incurred," Rimawan said.

The result of the research is in line with Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) findings that the country incurred losses from four costs of corruption.

First, the nominal value of the money stolen. Second, the economic opportunity lost because of corruption. Third, the preventive costs such as for bureaucratic reform. Fourth, the eradication costs, such as for court proceedings, investigations and processing.

Based on the type of case, the KPK mostly handled bribery cases comprising 224 cases of all 468 corruption cases under KPK investigation. Next, procurements and budget violation cases with 142 (30 percent) and 44 (10 percent), cases respectively.

Based on profession, 32 percent or 167 of 518 KPK detainees were politicians. Private employees and civil servants followed at 128 (25 percent) and 123 (24 percent) people, respectively. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/06/in-indonesia-corruption-subsidized-by-taxpayers-researcher.html

Terrorism & religious extremism

Klaten residents urge police to be transparent in alleged terrorist's death

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2016

Ganug Nugroho Adi – Residents of Klaten regency in Central Java are demanding that the government and National Police reveal the true cause of death of alleged terrorist Siyono amid allegations of abuse to provide justice for the deceased's family.

Dozens of residents group under the Caring About Klaten Community voiced their demands in a protest march from the regency's square to the Klaten Legislative Council (DPRD) on Tuesday.

Carrying posters, the protestors demanded that Siyono's death case be handled objectively and transparently. The protestors also demanded that the authorities punish those found to be involved in Siyono's death.

"We don't agree with terrorism. We only want the government, especially the police, to not cover anything up," said protest coordinator Muslih on Tuesday.

The residents also asked authorities to restore security and comfort in Pogung village, the hometown of Siyono and where he was buried, after his autopsy is completed and case is closed. The residents claimed that the case traumatized residents and incited fear, Muslih said.

Klaten DPRD speaker Agus Riyanto said he would convey protestors' demands to the regent, Klaten Police chief and military commander at the local leaders meeting.

Siyono died while in police custody after he was arrested on March 8 by the National Police's Densus 88 antiterror squad. Siyono's family and several human rights groups suspect that physical abuse led to his death.

Siyono's body underwent an autopsy by a team of 10 doctors facilitated by Islamic organization Muhammadiyah's youth wing on Sunday. Preliminary autopsy results found bruises from a blunt object on Siyono's body.

"We suspect there had been physical abuse. We also found that he sustained bone injuries," said lead doctor Gatot Suharto, adding that no gunshots wounds were found on the body. The team will announce the autopsy results next week. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/06/klaten-residents-urge-police-to-be-transparent-in-alleged-terrorists-death.html

New terrorism law must uphold 'presumption of innocence'

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie – The House of Representatives must carefully review the draft amendments of the terrorism law, particularly the regulations related to the arrest of terrorist suspects, an expert says.

A professor of political science at the University of Indonesia (UI), Burhan Magenda, said the government must include a 'presumption of innocence' clause in the draft to prevent any abuse of power.

"If it is only based on suspicion, I don't think that someone can be detained. We should keep upholding the presumption of innocence," Burhan said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Sunday.

According to Burhan, the status of a suspect should be made clear before he or she is detained. For example, to arrest a terrorist suspect, the police should produce strong evidence that the target is indeed involved in terrorism.

There should be evidence that someone has violated the law before being detained, Burhan said. Otherwise, the authority to make an arrest could be abused by law enforcers.

Similarly, the head of Kontras' civil and political rights division, Putri Kanesia, said a presumption of innocence clause would protect suspects who have not yet been convicted. She criticized the case of Siyono, a terrorist suspect who died while in the custody of Densus 88.

Siyono's dead body was covered in blood and bruises when it was returned to his family four days after the arrest, raising suspicion that the counterterrorism squad had tortured Siyono during its investigation, according to a Kontras investigation.

"Even though they are suspects, [with presumption of innocence] they have the same rights to be treated equally before the law," Putri said recently.

In the draft revision of the 2003 law on terrorism, there is a point that says law enforcers have the authority to detain a terrorist suspect in a designated place for six months. Rights activists have criticized the point, saying that a six-month detention violated human rights and allows the use of torture during an investigation. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/05/new-terrorism-law-must-uphold-%E2%80%98presumption-of-innocence%E2%80%99.html

At least 121 innocent people have died at the hands of Densus 88 anti-terror unit

Manjanik.net - April 2, 2016

Jakarta – At least 121 innocent people accused of being terrorists or involved in terrorist networks have died at the hands of the Detachment 88 Special Anti-Terror Unit (Densus 88) after being detained or during interrogation.

Lingkar Madani Executive Director Ray Rangkuti says that the pattern of arrests and interrogations of alleged terrorists carried out by Densus 88 is extremely dangerous. This according to Ray could threaten broader society because [anybody] could become a target for the elite anti-terrorist unit.

"These methods could endanger all of us. It's disgraceful, history records that 121 people have died. Our spirit of reformasi [the reform process that began in 1998] will be questioned", said Ray during a press conference titled "Seeking Justice for Suratmi" held jointly with the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and other human rights observers at the offices of PP Muhammadiyah on Jl. Menteng Raya in Central Jakarta on Friday April 1.

The number of dead could continue to rise because there is no independent party that can audit the Densus 88's performance. "What is the value of an Indonesian citizen's life? Is it two wads of cash. An Indonesian citizen's death resolved by two wads of cash. What is the relationship between a life and this money. If police gave the money because a person died, then (the cause of the death) was most certainly a state institution", said Ray.

Ray also deplored the fact that an Indonesian citizen who was only an alleged terrorist and in good health was arrested immediately but then suddenly returned home as a corpse. Ray believes that there were no grounds for the arrest.

"On what basis is a person who is suspected arrested? What is the meaning of the two wads of cash given [to his wife Suratmi], it's not enough for it to be handled by the national police's Professionalism and Security Affairs division (Propam Polri), there must be an independent investigation team", he asserted.

Because of this Ray is calling for Densus 88 to be disbanded and a complete evaluation of the national police system. Ray explained that the national police as an institution are no longer able to adapt to current developments.

"Disband Densus, why is Densus under the structure of our national police. Evaluate all of the national police's systems, the national police should no longer be able to deal with drivers licenses or arrest people. The national police and Attorney General are institutions that have yet to be reformed or touched to this day. Return their focus to law enforcement and security only, other functions that are not in accordance with this must be abandoned", he asserted. (AH/viva)

Notes

Siyono died while in police custody after he was arrested on March 8 by Densus 88. Siyono's family and several human rights groups suspect that physical abuse led to his death. According to Indonesian media reports, on March 11 Siyono's wife Suratmi was given parcel containing two wads of cash by the national police as an expression of condolence over the death of her husband. Police have declined to comment on the matter.

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Ngeri!! Sedikitnya 121 Orang Tak Bersalah Meninggal Ditangan Densus 88".]

Source: http://manjanik.net/news/nasional/ngeri-sedikitnya-121-orang-tak-bersalah-meninggal-ditangan-densus-88/

Freedom of religion & worship

Discrimination against minority groups rampant: Komnas HAM

Jakarta Globe - April 6, 2016

Jakarta – Discrimination against religious minority groups remains rampant across Indonesia, according to the National Commission of Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, in its first quarterly report released on Tuesday (05/04).

Jayadi Damanik, coordinator for religious freedom affairs at Komnas HAM, said discriminatory regulations which attack minority groups and the blocking of house of worship construction dominated the first three months of 2016.

In West Java, the commission identified at least 33 discriminatory policies and regulations implemented by regional administrations. Bekasi topped the list with 12 discriminatory policies, followed by Bogor at second place with 10.

"The most-prone group is Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation because the Bekasi administration implemented some regulations to ban their activities," Jayadi told a press conference in Jakarta.

In Bogor, the GKI Yasmin Protestant congregation faces discriminatory policies, with the local government continuing to seal off its church despite a Supreme Court ruling which found the move unlawful.

Komnas HAM also noted intolerance in Papua, after the Jayawijaya Church Alliance (PGGJ) rejected the building application of Baiturahaman Mosque in Wamena, Papua, on Feb. 26. PGGJ called on the Jayawijaya district administration to revoke the building permit and to impose a ban on women wearing hijab in the district.

In Bangka Belitung, the local government of Bangka district issued a circulating letter on Jan. 5, demanding the Ahmadiyah community either convert to Sunni Islam or face expulsion from Bangka.

Jayadi said the Ahmadis moved to a safe location for several days before returning to their homes after police guaranteed the Ahmadis' safety.

The commission called on President Joko Widodo to help educate local administrations about human rights and religious tolerance issues.

"Religious freedom must be an indicator of the public service implementation in this country. The government should increase its authorities to help regional administrations to solve the religious freedom issues," Jayadi said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/discrimination-minority-groups-rampant-komnas-ham/

Poverty & social inequity

Govt's Gini ratio target too ambitious: NGOs

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – The government's aim of reducing the national inequality ratio, known as the Gini ratio, from 0.41 to 0.39 in 2016 is too ambitious according to one activist, who points out that Brazil took 15 years to reduce its Gini ratio from 0.59 to 0.54.

International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) program manager Siti Khoirun Ni'mah said the main problem with inequality in Indonesia was the high number of people with a limited education.

"Limited access to jobs in the labor market is one cause of inequality, especially for a labor force with low education levels, such as those who did not graduate from high school," she said at a press conference on Wednesday in Jakarta.

The government, she urged, should "lend a helping hand" and facilitate job access by obliging companies and institutions to organize job training for applicants who didn't finish high school.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded unemployment in Indonesia at 5.9 percent in 2015; 7.45 million people out of a labor force of 128 million. Forty-five percent of those unemployed did not finish high school.

At the same time, Indonesia is currently entering the ASEAN economic community. According to Siti, Indonesian workers must be prepared to compete with workers from neighboring countries.

She urged the government to proactively facilitate job access, calling on the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry to allocate more funding to job training for the less educated. She suggested a further allocation of Rp 20 trillion (US$1.5 billion) to Rp 30 trillion, or roughly another 20 percent of the total education budget.

"The government needs to make a rule that obliges private companies, state firms, ministries and agencies to organize job training. The Finance Ministry should also set up scholarships through the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) for high school graduates," Siti said.

The Education Ministry, she suggested, should also identify industries with an employment gap, resulting from shortages in either skills or qualifications, and seek to prepare workers for those jobs.

An analyst at Migrant Care Wahyu Susilo said job training in Indonesia for migrants was very exploitative, requiring migrant workers to pay up to US$16 million for their training, when the quality of the training provided was generally inadequate.

"We encourage the provision of quality training for migrant workers, funded by the state budget and other resources owned by the state, to end the burden placed on migrant workers," he said. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/06/govts-gini-ratio-target-too-ambitious-NGOs.html

Agriculture & food security

East Nusa Tenggara villages suffering harvest failure, food shortages

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2016

Djemi Amnifu – Two regencies in East Nusa Tenggara, namely Nagekeo and Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS), are suffering from prolonged drought and food shortages. It is estimated some 39 villages in these regencies require humanitarian assistance and long-term aid.

Humanitarian organization Plan International Indonesia said recently that from the end of March, it had dispatched an emergency response team to the 39 villages.

"The emergency response team has distributed clean water in the Nagekeo and TTS regencies to reduce the impact of a long dry spell resulting from El Nino, which will affect East Nusa Tenggara until 2016," the organization's country director Myrna Remata Evora told journalists in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Saturday.

Myrna said the prolonged drought had reduced the quality of life in Nagekeo and TTS. Several villages in the two regencies are experiencing a clean water crisis alongside harvest failure and food scarcity. The dispatch of the emergency response team is aimed at reducing El Nino's impact on the province, she said.

"The emergency response team will distribute clean water to villages in Nagekeo and TTS. Every village will get 5,000 liters of water every day for the next 30 days. This emergency work is supported by Start Fund, a multi-donor fund," said Myrna.

Plan International Indonesia's disaster mitigation program advisor Wahyu Kuncoro said that the amount of clean water available for people in the 39 villages was not enough. This is because the water distributed is usually prioritized as drinking water, and not allocated for domestic household needs, he added.

Wahyu further explained that as a humanitarian organization focused on fulfilling the rights of children, Plan International Indonesia wanted to ensure that children in the villages could easily obtain clean water.

"The health of children is our priority. We have coordinated with all village-level administrations and local volunteers to prioritize children in the water distribution scheme," he said.

Wahyu said the water would be distributed using trucks deployed to the villages. Beforehand, every village would be equipped with two fiber-made water tanks with a capacity of 2,200 liters each. In the next 30 days, the clean water will reach more than 26,000 people in Nagekeo and TTS, around 15,000 of whom are children, Wahyu said.

After monitoring the region, Yahya Ado, the organization's program manager in Nagekeo, said two districts in Nagekeo, namely Aesesa and South Aesesa, had suffered the most from the long dry spell. Both districts have experienced severe harvest failure.

"Our results are supported by data from the Nagekeo Disaster Mitigation Agency [BPBD], which shows that three villages in Aesesa district have suffered 100 percent harvest failures. Meanwhile, damage to land in two villages in South Aesesa district has reached 50 percent," said Yahya. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/04/e-nusa-tenggara-villages-suffering-harvest-failure-food-shortages.html

Land & agrarian conflicts

NGO, locals seek to halt Central Java coal power plant project

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2016

An environmental group and residents are intensifying their efforts to pressure the government into canceling a US$4 billion coal power plant project in Batang, Central Java as they fear the plant will cause pollution, spur human rights violations and threaten locals' livelihoods.

The project management's failure to meet its fifth deadline for financial closures that fell on April 6, unsettled land acquisition and continuing rights violations may help push the scheme to be scrapped, says Greenpeace Indonesia.

"We demand that President Jokowi cancel the project, given the persisting human rights violations and threat to locals' livelihood in the last five years," Greenpeace energy campaigner Desriko Malayu Putra told the media in Jakarta on Thursday.

The power plant, touted as the largest in Southeast Asia, is part of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's ambitious plan to add 35,000 MW to the electricity grid by building multiple power plants. Desriko said the project breached Indonesia's commitment to tackling climate change.

Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) research head Pius Ginting said the power plant project would produce air pollution in its surrounding areas. "The project will release about 10.8 million tons of carbon emissions per year. It will adversely impact the climate, human health and cause environmental damage" he said.

The power plant is the first project to be developed under a public-private partnership scheme involving the government and Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI) – a consortium consisting of Jakarta-listed PT Adaro Energy, J-Power Electric Power Development Co. Ltd. and Itochu Corp., which won the tender for the Batang project in 2011.

The project has been met with strong resistance from Batang residents. Many have refused to sell their property to make way for it. Farmers who refused to give up their land have reported cases of intimidation and blocked access to their homes.

Karomat, among farmers who claim to having fallen victim to the project, said the blockade to his property had threatened his livelihood. "We feel unprotected and left out after access to our farm was blocked. When can we cultivate our land again? The government and businesses should not do this [to us]," he said.

With support from local and international environmental organizations, academicians and activists, the locals have appealed to the Japanese government to use its authority and ask Japan's Bank for International Cooperation as the main investor to cancel its involvement in the project. (sha/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/08/ngo-locals-seek-to-halt-central-java-coal-power-plant-project.html

Graft arrests linked to Indonesia's contested land reclamation projects

Sydney Morning Herald - April 4, 2016

Jewel Topsfield, Jakarta – Allegations of bribery and corruption will further mire controversial land reclamation projects across Indonesia, already hotly contested by locals and environmentalists.

Jakarta City councillor Muhammad Sanusi and two employees from property developer PT Agung Podomoro Land – president director Ariesman Widjaja and staffer Trinanda Prihantoro have been named suspects by Indonesia's Corruption Eradiation Commission, the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK).

Last Friday, Sanusi was arrested for allegedly receiving a 2 billion rupiah ($199,000) bribe from a property developer to expedite the approval of bylaws required for zoning the reclamation area.

There are more than 15 planned reclamation projects across Indonesia, including a $3 billion project to build artificial islands in the middle of Benoa Bay in Bali. Many are highly controversial on the grounds they could cause flooding, damage the maritime ecosystem and destroy the livelihood of local fishermen.

The Jakarta administration has issued construction permits for some of the artificial islands in North Jakarta even though bylaws on zoning and small islands should be passed beforehand.

Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) spokesman Edo Rakhman told Fairfax Media that reclamation projects should be halted nationwide.

"Because in many reclamation projects we monitor, the pattern is the same – permits for developers to do reclamation are issued before the zoning bylaw is in place," he said. "It means there is a chance of developers bribing the provincial parliamentarians who must draft the bylaw."

He said developers had also issued construction permits for developers to commence reclamation projects in Palu in Central Sulawesi and Manado in North Sulawesi without bylaws being in place. "In 2013 there were big floods in Manado we believe were caused by the reclamation project," Mr Edo said, while in Palu biodiversity was shrinking.

The proposed Benoa Bay reclamation in Bali has spawned one of the largest environmental movements in Indonesia's history, with thousands of demonstrators staging regular protest marches. Some protesters have even claimed they would commit puputan (a Balinese ritualistic flight to the death) to stop it proceeding.

Balinese Forum Against Reclamation (ForBALI) coordinator Wayan "Gendo" Suardana said the Corruption Eradication Commission – one of Indonesia's most respected institutions – must expand its investigation to include the Benoa Bay reclamation.

"It has a similar MO (modus operandi) – a fast approval from the president... only within five months, disregarding the voices of concern from the community."

Tensions are high in Bali with a government decision already overdue on an environmental impact analysis that would give the Benoa Bay reclamation project the green light to proceed.

Meanwhile, Jakarta's governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has vowed the reclamation project in North Jakarta will go ahead despite the alleged graft.

Jakarta is slowly sinking into the sea, largely due to the extraction of ground water, dropping more than seven centimetres a year on average. A consortium of Dutch companies prepared the Great Garuda masterplan, which it says is a combination of coastal protection and land reclamation.

"The problem is very urgent: because of extreme subsidence a significant part of Jakarta is already below sea level," Dutch architecture practice KuiperCompagnons says on its website.

"Due to the delayed maintenance of the seawalls the water threat for the more than four million inhabitants of North Jakarta will become more and more serious in the coming years."

However a study by the Indonesian Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has warned the project could erode islands on the western part of Jakarta, destroy coral reefs and cause pollutants to be trapped inside the seawall. Thousands of fishermen would also have to be relocated.

[With Karuni Rompies and Amilia Rosa.]

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/graft-arrests-linked-to-indonesias-contested-land-reclamation-projects-20160404-gny4f6.html

Governance & administration

Government urged to cancel tax amnesty, focus on law enforcement

Jakarta Post - April 8, 2016

Anton Hermansyah – Activists have urged the government to cancel the tax amnesty program and focus on law enforcement instead, citing that such a program had already been implemented in 1984 and failed.

The activists argued that the tax amnesty would only satisfy big tax evaders, whom are to be offered a rate of six to eight percent. The penalty for tax avoidance is 48 percent while the normal corporate tax rate is 25 percent.

"It will only decrease tax obedience. The government's authority will deteriorate in the eyes of super rich people while those whom obediently pay their taxes, the salary men, will suffer," Fair Tax Forum Coordinator Ah Maftuhchan told thejakartapost.com on Friday.

The government has submitted the tax amnesty bill to the House of Representatives for deliberation but many lawmakers are yet to agree with its content. During a House Steering Committee (Bamus) meeting on Wednesday, House Deputy Speaker Agus Hermanto said that several factions had not yet agreed to proceed further with the draft bill.

Several House political factions have requested that the draft bill be discussed with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, a decision that would temporarily halt deliberations. Agus did not say how long deliberations would be postponed.

The government needs to focus on law enforcement, setting up a joint team whose members come from the tax office, Financial Service Authority (OJK), Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police, said Maftuhchan.

Indonesia currently holds seventh position among the list of countries with highest quantities of black money. During 2003 to 2012, Rp 1,699 trillion or Rp 167 trillion per year is reported to have been transferred.

"In 2014 the total transfer reached Rp 227.75 trillion or 11.7 percent of revised state budget," said Publish What You Pay Indonesia Coalition National Coordinator Maryati Abdullah.

In 2014, in the mining sector the transfer reached Rp 23.89 trillion, with Rp 21.33 trillion coming from illegal trade and the remaining Rp 2.56 trillion from hot money. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/08/govt-urged-to-cancel-tax-amnesty-focus-on-law-enforcement.html

Jokowi urges reform, strategic budget cuts

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed his Cabinet members carry out budget reform in the ministries and institutions they lead, highlighting that budgets must follow programs instead of preset allocations.

Budget reform was among topics Jokowi discussed in a plenary Cabinet meeting on Thursday. He asserted that the government aimed for a more efficient state budget, with non-priority operational costs, capital expenditures and ambiguous budget nomenclatures to be cut.

"We must focus on what we do. It is unnecessary to have a lot of programs, so we will only be concerned about programs that benefit the people and create a multiplier effect on business and society," Jokowi said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.

Jokowi also reminded Cabinet members to strengthen synergy by sharpening priority programs. "Focus on what has already been planned to be implemented and realized, to produce great benefits for society."

Aside from sharpening budget reform in the revised 2016 state budget, the meeting also discuss Indonesia's ease of doing business and one-map policy.

According to the World Bank's Doing Business 2016 ranking, Indonesia is ranked 109th among 189 economies in terms of ease of doing business, lagging behind neighboring countries Singapore (1st), Malaysia (18th), Thailand (49th) and Vietnam (90th).

Meanwhile, the one-map policy aims to help resolve agrarian conflict resulting from the use of different data and maps that often cause land disputes and overlapping permits for plantation and mining operations. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/jokowi-urges-reform-strategic-budget-cuts.html

Government to tighten belt amid lower tax revenue outlook

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni – The anticipated shortfall in tax collection this year has prompted the government to rethink its revenue target and make budget efficiency the key point of discussion at a plenary Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

"Ultimately, the president wants to change the paradigm of the budget," Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Other issues on the agenda for the meeting were the ease of doing business in Indonesia, the so-called one-map policy and the Indonesian hostage situation in the Philippines, Pramono said.

Regarding the revised state budget, Pramono continued, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had urged Cabinet members to increase efficiency in their respective budgets, underlining that the allocation of state funds had to follow ministries' programs rather than preset allocations.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro added that the government had included a cut in government spending in its draft bill for a revised state budget, along with the tax amnesty. The government, he added, expected the House of Representatives to pass tax amnesty bill in April, so that the revised budget could be submitted in May.

"There will be efficiency programs on spending, both at ministries and regional government, as well as with regard to subsidies. Even if the tax amnesty [bill] is passed, efficiency in spending will be beneficial. It is part of our commitment to maintain a healthy and well-targeted budget," he explained.

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution added that he would report on the progress of simplifying business procedures. Meanwhile, the one-map policy aims to resolve disagreements resulting from the use of different data and maps that often cause land disputes and overlapping permits for plantations and mining operations.

In the World Bank's 2016 edition of the Doing Business index, Indonesia ranks 109th among 189 countries in terms of the ease of doing business, lagging behind neighboring economies Singapore (1st), Malaysia (18th), Thailand (49th) and Vietnam (90th). (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/04/govt-to-tighten-belt-amid-lower-tax-revenue-outlook.html

Jakarta & urban life

Ahok slammed for allowing tobacco exhibition in Jakarta

Jakarta Globe - April 7, 2016

Jakarta – Anti-tobacco activists slammed Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama for allowing a planned international exhibition on tobacco machinery to be held in the capital this month, as well as accusing those opposing the expo as "agents of foreign interests."

Several students from University of Indonesia (UI)'s School of Public Health came to City Hall on Thursday demanding the city government reject the World Tobacco Process and Machinery Expo, which is slated to be held in Jakarta on April 27-28. The students brought results from an online petition on Change.org signed by more than 12,000 people.

But Basuki rejected the students' demand, telling reporters that "more people got cancer from food laced with formaldehyde than smoking."

"Is it wrong to set up a cigarette factory? Of course not. [Cigarettes] are a controlled substance. Places to smoke are also limited," the governor said, stressing that smoking and producing cigarettes themselves are not illegal. "Even without the exhibition cigarette factories still buy machinery and people still buy cigarettes."

Basuki became defensive when Al-Jazeera journalist Step Vaessen, a Dutch national, asked why he allowed the exhibition to be staged in the Indonesian capital when other countries had refused.

"You foreigners shouldn't threaten our sovereignty with your silly thoughts. You [foreigners] are trying to introduce synthetic cigarettes [to replace Indonesia's clove cigarettes]. Foreigners should not tell Indonesia what to do," he told Vaessen.

On her Twitter account, Vaessen said Basuki is well aware that she is a journalist and not an anti-tobacco activist. "Why was I yelled at because of my question?" she wrote in one post in Bahasa Indonesia.

"I was only asking about the tobacco expo," she replied to a follower. "I'm not upset, I am just confused why I was yelled at for no reason," she replied to another follower.

Bernadette Fellarika, coordinator of the group Smoke Free Jakarta, said by allowing the exhibition to continue the governor risks undoing all of the progress the city has made to control tobacco.

"Jakarta is the first city in Indonesia to introduce a strict bylaw against smoking in public spaces. Recently it has introduced a bylaw forbidding all tobacco billboards and advertisements on Jakarta's streets," she told the Jakarta Globe.

Fellarika also noted that Basuki has rejected a similar exhibition 2014, adding that he should remain consistent in his anti-tobacco drive.

Basuki said an exhibition on tobacco machinery "will not have a direct impact to the number of smokers," a remark that Fellarika dismissed.

"If anything [the exhibition] will help companies become less reliant on workers who hand roll cigarettes. [The exhibition] will help companies produce cigarettes faster and in much larger quantity because [machines] can operate non-stop, 24 hours a day," she said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/ahok-slammed-allowing-tobacco-exhibition-jakarta/

City admits negligence over illegal construction on reclaimed islet

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2016

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya – Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has said that his administration failed to monitor and halt the construction of buildings by PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI) on a reclaimed islet, stressing that the buildings were constructed illegally.

"We never issue any permits [for the construction]. Our officers failed. How could they not know there are high buildings there?" Ahok said on Tuesday, referring to the construction of buildings on islet C by KNI, a subsidiary of the Agung Sedayu Group.

On the request of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the immigration office issued a travel ban for Agung Sedayu chairman Aguan Sugianto on Sunday following the arrest of Jakarta councillor Mohamad Sanusi from the Gerindra Party and the surrender of president director Ariesman Widjaja to the anticorruption body.

Sanusi has been accused of accepting a bribe from Agung Podomoro Land in connection with the deliberation of draft reclamation bills by the Jakarta City Council.

Ahok blamed the Jakarta Spatial Planning Agency and the Jakarta City Building Supervision Agency (P2B) for failing to monitor and stop construction on the islet. The agencies should have ordered KNI to halt construction until it obtained the necessary permits, Ahok said.

Meanwhile, spatial planning agency head Iswan Achmadi held a press conference in which he denied the alleged negligence "The monitoring was not thorough, but we didn't miss it. We continuously monitored on the field," Iswan said.

Iswan claims that the agency issued a warning letter to KNI in regard to sealing the buildings and ordered the company to tear them down.

The city plans to develop 17 islets in Jakarta Bay through the reclamation programs. Agung Podomoro Land and Agung Sedayu Group are among companies that have obtained permits from the city to carry out the reclamation program. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/06/city-admits-negligence-over-illegal-construction-on-reclaimed-islet.html

'Even-Odd' set to replace 3-in-1 on Jakarta roads

Jakarta Globe - April 5, 2016

Jakarta – Jakarta's controversial three-in-one carpooling system, suspended temporarily this week (5-8 April) and next week (11-13 April), could be replaced with a new system restricting access to certain roads according to cars' even or odd-numbered license plates.

The "even-odd" system will take over also temporarily, as city administration remains adamant that the only solution to gridlock on Jakarta's main roads is electronic road pricing (ERP), where cars are forced to pay a fee to enter certain roads.

But, as Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said on Tuesday (05/04), they still need to iron out a few kinks in the ERP system before they can roll it out to the public. At the moment, the Jakarta administration is still preparing regulations and payment procedures for ERP.

"We will look at the results of three-in-one's suspension. If traffic gets worse, we'll use the even-odd system while waiting for the ERP. But if there's no change, then there's no need for the even-odd system," Basuki said at City Hall.

Under the even-odd system, cars with license plates ending in even or odd numbers will take turn every other day to pass through Jakarta's main thoroughfares.

The system has been planned since 2003, but was never implemented as the Jakarta administration initially expected ERP to take over from three-in-one immediately, Basuki said.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto of the Jakarta Police's traffic unit, meanwhile, said the temporary halt of the three-in-one system did affect traffic on Tuesday, for the worse. "There has been an increase in traffic volume from Slipi and Pancoran to Semanggi," Budiyanto said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/even-odd-replace-three-in-one/

Trial may be end of ride for Jakarta's 'jockeys'

Sydney Morning Herald - April 1, 2016

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – It could be the end of the road for one of the few beneficiaries of Jakarta's traffic-snarled streets – paid hitchhikers known as "jockeys" – with the capital to trial overturning its three-people-to-a-car policy.

Twenty-four years ago, Jakarta introduced a rule banning cars with fewer than three occupants from using main roads during peak hours. The policy aimed to ease the the city's notorious traffic congestion.

However an unanticipated side effect was a booming black economy for some of the capital's poorest denizens. Enterprising "jockeys" line the streets feeding onto main roads, offering their bums on seats for a small fee – about $2 – to commuters who need to make up car numbers. Many jockeys carry babies because they count as an additional passenger.

The practice is not legal – jockeys are regularly nabbed in police stings and taken to prison-like social rehabilitation centres and drivers can be fined – but it is part of the daily fabric of this heaving, clogged metropolis.

But after a couple of jockeys were arrested for allegedly sedating their six-month-old baby while they worked, Jakarta's decisive governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama called for an end to the "three-in-one" policy.

"Personally, I want [it] gone because there's no effect whatsoever [on traffic]. [Jockeys] with babies [can bypass the regulation] and to keep the babies from crying they are drugged. I would rather sit in traffic than endanger these children," Mr Basuki was quoted saying in the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

Within days, Jakarta's Transportation Department announced a week-long trial would begin on April 5, lifting the ban on cars with fewer than three occupants.

But there are grave concerns this will create gridlock in a city that already has the worst traffic in the world according to last year's Castrol Magnatec Stop-Start Index.

The index, which used GPS data to calculate the frequency of stop-start driving, found that more than a quarter of the travel time of an average driver in Jakarta is spent idling.

Jakarta Transportation Council secretary David Tjahjana admitted a stakeholder meeting held on Thursday was "quite pessimistic" about the trial to end the three-in-one rule.

"The Jakarta traffic police told the meeting that there's nothing much they can do about the traffic. The only thing they can do is engineer the traffic lights," he said. "Obviously it will be quite a problem."

Ellen Tangkudung, a transport expert from the University of Indonesia, said the best way to address traffic congestion is to implement an electronic road pricing (ERP) scheme and encourage people to use public transport.

However the tender is yet to be called for a toll scheme planned for Jakarta's main roads, where cars would pay to use certain streets using an on-board unit. And an above and below ground rail system, known as MRT (mass rapid transit) is not scheduled to begin operating until early 2019.

However the Jakarta administration has promised to boost its fleet of Transjakarta buses by 600 – still a small number given the capital's population of almost 10 million.

Achmad Izzul Waro from the Jakarta Transportation Council estimates traffic congestion will increase by 30 per cent if the three-in-one rule is scrapped, adding 30 minutes to a 100-minute commute. "It will happen especially in the first days because people will be excited that now they can drive alone in the streets without jockeys," he told Fairfax Media.

Yanti, who carries her three-year-old in a sling, is paid 30,000 rupiah (about $3) per ride, a dollar more than if she was travelling solo. She earns about $12 a day.

"It's difficult if [the three-in-one policy] is scrapped. I do it to help the household, helping my husband," said Yanti, who didn't know any jockeys who sedated their children. "I shudder, I didn't know babies could be put on drugs," she added.

Like many Indonesians, she is stoic. If the trial becomes permanent, Yanti will use the money she has saved working as a jockey to start a new enterprise. "Perhaps I'll do a little business selling kids food like crackers, candies and ice-cream."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/trial-may-be-end-of-ride-for-jakartas-jockeys-20160401-gnw4lw.html

Armed forces & defense

Makassar military chief nabbed in drug raid

Jakarta Globe - April 7, 2016

Makassar – Two high ranking Army officials were arrested and tested positive for drugs during a raid at a hotel in Makassar, South Sulawesi in the early hours of Wednesday morning (06/04), the military confirmed.

Col. Jefri Oktavian Rotty, the chief of the Makassar district infantry command and Let. Col. Budi Iman Santoso, chief of the local operations command, were among the seven people arrested when the Wirabuana Regional Military Command, which oversees military operation in the province, raided a room on the 12th floor of Hotel D'Maleo at 1.15 a.m. on Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Supartodi, the Wirabuana command's chief of staff personally led the raid. Wirabuana command chief Maj. Gen. Agus Surya Bhakti said the two officers tested positive for drugs.

"The Indonesian military chief [Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo] have instructed the entire force to clean their respective units from drugs. This is proof that we don't discriminate in this cleaning efforts," Agus said. "We conducted the raid after hearing reports that there were two military officers having a drug party at the hotel."

Five civilians were also arrested during the raid, all are local businessmen. The civilians are now in custody of the provincial police while the two military officers are detained by the Wirabuana command's internal affairs.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/makassar-military-chief-nabbed-drug-raid/

Jokowi seen empowering Indonesian military

Straits Times - April 4, 2016

Francis Chan – During the New Order era of President Suharto from 1965 to 1998, the military – then known as Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia (Abri) – would have led from the front, experts say. That was a time when the military was a key player not just in national defence and internal security but also in socio-political affairs, they add.

Reforms implemented after the fall of Suharto in 1998 saw Abri relinquishing its role as a major force in national development under the dwifungsi, or "dual function", mandate, which granted the military its power over civil and political affairs.

Gone too were the seats reserved for Abri representatives in Parliament as the country, which suffered decades of authoritarian rule, aspired to a more liberal democracy.

Abri was renamed the TNI and, on paper, restricted to an external defence role, while the police force, once part of Abri, has been carved out to oversee law and order at home. This includes taking the lead in counter-terrorism as Indonesia grapples with the rising threat from domestic militants, including thousands who are loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Political observers say the TNI has been muzzled by presidents elected after Suharto, most careful not to evoke memories of the military's repressive regime during the Indonesian strongman's era.

However, the military seems to have found a second wind under President Joko Widodo, as well as new friends in certain quarters of Parliament, they add. Jokowi seems to have struck an implicit bargain with the TNI," said the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac), using Mr Joko's nickname.

"In exchange for unconditional loyalty and support for his broader political agenda, the President will push for improvements in military personnel welfare, modernisation of TNI equipment, maintenance of the TNI's separation from the Defence Ministry and retention of an ex-officio Cabinet post for the TNI commander."

Just days after the release of the Ipac report last month, some lawmakers called for the TNI to play a wider role beyond national defence.

TNI troops have already undertaken non-military missions since Mr Joko became President in 2014. The army, for instance, had thousands of boots on the ground fighting forest fires during the haze crisis last year. Most remain in fire-prone areas to prevent a repeat of the environmental disaster.

Mr Joko has also sent soldiers to support government projects. These include helping to stabilise staple food prices in rural areas, facilitating land acquisitions, tackling graft at ports and building infrastructure across the country.

Just last week, army engineers completed the initial phase of a 1.5 trillion rupiah project comprising a 4,325km trans-Papua highway in the easternmost region.

Mr Joko is also open to expanding the internal security role of the military, which is already heavily involved in the anti-terror offensive in Poso, Central Sulawesi, where the TNI and police are mounting a joint operation against the East Indonesia Mujahidin extremist group.

Despite its growing list of deployments, the TNI may yet push for a larger role in internal security. This, as "its warm relationship with President Jokowi deepens and its credibility with the public soars", said Ipac.

According to the report, the factors driving the TNI's push for power include a conviction that Indonesia is facing dangers only the TNI can address; distrust of civilian politicians; resentment of the police; and a sense of opportunity in the current political situation.

However, it remains to be seen if the TNI led by General Gatot Nurmantyo, an army general appointed by Mr Joko, harbours any ambition for the military to play a greater political role in Indonesia.

Still, some observers say that allowing the TNI to expand its influence beyond its role in national defence has placed the military in its strongest position since the New Order. They also fear it may reverse the democratisation process in one of the world's largest democracies.

"Almost 18 years after Indonesian democracy was re-established, Indonesia still needs to institute safeguards that will ensure that there are clearly understood limits to the military expansion now under way," say Ipac researchers.

Others, such as Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy researcher Wahyudi Djafar, say the move may also distract the TNI from its own internal reforms to modernise. "The idea of involving the TNI in stabilising food prices could be in violation of law... (and) also compromise efforts to make the TNI a professional force," he adds.

What is worth keeping a closer eye on is the seemingly deliberate move by the current administration to synergise the TNI and the police in roles beyond security. Perhaps there may be a hint in Mr Joko's calling on the military and police to be "guardians of diversity within the framework of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia".

Associate Professor Terence Lee from the National University of Singapore does not foresee the TNI reclaiming its position of old as a dominant force in politics. "Firstly, there is legislation that prevents that from happening and doing so would mean overturning those laws," says Prof Lee, referring to Indonesia's State Defence Act of 2002 and TNI Law enacted in 2004.

The second is that dwifungsi is no longer part of the military's doctrine, says the author of "Defect Or Defend", which examines military responses to popular protests in authoritarian regimes in Asia. "Dwifungsi is no longer taught in any of its training or educational institutions and there is no organisational ethos that justifies it."

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/jokowi-seen-empowering-indonesian-military

Criminal justice & prison system

Indonesia preparing to execute more foreign drug convicts

Associated Press - April 8, 2016

Jakarta – Indonesia is preparing to execute more foreigners convicted of drug offenses as it maintains a contentious policy of imposing capital punishment for drug crimes.

Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said Thursday that his office is looking for the right time to carry out the executions. He did not specify how many convicts would face firing squads in what would be the third set of executions under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration.

"We are still concentrating on drug convicts. We want to see a deterrent effect," Prasetyo said when asked whether people convicted of other death-penalty crimes such as murder would be executed. "We are waiting for the right time" to carry out the executions, he said.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and more than 130 people are on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About a third of them are foreigners.

Fourteen people convicted of drug-related crimes, mostly foreigners, were executed last year amid an international outcry. Indonesia's relations with Australia were particularly strained following the execution of two of its nationals in April last year.

Local media reports quoted the chief of the Jakarta prosecutor's office as saying 10 foreigners would be executed: four Nigerians, two Malaysians, two Americans, one Zimbabwean and one Senegalese. In the past, Indonesia has avoided executions during Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

Source: http://www.irrawaddy.com/asia/indonesia-preparing-to-execute-more-foreign-drug-convicts.html

Investment needed to maintain growth: ADB

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2016

Prima Wirayani – The government has to lure more private investments into the country in a bid to maintain growth momentum as economists projected the impacts of the government's spending will diminish by the end of this year's first half.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) economist Priasto Aji said the government would need support from private investments to help construct its infrastructure projects as government spending would run at a slower pace from July because of shrinking revenues.

He advised the government to enhance private participation in project delivery through state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and public private partnership (PPP) schemes, to name two.

"The investors have the money but [on the other hand] they need ready-to-execute infrastructure projects so they can start construction quickly," he said on the sidelines of a seminar in Central Jakarta on Wednesday. He admitted that currently the country lacked such projects because problems surrounding land acquisition and government guarantees, for example, still lingered.

The government, together with the Financial Services Authority (OJK), must also make efforts to make the financial sector be more inclusive in order to open wider funding access for projects run by private investors, Priasto said. "It is important for the government to successfully implement its investments so the precedent can boost private investors' confidence," he asserted.

According to the government's estimate, this year's state revenues will be short by about Rp 290 trillion (US$22 billion), compared with the planned Rp 1.82 quadrillion. Falling global oil prices will lead to a revenue loss of Rp 100 trillion, while a sluggish economy will result in about Rp 190 trillion in lost taxes.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that government spending surged by 6.56 percent year-on-year (yoy) from July to September last year and 7.31 percent yoy between October and December, compared to only 2.21 in the first quarter and 2.28 percent in the second quarter.

The speedy disbursements seemed to truly help jack up Indonesia's gross domestic products (GDP) value growth from 4.67 percent in the second quarter of 2015 to 4.74 percent and 5.04 percent in the third and fourth quarter, respectively, making the full year growth stand at 4.8 percent, lower than the 5 percent recorded in 2014.

The government is aiming for a 5.3 percent economic growth this year, while the ADB pins a slightly lower figure of 5.2 percent.

Priasto said that it was the time for the government to develop other business sectors, such as transportation, tourism and e-commerce, as new sources of economic growth amid plummeting commodity prices and low global demand for manufactured products.

The University of Indonesia's Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM) research head, Febrio Nathan Kacaribu, expressed a similar view, saying that technology-driven sectors would play a key role in expanding the economy in this year's second half amid a manufacturing recovery that had yet to speed up this year.

"It's true that the sector is knowledge and technology intensive, but actually it's supporting other sectors, including packaging, transportation, logistics and warehousing, which are labor intensive," he said at the same event.

As a response to the mushrooming startup companies and stellar growth of e-commerce in the country, the government has allowed full foreign ownership for e-commerce marketplaces valued above Rp 100 billion as stated in its 10th economic policy package announced in February.

"The government is already in the right track luring more foreign direct investments," Febrio said, adding that an open and efficient economy would benefit the public as it boosted competitiveness and allowed a transfer of knowledge.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/04/07/investment-needed-maintain-growth-adb.html

Focus

Accomplice to atrocity?

Inside Indonesia - April-June, 2016

Marlene Millott – When the Indonesian army massacred an estimated half a million alleged communists in 1965, it did so with the backing of western powers. The role of the United States as an accomplice through its provision of intelligence, training, weaponry and communications equipment has been well documented. Although Australia's role was subordinate to that of the US, it still has a case to answer.

In the lead-up to 1965, much of the world was caught up in the Cold War that pitted western-style capitalism and democracy against the communist Soviet Union and China. In Indonesia, President Sukarno grew closer to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while becoming increasingly hostile towards the west and foreign corporations. This worried the PKI's fierce rivals, the Indonesian army, whose power waned as the PKI's grew. It was also watched closely by the US and its allies, who feared the country would fall to communism, which would then spread through Asia and onto Australia's doorstep. In response, the army and the US formed a secret relationship. As told in John Roosa's Pretext to Mass Murder, between 1958 and 1965 the US trained, funded and advised the Indonesian army, and helped turn it into a 'state within a state' that would be ready to take over government if the opportunity arose. Further heightening tension, Sukarno strongly opposed the formation of the state of Malaysia out of Malaya, North Borneo and Singapore in 1963. He committed troops to Borneo to fight British, Australian and New Zealand forces as part of Konfrontasi. Even closer to home, Sukarno had earlier combined diplomacy and the threat of force to successfully bring West Papua into Indonesia.

After an alleged attempted PKI coup on 1 October 1965, the Indonesian army seized the opportunity to gain control of the country and eliminate the PKI and its affiliates. Led by General Suharto, the army embarked on a nation-wide killing spree, enlisting local militia groups to help them identify, arrest, and kill members and sympathisers. This campaign was supported by the US, the UK and Australia, which hoped for an end to the threat of a communist-dominated Indonesia, and for the installation of a leader friendlier to the west.

In the months following the attempted coup, the Australian embassy and the Department of External Affairs supported the Indonesian army's anti-communist campaign to bring about a change of government. Documents from the National Archives of Australia reveal three main points about embassy officials and the massacres: that the Australian embassy knew they were happening, but did not condemn them; that Australia gave assurance and support to the Indonesian army who they knew were responsible for these massacres; and that Australia actively contributed to the mass anti-communist hysteria through propaganda broadcasts via Radio Australia.

A key figure in Australia's support for the army's anti-communist campaign was then ambassador to Indonesia, Keith 'Mick' Shann. He had joined the Department of External Affairs in 1946, as part of its expansion following the end of World War II. He was ambassador to Indonesia between 1962 and 1966, had previously been ambassador to the Philippines, and later became ambassador to Japan. He rounded off his career as chairman of the Australian Public Service Board. Shann believed firmly in anti-communist policies, in both domestic and foreign contexts. As ambassador during the Indonesian army's anti-communist campaign, the department relied heavily on information and instruction from Shann, who played a big role in advising on the operation of Radio Australia, and passed on requests from the Indonesian army to the broadcaster. He was knighted in 1980 for his services to Australia.

Soon after the attempted coup, the Australian embassy observed the early stages of the army's campaign against the PKI. It knew about the very first rounding up of communists in early October 1965. On 5 October, a cable from Shann to the department reported that the army was 'picking up a fair number of Communists and a large number of the Pemuda Rakjat [PKI Youth Wing].' Later in the month, the ambassador wrote that he 'personally witnessed' around 250 prisoners being taken away by the army.

By January 1966, the Australian, US, UK and other embassies were exchanging information on the 'dismemberment of the PKI' at the hands of the army and its supporters. Estimates put the number of dead between 100,000 and 200,000 and increasing, though one cable noted 'it is impossible to make any accurate assessment of the number of people who have been killed'. By February, the Australian embassy received first-hand, irrefutable proof that painted a very clear picture of the scale of the atrocities. J.M. Starey, the First Secretary at the embassy, visited Bali, Flores and Timor, and spoke to Australian students who had been in Lombok, to gather information on the anti-PKI massacres. In Bali, Starey was shocked to learn that the number of those killed was 100,000, a number which, he wrote, was 'ferociously high', representing five per cent of the population. In Flores, he saw heads on spikes and he estimated 1000 people had been killed. He reported that the Ende Military District was responsible for anti-PKI activity in Central and West Flores, and was told that once Flores was 'cleansed', the process would continue in other parts of the island. The students told him that in Mataram and Lombok, the killings were continuing at the rate of around 30 people per night. While in Timor, Starey's report said that 'torture was the customary prelude to death'; public executions were a nightly event and deaths had totalled 4000 people. Starey noted that the army was in full control of the proceedings in Timor.

These communications make it clear that the embassy and the Department of External Affairs were quite aware that the army was carrying out systematic massacres of alleged PKI members and sympathisers across Indonesia. The events on the night of 1 October 1965 (initiated by the so-called 30 September Movement) changed Indonesian politics. They gave the Indonesian army an opportunity to remove the PKI from power – a situation that Australia and its allies had been hoping for some time. Immediately after, embassy officials made clear their hopes that the army would seize their opportunity to act. On the fifth of October, Shann cabled the department saying that he 'devoutly hope[d]' that 'the army [would] act firmly' against the PKI. As Australian officials observed developments, they praised the army for doing 'far better than expected,' having 'gone ahead with attacks on the PKI'. Embassy officials were encouraged that the army was prepared to proceed 'in order to make a real clean-up of communists and their allies'. By mid-1966, Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt made clear his satisfaction with the pro-western shift in Indonesian foreign and economic policy brought about by the massacres. At the Australian-American Association in New York, he callously joked 'With 500,000 to one million Communist sympathisers knocked off, I think it is safe to assume a reorientation has taken place'.

Throughout the army's anti-communist campaign, embassy officials were in regular contact with top army officials on the issue. By 1965 Australia had been part of a military campaign in Borneo for two years, to defend the newly created state of Malaysia against Indonesian aggression. In November 1965, Ambassador Shann reported a conversation he had with an under secretary from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr A.Y. Helmi, who requested that Australian and British troops 'restrict all patrols and other activities to an absolute minimum', explaining that the army needed all its available troops and resources 'to deal with what he [described] as "the bloody Communists"'. Shann reassured Helmi that the army was 'completely safe in using their forces for whatever purposes they saw fit', knowing those forces would be used to attack PKI members and allies. Shann went as far as to say in his cable that he would have liked to tell the Indonesian army 'that for all [he] cared, they could remove every soldier from Indonesian Borneo without fear'.

Australia's biggest contribution to the army's anti-communist campaign was broadcasting and supporting Indonesian army propaganda. The army seized control of virtually all of Indonesia's media after the attempted coup. It began an aggressive and pervasive anti-PKI campaign, spreading dangerous disinformation to discredit and dehumanise the communists. During the time of the killings, Radio Australia was under the guidance of the Department of External Affairs. Its foreign broadcasts reached most parts of the Indonesian archipelago. The department in turn received instruction from the Indonesian army via the embassy. By means of this regular daily guidance, Radio Australia fed the Indonesian population an Indonesian army-approved political narrative that, Shann said, 'should [be thumped] into Indonesians' as much as possible. Shann asserted that Radio Australia's broadcasts were 'excellent propaganda and of assistance to the anti-PKI forces' who were 'refreshingly determined to do over the PKI'. He encouraged them to 'highlight reports tending to discredit the PKI and to show its involvement in... the 30th September movement'.

Evidence shows that Radio Australia was not just encouraged to drill certain 'facts' into Indonesian heads. It was also instructed to report manipulations of the truth as if they were facts, in line with Indonesian army requests. On 9 November 1965, Shann cabled that he had been approached by an unnamed colonel from the army's Information Section, who told him that Radio Australian should 'mention as often as possible youth groups and other organisations, both Moslem and Christian' that were involved in anti-communist actions (thus clearly hoping to dilute the army's culpability). He also discussed a list of other internal and external issues to be reported that would favour the army. Shann concluded the cable with the comment that he could 'live with most of this, even if we must be a bit dishonest for a while'. Radio Australia was also told to avoid 'giving information to the Indonesian people that would be withheld by the army-controlled internal media', to avoid compromising the army's position.

It is difficult to estimate the reach and influence Radio Australia had convincing civilians to join the army's anti-PKI campaign and take up arms against communists. It is known, however, that Radio Australia was the most popular of the foreign radio stations. An army officer told the Australian embassy in June 1965 that Radio Australia was listened to more than his own official Radio Republik Indonesia. There can be no doubt that the mass media propaganda had a substantial impact on the Indonesian public. Even where it did not directly motivate people to kill, it made the killings appear justified. Sukarno himself understood the power of this propaganda. In a speech in January 1966 he lumped the army-controlled media and western media outlets together and said they represented a 'neo-colonial threat'. He warned against using the media as a political tool to 'carry out secret campaigns of slander' to undermine his leadership and cause anti-PKI hysteria. Foreign news reports on the horror of the killings included quotes from Indonesians that indicated they had been impacted by anti-PKI propaganda. Seymour Topping of the New York Times noted in an article that 'many Indonesians say bluntly, "It was them or us"'. This justification of the killings as self-defence was strongly promoted by army propaganda. The justification is still often heard in Indonesia even today.

Australia's actions as an accomplice to the 1965 PKI massacres were immoral but their impact should not be exaggerated. The killings took place against a complex backdrop of political tensions in Indonesia. Perhaps the killings would have taken place regardless of Australia's role in justifying them. However, without that justification, it would have been much harder for Suharto's New Order to maintain the fiction for so long that they were necessary.

[Marlene Millott (marlene.m@live.com.au) recently completed a Masters in Journalism and International Relations at Monash University. This article is based on research completed for her Masters thesis.]

Source: http://www.insideindonesia.org/accomplice-to-atrocity