Jakarta – Indonesia on Wednesday briefly detained more than 1,000 pro-independence demonstrators in its eastern province of Papua, ahead of a visit by a top security official to look into claims of human rights violations.

Papua has been gripped by a long-running and often violent separatist conflict since it was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely-criticised U.N.-backed referendum in 1969. Dutch colonial rule ended in 1963.

Security forces still maintain a strong presence and are often seen as taking a heavy-handed approach to peaceful demonstrations, activists say.

The protesters took to the streets in Sentani, near Papua's provincial capital, to demand that an independent body conduct human rights investigations rather than the Indonesian government. They were detained for protesting without a permit.

"We localised them so their movements were limited," said Papua police spokesman Patridge Renwarin. "We did not arrest anyone."

The police action was backed by Atmadji Sumarkdijo, an aide of Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, who is set to visit the province on Thursday.

Asked about the police response at a time when President Joko Widodo wants to reduce tension in the region, Sumarkdijo said, "It doesn't mean you can do anything you want. Rallies need police permits."

The protesters also called for an internationally monitored referendum for independence.

Widodo faces an uphill battle in attaining his key goal of easing the tension in Papua, aimed at through measures such as stepping up investment, freeing political prisoners, and resolving cases of human rights violations.

Although there were no reports of violence, activists fear growing numbers of detentions over the last six weeks could change the picture.

"Tensions are getting high now," said Veronic Koman, a lawyer for the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, which focuses on Papuan issues. "More police are arresting them and more of them are fighting back."

Last month, more than 2,000 Papuan activists were detained on the anniversary of Dutch New Guinea's 1963 integration into Indonesia.

Papua province and West Papua make up the western half of an island north of Australia, with independent Papua New Guinea to the east.

[Additional reporting and writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez.]

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/indonesia-detains-hundred/2874838.html

Papua police chief denies detaining pro-independence group

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Dandy Koswaraputra, Jakarta – The police have denied claims that they detained over 1,000 Papuans who staged a rally today to demand Indonesia hold an independence referendum in the nation's easternmost province.

It's ridiculous. We did not arrest them. We did not detain them at all. We only ordered them to disperse," Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Paulus Waterpaw told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.

Paulus said the government had instructed police to ensure security in Papua amid the ongoing activities of groups pushing for the province's separation from Indonesia.

"They are trying to resist the constitutional state. They are hiding on behalf of freedom of expression and trying to internationalize the issue," General Paulus asserted, adding that police have the responsibility to counter their propaganda.

Police said that an anti-Indonesia group called National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) was behind the mobilization of the Papuan people and had frequently tried to organize massive demonstrations. "We have never permitted them to do so because their ultimate goal is to separate Papua from Indonesia," he said.

According to the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), a series of demonstrations have taken place in Jayapura, Baliem, Fakfak, Sentani, Sorong, Timika and Yalimo as well as in Malang, East Java. "I welcome LBH to come to us and talk about the issue instead of releasing provocative material to the public," Paulus said.

There have also been actions in Papua to call for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua to be recognized as a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. (dan)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/papua-police-chief-denies-detaining-pro-independence-group.html

NZ MPs want action on West Papua mission

Radio New Zealand International - June 15, 2016

New Zealand politicians want the government to press for progress on a high level fact-finding mission to Indonesia's Papua region.

The Pacific Islands Forum leaders agreed at last year's summit in Papua New Guinea to consult Indonesia over how to monitor and investigate human rights abuses in Papua.

The New Zealand government indicated on several occasions that Indonesia was opposed to the idea but Greens MP, Catherine Delahunty, who leads a now 20 strong group of New Zealand parliamentarians, said this country had to do more.

"We will be writing a collective letter to Murray McCully as Minister of Foreign Affairs calling on him to make a comment on this lack of progress," she said.

"Because it was already agreed. It is clear from the past year that there continue to large numbers of human rights abuses and there is a need for a fact finding mission. So we are going to push our government because they signed up to this, they should be standing up for it."

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/306463/nz-mps-want-action-on-west-papua-mission

Government assures transparency in resolving Papua cases: Luhut

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has expressed the government's commitment to ensuring openness and transparency in resolving human rights abuse cases in Papua.

"If our people [government officials] are found guilty of wrongdoing, we will also punish them," he said during a hearing at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.

Currently, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Attorney General's Office are investigating three cases of gross human rights violations in Papua, namely the Wamena and Wasior incidents, which took place in 2001 and 2003 respectively, and the Paniai shooting in 2014, Luhut said.

The minister further said the government had invited several foreign ambassadors, including those from Fiji, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and New Zealand, to witness Indonesia's efforts to resolve the cases.

Luhut claimed government officials had been making a good progress in resolving the cases, adding that the government would remain open to any group who wanted to join the efforts.

With the progress, Luhut said, the Indonesian government would not allow any foreign organizations or government branches to conduct independent fact-finding regarding the cases in Papua, adding that the government would take tough action if foreign entities were proven to have done so, Luhut added. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/govt-assures-transparency-in-resolving-papua-cases-luhut.html

Papua journalists threatened over poll coverage

Radio New Zealand International - June 13, 2016

Journalists have been intimidated and threatened while covering an election in the Mamberamo Raya regency of Indonesia's Papua province.

Each polling station in the regency was covered by a journalist but according to the Jakarta Post, there was widespread infringement on their work. A Vivanews.com journalist, Banjir Ambarita, said all journalists were intimidated and prohibited from taking pictures of the election by supporters of one candidate.

Rivand Nay, of Papua television station RCTI, was threatened by a group of men armed with bows, arrows and machetes at a polling station. Mr Rivand said police Mobile Brigade officers witnessed him having his camera seized and being blocked from doing his work, but did nothing to help.

Papua Post journalist Gultom Pangaribuan said he and 10 other people were taken hostage at another polling station. He said police officers present were too afraid to take action.

Meanwhile there are reports that up to 31 members of the separatist West Papua National Committee had been arrested by police. Local media reports say the members of KNPB were arrested last Friday for handing out leaflets, advertising a rally planned for this Wednesday.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/306297/papua-journalists-threatened-over-poll-coverage

1965 anti-communist purge

A brief look at the theories of Soeharto's role in the 1965 tragedy

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The mapping out of the political powers involved in the aborted coup of 1965 remains unclear to this day, with historians yet to reach consensus on what forces were behind the incident.

Many historical accounts have linked Soeharto's place in the political power structure with the successful military operations he launched against the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), accused of being responsible for the coup.

Among the theories are those that suggest Soeharto knew of, if not masterminded, the coup plan, given his difficult relationship with the generals killed in the incident. One question that that the public has yet to find an answer to is whether Soeharto was fully aware of the operation that would be launched on Sept.30, 1965, but let it happen due to his disagreement with the Army generals murdered in the incident.

"The mapping of political powers remains an unfinished task for historians because it is unclear whether Soeharto really hated the generals as has been widely reported," historian Yosef M. Djakababa told thejakartapost.com in a recent interview.

He further explained that the speculation began from a report revealing that Soeharto was accused of being involved in budget appropriations when he was the head of the Diponegoro Military Area Command IV (Kodam) in Semarang, Central Java, in 1946. "Following the case, he [Soeharto] was reassigned to a military school in Bandung, West Java, but he was not demoted," Yosef said.

The case is recorded in a book containing the testimonies of Maj. Gen. Pranoto Reksosamodra, which was first published in 2014 by Kompas with the title "Catatan Jenderal Pranoto: Dari RTM Boedi Oetomo sampai Nirbaya" (The Diary of General Pranoto: From Boedi Oetomo Military Detention House to Nirbaya).

It was Col. Pranoto replacing Colonel Soeharto as Kodam IV Diponegoro commander that gave way to an audit team led by Brig. Gen. Soengkono to investigate the accusations. It later found evidence suggesting Soeharto's involvement in illegal businesses, including a clove-trading monopoly sponsored by a cigarette factory owners association.

Although his rank was not downgraded, Soeharto's military career was delayed and he was passed by younger cadets such as Ahmad Yani, who later became the army commander and one of the seven generals killed in the aborted left-wing coup in 1965.

After that, Soeharto was placed at the Army Strategic and Reserve Command (Kostrad), a military unit that was not deemed to be strategic. At that time, Kostrad was known as the Army General Reserve Corps (CADUAD).

"Don't think that Kostrad at that time was a large, strategic military unit as it is now. Kostrad was a reserve corps. Although CADUAD commander was considered a high-ranking position, it was not an important corps. This was why for Soeharto, this position was a humiliation for him," said Yosef.

The historian further explained that CADUAD's less-than-strategic position could be seen from the fact that it was the Army Paratrooper Command (RPKAD) that had staged the operations to free several strategic posts controlled by the PKI, such as the state-run broadcaster Radio Republic Indonesia (RRI), Halim Perdanakusuma Airport and the Merdeka field, although during the vacuum of leadership after the generals were killed, as the CADUAD commander, it was Soeharto who should have taken the lead.

"As CADUAD had no troops at that time, it was the Red Beret command, or RPKAD, that was summoned for the operations to free the strategic posts," said Yosef.

The historian explained Soeharto had become desperate after the revelation of his alleged involvement in budget appropriations at Kodam IV Diponegoro. He was even about to deliver his resignation letter to army commander Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, but the letter was held back by Soedjono Hoemardani, then administration division head at Kodam IV Diponegoro.

Soedjono later became the private assistant of President Soeharto. He was also the founder of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which was widely known as the Soeharto administration's think-tank.

"In Jusuf Wanandi's book Shades of Grey, it is mentioned that it was Soedjono who held back Soeharto's resignation letter. Soedjono, as is widely known by the public, was a practitioner of kejawen (Javanese mystical beliefs). Jusuf revealed that Soedjono foresaw that Soeharto would become a big man in the future. This was why the letter was never handed over to the army commander [Nasution]," Yosef said.

Jusuf Wanandi was an anti-communist student activist, who was also the co-founder of CSIS. Yosef said there were too many speculations about Soeharto's role in the failed coup attempt that remained a mystery, such as whether Soeharto knew in advance that the PKI would launch the military operation.

"It was strange that Soeharto was not included on the list of targeted generals because he was also a high-ranking military commander," he said.

Yosef further cited a report saying Col. Abdoel Latief [leader of the Sept. 30 operation] met Soeharto at a military hospital, where the latter's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, was being treated for injuries from hot soup spills. Latief then allegedly told Soeharto: "The troops to kidnap the generals are ready."

"That is based on Col. Latief's testimony. It was also mentioned by Ibu Sukma (the late former president Sukarno's daughter Sukmawati Sukarnoputri) during the [1965 reconciliation] symposium," said Yosef, referring to the 1965 tragedy symposium held in April.

"There are two versions of Soeharto's reply to Latief's report. In the first, he mentioned he already knew about the military operation plan. In the second version, he merely nodded. Unfortunately, nobody witnessed Col. Latief's visit to the military hospital," Yosef said.

The historian added that it was hard to confirm the truth of the meeting between Latief and Soeharto before the Sept. 30 coup as there was no third party that witnessed the meeting. When Soeharto was asked to confirm that the meeting had taken place, he replied: "He (Latief) actually came to kill me".

"It is clear that at that time the military was divided into so many factions and according a lot of the literature, Soeharto was not in the circle of the generals but his relationship with the PKI has remained a mystery," said Yosef.

"The only comment I can offer is that Soeharto was really smart in using the situation. He was a really brilliant military strategist, when the enemy launched a maneuver, he countered it with a better maneuver," Josef said in closing. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/a-brief-look-at-the-theories-of-soehartos-role-in-the-1965-tragedy.html

Sexual & domestic violence

Doctors want no role in castration

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The government will not back down from its plan to castrate child rapists despite the country's doctors' association refusing to conduct the procedure.

In its official statement, the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) stated that it would refuse to implement the punishment, which has been stipulated in a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu), because it violates the country's medical ethics.

The association argued that there was no scientific proof that chemical castration could guarantee a loss or even reduction of sexual desire among perpetrators.

Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo slammed the IDI for "blindly emphasizing arguments surrounding the rights of rapists and forgetting the gruesome impact of [the crime on] their victims". "How shall we best respond to the brutal rape case [in Bengkulu], for example?" said Prasetyo.

He was referring to the gang rape and murder, by 14 males including seven minors, of a 14-year-old schoolgirl in a remote village in Bengkulu earlier this year. The case eventually raised national awareness of the prevalence of sex crimes as a result of campaigns on social media.

To respond to the perceived increase in sexual assaults, particularly against children, in the country, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo signed Perppu No. 1/2016 on sexual violence against children last month.

The Perppu included provisions stipulating more severe punishments for perpetrators, ranging from a maximum of 20 years to life in prison and the death penalty to chemical castration.

While expressing sympathy for victims, human rights activists as well as the doctors' association have found themselves in a dilemma regarding the idea of castration as they have cast doubt on the government's capacity to carry out the punishment, which would be used for the first time in the country.

Anti-rape advocates have suggested the government replace it with a more "humane" punishment. The activists reiterated their stance following the IDI's rejection, highlighting that it once again proved that the decision had been made without comprehensive discussion with relevant stakeholders.

"There has been a lack of discussion between the government and related parties in deliberating the regulation," National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) chairwoman, Azriana said.

Azriana said excluding such voices in the decision-making process had led the government to rush into issuing the controversial regulation.

"Opposition voices, including that of the IDI, to chemical castration would not have emerged after the President signed the regulation if the government had consulted with the medical association in the first place," Azriana said. "Hence, we must respect the IDI's decision because it has scrutinized the policy from a medical perspective."

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government respected the association's decision, but the government would press on with the penalty. "We respect the IDI's decision. [The association] has the right to refuse to carry it out. We still have doctors who serve in police and military facilities," Kalla said. Meanwhile, Prasetyo warned the IDI to comply with the existing law.

The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) said the government should learn from other countries before implementing the punishment. ICJR executive director Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono cited India as an example of how such a punishment had little deterrent effect.

"India is unique. They impose severe punishments such as the death penalty and chemical castration for rapists. But, you can see that it has failed to reduce the number of sexual offenses in the country," he said.

According to the 2014 state-run National Crime Records Bureau of India, rape cases in the country increased to 36,735 in 2014 from 33,707 the previous year. This figure has convinced the ICJR that chemical castration will not reduce sexual offenses in Indonesia.

Supriyadi said the government should also consider measures to avoid allegations of human rights abuse in implementing the punishment. In Germany, Switzerland and the UK, chemical castration is only imposed with the consent of the perpetrators.

"Those countries use a voluntary system, which means it is done only if the perpetrators agree to it. Therefore, doctors don't need to worry, but I don't think it will happen here, " he said. (wnd)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/doctors-want-no-role-castration.html

AGO ignores indignant doctors on chemical castration

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has dismissed the Indonesian Doctors Association's refusal to carry out chemical castration, a mooted punishment for sex offenders, an official said on Friday.

"I doubt all doctors will refuse [to carry out chemical castration]. We'll see how it goes," Attorney-General M Prasetyo said on Friday as quoted by Tempo.co.

Prasetyo said that given chemical castration would be regulated by law, it would be exempt from medical ethics. Doctors, he insisted, need not fear violating medical ethics, as such ethics are subordinate to law.

Doctor's association spokesperson Ilham Oetama Marsis said the organization rejected the principle of carrying out chemical castration on grounds of medical ethics, violation of which could see individual doctos expelled from professional organizations.

A government regulation in lieu of law on eradication of sexual violence against children includes the possibly of introducing chemical castration for perpetrators upon release from prison. (liz/dan)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/ago-ignores-indignant-doctors-on-chemical-castration.html

Sex violence bill urgent amid loopholes in current laws: Komnas Perempuan

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) says there is an urgent need to pass a sexual violence bill into law as many crimes cannot be processed due to loopholes in existing laws.

Komnas Perempuan chairman Azriana said police investigators, for instance, often could not find relevant articles in the Criminal Code (KUHP) to use to develop their investigations.

She said the idea to create a special law regulating sex violence was based on results of monitoring that found forms of sexual violence now had wide variations. At the same time, the commissioner said, current laws regulated the protection of sex violence victims in a limited way, particularly if the victims were adult women.

"The KUHP only regulates the definition of rape, molestation and sexual harassment with very narrow concepts. Other laws, such as the 2004 Domestic Violence Eradication Law, the 2002 Child Protection Law and the 2007 Anti-Human Trafficking Law also have the same issue," Azriana said in a statement on Thursday, as quoted by kompas.com.

She added that based on results of Komnas Perempuan's monitoring since 1998, the number of sex violence cases in Indonesia had continued to increase. A quarter of the total 321,000 cases of violence against women documented in 2015 were sexual in nature, she said.

Azriana said sexual violence against adult women resulted in impacts equally as severe as in cases involving children. Rape, for instance, could impact victims throughout their lives, reducing their quality of life, she said.

She said the drafting of the sexual violence eradication bill had begun in 2012, starting with an academic paper. The draft bill was created in 2014. Komnas Perempuan and several care providers as its partners were now finalizing the bill, Azriana said.

"The draft, which has been handed over to President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, is the latest revision of the sexual violence eradication bill as of May 19. A similar draft has also been handed over to the House of Representatives as the initiator of the bill," said Azriana. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/sex-violence-bill-urgent-amid-loopholes-in-current-laws-komnas-perempuan.html

Sexual violence bill targets government officials

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Ina Parlina and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – As with high profile figures found guilty of corruption, public officials involved in sexual assault may be stripped of their political rights, if the House of Representatives endorses the sexual violence bill.

The bill, aimed at handing down stricter punishments and implementing preventive measures, is being finalized by the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), while the plan to endorse it has been included in this year's National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

A similar punishment has been imposed on a number of corruption convicts in the past couple of years, although not all levels of courts have carried out the measure. For instance, the Jakarta Corruption Court rejected the demand of prosecutors to strip former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar and former Banten governor Ratu Atut Choisiyah of their political rights in two different graft cases.

Komnas Perempuan chairwoman Azriana said that after the bill was passed into law, the omission of rights would be decided by a judge. The commission visited the State Palace on Wednesday to inform President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on the progress of the draft in a meeting in which the bill received support from the President.

Komnas Perempuan is introducing the bill after finding that four other prevailing regulations designed to protect women and children from sexual violence, including Article 285 of the Criminal Code (KUHP), the Child Protection Law, the Domestic Violence Law and the Human Trafficking Law have failed to serve as an answer to numerous problems surrounding sexual assault cases.

One of the problems is victims' difficulty in presenting evidence, while the police remain sluggish in responding to the reports. "Because if the culprit is a public official, it will complicate the case since the person has power over the victim," she said after the meeting.

The commission also found that 70 percent of the culprits were people close to the victims, including family members, neighbors, employers and lecturers.

Although the commission found that few public officials had been involved in sexual violence, she said that incidents often went unreported. "Speaking about numbers, we must also realize that sex crimes are hard to uncover," she added.

Police officers lacking knowledge of issues revolving around women and children also contributed to sluggish police investigations into sexual violence cases involving women and children.

National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar cited the limited number of Women and Children Protection Unit (UPPA) units at subprecinct police stations throughout the country as a core problem.

"Besides the lack of officers working at the subprecinct stations, the existing ones also need further education and more training," Boy said. "Similar problems do not occur in precinct police stations".

The National Police recorded 495 units dedicated to the protection of women and children nationwide, where as many as 2,149 policewomen handled cases involving women and children. Of the policewomen assigned to the units, only 1,050 were equipped with skills and knowledge of women and children protection.

Meanwhile, the National Police have recorded 249 crimes against children and women this year. Among such crimes, 70 cases of violence against women were reported to the police. In addition to violence against women, the list includes violence against children, trafficking of women and children, rape, sexual exploitation and molestation.

Despite the lack of UPPA units, Boy of the National Police assured that the police attempted to pursue all reports submitted to the police. "We do with what we have," he said.

Other than the omission of rights, the draft also introduces a number of legal measures, such as allowing victim testimony to be used as an evidence, along with another evidence.

The bill will also ensure better recovery measures for victims and their families, including in psychological, medical and economic terms. "After the bill is endorsed, victim recovery should no longer be neglected," Azriana said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/sexual-violence-bill-targets-govt-officials.html

Labour & migrant workers

Domestic workers plead for protection

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – "I left my family to take care of others. All to make a living. But the government has never paid even a little attention to me, to us domestic workers," said 36-year-old Ida Sa'adah.

In the last two years, she has worked as a housemaid for five different expatriate families, from Australia, India, Tajikistan, Pakistan and Sweden, who all live in the exclusive Pakubuwono condominiums in South Jakarta.

However, one thing all her employers have shared is a tendency to arbitrarily dismiss their workers, said the woman who has left her two kids and 53-year-old husband in her hometown of Semarang, Central Java.

Late in February, she was in a traffic accident that left her with nine stitches on her left leg. She asked for three days of bed rest from her Tajik employers, for whom she had worked for three months. "But, they suddenly fired me, saying that they needed someone who could keep their house clean, without giving me any health assistance," Ida said.

Not long after, she started working for a Pakistani family, but was fired after two weeks because the employers did not like her taking a break from her duties five times a day to pray.

"If we work for expatriates, we have to follow their rules. No matter what regulations Indonesia has, they will always find a gap as our country has no strong policy to protect workers," Ida said.

Indonesia is the largest supplier of domestic workers to other countries, but those in the same occupation at home still lack protection. Domestic workers regularly suffer from assault, sometimes on a continual basis, and they still lack legal protection.

The National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT) recorded 408 cases of mistreatment of domestic workers nationwide last year. As of May this year, the advocacy group had found 170 cases.

Refusal to pay workers' salaries as well as physical and verbal abuse have been the most common reports this year, with the majority of cases coming from major cities. Other reports include refusal to pay social insurance, arbitrary dismissal, sexual abuse and human trafficking. However, despite the many cases of mistreatment, the government and lawmakers have yet to consider it an urgent issue.

"The government and lawmakers tend to ignore domestic workers' rights. They lack political will and a willingness to recognize [the problem], while the demand for domestic workers from middle- and upper-class families remains high," Jala PRT coordinator Lita Anggraini said.

According to Jala PRT, more than 10.7 million domestic workers in Indonesia at the very least need a law that stipulates their rights and entitlements. "Indonesia is currently a haven for exploitation of domestic workers, because they have no legal rights. If this situation continues, workers will be dragged down to a state of modern slavery," she added.

This year, Indonesia ranked ninth in the Global Slavery Index, with around 0.3 percent, around 736,000 individuals, from a population of 252 million, trapped in slavery.

"They know that Indonesia provides no legal protection for domestic workers, so they [employers] take advantage of this. The situation usually worsens during Ramadhan, when employers often arbitrarily fire workers to save money," Lita said, referring to the practice of giving employees an annual bonus during the Islamic holiday.

The House of Representatives has listed a domestic worker protection bill on the long-list of the 2014-2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

Nasdem Party lawmaker and Irma Suryani Chaniago and member of House Commission IX overseeing manpower and health, said the bill would regulate domestic workers' rights and entitlements, including salary entitlements. Under the bill, workers and employers will be obliged to sign work contracts, copies of which will also be given to heads of neighborhood units (RT).

"[This is] so employers can't arbitrarily fire their workers, otherwise they'll face punishment," Irma said, adding that lawmakers had yet to discuss the forms of punishment that would be handed down to violators.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/domestic-workers-plead-protection.html

Report unveils labor exploitation in Indonesia's palm oil industry

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2016

Jakarta – Palm oil plantation workers in North Sumatra work under alarming rates of exploitation, a report by environmental NGO Rainforest Action Network report released on Wednesday (08/06) found.

Last year, a team of researchers from RAN investigated the living and working conditions of two palm oil plantations in Sumatra, owned by local food company giant Indofood, a joint venture partner of international food distributor PepsiCo.

PepsiCo is the world's largest global snack distributor, using 470,045 metric tons of palm oil annually for the products. Its partner Indofood owns IndoAgri, the third largest private palm oil company in the country with 246,000 hectares of plantation area in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The two food distributors have been accused for abusing workers due to unethical treatment and for allegedly allowing children work in their fields.

According to the report, PepsiCo adopted a revised palm oil policy which outline responsible palm oil production practices in September 2015, but the policy did not require their partners, including Indofood, to follow PepsiCo's footsteps. It was also revealed that Indofood does not adopt any responsible palm oil practices.

Through the research, it was found that many of Indofood's workers were exposed to high-risk environments with little or no proper healthcare coverage, paid unethically low wages, while some were below the legal working age.

RAN interviewed 41 Indofood workers between September and October last year and found many workers not legally bound to the company, as most were precarious workers – including temporary, casual, contract, outsourced and day laborers, known as kernet.

"Kernet workers are essentially invisible workers as they are not recognized as part of the official plantation workforce, have no legal protections and are not eligible for health care, work-related injury compensation, or other social protections," RAN said in the report.

Seven kernet workers regularly assisted harvesters with various hard labor work, such as collecting loose palm kernels, chopping fruit bunches and organising palm branches, and had no proper regulations or monitoring in their work conditions.

Four of them were teenagers aged 13, 16 and 19 years old, one of which began working at the age of 12. It was found that kernet workers were "hired" by harvesters, assigned to high daily quotas and were threatened a pay cut if they did not fulfil them.

Permanent employees make up 51 percent of the workforce in the palm oil plantations, but was found to only receive pay slips of Rp 1.7 million ($130), which is below the district's monthly minimum wage of Rp 2 million. Casual workers did not receive documented pay slips and were given a basic daily wage of Rp 78,600, under the district's minimum of Rp 80,480.

Kernet workers however receive a maximum monthly wage between Rp 500,000 to Rp 875,000, depending on the discussed rate with their harvester, while some did not receive any pay as they were just helping family members.

Although children are not directly hired by Indofood, RAN found that children were hired as kernet workers because of the quotas assigned to harvesters, as well as the fact that they were generally cheaper labor.

The unreasonably high quotas set by Indofood was slammed by the organization, as harvesters were assigned to two tons of fresh fruit bunches daily and they had to walk far distances to collect 140 to 160 fruit bunches. Due to the high quotas and low wages forced workers to recruit family members into the scene, resulting in children leaving their education behind.

Workers were also found to be exposed to the highly hazardous pesticide Paraquat which is banned in various Western countries. The environment they were working in consisted of many occupational hazards due to the tools – or lack of – they were using on the plantations.

Despite the long hours, possible injuries from carrying heavy loads and insect bites, all casual and kernet workers were reported to have no health insurance or have limited access to the company's on site clinic.

RAN criticized the two food giants for keeping a closed eye to their employees and warned PepsiCo of running into a risk in their global reputation for failing to fully comply to their recently signed palm oil policy.

"PepsiCo must adopt an ambitious deadline for achieving third-party verified compliance with its policy for all palm oil used in all its products and brands, including those produced by Indofood and other joint venture partners," said RAN.

The organization listed suggestions for the Indonesian government to extend social welfare benefits such as housing, eduction, health, safety, disability provisions for all workers, including casual and status-less workers.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/report-unveils-labor-exploitation-indonesias-palm-oil-industry/

'Nation of coolies' no longer? Indonesia calls time on maids working abroad

Sydney Morning Herald - June 10, 2016

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – On March 19, 2014, 18-year-old Indonesian maid Dewi Sukowati had the temerity to serve her employer a glass of water on a plastic tray instead of a silver tray.

Her boss, Singaporean socialite Nancy Gan Wan Geok, was livid. She threw the water in Dewi's face, hit her head with the plastic tray and threatened to slash her pay.

In a moment of "hot blood", Dewi grabbed Madam Gan's hair and slammed the 69-year-old's head into the wall until she was unconscious, the Straits Times reported. Panicked that Madam Gan would wake up and call the police, Dewi threw her body face down into the swimming pool, tossing in her sandals to make it look like a suicide.

Dewi had been in Madam Gan's employ for just six days. Her lawyer said an Indonesian recruiter had sent her to Singapore to work as a maid without any preparation or training. On May 31, the Singapore High Court sentenced her to 18 years' jail.

Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, railed against Indonesia's status as a "nation of coolies and a coolie among nations".

But decades after his ardent speech, an estimated six to seven million Indonesian migrants are still working overseas, about 60 per cent of them low-paid maids in countries such as Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Middle East. An Indonesian maid in Malaysia earns as little as 1000 ringgit – about $330 – a month.

Female migrant workers are often lauded as pahlawan devisa – "foreign exchange heroes" – because they send money to their families in Indonesia. Huge banners at airports welcome them home.

In 2014, Indonesian migrant workers remitted $US8.55 billion, according to Carol Chan, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh. But there is a dark side to this welcome source of money from abroad: female domestic workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

Last February a Hong Kong woman was found guilty of grievous bodily harm and violence against Indonesian maid Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, in a case that sparked international outrage. The court heard Erwiana was beaten, denied food and wages, forbidden to take days off and had her passport confiscated.

A few months later, Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered the Manpower Ministry to come up with a "clear roadmap" on when Indonesia could stop providing maids to other countries.

"The idea comes from the president," Soes Hindarno, the director of placement and protection of overseas workers at the Manpower Ministry, tells Fairfax Media. "He once told my minister: 'Why are we still like this? We have kept sending maids abroad over the last 40 years while other countries send their professionals to our country'. The president wants to raise the dignity of Indonesian workers."

In May last year, Indonesia announced it would stop sending maids to 21 countries in the Middle East, although the 1.4 million maids already working there could continue and renew their contracts.

Next year Indonesia will begin negotiating with other host countries to improve the work conditions of maids, such as a day off every week and allowing them to keep their passports.

Mr Soes says the problems differ from country to country. In Hong Kong, for example, where the apartments are tiny, many maids don't have their own room and sleep on the couch or slumped against the fridge.

"If the country agrees to improve work conditions... then we will keep sending domestic helpers to this country," Mr Soes says. "If not, we will speed up the ban on sending domestic helpers to that particular country. Having said this, we don't mean to keep sending domestic helpers forever – our plan is to have zero domestic helpers overseas."

The International Organization for Migration estimates one in five of the estimated 22 million domestic workers in the Asia Pacific is exploited. Its campaign to stop human trafficking and exploitation – IOM X – recently launched a film, Open doors, urging employers to give maids basic rights, such as at least one day off a week.

"We chose to focus on domestic work because this exploitation is often hidden from public view," says IOM X program leader Tara Dermott. "Some are working extremely long hours, don't have access to health care and in the worst cases are raped, denied food and water, have to ask to go to the toilet and are surveyed by cameras."

Every Sunday in Hong Kong, thousands of Indonesian domestic helpers flock to Victoria Park, where they picnic, learn how to do makeup, recite the Koran and play music on their one day off of the week.

Nurjanah, from Pekalongan in Central Java, has been in Hong Kong – the fifth most popular destination for Indonesian migrant workers – for six years. At least here she gets a day off. Nurjanah left Singapore when her two-year contract expired because she didn't have any days off. "Thank God my employers (in Hong Kong) are good," Nurjanah tells Fairfax Media.

She shares a room with three children in a two-bedroom flat, working from 7am until 10pm cooking, cleaning and child minding. However the mornings are fairly free when the children are at school, and Nurjanah has Sundays and public holidays off.

Nurjanah says her salary is good, the equivalent of $500 a month: "It is very difficult to find a job with such a salary in Indonesia, especially for someone like me who is only an elementary school graduate."

But like many domestic workers, Nurjanah takes care of other people's children while her own son, who is in year eight, is brought up by her parents in Indonesia.

Her friends discuss how long they will stay overseas every time they meet. "As a mother, I am worried that my son will go out with the wrong people, I can only hope that my son is always safe," Nurjanah says. "People like me can only monitor our children through their Facebook accounts or by talking over the phone. This kind of thinking makes us want to go home soon."

On her days off, Nurjanah tries to "learn something, to improve myself". She completed a makeup class and now has a few students of her own: "My hope is that I could use my new skills once I'm back in Indonesia. Who knows, I could open my own beauty salon."

The government's plan to phase out sending maids overseas is widely discussed by Nurjanah's friends on Facebook. Nurjanah believes she will be safe because she heard a rumour that it won't affect maids already working overseas.

"I think it's good, there should be progress," she says. "I think Mr Jokowi, as the country's leader, must feel embarrassed that Indonesia is the biggest supplier of maids."

Between 2012 and 2015, Carol Chan visited two migrant origin villages in Cilacap in Central Java. "Since people rarely talk openly about the difficulties migrants face overseas or labour abuse, villages come to view migrant success as the norm," she writes in Inside Indonesia.

"To make matters worse, migrants' accounts of their own negative experiences are often individualised or dismissed as reflecting their own compromised morality. This leads migrants who 'fail' to experience this as a personal failure, rather than as due to weak laws regarding labour conditions and migration processes."

Anis Hidayah, the executive director of NGO Migrant Care, devotes her life to fighting for the rights of Indonesian migrant workers, including those on death row in foreign countries.

However she opposes the government's plan to stop sending maids overseas, saying it violates the rights of women to work where they wish. "It is like a rape case," Anis says. "Every time a woman is raped, the government suggests women should not travel at night, should not go out alone, should not wear short skirts. This is the same."

Instead, she says, the government should empower and educate domestic workers and strengthen their legal protection. "What the government should not do is ban them from working abroad. It will not work. People will keep going abroad and working as maids."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/nation-of-coolies-no-longer-indonesia-calls-time-on-maids-working-abroad-20160610-gpfpth.html

Freedom of speech & expression

Activists urge government to ensure net neutrality in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Jakarta – The Internet should be an equal world for all of its users, without any discrimination in terms of accessing content or expressing ideas, activists have said.

However, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law has failed to preserve that principle, they said, and most likely, the revised version of the law would as well.

"Every stakeholder should pay attention to this messy law which has violated the principle of network neutrality, because it could penalize everyone for defamation," Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) secretary general Arfi Bambani said during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The network (net) neutrality principle means that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. Hence, it promotes the idea of an open internet that upholds transparency and proscribes censorship.

Arfi later mentioned recent statements made by the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) secretary-general Jafar Hafsah, who called on the government to ban Youtube and Google because the websites "spread pornographic and violent content without any control".

"For instance, if people make a deal by phone that implicates them in corruption, could the phone provider be penalized?" Arfi said, responding to Jafar's statements.

However, Arfi said that under the 2008 ITE law the government could indeed ban those websites. Article 27, paragraph 3 of the law states that people can be criminalized if they deliberately distribute and/or transmit and/or make accessible electronic information or documents that contain slanderous and defamatory language.

Meanwhile, former chairman for the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), Semmy Pangerapan, questioned the Communications and Information Ministerial Decree No. 19/2014 which allows Internet service providers (ISP) to directly ban websites hosting negative content.

"The authority to filter the content shouldn't be given to ISPs as each of them could have a different policy regarding banning content. The government should set the standard and implement the ban by themselves," Semmy said.

Meanwhile, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) researcher Wahyudi Djafar said that the 2008 ITE law had been used to criminalize at least 127 netizens, particularly for violating Article 27, 28 and 29. Those articles stipulate prohibited acts, including the distribution of content related to pornography, gambling, defamation, extortion, hoaxes, hate speech, or threats.

"Those matters have already been stipulated in the Criminal Code [KUHP]. So it would be better to take those articles out of the ITE law," Wahyudi said.

The government and the House of Representatives are currently deliberating the revision of the law. However, such efforts would be useless if there was no significant change in the law, Wahyudi said.

"I'm worried that this is not going to solve anything. It seems like the House just wants to meet its legislation target," he said. (vps)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/activists-urge-govt-to-ensure-net-neutrality-in-indonesia.html

Political parties & elections

Law revision another blow to Ahok's gubernatorial bid

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Jakarta – Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama says many parties have tried to stop him from seeking reelection in the 2017 gubernatorial election.

The approval of a revision of the Regional Elections Law has been the hardest hit to Ahok's attempt to run in the election so far. It even made him think twice about taking part. "I will work hard until the end of my tenure in October 2017. But if you dispute my governorship, just take it," Ahok said on Wednesday.

The law, approved by the House of Representatives last week, makes it more difficult for independent candidates like Ahok because of a complicated factual verification process surrounding voter support.

Under the law, supporters of independent candidates who have handed over photocopies of their identity cards in order to indicate their endorsement – as required for independent hopefuls – have to be factually verified.

The law now stipulates that if a supporter is not at home during the verification process, the candidate's campaign team has three days to accompany the supporter to the nearest polling station for verification.

Ahok will not challenge the law through a judicial review motion at the Supreme Court because it is the role of the General Elections Commission (KPU), as the election organizing institution, to do so.

Volunteers from the Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) group have collected 945,894 copies of IDs so far, from a target of 1 million.

Ahok said the complicated factual verification process could force him out of the gubernatorial race because his followers would only have three days to verify their support with the election committee (PSS), though committee members were not available every day.

"This thing is troublesome for my supporters," Ahok said, adding that he had not prepared a strategy regarding the factual verification process. "What strategy that I should prepare? You can't fight the law. Do you think it is a pencak silat [martial arts] movie where I should prepare a lot of strategies?" Ahok said.

He said the approval of the law was not only the effort to stop him seeking reelection. Cases surrounding land acquisition in West Jakarta and reclamation in Jakarta Bay, in which he has been questioned as a witness, are seen as tarnishing his popularity. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/law-revision-another-blow-to-ahoks-gubernatorial-bid.html

New regional election law strangles independent candidacy

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Pandaya, Jakarta – In March, furious Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politicians vowed to teach the Jakarta governor a lesson over his abrasive assertion to rerun as an independent in next year's election, after the party failed to quickly respond to his request for backing.

Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama was accused of waging an antipolitical party campaign, a "dangerous" move they feared could exacerbate public distrust in political parties as the main cradle of national leadership.

The ruling party's threat resounded when the House of Representatives endorsed the amendment to Law No. 1/2015 on regional elections last week. Of course the provisions were not specifically aimed at Ahok, but all aspirants toying with the idea of running independently.

Because the amendment came just as Ahok supporters, grouped under the moniker Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok), had obtained almost a million copies of ID cards belonging to people wanting Ahok to run as an independent, there is good reason to suspect that lawmakers had designed the change on to concerns that popular leaders would increasingly follow in his footsteps.

The amendment requires that Polling Committee (PPS) personnel verify the names of eligible voters who have submitted their names to the local General Elections Commission (KPUD).

The verification method is bizarre: PPS personnel visit the signatories' residences, exactly the way state officials may during a regular census. If a supporter is not available at home, the aspirant and his/her running mate have three days to present them physically to the PPS office. Failure to do this results in the annulment of the signatories' support for the independent aspirant.

Imagine how this tedious method will play out in major cities like Greater Jakarta where people's mobility is extremely high during the day! If Friends of Ahok manage to pool the support of a million voters by the end of July, how many PPS personnel will be required to undertake this duty? The scene will be equally ridiculous if PPS personnel are forced to handle the thousands and thousands of signatories Ahok may need to bring to them if PPS personnel fail to find many of the highly mobile Jakartans at home during their visits.

Lawmakers and government representatives responsible for deliberating the bill insist that the new prerequisites are intended to guarantee that the support for an independent hopeful is genuine. This argument makes sense, but surely the verification method can't be real.

Obviously, the new conditions set by the amended law are intended to rob the people of their basic right to choose their leaders without the intervention of political parties. The prerequisites mean to maintain party domination in the election process – a bigotry that proponents of democracy must reject.

Aside from questionable verification procedures, independent aspirants are already burdened with a tough task – to garner the support of between 6.5 and 10 percent of the total eligible constituency.

Losing public trust after more politicians were prosecuted and convicted of corruption, political parties – nationalist or religious – have seen a worrying trend. In last year's simultaneous regional elections, 139 of the 829 contesting pairs ran independently, and 11 of those pairs won.

Independent candidacy is no longer a folly, as people are increasingly fed up with systemic political corruption. Fielding an independent candidate is akin to voicing demand for leaders who dare to make a radical change to governance long plagued with corruption, nepotism and cronyism.

It is not a secret that a nominee has to spend billions of rupiah for a party's support and more independent candidates mean less cash going into party coffers. Ahok once estimated that he would need Rp 200 billion (US$15 million) if he should seek a political party's nomination.

As for Ahok, thanks to his unrivaled electability, the amended law is unlikely to cause too great a problem when it comes to his re-election bid. If the law should foil his ambition and the temptation of power remains too sweet to resist, he can leave his adoring fans and jump onto the bandwagon of political parties.

Both the NasDem Party and Hanura Party have openly expressed their "unconditional" support, even if he should enter the race independently. Senior Golkar politicians have also hinted at their support. The PDI-P, unsuccessful in its attempt to persuade its most popular politician, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, is courting Ahok again.

Despite Friends of Ahok having vowed to fight to the end for his independent ticket, it appears as if Ahok may increasingly sway toward political parties. On various occasions, he has been seen to exchange pleasantries with politicians, especially those from the PDI-P.

The proposed verification of an independent candidate's supporters is but one of the flaws that make the new law vulnerable to judicial review motions – something that may disrupt next year's simultaneous elections in 76 regencies, seven provinces and 18 cities.

Gone is the hope to have a regional elections law that can help develop democracy by simplifying procedures for both independent and party candidacies and to minimize vote buying and corruption within the political system.

The amended law maintains the old rule that requires that only political parties with at least 20 legislative seats are eligible to field their own candidate. Those who have less than 20 seats have to coalesce for a nominee.

Ideally, the conditions should be made simple so as to allow for fair competition. In reality, only in a few regions does a political party have 20 seats in the legislature or command 25 percent of valid votes.

The law allows alliances of "party workers" and interest groups to run the country, and will continue to do so for the next five years at the very least. Leadership teams driven by a broad movement of grassroots supporters will simply become an endangered species.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/new-regional-election-law-strangles-independent-candidacy.html

Environment & natural disasters

2009 Montara oil spill still reducing catches and inflicting losses

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Djemi Amnifu, Kupang – Oil spilled into the Timor Sea for approximately 74 days in 2009, resulting in a change of fish migration patterns in the area, which is now costing the local fishing industry.

The pollution, the result of a blowout at the Montara oil rig in August 2009, has caused the catches of local fishermen in East Nusa Tenggara to decline, among other problems.

"The massive pollution due to the oil spill from the Montara oil rig is the main cause of fish depletion in the Timor Sea," West Timor Care Foundation (YPTB) head Ferdi Tanoni told reporters on Monday.

Conditions are getting even worse for the fishermen now with the use of fish aggregating devices, locally known as rumpon, by large ships from Benoa, Bali. The devices are believed to have obstructed the migration of fish and made it difficult for local fishermen to catch large quantities, as many fish have already been trapped.

Ferdi, who is fighting against Timor Sea pollution through an Australian court, said based on research by fisheries and marine experts from the US and Australia, the oil pollution in the Timor Sea has altered the flow of fish migrating from Australian waters.

"Many facts prove that the pollution in the Timor Sea has caused changes in fish migration from Australia. It is evidenced by the dozens of whales that were found dead and dolphins stranded off Savu and Lembata islands recently," he said.

Besides the impact on fish migration, Ferdi added, the pollution had also destroyed seaweed farming in NTT, especially in coastal areas on Rote Island, south of Timor Island and Sumba Island.

Ferdi has asked the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to pay attention to the tens of thousands of seaweed farmers in NTT, who since 2009 have suffered significant losses – of up to 85 percent of revenue – due to declining seaweed harvests as a result of pollution.

"A number of coastal areas have started to cultivate seaweed now, but its quality is already poor due to oil contamination," he said.

Besides that, he added, a strange phenomenon of crocodiles appearing in coastal areas in Kupang regency, which have killed a number of local residents, was indication that their habitat had been polluted.

According to Australian fisheries experts, a scientific study must be conducted on the phenomenon because the crocodiles are likely to have faced difficulty obtaining food in the sea so have been forced to appear in the areas and prey on people.

Citing research from the Australia World Wildlife Fund, Ferdi said the oil pollution to the south of Rote Island, which is the center of fish migration from Australia to the Timor Sea, had led to changes in fish migration.

"The giant fish traps installed in the Timor Sea may also have contributed to the changes in the migration of fish, but they are not too significant when compared with the case of Montara oil rig's blast into the Timor Sea on Aug. 21, 2009," he said.

In the southern part of Rote Island, he continued, research by experts from the US showed the crude oil discharge, mixed with chemicals and poisonous toxic dispersant, had reached a rate of 10,000 to 20,000 barrels per day, continuing for 74 days. A barrel is equivalent to 159 liters.

"The fish traps as well as the practice of illegal fishing in the Timor Sea by giant trawlers have been ongoing for a long time, but did not significantly alter the migration of fish," said Ferdi.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/2009-montara-oil-spill-still-reducing-catches-and-inflicting-losses.html

Firms responsible for 2015 fires go largely unpunished

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Despite wreaking environmental havoc and causing more than US$16 billion in economic losses, hundreds of companies behind last year's massive peatland and forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan have still not been held accountable for their negligence.

Recently, the Peatland Restoration Agency (BRG) released a list of 531 companies, mostly agroforestry companies, on whose concessions in peatland areas fires were reported and who thus had an obligation to restore their concessions.

The list only constitutes companies with concessions in peatland areas, therefore the total number of companies on whose lands fires occurred must greatly exceed 531.

However, only three civil lawsuit cases are being heard in courts at the moment with five more lawsuits still in the process. Civil lawsuits are handled by the Environment and Forestry Ministry's law enforcement directorate-general.

As for criminal lawsuits, only four cases are on trial at the moment, with the dossiers on six cases currently incomplete while the dossiers on three other cases have been completed. Criminal lawsuits are handled by the police.

"We hope that the companies on the BRG's list are not only held accountable for restoring their concessions, but there needs to be law enforcement as well against them because they failed to make sure that their concessions weren't burned," law researcher Syahrul Fitra, from the NGO Auriga, told The Jakarta Post.

Syahrul said that while the 531 companies on the BRG's list were responsible for the restoration of areas that had been damaged by years of peatland fires, without law enforcement there would be no guarantee that they would actually carry out the restoration work.

"I'm not sure they will carry out the restoration. Maybe there will be administrative punishments, but even the government decided to revoke administrative punishments recently," Syahrul said.

He was referring to the government's decision to slap administrative sanctions on 23 companies last year. These companies had their land-clearing licenses either revoked or frozen for their failure to act to prevent last year's land and forest fires, which led to the worst pollution in the region for almost two decades.

The firms facing punishment were mostly pulp wood and palm oil plantations operating on Sumatra and Kalimantan. As a result, three companies shut down operations altogether. However, the government decided to unfreeze the licenses for 17 companies recently, reasoning that they had improved their fire-prevention management on the ground.

"After this, they will have to give their burned concessions to the government. The ministry's sustainable forest management directorate-general is currently mapping the burned concessions that will be taken over by the government to be restored and managed," the ministry's law enforcement director-general, Rasio Ridho Sani, told the Post.

Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) spokeswoman Khalisah Wahid said the sanction revocations would have no deterrent effect on the companies. "It's an extraordinary environmental crime with a large number of victims, even deaths and it keeps recurring," Khalisah told the Post.

The government should not have taken over the burned concessions either as that shifted the responsibility for restoring the damage caused by the companies to the government, she said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/firms-responsible-2015-fires-go-largely-unpunished.html

Calls grows for end to plastic bags in stores

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Last week, Environment and Forestry Ministry spokesman Novrizal Tahar headed to a minimarket near his house in Kampung Utan, Ciputat, South Tangerang, to buy four large bottles of water.

As usual, he brought along his own shopping bag. However, as he paid for his water, the cashier advised him there was no longer any need to do so, as the minimarket had begun providing plastic bags free of charge again.

"Can you imagine? I was furious, and I reported it to the ministry's waste management director, Sudirman," Novrizal recounted.

He is among a growing number of consumers who are aware that reusing shopping bags is a key measure in the reduction of plastic and not merely a question of saving a few thousand rupiah.

Plastic bag waste from modern retailers in Indonesia is estimated to reach 9.8 billion bags a year, or about 38 bags per person. Worldwide, only China uses more plastic bags than Indonesia.

Another estimate, by Greeneration Indonesia, puts plastic bag usage from both modern and traditional retailers at 700 per person per year, or 178.5 billion bags. More than 12 million barrels of crude oil are needed to produce that amount of plastic bags.

Plastic shopping bags are so resilient, pervasive and toxic that the country has arrived at a tipping point; the entire ecosystem is off balance, with tens of thousands of turtles, whales, sea birds and other marine creatures dying each year after ingesting plastic material.

Earlier this year, the government introduced a requirement for modern retailers to charge customers for plastic bags, the largest concerted effort to date to reduce plastic waste. The policy applied initially only to 23 cities, before being expanded nationwide on June 1.

The public reacted positively to the policy, with an immediate 25 percent reduction in plastic bag use in the 23 cities, according to Environment and Forestry Ministry data. "The steepest decrease was in Banjarmasin, with 80 percent, followed by Palembang, Surabaya and Bandung, each with 40 percent," Sudirman said.

Banjarmasin's especially sharp reduction was a result of the local authorities' blanket ban on the sale of plastic bags by retailers and consumers and retailers are now demanding a similar ban nationwide.

"Consumers' main suggestion for this policy is to totally ban sales of plastic bags at modern retailers, rather than doing things by halves," Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) researcher Natalya Kurniawati told The Jakarta Post.

The YLKI, she said, was contacted by ever-growing numbers of consumers saying they would like to see all modern retailers stop handing out or selling plastic bags.

"Consumers are increasingly saying they want to change their habits. They're asking why there is still no clear policy on this matter," Natalya said, adding that the YLKI had also received a number of reports that some Jakarta retailers were handing out plastic bags free of charge, in contravention of the policy.

Some modern retailers have reportedly decided to provide free plastic bags again after the end of the plastic bag tax's first trial period, which ran until May 31. The government subsequently issued a circular to regional governments stipulating the continuation of the policy, but some retailers are apparently unaware of this.

Others, though, seem keen to answer growing demand for tough action on plastic bags. "We would have no problem with a blanket ban on plastic bags [...] In countries like Japan and South Korea, all retailers are banned from handing out plastic bags," said Indonesian Retailers Association (Aprindo) chairman Roy Mandey.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/calls-grows-end-plastic-bags-stores.html

Rapid deforestation taking place in Jambi

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – An area of forest the size of eight soccer fields is lost every hour in Jambi, Sumatra, leaving forests in the province in a critical condition, according to a conservation organization.

Today, there are only about 1 million hectares of forest left in Jambi, or one-fifth of the province's total area of about 50,000 square kilometers.

"The size of forest loss in Jambi is quite big and the province is struggling to preserve its remaining forests," Rudi Syaf, chairman of the Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI Warsi), said recently.

The conservation group said based on satellite imaging, Jambi had lost up to 189,125 hectares of forest due to deforestation from 2012 to 2016. A 2012 survey showed that total forested areas in Jambi constituted around 1.16 million hectares. However, in 2016, that figure has dropped to 970,434 hectares.

Rudi said the loss of forests was due to human activity, including the issuance of industrial forest permits (HTI) for concession areas and legal and illegal mining activities. "Deforestation has even reached into protected areas," he said.

The most severe deforestation has been recorded in the south of the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park (TNBD), where land clearing activities are carried out by a number of HTI companies, including Lestari Asri Jaya and Wana Mukti Wisesa, and Mugitriman Internasional and Malacca Agro Perkasa in Bungo regency, as well as in Merangin regency, where the Hijau Arta Nusa and Jebus Maju HTI companies operate.

Field observations have also detected forest loss as a result of illegal land clearing activities carried out by other parties. Massive land clearing is also carried out in Tebo regency, especially after the opening of an access road in a forested area linking a plantation company owned by Sinar Mas with its timber processing plant in Tebing Tinggi, West Tanjung Jabung.

The deforestation is also caused by the presence of legal and illegal mines in forested areas. Mining activities in forested areas permitted by the Environment and Forestry Ministry between 2013 and 2015 reached 84,000 hectares, while other forested areas were cleared for illegal mining.

Monitoring at the Batang Tabir river stream in Merangin regency found a large forested area being opened up by illegal gold mining companies.

"Forest clearance for the illegal mines has even reached into the Kerinci Seblat National Park," said Rudi.

He added that forest degradation and deforestation had caused additional ecological disasters in Jambi in recent years, such as the flash floods that hit a number of areas in Merangin, Bungo and Sarolangun regencies this year.

"This shows that the destruction of forests has caused the loss of a balanced ecosystem and this poses a danger to the survival of human beings, especially residents living around forests that are being demolished," said Rudi. He added that the government was not serious about improving forest management to save forests.

Based on analysis conducted in areas with natural forests that are densely covered, they should be maintained in order to preserve the ecosystem. "So, the most important thing right now is the work of the government to improve the forest management of plantation companies," he said.

As for illegal mining, Rudi added, the government should immediately revise spatial planning and allocate mining areas for traditional gold miners.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/rapid-deforestation-taking-place-jambi.html

Palm oil giant's impact in Indonesia worse than reported, says Greenpeace

The Guardian (Australia) - June 9, 2016

Hannah Gould – One of the world's largest producers of palm oil has drained and planted on areas of peatland supposed to be protected by Indonesian law, claims a new report from Greenpeace, with levels of damage potentially worse than previously reported.

The NGO says satellite images of Ketapang, west Kalimantan show drainage canals covering an area of peatland that the Malaysia-based company IOI had marked for restoration in a sustainability commitment in 2014.

Draining peatland is the first step for developing a palm oil plantation, but dry land is at increased risk of catching fire. Greenpeace says satellite images suggest nearly a third of the Ketapang landscape – once home to endangered and vulnerable species including orangutans, proboscis monkeys and sun bears says the NGO – burned in 2015.

The new report is the latest blow for the IOI Group. A founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body set up to address environmental and social issues in palm oil, IOI's sustainability certification was suspended in April after allegations of wrongdoing in Indonesia.

Companies including Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald's, Nestle and Unilever have pledged not to source from the palm oil company, which earlier this week decided to drop a lawsuit against RSPO for suspending its certification.

Greenpeace is calling on the RSPO to maintain its suspension until IOI has a meaningful plan in place to resolve damage to the Ketapang peatland landscape and prevent fires. So far, it has called the new draft policy and action plan offered by IOI, weak and lacking significant commitments.

Among other suggestions, Greenpeace recommends that IOI improves transparency by publishing concession maps for its operations through Global Forest Watch's online forest monitoring and alert system.

Dr Surina Binti Ismail, sustainability group head for IOI stresses that its draft policy is still a work in progress and that it has "taken note of Greenpeace's suggestions" and is in favour of a few of them. She adds: "Even prior to our suspension [from the RSPO], we have instigated restoration of the peatland that we had accidentally cleared and even reported to RSPO on this matter."

With regards to fire prevention, Ismail says IOI is engaged in activities including watch towers to monitor fires, water gauges to monitor peat water tables, and installing tube wells for water access.

A spokesperson from RSPO says the organisation cannot comment on next steps for IOI's suspension until its complaints panel has made a decision.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/jun/09/palm-oil-giant-ioi-impact-indonesia-worse-than-reported-says-greenpeace

Health & education

Tobacco burning larger holes amid legal mess

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Jakarta – Indonesia, which has the world's highest prevalence of smoking, is facing an uphill attle to keep its burgeoning young population away from tobacco, an addiction that may in turn jeopardize its demographic bonus.

But the fight is proving hard to win in the face of massive promotion of tobacco products not only in conventional advertising space and the media but also on social media, another facet of life to which youngsters are also addicted.

The trillions of rupiah that cigarette makers spend on promotion every year, their powerful lobby in the government and the legislature, coupled with weak law enforcement make the effort to stamp out smoking ever harder.

At the highest level of policymaking, the struggle has been undermined by inconsistencies. Last year President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo laid out a strategy to significantly reduce the prevalence of smoking among teenagers over the next five years but then the Trade Ministry issued its own tobacco "roadmap" that will boost cigarette production to 524 billion in 2020.

Inconsistencies also reign in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers apply a double standard in their treatment of alcohol and tobacco, in favor of the latter although both are subject to excise as commodities that pose health and social hazards.

While legislators support strict regulation of liquor, they simultaneously back efforts to promote tobacco consumption and strengthen an industry that is paradoxically largely controlled by foreign companies.

A government plan to increase taxes as a way to push up prices as proposed by the WHO and National Commission on Tobacco Control has met fierce resistance from the cigarette industry, which contributes about Rp 145 trillion (US$10.9 billion) in taxes to the state coffers every year.

The long-standing calls for Indonesia to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control have also come to nothing. The Indonesian Cigarette Makers Association (Gappri) recently told Jokowi in a letter not to abide by rules prescribed by "foreign powers" at the cost of the industry and the 6 million people who rely on it for a living.

As the legislative situation remains messy, statistics from the Health Ministry and the state insurance scheme BPJS Kesehatan show a rising trend of tobacco-related health problems.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/tobacco-burning-larger-holes-amid-legal-mess.html

Farmers caught in the toils of economic conspiracy

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Pandaya – "Just tobacco. Nothing else matters", reads a lighthearted message scribbled on a terrace wall welcoming guests to a hilltop house in Legoksari village, a 20-minute drive from the cool town.

On a recent morning there, a smiling woman greeted me like a long-lost friend. She served fragrant sweet tea and steamy boiled groundnuts from the family's farm.

About 1,700 people live in this crowded neighborhood on a steep slope of the dormant volcano Mt. Sumbing. Although there is plenty of vacant land, houses of various designs and sizes have been built very close to each other, probably to display the harmony between residents.

After 30 minutes of waiting, my host Subakir arrived on his scooter. As he got off, he took the last puffs on his cigarette and threw away the butt. "How's the tea?" the senior leader of the local chapter of the Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association (APTI) said to break the ice.

After a few cigarettes and a cup of black coffee, the chain smoker began to sparkle. He casually recited important statistics: of the 20 districts in Temanggung, only 14 are suitable for tobacco farming; 11,000 hectares of land are planted with tobacco, yielding some 7,000 tons a year.

Top cigarette makers Djarum and Gudang Garam will buy 7,000 and 10,000 tons of tobacco, respectively, from Temanggung this year, and most households in Legoksari own between half and 1 ha of farmland.

As an APTI official, Subakir is an ardent proponent of tobacco because the industry brings prosperity to Temanggung. He resents the growing trend of smoking restrictions and aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns. "Exhaust fumes are a lot more dangerous. Why don't people fret about that?" the mustachioed man growled, chuckling.

For a great many years, Temanggung has been famous for top-quality tobacco with the highest nicotine content of up to 8 percent. If blended with tobacco from other areas, it functions as an aromatic. Temanggung is synonymous with tobacco.

Legoksari, which has 385 ha of farms, is considered a success story. The narrow and winding asphalt roads are lined with big houses with flashy Japanese-made cars in their garages, grand mosques and impressive school buildings. Pathways on the mountain slopes, the ideal height for tobacco and vegetables, are often jammed with farmers' trucks and motorcycles.

The village's communal funds come from tobacco. The village administration requires each family to donate 2.5 percent of their annual net tobacco income to the village coffers. The accumulated funds always surpass the development funds from the state, which is set at Rp 70 million (US$5,244) a year.

Farmers in Legoksari and elsewhere in Temanggung are famous as big spenders after the tobacco harvest season. The wealthy usually stock up on basic commodities to last them until the next season, buy cars and motorbikes as well as pay their children's annual school fees – all in anticipation of bad weather wreaking havoc on their tobacco plants the next season.

If and when the worst scenario does happen, farmers do not have to worry much because the regency government will pay their taxes and electricity bills with cash taken from the regency's share of tobacco trust funds from the central government. Last year, Temanggung's share reached Rp 29.5 billion, according to official local statistics. Every season between March and September, the village is a magnet for job seekers.

Temanggung has become Central Java's main tobacco marketplace, contributing 26 percent to the nationwide produce. Of the around 21,000 tons of tobacco traded on the local market every year, the regency contributes only 7 tons and the rest comes from neighboring regencies, such as Magelang, Wonosobo and Pekalongan. Here, tobaccos from various regencies are blended and the Temanggung portion functions as the taste enhancer.

But this "success story" is not all a bed of roses. The tobacco trading system in Temanggung is controlled by a so-called "mafia" – the term widely used to refer to the cartel-like trading system involving tobacco shredders, traders, middlemen, buyers, graders and cigarette producers. The farmers' bargaining position is the weakest because they cannot sell their produce directly to cigarette makers.

It is the mafia that dictates prices, does the weighing and determines the quality grades. In its recent survey report, the Muhammadiyah Tobacco Control Center (MTCC) says that farmers are powerless and there is no way they can escape the mafia's control.

Loan sharks employ classic tactics to control farmers, such as providing cash as starting capital that farmers badly need to buy things from fertilizer and seedlings to pesticides. Some cash-strapped farmers have no choice but to ask for cash upfront from loan sharks.

MTCC researcher Fauzi Ahmad Noor says the mafia often resorts to intimidation. He recalls a day in 2012 when a farmer, Ismanto, he picked to testify against a judicial review of a 2009 health law, which declares tobacco to be an addictive substance, reversed his stand after being allegedly threatened by the mafia. "It was embarrassing," Fauzi says.

Fortunately, the Constitutional Court rejected the motion filed by Achmad, the owner of Aneka Jaya cigarette maker, and two tobacco farmers from Kendal, Central Java.

In an interview Fauzi uploaded to YouTube, another farmer, Maryanto, says tengkulak (middlemen) charge 10 percent of tobacco farmers' proceeds. He alleges that middlemen also rig the weighing. "Their scales aren't right [...] We have repeatedly asked the government to recalibrate their scales but nobody listens."

Cigarette makers buying Temanggung tobacco – Gudang Garam, Djarum, Wismilak and Nojorono – all have different quality standards and pricing policies. Each of them assigns five to 10 graders who have good connections with the middlemen, MTCC found.

Farmers are in a weak bargaining position: The few buyers are not subject to the law of supply and demand because they import most of their tobacco. "The more brokers are involved in trading, the more money farmers have to spend on tips, transport fees and loading charges," the MTCC report says.

The local government's role is confined to that of a facilitator who provides information on how much tobacco cigarette makers need as well as calling on cigarette producers to buy tobacco at reasonable prices.

Neither the government nor associations like Subakir's APTI fight for reform of the trading system so that it allows farmers to have direct access to cigarette makers. Farmers would be better off without the "mafia". They should have the freedom to grow crops of their preference.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/farmers-caught-toils-economic-conspiracy.html

Tobacco firms ignore legal restrictions

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Despite having a smoking prevalence already among the highest in the world, Indonesia has slackened its efforts to control the tobacco industry in the face of powerful lobbying by business players.

While in Temanggung, Central Java, an area regarded as producing the finest tobacco in Indonesia, cartel-like practices are employed to control the trade, as The Jakarta Post's Pandaya reports.

Smoke Free Agents, a non-profit antitobacco group, has become infuriated by the number of music concerts packed with young people in Greater Jakarta that are not smoke-free despite the legal ban on tobacco promotion at such events.

Between February and March, the watchdog counted eight concerts that were sponsored by the tobacco industry in which products were openly promoted to young audiences.

"After the government restricted cigarette ads, the industry started using music concerts to promote their products," Smoke Free Agents coordinator Hasna Pradityas says. "They [the industry] name the events after their products and use music to lure young people to come in droves."

The law that Hasna referred to is Government Regulation No. 109/2012 on the control of tobacco products as an addictive substance, which is a derivative of the 2009 Health Law. The regulation restricts cigarette advertising in certain places such as near schools and forbids advertisers from explicitly promoting cigarettes at events they sponsor.

But the regulation has had little effect. Cigarette producers, who contribute about Rp 145 trillion (US$10.8 billion) to the state coffers every year, spent Rp 4.5 trillion last year on advertisements, according to Nielsen Advertising Information Services.

The Achilles heel of tobacco restriction, weak regulation and poor law enforcement, has given rise to the migration of multinational cigarette companies to Indonesia as western countries have tightened their rules. In 2005, Philip Morris International Inc. spent $5.2 billion to take over PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, Indonesia's third-largest tobacco company behind Gudang Garam and Djarum.

Then in 2009, British American Tobacco paid Rajawali Group and other shareholders $494 million for an 85 percent stake in the fourth-biggest cigarette maker PT Bentoel Internasional Investama.

Particularly worrying for anti-tobacco groups like Smoke Free Agents is the fact that cigarette producers are targeting the younger age bracket with "mild" products. The filtered, non-clove blended cigarettes contain less nicotine, which beginners find attractive. Their ubiquitous ads associate them with masculinity.

Love it or loath it, the tobacco industry not only keeps the state coffers well stocked, but it also keeps major sports and entertainment events alive and kicking. We have not heard of any gigs or badminton tournaments canceled because the advertising aspect of the sponsorship is just too obvious.

Even bigger promotions find their way into social media, where messages including those smacking of tobacco promotion, proliferate especially among youngsters.

What is bad for the general public but great for business is that Indonesia has no laws regulating cigarette advertising on social media, a large loophole the industry is cleverly making the most of.

The high rate of tobacco addiction among youngsters causes major concern at a time when Indonesia is enjoying a demographic bonus – a period when the young and productive population is larger than at any time before.

Miscellaneous Facts on Tobacco and Related Issues released by the Health Ministry in 2014, reports that most smokers in Indonesia started the habit between the ages of 15 and 19 years. In that age bracket, boys were on top at 57 percent with girls at 29.2 percent. Smokers from the lower-income bracket are said to spend 11 percent of their disposable income on cigarettes at the cost of education, which gets only 3 percent.

The University of Indonesia's Center for Health Economics and Policy Studies blames the unrelenting advertising for the rise in smoking prevalence among the younger generation. The proportion of the population aged 15 and older who smoke increased from 34 percent in 2007 to 36 percent in 2013. In 2013, 1.4 percent of children aged 10 to 14 were addicted to cigarettes, the center reports.

A recent World Bank report placed Indonesia on the top of smoking prevalence among adult males at 72 percent in 2015. In distant second place comes Kiribati at 67 percent.

Hasbullah Thabrani, a researcher with the center, reckons that smokers will burn through Rp 330 trillion this year. "That money would be enough to finance 800,000 students to pursue their doctoral degrees overseas, assuming that each of them spends Rp 500 million," he says.

According to Tobacco Economics in Indonesia, a book co-authored by a team of local experts, tobacco consumption in Indonesia has been rising since 1970, spurred by low cigarette prices, population growth, rising household income and the mechanization of the kretek industry. Kretek is a blend of tobacco and clove consumed by an estimated 80 percent of Indonesian smokers.

Close to 80 percent of Indonesian smokers started before they turned 19 years. Eight out of 10 child smokers have tried to quit but failed because of the social acceptability of smoking, its cheapness and the ubiquitous advertising, Tobacco economics in Indonesia co-author Abdillah Ahsan says.

Aware of the health hazards, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's government in its middle-term health development plan aims to reduce the smoking prevalence among people aged 18 and younger by 25 percent from 7.2 to 5.4 percent in 2019. The Culture and Education Ministry has declared schools smoke-free areas and has banned all forms of cigarette promotion in their vicinity.

This all sounds great. But because Jokowi's Cabinet is legendary for its inconsistencies, his smoke-free vision has been badly blurred by his Trade Ministry's cigarette industry "road map" which will increase production to 524 billion cigarettes in 2020 from 421 billion this year and 397 billion last year.

The roadmap appears to show the way for cigarette makers to double their production of machine-made mild cigarettes. This year's mild production is forecast at 121 billion and will soar to 306 billion in 2020 thanks to the roadmap.

Now, Indonesia is heaven for smokers, where cigarettes are ubiquitous and available for everyone, including children, for between Rp 10,000 and Rp 15,000, about one US dollar, a pack. In Australia, a pack costs about A$25 (US$18), in Britain £10 ($14.25), Canada CA$16-20 ($12.52-$15.65).

Economist Emil Salim observes that the roadmap's philosophy bears a resemblance to that of the controversial tobacco bill that House of Representatives lawmakers are deliberating with the ministry.

"Both believe that kretek is part of Indonesia's cultural heritage; they make no mention of cigarettes' adverse effect on health; they treat tobacco that's cultivated only in five provinces more important than fisheries, which are an industrial lifeline for two-thirds of the country and both defend the cigarette industry, which is 90 percent owned by foreign companies," he says.

The legislative mess and inconsistent policy look set to take a higher toll. The Health Ministry has revealed a chilling figure: 650 people died of tobacco-related diseases per day in 2015. Tobacco is commonly associated with deadly hazards like chronic lung ailments, cancer, arterial disease, stroke and heart attacks.

BPJS Kesehatan, the state-run health insurance scheme, has seen rising claims for medication for diseases associated with cigarette smoking. In 2014, the total claims amounted to Rp 1,841 billion and rose to a whopping Rp 2,287 billion last year. Its latest statistics show that the country spent an estimated Rp 39.5 trillion on medication for tobacco-related diseases in 2013.

Interestingly, unlike more established insurance companies, which take smoking risks seriously because of the greater possibility of critical illnesses and early deaths, the BPJS is yet to make smokers pay more than non-smokers do.

An effective way to reduce the number of smokers as the WHO and the National Commission on Tobacco Control have stated is to increase tobacco taxes. But, already, the government's plan to raise tobacco excises piecemeal has met strong resistance from the industry,.

The Indonesian Cigarette Makers Association (Gappri) warns that the plan will kill small-scale producers and retailers.

Quoting an Ernst & Young survey, Gappri officials argue that the tax rate is already very high, accounting for 53.4 percent of the sale price, higher than those in Malaysia, 46 percent, China 44.4 percent and Vietnam 41.6 percent. In Asia, Thailand has the highest rate with 73.1 percent.

As smoking prevalence is rising and law enforcement weak, Indonesia dithers about whether to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, for which anti-tobacco campaigners have pressed while the industry has been fiercely opposed.

On World No Tobacco Day on May 31, Gappri wrote President Jokowi an open letter, telling him not to cave in to "foreign regulations" that were aimed at destabilizing the Indonesian economy using anti-tobacco groups.

"In fact, the groups hired by foreign powers have long provoked state institutions, the executive and legislative alike, which has resulted in the issuance of irrational laws and ministerial regulations [...] They mean to undermine the tobacco industry and endanger the Indonesian economy," the letter says.

Gappri has been trying to convince everyone that ratifying the convention would mean the government losing control of the local tobacco industry, which employs some 6 million people, because Indonesia would have to comply with rules dictated by the WHO.

Given the industry's powerful lobby and poor law enforcement combined with weak legislation, it seems the current tobacco impasse will continue for a long time yet.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/tobacco-firms-ignore-legal-restrictions.html

Terrorism & religious extremism

Remove TNI role from antiterrorism bill: Imparsial

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Human rights group Imparsial urged lawmakers to remove the role of the Indonesian Military (TNI) from an antiterrorism bill during deliberations on Thursday, saying the country was not in the middle of a war against terror.

Based on Indonesia's approach to counterterrorism, the country has adopted a criminal justice model where terrorism is considered a criminal action and therefore the National Police play a leading role in eradicating terrorist acts, Imparsial chairman Al-Araf said on Thursday.

By assigning the TNI to counterterrorism measures, it would appear that the government was trying to change its approach to a war model system, he continued, adding such a move could be harmful for Indonesia's democracy and was susceptible to abuse.

"If we try to assign the TNI [to counterterrorism approaches] we will be trapped in securitization. It is wrong for us to insert elements outside of law enforcement into the bill," Al-Araf told lawmakers during the hearing on the revision of 2003 Antiterrorism Law at the House of Representatives.

Al-Araf urged lawmakers to remove the article in the revision of the 2003 law that stipulates the TNI's involvement in combating terrorism.

The military does not need to be inserted into the bill as it has the authority to deal with terrorism based on article 7 at the 2004 TNI Law, which states that the TNI can be involved into non-military operations including the anti-terrorism operation based on a decision from the President and the House.

The TNI can take military measures in countering terrorism only if threats escalate and threaten territorial integrity, he added.

Supiadin Aries Saputra, a member of the House's special committee on deliberations on terrorism, stated otherwise, saying the military could be assigned under the command of the National Police. "The regulations on the military's tasks and limitations can be drafted by the National Police who also hold the responsibility," Supiadin said.

The law could be made more comprehensive to ensure there would be no possibility of violations arising from the involvement of the military in counter-terrorism measures, he added. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/remove-tni-role-from-antiterrorism-bill-imparsial.html

Indonesia, Australia agree to enhance intelligence, counterterrorism cooperation

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Jakarta and Canberra have agreed to enhance counterterrorism cooperation following a meeting in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday.

The "Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Council on Law and Security" is a follow-up to the first meeting of the same name held in December 2015 in Indonesia, where delegations from both countries discussed ways they could coordinate to address international security threats.

Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the head of Indonesian delegation, said the meeting was fruitful, particularly in addressing terrorism threats and capacity enhancement for specific programs.

"The meeting is important for both countries to assess the gainful achievements over the year [of cooperation]," Luhut said in a statement.

As in the previous year, a number of security and law issues such counterterrorism measures, cyber security, and intelligence sharing operations were the focus of the meeting.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian and the Law and Human Rights Ministry's director general of immigration, Ronny F. Sompie, were among the Indonesian delegation.

At the meeting Luhut shared Indonesia's success in mapping the global terrorist group Islamic State's (IS) movements in Southeast Asia, where the group intends to establish a caliphate.

Information sharing with Australia regarding the matter was ongoing, Luhut said, adding that he was optimistic about the capability of both countries to tackle the issue.

Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the enhancement of cooperation was important as Indonesia and Australia faced the same threats from the Middle East-based terrorist groups that had also attacked their allies abroad.

"This [cooperation] is also our chance to learn about law enforcement as well as intelligence sharing, and we will continue to collaborate," Keenan said.

Meanwhile, Australian Attorney-General Senator George Brandis, who chaired the country's delegation alongside Keenan, asserted that both countries were committed to combating terrorism financing, deradicalization, as well as cyber security.

In addition, taking the cooperation to the next level would serve both Jakarta and Canberra's interests in improving measures to prevent terror attacks in their own territories, Brandis said.

In relation to a transfer of funds from Australia to Indonesia allegedly used to finance terrorist groups, Luhut said officials of both governments were now in the process of investigating the matter.

Both delegations said the second meeting had once again resulted in concrete outcomes. (dmr)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/indonesia-australia-agree-to-enhance-intelligence-counterterrorism-cooperation.html

Freedom of religion & worship

Peace more important than sharia: NU

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's biggest Islamic organization, is of the opinion that making Indonesia a peaceful country with the world's largest population of Muslims is more important than forcing it to adopt sharia (Islamic law), the organization's leader has said.

NU chairman Said Aqil Siradj emphasized that NU wanted Indonesia to become a darussalam country, which in Arabic means an "abode of peace".

Citing a principle from late NU leader Wahid Hasyim, Said argued that Islam should become the protector of minorities in Indonesia. The first religious affairs minister in the country passed on this principle to his son, Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

It was during Gus Dur's leadership that NU declared its official support for the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia in a national congress (Muktamar) in 1984. Gus Dur was elected president in 1999.

"We want a darussalam, a peaceful land where everybody can live in harmony, which does not enforce the legal codes of Islam in the country. Islam is not a political commodity," Said told thejakartapost.com on Monday.

The NU chairman further praised the role that Islamic leaders, or kyai, had played in the villages to prevent the Indonesian people from extremism and radicalism. Unlike Middle Eastern Islamic leaders, whose preachings often lead to conflict, the kyai in Indonesian villages were successful in tamping down religious conflict in the country.

"Rural areas are the vital points in preventing the spread of radicalism, and I'm grateful that we have kyai in villages who teach the creation of national character. This situation is very different from Middle Eastern countries, where conflict can easily flare up only because of provocations on social media," Said added. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/peace-more-important-than-sharia-nu.html

Government asked to add 'intolerant' bylaws to annulment list

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Jakarta – The government should annul discriminative and intolerant bylaws, not only those seen to be hampering economic growth, rights watchdog Setara Institute has stated.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced on Monday that his administration had scrapped 3,143 of a total of 3,266 problematic bylaws for contradicting higher regulations, promoting intolerance or deterring investment. However, there have been no details of the annulled bylaws.

"Does the annulment include 21 discriminative regional regulations that have been evaluated by the Home Ministry, another 365 that have been evaluated by the National Commission on Violence Against Women and 53 discriminative and religion-based bylaws that have been reported by the Setara Institute?" Ismail Hasani, the institute's research director, said on Monday.

Ismail said the annulment showed that regional administrations had low legislative quality. Moreover, the central government has failed to supervise and prevent those administrations from issuing problematic bylaws, he added.

According to the Setara Institute, the government has annulled at least 7,029 bylaws since 2002, including 2,246 during the 2002-2009 period and 1,501 during the 2010-2014 period. (vps/dmr)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/government-asked-to-add-intolerant-bylaws-to-annulment-list.html

Churches extorted in Bandung for permits

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Arya Dipa, Bandung – In another show of intolerance toward minority faiths in Indonesia, mass organizations have extorted churches in Bandung, West Java, in the process of attaining building permits.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recently disclosed the practice to the public. This disclosure has been followed by anonymous reports to the media due to threats made by the mass organizations.

The Jakarta Post recently found the extortion practice continued and is usually experienced by churches that are applying for building permits. "They come and say you can safely worship as long as you pay a security fee," a source told the Post.

Most churches said they gave the money so that they could continue to worship. A church leader claimed his church had spent up to Rp 70 million (US$5,244) to open the seal placed on it by a mass organization in order to freely worship.

He also said it was difficult to prove the existence of this blackmail due to a lack of documentation or receipts. The parties receiving the money are unwilling to sign any documents proving that they have engaged in extortion. "They only give a guarantee letter saying the church will not be disturbed during worship. This is an open secret," added the source.

Earlier, Komnas HAM head Imdadun Rahmat said the discovery of the extortion came about after his agency met with church leaders in Singapore some time ago. During the meeting, Imdadun received information on the extortion in the form of security funds worth up to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

Bandung Legal Aid Institute director Arip Yogiawan has asked Komnas HAM to resolve the extortion of churches in Bandung. "Another priority is to protect the complainants," Arip said.

Protection for complainants, added Arip, was important because they were the ones who were the victims of the extortion. "They are the victims and we mustn't let them be victimized again. Komnas HAM must complete the investigation," said Arip.

Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil held a meeting with church representatives following the disclosure by Komnas HAM. The meeting took place on June 9 at Bandung City Hall.

Ridwan denied the reports. According to him, no such transactions occurred because the church licensing process had its own procedure at the Bandung Licensing Integrated Service Agency. "Even if there are efforts to exploit the situation, its just improvization by individuals from mass organizations in the field," said Ridwan.

One such mass organization, the West Java chapter of the Indonesian Islamic Preaching Council (DDII), also denied the allegations.

DDII West Java secretary Nur Roin Balad claimed that many religious mass organizations were offended by the Komnas HAM statement. He said DDII felt obligated to demand an explanation from those who had spread the allegations. He said the organization was ready to clarify the case.

"Islam is against thuggery. We will report brothers who spread hostility, slander and aggravation. Apologize to Muslims. The slanderous statement must be retracted," Roin said at the Jati Sari subdistrict administrative office in Buah Batu district, Bandung, while meeting with church members in the eastern part of the city.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/churches-extorted-bandung-permits.html

Government told not to revoke sharia inspired bylaws

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The Mathla'ul Anwar Islamic organization has called on the government not to revoke sharia inspired bylaws that are in place in many regions across the country as it says such bylaws are guardians of the people's morality.

Speaking to the press after meeting with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Monday, Mathla'ul Anwar Chairman Ahmad Syadeli Karim said that such bylaws are needed to prevent the country from sliding into further moral decadence.

"We support the government's efforts to increase investment, but the bylaws that are used to regulate goodness like zakat (obligatory alms for Muslims) for instance, and those that guard morality, should be strengthened, not to be revoked," Ahmad said at the State Palace.

Last week, Jokowi said he would revoke 3,000 problematic bylaws in provinces, cities and regencies across the country to try and boost investment in infrastructure projects. Among the bylaws to be scrapped are those inspired by Islamic teachings.

The President has instructed Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo to complete the bylaw revocations in July. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/govt-told-not-to-revoke-sharia-inspired-bylaws.html

Religion & morality

Ramadan raid on stallholder sparks online campaign for greater tolerance

Sydney Morning Herald - June 14, 2016

Jewel Topsfield and Amilia Rosa, Jakarta – A 53-year-old woman who tearfully begged officials not to confiscate food from her roadside stall as punishment for trading during the fasting month of Ramadan has become the unlikely face of a push for greater religious tolerance in Indonesia.

TV footage of Saeni pitifully pleading "please sir, help, please" as her warung (food stall) was raided by civil service police in Serang, west of Jakarta, on June 10 went viral in Indonesia, prompting an outpouring of public sympathy.

Saeni, a mother of four known as Ibu Eni, was in breach of a local bylaw that stipulates food stalls must not open in daylight hours during Ramadan. The mayor of Serang had issued a circular authorising the civil service to raid outlets in breach of the bylaw.

"It was my fault, my mistake, it was before 4.30pm, so they took everything," Ibu Eni told Fairfax Media.

She said she was forced to use a 400,000 rupiah (about $40) bank loan to cover her losses and was so traumatised by the raid that she would stay shut for a whole month: "I am too scared to open now. I got sick after the raid, pain in my chest, fever, headaches."

Many Indonesians decried the raid as heavy-handed in a pluralistic country which recognises six religions. Only Muslims are required to fast during Ramadan and this does not include Muslim women who are pregnant or menstruating, the sick and children.

Marketing consultant Dwika Putra Hendrawan launched a crowdfunding campaign to support Ibu Eni. By midday on June 12, the campaign had generated an extraordinary 265 million rupiah (almost $30,000) from about 2000 donors.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo donated 10 million rupiah to Ibu Eni and several senior ministers called on Indonesians to be tolerant of people who were not fasting. Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo sent a team to Serang to review the bylaw to determine whether it is discriminatory.

"I know every region has the right to impose bylaws, but Serang is not like Aceh, which has special autonomy and sharia-based bylaws. It should uphold pluralism as well," Mr Tjahjo was quoted as saying in the Jakarta Post.

The remarkable impact of social media activism is now regularly seen in Indonesia. One of the first examples was the case of Prita Mulyasari, an Indonesian housewife who in 2008 was misdiagnosed by Omni International Hospital in Tangerang as having dengue fever when she actually had mumps.

She was jailed and fined 204 million rupiah for defamation after a private email complaining about her misdiagnosis went viral.

A Facebook group called Koin untuk Prita (coins for Prita) raised money to help her pay the fine and the surge of public support led the hospital to drop the lawsuit. The Indonesian Supreme Court later overturned her conviction.

"Increasingly, Indonesians are using digital media platforms when it comes to expressing discontent with society," says Australian National University lecturer Ross Tapsell, who researches the media in Indonesia.

"Online is probably the most likely way people feel they can effect change. Going to local politicians is often futile and going through the courts is very difficult and expensive."

Dr Tapsell says Indonesian politicians are highly active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Path and receive regular briefings on public sentiment and what people are saying online. "Jokowi of course came to power through no small part from the assistance of young urban Jakartans who were very active on social media."

The online campaign for Ibu Eni was so successful the organisers decided to donate some of the money to other stallholders in Lebak and Serang who were raided on the same day.

An overwhelmed Ibu Eni told Fairfax Media she was touched so many people cared. "I am grateful for everybody who donated, all the Muslims, Mr Jokowi... the media, I am thankful to everybody. I will use the donations to get better, for capital for next time." Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/ramadan-raid-on-stallholder-sparks-online-campaign-for-greater-tolerance-20160614-gpiur8.html

No raids during Ramadhan, government reiterates

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has called on regional police chiefs to prevent raids during Ramadhan to ensure a peaceful atmosphere throughout the holy month, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said on Monday.

"I urge all police chiefs to [make sure] there will not be any more sweeping. Let this Ramadhan be enjoyed in peace by all communities," he told journalists at the State Palace complex.

The appeal came on the heels of a raid of food stalls operating in Serang, Banten, on Friday by local Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel. One case caught the public's attention after a woman named Saini was seen in tears as food at her modest stall was taken away to prevent it being sold and eaten in the area during fasting time.

The government asked the public to participate in maintaining tolerance among all citizens. "That is the hallmark of our beloved country. Don't let this country be perceived as a disorganized country," he added, in response to the incident involving Saini.

Saini's case brought together netizens who donated money to supplement her income after Satpol PP confiscated the food she had cooked.

Muslims in the country are fasting for the month of Ramadhan, which started on June 6. Before the holy month began, the government urged people, including mass organizations, not to conduct raids in order to safeguard tolerance in the country. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/no-raids-during-ramadhan-govt-reiterates.html

Muslim figure speaks out against Ramadhan raids

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Jakarta – A Muslim intellectual has voiced his concern over the Serang Public Order Agency's (Satpol PP) recent raid on an elderly woman's food stall that had served customers at midday during Ramadhan.

Syafii Maarif urged the authorities to change a regulation restricting some people from making a living during the fasting month.

"During the fasting month people should do good [...] What was done by Satpol PP was not good and could not be justified," the former chairman of Islamic organization Muhammadiyah said as quoted by kompas.com on Sunday.

Satpol PP personnel were seen confiscating food from the stall in Serang, Banten, on Friday after customers were sold food during the day, leaving the stall owner in tears. The footage from Kompas TV went viral on social media and led to an impromptu donation drive that collected more than Rp 80 million (US$6,000) in under 12 hours.

Serang Satpol PP head Maman Lutfi told Kompas TV that the food stall was a legitimate target for the raid as it had served food during the day, adding that dozens of other stalls had been also been raided and their food impounded. (iik)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/muslim-figure-speaks-out-against-ramadhan-raids.html

Kawan8 netizens fight for cleaners and teachers accused of rape at Jakarta

Sydney Morning Herald - June 13, 2016

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies, Jakarta – The fight to prove the innocence of cleaners and teachers accused of sodomy at a prestigious international school in Jakarta is being waged not just by lawyers in court but by Indonesian netizens whose battleground is social media.

When Fauzan Luthsa, a public relations consultant in Jakarta and father of two young children, heard a preschooler contracted herpes after allegedly being raped by six janitors at the Jakarta Intercultural School he was convinced of their guilt at first.

Police said one of the cleaners, Azwar, who died under questioning in the police cells, committed suicide out of shame by drinking bleach during a break in interrogation.

"Personally, I was among many people who in 2014 believed the cleaners were bad people," Mr Fauzan tells Fairfax Media. But Mr Fauzan's conscience was pricked by the Twitter account @kurawa, run by a mysterious netizen called Rudi Valinka, who has 153,000 followers.

Mr Rudi, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has pointed out some of the inconsistencies in the legal case against the cleaners. "@Kurawa tweeted that they were not accompanied by lawyers during interrogation, although the interrogation report said they were," Mr Fauzan says.

"But the most striking one was the photo of Azwar, who posed in front of the police chopper a few hours before he allegedly committed suicide. He looked so cheerful and happy in that photograph. But then at midnight he committed suicide."

In August 2015 the five other cleaners were given jail sentences of between seven and eight years for raping three pre-school children. Four had originally confessed but later recanted, saying they had been tortured by police.

Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teacher's aide Ferdinant Tjiong were also jailed for 11 years for allegedly raping the same three children.

Human rights group Kontras and the University of Indonesia's Judicial Watch Society say the evidence was flimsy and the accused were subject to human rights violations.

Mr Fauzan says a group of netizens, who were intrigued by the @Kurawa tweets and had become convinced of the cleaners and teachers' innocence, decided to meet in person.

On April 26, a disparate group of about 12 students, lawyers, accountants and entrepreneurs met at a Balinese restaurant in South Jakarta and formed the movement Kawan8 (Friends of the eight).

"It's kind of strange because we didn't know each other, it could just be possible that there was a serial killer among us," says co-ordinator Arita Zulkifli, a politics student at the University of Indonesia.

Kawan8 disseminates information about the case on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. (Indonesians are enthusiastic users of social media – in 2012 Jakarta was named the Twitter capital of the world.) "Our mission is to change public opinion about these eight people," Ms Arita says.

They have their own merchandise: everything from hats to umbrellas inscribed with Justice4the innocents and Kawan8. Kawan8 has also launched a crowdfunding campaign through the kitabisa.com.au website, which has so far raised 192 799 794 rupiah (almost $20,000), to help fund a legal appeal. This week Kawan8 hope to meet representatives from the two largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

Mr Fauzan points out that Muhammadiyah helped seek justice for the family of suspected terrorist Siyono, who died while in police custody. "In Indonesia it is paramount to get support from religious institutions such as Muhammadiyah and NU," he says.

Last Friday Kawan8 members visited the teachers and cleaners in Cipinang jail in Jakarta for the first time, wearing their eponymous T-shirts.

"Although I had never met them before, just knew their faces from the media, it was as if we had known each other for a long time," says Kawan8 activist Endang Sulistari. "Syahrial [one of the cleaners] waved his hand toward us when he saw us coming into the prison's meeting hall. I tried to hold back tears but I couldn't."

Neil Bantleman's wife Tracy, who was at Friday's prison visit, says it was tremendously uplifting and inspiring for the cleaners and teachers to have the support of Kawan8.

"They confessed to us that in the beginning they were like every other member of the public and they believed what happened at JIS was true because the media reported it to be so," Ms Bantleman says.

However she says the @kurawa twitter account provided information that wasn't previously in the public arena. "Having the support of the Indonesian community is like a breath of fresh air."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/kawan8-netizens-fight-for-cleaners-and-teachers-accused-of-rape-at-jakarta-intercultural-school-20160613-gphyvo.html

Netizens donation to victim of Satpol PP raid scores new high

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono, Jakarta – Indonesia's social media networks have once again shown their might, as an impromptu donation campaign raised more than Rp 80 million, or around US$6,000, in less than 12 hours, in support of a mother crying on TV as Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) personnel took away the food she was selling.

The footage shows the elderly woman crying and begging the officers not to impound the food she sells for a living. However, what she received was a bitter demonstration of power, when the Satpol PP personnel did "their duty" and confiscated her products before leaving her weeping.

Her only wrongdoing was to sell food at midday during Ramadhan, an "act of crime" as a result of egocentric rules that persistently plague the country during the Muslim fasting month. The heartbreaking incident, recorded by Kompas TV in Serang, Banten, on Friday, went viral on social media.

During the interview, Serang Satpol PP head Maman Lutfi told the Kompas TV reporter that the food stall was a legitimate object for the raid for opening during the day and serving food.

"The restaurants and food stalls in Serang are serving food to those who are not fasting," he said while leading the operation on Friday, adding that dozens of stalls had been targeted in the raid and their food impounded.

Several food stalls owners said they did not know there was a rule prohibiting them from selling during the day. Others said they needed the money for living, especially ahead of the Idul Fitri festival.

Stand up

Responding to the incident, a twitter user named Dwika Putra Hendrawan on Saturday morning decided to launch the #StandupSerang movement. He initiated a Rp 10,000 fund-raising campaign to help the woman and other victims, providing his bank account for the donation.

"Instead of being angry, let us fight against the arrogance with real action. Let us help the mother in Serang whose food was impounded. The donation will also go to other food vendors who cannot make a living due to Ramadhan raids," he said in his twitter account.

After just 8 hours, he reported to have raised more than Rp 20 million in donations, meaning more than 2,000 social media users took part in the impromptu charity. In an update at 12 p.m. he said he had collected more than Rp 80 million and kept going.

He planned to close the donation at 12 pm on Sunday. "I'm ready to take the responsibility of all the money I have raised in this charity. I will make sure that not a penny will be misused," Dwika said. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/netizens-donation-to-victim-of-satpoll-pp-raid-scores-new-high.html

Schools must instill pluralism

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

The free expression of identity is one of the new-found freedoms to have emerged since the fall of the New Order regime. Among other results this has led to burgeoning Islamic fashion, particularly catering to women.

Uniforms became modified for Muslim female civil servants, workers in the private sector and lately even for police officers who wished to wear the headscarf or jilbab. Increasing human rights awareness made employers conscious of the need to be flexible.

But the joyful welcome of such freedom has also been tainted by a hint of intimidation from those who wish to impose so-called Islamic modes of dress on all females even in state-run educational institutions.

Recently controversy was stirred by a remark made by Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama to a group of school principals to the effect that state schools should not oblige female students to wear the headscarf during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Angry commenters claimed that Ahok, a Christian, had no business teaching people about Islamic practices and that on the contrary Ramadhan was a good time to instill Islamic values in young Muslims. The controversy has become the latest grist to the mill of those who wish to stop him from running again for office.

But Ahok was referring to state-run schools – one of our national institutions reflecting Indonesia's diversity – not private religion-based schools. Therefore while all schools should provide religious instruction for students of all faiths, imposing Islamic clothing rules on Muslim students does not facilitate freedom of worship for all.

Instilling Islamic values should not be made through regulations in state schools, which accommodate students of all faiths. Non-Muslim students are indeed free from the obligations of Islamic uniforms, but such rules are discriminative nonetheless. As a few non-Muslim students have said, the rule makes them stand out among their Muslim friends, making them feel uncomfortable.

Some school managements have denied they have such a rule, saying Muslim uniforms are only compulsory every Friday, when males must perform Friday prayers.

Our state schools are among the last bastions of Indonesia's diversity and should be safeguarded, mainly by principals and educators. As such their main responsibility should be to make students respect schoolmates and school staff irrespective of their background including religion. With more students attending religious-based private schools than in earlier generations, state schools should remain a national space ensuring non discrimination.

More than 10 years ago non-Muslim students were already subjected to a bylaw in Padang, West Sumatra, obliging all students in public and private schools to wear Islamic uniforms. Such bylaws were tolerated by the central government under then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – inspiring similar policies by other local administrations and schools, citing their Muslim majorities.

The role of state schools in instilling Bhinneka Tunggal Ika – our national motto of unity in diversity – has become particularly crucial amid so many incidents of intolerance and even potentially discriminative policies.

Jakarta's schools, particularly the state-run ones, must therefore become models in fostering respect and tolerance among the young in their diverse nation.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/schools-must-instill-pluralism.html

Muslim school uniform rule sets other believers apart

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Agnes Anya, Jakarta – The regulation obliging female Muslim students in state schools to wear the headscarf has aroused tensions over religious segregation among some members of the public, including parent Fransiscus Yoanis Rajanto, 47.

"It might be a usual regulation in state schools in the country. It has been applied for some years. However, to my daughter, the regulation is something else," said Frans, adding that the regulation was not applied when he was still a student at a state high school in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Frans has experienced difficulty explaining the obligation to his 13-year-old daughter, who is currently enrolled at a state-run junior high school in West Jakarta.

Previously enrolled at a private elementary school, the daughter finds the obligation to wear the headscarf at her current school peculiar and uncomfortable because it makes her feel different from her female classmates, who are mostly Muslims, Frans told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim country with over 200 million Muslims.

"She asked me why her friends were told to wear Muslim uniforms, including the headscarf, on Fridays while on the same day, those from other religions were obliged to wear long skirts," Frans said, adding that in her class, she was the only non-Muslim female student.

Although he had no idea about the exact reason behind the regulation, Frans tried to tell his daughter that the regulation was not made to divide students based on their religion. Instead, it was set to respect Muslims, including male Muslims, who usually perform Friday prayers.

"After that, she nodded in agreement but then she asked me why the school made such a special regulation for Muslim students," Frans said.

Unlike Frans' daughter, Defalia Widamutia, a Muslim student at the state-run high school SMAN 91 in East Jakarta, thinks that the obligation is just like any other uniform regulation.

"Well, [the obligation] is usual. I don't feel being forced by it," said Defalia Aurika, who has been studying at state schools since she was in elementary school. "It's probably because the obligation has become a tradition in state schools."

The Muslim uniform issue surfaced recently after Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama called on state schools in the capital to refrain from obliging their female students to wear the headscarf.

"I don't prohibit them wearing the headscarf. I just want the teachers to encourage them to wear the headscarf through tausiyah [preaching], instead of forcing them," Ahok said. "I find it insulting to the religion if they only wear it to fulfill school obligations, but they will take the headscarf off when they are not in school."

Ahok purportedly revealed his concerns after he received reports that many state schools in the capital obliged their female students to wear Muslim uniforms during fasting month of Ramadhan.

Ahok's statement was immediately refuted by officials from state schools in the city, including Rido Muhammad, a vice principal at state high school SMAN 7 in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

"We don't force our students. Just like parents who want to lead their children to the right path, we just want to encourage our students to fulfill their obligations in Islam, including the wearing of headscarfs for females," said Ridho, adding that the school only obliged students to wear Muslim uniforms on Fridays, even during the fasting month.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/muslim-school-uniform-rule-sets-other-believers-apart.html

Ministry rejects call to block Google, YouTube

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Jakarta – The Communications and Information Ministry has rejected a recent call from the Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals Association (ICMI) to block search engine giant Google and video hosting site YouTube "for promoting violent and pornographic contents".

"We are concerned about the content of the websites [like Google and YouTube], but it's impossible to block them," ministry spokesman Ismail Cawidu said.

He said he had talked to ICMI chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie, who clarified that the demand was not an official recommendation from the organization but merely a personal aspiration of ICMI secretary-general Jafar Hafsah.

Jafar reportedly said Google and YouTube had made negative impacts on Indonesian people because the two sites could not filter the contents posted by people on them. Jafar added millions of websites promoting pornography and violence could be searched through Google.

However, Cawidu said Google could not be blamed for any pornographic content that people posted on the internet on their own websites.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/national-scene-ministry-rejects-call-block-google-youtube.html

Schools must not force girls to wear hijab: Ahok

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – Schools should not force girls to wear the hijab, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama reiterated on Wednesday, because the decision to wear the Islamic veil must come from the students themselves.

He conveyed his call to thousands of principals from across Jakarta and officials from the city's education agency earlier on Saturday, sparking controversy among members of the public, especially during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not banning people from wearing the hijab. I told the teachers, if you want to make children wear the hijab, you can't force them. It's better for you to tausiyah [preach] so they can understand," Ahok, a Christian, said on Wednesday.

Wearing the hijab became a major phenomenon in Indonesia after the 1980s. The movement has grown significantly in schools since then.

According to Ahok, it could be seen as an insult to religion if someone wore the hijab simply because of school regulations. "Therefore, the final decision to wear the hijab lies in the hand of students," said Ahok.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/schools-must-not-force-girls-to-wear-hijab-ahok.html

Agriculture & food security

Food distributors under fire for inflated prices

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Dewanti A. Wardhani and Djemi Amnifu, Jakarta/Kupang – When shallots that are bought for Rp 16,000 (US$1.2) per kilogram (kg) from Nganjuk farmers in East Java are sold to end consumers in the capital city for Rp 40,000 per kg, something must be wrong.

The margin is too high and the prices are unfair for buyers, said Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) head Syarkawi Rauf, pointing to food distributors that are suspected of conducting cartel business practices.

"There is a big chance that distributors are cooperating and establishing a cartel to set a big margin on top of the farmers' prices," Syarkawi told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration is struggling to keep food prices in check, having rolled out incentives for farmers and imported several key commodities such as beef, shallots and sugar to ensure adequate supply and, hence, maintain stable prices.

However, the measures have thus far failed to stabilize prices, which have soared beyond the government's targets. Shallots, for instance, are supposed to be priced at Rp 25,000 per kg, but they are currently trading at almost Rp 40,000 per kg in Jakarta's markets.

Similarly, beef is sold at an average of Rp 127,000 per kg, above the government's target of Rp 80,000 per kg. Meanwhile, chicken is now sold for up to Rp 40,000 per kg at local markets, compared with the price of Rp 15,000 per kg bought from farmers.

To investigate suspicions of foul play done by food distributors, the KPPU has agreed to cooperate with the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for a joint investigation to crack down on possible cartels taking advantage of the Ramadhan month by deliberately setting sky high prices of staple foods.

If found guilty of practicing unhealthy business competition, large distributors can be fined up to Rp 100 billion, while small distributors will be given reeducation.

An operation conducted by Jakarta-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya simultaneously across the 20 markets in the city was a breath of fresh air amid such high prices. In the operation, staple foods are sold at cheaper prices. For example, beef is sold for Rp 89,000 per kg, shallots for Rp 23,000 per kg and chicken meat for Rp 29,000 per kg.

By noon, Pasar Jaya's stock at the Jatinegara Market in East Jakarta was sold out. One customer, Siti Maemunah, said the she was among the dozens of shoppers who scrambled to buy the goods.

Similar to in Jakarta, food in South Sumatra has also experienced a steep price hike. For example, current beef prices in the province reached Rp 140,000 per kg from the previous Rp 100,000 per kg.

"We will call a number of businesspeople to find a solution to the rising prices of beef and chicken meat in the market," South Sumatra's Livestock Agency head Amruzi Minha said as reported by Antara News.

In East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) prices seem tame. Beef is sold for up to Rp 85,000 per kg by one of the nation's biggest beef suppliers that distributes to Greater Jakarta.

NTT livestock agency head Dany Sumadi said businessmen in the area had enough stock, thus prices were still stable. Dany said Kupang's Oeba slaughterhouse would butcher up to 80 head of cattle a day to provide beef for Kupang and its neighboring cities.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/food-distributors-under-fire-for-inflated-prices.html

Land & agrarian conflicts

Yogyakarta privilege should end: Group

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A leading human rights activist has cited the 2012 Law on Yogyakarta's special status as the source of agrarian conflict and injustices in Yogyakarta and has called for it to be revised.

Articles 32 and 33 of the law regulating land ownership in the province, which recognizes dualist provincial leadership under the Yogyakarta Sultanate and the Pakualaman Principality, came in for particular criticism.

"Civil society needs to push the House of Representatives to revise articles 32 and 33 of Law No. 13/2012 as both articles have allowed the Yogyakarta Sultanate and the Pakualaman Principality to claim ownership of land in the past," National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Dianto Bachriadi said on Thursday.

Dianto was speaking after addressing a discussion on land management and implementation of the law on Yogyakarta's special status at the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council. "If necessary both articles should be omitted from the law so that it only regulates cultural matters," he added.

Dianto said the two articles had been the cause of various agrarian conflicts and injustices in Yogyakarta as they allowed the expropriation of land belonging to the people and the state.

During the Dutch colonial era the then autonomous regional institutions – the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman Principality – were allowed to claim land stipulated in the Rijksblad law as the sultan's land or Pakualaman land. "If the Rijksblad is implemented again, then we move 200 years backward," Dianto said.

Article 4 (1) of Government Regulation (PP) No. 224/1961 stipulates that land formerly belonging to former autonomous regions are subject to land reform. "The two articles on land in the law on Yogyakarta's special status therefore contravene the Agrarian Law," Dianto said.

He suggested that if the two articles were not removed then they should be limited to regulate only land related to cultural or institutional matters such as land used for palace buildings, mosques and other facilities.

Yogyakarta Palace lawyer Achiel Suyanto has said on a number occasions that the 2012 law is lex specialis (an exception) to the Agrarian Law.

However, state administration expert Ni'matul Huda of the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) said the 2012 law could not be considered as an exception to the Agrarian Law and therefore the former had to adjust itself to the latter, especially with regard to land matters.

Agrarian expert Ahmad Nashih Luthfi of the State Agrarian College (STPN) concurred, saying that the 2012 law had in fact caused agrarian conflicts to increase in the province, resulting in at least 20 serious cases since its implementation.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/yogyakarta-privilege-should-end-group.html

Civil service & bureaucracy

PDI-P, Golkar blast plan to downsize civil service

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Jakarta – Lawmakers on Wednesday slammed the government's proposals to reduce the number of civil servants, insisting there were better ways to cut spending.

House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs advised the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry to think deeply about the policy, which, members said, would harm the nation's economy and social fabric.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Arteria Dahlan voiced strong opposition to the idea, saying that the government had overstepped the House.

"You must be careful in formulating ideas. We see no rational reason for this policy. This is not efficiency. When civil servants retire we have to provide funds for their severance payments, so there will be no greater efficiency," Arteria said.

The ministry sparked anxiety among civil servants by announcing on Saturday a plan to offer early retirement to public officials, claiming the idea to be part of Jokowi's pledge to cut spending. This year, the state allocated 26 percent of the budget, or Rp 347.5 trillion (US$26.2 billion), for civil servants' salaries and allowances.

Arteria said that instead of dismissing the civil servants, the ministry would do better to review the expenses paid to senior officials, arguing that the latter sometimes received too much. "If necessary, we should provide cheaper cars for directors general and cut their motorcades, including for ministries, instead of firing civil servants," he added.

Golkar Party lawmaker Hetifah Sjaifudian lambasted the policy as "inappropriate" amid a struggling economy and rising unemployment. "It would be better to ensure an even distribution of civil servants rather than reducing their number. A number of regional administrations still lack public servants," Hetifah said.

Commission II deputy chairman Ahmad Riza Patria of the Gerindra Party suggested that if implemented, the policy would act only to spark public uproar. "It's a subjective approach. We should learn from former president SBY [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono], whose approach emphasized establishing more nonministerial institutions rather than reducing human resources," Riza said.

Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi pledged to review the plan first and insisted there was no plan to rush it through, but countered that he did not intend on dropping it. "We want to reach a rational number of civil servants. The ideal figure is 1.5 percent of the total population," Yuddy said.

Currently, civil servants account for around 2 percent, or more than 4.5 million, of the total population. Yuddy said that it would take around three years for the policy to get that figure down to the ideal proportion.

"We are still reviewing the plan. We have announced it to allow civil servants time to prepare. All told, we simply want to provide better services to the public by keeping only those civil servants whose quality is proven," Yuddy said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/pdi-p-golkar-blast-plan-downsize-civil-service.html

Regions balk at downsizing plan

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Severianus Endi, Fadli, Nethy Dharma Somba, Jakarta/Pontianak/Batam/Jayapura – The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry's proposals to reduce the number of civil servants has sparked a furore in local administrations across the country.

West Kalimantan Employment Agency head Kartius questioned the central government's plan on Tuesday, insisting that the number of public servants in the province remained inadequate.

The central government's moratorium on recruitment of civil servants is groundless, he said, and had forced the West Kalimantan provincial administration to pay for the services of around 2,000 non-contract staff. "Currently, we have around 6,200 civil servants, but half of them are approaching retirement age," Kartius said.

Riau Islands administration spokesperson Raja Hery Mokhrizal said the province, which employs 2,000 civil servants, was short of officials qualified to take up the headships of agencies.

"Many high-echelon civil servants who previously filled the positions have retired. While there are plenty of apparently suitable candidates to replace them, it turns out that many simply don't have the required competencies to lead an agency," Mokhrizal told The Jakarta Post.

Batam municipality spokesperson Ardiwinata said the city was short of civil servants in its education and health services.

Meanwhile, Papua administration secretary Hery Dosinaen said Governor Lukas Enembe disagreed with the ministry's plan, as the province needed more civil servants for the 29 regions and cities in the country's easternmost region.

The Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry made headlines on Saturday after broaching the idea to downsize the public service, including by offering early retirement to civil servants deemed surplus to requirements.

Ministry spokesman Herman Suryatman said the plan was in line with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's pledge to revamp the country's bureaucracy, as stipulated in a 2015 administrative and bureaucratic reform minister's decree.

The President said on Tuesday that the plan was aimed at cutting spending on civil servants' salaries and allowances.

"The plan to downsize the bureaucracy is aimed at increasing the quality of public services. In consequence, we will be able to spend the budget more efficiently," Jokowi said, adding that he had not, however, received any details of the plan from the ministry.

Jokowi's administration allocated 26 percent of its 2016 state budget, equal to Rp 347.5 trillion (US$26.2 billion), for civil servants' salaries and allowances.

Meanwhile, according to the ministry, 244 regencies and cities across the country have earmarked more than 50 percent of their annual budget for such expenditure.

Herman said 1.9 million lower echelon officials in governmental institutions and regional administrations were being targeted for what the ministry calls "rapid assessment" to measure their competency, qualifications and working performance.

The assessment, which is set to be carried out later this year, will divide civil servants into four categories. First, those who are competent and qualified and have a good work performance. Second, those with a low level of competency and qualification but who perform well during the assessment period. Third, those who are competent and qualified but record low work-performance scores. Fourth, those who are incompetent, unqualified and recorded as performing badly.

"We will wait for the President to give the go-ahead for the ministry to implement the plan," Herman said.

Separately, Indonesian Ombudsman commissioner Alamsyah Saragih criticized the plan on Tuesday, saying that the ministry would do better to establish a "rehabilitation agency" aimed at improving the quality of low-performing officials, rather than offering them early retirement. (mos)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/regions-balk-downsizing-plan.html

Governance & administration

Budget cuts to hit projects

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Farida Susanty and Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – As it scrambles to cut this year's spending due to low tax revenues, the government has promised that proposed budget cuts will not affect major infrastructure projects. In reality, however, it looks to be quite a different story.

"Two-thirds of Indonesia's territory is covered by ocean. It is the largest archipelago in the world." That is how President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo likes to describe the country that he leads during his overseas visits.

At the same time, he has long emphasized the need to establish a "maritime highway" – with ships, seaports and other facilities – to connect the country from its westernmost to easternmost tip in an attempt to boost competitiveness.

However, this plan may be stymied by the significant cuts proposed for the sea transportation directorate general at the Transportation Ministry, the agency tasked with helping realize the plan.

As much as Rp 1.2 trillion (US$90 million) will be cut from the sea transportation directorate general's budget, the largest spending reduction among all directorates general under the purview of the ministry.

The cuts will impact financing for port facilities in Tanjung Mocoh, Riau, and Labuhan Angin, Medan, Nort Sumatra, as well as a lighthouse in Ambon, Maluku.

Director general for sea transportation Antonius Tonny Budiono said the agency had made a priority scale to determine which projects would be postponed. "There is no rush for [a planned] patrol ship as it is a multi-year project," he said.

Tonny claimed that the ministry would continue constructing new ships for pioneer routes and navigation vessels, adding that the ministry had just finished improving 91 ports across the archipelago.

The agency is only one of many that will be affected by the Rp 50.02 trillion cuts to be made across ministries, agencies and others as part of the austerity measures.

The second- and third-largest cuts in the Transportation Ministry will take place in the directorate general for railways with a Rp 996 billion reduction and the directorate general for air transportation with Rp 809 billion.

In the railway sector, funding allocations for several national strategic projects have not been given exemptions and may be affected.

For instance, the Madiun-Kedungbanteng double-track project in East Java, which is a part of the trans-Java railway project, will see Rp 25.54 billion temporarily removed from its budget.

The Makassar-Parepare railway construction in South Sulawesi, part of the trans-Sulawesi project, is facing the same fate with the postponement of its Rp 70.5 billion concrete pads work.

Prasetyo Boeditjahjono, the director general for railway transportation, said the reduced budget had prompted the ministry to prioritize project outside Java Island.

A strategic national air transportation project will also see "spending trim", namely the revitalization of the HAS Hanandjoedin Airport in Bangka Belitung. The airport was initially set to receive a new Rp 1.1 billion cargo x-ray machine, but it will have to make do with existing facilities for now.

Director general for air transportation Suprasetyo was not immediately available for comments.

Meanwhile, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, Jokowi's other strategic ministerial post, will suffer from Rp 8.49 trillion of cuts.

The ministry's secretary general, Taufik Widjoyono said the ministry would focus on postponing some of the 1,000 projects worth Rp 4.9 trillion that had not yet been put to tender, as well as leftover projects from previous bidding and reducing unnecessary operational costs.

The directorate general of Bina Marga, which oversees road construction, will receive the biggest cut with Rp 4.6 trillion from its initial allocation of Rp 45.2 trillion.

Both Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro and Finance Ministry director general for budgeting Askolani said that so far no changes had been made to the austerity measures during deliberations at the House of Representatives. The government hopes to pass the state budget revision bill into law in early July.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/budget-cuts-hit-projects.html

Questions remain over bylaws plan

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – At least two challenges await the government following President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's recent announcement about the annulment of more than 3,000 problematic bylaws: explaining which regulations have been revoked and ensuring that local administrations abide by the revocations.

Earlier this week, Jokowi announced that the government would abolish 3,143 bylaws deemed counter-productive to economic growth, effective bureaucracy and the unity of the nation.

Although the majority of the annulled bylaws focus on economic investment, the list also includes some that are considered threats to community harmony. However, given that the Home Ministry has been unable to provide a list of the revoked bylaws, despite several requests, the public remains in the dark.

"What's on the list? We still know nothing because it's so difficult to access it," Muslim feminist and scholar Musdah Mulia said.

She wanted to know whether the 400 problematic sharia-inspired bylaws that her organization, the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), has submitted to the Home Ministry are on the list.

"We have been fighting for years to make the government revoke sharia-inspired bylaws. I wonder if they have actually listened to our cries and are finally able to undermine intolerant groups in regions that back up all of those discriminatory bylaws," she said.

Musdah is not the only one asking for details following Jokowi's announcement. Feminist and human rights activist Nursyahbani Katjasungkana expressed similar concerns.

"Did the government annul bylaws that discriminate against women and other minority groups? Komnas Perempuan [National Commission on Violence against Women] recorded 385 discriminatory bylaws against women. Does the list also include any of them?"

The recent annulment of the 3,143 bylaws came after Jokowi publicly instructed Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo to do so in January when speaking before a national conference of university rectors in Yogyakarta. It did not take long for Tjahjo to act on the President's instructions as he issued a circular mandating all regional leaders to comply with the President's directive two weeks later.

The circular, dated Feb. 16, obliged regents and mayors across the nation to provide detailed reports on any regulation implemented in their regions that got in the way of effective bureaucracy, as well as investment, to their respective governors. At the same time, all governors were also required to submit similar details to the Home Minister.

The circular on the annulment of bylaws that obstruct bureaucracy and investment did not stop there. It further required all regents and mayors to submit monthly follow-up reports to their respective governors on how many problematic bylaws had been annulled, and likewise all governors must report to the Home Minister.

The government's move to annul problematic bylaws complies with Article 250 of the 2014 Law on regional administration, which mandates local leaders to annul bylaws that limit access to public facilities, hamper economic activities or discriminate against people on the grounds of faith, ethnicity or gender.

To ensure Jokowi's commitment to continue improving regulations at all levels, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung announced that, "should any regents, governors or local administrations enact similar bylaws [to those already revoked] in the future, the bylaws will automatically be annulled".

However, despite praise from local administrators and regional lawmakers, questions remain on how the government will uphold such bold promises.

Various factors, from a lack of competence among officials and lawmakers in legal drafting to politicized religious teachings could lead to the continued issuance of discriminatory bylaws, which is predicted to grow after next year's regional elections.

The risk of losing political support from radical groups in their constituencies has discouraged local leaders from meeting their responsibility to serve the people impartially. Some leaders have also refused to revoke discriminatory bylaws due to the expense involved in drafting them, amounting to between Rp 200 million (US$15,000) and 300 million per bylaw.

"The challenge for the [central] government now is whether it will really implement the 2014 Law on regional administration that also stipulates punishment for recalcitrant local leaders," said Titi Anggraini from the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem).

Article 72 of the law allows the central government to issue official warnings to local leaders who do not comply. It can also oblige incompetent leaders to receive training on good governance before returning to their respective posts.

Tjahjo, however, dismissed that option, saying, "Well, I don't think we can do that. The least that can be done is to ask for a revocation, a revision or a review if there is a bylaw that contravenes [central government] regulations or which sparks [public] concerns," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/questions-remain-over-bylaws-plan.html

Government annuls local bylaws hampering investment

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Having introduced economic deregulation at a national level since September last year, the government has now shifted to removing local stumbling blocks to investment.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo annulled on Monday more than 3,000 bylaws it regarded as hindering investment and the implementation of development-related projects.

While making the announcement about the annulment of 3,143 bylaws, Jokowi set another ambitious target of improving Indonesia's ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index from 109th at present to 40th.

However, questions remain as to whether Indonesia will able to portray itself as an investment-friendly country as it currently falls behind its regional counterparts in the index, such as Singapore, which tops the list, and Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which stand at 18th, 49th and 90th place, respectively.

Indonesia recently failed to get a much sought after ratings upgrade from Standard & Poor's (S&P) although the ratings agency did give credit to the government for its structural reforms, including redirecting costly energy subsidies into productive infrastructure spending as well as cutting red tape for investment.

The annulled 3,143 problematic bylaws hampered regional economic growth, led to red-tape and hindered investment and business licensing and were not in line with the central government's policies, the President said.

"In facing more complex challenges [and more competitive rival countries], the central and regional administrations must unite and share the same vision and goal, as well as sharing the responsibilities," Jokowi said.

Bylaws that complicated business licensing procedures because they required overlapping licenses for disruption ordinances and building permits for example, were also revoked. "This also includes unnecessary fees," said Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, who accompanied Jokowi at the press conference.

Those related to water-resources management were also on the list, a move that is in line with last year's Constitutional Court ruling that revoked a law that had allowed the private sector to monopolize water resources.

However, it was not clear whether other bylaws deemed by many as problematic for businesses, including one requiring a certain percentage of profits for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and mandatory requirements for companies to hire local workers, were included in the list. The 3,143 bylaws were among more than 30,000 bylaws on the books across the country.

Tjahjo said the list of revoked bylaws did not cover controversial discriminatory bylaws, such as the one in Serang, Banten, which was in the spotlight recently for banning food vendors operating during daytime in the fasting month.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/govt-annuls-local-bylaws-hampering-investment.html

Only 26.8% of tax revenues collected in first five months

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has only managed to collect 26.8 percent of its total tax revenue target set in the 2016 budget in the first five months of 2016.

As of May 31, Indonesia recorded Rp 364.1 trillion (US$27.41 billion) in tax revenues, while in the state budget, the government targeted tax revenues of Rp 1,360 trillion for the whole year. In the same period in 2015 the government collected Rp 377.03 trillion.

The government blamed the shortfall on a slow domestic economy slowdown and slow export-import activities that led to a 3 percent drop of non-oil and gas income tax and value added tax. In addition, falling oil prices made oil and gas income tax drop 17 percent.

About the meager achievement, the taxation directorate general's tax obedience director, Yon Arsal, said revenues from individual income tax amounted to Rp 3.4 trillion, although the target was Rp 18 trillion by year-end.

"The income tax revenues from individuals is not directly reflected in the beginning of the year. The result will be seen in the first half," Yon said.

However, Finance Ministry spokesman Luky Alfirman said he believed individual income tax revenues will grow in coming months, in line with an increase of private consumption during Ramadan and the Idul Fitri holiday. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/11/only-26-8-of-tax-revenues-collected-in-first-five-months.html

Jakarta & urban life

Crisis looms as urbanization spirals out of control

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Decades of uncontrolled urbanization has led to mounting problems in cities across the country as urban populations keep spreading, resulting in people being unable to reap the benefits of urbanization.

Indonesia's urbanization is among the fastest in the world, increasing the size of its urban land from 2000 to 2010 by more than 1,100 square kilometers – second in size only to China.

In terms of population, Indonesia's urban population grew 4.4 percent per year between 1960 and 2013, compared with 3.6 percent in China and 3 percent in India. By 2025, Indonesia is expected to have 68 percent of its population living in cities, compared to the 52 percent in 2013.

However, investment in urban infrastructure has not kept up with the rapid rate of urbanization, resulting in traffic congestion, pollution and risk to disasters such as flooding.

The economy grew an average of 5.8 percent in the mid to late 2000s, yet infrastructure stock grew by only 3 percent. In contrast, the amount China invested in infrastructure over the past decade was equal to 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).

"Think about it this way. People fly for 3.5 hours from Jakarta to Bangkok. But many people in Jakarta spend 3.5 hours or more sitting in traffic today because of a lack of proper infrastructure," World Bank Indonesia country director Rodrigo Chaves said during a discussion in South Jakarta.

Congestion in Jakarta alone costs US$3 billion every year, according to the World Bank. "That's about the cost of completing a massive rapid transit line. So every year, residents of Jakarta lose economic value of more than the cost of building an MRT," said Chaves.

As Indonesian cities are not spending enough on infrastructure, the country has not been able to fully tap the benefit of urbanization like other countries that have gained higher economic growth through formal employment and better labor productivity that result from urbanization.

From 1970 to 2012, every 1 percent growth in urban population correlated with a per capita GDP increase of 13 percent for India, 10 percent for China and 7 percent for Thailand. Indonesia, however, has gained only 4 percent per capita GDP growth for every 1 percent of urban population growth.

"With more investments in critical infrastructure that deliver clean water, sanitation, efficient public transport and affordable housing, in a sustainable way to cities, Indonesia can accelerate growth and lift millions out of poverty," Chaves said.

Currently, many communities are vulnerable to poverty due to insufficient investment in infrastructure. Only 48 percent of households currently have access to safe water, compared to 50 percent more than a decade ago. Sewerage coverage exists in only 11 cities. Furthermore, only 2 percent of city residents have access to centralized sanitation systems.

The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry recently laid out an ambitious plan to provide basic services to all urbanites to ensure that cities in Indonesia were livable.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/crisis-looms-urbanization-spirals-out-control.html

Armed forces & defense

Bali governor welcomes gangs in state defense program

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Jakarta – Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has warmly welcomed a plan by the 9th regional military command (Kodam IX Udayana) to train gang members and mass organizations as part of a state defense program.

"We have to be cognizant of defending the state [... given] its importance for us, as reminded in the Pancasila [state ideology] as well as the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [state motto]," Pastika said as quoted by kompas.com on Tuesday.

The state defense program was important because its participants would learn about the nation's history, strengthen nationalism, and especially foster a sense of comradeship among citizens, he said.

The program's curriculum should also include a firearms introduction course, Pastika further added without providing much detail.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has asserted that the state-defense training curriculum did not include firearms, adding that weapons training could only occur if the nation was currently under threat and the country's defense forces needed assistance in protecting the country.

Despite the controversy surrounding the plan, Kodam IX Udayana spokesman Col. Inf. J. Hotman Hutahaean has confirmed that Laskar Bali and Baladika, two rival local mass organizations that had in the past repeatedly clashed with one another, were joining the program. (afr)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/bali-governor-welcomes-gangs-in-state-defense-program.html

Defense policies raise fears of revival of military control

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – From providing paramilitary training for civilians to setting up regional defense offices and a defense intelligence agency, many policies at the Defense Ministry have raised concerns about threats to democratic civilian control.

Pro-democracy activists have questioned Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu for "instigating public anxiety" through his policies, which they say will not only encourage horizontal conflict but also revive military control over civilians.

Among the policies is the state defense program, deemed the most damaging for the public because civilians participate in it and, regardless of their track record, are trained to use weapons.

"Who can guarantee that civilians will not use their new skills against each other?" said Al Araf, executive director of Jakarta-based human rights watchdog Imparsial, on Monday.

With growing negative sentiments against minority groups, particularly the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, weapon-handling skills could lead to civilians imposing vigilante actions on communities deemed a threat to social order, said Al Araf.

The Defense Ministry officially kicked off the state defense program nationwide in October last year, with the aim of nurturing nationalism in the hearts of all civilians. The program faced criticism as soon as it was introduced to the public and opposition voices continue to mount, hitting their peak recently following the inclusion of thugs and members of mass organizations deemed problematic in the training, including the weapons training.

According to the head of training and education at the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Hartind Asrin, weapons training is part of the curriculum that has been prepared to guide the implementation of the program all across the archipelago.

The ninth regional command (Kodam IX) Udayana in Bali, for example, has implemented weapons training in the program, provided for all locals, including those with questionable backgrounds.

Ryamizard admitted that his ministry also included weapons training in the state defense program in order to prepare civilians to participate in defending the county ahead of escalating threats against Indonesia. However, Ryamizard assured that weapons training was not available for just any civilians, especially not for gang members.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/defense-policies-raise-fears-revival-military-control.html

Minister denies armed military training for gangsters

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has denied providing armed military training to gang members and mass organizations as part of Bali's state defense program.

The state defense training curriculum did not include an introduction to using firearms, he said, adding that he knew nothing about the involvement of groups known for violence and causing unease among citizens. "Our members don't use weapons. I don't know about the [involvement of] gangsters, but clearly we don't include firearms," Ryamizard said after a hearing with lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.

However, in times of heightened threats, Ryamizard said the participants should be able to train with weapons in order to assist defense forces in protecting the country.

He made the statement in response to reports that the ninth regional military command (Kodam IX) Udayana would train members of Laskar Bali and Baladika, two local mass organizations in Bali that have repeatedly clashed with one another.

Earlier, Kodam IX Udayana spokesman Col. Inf. J. Hotman Hutahaean said the main goal of the program was for participants to become useful members of society and be able to join defense forces in times of threat. He dismissed fears that the program would empower mass organizations and enable them to repress other people.

The Defense Ministry would seek clarification from representatives in Bali about the involvement of such organizations, Ryamizard added. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/minister-denies-armed-military-training-for-gangsters.html

New spy agency won't overlap with existing bodies: Commander

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Indonesian Military commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo has said the presence of a planned new intelligence agency to be established under the Defense Ministry will not overlap with existing intelligence bodies in the country.

He gave his assurances that the government had carefully planned the main tasks that the new spy agency would handle if it decided to realize the plan. "There will be no overlapping. It will have its own structure," Gatot said as quoted by kompas.com on Sunday.

The military commander said there would be further coordination between the Defense Ministry and other institutions once it established its own intelligence body. He did not provide further details.

Earlier, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu announced the plan to establish an intelligence body under the Defense Ministry, which aimed to dig deeper on information needed for the country's defense interests. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/new-spy-agency-wont-overlap-with-existing-bodies-commander.html

New spy agency shows ministry's lack of coordination: Setara

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The Defense Ministry's plan to establish its own intelligence agency reflects its lack of willingness to coordinate with the country's existing intelligence bodies, rights group Setara Institute claimed on Friday.

Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said the Defense Ministry actually could benefit from intelligence units within the Indonesian Military (TNI) or coordinate with the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to gain the information it needed. However, they were somewhat reluctant to coordinate with each other, he added.

"It seems each [of the institutions] wants to show off its institutional superiority instead of coordinating with each other for the sake of the nation and state," Hendardi said in a statement in Jakarta on Friday.

Hendardi said that with its plan to create a new spy agency, the Defense Ministry was neglecting several items on the strategic defense agenda it should improve, including the management of military businesses and human resources and the reform of military courts.

The plan also contradicted the 2004 Indonesian Military Law and the 2002 Defense Law, which mandated defense and military reforms, Hendardi added.

Earlier, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu announced his plan to establish an intelligence body under the Defense Ministry that aimed to dig deeper for information for the sake of the country's defense interests. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/new-spy-agency-shows-ministrys-lack-of-coordination-setara.html

Defense office starts operations in Riau, despite controversy

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Fadli, Batam – In the apparent absence of transparency and close media scrutiny, the government has continued with its plan to set up Defense Ministry offices in each of the country's 34 provinces.

The controversial establishment of regional offices at the provincial level was only uncovered on Wednesday when the administration of Riau Islands province disclosed that the ministry's local office had been attached to the province's Regional Leadership Communication Forum (FKPD) for the last two months. The local office has also carried out its program related to defense in the province.

Riau Islands administration spokesman Raja Hery Mokhrizal said he had learned about the operation of the local defense office in April. "It has also been part of the FKPD, as it is a communication forum for regional leaders and vertical institutions assigned in Riau Islands," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Raja said he had not been briefed regarding the role or function of the local defense office and since when it had begun operations in the province.

The ministry's plan to open regional offices was known to the public late last month following the leak of an official letter from Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu to Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo requesting that the latter assign soldiers to be deployed to take charge of the regional offices.

The ministry plans to assign one-star generals to run its offices in Aceh, East Java, East Kalimantan, Jakarta, Papua, Riau Islands and West Kalimantan. Other offices in the remaining provinces will be under the leadership of colonels.

Ryamizard's plan to deploy active soldiers to run the new offices has faced opposition from House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense because the retired Army general is deemed to be simply renewing a proposal by his predecessor, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who failed to convince lawmakers of its worth the first time around.

Commission I chairman Mahfudz Siddiq, who has led Commission I since 2009, said that Purnomo had aborted the plan in 2012 right after failing to secure support from lawmakers during a hearing. There were no details presented to Commission I members then, as then defense minister Purnomo only outlined a rough plan. Riau Islands regional defense office coordinator Col. Enjang Suryana, however, told the Post that regional defense offices had been present in the country's 34 provinces since 2012. "Only those not following news reports are unaware," said Enjang.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/defense-office-starts-operations-riau-despite-controversy.html

Criminal justice & legal system

Antigraft body pushes for probe of judicial sector

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Haeril Halim, Jakarta – As following the latest crime trend in the republic, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is pushing for an investigation into and greater supervision of public institutions, particularly judicial authorities, in an attempt to curb dirty practices and combat a judicial "mafia".

It will not be an easy task to perform, however, given the commission's lack of human resources, especially investigators, and the budget it receives from the state.

"We will watch [the courts] and coordinate with the Supreme Court as well," KPK deputy chairman Alexander Marwata said on Tuesday after a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III overseeing security, human rights and legal affairs.

He said the KPK could not be reckless in chasing the judicial mafia, because investigators had been working based on information and complaints and that it had been frequently difficult to find evidence.

The Supreme Court is currently in hot water after a number of its court clerks and low-ranking officials were arrested. Most recently, in May, the KPK apprehended Judge Janner Purba, head of the Kepahiang District Court in Bengkulu, and fellow Judge Toton, from the Bengkulu Corruption Court.

The two allegedly accepted Rp 150 million (US$11,200) from Syafei Syarif and Edy Santoni, the former treasurer and financial division deputy, respectively, at Muhammad Yunus hospital, and from Badaruddin, a court clerk, in relation to a graft case surrounding the misuse of operational funds at the hospital.

Another KPK deputy chairman Basaria Panjaitan revealed that in the first half of this year, the antigraft body had handled 37 corruption cases, 35 of which were in the advanced investigation stage and the other two in the preliminary stage.

According to the antigraft body, its investigators can handle 60 to 70 cases a year, but they aim to handle up to 90 cases a year by 2017 if they can take on enough human resources and receive more funding. Basaria said the KPK currently had around 120 investigators, while it actually needed 200.

Despite the higher target, the KPK stands to receive Rp 766 billion from next year's budget, lower than this year's budget of Rp 1.06 trillion. This year also the commission suffered a budget cut, forcing it to delay the procurement of various goods and services worth Rp 69 billion.

Thus, KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo has requested an extra Rp 87 billion from next year's state budget, Rp 49.9 billion of which will go toward investigations so that the KPK can reach its target.

House Commission III agree that the KPK should have more budget to enable it to perform better next year, and have thus urged the Finance Ministry to meet the KPK's demand. Jazilul Fawaid of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said it would not make any sense for the ministry to not grant the KPK's wishes.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/antigraft-body-pushes-probe-judicial-sector.html

New prison facilities planned to resolve overcapacity

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Callistasia Anggun Wijaya, Jakarta – Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly says the government will build more facilities at prisons because the country's existing correctional centers are overcapacity.

"We will construct more blocks in existing prisons, with about 1,000 to 2,000 blocks in prisons across the country," Yasonna said in Jakarta on Monday.

The government would tender the project soon, so that the construction and renovation could start as soon as possible, the minister said.

"We will prioritize the construction and renovation of prisons [in areas] with high crime rates, such as in North Sumatra. The increase of the number of prisoners in North Sumatra is the highest compared to other provinces," Yasonna said.

The government will also focus on the improvement of facilities on Nusakambangan prison island because convicts from across the country could be relocated to the facility, he said.

The minister acknowledged that a human resources shortage was also affecting the management of prisons, adding that the government would focus on redistributing prison officers to resolve the issue. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/new-prison-facilities-planned-to-resolve-overcapacity.html

Drowning in debt, prisons plead for help

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani and Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A small outdoor kitchen was installed in front of the cell of terrorist convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir in Batu Penitentiary on Nusakambangan Island, off the southern coast of Central Java, one afternoon in late January.

Ba'asyir and his fellow terrorist convicts set up the kitchen and brought in their own food after they declined to eat prison meals over concerns that the ingredients might not be halal.

As those prisoner-cooked meals were also distributed to other inmates for free, the authorities apparently had no reservations about Ba'asyir having his own kitchen, particularly when prison managers were struggling on a daily basis to find ways to feed the inmates.

Hungry inmates mean trouble, and the Ba'asyir kitchen story is an illustration of how prison authorities have to compromise the rules to keep hunger at bay amid disturbing revelations about the huge piles of debt prisons have to bear.

Legislators were taken aback during a hearing with prison authorities on Tuesday over a demand for Rp 228 billion (US$17 million) in additional funding to pay for unpaid debts logged since 2014 for feeding about 193,000 inmates nationwide.

The debts, equal to the cost of constructing 228 modest six-class elementary schools in Java, does not include Rp 9.3 billion of unpaid electricity bills, and has again amplified the already messy situation of prison management that is plagued by pervasive overcrowding and corruption.

The director general of penitentiaries, I Wayan Dusak, insisted the debts should be immediately settled this year otherwise no suppliers would be willing to cooperate with prison authorities, thus putting at risk the flow of meals to inmates.

"We've squeezed spending to the bones, but still we cannot avoid unpaid bills because the prices of food and the inflow of new inmates are increasing at a faster rate than our budget," said Dusak.

The directorate is to receive about Rp 3.6 trillion of taxpayers' money this year, about the same as in previous years.

But for the past 10 months, Dusak added, the system has received 10,000 new inmates, the highest increase in recent years, flowing into penitentiaries that are already accommodating three times their design capacities.

The government allocates Rp 26,000 (less than $2) to provide inmates with three meals per day, a mattress and a sarong. Aside from rice and minced vegetables, the meals usually consist of protein in the form of either cheap belanak fish (a local Bluespot mullet), tofu, tempeh, or egg.

"During the holy month of Ramadhan, the cost can go higher because aside from higher food prices, we are also forced to provide puddings," said Dusak.

The additional funds to settle the debts are on top of the Rp 1.3 trillion earlier demanded by the directorate general to be used this year to reduce overcrowding by building new cells and facilities.

Attempts by the directorate, which is under the auspices of the Law and Human Rights Ministry, to convince lawmakers and fellow government officials to approve the needed funds are likely to go unheeded because of the limited state budget.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed his ministers to cut at least Rp 50 trillion from routine spending following a likely shortfall in tax collection this year caused by the lingering impact of a global economic slowdown.

"The Finance Ministry has conveyed to us that it will be difficult to approve additional money for penitentiaries this year because the state budget is already in grave deficit," said legislator Adies Kadir of Golkar, who is also a member of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing security and legal affairs.

However, ministries and agencies are still trying their luck to get more funds through the upcoming revision of the 2016 state budget, which will be approved by the end of this month.

"All law enforcement institutions such as the National Police, the Attorney General's Office [AGO] and the National Narcotics Agency [BNN] have demanded larger budgets. Each has come up with what they consider urgent. It is just overwhelming," said Adies.

The unpaid food bills have come to light amid an unresolved situation of overcrowding that is plaguing 477 penitentiaries and detention centers nationwide. This has led to deadly riots, while brawls involving inmates have become commonplace.

The most recent incident took place in April at Banceuy Penitentiary, West Java, during which prisoners became enraged after a drug convict was sent to an isolation cell and killed himself. A mob set fire to prison offices and two ambulances. The riot was the sixth such incident in the past two months.

"You have this overcrowding and then there is risk to the food supply for inmates. This is just a perfect storm waiting to happen," said legislator Ikhsan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is also a Commission III member.

"We are facing no other options than to prioritize funds to resolve the unpaid food bills. The problem scares me," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/09/drowning-debt-prisons-plead-help.html

Police & law enforcement

Jokowi, Mega revive old row over top cop

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The nation waits to see how President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will handle the inevitable political furor over who is to take charge of the National Police.

Speculation continues to circulate that Jokowi will extend the tenure of National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, which, if carried out, will be the first time this has happened since the end of the New Order era.

Such speculation has grown even stronger as Jokowi's aides tasked with assessing potential candidates to succeed Badrodin have denied it in public but, behind the scenes, continued to search for input as well as legal advice from experts to justify a decision to keep Badrodin in his current post at least until next year.

The public reticence displayed by Jokowi and his aides, including the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) has ignited a debate over whether it is right for Badrodin to maintain the leadership of the police after he is due for retirement.

"It will definitely delay regeneration within the police institution, which could cause internal rifts," said Muradi, an observer of police, defense and security matters at the Bandung-based Padjajaran University.

Muradi explained that unhealthy competition as a result of conflict among elites within the police may lead to internal dissension against Badrodin, which could of course pose a threat to the country's stability.

"Therefore, I don't see any reasonable arguments to justify the plan to extend Badrodin's tenure. It amounts to no less than the President politicizing the institution of the police," he said.

In a separate interview with The Jakarta Post, outspoken activist Haris Azhar said the dilemma over selecting Badrodin's successor was rooted in the controversial figure of his deputy, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who is next in line for the police's top post.

Haris, the coordinator of the Jakarta-based Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) explained that Budi, the former adjutant of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chief Megawati Soekarnoputri during her time as president, was perceived as a representative of that party.

A row between the party and Jokowi broke out last year when Jokowi decided to install Badrodin, not Budi as promoted by the ruling party, due to the latter's problems with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The KPK had named him a suspect in a bribery case, although this status was later annulled by a pretrial ruling. "I'm afraid that Jokowi will use the controversy surrounding Budi Gunawan in a power play with Megawati," Haris said.

Regardless of whether Jokowi will decide to keep Badrodin or opt for a new candidate, the President will have to face the PDI-P if he chooses not to endorse Budi.

PDI-P lawmaker and a member of House of Representatives Commission III that oversees the National Police, Masinton Pasaribu, said the ruling party supported Budi. In several interviews, Masinton argued that unlike last year, there was no longer any reason to oppose the nomination of Budi.

"National Police deputy chief Budi Gunawan is the right candidate to become the next chief out of all the available three-star generals because he has had the experience of leading the police alongside Badrodin Haiti," Masinton said. "The two of them have created solidity in the institution, which will remain under Budi's leadership".

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/13/jokowi-mega-revive-old-row-over-top-cop.html

Komnas HAM, police expand human rights cooperation

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Erika Anindita Dewi, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) is aiming to expand its cooperation with the National Police to promote a human-rights approach among police personnel nationwide.

Komnas HAM began cooperating with the North Jakarta Police precinct last year as part of a pilot project to help police personnel avoid human rights violations while handling criminal cases or maintaining public order, Komnas HAM commissioner Imdadun Rahmat said at the House of Representatives complex on Tuesday.

The program is expected to be rolled out nationwide after Komnas HAM signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the implementation of a human rights-based approach with the National Police.

"We're currently discussing the breakdown of the MoU. Hopefully it will be complete before the tenure of [National Police chief] Gen. Badrodin Haiti ends," he said. The National Police will implement the program, while Komnas HAM will monitor their progress, Imdadun said.

The commission said that based on interviews conducted by Komnas HAM with local residents in North Jakarta, the pilot program had made a significant impact on police methods. North Jakarta Police personnel had become more humane and responsive to the public since the program was launched in November last year, Imadadun said.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has ordered Badrodin to step up efforts to ensure police apply human-rights principles in carrying out their duties.

Human rights activists have long lambasted the National Police for alleged human rights violations in their handling of criminal cases or in managing public order. The most recent case was the death of suspected terrorist Siyono while in the custody of the National Police's counterterrorism squad Densus 88 in March. Siyono died due to bone fractures, leading to suspicions that he was tortured during his detention. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/komnas-ham-police-expand-human-rights-cooperation.html

Foreign affairs & trade

Government prepares legal aid for 208 Indonesians facing death penalty abroad

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Liza Yosephine, Jakarta – The government is stepping up its efforts to spare the lives of 208 Indonesians abroad who are facing the death penalty, an official said on Thursday.

As of May 2016, 154 of the Indonesian nationals on death row overseas were in Malaysia, with the majority of their cases relating to murder and drug offenses, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said.

He said the government would continue to provide legal assistance to Indonesians abroad who are facing trouble with the law, saying there was cause for optimism as data indicated that the lives of 285 death-row inmates had been spared between 2011 until 2016.

Furthermore, as a preventative measure, Indonesian representatives abroad have recently been conducting intensive legal awareness outreach programs to reduce the number of such cases in the future, he added.

"We will continue to work to spare Indonesians from the death penalty, however, in a way that is in accordance with the applicable laws of the country concerned," he told journalists at the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday.

Back-to-back cases of Indonesian citizens facing capital punishment overseas have come into the media spotlight recently.

In the latest case, migrant worker Daryanti was charged on Thursday in Singapore for allegedly murdering her female employer, Seow Kim Choo, on Tuesday night, as reported by local newspaper The Straits Times.

Lawyer Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed has been appointed by the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore to represent Daryanti, Arrmanatha said. The case will be heard in court again in three weeks time, on June 29, and if convicted of murder, Daryanti could face the death penalty.

Upon being informed of the case, the embassy had immediately contacted the suspect and informed her that they would continue to support her throughout the legal process, he added.

In another recent case, migrant worker Rita Krisdianti was sentenced to capital punishment by the Penang High Court in Malaysia on May 30 for her alleged involvement in drug smuggling.

The government plans to lodge an appeal of Rita's verdict, Arrmanatha said. "There's still time within the 14-workday deadline following the sentencing to lodge an appeal," he added.

Indonesia itself implements the death penalty for drug offenses, to the firm objection of human rights activists and foreign countries whose citizens are executed. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/govt-prepares-legal-aid-for-208-indonesians-facing-death-penalty-abroad.html

Mining & energy

Indonesian oil production expected to nosedive amid price collapse

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2016

Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – Although crude prices seem have slowly picked up in recent days, the Indonesian government has remained pessimistic about the outlook of the energy sector and is expecting a significant drop in oil production next year due to a combination of aging fields and slow exploration.

For the last two years, global oil prices have been in free-fall from around US$110 per barrel of Brent crude in June 2014 to around $40 recently.

In anticipation of ongoing price fluctuations, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry proposed on Tuesday an oil production target of 740,000 to 760,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 2017, representing a decline of 8 to 10 percent from the 830,000 bopd targeted in the 2016 state budget.

The revised production target is also accompanied by a drastically lowered assumed crude price of $35-45 per barrel, down from an assumed price of $50 per barrel in this year's state budget.

"One of the challenges will be to revive [oil field] development programs to what they were before," Minister Sudirman Said told members of the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy in a hearing.

Sudirman said many oil and gas blocks across the nation were aging and would experience a natural decline in production of 20 percent annually. However, he noted that Cepu, the second-largest oil producer in the country, was expected to reach peak production of 165,000 bopd next year.

The Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) claimed that one of the main reasons for the production slump was a lack of exploration, specifically drilling activity, due to low oil prices.

Data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry shows that from January to April this year, only 10 exploratory wells were drilled, yielding three discoveries. The same data shows that 52 exploratory wells were drilled last year, and 83 in 2014. The number of wells drilled has dropped significantly compared to the average of 104 wells drilled per year from 2011 to 2013.

Indonesia's energy sector has a long history of upward and downward trends. An increase in exploration activity at the beginning of the New Order government resulted in the discovery of new oil reserves and increased oil production from about 600 thousand barrels per day in 1967 to 1.7 million in 1977. After reaching its peak in the late 1970s, upstream oil and gas activity in Indonesia showed a declining trend, as oil companies' spending on exploration and production remained stagnant.

SKKMigas deputy chief Zikrullah said that currently many oil and gas companies had postponed all well-drilling as crude prices had dropped below $30 per barrel between January and February this year.

The benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price stood at $48.26 per barrel on Tuesday evening, representing a 19.5 percent year-on-year drop from $59.97 this time last year, according to Bloomberg. Fellow benchmark Brent Crude recorded a $49.68 per barrel price.

Despite the worrisome drop in oil production, the government is confident that gas production will remain stable. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has proposed a target of 1.05 million to 1.15 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) next year, from 1.155 million boepd in this year's state budget.

Meanwhile, state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina expressed optimism that their production would increase by approximately 8 percent next year due to the anticipated production increase in Cepu block, in which it has 45 percent share, and a predicted increase in production in its oil fields abroad.

Last year, Pertamina's crude production climbed 11 percent to 606,700 bopd. "However, some of our fields are old and we have not found any new viable fields," Pertamina president director Dwi Soetjipto told The Jakarta Post.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/15/indonesian-oil-production-expected-nosedive-amid-price-collapse.html

Activists slam police's handling of Bengkulu anti-mining protest

Jakarta Globe - June 13, 2016

Jakarta – Civil society groups have slammed the police's handling of an anti-mining rally in Merigi Kelindang, Central Bengkulu, at the weekend after four local residents were shot and two police officers were injured.

The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon (11/06) when hundreds of local residents attempted to force their way into a mining area operated by Citra Buana Sentosa to deliver a memorandum containing their objections, after a series of negotiations ended in deadlock.

The protesters rejected the 800-meter-deep underground coal mining development, which has negatively affected residents in the districts of Merigi Melintang and Merigi Sakti.

Four residents – Marta Dinata (20), Yudi (28), Alimuan (65) and Badrin (45) – were shot by officers while trying to break through a police barricade. They were rushed to local hospitals with severe bullet wounds. Two officers were also injured during the altercation between police and around 500 protesters.

Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) executive director Nur Hidayati said the incident showed that besides damaging the environment, extractive industries, such as coal mining, also handle conflicts with local residents in a militaristic fashion.

"The violence against people who care about the environment is a violation to the human rights principle contained in the 1945 Constitution and Law No 32/2009 on Environmental Protection," Nur said in a statement on Sunday.

Ki Bagus Hadi Kusuma of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) said the residents were exercising their democratic rights when protesting against the development of the underground coal mine after a series of failed discussions with the local government.

"Police should have taken preventive action and communicated with local the government to respond to the residents' demands. But they did the opposite; they chose to confront the residents with violence," Ki Bagus said.

The four gunshot victims are still receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/activists-slam-polices-handling-bengkulu-anti-mining-protest/

Economy & investment

Ministries told to hunt for private suitors

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2016

Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – Ministries and government agencies have been relying too much on state funds allocated to them instead of finding private sector partners to work on infrastructure projects, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro criticizes.

The government wants to change that paradigm and urges ministries to hunt for private suitors to work on infrastructure projects using the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, said Bambang.

The revival of PPP comes as President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo" pushes for ambitious infrastructure projects – from railways, toll roads and ports to electricity – to stoke growth, while the state budget is struggling to fund projects, with huge tax income shortfall expected amid a weak domestic economy.

PPP has been touted as a scheme that could aid many important government projects, as it bridges the gap between state budget limitations to finance national development projects and provide security for private sector investment. However, PPP projects have been moving at a snail's pace because the government has not been offering attractive deals for the private sector.

Bambang put the blame on the mindset of ministries and institutions that rely too much on the comfort of being funded by the state budget and owning the projects themselves, making them too complacent to hunt for private investors.

The Transportation Ministry, for example, could have engaged more with private investors in constructing their projects, including railways, seaports and airports, which Bambang deemed as lucrative for private investors.

"The ministry is still happy to use the state budget [to fund its projects] while I have a headache looking for the money," the finance minister, who was previously dean of University of Indonesia's School of Economics, which schools many thinkers behind the nation's economic policies, told The Jakarta Post in an interview.

Indonesia has allocated around Rp 313.5 trillion (US$23.5 billion) for infrastructure projects in this year's state budget, including for toll roads and railways connecting Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Java and Papua and a 35,000 megawatt (MW) electricity procurement program until 2019.

Bambang ensured the amount would be unchanged in the draft revision of the state budget under deliberation at the House of Representatives, although the government is looking to slash Rp 40.6 trillion in spending for ministries and institutions due to an expected shortfall in state income. As of May, the government's cash-strapped state budget saw only 27.2 percent of state revenues collected.

Amid difficulties in raising funds for the state budget, he said ministries must be creative in finding ways to fund their infrastructure projects instead of solely relying on the state budget.

Elsewhere in Asia, which is expected to be the largest market for infrastructure development over the next decade, nations have high hopes for PPP but start-up has been slow and many countries are looking to multilateral agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) instead, according to a 2015 report on PPP by global audit and advisory agency EY.

"Some ministries, such as the Communications and Information Ministry and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, have got used to it [the PPP scheme]," said Bambang, 49, who also served as the ministry's fiscal policy office (BKF) chief and deputy finance minister prior to his current post.

The Finance Ministry will appeal to the ministries by supporting facilities such as financing from state financing company PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) and guarantee from state-owned guarantee firm PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia (PII).

"Batang's financial closure proves that infrastructure projects with the PPP scheme can work with international investors," he said, referring to the mega 2,000 MW power plant project in Batang, Central Java, touted as Southeast Asia's largest power plant.

PII guaranteed the $2.05 billion power plant project, which last week secured financial closure with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The firm has also signed guarantee agreements for other projects, namely Palapa Ring western and central packages, as well as toll road projects connecting Batang-Semarang in Central Java, Pandaan-Malang in East Java, Balikpapan-Samarinda in East Kalimantan and Manado-Bitung in North Sulawesi, said PII chief financial officer Armand Hermawan.

"We will also sign a guarantee agreement for the Palapa Ring eastern package in August, while the financial close will probably occur in December," Armand said recently.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/14/ministries-told-hunt-private-suitors.html

Indonesia records 1.49 percent budget deficit as of May

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2016

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The government has raised Rp 496.6 trillion (US$37.35 billion) in state revenues as of May 31 with Rp 685.8 trillion in spending, pushing the state deficit to Rp 189.1 trillion, or 1.49 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Finance Ministry spokesman Luky Alfirman said the state revenues as of May equaled 27.2 percent of the target set in the 2016 state budget at Rp 1,822.5 trillion. Meanwhile, the realization of government spending was 32.7 percent of the Rp 2,095.7 trillion budget ceiling in 2016.

"Based on revenues and spending until May 2016, the state budget deficit reached Rp 189.1 trillion, or 1.49 percent of GDP," Lucky said at a press conference in Jakarta on Friday.

He further said tax revenues had reached Rp406.9 trillion in that period, slightly lower than the same period of 2015, which stood at Rp 435.3 trillion. However, in May alone, tax revenues reached Rp 86.4 trillion, bigger than in May 2015, which stood at Rp 80.7 trillion.

According to Luky, the positive growth in tax revenues in May 2016 indicates a positive macroeconomic condition amid increased government spending. "Tax revenues are expected to increase further starting from June to December," he went on to say.

On the opposite end, government spending reached Rp 357.4 trillion, higher than the same period of last year at Rp 330.2 trillion. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/10/indonesia-records-1-49-percent-budget-deficit-as-of-may.html

Government slashes growth target to 5.1%

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – The government has revised down this year's economic growth target to 5.1 percent from 5.3 percent year-on-year (yoy).

The government acknowledged that private consumption, which contributes to more than 50 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), would remain lower than usual due to weakening purchasing power.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the government projected that consumption would expand by only 5 percent by this year-end, from the initial target of 5.1 percent. He was speaking during a hearing at the House of Representatives Commission XI overseeing finance and banking on Tuesday evening.

The government and the House are currently deliberating macroeconomic assumptions for the revised 2016 draft state budget.

Although it has improved from last year's rate, private investment growth has remained slower than expected, as it will take some time until the effects of the government's 12 policy packages, which have been issued since September last year, are fully felt in the private sector.

Meanwhile, Bambang said, it would be difficult to reach positive net exports this year due to low commodity prices and demand, especially from China, the country's main trading partner, whose economy has slowed.

"In light of that, the 5.3 figure has been revised," the minister said. "The 5.1 percent growth target makes sense for the government but still requires [our] hard work," he went on.

Indonesia's economy expanded by only 4.92 percent yoy in the first quarter of this year, lower than the 5.04 percent in the previous quarter.

Private consumption, weighing in at more than 58 percent of GDP in the period, expanded 4.94 percent, another below-5-percent growth. Investment expanded 4.24 percent while government spending grew by only 2.93 percent yoy versus the 7.31 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

Commission XI chairman Ahmadi Noor Supit said the new figure was realistic and reflected the real economic situation without being pessimistic. "We want our economic situation to be accurately reflected in the state budget," he said, adding that the 5.1 percent growth target would be more achievable.

Several economists have previously projected that Indonesia's economy would expand by between 5 percent and 5.2 percent only this year, saying that the government's 5.3 percent would be hard, if not impossible, to reach. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/govt-slashes-growth-target-to-5-1.html

Analysis & opinion

Indonesia has to break with its brutal past

Financial Times - June 15, 2016

Jamil Anderlini – On September 21 1999 Sander Thoenes, a Financial Times correspondent, was shot and killed by soldiers from the Indonesian army on the outskirts of Dili, the capital of East Timor, then under occupation.

Aged just 30 at the time of his murder, Sander is the most recent FT correspondent to die in the line of duty and he remains a strong presence, even for the majority of current reporters who never had a chance to meet him.

Late last month, while going through old files in the FT's Jakarta office, I came across his bulletproof vest – the one that would not have saved him from his execution-style killing even if he had been wearing it.

I also stumbled across his clippings book, containing hundreds of stories he wrote on the fall of President Suharto and the period of hope in the late 1990s as Indonesia groped its way towards democracy.

Flipping through the dusty book I saw a page that made me catch my breath. On the left was Sander's last story, published on the day of his death, while on the opposite page someone had pasted in his obituary. On the next page was a local media report with a picture of his lifeless, mutilated body.

In 2002 the government in East Timor indicted two serving officers from the Indonesian Army's Battalion 745 for Sander's murder, supported by evidence from investigations carried out by the UN and the Dutch authorities. To this day neither those officers nor anyone else has faced justice for his brutal and senseless death.

The same applies for most of the estimated 1,500 other people who were killed in the Indonesian army's scorched-earth retreat from its decades-long occupation of East Timor.

This is just one example of Indonesia's refusal to face its past. In 1965 at least 500,000 suspected Communists and sympathisers were massacred across the country after a failed coup that ushered in Suharto's 31 years in power. Ethnic Chinese were particular targets because of their perceived sympathy for the Communist motherland.

Mr Widodo is the first president to assume the office untainted by the stain of the pogroms of the 1960s

Two astonishing recent films – The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence – by American film-maker Joshua Oppenheimer provide disturbing glimpses into the horrors of that time. But in the immediate aftermath of Suharto's downfall in 1998, the political deal making deemed necessary to ensure a peaceful transition to democracy made it impossible to revisit the troubled past.

Of the five Indonesian presidents since then, one was Suharto's vice-president; one was the daughter of former "president for life" Sukarno; one was leader of a religious organisation that played a large part in the 1965 massacres, and another was son-in-law of the commander of Suharto's special forces, which were also allegedly deeply involved in those massacres.

In the presidential election of 2014 Joko Widodo narrowly beat Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law, who is accused of numerous human rights atrocities from his time as a commander in East Timor and during the 1998 uprising that brought democracy to Indonesia. He denies the allegations.

Jokowi, as Mr Widodo is widely known, is the first Indonesian president to assume the office untainted by the stain of the anti-Communist and anti-Chinese pogroms of the 1960s, and he has thrown his support behind an official investigation into those events.

The still-powerful army has responded by setting up a "defend the nation" programme of military-style training for ordinary Indonesians and "gangsters" to prepare them to guard against "foreign influences" such as communism, drugs and homosexuality.

Many in the government are understandably uneasy about the prospect of the military providing weapons training to self-declared gangsters in a country where Islamist radicalisation and extremism are a constant threat.

As the world's third-largest democracy and the largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia is a country that seems perpetually on the brink of fulfilling its potential or toppling back into the chaos of its past.

With an enormous and relatively young population, and a gross domestic product growth rate of about 5 per cent, the economy is already bigger than that of the UK or France in purchasing power terms. It should become the world's fourth-largest economy by 2050, according to estimates from the Asian Development Bank.

But success will depend on how fully the country faces up to the atrocities of its past and how resolutely Mr Widodo faces down the recalcitrant military. He would send a very powerful signal on both fronts by finally bringing the murderers of Sander Thoenes to justice.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d2e49f2-32d7-11e6-bda0-04585c31b153.html#axzz4Bl2C2cDM

Behind Indonesia's red scare

The Diplomat - June 14, 2016

Gatra Priyandita, Indonesia – Military figures have publicly warned of discreet attempts by communists to launch a revolution and reminded citizens to steer clear of communism or risk imprisonment. Additionally, several organizations associated with the military, most notably the Communication Forum on Indonesian Veterans' Children (FKPPI), have staged protests and raised banners across the island of Java to warn of communism's potential ascent.

But the military's warnings are not just empty threats. Security forces, which consist of the police and the military, have intensified crackdowns on literature, memorabilia, and movies related to communist ideology and the failed September 30, 1965 coup attempt and its aftermath, which saw the imprisonment and killings of hundreds of thousands of suspected communists and communist sympathizers.

In May, a shop owner was temporarily arrested for selling reproduced images of a hammer and sickle on t-shirts featuring German thrash metal band, Kreator. Bookstores have had books on leftist ideology and the 1965-66 killings seized by security forces. Ironically, the seizure of academic texts on communism and the killings was supported by the acting head of Indonesia's National Library. A movie screening in Yogyakarta to celebrate World Press Freedom Day was disbanded by security officials, following a complaint by the FKPPI. The screening, which was organized by a group of journalists and activists, was on a documentary about labor rights, which the FKPPI accused of seeming too left-wing.

Numerous academics, journalists, and activists have spoken out against the "excessive" use of force. Even President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who instructed law enforcement to enforce the laws against the use of communist imagery in May, has said that the crackdowns have been too excessive. National Police Chief Badrodin Haiti also urged security officials to soften up. While the crackdowns have slightly subsided as of early June, the "red scare" has not. On June 3, anti-communist protests, organized by hardline Islamic and nationalist organizations took place at Jakarta's National Monument. This raises the question: what led to the sudden public and security anxiety on communism?

Jokowi and the military

Jokowi came to power with weak political capital. His administration has faced frequent attempts by political parties to block his every move, routine images of fights in his cabinet, and public subordination to his political patron, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The military, with its powerful territorial command and famed ability to deliver swift action, seemed like an attractive alternative as a power base. The military already had considerable social influence through the operation of its 13 territorial commands, which operate all the way down to the village level. This allows them to get involved in community-building initiatives, which has the added effect of improving their public image.

A May 2015 report by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict worryingly points out how Indonesia's military is expanding its influence deeper into the realms of domestic affairs and security. For instance, the military has already signed dozens of memoranda of understandings with various civilian agencies in the past two years. They are a key part of Jokowi's plan to achieve food self-sufficiency by 2017, which empowers the military to set up structures for land cultivation and oversee crop yields. The military is also cooperating with local governments to launch community projects that empower locals, but also has the added objective of collecting information and bolstering nationalism. They have also joined Jokowi's fight against drugs and terrorism, areas that were previously reserved for the police. Now, the military is also involved in the crackdowns on leftist symbolism.

Ryacudu, whose appointment was mired with controversy, also announced the military's intention to establish 900 training centers by early 2018 for a civilian defense corps, which has the purpose of defending the country against "proxy wars" waged by communists, radical militants, homosexuals, and other "foreign influences." The training centers will teach millions of students, civil servants, and others about survival skills and civic education. What is perhaps most worrying about the military's return to public life is that it is likely to limit the progress to shed light on a long list of past human rights abuses.

Revisiting the 1965-66 killings

The crackdowns on suspected communist materials coincided with Jokowi's order for an investigation into the 1965-66 killings. In April, an historic symposium on the September 30, 1965 coup attempt and its aftermath was held in Jakarta and gathered scholars, activists, political figures, and military officials. The event was jointly sponsored by a number of groups, including military officials. Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan (a former army general himself) supports the forum, though he made it clear to participants that the government was not going to offer an apology to the victims of the 1965-66 killings. Nonetheless, he announced that the government will form a team to investigate and excavate mass graves. Panjaitan's support for the investigation is in deep contrast to that of Rycadu, who decried the symposium. Rather, he argued that there was no need to remember "forgotten parts" of history.

In early May, rumors began spreading around that a communist revolt was imminent. Even a number of prominent retired generals have confirmed that these speculations are genuine. However, it is difficult to see communism gaining much traction in a country where the ideology is already universally panned. History textbooks highlight communism's failed war with the nationalists. Under the Suharto regime, state-controlled television annually played a screening of Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Treachery of the G30S/PKI) to remind the public about the communist killings of six respected generals. The Suharto government has succeeded in eliminating any semblance of communism within the Indonesian people's psyche to the extent that a communist rebellion is unfathomable.

Indonesia's recent red scare is nothing more than the security establishment's attempt to steer the conversation away from reconciliation on the 1965-66 killings. There is genuine anxiety about the possibility that the perpetrators of the 1965-66 killings may be held accountable. Indeed, most of the senior security officials who led the campaigns in the 1960s are long dead. However, some perpetrators, many of whom have flaunted their kill lists (as seen in the Oscar-nominated documentary, Act of Killing), are still around and fear for their freedoms. Additionally, security officials may fear that once an investigation on the 1965-66 killings have been conducted, the public may demand investigations on more recent human rights abuses, such as the 1989 Talangsari Massacre, 1998 Jakarta riots, and killings in Aceh and Papua. Most of the senior perpetrators of these events or conflicts are still alive today and continue to wield some level of political influence.

Hardliners within the military are responding to public demands for an investigation over the 1965-66 killings with excessive crackdowns on communist imagery and ideology. Constant reminders by senior military officials about communism's continued ban in Indonesia are meant to silence those who seek to propagate information about the killings. They have reminded the Indonesian people about the sanctity of Pancasila (Indonesia's state ideology) and the threats that communism had posed to the Indonesian state's stability in the past.

On the other hand, the anti-communist protests and campaigns, which are led by organizations associated with the military, are aimed at the government. The FKPPI is working together with hard-line Islamic groups, including the notorious Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), to confront the government about its decision to deal with the 1965-66 killings. It's also done to remind more liberal-minded security officials (former or serving), such as Luhut Panjaitan and Agus Widjojo (organizer of the symposium), that they risk losing their influence in the military if they side with Jokowi. This is perhaps said perfectly by former General Kivlan Zen to Panjaitan that "he [Luhut] would have betrayed his seniors [in the military]" if he continues forward with the investigation.

The Indonesian military is more influential than it has ever been since its political influence was lessened in 2004. Their response to the Indonesian government's decision to investigate the killings is proof that some of its members are not only able to mobilize forces to quickly campaign against the government, but that their extended security role allows them to intimidate the Indonesian people. There are two victims in this whole story: the victims of the 1965-66 killings and other human rights abuses, whose perpetrators are unlikely to be put to justice anytime soon, and the rest of the Indonesian people, whose civil liberties have been further curtailed.

[Gatra Priyandita is a PhD candidate at the School of Culture, History, and Language at the Australian National University. His research focuses on Indonesian public diplomacy and domestic politics in the post-Suharto era.]

Source: http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/behind-indonesias-red-scare/

Sukarno, Pancasila and his leftist thinking

Jakarta Post - June 8, 2016

Jakarta – Indonesians on Monday celebrated 115 years since the birth of the country's first president, Sukarno, best remembered as a national hero who proclaimed independence more than 70 years ago, but often forgotten as a prominent leftist thinker and revolutionary.

Sukarno's presidency ran from 1945 to 1966. He reinstated the 1945 Constitution by presidential decree in July 1959 to start the era of guided democracy. He established a new legislature and the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) as the highest legislative authority, which appointed him president for life.

The kidnapping and murder of six Army generals on Sept. 30, 1965, led to a purge of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members, sympathizers and their families, and the downfall of Sukarno's regime in 1966.

On Tuesday, leftist publication Indoprogress released an online book entitled "Sukarno, Marxism and the Dangers of Fossilization", containing articles related to Sukarno's thoughts and ideas on developing the nation.

Bonnie Triyana, chief editor of Historia magazine, said in a foreword to the book that young people often idolized Sukarno without really understanding the significance of the former president's ideas.

"Sukarno is not only a poster in a rented room, sticker on the rear window of an angkot [public minivan], graffiti on a city wall, or a biological father to his children. He was a great thinker who produced the idea of independence and a political activist who devoted his life to national liberation," Triyana said.

Sukarno was born on June 6, 1901. To commemorate the 115th anniversary of his birth on Monday, many people posted his image and quotes on social media, such as: "Don't forget history" and "Give me 10 young men, I'll shake the world". However, few netizens mentioned Sukarno's thoughts on leftist movements.

Meanwhile, retired military generals held a national symposium on June 1 to 2 to oppose the feared revival of communism in the country. The event was set up to challenge a previous symposium in April, which was conducted to discuss a resolution to the 1965 tragedy.

In the counter-symposium, almost all speakers claimed that communism, Marxism and Leninism were threats to Pancasila, saying the ideologies could lead people to become atheists.

They also said people should not forget the struggle of Sukarno in the past to establish Pancasila as the state's five philosophical foundations, although some historians have stated that Pancasila cannot be separated from Sukarno's idea of establishing a socialist society.

In an article in the book "Sukarno is a Leftist Marxist"", writer Bonnie Setiawan said Sukarno was not only a nationalist, but also a socialist revolutionary. He said Sukarno was trying to create a society without capitalism and imperialism through the Five Talismans of the Revolution (Panca Azimat Revolusi).

The first talisman was a political concept dubbed Nasakom, or the revolutionary unity of nationalism, religion and communism. The second was Pancasila as the country's national ideology. Other talismans included a manifesto of political reorganization, the 1945 Constitution and the ideals of Indonesian socialism and sovereignty.

"So the story or episode of Bung Karno was about the struggle to uphold socialism, not only limited to the independence of Indonesia or nationalism," Setiawan said.

Conversely, in an article titled "Bung Karno and the Dangers of Fossilization", Indonesianist Benedict Anderson said Sukarno's ideas had been fossilized, especially after the president's death on June 21, 1970, as many people had blindly idolized him and misused his name for political interests.

"This conclusion does not mean that Bung Karno's views and values have become obsolete, but those thoughts need to be contemplated with a critical attitude and historical awareness, considering the long period between the current era and Bung Karno's era," stated Anderson, who died last year aged 79. (vps/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/06/08/sukarno-pancasila-and-his-leftist-thinking.html