Supporters of the Solo based Indonesian football team, Pasoepati, also presented several interesting choreographs including showing their support for Palestine during a match held yesterday evening at the Manahan Stadium in Solo.

Pasoepati supporters in the South stand presented a choreograph in the form of a Palestine flag while in the North stand supporters wearing red also presented a choreography forming the word "Garuda".

"In fact the choreographs at the two stands behind the goal posts were related to each other. If read together it meant "Garuda Save Palestine". The idea came from children who wanted to present a special choreograph at a special event", Pasoepati vice president Ginda Ferrachtriawan told Offside.

Ginda explained that Pasoepati's aim in presenting the choreography was to show their solidarity with the Palestine people. "This isn't a political issue, but a culture of fair play such as this should indeed happen in soccer", said Ginda.

Ginda admitted that it cost nine million rupiah to be able to present the choreography. The funds came from voluntary donations by Pasoepati members.

The choreography presented by Pasoepati at last night's game reminds us of similar actions by Glasgow Celtic supporters at the Champions League play-off game against Israeli football club Hapoel Beer Sheva.

As result of hundreds of Celtic supporters flying the Palestine flag at the stadium, the Scottish Club was fined by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Dukungan untuk Palestina Juga Mengalir dari Manahan".]

Source: http://offside.co.id/suporter/dukungan-untuk-palestina-juga-mengalir-dari-manahan/

West Papua

Papuans to wait another day for development

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Farida Susanty, Jakarta – Many Indonesians know Vina Panduwinata's song "September Ceria", which tells of happiness and new hope in the month of September. However, for Papuans, September will instead dim their hopes of development in their region.

Beni Wetipo, 45, and Elianus Lokbere, 30, felt relieved because a 92-kilometer-long road had recently been constructed to connect Wamena, Mbua and Kenyam in Papua province.

Kompas reported on Aug. 22 that Mbua residents such as Beni and Elianus previously had to walk for five days to reach Wamena or pay Rp 600,000 (US$45.85) per person for a pioneer flight because of the lack of basic infrastructure, namely roads.

Unfortunately, the road may be the only new facility Papuans enjoy this year because the whole trans-Papua road program is now on the brink of a major overhaul as a result of state budget cuts, potentially leaving other Papuans without infrastructure for longer, unlike their fellow countrymen in the western regions.

The government has announced that it will cut spending by Rp 137 trillion this year and the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry is among the ministries that will suffer from the austerity measure.

The ministry, which is responsible for most infrastructure projects, will see as many as Rp 6.9 trillion removed from its budget, with almost half of the figure slashed from its Bina Marga Directorate General, which oversees road construction.

Of the cut within Bina Marga, 30 percent might be sourced from the total targeted development of a 4,325-km road project, which connects cities like Manokwari in West Papua province to Oksibil and Wamena in Papua.

"The road construction in West Papua might be the most affected by the move," Bina Marga Director General Hediyanto Husaini said. Data from the ministry show that it is supposed to build 207.3 km of new roads in Papua and West Papua this year and continue with an additional 176.1 km in 2017.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has actually pledged to bring more inclusive development to Papua during his visits to the resource-rich region, including the construction of a railway, but work on it is facing delays as well.

The Transportation Ministry has pushed back the trans-Papua railway's introduction to 2017 from the original schedule of this year's first half. Transportation Ministry Director General for railways Prasetyo Boeditjahjono attributed the delay to both budget and land acquisition problems as it would see Rp 1.7 trillion cut from its budget.

The railway is planned to span a 1,550-km-long route connecting Sorong in West Papua to Jayapura in Papua. The first phase to be built is the 390-km Sorong to Manokwari track, which is expected to be completed between 2020 and 2024.

However, according to data from the Transportation Ministry, no Papua-related development has been included in its 2017 railway transportation plan.

Instead, the ministry plans to spend Rp 18 trillion next year through its directorate general for railways to build a double-track railway project in southern Java and develop both the trans-Sumatra and trans-Sulawesi railway projects.

Gadjah Mada University economist A. Tony Prasetiantono said the budget cuts would make it even more difficult to increase efficiency in Papua and to reduce commodity prices as transportation costs would remain high.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/papuans-wait-another-day-development.html

Indonesia obstructing Papua representations – ULMWP

Radio New Zealand International - September 8, 2016

Indonesia is impeding Pacific regional efforts to pursue justice for human rights abuses against Papuans the United Liberation Movement for West Papua says.

Criticism from the Movement's ambassador for the Pacific Islands region, Amatus Douw, comes as Papua is to be discussed at the Pacific Islands Forum leaders summit in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The leaders summit began this morning in Pohnpei after the Forum secretary-general Dame Meg Taylor said earlier this week that the region could not avoid addressing the issue of West Papua.

At last year's summit, Forum leaders resolved to push Indonesia to allow a fact-finding mission on West Papua from where reports of rights abuses against the indigenous Melanesians continue to filter out.

After a year and no movement on this front, Dame Meg said Jakarta has indicated it would not welcome such a mission, and was uncomfortable with the term "fact-finding."

Mr Douw said it was not a failure on the Forum's part but a sign of the defensiveness of Indonesia which he accused of "consistently trying to run away from its colonialism and human rights atrocities".

The Australia-based envoy believes a direct approach to the United Nations is required.

Indonesia, he said, was "now using weapon to killing young Papuans but you will never kill international law and UN charter on self-determination, freedom and independence".

The Indonesian embassy in New Zealand admitted Indonesia still faced obstacles in protecting the human rights of her citizens, but said Jakarta was addressing rights abuses. It said Papua's incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s was sanctioned by the United Nations and was final.

At a pre-Forum workshop in Pohnpei, Dame Meg identified that regional leadership was partly divided over how to approach the Papua issue, but noted that people in Pacific nations felt very strongly about it.

Mr Douw echoed Dame Meg's comments that the nascent Pacific Coalition for West Papua, including both government and civil society representatives, was gaining momentum in its bid to take the Papua issue to the UN level.

On the eve of the Forum summit, he urged Australia and New Zealand leaders to acknowledge their "moral responsibility" and get on board the coalition.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/312843/indonesia-obstructing-papua-representations-ulmwp

West Papua an issue to be pursued, says Forum Secretary General

PNG Facts - September 7, 2016

Nic Maclellan (Islands Business magazine) in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia – The issue of West Papua will be on the agenda at this week's Pacific Islands Forum, in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.

Dame Meg Taylor, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, says that West Papua is a sensitive issue for some Pacific governments, but one that needs to be debated.

"It's an issue that needs to be pursued and it's not going to go away," she said. "Our bigger countries in the region like Australia and New Zealand realise that this issue is just not going to go to sleep – and it shouldn't go to sleep, because it is very important for our region."

At last year's Forum in Port Moresby, West Papua was one of five core topics proposed to Forum leaders through the Framework on Pacific Regionalism – a new mechanism to develop regional policy and collective action.

In the final communique from the Port Moresby summit, Pacific leaders reaffirmed Indonesia's sovereignty over the two Papuan provinces but "called on all parties to protect and uphold the human rights of all residents in Papua and to work to address the root causes of such conflicts by peaceful means."

Forum Chair PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill was tasked to approach Indonesia to propose a Forum fact-finding mission to West Papua. As outgoing chair, O'Neill will report back to this week's meeting in Pohnpei, but Indonesia has already made it clear that any mission is unwelcome.

In Pohnpei, Dame Meg Taylor confirmed that the Indonesian Embassy in Suva has told the Forum Secretariat that Jakarta would not welcome a Forum delegation, and was uncomfortable with the term "fact-finding."

Indonesia is clearly unhappy that the issue of human rights is being connected to broader questions of self-determination, in a region where independence movements in New Caledonia, Bougainville and Guam are preparing for referendums or plebiscites on their political status.

Speaking after a ministerial meeting in Australia last December, Indonesia's Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu – a former army chief of staff – said that West Papua should not be an issue for regional discussion:

"There are countries that are getting involved in the issue of Papua. For us, Papua is in the United Republic of Indonesia. There is no other solution to talk about it, that's it, that's the way it is. So this is so that everyone will know that that doesn't need to be spoken about."

Even with the Forum constrained by the policies of larger members like Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, other Pacific Islands countries have continued to advocate for West Papua on the regional and international stage.

At the 2015 summit of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), Melanesian leaders granted associate membership to Indonesia, but also observer status to the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP), the umbrella organisation for West Papuan nationalist groups campaigning for self-determination.

The ULMWP's bid for full membership of the MSG has been blocked by Papua New Guinea and Fiji, despite support from the other three MSG members: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia's independence movement Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS).

Under Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, Solomon Islands has expanded its diplomatic support for the West Papuan nationalist movement, aligning with long-standing supporters like Vanuatu and the FLNKS.

On the sidelines of last week's Pacific Islands Leaders Conference (PICL) in Honolulu, Prime Minister Sogavare convened a meeting of the People's Coalition on West Papua, first proposed last July.

As Forum leaders arrive in Pohnpei for this week's summit, Forum Secretary General Taylor notes: "The Prime Minister of Solomon Islands has called together other countries that are interested in pursuing an alternative strategy to ensure that the issues pertinent to West Papua are raised at the international level."

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and the FLNKS are now joined by Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga and Marshall Islands, which have expressed support for self-determination and an end to human rights abuses in West Papua.

The Coalition also includes the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (PIANGO), reflecting growing public awareness on the issue, as information from within West Papua is shared internationally through social media.

Noting that the MSG was also split on the issue, Dame Meg acknowledged that Forum debate would continue to be a sensitive one for the regional organisation: "The challenge here is – will there be a consensus amongst all the leaders of the Pacific?"

Prime Minister Sogavare will not attend this Saturday's leaders' retreat, but the debate will continue in the region and internationally. Next April, Indonesia must submit its five-yearly Universal Periodic Review on human rights to the United Nations Human Rights Council, and the issue of West Papua will be central to the review.

The ongoing issue of impunity for human rights abuses in Indonesia has been re-kindled by the recent appointment of an indicted war criminal, General (retired) Wiranto, as Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Affairs. In 2003, Wiranto was indicted by a UN-backed court for his role as commander of the military in the security force violence during Timor-Leste's 1999 independence vote.

Despite pledges to improve dialogue with West Papuan leaders in Jayapura, Wiranto's appointment by Indonesia's President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has signalled that the army and police will continue to play a central role in Indonesia's democratic transition.

As West Papuans continue to seek regional support in the Pacific islands, "this issue is just not going to go to sleep, said Dame Meg. (Islands Business/Pacnews)

Source: http://news.pngfacts.com/2016/09/west-papua-issue-to-be-pursued-says.html

West Papua petition tabled in NZ parliament

Radio New Zealand International - September 6, 2016

A petition has been tabled in New Zealand's parliament calling on the government to make a number of representations on the plight of West Papuans.

The public petition, which garnered 1367 signatures, was handed over to a group of Labour and Greens MPs today before being tabled in the chamber.

It calls on the parliament to urge the New Zealand Government to address the ongoing human rights situation in West Papua by taking a series of actions.

These include publicly advocating for the Indonesian government to uphold the rights of the indigenous people of Papua region, or West Papua, to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech.

It also calls for Indonesia to be condemned for the arrest and intimidation of thousands of peaceful protestors in West Papua in the last two years, as well as the for "state sanctioned torture and killing of West Papuans".

Furthermore, the petition urges New Zealand to support the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression for a visit to West Papua; and to implore the the Pacific Island Forum to also support this stand and advocate for Papua at the UN.

The petition is expected to be sent to Foreign Affairs Select Committee for consideration.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/312691/west-papua-petition-tabled-in-nz-parliament

Kontras urges Papua police to speed up probe into Simon Warikar's case

Tabloid JUBI - September 6, 2016

Biak, Jubi – The human rights group Kontras has urged Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw to complete the investigation into the death of civilian Simoan Warikar allegedly at the hands of two police officers.

Director LBH Kyadiwun Biak, Imanuel Rumayom, SH in Biak on Monday (5/9/2016) revealed a letter signed by Kontras Coordinator Haris Azhar with a copy to law enforcement agencies and Biak Police Chief, is expected to accelerate the completion of the case.

"The completion of the case in accordance to the criminal law upon the judicial court for the police officers who perpetrated the violence is the expectation of the victim's family," Rumayom said.

He admitted the response of Biak Police Chief Hadi Wahyudi towards the handling of this case of alleged mistreatment is good so far. The perpetrators also have been detained for 21 days. "As victim's attorney, I oversee the legal process to be run in accordance with the law. My client charged the perpetrators to be taken to the public trial for their misconduct," said Rumayom.

Simon Warikar, according to him, is now under treatment after the surgery at Biak Public Hospital a few days ago. (*/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/kontras-urges-papua-police-speed-probe-simon-warikars-case/

Government shifts to anthropological approach in developing Papua

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The government has changed its approach in developing Papua from administration-based development to anthropological-based development.

The development, while also tapping into economic potential, is to be carried out in accordance to the culture of seven areas comprising Mamta, Saireri, Ha Anim, La Pago, Mee Pago, Bomberai and Domberai. Areas like Mamta and La Pago will be focused on plantations.

"The Southern region like Ha Anim, which includes Merauke where many homesteaders reside, will be focused on rice farms," Villages, Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration Ministry's director general for the development of specific areas, Suprayoga Hadi, told The Jakarta Post on Monday in his office.

He added, the changes in the development approach intend to minimize conflict among Papuan tribes while also improving the welfare of the Papuan people. By clustering the regions based on cultural similarities, the government expects the development of local resources to be better optimized.

"The groupings based on cultural dimensions were actually used by the Dutch colonial government in 1934. We need to learn why Papuan people during the colonial era lived in relative peace," Suprayoga said. (ays)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/govt-shifts-to-anthropological-approach-in-developing-papua.html

West Papuan leader rallies support ahead of summit

Radio New Zealand International - September 5, 2016

A West Papua leader says he is the most optimistic he has been in years about gaining support from this week's Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The secretary general of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octo Mote, said support for West Papua human rights and self-determination had been building throughout the island region over the past year.

He said a year ago that just the Melanesian Spearhead Group and Tonga supported them, but this year there was backing from Micronesian, Polynesian and Melanesian countries.

The key to his optimism was the strong advocacy of the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who last year appointed the first government envoy for West Papua and provided government funding for his work.

Dr Mote said the Marshall Islands President, Hilda Heine, had made it clear her country was backing the West Papua cause. He said for the Marshalls human rights was the main issue.

Dr Mote said West Papua's case for self-determination would finally get back to the United Nations Decolonization Committee for review. The ULMWP asked the Forum to support a call to the UN to review the case of West Papua.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/312598/west-papuan-leader-rallies-support-ahead-of-summit

Tuvalu, Nauru join growing group for West Papua

Radio New Zealand International - September 5, 2016

Two more countries have joined the Pacific Coalition on West Papua, voicing their concerns over human rights abuses in the Indonesian province and asking that the United Nations intervene.

The group was set up by the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, in response to the Melanesian Spearhead Group's inclusion of Indonesia as an observer and not granting West Papua membership of the group.

A number of Pacific heads of government have raised their concerns over West Papua at the United Nations, with the Tongan PM, 'Akilisi Pohiva last year asking the UN to intervene.

At a meeting in Honolulu last week, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Enele Sopoaga, and Nauru's ambassador to the Pacific nations, Marlene Moses joined the group.

Others who have already joined are Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia's FLNKS, and the United Liberation Movement of West Papua and the Pacific Islands Alliance of Non-Governmental Organisations, or PANGO.

In August, the MSG leaders deferred a decision on West Papua's membership bid after Fiji and PNG continued to oppose its application.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/312567/tuvalu,-nauru-join-growing-group-for-west-papua

Pacific coalition on West Papua gains momentum

Pina - September 5, 2016

The Pacific Coalition on West Papua (PCWP) is gaining momentum with the addition of two new members and the confirmation of the membership of two other parties who indicated their profound support for the initiative since its introduction in Honiara, Solomon Islands in July this year.

The PCWP was initiated by Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare who is also the Chair of the Melanesian Spearhead Group with the aim of securing the support of the wider Pacific region for preposition of taking up the issue of West Papua with the United Nations for intervention.

The initial membership comprises Solomon Islands Government, Vanuatu Government, Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) and the United Liberation Movement of West Papua and the Pacific Islands Alliance of Non-Governmental Organisations (PIANGO).

The two new members are the governments of Tuvalu and the Republic of Nauru who were represented by Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga and Nauru's Ambassador to the United Nations, Marlene Moses.

The other two parties who indicated support for the initiative when it was introduced in Honiara at the margin of the 4th Pacific Islands Development Summit are the Kingdom of Tonga and the Republic of Marshall Islands.

The expressed support of the governments of these two countries was confirmed with the attendance of Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva and the Republic of Marshall Islands Minister for Public Works, David Paul.

All the initial PCWP members were represented at the meeting in Honolulu Friday except for the Republic of Vanuatu Government. The Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor was also present at the meeting.

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Sogavare said the nations of the Pacific have a duty as closest neigbours to West Papua to address the issues of concern to West Papuan.

He said the right to self-determination being denied to the people of West Papua since the last 50 years is a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter, just like the rights to life and dignity that they are also denied as a result of their self-determination pursuit.

He added that the intention of the PCWP is perfectly in line with the principles of human rights and democracy, the very basis of the UN Charter, which all UN Member states should adhere to and protect.

Prime Minister Sogavare said it would not be an easy task to unwind the wrongs that have been perpetrated by the complications and cover-up on the issue of West Papua over the years and this is where the need for collaborative and strategic approaches to this issue comes in.

"Only by working together and strategically dealing with the issue of West Papua can we accomplish the objective of our mission," he said.

PIF Secretary-General Dame Taylor in her contribution to the discussions presented the forum's position on the issue. She said the 46th PIF Summit in Port Moresby in 2015 resolved to send a fact-finding mission to West Papua, however the Indonesian Government sees the term 'fact-finding' as offensive and therefore that resolution impending implementation.

Dame Taylor said she has meet with the PIF's Chair, Prime Minister O'Neill of Papua New Guinea and also the Indonesian President on the way forward on the resolution and the PIF's Chair will meet with the President.

The Secretary-General of the ULMWP, Octovanius Mote said the ULMWP represents the freedom movement of West Papua, which continues to pursue the rights of West Papuans to their land, self-determination and all other human rights enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

Prime Minister Sopoaga of Tuvalu said his country fully appreciates and sympathises with the aspirations and wishes of the people of West Papua to be on their own and fully realises their rights to exist as a country and determine their own continuation as a people.

The Pacific Coalition of West Papua members and friends discussing the way forward for the struggles for self-determination by the people of West Papua.

Minister Paul of the Republic of Marshall Islands said his country sees the issue of West Papua from a humanitarian perspective and humanitarian issues are at the forefront of the Marshall Islands Government.

The FLNKS representative, Rodrigue Tiavouane said the FLNKS fully supports the PCWP initiative and the strategy by which it will be implemented.

He said the FLNKS went through the same process with its self-determination bid- starting with the Melanesian Spearhead Group then on to the Pacific Islands Forum and finally the UN Committee 24 (Special Committee on Decolonisation).

Prime Minister Pohiva of Tonga said it is a moral obligation to address the human rights abuses in West Papua and deteriorating conditions and call for self-determination and independence.

He said at the 70th United Nations General Assembly last year he spoke of how the objectives of good governance and accountability are all impossible without full support for human rights of people in areas of conflict throughout the world including the Pacific Islands.

Ambassador Moses of Nauru said it is important that the issue of West Papua be taken to UN C24 and to be successful it is important for the Pacific to have strong leadership in pursuing it in a strategic manner. She said what works some people does not always work for others.

PIANGO Tonga Member, Drew Havea said he was encouraged by the leadership on the issue of West Papua displayed by Prime Minister Sogavare.

He said PIANGO acknowledges the pain of the people of West Papua as the pain of the Pacific and would like to urge Pacific leaders to come to an agreement to stop the violence in West Papua and find a peaceful and dignified pathway to self-determination.

The meeting concluded with the expression of commitment by all PCWP members to their mission objective. (Solomon Islands PM's Press Secretariat/Pacnews)

Source: http://www.pina.com.fj/?p=pacnews&m=read&o=197360130357cd01103ae4d63a6626

Call to consolidate support with West Papua's fight for self-determination

Koran Pembebasan - September 5, 2016

Surya Anta – Increasingly broad mobilisations by the Papuan people in recent years shows that there must be a new assessment of West Papuan as an entity. An entity that should be, must be, recognised as a nation.

Resistance by the Papuan people existed prior to West Papua's integration into Indonesia in 1969, known as Pepera or the so-called "Act of Free Choice", and since that time. However what differentiates the resistance that is currently developing is the method of political mass mobilisations. The current political mass mobilisations are being led or initiated by youth groups such as the Papua Student Alliance (AMP), the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) and the Garda Papua (Papua Guard).

And these youth groups have also greatly developed the understanding that the struggle for Papuan liberation cannot rely on "sympathy" or "international recognition", but must instead depend upon the determined efforts of people's unity and the Papuan nation for its liberation.

In a number of mobilisations, this youth movement has supplanted the "older groups" that were part the armed resistance (the National Liberation Army or TPN and the Free Papua Movement or OPM) that were dividend and fragmented along with other older factions, whether they be part of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP), the Papua Customary Council (DAP) and the like. In the same manner they have been able to sit together and unite under the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP). Similar unity projects took place in 2005 although they did not last long. The ULMWP as a unity project is more organised compared with earlier attempts.

While in the early years after 2000 the issue of divisions within the movement and the Papuan people between the "interior" and the "coastal" areas coloured the analysis and assessment of West Papua and its movements, in recent years this has become totally irrelevant. Meaning that the unity between Papuan people's groups has become increasingly solid, although attempts at dividing and playing off groups against each other by Jakarta have increased in frequency.

Jakarta's policy of "Special Autonomy" is increasingly understood by the Papuan people as little more than a bribe and illusion. "Special Autonomy" has failed to deliver political freedom, let alone prosperity for the Papuan people. In many instances it has simply left behind school buildings that have no students or community healthcare centres without doctors. Economically, it has only benefited a handful of the elite through infrastructure projects, but failed to address human development as a whole.

Ethnic differences arising from the more than 250 or so tribes that exit in West Papua or the lack of a "Papuan language" can no longer be used as grounds to claim that West Papua does not exist as a "nation". Or likewise the divisions of the Papuan people as a nation, because the development of the Papuan people's movement has demonstrated increasingly close and meaningful social and political bonds.

Why? Of course what is most essential is the oppression of political freedoms (freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of speech, and freedom of thinking) along with the exploitation of natural resources by international companies (such as Freeport) that are affiliated with the Indonesian government and are destroying West Papua's environment. Not to mention the exploitation of the Papuan people who earn lower wages than non-Papuans.

Or the share of profits from mining. International companies are "ransacking" Papua's huge natural wealth and human labour. Yet the tiny share of profits that remain in the country are then being "robbed" yet again by the Indonesian government.

Let us look at how the entity of Papua has developed from an "embryo" to an increasingly solid nation.

In the interests of stealing profits from the exploitation of Papua's natural resources, the Pepera was implemented through coercion and manipulation. Following this, those who demanded historical truth were repressed by the military. The interests of international corporations were opened up by the militarism of Suharto's New Order dictatorship through the destruction of the movement and the arrest of Ferry Awom in 1967, who along with others had declared the OPM two years earlier.

Arnold Ap, a Papuan activist and artist in the cultural movement in 1984 was eventually arrested by Kopashanda (now Kopassus, the Army's Special Forces). Arnold Ap's body was found sprawled in the middle of the jungle in April 1994. This was then followed by killings in Enarotali, Obano, Moanemani and Wamena resulting in as many as 10,000 Papuan fleeing to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to seek safety in the years 1977-1978 and the early 1980s. A Military Operational Zone (DOM) came into force in West Papua between 1978 and October 5, 1998.

In 1988 Dr. Thomas Wanggai, who declared Papua independent in 1988, died in detention at Cipinang prison in Jakarta in 1996. The case that still attracts political attention to this day is the Abepura case which resulted in the death of scores of people as well as the more recent bloody Paniai case. These cases do not yet include the shooting of other West Papuan pro-democracy activists, activists that have been jailed for years such as Filep Karma, and the murder of Mako Tabuni. Finally, the more than 1,000 Papuan activists, the majority of which are members of the KNPB, that have been arrested and jailed. Not to mention the murder of unidentified individuals who have been shot or run down by vehicles in the middle of the road.

Rather than providing more democratic space, the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, through former Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan (who was recently replaced by former General Wiranto), has allowed an increase in the number of Regional Military Commands (Kodam) and issued discriminatory statements against the ordinary Papuan people.

The massive economic exploitation of natural resources in West Papua is clearly visible. As is taking place in the forests of Wasior, illegal logging by the military and various companies is occurring on a massive scale resulting in the eviction of traditional communities. Protests by these traditional communities have ended in shootings and the death of six people. Not to mention the massive Freeport MacMoran mine, which is largely owned by the US, which began operations in the 1960s.

The Freeport gold and copper mine actually receives tax benefits of between US$700-800 million and as much as US$1 billion annually. Not to mention the various tribes in Papua that have lost their land and livelihoods because of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), as in the case of the Mahuze clan in Merauke.

They have suffered brutal repression and the destruction of their environment which for them is the "Mother" of the Papuan nation. The Papuan People have experienced racial discrimination both in their own land as well as in other parts of Indonesia such as Manado, North Sulawesi and in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta, as in the recent case of Papuan students at the Papuan Student Dormitory in Kemasan, Yogyakarta. They also suffer racial discrimination in the workplace, both in government institutions and the private sector.

As if this is not enough, the total number of Papuans is steadily declining. Data for the years 2013 and 2014 show that the number of indigenous Papuans was around 1.7 million while the number of non-Papuan migrants stood at 2 million. Data for 2015, up until May, shows the number of indigenous Papuans has declined to 1.5 million while non-Papuans have increased to 2.3 million. According to a statement by the AMP, the number of indigenous Papuans has declined by around 200,000 over just a few months.

The decline in the number of indigenous Papuans is being caused by systematic and massive murder, an atmosphere of fear created by the Indonesian military resulting in migration to PNG, deaths due to HIV and AIDS, alcohol related health problems and child malnutrition.

For the Papuan people, being part of Indonesia for almost 50 years has not brought happiness, but instead physical and psychological repression and the destruction of their "Mother". So what then is the meaning of being part of Indonesia? Increasingly it has no meaning. Increasingly they feel as if they are not part of Indonesia. And that means a growing sentiment for self-determination as an independent nation.

The capitalist economic and political relations in Papua have integrated the Papuan people from various tribes and clans in the markets, schools and universities, hospitals and other places of association. Yet the militaristic repression, the destruction of the environment along with their organisational resistance has provided a material bases for West Papua's development as a nation.

As defenders of democracy and human rights, recognising West Papua as a nation, supporting and giving solidarity to the right to self-determination through a referendum for the Papuan nation, is the way by which to free the Papuan people from the militaristic repression of the Indonesian government, so that the violence will end, so that there will be peace, freedom and prosperity in the land and nation of Papua.

Because of this therefore, we call on our comrades, both as organisations and as individuals, to unite and take a stand in supporting the right to self-determination through a referendum for the Papuan people, to consolidate in building an Indonesian People's Solidarity movement for the Nation of West Papua.

[Surya Anta is the spokesperson of the People's Liberation Party (PPR). Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "Seruan Konsolidasi Rakyat Indonesia bagi Bangsa Papua".]

Source: http://koranpembebasan.org/2016/09/seruan-konsolidasi-rakyat-indonesia-bagi-bangsa-papua/

Police question 32 over shooting of a student

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Jayapura – Papua Police are investigating the fatal shooting of 15-year-old student Otianus Sondegau in Sugapa, Intan Jaya Papua, on Saturday by questioning 32 witnesses of the incident.

Papua Police chief Paulus Waterpauw said police investigators had examined the scene where the victim was gunned down.

Of the 32 witnesses, the police chief said, eight of them were eyewitnesses, 10 were members of the Police mobile brigade (Brimob) and 14 were members of the Sugapa Police station.

Prior to the incident, a rental car driver was extorted by a group of drunken young men on an intersection near a traditional market.

From an autopsy of the victim's body, the police chief said, the bullet hit the victim's back through to the chest. "The gunshot wound indicates the shot was not fired at close range. We are investigating this," Paulus added.

The victim had been buried near where both incidents took place at the request of the local community, according to Paulus.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/02/island-focus-police-question-32-over-shooting-a-student.html

LGBT community in Papua keep growing every year

Tabloid JUBI - September 2, 2016

Jayapura, Jubi – Chairman of the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association Jayapura Municipality, Agus Fauzi, said the number of LGBT in Papua is continuously growing each year.

"I will not say the total, as well as the venue where they often hang out together, but the number is growing from year to year as the result of the same sex interaction," he said at his office in Jayapura on Thursday (1/9/2016).

LGBT, said Agus, apparently started from the interaction between the young people of the productive age. Further, LGBT in Papua already formed a community to accommodate them.

According to him, IPPA already provide socialization to the LGBT community and hope they do not adversely affect the others or transfer their LGBT character to others.

"We must do an extra work to disseminate the information to the public that started from 12 years old, the first age of puberty, children must get the education on reproduction health to avoid them to become the LGBT," said Agus who's also the Department Head of Special Area of BKKBN (Family Planning Agency) Papua.

In addition to the same sex relationship, according to Agus, the life style is also affecting the LGBT growth. He took an example, if someone had friendship with a perfume seller, he would smell fragrant. If he got a blacksmith friend, he would smell of charcoal.

He said the only way to overcome the LGBT is to provide enforcement and education to the children from an early age and when they grow to be teenagers.

"Because of hormonal factor and often hang out with the LGBT, they must become one of them as well. This could be healed; the important is the family's support. But if you still relate with those persons, you won't be healed," he said.

One of LGBT in Abepura who refuse to be named said he was attracted to the men since he was 14 years old. "I don't know why, but that's what I feel. Since in the elementary and junior high school, I always get along with the girls. Perhaps this is the reason why I become like this, but I hope I could be just normal like the others," he said. (*/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/lgbt-community-papua-keep-growing-every-year/

Aceh

Leuser ecosystem must be included in Aceh spatial plan: Expert

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono, Jakarta – Leuser ecosystem, a UNESCO world heritage site that covers thousands of hectares of protected forest in Aceh and North Sumatra, must be included in the Aceh spatial plan regulation (Qanun RTRWA), former environment minister Emil Salim has stated.

The esteemed professor at the University of Indonesia made the statement in his capacity as an expert witness in legal proceedings pertaining to the Aceh government's decision to exclude the Leuser ecosystem from the 2013 Qanun on spatial planning.

"The Leuser Ecosystem is one of our national strategic areas and is regulated under national law. Therefore, it must be included in the qanun", Emil said on Tuesday at the Central Jakarta District Court. Acehnese – grouped under GeRAM – sued the home minister, Aceh governor, and Aceh's council speaker.

The establishment of the Leuser ecosystem, he explained, dates back to 1920 when Acehnese leaders rejected the Dutch colonial government's plan to convert the forest and open up mining and plantation companies. "The Leuser ecosystem is one of the world's 25-most important and unique ecosystems," said Emil.

Nurul Ikhsan, coordinator of GeRAM, said the defendants had violated national law by passing the qanun without including the ecosystem. "What the plaintiffs want is not any material gain, what we demand is only that the defendants include the Leuser ecosystem in the Aceh spatial plan." (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/leuser-ecosystem-must-be-included-in-aceh-spatial-plan-expert.html

Human rights & justice

Films screenings held in 23 cities in honor of Munir

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Jakarta – The House of Munir museum, or Omah Munir, and Sahabat Munir (Friends of Munir) activists will commemorate the 12-year anniversary of the death of the slain human rights campaigner with a series of movie screenings this week.

This year's theme, according to Omah Munir volunteer Ucu Agustin, is "A Night to Pay Attention to Munir".

The screenings will be held from Sept. 4 to 11 in 23 cities, including Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Surabaya, Bali, Makassar and Jayapura. The peak will be on Sept. 7, the day Munir Said Thalib, the founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) died after being poisoned aboard an airplane from Indonesia to Amsterdam in 2004.

"We must remember that Munir's case is not settled yet," Ucu said on Sunday, as quoted by tempo.co.

The movies to be shown were about Munir and social injustice, as the screenings aimed to draw society's attention to Munir's unresolved case.

The movies include Bunga Dibakar (Burned Flowers) by Ratrikala Bhre Aditya and Garuda's Deadly Upgrade by Lexy Rambadeta and David O'shea, both documentaries on Munir's murder, as well as Tuti Koto: A Brave Woman by Riri Riza, His Story by Steve Pillar Setiabudi, Kiri Hijau Kanan Merah (Left Green, Right Red) by Dandhy Dwi Laksono and Cerita tentang Cak Munir (A Story on Cak Munir) by Hariwi.

Activists would also hold their weekly silent protest in front of the State Palace as part of efforts to commemorate the activist's death on Sept. 8, as every Thursday (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/films-screenings-held-in-23-cities-in-honor-of-munir.html

Sexual & domestic violence

Child prostitution in West Java sets off alarm

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Jakarta – The discovery of an online prostitution ring involving nearly 150 boys in Bogor, West Java, has raised concerns over the growing threat facing Indonesian children in the age of social media.

The case shows that suspected predators are aggressively recruiting children – by direct coaxing or through social media – to be prostitutes and sold online to pedophiles, some of whom are foreigners.

The number of victims is expected to increase, National Police spokesman Sr. Com. Martinus Sitompul told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The police previously reported that the number of children pimped by the suspect, identified as AR, through a Facebook page called "Berondong Bogor" had reached 148.

As of today, the police have arrested three suspects in the case. AR, the pimp, was busted during a police raid at a Bogor hotel in West Java. He was found with seven boys below 16-years-old. The other suspects are U, who also acted as a pimp, and E, who helped AR recruit children and prepare accounts to receive client payments.

The police had handed over the seven victims to the Social Affairs Ministry, which placed them at the Bambu Apus safe house in East Jakarta.

Edi Suharto, head of education and research and social extension at the Social Affairs Ministry, said the ministry had met with all of the seven victims and also their parents to dig deeper into the case.

The ministry found that some of the children were living in boarding houses, without direct supervision from their parents. They were also from low-income families. "Five of the seven children dropped out of school. Only two are still going to school," he said.

To lure the boys, the suspects allegedly approached each boy and introduced them to a materialistic world. The suspects invited the kids to go around in cars, bought them new shoes and other things, he said.

After they became close with each other, the suspects allegedly sold the boys for sex to men for between Rp 1.2 million (US$91.3) to Rp 1.5 million each, compensating each of the victims between Rp 100,000 to 150,000, he said.

One of the victims claimed that in addition to the small compensation received, sometimes their customers gave them tips for about Rp 8 million to Rp 10 million. Some of the customers were foreigners, he said.

The ministry interviewed some of the victims' parents and found that they had no clue their children were involved in an online prostitution ring.

The National Child Protection Commission (KPAI) chairman, Asrorun Niam Sholeh, said the online prostitution case should be a wake-up call for the nation, as methods of carrying out sexual abuse is becoming more varied.

"This should become the momentum to fight the sexual abuse of children and also our concrete support for the President's stance of categorizing it as an extraordinary crime by issuing a regulation in lieu of law [Perppu]," he said.

About four months ago, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo issued a Perppu on sexual violence against children that will serve as a new legal basis to protect Indonesian children from abuse and exploitation. It stipulates that pedophiles and child rapists may be subjected to chemical castration and even the death penalty.

The Perppu is currently under the deliberation process at the House of Representatives. Almost all factions in the House Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs have agreed with the Perppu, except the Gerindra Party. (win)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/child-prostitution-west-java-sets-alarm.html

Freedom of speech & expression

Ignoring criticism, House to pass draconian ITE bill into law

Jakarta Post - September 3, 2016

Jakarta – The House of Representatives is set to pass the revision of the controversial 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law by the end of this month despite mounting criticism from civil society groups and internet users who regard the law as too draconian.

Deputy chairman of House Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs, Tubagus Hassanudin, said the commission had resolved all the contentious points in the bill and would bring it to the plenary session to pass into law in the third week of September.

"All political factions have already agreed to the revision. We will immediately bring it to the plenary meeting to pass it into law," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Tubagus acknowledged that many people had expressed concerns that the defamation clause within the revision, which was retained by lawmakers, was inimical to freedom of speech with many innocent people jailed for merely expressing their opinions on the web. However, he said, the defamation article was still needed to protect citizens from online defamation.

The House, he said, had decided to reduce the maximum sentence from six to four years in their attempt to make the article less draconian. The Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) stipulates that a person charged with a crime carrying a maximum punishment of five years' imprisonment can be detained during investigation.

A researcher with the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR), Anggara, said that determining the maximum sentence should have been based on profound research and consideration, not just on whether it would lead to detention or not.

Anggara also criticized the lack of transparency regarding the bill's deliberation by the House, saying that it did not reflect the House's claim to be accountable.

An observer at the Legal Aid for the Press (LBH Pers), Asep Komarudin, said the law had lost its purpose, which was to protect citizens from online fraud, not online defamation.

"It's a huge disappointment if the revision amounts merely to a reduction of maximum sentences. It does not serve the public interest," he said, adding that the law was often used as a legal method of silencing and prosecuting critics.

Article 27 (3) of the law stipulates criminal punishments for anyone found guilty of transmitting electronic information or documents that intimidate or defame another.

Ade said that the law should have been made to regulate the rising e-commerce sector or online applications to prevent companies from misusing customers' private data. "The Technology and Information Ministry has frequently issued ministerial decrees to regulate online activities. Why not just draft them into law instead?" he said.

The law was initially aimed at protecting Indonesian internet users, whose numbers have grown exponentially in the last couple of years, from the danger of internet fraud.

Last month, a man in Medan was sentenced to 14 months in prison because a Facebook friend tagged him in a post that shared news of an alleged corruption case involving one of the most influential people in the city. (fac)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/03/ignoring-criticism-house-pass-draconian-ite-bill-law.html

Democracy & civil rights

Despite Jokowi's aspirations, dual citizenship not on horizon

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Recent controversy over dual citizenship and the growing role of the Indonesian diaspora have brought up the country's long-time plan to revise the 2006 Citizenship Law to allow dual nationality.

Following the dismissal of former energy and mineral resources minister Arcandra Tahar over his citizenship status, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has signaled that the government might allow dual citizenship in the future to accommodate "another" Arcandra who might benefit the country with their skills and experience. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has reiterated that the law revision is indeed in his favor, as he invited 74 Indonesian professors living in the US, some who may already hold US citizenship, to return and assist his administration in developing the country. The bill containing the revisions to the 2006 law has also entered the 2014-2019 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

However, despite Jokowi's aspiration, the political mood in the House of Representatives is not in support of dual citizenship.

"We should stick to only allow a single citizenship, however, we can still accommodate Indonesian diaspora interests [without having to allow dual citizenship]," Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) deputy chairman Andreas Hugo Pareira said.

Indonesia has experienced the phenomena of brain drain, which happens when skilled workers migrate abroad to seek work opportunities, resulting in brain gain for destination countries, Andreas said. However, instead of revising the law, Indonesia could create better incentives for its diaspora to turn the brain drain into brain gain, he added.

Taking lessons from India and China, two countries that created brain gain from their diaspora; Indonesia could provide better policy, infrastructure, as well as facilities to accommodate its diaspora to develop the country. China, for example, offers simpler investment procedures for its diaspora to invest in the country, Andreas said.

Gerindra Party legislator Muhammad Syafii said he opposed dual citizenship since it was susceptible to abuse by those who only wanted to gain economic benefits from Indonesia. It could collide with the country's national interests in the future, he said.

Experts, including state law expert Hikmahanto Juwana and international law expert Mahmud Syaltout have said dual citizenship would be dangerous for the country because people could use it for criminal action, including tax evasion.

"Humans act on their own interest. With dual citizenship, they will consider which citizenship brings them more benefits. [For example] they will use Indonesian citizenship when they invest, but he can opt to use their foreign citizenship to get their money abroad," Syaltout told The Jakarta Post.

Top government officials themselves are not exactly enthusiastic about allowing dual citizenship. But as a show of goodwill to the lobbying diaspora communities, the government gave immigration privileges to them.

Government Regulation (PP) No. 26/2016 on immigration signed by President Jokowi on June 27, an amendment of PP No. 31/2013, stipulated the diaspora could obtain five-year multiple entry visas.

Once the regulation is implemented, the diaspora would also able to extend their stay permits from 30 days to 60 days per visit, according to the law.

The visa privilege could be enjoyed by members of the Indonesian diaspora that possess "diaspora cards", an identity token for Indonesians abroad the government plans to roll out soon after deliberations are completed. Deliberations are to finish by the end of this year, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has said.

The Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister is also drafting a list of economic benefits for the diaspora, including better access to doing business in the country, property ownership and value-added investment opportunities, as a response to the strong aspirations of Indonesians abroad, Retno said.

"There is no need to revise the law to allow dual nationality. Now that we have [introduced a set of visa privileges], there is no need for the diaspora to go back and forth to apply for visas. Dual citizenship still has a long way to go as it requires further studies," Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said.

Indonesia's decision to finally recognize its diaspora's aspirations, came from an estimated 8 million Indonesians taking up residence abroad, has been generally welcomed by the diaspora, who said that at least the government had become responsive in creating a solution based on mutualism principles.

Nuning Hallet, the Jakarta representative of the Dual Citizenship and Immigration Advocacy Team, Indonesia Diaspora Network Global, said diaspora cards should function more like citizenship cards that could bring more benefits, such as giving members of the diaspora who had gained foreign citizenship privileges to invest in the country not as foreign investors, but as Indonesian investors.

She, however, said the diaspora would continue to push for dual citizenship. "It is the aspiration of Indonesians abroad," Nuning said. (evi)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/despite-jokowis-aspirations-dual-citizenship-not-on-horizon.html

Political parties & elections

Millions of people may lose voting rights

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Jakarta – Millions of people could lose their voting rights in the upcoming regional elections in February as the government and the House of Representatives insist that they have electronic identification cards (e-KTPs) to be eligible to vote.

As of Wednesday, the Home Ministry reported that 163 million people nationwide had already registered for e-KTPs. However, the remaining 19 million people have yet to obtain the cards.

Many across the country are complaining about the shortage of blangko – blank cards used to create e-KTPs consisting of seven layers and chips. Some of them also said that many registration machines in the districts are broken.

The country will hold simultaneous regional elections in 101 regions across the country. From these regions, five million eligible voters still do not own e-KTPs, which means that the abstention rate due to administrative problems might rise during elections, Sigit Pamungkas, the General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner, told The Jakarta Post. "Just because of administrative problems, citizens' rights to vote in elections would be disqualified," he said.

The KPU met with the government and the House of Representatives on Monday to discuss the issue. It suggested that all citizens be given opportunities to vote by using valid identifications, including e-KTPs, non-electronic IDs and family cards.

The poll body based its argument on Article 95 of Law No. 8/2015 on the revision of the election of regional heads, which stipulates that voters who are not registered in the voters' lists can exercise their rights to vote at a polling station, in accordance with their residency, by showing valid identifications.

"E-KTPs should be seen as a civil service that the government must provide to its citizens, whereas voting is a civic right. When a problem of civil services is faced with civil rights, the right solution should be made to ensure the rights of citizens are protected," Sigit said.

Unfortunately, the government and the House rebuffed the KPU's proposal, saying that, according to the regulations, citizens are only allowed to vote if they have e-KTPs or letters from the department of population and civil registry, explaining that they had taken the initiative to apply for e-KTPs.

Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, the director general of the ministry's population and civil registration division, admitted that technical glitches were still happening. For instance, 800 e-KTP registration devices throughout the country were still broken. However, he said it was not a big problem since residents could still record their data in other districts close by.

He added that the Home Ministry kept urging the public to apply for e-KTPs for their benefits.

"In order for people to obtain their rights, they need to fulfill some requirements. In the election, e-KTPs are important, so we know their personal identification. Also, [it is] to prevent double identification cards," he said.

Furthermore, he reminded that the rule of having an e-KTP is stipulated in the Presidential Decree No. 112/2013, stating that non-electronic identity cards obtained after Dec. 31, 2014 are not valid.

"We have to push citizens to comply with the law. The government is already active, so citizens should show they are also willing to do it," he said.

At present, he claimed that public enthusiasm in applying for e-KTPs had risen. On Monday and Sunday, the number of people recorded with e-KTPs had increased sevenfold in Bantul, Yogyakarta and fourfold in West Java. (win)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/millions-people-may-lose-voting-rights.html

Political jobs for convicts dash hopes for leaders with integrity

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Pandaya, Jakarta – "When lawmakers are mulling a legislative plan, be very, very afraid." So goes a classic adage warning of anxieties about an impending law tailor-made to defend politicians' interests rather than the public.

A piece of such ominous news came from the House of Representatives very recently. Lawmakers stirred up a fresh political commotion after they floated the idea of allowing convicted criminals placed on probation to run for regional elections.

They knew perfectly well that the proposal was not only immoral but also against Law No. 10/2016 on regional elections, which states that to qualify for candidacy, a person must never have been convicted of any crime by a court of law.

But, with the support of the Home Ministry, the legislators also knew equally well how to force their way: pressuring the General Elections Commission (KPU) to adapt its Regulation No. 5/2016 on regional elections.

The proposition was put on the table during a regular hearing between legislators, KPU commissioners and Home Ministry officials amid preparations for the upcoming round of simultaneous regional elections scheduled for Feb. 15 next year.

Proponents have argued that people on probation should still fully retain their political rights because a verdict that allows the accused to remain in the community is not final in nature until they have completed their probation or been sent to jail for a repeat offense. What's more, they are insistent that probation is typically handed down to people who commit petty crimes.

The KPU begs to differ, believing that probation is unquestionably a guilty verdict and the interpretation should not be overstretched. But the problem is if lawmakers and the government eventually agree to alter the law, the KPU has no power to stop it.

However, it seems that doomsday is not a certainty yet; well, at least it will not come anytime soon. Fierce popular resistance aside, not all political factions in the House and government bureaucracy are happy about the idea.

Arteria Dahlan, a lawmaker from the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for example, has openly opposed it, calling the advocates' arguments "misguided", which could set off an unnecessary political uproar.

After the plan met with a torrent of criticism, the Home Ministry's director general for regional autonomy Soni Sumarsono clarified the government's stand; only people on probation for petty crimes will be given the chance but not those guilty of three serious types of offenses – drugs, corruption and pedophilia.

"Basically, we're doing our best to protect people's constitutional right to elect their leaders or be elected as leaders," he told the media.

There is no doubt that the plan to allow crooks on probation to try their luck in local contests for power is a regression in the development of democracy in the country. Politicians' latest moves to loosen election rules reminds us of last year's unprecedented simultaneous regional elections, when some candidates hooked up in legal wrangles were allowed to run and, oddly, some triumphed.

This April, the Home Ministry canceled the inauguration of Rokan Hulu regent elect Suparman because he was named a graft suspect. He was not as lucky as another four regents elect who were sworn in early this year despite their suspect status: the mayor of Gunung Sitoli in North Sumatra, Lakhomizaro Zebua; regent of Sabu Raijua in East Nusa Tenggara, Dira Tome; regent of Ngada in East Nusa Tenggara, Marianus Sae; and regent of Maros in South Sulawesi, Hatta Rahman.

Apparently, political parties – which are among the most corrupt and distrusted institutions according to opinion polls – have yet to make their senior members' ethical track records a prerequisite for candidacy. This has given politics a bad name.

Widespread vote-buying has become an open secret, so much so that people believe money is the most decisive factor in the battle for public jobs. Once a candidate clinches a political job after a costly campaign, he or she thinks of how to recoup the billions of rupiah already spent. It explains why many lawmakers, councilors and state bureaucrats have been prosecuted and convicted for graft.

Chances are that such a short-sighted rule would be challenged at the Supreme Court and the tedious legal process could hamper preparations for the upcoming simultaneous local elections.

The idea of easing regional electoral rules to allow persons on probation to contest elections should be rejected because not only is it against the law but it carries the danger of putting dishonest people in charge of government.

A convict regional leader, albeit on probation, would be an object of ridicule at best and forever hounded by questions of integrity.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/political-jobs-convicts-dash-hopes-leaders-with-integrity.html

Jokowi helps boost Golkar's electability

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Jakarta – The 2019 presidential election is still three years away, but the Golkar Party has already launched an aggressive campaign in the regions for its presidential nominee: President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

In many of its events across Indonesia, the party has erected banners, billboards and other paraphernalia bearing Jokowi's image, side by side with pictures of Golkar party chairman Setya Novanto, secretary-general Idrus Marham and treasurer Robert Joppy Kardinal. At a Golkar office in West Jakarta, banners could also be seen, again with Jokowi's image.

Golkar spokeswoman Nurul Arifin said on Saturday that the move was a follow up to the party's decision to officially back Jokowi, which was made at Golkar's national leadership meeting (Rapimnas) on July 27. "It is an expression of Golkar party support for Jokowi. There's nothing wrong with that," she said on Sunday.

It is not unusual for the country's oldest established party to campaign for its presidential nominee early. Three years before the 2014 election, the party had campaigned for then party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, said Ace Hasan Syadzily, another Golkar spokesman.

Golkar chairman Setya has said the support thrown behind Jokowi was a strategy to help the party reach its target in the next election of winning 120 seats in the House of Representatives. He also said that it was a way to associate Jokowi with Golkar.

The strategy, barely a month after its implementation, seems to be paying off. A national survey by Indikator Politik Indonesia conducted from Aug. 1 to 9, only a few days after Golkar stated its official support for the President, found that Golkar's electability stood at 16 percent. The survey questioned 1,220 eligible voters chosen randomly.

"Last year, when Golkar was still active as a leading voice in the opposition Red-and-White Coalition in the House, its electability was only between 9 and 10 percent," political commentator Burhanuddin Muhtadi of Indikator Politik Indonesia (IPI) told The Jakarta Post.

Nurul said the fact that Golkar's electability had risen was a result of its political work, claiming that any other parties could also do the same thing as long as they communicated with Jokowi.

After two years in office, Jokowi remains popular, despite a series of scandals that have called his leadership into question.

Based on the Indikator survey, a clear majority of voters, 68 percent, are satisfied with the performance of President Jokowi. The level of confidence in the President's ability to lead the nation is also high at 78 percent. (win)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/jokowi-helps-boost-golkar-s-electability.html

Journalism & press freedom

Four journalists win 2016 Diversity Awards

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Association of Journalists for Diversity (Sejuk) declared on Wednesday four reporters winners of the 2016 Diversity Awards for their efforts in campaigning for peace and pluralism as well as for defending beleaguered minority groups across the country through their publications.

The winners were Furqon Alya Himawan from Media Indonesia daily, Heyder Affan of BBC Indonesia, Jessica Halena Wuysang from Antara news portal and Margie Ernawati from Elshinta radio station in Semarang.

Furqon, who won in the print media outlet category, impressed the panelists with his article "Toleransi Memudar di Kota Pelajar" (Decline of Tolerance in Student City).

In his article, Furqon pointed out how intolerant acts, such as the forceful closures of discussions and film screenings in a number of places in the region, had changed Yogyakarta's 2011 tagline the "City of Tolerance" to the "City of Intolerance".

The latest incident to besmirch the image of Yogyakarta took place in April when dozens of Islamic mass organizations, supported by Kasihan Police personnel, disbanded the Lady Fast 2016, an art event held by female artist group Kolektif Betina at Survive Garage, Yogyakarta.

The article also highlighted a controversial act of intolerance by the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI), which pressured local authorities to close Al-Fatah Pesantren Waria (Islamic boarding school for transgender students) in Jagalan subdistrict, Banguntapan district, Yogyakarta, in February.

"Like magic, the calls turned into reality, with the village authorities eventually shutting down the pesantren," Furqon said in his article.

"The reporter supported his article with strong data and the writing exposed various perspectives to understand the case, including seeing it from the side of education," said Sejuk chairman Ahmad Junaidi, who is also an editor at The Jakarta Post.

Jessica was declared the photography category winner by panel members Andy Budiman of Sejuk, Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) chairman Suwarjono, Junaidi, Gusdurian Network coordinator Alissa Wahid and seasoned photographer Erik Prasetya.

The picture submitted by Jessica depicted the dramatic eviction of and burning of homes belonging to Fajar Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) community members in Kalimantan.

Heyder's winning piece in the online media outlet category centered around the ongoing discourse on Wahabisme and moderate Islam.

Meanwhile, Margie won in the radio category with her work that the panel said exposed the suffering by Ahmadiyah Al-Kautsar members in Semarang.

Sejuk was established in May 2008 by about 30 journalists from various media outlets and human rights campaigners and writers who were committed to fighting rising conservatism in Indonesia through journalism diversity to campaign for peace and to defend minority groups in their publications.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/four-journalists-win-2016-diversity-awards.html

Environment & natural disasters

Coal dependence jeopardizes Indonesia's carbon-reduction target

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indonesia's target of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 29 percent by 2030 appears ever-more unrealistic as the government continues to push the use of coal for the foreseeable future to meet skyrocketing electricity demand.

In the past five years, the energy supply mix for power plants has been dominated by coal, followed by natural gas and oil. This supply-mix development has significantly increased GHG emissions from energy producers and industry.

The country's increasing dependence on coal is shown by the use of coal in electricity generation, which has more than doubled since 2012, increasing by 81 percent since 2002, reaching 195.9 TWh.

Indonesia's dependence on coal, coupled with rising energy consumption in Indonesia, will drive the energy sector to overtake deforestation as the largest carbon-emission contributor in Indonesia.

In 2010, energy consumption contributed 400 million tons of CO2. By 2020, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) predicts it will double to 800 million tons. And by 2045, it will more than quadruple to 1.7 billion tons.

On the other hand, carbon emissions from agriculture, forestry and other land use as well as peat decomposition and peat fires amounted to 900 million tons in 2010 and is predicted to decrease to 760 million tons in 2020 and reach 1.14 billion tons by 2045.

"While in the past, the largest emissions came from forest fires, in the future the largest portion will be from the energy sector. And if we further break it down, the majority of it will come from coal," said Jarman, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's electricity director-general.

Despite that, the country's dependence on coal is showing no sign of abating. In mid-2015, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced a target of increasing electricity generation by 35 gigawatts by 2019. Approximately 20 GW of the target will be met from coal-fired sources, with 13 GW from natural gas-fired plants and 3.7 GW from renewable sources (primarily hydroelectricity and geothermal).

This coal dependence has steadily depleted the country's coal reserves, so much so that the country will struggle to provide the coal required to fire its power stations in the near future.

"Our coal reserves amount to 8.3 billion tons. Most likely we will run out of coal by 2036. It means if you build your 35 GW [power stations], we won't have enough coal to supply you," Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) chairman Pandu Sjahrir said. He was citing a study conducted by the APBI together with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Indonesia.

Despite the warning, the energy ministry insists that coal is still the most economically viable energy option for now. "For power plants, coal still has the best prospect because it's the most readily available and we already have the technology. Furthermore, the construction [of coal-powered plants] doesn't take long, just five years. So whether you like it or not, the most readily available option is coal," the ministry's electricity technique and environment director, Munir Ahmad, said. While the government continues its dependence on coal, it has been trying to reduce the emissions from coal-fired power plants by developing clean-coal technology in the form of supercritical or fluidized bed coal power plants. The clean-coal technology could reduce CO2 emissions by 35 percent compared to existing technology.

According to Indonesia's Biennial Update Reports (BUR), which contain the latest information on the country's climate change mitigation progress, the country has established a total capacity of 1,475 megawatts in supercritical coal power plants.

"The government requires power plants with a capacity of more than 600 MW to use supercritical technology," Jarman said.

Meanwhile, to answer the coal scarcity problem, the government is mulling the development of underground coal mining, according to Munir. "The development of underground coal mining has to be discussed now because most coal is still mined on the surface," he said.

Another option is to develop mine-mouth power plants, Munir added. "We still have lots of mine-mouth coal that we can't sell to other countries but we can use for our electricity," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/coal-dependence-jeopardizes-indonesia-s-carbon-reduction-target.html

Ministry fights lonely battle against aggressive firms

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Hans Nicholas Jong and Rizal Harahap, Jakarta/Pekanbaru – Following an incident in Riau where officials from the Environment and Forestry Ministry were taken hostage and threatened with death while investigating a forest fire, the ministry has called on the National Police to provide protection for its investigators.

The ministry's law enforcement director general, Rasio Ridho Sani, said protection from the police would be crucial for future investigations into the practice employed by companies of illegally clearing land by burning it. Rasio noted that this was the first time its law enforcement personnel had been met with such a serious kind of threat.

"In the past, we often faced resistance from companies, but they were mild, such as being told to wait for a long time, being shown the wrong direction and so on. This is the first time a company deployed a huge mob with threats and intimidation," he told The Jakarta Post.

Late last week, ministry officials investigating the alleged involvement of PT Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL) in a massive forest fire in the area were held hostage by individuals allegedly dispatched by the firm. The attack took place after the officials collected photographic evidence of an alleged forest clearance through burning.

The ministry's law enforcement efforts in Riau, however, will continue to face challenges as it is thought by some that local police in the province play an active role in securing the interests of palm oil firms.

Allegations are rife that senior police officers in the area are in close contact with the executives of palm oil companies. Furthermore, the police are accused of orchestrating the decision to drop investigations into 15 companies allegedly responsible for illegally clearing land earlier this year.

A photo recently circulated on social media might indicate close ties between PT APSL and the police in Riau.

The photo shows a number of high-ranking police officers from Riau and the National Police posing together with PT APSL president director Anton Yan, who was named a suspect in 2015 in a case related to forest fires.

The photo was uploaded by one of the police officers, Pekanbaru Police chief Sr. Comr. Toni Hermawan, on his Path social media account.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the meeting, which happened on the seventh floor of the Grand Central Pekanbaru Hotel, was accidental and none of the police officers knew the executives from PT APSL.

"In the photo, only one is a palm oil business player. And this palm oil company has nothing to do with the 15 companies that received the SP3 [termination of investigation]," Tito said.

Tito said that because PT APSL was not one of the 15 companies, the accidental meeting had nothing to do with the decision made by the Riau Police.

Separately, PT APSL has issued a statement denying its involvement in the hostage-taking incident, saying it had not directed the local farmers to take action against the ministry officials.

"What happened was not a hostage-taking situation but a spontaneous action [by the local farmers] because [they] felt a bit disrespected," PT APSL spokesperson Novalina Sirait told the Post. "The investigators visited customary land and thus the local people felt a bit disrespected. That's it," she said. (win)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/ministry-fights-lonely-battle-against-aggressive-firms.html

Palm oil firm accused of hiring men to kidnap smog inspectors in Indonesia

The Guardian (Australia) - September 6, 2016

Oliver Holmes, Bangkok and agencies – Up to 100 Indonesian men, believed to have been hired by a palm oil firm, took a team of official environmental investigators hostage on Friday and threatened to burn them alive, Indonesia's environment ministry has said.

The government team of seven were documenting illegal forest fires, which are often set ablaze deliberately by agriculture firms to clear land for replanting during the dry season.

The ministry of environment and forestry said its team was held overnight until Saturday morning when negotiations with police and local officials led to their release. During their detention, the investigators were told they would be killed and dumped in a river, the ministry added.

It said there were "strong indications" that their captors were mobilised by Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL), a palm oil firm operating in Riau province, along the Strait of Malacca.

"With this incident, the investigation of [APSL] will become our top priority," the environment minister, Siti Nurbaya, said in a statement. "The environment ministry will investigate this and take strict action in accordance with the law," she added.

The Guardian was not immediately able to contact the company. But the Jakarta Post reported that APSL denied defying the ministry, blaming the incident on local farmers who were offended by the investigators.

"We are mentioned every time something happens on the local farmers' lands. We don't facilitate the local farmers. We are not in the position to defy the ministry," a spokesperson said.

"The local farmers had spoken to the media. It was not a hostage situation. It was their own spontaneity because they felt they were not respected."

Every year, fires destroy wildlife and the acrid smoke from illegal burns across Indonesia fills the sky, causing deadly respiratory issues across the region.

Home to the world's third-largest area of tropical forests, Indonesia is also the world's fifth-largest emitter of the greenhouse gases, largely due to deforestation and burning.

Some of the fires are seasonal with trees burning naturally towards of end the dry season. But most of the smoke is caused by illegal slash and burn practices, where land is set on fire as a cheap way to clear it for farming. In particular, peat soil is burned to make the ground ready for palms.

The country has vowed to crack down on the fires and regularly engages in diplomatic spats with neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, where the smoke causes schools in both countries closed due to the low air quality.

The issue is so severe that south-east Asian countries set up an intergovernmental agreement. Since its inception in 2002, the haze has continued annually.

President Joko Widodo in April said he would impose a moratorium on expanding palm oil plantations, which produce oil for products such a soap and chocolate, part of the country's efforts to reduce the impact on the environment.

Under Indonesian law, management of companies allowing illegal fires can face up to 10 years in jail. But the country's huge size and the local clout of powerful agribusiness firms make it difficult to police companies engaged in slash and burn techniques.

Before they were let go, the team held on Friday agreed with their captors to erase photos on their camera, the ministry statement said. The team had found that more than 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of forest had been burned by workers of the company, it added.

The statement said that the investigators were still able to use drone footage, which it said showed thousands of hectares of forest had been burned illegally. "As far as the eye can see, an area that was once peatland has been converted into oil palm plantation," Nurbaya said.

[Reuters and AP contributed to this report.]

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/sep/06/palm-oil-firm-accused-of-hiring-men-to-kidnap-smog-inspectors-in-indonesia

Palm oil firm takes officials hostage, resists law

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Jakarta – The Environment and Forestry Ministry has lashed out against a palm oil firm's attempt to stop a forest fire investigation by taking hostage seven ministry officials in Rokan Hulu, Riau.

The officials, who were investigating the alleged involvement of PT Andika Permata Sawit Lestari (APSL) in a massive forest fire in the area, were held hostage by individuals dispatched by the firm, ministry spokesperson Novrizal Tahar said.

The ministry dispatched the officials early last week to investigate a report that suggested deliberate burning had taken place in a Rokan Hulu forest. They subsequently found evidence that the firm had illegally taken over land and planned to use it for expansion.

APSL allegedly cleared around 3,000 hectares of land by burning, which prompted investigators to seal the area. The action evidently angered a group of at least 50 people who forced the officials to delete images and video footage that provided proof of irregularities found during the land concession investigation.

During the incident, which occurred on Friday, the group of people, who claimed to be local farmers, reportedly made death threats against the officials if they failed to submit to the demands.

On Sunday, the ministry's law enforcement director general, Rasio Ridho Sani, told The Jakarta Post that images taken by a surveillance drone had been secured as evidence. He added that the seven officials had been released.

Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the crime was extraordinary not only because the farmers blatantly resisted law enforcement efforts but also because of the significant environmental damage caused.

"We strongly suspect that the action was mobilized by the company, which pretends to speak on behalf of farmer groups," Siti said in a statement on Sunday.

Siti said the ministry would soon take action against the firm as there was sufficient evidence to do so. "There is evidence that thousands of hectares of forests were burned. In other words, the land has been occupied illegally," she said.

The government recently imposed a moratorium on the issuance of new permits for oil palm plantations and mining operations.

Siti said the ministry would thoroughly screen companies before granting permit extensions to confirm whether they had committed violations. "This incident has even encouraged us to do more to fight against forest fire perpetrators," Siti said.

Greenpeace activist Kiki Taufik said the incident occurred because of weak law enforcement in the forestry sector.

"It shows that companies have a low level of respect for the government. This could indicate that not complying with the law is a common practice," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Kiki said PT ASPL was a relatively small company compared to other players in the industry. "If they dare to commit such crimes, imagine what big players could do. They could have done worse," said Kiki.

In January, the Riau Police dropped investigations into 11 companies allegedly involved in forest fires last year. Related haze problems have killed at least five people who suffered from respiratory issues.

Kiki said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should take drastic measures against illegal burning to show that the government was taking the problem seriously. He also called on relevant law enforcement agencies to back the environment ministry in prosecuting companies responsible for burning.

"Complaints about forest fires and other forestry-related cases often fall on deaf ears. Don't let the public lose their trust because of the government's reluctance in solving this problem," he said. (fac)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/palm-oil-firm-takes-officials-hostage-resists-law.html

Korindo responsible for human rights violations, deforestation, haze explosive

Jakarta Globe - September 2, 2016

Ratri M. Siniwi, Jakarta – While wildfires rage across Kalimantan and Sumatra, Papua has fallen prey to the illegal slash-and-burn practices which devastated the two western islands, environmental watchdog Mighty has revealed in a new report.

Mighty's investigative report "Burning Paradise," which includes satellite images, hotspot data, photos and videos, accuses Korean-controlled conglomerate Korindo of burning native forests and of human rights violations in Papua and North Maluku.

Mighty was founded by Washington-based think tank the Center for International Policy and joined hands with several established organizations – strategic communications company Waxman Strategies, research organization Aidenvironment, local humanitarian organizations SKP-KAMe Merauke and Pusaka and the Korean Federation for Environmental Movements – to produce the report.

"The continuous increase in global demand for palm oil has become an opportunity for many companies in Indonesia to widen their concessions, especially for palm oil, sacrificing the very little of forests we have left," Mighty Southeast Asia director Bustar Maitar said on Thursday (01/09).

Mighty's team ventured into Korindo's remote palm oil plantations in Papua to document the company's actions with the report including the live footage.

The conglomerate, controlled by the Korean-based Seung family, was established in Jakarta in 1969 with the headquarters remaining in the city since. The group's business includes wood chip production, operating palm plantations to financing and real estate.

The report found that over 50,000 hectares of tropical lowland forests – comparable to the size of Seoul – have been devastated by the group. Satellite imaging indicate Korindo was responsible for illegal forest fires, with 164 hotspots observed, at Korindo's Donghin Prabhawa palm oil plantation in Merauke, in 2015.

The unique and endangered wildlife endemic to Papua, such as the birds of paradise and tree kangaroos, are threatened by the constant habitat degradation.

Conflicts

Conflict among local tribes have been triggered by the loss of access to the forest, particularly with regards to land compensation. Rights abuses highlighted in the report found Korindo failed to obtain consent from local communities to build concessions upon their land.

Pastor Anselmus Amo, a religious leader and director of SKP KAMe Merauke, said many of the licenses obtained by palm companies on Papua are signed by people who do not represent local communities. In other cases, consent is forced through military pressure.

"Most of the times they come with the military to scare the locals. Their presence is not even necessary, the locals don't mean to do any harm, so why are they there?" the pastor told the Jakarta Globe during the press briefing in Jakarta on Thursday.

Corporate social responsibility programs are run by Korindo, with schools, clinics and housing built in some areas. Many communities affected y the concessions miss out.

"Business is business, but it still needs to follow the principles of human rights. They cannot be covered up by the corporate social programs. It's a social responsibility, not a blanket for human rights violations," Amo said.

Papuans traditionally rely on sustenance hunting and so shy away from the agrarian customs forced by palm companies. "Papuans should be the kings on their own land. If they become laborers, they become slaves of these corporations," he said.

Pusaka, a local NGO protecting the rights of Indigenous communities in Merauke, said the loss of forests is the same as losing the livelihood of the Papuan people.

"Many of the forests have been cleared out for palm oil concessions, the people of the Awiwi tribe have no source of food left, which means they are heading towards extinction," Pusaka director Y.L. Franky said.

Franky suggests that for companies to be credible they must develop a mechanism for conflict resolution to prevent future cases of violence similar to those reported across Korindo concessions.

"Last year we made a report on the military violence in the area. This is not the right way of conduct for the companies if they seek sustainable investments there," Franky said. Call for sanctions Bustar, an activist at Mighty, said the revelations in the report of Korindo's violations is a "cry for help" for the future of the country's forests.

"We just don't want this to continue and let Papua share the same fate as the forests in Kalimantan and Sumatra," Bustar, a former Greenpeace forest campaigner, said.

He urged ministries and relevant government authorities to sanction those who are proven to still practice slash-and-burn tactics in forest management, and stressed the importance of "free, prior and informed consent," as it is important for communities to be involved in the understanding and agreeing with new developments to be built on their land.

"We also ask customers of Korindo to stop, until they realize that they have to transform their unsustainable practices," Bustiar said. Korindo's Responses In a written response published on Wednesday, Korindo denied the accusations and claimed to have "zero burning" policies in all palm plantations.

According to Korindo's statement, the hotspot images in Mighty's report were satellite images from the Aqua and Terra satellites taken after September 2015, when Indonesia suffered a long drought which caused wildfires across the country, including concession areas.

All palm plantations are registered and have secured necessary licensing from the government, the response said, adding that it has provided adequate compensation to local communities.

"The company also develops a plasma plantation [smaller plots of palm within plantations] of which 20 percent is for the local communities as a direct contribution to boost their revenues," the statement said.

Korindo, known to employ about 20,000 employees all over Indonesia, also denied its operations have increased the haze from forest fires, claiming it has burnt less than 0.1 percent of the total amount of forests burnt in Indonesia in 2015.

Burning Paradise: Palm Oil in the Land of the Tree Kangaroo – Mighty Earth. September 1, 2016

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/korindo-responsible-human-rights-violations-deforestation-haze-explosive-environmental-report-finds/

Plantations affect biodiversity, provide few benefits for Papuans: Activists

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Jakarta – An environmental group has blamed the conversion of forests into oil palm plantations for the loss of biodiversity in Papua, adding that it had also failed to improve the welfare of local people in the province.

Forests that were once a source of staple foods such as sago have been converted into oil palm plantations, which provide limited benefits, Bustar Maitar, chairman of environmental group Mighty Asia Tenggara, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The businesses deprived many indigenous Papuans of their sources of livelihood because they used to rely on sago and meat for food, which they obtained in forests, Bustar said while speaking at a seminar.

He also said plantation companies had cleared more than 50,000 hectares of tropical forest in South Halmahera in North Maluku and Merauke in Papua.

Bustar criticized companies for paying only meager wages to local people who helped to clear the forest. "They [locals] receive a daily salary of only Rp 85,000 [US$6.40] in Merauke," Bustar said.

A similar statement was made by Papuan human rights activist Anselmus Amo of the Secretariat of Peace and Justice of the Merauke Archdiocese (SKP-KAMe), who said local workers were subject to unfair treatment.

"Whenever they stage a protest for better pay, military personnel side with the employers," said Anselmus, adding that the plantations had also destroyed local customs, citing as an example that young Papuans now preferred to eat rice rather than sago. (rez/bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/02/plantations-affect-biodiversity-provide-few-benefits-for-papuans-activists.html

Government fighting losing battle against Citarum polluters

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2016

Arya Dipa, Bandung – The government has been fighting a losing battle against polluters of the Citarum River in West Java, which is considered one of the world's most polluted rivers.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry's director general of law enforcement, Rasio Ridho Sani, said on Wednesday that legal steps against environmental polluters had not been effective.

"Criminal charges only get people working in the field while administrative punishment fails to provide any deterrent effect," Rasio said during a meeting in Bandung on sustainability in the Citarum River.

To give some weight to law enforcement, he said, the government was planning to file civil lawsuits against polluters of the Citarum. The idea was inspired by the government's efforts to net corporations and high-level company officials in relation to forest fires in Riau last year.

The government filed a civil lawsuit against PT National Sago Prima at the South Jakarta District Court, which found the company responsible for the fire and ordered it to pay Rp 753 billion (US$55 million). "This became a deterrent effect for the company," Rasio said.

The head of environmental law enforcement in West Java, Anang Sudarna, said his team had inspected companies along the river this year, and in two inspections had found 30 cases of polluting. Among them, 13 were followed up at the district court, while 17 were handed administrative sanctions, he said.

However, Anang said he was disappointed with one court decision to acquit a suspected polluter although he was sure there was a solid case.

About 25 million people depended on the sustainability of the Citarum, including Jakartans, whose raw water supply is sourced from the river via the Jatiluhur Dam in West Java. (evi)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/govt-fighting-losing-battle-against-citarum-polluters.html

Health & education

Local myths keep mothers from breast-feeding

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Severianus Endi, Pontianak – The practice of breast-feeding exclusively is hindered by myths among lower and middle income people in West Kalimantan. Data from the Pontianak municipality shows that the exclusive breast-feeding rate amounts to just 70 percent.

Dian Rakhmawati, head of the West Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesia Breast-feeding Mothers Association's (AIMI) education division, told The Jakarta Post that residents, especially those living along the Kapuas River, were still influenced by exposure to informal, or unscientific, information and believed false notions on the benefits of breast milk.

"The myths include the idea that women who have just completed outdoor activities should not breastfeed their baby because the breast milk will have gone stale. They prefer to give canned milk for reasons of practicality," said Dian, who participated, along with about 1,000 residents, in the 2016 World Breast-feeding Week at the Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman Stadium in Pontianak.

"Some people also abstain from eating food, such as salted fish, chili and egg because they believe they are not good for breast-feeding mothers, whereas in fact any food is permitted to support the health of nursing mothers," said Dian, adding that the organization's educational activities were carried out in a "guerrilla" fashion by visiting a number of pockets of poverty.

The Pontianak municipality, supported by World Vision of Indonesia (WVI), promotes the practice of breast-feeding exclusively in the initial six months of infancy and with complementary foodstuffs until the baby reaches the age of 2.

Pontianak Health Agency head Sidiq Handanu said the level of exclusive breast-feeding had reached 70 percent of the number of births. The number of live births in the city ranges from 12,000 to 14,000 annually. The infant mortality rate at birth has also been reduced to the range of 50 to 60 per 100,000 live births, which is much lower than the national rate of 350 deaths per 100,000 births.

"A mayoral regulation requires companies and offices to provide a lactation room for working mothers," said Sidiq.

WVI, working in 48 regions across Indonesia, provides focused counseling in the Pontianak and Sambas regencies in West Kalimantan in nutritional programs, one of which promotes exclusive breast-feeding. WVI project manager Yosellina said breast-feeding should be provided during the "critical period" until the age of 2.

"We will carry this out by strengthening the capacity of members of integrated health services posts [posyandu], by involving many different kinds of stakeholders and by not limiting mothers who are breast-feeding," said Yosellina, adding that counseling was being conducted at 32 posyandu across Pontianak.

In Sambas regency, WVI encourages ordinary people to become counselors by forming volunteer housewife associations that can find patterns of communication that match with local conditions. These counselors have been trained to disseminate information.

The HSBC Group provides support for programs implemented in Surabaya, Pontianak and Jakarta. HSBC business banking head Edwin Rudianto said the support would be provided for three years.

"The programs we support include public education on maternal and child health and the promotion of exclusive breast-feeding," said Edwin.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/local-myths-keep-mothers-breast-feeding.html

Student card program still struggling for progress

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Jakarta – Apparently under pressure following trouble in the distribution of the Indonesian Smart Cards (KIP), a key point on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's agenda, the Education and Culture Ministry is redoubling efforts to ensure the student cards reach their intended recipients.

The secretary of the ministry's directorate general in charge of elementary and secondary education, Thamrin Kasman, said only some 6.7 million of the 17 million cards issued so far had been received by the rightful holders. He was referring to information compiled by the Center for Education Data.

He said the ministry was cooperating with two companies, Satria Antaran Prima (SAP) and Dexter Expressindo, to distribute the cards under agreements stipulating direct delivery.

"The cards should be delivered to each recipient's house. However, we have received a report that the distribution ended at sub-district offices. We cannot rely on sub-district officials, because they may have insufficient funds to continue the distribution," he said.

The KIP was introduced as the Jakarta Smart Card by then-Jakarta governor Jokowi in a bid to ensure that all children between the age of 6 and 21 get proper education.

When Jokowi won the 2014 presidential election, the program was expanded nationwide. It provides funds for students twice a year. Each elementary school child will receive Rp 225,000 (US$16.93), while junior and senior high school students receive Rp 375,000 and Rp 500,000 per semester, respectively.

The government is relying on the card to help ensure all citizens receive the free 12 years of education they are legally entitled to. Although public schools do not charge tuition fees, parents still need to come up with the cash for their children's daily needs, such as school uniforms and transportation to and from school.

According to data published on the ministry's website at pdsp.kemdikbud.go.id, the number of school dropouts is still high, although it is gradually decreasing.

During the academic year 2015-2016, 237,960 students dropped out of elementary and secondary schools. While the reasons may vary, a lack of funds has been identified as one of the main factors.

Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy said earlier this month that distributing all of the cards by the end of August, as initially planned, might be a steep order.

He claimed that a lack of coordination among regional authorities in ensuring the cards reached their rightful holders exacerbated the problem.

Thamrin said his office had cooperated with the Home Ministry in issuing a circular urging local administrations to help promote and distribute the cards.

The cards are also designed to help people who are not enrolled in formal education, whom the government aims to encourage to take informal courses. Thamrin said that out of 4.1 million intended recipients for informal education, only around 10,000 were confirmed to have received and used the cards.

Last week, the ministry embraced the Indonesia Smart Movement (GIP), an NGO established to monitor the distribution of the KIP. The group, consisting of 17 people, has met officials from the ministry, offering its assistance to the program, which it says is performing poorly.

"I think one of the reasons for the Cabinet reshuffle was this problem," Yanti Sriyulianti, the chairman of the organization, told the The Jakarta Post. She added that based on her observations in many cities, poor people had yet to understand the function of the card, let alone get hold of it. (fac)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/student-card-program-still-struggling-progress.html

Marriage & polygamy

WHO wants RI to act on early marriage

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Nurul Fitri Ramadhani, Colombo – The World Health Organization (WHO) has demanded Indonesia renew its commitment to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates by campaigning for young married couples to delay childbirth, as the country experiences a surge in the number of early marriages.

During the WHO Southeast Asia Regional Meeting, participated in by 11 countries in the region, the WHO recommended that health authorities in Indonesia reach out to parents and young couples and provide information about the risks that early pregnancy entails, both to the mother and baby.

"Marriage is always a happy moment for us. I think it's okay if they're getting married at the age of 18 to 19 as long as they have their babies at 20 or older," said Neena Raina, WHO Southeast Asia's coordinator for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

The 1974 Marriage Law sets 16 years as the minimum age of marriage for women, but from a health standpoint a woman is physically and mentally ready for marriage at 21, for men it is 25.

Although Indonesia has seen a significant decline in maternal mortality rates, from 446 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 126 per 100,000 live births in 2015, a 72 percent reduction, according to WHO data, the country is still among the 11 countries in the region prone to high maternal and neonatal mortality rates because of the prevalence of underage marriages.

The country's progress still lags behind other countries in the regions, including Timor Leste, which has achieved an 80 percent reduction in maternal mortality from 1990-2015, from 1,800 per 100,000 live births to 215. Maldives has shown a 90 percent reduction in the same period, while Bhutan achieved 84 percent.

WHO statistics reveal that about 43 percent of girls in Indonesia get married by the age of 18 and begin childbearing by the age of 19.

Raina of the WHO encouraged young married couples to spend several years together before they try for a baby. "It's better for them to delay childbirth until 20, so they can have some fun for the first several years," she said.

In recent years, Indonesia has recorded a surge in the number of early marriages thanks to intensive campaigning by conservative Muslim groups, raising concerns about increased health risks.

Separately, Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) head Surya Chandra Surapaty acknowledged that it was getting more difficult to encourage families to join family-planning programs (KB) since the fall of the New Order regime and national moves toward decentralization.

The agency recently launched a campaign, called Generasi Berencana (GenRe, or Generation with Plans), to discourage marriage among teenagers in an attempt to disseminate information on the risks of child marriage among young people aged between 10 and 24 years.

"In the end, it all depends on the commitment of local governments to promoting family-planning programs. Now the programs are neglected and many people are getting married too young and they don't space out the births of each child," Surya said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/who-wants-ri-act-early-marriage.html

Marriage? No, thanks, say some Indonesian women

Magdalene.co - September 2, 2016

Ayunda Nurvitasari – A recent survey shows that not all Indonesian women aspire to get married for a variety of reasons. The independent survey was conducted by Tirto.id, a new Indonesian online publication, to find out Indonesian women's attitude towards marriage.

Out of a total of 868 women respondents, three-fourth said they wanted marriage, while the remaining quarter said they didn't.

Respondents range from 17 to 41 years old. The highest number of respondents are from Jakarta (34.2 percent), followed by Yogyakarta (8.8 percent), Surabaya (6.6 percent), Bandung (6.3 percent) and Semarang (3.6 percent).

Notably, a lack of interest in marriage is the leading reason of why some women prefer to stay single. Some women also believe that marriage will only add life problems (17 percent), as well as hinder their career (16 percent). Additionally, marriage doesn't fit those who are not ready for commitment (13 percent) and those who enjoy being single (11 percent).

Marriage also seems to lose its appeal for many women who don't want to have children, who have relationship trauma, and those who simply enjoy living together. Finally, being LGBT (4 percent) also prevents women from marriage because same-sex marriage is not recognized in Indonesia.

How about you? Do you want marriage?

Source: http://magdalene.co/news-916-marriage-no-thanks-say-some-indonesian-women.html

Graft & corruption

Court rules recording can't be used against Golkar chief

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto can breathe a sigh of relief after the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that a recorded conversation he had with a politically wired tycoon and a former PT Freeport Indonesia president director cannot be used as evidence against him.

The court argued that wiretapping was against the Constitution and could not be used as evidence unless it was carried out by law enforcers and in accordance with prevailing regulations.

"When law enforcers use evidence that is obtained through illegal means, then the evidence can be disregarded by a judge and considered to have no value by the court," justice Manahan Sitompul said.

Setya previously asked the court to provide a legal interpretation for the phrase "electronic evidence" in the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law.

The former House of Representatives speaker argued that the law did not make it clear whether electronic material obtained through illegal means could be used as evidence to charge someone with a crime.

The court accepted his judicial review petition, saying electronic evidence has no legal standing if it was obtained illegally.

Also on Wednesday, the court accepted Setya's judicial review petition that the court scrap the phrase pemufakatan jahat (malevolent conspiracy) in the 2001 Corruption Law and the Criminal Code (KUHP).

The court argued that the phrase "malevolent conspiracy" was too vague and could be interpreted differently by different parties. This, it said, could lead to a violation of a person's constitutional rights. "Therefore, the Corruption Law must clearly define and mention the elements of [the phrase] malevolent conspiracy," Manahan said.

Setya filed the judicial review requests following a revelation of a controversial taped conversation between him, business tycoon Muhammad Riza Chalid and former Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin in which Setya allegedly sought to acquire shares in the gold and copper mining company.

The conversation was taped by Maroef, who later handed the recording to the Attorney General Office (AGO) for investigation. The AGO said it was planning to charge Setya with conspiracy. The probe, however, has been halted as the AGO claimed that it could not summon Riza.

Maroef also reported Setya to the House's ethics council, which later held hearings to openly play the recording, which reportedly revealed that Setya claimed to have obtained permission from both President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla for the Freeport shares.

The uncovering of the controversial tape led to Setya giving up the House speakership due to massive pressure from the House's ethics council as well as from the public.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/court-rules-recording-can-t-be-used-against-golkar-chief.html

Freedom of religion & worship

Municipality wants Buddha statue removed

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Tanjung Balai – The Tanjungbalai municipal administration on Monday asked the Tri Ratna Temple Foundation board to immediately take down the Buddha statue that stands 6 meters tall on top of the temple.

Tanjungbalai Mayor M. Syahrial said the request was a follow-up to a meeting between the local consultative forum and religious and community leaders last week regarding the presence of the Buddha statue on top of the Tri Ratna Temple. Syahrial claimed that the people at the meeting agreed that the temple board be given the authority to remove the statue.

"The agreement has been approved by all parties, including the Tri Ratna Temple Foundation. We leave it entirely to the foundation to take down the statue, at the latest three months from now," Syahrial told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He claimed the presence of the statue had long been objected to by most of Tanjungbalai's Muslim residents. Syahrial added that the administration had formally issued a decree to take down the statue in 2010, but the effort failed because one of the Tri Ratna Foundation board members who signed the agreement passed away.

"Today, we again urge the Buddha statue be taken down immediately because this was already agreed six years ago," said Syahrial. He said he expected no more disturbance would take place in the city once the statue was gone.

Tanjungbalai community leader Nurzal Fadly, who is also member of the House of Representatives, said the decision to remove the Buddha statue was right and that he believed all the components of society in Tanjungbalai would realize that togetherness would last with mutual respect. "I hope this moment will be the starting point to build solidarity among the people of Tanjungbalai," said Fadly.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/island-focus-municipality-wants-buddha-statue-removed.html

Religion & morality

Muslim conservatism inhibits female opportunity in West Java

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Arya Dipa, Bandung – In West Java, a religiously conservative province that implements sharia-inspired bylaws, curfews are the norm and gender equality is a thing of fantasy.

Advocacy groups for women's rights and reproductive health say the conservatism of religious leaders has hampered efforts to reduce the number of women who become victims to poverty and violence.

Rosidin, the executive director of Fahmina, said support and compromise from religious leaders was an important element in changing the lives of women for the better. So far, however, religious leaders have done little to help.

"Religious leaders have agreed to the necessity of a reduction in maternal and infant mortality, as this is something that must be done. That's why Islamic boarding schools [pesantren] that were earlier opposed to reproductive health and sex education are now willing to accept it in West Java," said Rosidin.

But challenges remain, he said, as religious leaders have persistently rejected the concept of gender equality. "There are now attempts to keep women at home due to fears of immorality, such as drug abuse and trafficking and promiscuity," he said.

In an attempt to reduce crime rates, the Bandung Police implemented a curfew in the city in 2014.

Although it was originally aimed at controlling the activities of brothels and other forms of insalubrious night-time entertainment, places like restaurants and malls are also forced to obey the 10 p.m. curfew. A street library was recently shut down by the Army after it allegedly breached the curfew.

There is also a plan by the Bandung administration to position clerics on Damri public buses as part of the city's da'wah (Islamic propagation) program.

In 2015, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 389 regional policies that discriminated against women, 92 of them in West Java.

In a joint study between the West Java Advocacy Network and Komnas Perempuan, the 92 discriminatory policies were issued in 17 regencies and cities throughout West Java.

"Our research shows that the policies have a devastating effect, especially on women and children," said West Java Advocacy Network research coordinator Wawan Gunawan.

The policies deemed discriminatory are divided into five categories: policies governing the control of women's bodies (14), the criminalization of women (16), morality and religion (42), restrictions on the right to freedom of religion (17) and discriminatory policies related to manpower (3).

From the study, Wawan emphasized that the well-spring of discriminatory policies in Sukabumi regency stemmed from Islamic teachings. "There is a special agency for the enforcement of sharia. Tasikmalaya copied an sharia edict from Aceh without regard to higher regulations," said Wawan.

SAPA Institute program coordinator Dindin Syaripudin said many Muslim organizations such as Islamic Unity based in Bandung actively resisted attempts to promote gender education and reproductive health.

"We originally approached them on the issues of reproductive health and gender education. We believe women will have more freedom to move around if they are supported by religious organizations," said Dindin.

Indriyati Suparno, the recovery development subcommittee head at Komnas Perempuan, expressed agreement that organizations and female activists should embrace fundamentalist groups in their efforts to achieve gender equality.

"The principle of human rights-based protection should clearly be our attitude, but when taking measures we must compromise," said Indriyati.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/muslim-conservatism-inhibits-female-opportunity-w-java.html

Regional autonomy & separatism

Govt's authority to scrap bylaws challenged

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Jakarta – The Forum of Legal and Constitutional Studies (FKHK) has filed for a judicial review against the 2014 Regional Administration Law at the Constitutional Court in its bid to curtail the government's authority to revoke regional bylaws.

FKHK chairman Kurniawan said that the group wanted the court to annul Article 251 in the law, which he said contravened Article 24 A of the 1945 Constitution. He argued that the authority to review regional bylaws was in the hands of the Supreme Court, not the government.

"The revocation of regional bylaws by the government is unconstitutional," he said as quoted by Antara.

The Home Ministry has so far scrapped more than 3,100 problematic regional bylaws deemed as contradicting higher regulations, promoting intolerance or deterring investment. FKHK claimed that the government's move to cancel regional bylaws was often a result of political pressures and was therefore repressive.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/national-scene-govt-s-authority-scrap-bylaws-challenged.html

Jakarta & urban life

'Angkot' fighting losing battle on Jakarta streets

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Indra Budiari, Jakarta – Marzuki has been sitting in his parked light blue angkot (public minivan) at the Lebak Bulus bus terminal, South Jakarta, for the last hour.

He holds a lit cigarette in his right hand and the steering wheel in his left. The 45-year-old is ready to ply the public minivan's route. Except he has no passengers.

Over the last two years Marzuki has noticed that the number of passengers traveling on the C14 angkot on the Lebak Bulus-Ciledug, Tangerang, route has dwindled. The decreasing number of passengers has inevitably slashed drivers' incomes and prompted many to quit their jobs.

Marzuki said on Tuesday that two years ago, 37 C14 angkot plied the route every day. Recently, the number slumped to 12. Most of the drivers quit as the income no longer covered operational costs, he said.

"It's a very strange situation, there are fewer angkot on the streets, yet we still struggle to find passengers," he said.

The Jakarta administration introduced angkot to Jakarta streets in 1980 in order to replace dilapidated oplet cars.

Angkot soon became the backbone of public transportation due to its large numbers and low fare. Easy to obtain route licenses for angkot resulted in tough competition that in turn led a drop in vehicle quality and overlapping routes.

Three decades later, fierce competition with the recently popular app-based modes of transportation and Transjakarta buses, plus the notorious image of the angkot drivers as well as the aging vehicles have driven angkot passengers away.

The increasing number of motorcycles is also considered to have played a major role in the dwindling business of angkot, which is an abbreviation for angkutan perkotaan (urban transportation).

Jakarta Traffic Police data from 2015 reveals that 4,000 to 4,500 motorcycles hit the city every day, making Jakarta home to 13.1 million motorcycles, a steep increase from 8 million in 2010.

"Everyone takes a motorcycle for daily short trips and for longer distances they take a Transjakarta bus," Humaiyah, a driver of an angkot plying the Pasar Jumat-Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, route, said. "I'm afraid that we will lose our share of this route."

However, her worst fear will happen sooner or later as Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has taken an unfriendly stance toward angkot, which he claims is one of the main causes of congestion on the roads of the capital.

"Eventually, I don't want to see any more angkot in this city; let them operate on the outskirts," Ahok told reporters in February.

The Jakarta Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) has acknowledged that angkot are losing the "war of the penny" on Jakarta streets and change must happen to keep them in business. He said that with construction of the mass rapid transit and the light rail transit under way, competition would soon get tougher.

Shafruhan Sinungan, the organization's chairman, said Jakartans had high expectations of public transportation and angkot did not meet them.

"We are discussing angkot improvement so they can offer better services," he told The Jakarta Post. "But we still have a long way to go."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/angkot-fighting-losing-battle-jakarta-streets.html

Viral video highlights sectarianism at UI

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Agnes Anya and Indra Budiari, Jakarta/Depok – Opposition to Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's move to run for election in the 2017 gubernatorial race have continued to mount, even in the halls of higher education.

A video posted by a grad student at the University of Indonesia (UI) urging people not to vote for the governor because of his religious background and inability to lead the city has gone viral.

Wearing UI's official yellow alma mater jacket and standing in front of the university's rectorate building in Depok, West Java, the student, identified as Boby Febri Krisdiyanto, expressed his opinion that Ahok must not be re-elected because "he is not only an infidel, but he is also despotic". "Having been leading Jakarta, he has been incompetent in overcoming poverty and unemployment in the city. The number [of cases of both] has soared high," says Boby, who claimed to be a representative of UI's Student Movement of Liberation.

In the 1.38-minute video, he also claimed that in the Surah Al-Ma'idah of the Quran it is stipulated God would punish those who have chosen an infidel as their leader.

The controversial video has gone viral since Monday and has been strongly criticized by many, including the university's alumni who considered that it did nothing but promote hate and tarnish not only UI, but also educational institutions in general.

Choky Ramadhan, a legal activist and a former deputy chairman of UI's senate, suggested he barely considered it news since such sectarian behavior could be noticed in many parts of the campus.

"When I was campaigning for the senate election in 2009, I even heard a smear campaign circulating telling people not to vote for me as my girlfriend at the time was Catholic," he told The Jakarta Post.

Because of the viral video, UI authorities issued an official statement saying that Boby's Student Movement of Liberation had no connection to UI.

"The video is an action that ignores academic ethics in general and campus regulations in particular," said UI spokeswoman Rifelly Dewi Astuti in a press release issued on Tuesday evening.

Furthermore, with the video, Boby has violated Article 8 of UI's Assembly Trustee Provision on Campus Life Regulations through which students are banned from committing discrimination based on religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political orientation and physical disability.

The officials have investigated the issue and demanded Boby sign a letter that confirmed his movement had nothing to do with the university.

Through the letter, Boby was also made to express his regret and apologize for involving the institution and spreading statements that "caused unrest among UI's academics and the public".

Responding to Boby's antics, Ahok said he considered that the student should be expelled from the university because of his racist view.

"If you study in state universities, you have to realize that you are funded by our money in the State Budget. [...] I cannot accept that my taxes are used to fund students who come out as racists," said Ahok on Wednesday at City Hall. "If necessary, he [Boby] can move to the Middle East and join political parties that can take down Pancasila."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/viral-video-highlights-sectarianism-ui.html

Rawajati residents, public order officers clash before evictions

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2016

Jakarta – Dozens of residents of Rawajati, Pancoran, South Jakarta, tried to defend their houses from demolition on Thursday, but hundreds of Public Order Agency officers were reportedly adamant about trespassing and removing furniture from the houses.

The residents and the officers, who were wearing full uniform, pushed and jostled one other, creating traffic jams in front of the Kalibata City apartment towers. Pancoran district head Hery Gunara said the evictions involved 60 families he considered "squatters".

"Some families claimed to have ownership documents from the Dutch administration. Those who think they have documents, just sue us," Hery said as quoted by tribunnews.com on Thursday. Hery said they had opened businesses and illegal parking areas around the settlement, thus creating regular traffic jams.

Kalibata City is a busy middle-income housing area that suffers vehicle congestion due to a shortage of parking spaces. Before the evictions, dozens of residents prayed together on the street, asking the South Jakarta administration to change its mind.

Hery said they would be relocated to the Marunda low-cost rental apartment block in North Jakarta, but the residents refused to move because it was too far away. He added that he had offered them the opportunity to open businesses at Tebet Market, but they had also refused. "What more can I offer them?"

The distance between Marunda and Tebet is about 30 kilometers, taking around one hour by car, without traffic. (evi)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/rawajati-residents-public-

Transport & communication

Indonesia to become largest business jet market by 2019: Dassault Aviation

Jakarta Globe - September 2, 2016

Jakarta – Indonesia will become the largest business jet market in Southeast Asia by 2019 overtaking neighboring Singapore, due to Indonesia's robust economic growth, vibrant business climate and relaxed aviation regulations, the president of Dassault Falcon Asia Pacific said in Jakarta on Thursday (01/09).

Today, there are 52 business jets registered in Indonesia or owned by Indonesians, up 16 percent from a year ago, according to data compiled by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. This is in comparison to 64 jets registered in Singapore, where growth remained stagnant in the same period.

"If this trend continues, Indonesia will be the leading market in the next two or three years," said Jean-Michel Jacob, the president of Dassault Falcon Asia Pacific, Dassault Aviation's subsidiary in the region.

The demand for business jets, Jacob believes, is present because Indonesia's businesses are the fastest growing in the world. There has also been an increased demand for businesses to seek investment or trade partners both locally and internationally.

Some of the country's largest business groups such as Sinar Mas and Bakrie, for example, have expressed interest in palm oil business in Africa to complement their domestic operations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Others, like state-owned energy company Pertamina, have been busy acquiring oil fields in Algeria and Russia.

"Using business jets gives the company's executives more flexibility and allows them to make more efficient use of their time," Jacob said.

Still, Jacob admitted that Dassault "is not famous" in Indonesia with only one business jet in the country bearing Dassault's delta and four-leaf clover insignia, far behind competitors like Gulfstream, Embraer and Bombardier.

"We are making efforts to fix that," Jacob said, who orchestrates Dassault Falcon's marketing efforts in Southeast Asia from its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

To spearhead the company's efforts in the Indonesian market is Falcon 8X, a long-range business jet that will become operational in the coming weeks.

The jet's three-engine configuration and design elements akin to Dassault's famous fighter jets provides an added layer of safety. This allows the jet to take off from even the most challenging airports, with a full tank and fly directly to most destinations in Europe and Asia Pacific. In comparison, competitors with a twin-jet configuration would be required to make an additional stop to refuel as a safety precaution.

Additionally, the government's plans to allow foreign registered business jets to fly within the country will help increase the demand for business jets, Clement Brozi, the international promotion and marketing manager of Dassault Falcon Asia Pacific, said.

Business jet owners often register their jets in countries that are easier to secure financing for buying the jet in the first place, or getting the pilot and certification for the aircraft.

"It's good that the government sees that this is common practice in owning business jets around the world," Brozi said.

In the long run, as the industry grows, more business jets will then need to be serviced in Indonesia. It then follows that supporting industries such as jet management, maintenance and catering would flourish, Brozi said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/indonesia-become-largest-business-jet-market-2019-dassault-aviation/

Criminal justice & legal system

Indonesian anti-drugs chief supports implementing Rodrigo Duterte's Philippine

Agence France Presse - September 8, 2016

Indonesia's anti-drugs chief has supported implementing a bloody crackdown on traffickers like the war on crime in the Philippines that has left almost 3,000 dead.

Budi Waseso, the tough-talking anti-drugs tsar who once proposed holding death row traffickers on a prison island guarded by crocodiles, said he believed such a campaign would safeguard "our beloved country"."I would be on the frontline to eradicate all the traffickers," he said.

Indonesia says it is fighting a war against rising narcotics use. It has stepped up executions of convicted drug traffickers, including foreigners, triggering international outrage.

President Rodrigo Duterte of the neighbouring Philippines has sparked controversy by overseeing the large-scale killing of drug traffickers since winning election in May.

Mr Duterte is due to visit Jakarta later this week for talks with President Joko Widodo after an Asian summit and the leaders are expected to discuss their respective anti-narcotics campaigns.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Waseso suggested Indonesia could follow a policy like that of the Philippines and revealed authorities were bolstering their resources to fight the drug trade.

"If such a policy were implemented in Indonesia, we believe that the number of drug traffickers and users in our beloved country would drop drastically," the anti-drugs agency head said.

In later comments, he said the agency had a major plan to hire more personnel and procure more weapons to better crack down on the drug trade.

Agency spokesman Slamet Pribadi sought to play down the comments, saying a Philippines-style policy would only be followed "if our law makes it possible", adding: "We can't shoot criminals just like that, we have to follow the rules."

But he acknowledged that Mr Waseso was "strict" and had told staff members that "we should not keep our guns in a safe, we must use them – but only for law enforcement".

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2016-09-08/indonesian-antidrugs-chief-supports-implementing-rodrigo-dutertes-philippinestyle-drug-war/1615672

Australian expert Professor Beng Beng Ong who testified in alleged coffee murder

Sydney Morning Herald - September 7, 2016

Jewel Topsfield and Karuni Rompies – An Australian expert who testified that Indonesian woman Wayan Mirna Salihin was unlikely to have died from cyanide poisoning after drinking a Vietnamese iced coffee will be deported and banned from entering Indonesia for six months.

Professor Beng Beng Ong, a forensic pathologist and senior lecturer at Queensland University's School of Medicine, had cast doubt over the central plank of the prosecution's premeditated murder case on Monday, when he questioned whether Ms Salihin had been fatally poisoned.

Ms Salihin died on January 6. Prosecutors allege her friend Jessica Kumala Wongso, an Australian permanent resident, spiked her Vietnamese iced coffee with cyanide at the upmarket Olivier restaurant in Grand Indonesia shopping mall. Ms Wongso has maintained her innocence.

However hours after Professor Ong questioned in the Central Jakarta District Court whether Ms Salihin was fatally poisoned, he was intercepted at Jakarta's international airport by immigration officers who confiscated his passport at about 4am on September 6.

The head of Central Jakarta immigration, Tato Juliadin, said Professor Ong's mistake had been to testify in court when he entered Indonesia on a free visa on arrival, which is for tourists.

"He should have used a temporary stay visa instead. A free visa cannot be used for work," Mr Juliadin said. "(Beng Beng Ong) entered Indonesia using a free visa so we will deport him and he will be banned from entering Indonesia for six months."

Ms Wongso has been accused of the premeditated murder of Ms Salihin, with whom she studied at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney. The maximum sentence for premeditated murder is the death penalty although the Indonesian government assured this would not be imposed when it requested assistance with the investigation from the Australian Federal police.

Despite Professor Ong's deportation, his testimony in the case will stand. "I would say the death was very likely not to have been caused by cyanide," he told the Central Jakarta District Court on Monday.

However he said no autopsy had been performed to determine the cause of death, with the only examination the opening of the abdomen to collect toxicology specimens.

"There was no post mortem autopsy to rule out the natural cause of death and the toxicology is not conclusive of poisoning," he said. "I would say the cause of death is uncertain or not determined."

Professor Ong testified the low level of cyanide detected in Ms Salihin's stomach was not consistent with fatal poisoning and symptoms of cyanide poisoning typically developed about 30 minutes after ingestion, not the two minutes claimed by the prosecution.

"There was no post mortem performed, there was a delay in (obtaining) the toxicology specimen, there was a contradictory toxicology result and therefore the cause of death cannot be concluded," Professor Ong said.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Ms Salihin have obsessed many Indonesians. There are all the plot points of a soap opera – two beautiful women from wealthy backgrounds, an alleged murder and an unknown motive. Vietnamese iced coffees have enjoyed a ghoulish spike in popularity.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Vietnamese coffee. Stronger than you think," a billboard says outside a South Jakarta outlet of MonViet, a Vietnamese restaurant chain.

A MonViet employee insisted this was a coincidence and the phraseology came from a song. But she said many customers ordered iced Vietnamese coffee after the Jessica case because they were curious about it. "Sometimes customers joke: 'Does your Vietnamese coffee contain cyanide or not?'

Professor Ong, who was the first witness for the defence, told the court he had been an expert forensic witness in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Australia. He said he would expect a "very high level of cyanide" to be found in the stomach of someone who had been fatally poisoned – in some cases more than 1000 milligrams per litre.

The senior forensic pathologist said he would also expect cyanide to be detected in the bowels and liver. However Professor Ong said just 0.2 milligrams of cyanide had been detected in Ms Salihin's stomach and tests on her bowel and liver came back negative.

He also said symptoms of cyanide poisoning typically occur about 30 minutes after it has been ingested, which did not fit with Ms Salihin collapsing two minutes after drinking the allegedly spiked iced coffee. "I wouldn't suspect it was cyanide, I would consider other causes, including natural disease," Professor Ong said.

The forensic pathologist spent time in Indonesia in 2002 assisting the Australian Federal Police with post mortems of the victims of the first Bali bombing.

The head of Central Jakarta immigration, Mr Juliadin, said Professor Ong had only held a cultural visa at the time, but he was assisted by the Australian government and had not appeared in public. "It was discretion," he said.

Mr Juliadin said Professor Ong would return to Australia via Singapore on Wednesday. His passport would be returned to him on "departure day". "He did not commit a crime however he violated the visa regulation." he said.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-expert-professor-beng-beng-ong-who-testified-in-alleged-coffee-murder-case-to-be-deported-20160907-gracro.html

BNN to procure weapons, intelligence tools to counter drug trafficking

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) plans to procure weapons and intelligence tools to eradicate illicit drug trafficking in Indonesia, an official has said.

BNN head Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said his agency aimed to improve its facilities to catch up with the latest technology drug networks were using to operate their illicit business. The facilities needed included the latest generation of surveillance tools, X-ray machines and detectors, he went on.

Budi further said the BNN would procure firearms, including pistols, short-guns, assault rifles and bigger weapons that could break through containers or steel safety boxes. Bulletproof vests to protect BNN personnel deployed in antidrug operations will also be procured, he went on.

"Many threats have challenged our job. Technology has continued to develop and the [drug] mafias also have equipment that manages to avoid our X-ray machines. We should modernize our equipment since our enemies are drug dealers who have different capabilities," Budi said on Tuesday.

He said several BNN officials had identified the specifications of weapons and tools they might need. They also had carried out performance tests for several types of weapons to ensure quality.

He refused to go into specifics regarding the number of firearms the BNN would procure or the company from which the firearms would be procured, because the procurement depended on budgetary allocations for the agency. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/bnn-to-procure-weapons-intelligence-tools-to-counter-drug-trafficking.html

BNN shrugs off rights criticism, saying drug dealers' lives not to be respected

Jakarta Post - September 7, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – National Narcotics Agency (BNN) head Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso has shrugged off criticism that the nation's war against drugs disregards human rights principles, saying that drug dealers' lives should not be respected since they commit "mass murders".

Those who circulate narcotics in such a big amount and have been involved in the illegal drug network for years, have committed serious crimes since they have killed or caused people to suffer, Budi said. Harsh punishments such as the death penalty, therefore, are comparable to the crime, he went on saying.

"Let's say [the drug dealer] has killed 100 people. Which one is more serious: a human rights violation that the BNN commits by executing one drug dealer, or killing 100 people? It's definitely the latter, so it's not a problem," he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

However, Budi asserted that such harsh punishment would only be handed down after the BNN and law enforcement agencies had verified and found evidence that proved the suspect was indeed a drug lord. If the verified suspect shows hostility during arrest, he might be shot on site, Budi said.

Even though not to the extent of the Philippine's move for a bloody crackdown on the illegal drug trade, Budi asserted that Indonesia should indeed impose strict punishment against those who had committed drugs abuse and trafficking, in order to save the country's younger generation. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/07/bnn-shrugs-off-rights-criticism-saying-drug-dealers-lives-not-to-be-respected.html

'Don't be satisfied just arresting users' DPR commission tells BNN

Jakarta Globe - September 2, 2016

Jakarta – Masinton Pasaribu, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III on legal affairs, has backed the National Anti-Narcotics Agency, or BNN, in its fight against drug abuse among public figures.

The comments were prompted after Gatot Brajamusti, chairman of the Indonesian Film Artists Association (Parfi), was arrested after allegedly using drugs with several of his colleagues.

"We should appreciate the actions taken against drug users. We appreciate the firm law enforcement against narcotics," Masinton said on Thursday (01/09).

Masinton, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the efforts should be expanded to netting distributors and suppliers.

"Don't be satisfied by just arresting drug users. We should remember that the chain of narcotic networks is very wide, so we should not let them escape," Masinton said.

The arrests of the artists has triggered suspicion among the community that the arrests were made mainly to divert from the issue of distribution and trafficking.

"The arrests on the artists are important, but there is the greater task in unveiling larger syndicates. The drug distribution and victims have increased annually, meaning the large dealers and supplier networks are still untouched," Masinton said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/dont-satisfied-just-arresting-users-dpr-commission-tells-bnn/

Police & law enforcement

No personnel linked to Freddy's drug network: Police

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian has said the results of an investigation into a video featuring executed drug convict Freddy Budiman found that no police personnel were involved in Freddy's narcotics network, as was claimed in the recording.

"In the video, Freddy never mentioned anything related to drug-related cash flow or any National Police personnel who received it [...] We haven't found any evidence [to support the allegations] so far, either in the video or in his defense notes, as well as in his lawyer's testimony," Tito said during a hearing with the House of Representatives on Monday.

In a statement to rights activist Haris Azhar in 2014, Freddy claimed he had given Rp 90 billion (US$6,848,019) to police personnel as compensation for protecting his drug business. The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) chairman later released the recorded statement on Facebook, one day before Freddy was executed on Nusakambangan prison island on July 29.

Tito admitted that Freddy had mentioned the names of three police personnel in the video. However, after an examination commissioned by a joint fact-finding team, the three were not found to have any links to cash-flow matters, he said.

The police chief added that two personnel mentioned by Freddy in the video had previously apprehended him in an operation. Meanwhile, the third officer had earlier conveyed the government's plan to create a prison island surrounded by crocodiles. Tito did not cite the names of the three police personnel. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/no-personnel-linked-to-freddys-drug-network-police.html

Intelligence & state security

House officially approves Budi Gunawan as new spy chief

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The House of Representatives officially approved Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as the new National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief during a plenary meeting on Thursday.

Lawmakers attending the meeting, chaired by House deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan, unanimously agreed with the decision of House Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, to endorse Budi as the successor of outgoing BIN chief Sutiyoso.

"We hope he [Budi] can be soon inaugurated and this afternoon we will try our best to send an endorsement letter to the President [Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo]. Tomorrow is a good time for the inauguration [of the new chief]," House deputy speaker Fahri Hamzah said after the plenary meeting.

The decision came following a screening, conducted by Commission I, which finished on Wednesday. All political party factions at the commission approved Budi as the sole candidate for the new spy chief.

Currently serving as National Police deputy chief, Budi was nominated by President Jokowi through an official letter sent to the House by State Secretary Pratikno last Friday. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/house-officially-approves-budi-gunawan-as-new-spy-chief.html

Smooth sailing expected for Budi Gunawan in House

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – A challenge to gain the trust of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo awaits Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan following his controversial and politically rocky nomination to replace Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso to lead the country's spy agency.

The current National Police deputy chief may face little opposition, if any at all, from lawmakers for him to become the next chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), but his ability to gain the trust of Jokowi, who will be the sole user of his services, is at stake.

Budi is slated to convince lawmakers from the House of Representatives Commission I that oversees BIN during a fit-and-proper test next Wednesday upon Jokowi's request for discretion from the legislative institution as mandated by Law No. 17/2011 on BIN.

Commission I chairman Abdul Kharis Almasyhari said that all preparations were set for the scheduled event, the results of which would have little impact on the outcome of Budi's nomination because the final decision belongs to Jokowi.

Kharis, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said he was aware of the controversy that continues to haunt Budi, predicting that Commission I lawmakers might raise the issue when interviewing him. "But again, the final decision will be completely up to Pak Jokowi himself because our role is only to give an opinion on the President's choice. We don't get to choose," he said.

Known as a close associate of the matron of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Megawati Soekarnoputri, Budi has become part of the political decision-making transactions between Jokowi and Megawati, at least since his failed nomination to be National Police chief last year following public objections because of his alleged involvement in graft.

The man who was adjutant to Megawati during her tenure as president from 2001 to 2004 again gained public attention, this time as a possible candidate for a Cabinet post, when Jokowi decided to undertake another Cabinet reshuffle in July.

After more than a month of deliberations, which also included political discussions with related parties, Jokowi finally bowed down to Megawati's earlier demand and officially sent a letter notifying the House about his decision to nominate Budi to be the new BIN chief.

Regardless of the political process behind Budi's nomination, the future of the role of BIN as the "ears and eyes of the president" fully relies on Jokowi and Budi.

"The intelligence agency is like no other institution," said the former chief of the Military's Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), Soleman Ponto. "No one can be between an intelligence body and its user and, in the case of BIN, the single user is the president. Thus, what to do with Pak BG [Budi Gunawan] as BIN chief afterwards fully depends on Pak Jokowi as the agent holder."

Soleman highlighted the importance of the BIN chief building good relations. "Because relations lead to access. The more access Pak BG has, including to his user [Jokowi], the more he can do to carry out his job."

Defense analysts have concurred with Soleman, highlighting that the first "tough job" that awaits Budi will be to mend relations with Jokowi.

"Pak Budi Gunawan will certainly experience a psychological gap when interacting with Pak Jokowi because of the confusion in the past that lead to his failed nomination as National Police chief, as well as because of the political interactions between Bu Mega and Pak Jokowi," said political analyst Kusnanto Anggoro.

Kusnanto, however, was confident that the relations between Jokowi and Budi would have little impact on BIN as an institution, although a good relationship between the two was crucial because the spy body would continue to function.

"Among the things that Pak BG can do later to improve the institution is introduce a new way of thinking to the intelligence operation so that BIN can be outward looking, as well as make use of technological development to support intelligence work."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/smooth-sailing-expected-budi-gunawan-house.html

Rights group doubts Budi Gunawan's integrity

Jakarta Post - September 3, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has questioned Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's nomination as the next State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, saying that Budi's integrity is questionable as he was once a graft suspect.

Kontras deputy coordinator for strategy and mobilization Puri Kencana Putri said that even though the South Jakarta District Court had invalidated Budi's status as a suspect in a pretrial petition, the graft case might be reactivated should other evidence be found in the future.

"It should be ensured that the next BIN chief doesn't have the potential to cause trouble [...] It would be shameful if in the future [Budi] was hit with legal cases as it would disturb the functioning of state institutions and decrease public trust," Puri said on Friday.

The rights group further criticized President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo for nominating Budi, who is currently serving as National Police deputy chief, saying that Jokowi had "again" decided to name a public official without considering his track record.

In the recent cabinet reshuffle, Jokowi appointed Wiranto, who has a questionable human rights track record, as coordinating political, legal, and security affairs minister, as well as giving the energy and mineral resources minister post to Arcandra Tahar, who shortly after his appointment was dismissed for allegedly holding dual citizenship, Puri said. (evi)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/03/rights-group-doubts-budi-gunawans-integrity.html

Jokowi wants Budi Gunawan as spy chief

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has sent a letter to the House of Representatives nominating National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan to replace Sutiyoso as the country's spy chief.

State Secretary Pratikno delivered Jokowi's letter to the House on Friday, claiming that the replacement plan would support regeneration at the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).

House Speaker Ade Komarudin said the House would immediately process the nomination. House Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs would carry out screenings for Budi, he said.

"Our plan is to follow up the matter next week and we will hold a meeting with the leaders of political factions on Monday to decide on further details," Ade told journalists at the House complex.

Retired Army general and former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso has lead the agency since July 8 last year.

Budi is a close associate of President Jokowi's patron and chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Megawati Soekarnoputri. He found himself at the center of controversy in January last year after Jokowi withdrew Budi's name as a National Police chief candidate even though he had passed screenings at the House.

The withdrawal came after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) declared Budi a graft suspect. Jokowi then appointed Gen. Badrodin Haiti as National Police chief and Budi as deputy chief. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/02/jokowi-wants-budi-gunawan-as-spy-chief.html

Foreign affairs & trade

TPP an uneven playing field for RI: Emil Salim

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Jakarta – The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would be an uneven playing field for Indonesian businesses, given the country's low ratings in various fields compared to 12 members of the trade bloc led by the US, economist Emil Salim has said.

"Indonesia is an emerging country; a low-middle income country, while the US is high income. The TPP would create an uneven playing field for our country," Emil said during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Indonesia's low productivity, low rating on the Logistics Performance Index, low rating in the ease of doing business, low rating on the Global Competitive Index, poor infrastructure, long port dwell time, unequal distribution of income between the regions and low level of education and health serves would leave the country unable to compete with the 12 participating countries, said Emil.

Other things that may harm Indonesia include the requirement to respect free competition in government procurement; dispute settlement through Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), which requires dispute settlement through international arbitration; liberal competitiveness and business facilitation; equal treatment of state-owned, private and foreign enterprises; and protection of intellectual property rights, he added. – JP

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/economy-brief-tpp-uneven-playing-field-ri-emil-salim.html

Indonesian president Joko Widodo to visit Australia in November 2016

Sydney Morning Herald - September 8, 2016

Jewel Topsfield – Indonesian President Joko Widodo has flagged he will visit Australia in November in a powerful indication of the warmth between the leaders of the two countries.

Mr Joko and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cemented their relationship when they were mobbed by fans during a sweaty impromptu visit – known as blusukan – to a market in Jakarta last year.

"The temperature is warm but the warmth of the people towards the President is much warmer still," Mr Turnbull cried at the time as he flung off his coat and tie.

The successful one-day visit in November last year was seen as a turning point in the bilateral relationship, which had been scarred by the execution of Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in April last year

Indonesians had taken umbrage to former prime minister Tony Abbott's comments linking the Bali nine executions and the $1 billion in aid Indonesia was given after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Australia, meanwhile, temporarily recalled its ambassador, Paul Grigson, in the wake of the executions.

During a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos on Thursday, Mr Turnbull gushed over Mr Joko and said he looked forward to welcoming him to Australia later in the year.

"You are an absolute beacon in the way that you demonstrate again and again that democracy, moderation, tolerance and Islam are thoroughly compatible," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull has often spoken of Mr Joko's commitment to promoting a tolerant and moderate Islam and his powerful rejection of extremism, which the Prime Minister says resonates well beyond Indonesia.

"Australia has a vital interest in seeing President Widodo's commitment to tolerance succeed, as my own discussions with local Muslim leaders have made clear to me," Mr Turnbull said at the 2016 Lowy lecture in March this year.

"Indeed, the Executive Director of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Nail Aykan, wrote to me to say that the mere fact of my mentioning President Widodo's example has helped in combatting extremism and promoting better, more tolerant and mainstream understandings of Islam and the Muslim world."

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the leaders had discussed economic cooperation (especially relating to cattle imports and breeding), counter terrorism and maritime cooperation, as well as the President's slated visit to Australia. "The President said we will try to do it in November," she said.

Ms Retno said both leaders agreed to increased cooperation on counter-terrorism and Australia and Indonesia would be the first states to implement maritime cooperation within the East Asia Summit.

Meanwhile, Senator Penny Wong is in Jakarta this week for her first overseas visit in her new role as opposition foreign affairs spokesperson.

Senator Wong said the visit demonstrated the value the ALP placed on the relationship with Indonesia, citing former prime minister Paul Keating's oft-quoted comment that "no country is more important to Australian than Indonesia".

The audience – students from Atma Jaya Catholic University – laughed when Senator Wong said: "At times our friends in Jakarta could be forgiven for thinking that all Australia is interested in when it comes to Indonesia is boats, beef and Bali".

"In recent years, the relationship has often focused on resolving immediate problems – and these have typically been Australia's problems – rather than Indonesia's concerns or priorities," she said.

"We must work to ensure the relationship between the two countries is focused on much more than the day to day transactions."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/indonesian-president-joko-widodo-to-visit-australia-in-november-2016-20160908-grc3po.html

Tourism & hospitality

Number of foreign visitors hits all-time high

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Farida Susanty, Jakarta – July has set a new record in the number of foreigners visiting Indonesia, with Chinese tourists topping the list.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Thursday that 1.03 million people visited the country in July, marking an all-time high.

Compared to one year ago, the July figure is up 17.7 percent. It is also a reversal from a less-than-favorable figure in June, when the number of visits dropped by 1.7 percent year-on-year to 857,651 as a result of the fasting month.

"July is a traditional high season, but we think our intense efforts to promote tourism in Indonesia have also been fruitful," said I Gde Pitana, deputy minister for overseas promotion at the Tourism Ministry.

The ministry attributed the increase to the free 30-day visas now offered to citizens from dozens of countries, including China and Australia, which it said made it easier for tourists to visit the archipelago.

China ranked at the top of the list of countries of origin, with 153,934 visitors recorded in July, taking the helm from Singapore. The number of Chinese visitors surged 32.9 percent from June.

Coming in second and third place were Australia and Singapore with 122,866 and 94,187 visitors, respectively.

China is among countries the government is particularly targeting in its tourism campaign. The number of Chinese travelers visiting Indonesia is expected to climb to 1.7 million this year from 1.3 million last year.

Pitana said efforts from travel agencies as well as airlines to provide access for Chinese visitors to places like Manado in North Sulawesi had played a key role in boosting visits from China.

Airlines such as private carriers Sriwijaya Air and Lion Air have launched charter services connecting Chinese cities with Manado.

Around 7,000 Chinese tourists visited Manado in July after the charter flights became available, compared to almost none last year, according to Tourism Ministry data.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has also flown holidaymakers from three major Chinese cities – namely Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – to Jakarta.

The ministry claimed its tourism promotion in the Asia-Pacific area, especially in China, had borne fruit as well. It has promoted Indonesia in dozens of Chinese cities and through Chinese media, such as search engine Baidu and television channel CCTV.

"We also see cities that serve as tourism gates developing significantly," he said, citing BPS data that show that Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali welcomed 482,201 foreign visitors in July, up almost 20 percent from a month earlier.

As reported earlier, the current administration has made tourism part of its five priority sectors to be developed. It aims to attract 12 million foreign tourists this year, up from 10.41 million last year. It hopes to drive the number up to 20 million tourists in 2019.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/02/number-of-foreign-visitors-hits-all-time-high.html

Mining & energy

Oil, gas sector continues to look bleak

Jakarta Post - September 6, 2016

Dylan Amirio, Jakarta – The future of Indonesia's oil and gas sector continues to look bleak with latest estimates showing oil lifting rates plunging by almost half from current levels by 2020, with no new discoveries amidst low oil prices.

Due to the continued depletion of oil reserves, ready-to-sell oil production will decline to 480,000-550,000 bopd by 2020 if no new discoveries are made, according to estimates from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas).

Indonesia's oil reserves dropped to 3.6 billion stock tank barrels at the end of 2015 from 3.62 billion the previous year.

The projected oil lifting figure is almost half of the current 820,000 bopd, which is already insufficient to meet domestic demands of around 1.6 million bopd. This has raised concerns of how the local oil and gas sector can fulfill increasing demands in the future, especially as oil fields enter a natural decline while low oil prices discourage non-conventional production methods.

"Furthermore, there are no large projects or plans of development [POD] that will be on stream until 2020," SKKMigas chief Amien Sunaryadi said during a hearing at the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy affairs on Monday.

The lack of large oil projects is worrisome, especially since there will be 35 fields whose production-sharing contracts (PSC) will be terminated by 2026. The termination of Total E&P Indonesie's Mahakam block PSC and Vico's Sanga-sanga block PSC at the end of 2017 is estimated to contribute to a loss of 26,600 bopd next year.

Only two small oil fields expect to start operating next year: the Madura BD block, operated by Husky Oil, and the Jangkrik block, operated by Eni Muara Bakau.

Arief also said global oil prices have yet to fully recover from its initial plunge at the end of 2014, which would continue to affect production activities for the medium term. Global crude oil prices are expected to hover around US$40 to $50 per barrel next year, from the peak of $115 per barrel in 2014.

For next year, SKKMigas has targeted oil lifting rates at a measly 780,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in 2017, from this year's 820,000 bopd target.

The largest drop will come from Chevron Pacific Indonesia's Rokan block due to its maturing characteristics and the postponement of the North Duri Development (NDD) Area 14 project as caused by low oil prices. As a result, the Rokan block's oil lifting rates will drop by 22,000 bopd to 228,900 bopd next year. Eight other oil blocks are also experiencing a natural decline, including PT Medco E&P Rimau in South Sumatra, with a drop of 3,500 bopd to an estimated production rate of 5,500 bopd in 2017.

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is one method operators could implement to increase the amount of crude oil extracted from an oil field. However, Chevron Pacific Indonesia and Medco E&P Rimau, both of which have been running EOR pilot projects, have said it is still economically unfeasible to implement the method on a larger scale, even though it had been proven effective.

Medco E&P Rimau executive director Ronald Gunawan said they had stopped conducting their pilot project, which used the surfactant polymer flooding method, in 2014 when global oil prices dropped. "We will be able to do it again if global oil prices reach $80 per barrel," he said.

Despite the low oil prices, however, companies have not completely stopped production activities. SKKMigas have estimated that there will be 343 oil well drillings, 1,005 work overs and 32,094 well service activities next year.

Despite the low oil prices, however, companies have not completely stopped its production activities. SKKMigas has estimated that there will be 343 oil well drillings, 1,005 work overs and 32,094 well service activities next year.

Chevron Pacific Indonesia will conduct the most activities with 132 drillings, 187 work overs and 16,695 well service activities in 2017.

"We will reach [our lifting target] through the development of 120 wells in 2016 and around 14,000 well service activities. Our 2016 activity is the basis of our work plan in 2017," Chevron Pacific Indonesia president director Albert Simanjuntak said during the hearing.

In the meantime, ExxonMobil Cepu Limited, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Indonesia, has announced that it will submit a proposal to increase the production rate of its Cepu block in East Java to 200,000 bopd next year.

Although the increase could help the country's lifting rate, SKKMigas had previously rejected a similar proposal due to environmental and subsurface considerations.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/06/oil-gas-sector-continues-to-look-bleak.html

Mining Law revision hoped to stoke slow smelter progress

Jakarta Post - September 5, 2016

Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – The government hopes the revised 2009 Mining Law permits companies that have made significant progress in smelter development to continue exporting semifinished mineral products, although miners say such a move will instead create another policy flip-flop.

Prevailing law prohibited the export of unprocessed mineral ore in 2015 in hopes that it would push development of the downstream sector. However, the ban was pushed back until Jan. 11, 2017, due to complaints from the mining industry that the ban was a hasty move.

However, smelter development remains sluggish even with the clock ticking until full implementation four months later and the government seems to be under pressure once more.

Although the revised draft will be proposed by the House of Representatives, as stated in the national priority legislation program (Prolegnas), interim energy and mineral resources minister Luhut Pandjaitan has appealed to Commission VII to consider allowing some companies to continue exporting semifinished products past the deadline in the new bill.

Luhut, who is also the coordinating maritime affairs minister, explained that several companies had stopped construction of its smelters because it was no longer economically viable with the export ban in place.

"Let's look at the companies that might have already completed 25 or 35 percent of construction but stopped because of their cash flow. If we look at it fairly, we can relax the ban for a limited amount of time," he said during a recent hearing.

"This is not just their fault, but it is also ours. The 2009 law was only implemented in 2014 and it was impossible for [mining companies] to invest so much in building smelters during a time when commodity prices were dropping."

The law revision is highly anticipated, especially since the ban on raw mineral exports will be implemented at the beginning of 2017. The ban's purpose is to encourage smelter development to strengthen the industry's downstream sector. The development is expected to reduce the country's reliance on imports and give added value to the industry.

Prevailing regulation stipulates that mining firms working on smelter projects must deposit 5 percent of their total investment in local banks as collateral to ensure the development continues. The surety bonds are a prerequisite for the firms to obtain permits to export semifinished mineral products, a permit that can be extended every six months.

Commission VII legislator Fadel Muhammad was optimistic the revision could be completed by the end of the year. "Right now we are compiling what are the main issues [in the prevailing law]. So far, we have found 12 main problems and are discussing the solutions," the Golkar Party lawmaker said, adding that almost 60 percent of the revision had been completed.

Fadel explained among changes Commission VII wanted to see was a revision to the rule stipulating that companies could only propose a contract extension two years before the deadline. "We are trying to figure out a way to make it so that [they can apply for an extension] five years beforehand," he said.

Meanwhile, Processing and Smelting Companies Association (AP3I) deputy chairman Jonatan Handjojo said any attempt at relaxing the export ban could result in a bad reputation in the eyes of investors.

"The government would be well-advised to reconsider this discourse. This is because [smelter development] requires large investment and investors that have already put their money here may become upset," he said.

Twenty seven smelter facilities have been constructed between 2012 and 2016, with total investment of around US$12 billion, according to data from AP3I.

January 12, 2009: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signs Law No. 4/2009 on minerals and coal mining. Articles 103 and 170 oblige holders of mining licenses/special mining licenses and contracts of work to process and refine or smelt their production in the country by the latest five years after the law is put into effect (Jan. 12, 2014).

2014: The government gives an additional three years, until 2017, for companies to continue to export semi-finished products, such as concentrates, if they pledge to build smelters.

October 2, 2014: The discourse on revising Law No. 4/2009 emerges after the passage of Law No. 23/2014 on regional government stipulating regional governments no longer have the authority to issue and revoke mining licenses

January 25, 2016: Draft on the revised Mining Law is handed over by the government to the House of Representatives

February 11, 2016: Revised Mining Law is included in the 2016 National Legislation Program to be passed during the year

From various sources

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/05/mining-law-revision-hoped-to-stoke-slow-smelter-progress.html

Infrastructure & development

Investors in the dark about priority projects

Jakarta Post - September 3, 2016

Farida Susanty, Jakarta – The government should improve the dissemination of information on the country's important infrastructure projects in order to attract more private investors to infrastructure development.

Infrastructure financing company Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) managing director and investment officer Harold Tjiptadjaja said in Jakarta on Friday that many investors who were interested in infrastructure projects, still faced difficulties obtaining data related to priority projects.

Harold said one of the problems was that the Committee of Priority Infrastructure Development Acceleration (KPPIP). which oversees priority projects, had not disclosed the "minimum information" about projects considered ready for development.

"There are places to get information, such as ministries like the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for example. But KPPIP should take over this role," he said on Friday. Consequently, investors were still in the dark on where to go when they wanted to invest in the country's projects, Harold added.

Infrastructure development is one of the most important programs of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration in accelerating economic growth.

The government, however, acknowledged that its strategic infrastructure department, the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, also suffered from a shortfall of funding to finance infrastructure development.

The government has encouraged more private companies to become involve in infrastructure projects through public-private partnership (PPP) schemes.

Meanwhile, the KPPIP, established in 2014, was intended to monitor and expedite the construction of the country's most strategic infrastructure projects, especially the 30 priority projects. Most of them are to be built under a PPP scheme.

The projects listed as priority projects are those that have an investment value of more than Rp 500 billion (US$38 million). Among the projects in the priority list, which is also part of the 225 national strategic projects is the development of eight segments of the Trans-Sumatra toll road, Kuala Tanjung International Airport, as well as the Palapa Ring broadband network.

The total investment needed is Rp 819.4 trillion. KPPIP itself previously set an ambitious target of seeing the groundbreaking of all 30 projects by 2018.

So far, two major projects, namely the four-decade-delayed regional drinking water system (SPAM) Umbulan in East Java and two 1,000 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plants in Batang, Central Java, have seen progress under the watch of the KPPIP.

KPPIP program director Rainier Haryanto said that it had not disclosed the projects that were the most ready among the 30 strategic infrastructure projects.

"We have not disseminated the information to the public but we have approached to several banks and investment managers," he said, referring to the banks acting as trustees in the government's tax amnesty program.

Meanwhile, Public Works and Public Housing Ministry director general for construction Yusid Toyib said that the ministry would also establish a center within the ministry to provide information on the strategic projects within the ministry available for PPP schemes.

"The ministerial instruction [for the center] might be issued next month. So later when, for example, a Chinese investor wants to participate in the project, we can direct them to the Toll Road Regulatory Agency [BPJT], so they're not confused," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/03/investors-dark-about-priority-projects.html

Projects in limbo after state budget cuts

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Grace D. Amianti, Stefani Ribka and Farida Susanty, Jakarta – The second round of state budget cuts may lead to delayed infrastructure projects and lower economic growth, although priority projects will not be affected as the country struggles to fill in a huge infrastructure funding gap.

Construction of non-priority infrastructure projects will be disrupted and delayed following the state budget cuts, according to the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, which is responsible for state infrastructure projects.

"Following the Rp 6.9 trillion [US$517.5 million] cut, we'll have to adjust projects that have not been tendered and single-year packages whose progress is unsatisfactory and reschedule multi-year projects," the ministry's secretary-general Taufik Widjoyono said recently. It previously suffered from an 8.4 trillion budget cut in the first round earlier this year.

Priority projects scheduled for completion this year, such as the trans-Papua and trans-Java toll roads, will not be affected, he added.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo cut the revised 2016 state budget for the second time recently in a Presidential Instruction (Inpres) that shaved Rp 137 trillion off spending because of a Rp 219 trillion revenue shortfall as the government admitted it had previously set tax targets too high.

"I predict that there will be a lot of projects on which construction has yet to be started that will be postponed to next year," said Kenta Institute senior economist Eric Sugandi, predicting the budget cuts would reduce the multiplier effects on economic growth from government spending.

Bank Central Asia (BCA) chief economist David Sumual said a cut in infrastructure spending would affect economic growth, more so than a reduction in routine expenditure, so that the government should carefully pick components to reduce.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on Thursday evening further slashed the economic growth forecast for this year to between 5 and 5.1 percent, from previous expectations of 5.2 percent, on the back of the budget cuts.

Jokowi's "Jokowinomics" puts infrastructure development high on top of the nation's economic agenda as bottlenecks have hindered Indonesia from growing at its fullest potential of 7 percent, having scrapped a multi-billion rupiah fuel subsidy to direct the saved money toward capital expenditure.

The infrastructure funding gap in Indonesia is the biggest in ASEAN as current spending plans projected $441 billion, while the projected total requirement reached $1,162 billion, according to data from HSBC Global Research.

"Indonesia's large funding gap is unlikely to be filled without a much more aggressive policy by the government to attract private funds," HSBC Global Research wrote in its latest "ASEAN Perspectives" report.

To ensure steady infrastructure projects in the future, construction business groups expected the government to keep priority projects intact this year and instead slash funding for projects that face difficulties in land procurement, said Indonesian Construction Association (AKI) secretary-general Zali Yahya.

"We hope steel usage for major projects won't be disturbed and done based on the President's initial vision, so national steel products will be prioritized," Indonesian Iron and Steel Industry Association (IISIA) executive director Hidayat Triseputro said.

The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry's director general of water resources Mudjiadi made assurances that the ministry would prioritize cutting the budgets that were related to procurement and work travel.

"But we are also reviewing contracts that may get delayed for completion because of land acquisition issues. The guidance is that the cuts will not occur in strategic projects," he said. As of Wednesday, the ministry has only disbursed 46 percent of the Rp 90.2 trillion earmarked in the revised 2016 state budget.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/02/projects-in-limbo-after-state-budget-cuts.html

Economy & investment

State firms hunting for foreign loans to fund projects

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2016

Grace D. Amianti, Jakarta – State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are seeking foreign loans to finance massive state projects that cannot be solely supported by local sources of financing, the SOE Ministry says.

The SOE Ministry's assistant for financial services, surveyor and consultant Gatot Trihargo, said various funding sources, including overseas ones, would play an essential role in supporting state project development, as the lending capacity of domestic banks was limited to around Rp 450 trillion (US$33.75 billion) to Rp 500 trillion.

"Of course we are planning for more [foreign loans]. A single foreign loan totaling $3 billion and foreign direct investments are still not enough," he said, referring to a previous bilateral loan provided by China Development Bank (CDB) and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to three state-owned banks to support infrastructure projects in the next five years.

As the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo administration targeted infrastructure development worth Rp 5.5 quadrillion to reach a 7 percent economic growth target, financing from various sources alongside the state budget was constantly needed, Gatot added.

Gatot said the SOE Ministry was currently assessing opportunities for loans from creditors in the US, UK, Japan and Scandinavian countries, while also confirming that it would continue to pursue new loan commitments from CDB and ICBC.

"We still need to confirm [the development progress] of proposed state projects. State-run banks, as they are publicly listed, also need to conduct prudent assessment. If they are okay, the creditors are ready to provide the loans," he said, declining to mention the creditors' names.

State-owned Bank Mandiri, the nation's largest lender by assets, would seek new loan commitment from CDB, but would only start channeling the funds next year, president director Kartika "Tiko" Wirjoatmodjo said.

Bilateral loans sought by state-owned companies could help balance financing needs to support government infrastructure projects amid spending cuts, Bank Central Asia (BCA) chief economist David Sumual said, adding that the country still had a low debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio at 36.8 percent compared to other emerging markets.

"The private sector has low interest to seek foreign loans as they are currently in the wait-and-see mode for a trigger from the government infrastructure spending," he said.

The country's external debt rose by 6.2 percent year-on-year (yoy) to $323.8 billion as of June, with $165.1 billion, or 51 percent of the total, coming from the private sector, Bank Indonesia (BI) data show.

Despite having a major chunk, the private sector's external debt declined by 3.1 percent yoy in June, compared to a 17.9 percent increase in public-sector debt. BI views the condition as still healthy, but remains vigilant about the risks to the national economy.

The previous CDB loan for the three state-run lenders was criticized repeatedly by House of Representatives lawmakers on Commissions XI and VI, who claimed the credits channeled to the banks' clients were actually of a multi-purpose nature rather than specifically for infrastructure projects.

The loans were also allegedly channeled to companies that they deemed as "undeserving" to receive credit. Among the companies receiving funds from the state-controlled lenders are pulp and paper companies Indah Kiat and Pindo Deli, cementmaker Bosowa, energy company Medco and steelmaker Krakatau Steel.

After debating the matter in several sessions, Commission VI lawmakers finally concluded on Monday that the lenders were, in fact, allowed to continue the CDB loan as long as it was for feasible projects and conducted prudently.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/state-firms-hunting-for-foreign-loans-to-fund-projects.html

Restructuring of major state firms in motion

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2016

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – It took newly appointed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati around 45 minutes to convince lawmakers last week of the urgent need to restructure several major state-owned enterprises (SOEs) so that they could punch above their weight.

She told them: "1+1+1+1+1 equals three, not five is an illustration of how our SOEs have largely failed in their operations to create added value. It is now our job to make 1+1+1+1+1 equals not five, but 10."

In the hearing with House of Representatives Commission VI on SOEs, industry and trade, Sri Mulyani initiated the government's bid to get legislative support for a plan to form six holding companies operating different sectors with the aim of boosting their value, debt leverage and efficiency.

The proposal was first floated by SOE Minister Rini Soemarno in June, but it failed to gain traction until Sri Mulyani officially laid out a plan to legislators, most of whom demanded that the finance minister lead the restructuring plan.

Rini has been banned from attending any meetings at the House since last year and has since been represented at the House by the finance minister. The ban is in part due to a row she had with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's patron.

While Sri Mulyani acknowledged that she had not discussed the plan specifically with Rini, she fully shared Rini's objective to have all SOEs restructured so that they could operate more efficiently.

Under the restructuring plan, oil and gas company Pertamina, the only Indonesian company listed on the Fortune Global 500 in terms of revenue, will become the holding company for oil and gas, overseeing only publicly listed PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN).

Aluminum producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) will be the parent company for mining, overseeing diversified mining company PT Antam, coal miner PT Bukit Asam and tin miner PT Timah. Inalum will also hold the government's 9.36 percent shares in copper and gold producer PT Freeport McMoran Indonesia.

The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) will function as the holding company for food companies, which include agriculture firm PT Pertani and fishery firm PT Perikanan Nusantara, among others.

Investment company PT Danareksa will be the holding company for banking and financial services, overseeing Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Tabungan Negara Indonesia, financing firm PT PNM and pawn operator PT Pegadaian.

Construction company PT Hutama Karya will be the parent company of toll road and construction companies, such as toll road operator PT Jasa Marga and construction firm PT Wijaya Karya.

Public housing company PT Perumnas will function as the holding company for housing firms, which include property contractor PT Adhi Karya and property firm PT Pembangunan Perumahan, among others.

A government regulation is planned to serve as the legal umbrella for the forming of the holding companies. With the structure of the holding companies having been drafted, there is the question of what the actual gains will be from the restructuring proposal.

According to the restructuring document submitted by the government to the House, the companies, through the holding companies, could borrow more for expansion as their debt capacity leverage would increase in line with the merging of their assets. The cost of borrowings could also be trimmed down.

Synergy between companies under the same holding company could be maximized through resource sharing, project collaboration and a shared transactional program, thus improving efficiency, according to the document.

The holding companies would also accelerate the creation of downstream companies as supplies and processing units would be shared between companies. This would also increase the use of local components and commodities.

The idea of forming such holding companies was conceived in 2004, during the president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, but progress in the implementation remained sluggish.

Only three holding companies have been formed over the past decade: PT Semen Indonesia to oversee three cement companies, PT Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company to manage six fertilizer producers and PT Perkebunan Nusantara to direct 13 plantation companies.

But the forming of such companies is not without problems, particularly over the blending of different company cultures and the ego of their executives, who often have an array of politicians as their backers. In some cases, infighting pared down profitability of the holding companies in the early years.

"Consolidation is the key. Failure to do so will undermine decision-making and harm company performance," said Budi Gunadi Sadikin, an expert staff member of the SOE minister.

"That's why the SOE Ministry is taking the matter very seriously," said the former Bank Mandiri president director, who is tipped to lead the holding company for mining companies.

As the restructuring plan seems to be politically tricky and will have far-reaching impacts on the economy, Sri Mulyani urged lawmakers not to engage in endless debate to question whether the move was needed.

She argued that corporate actions in SOEs should be flexible without having to deal with a mountain of red tape, and that restructuring should be considered a normal corporate action that was deemed normal in many advanced economies.

"The real debate should be on the 'how'; on the process of the restructuring itself. How can we resolve the political process, combine the balance sheets, blend the different corporate cultures and limit the socioeconomic impacts," said the iron lady.

Since the restructuring will involve a number of publicly listed companies, Sri Mulyani has pledged to protect and listen to the interests of minority shareholders, whom she said had demonstrated goodwill by owning shares.

Indonesia has 119 SOEs, from monopolistic state power company PLN, the biggest state company by assets, to publicly listed Bank Mandiri, the nation's biggest bank in terms of assets.

As the backbone of the economy, the SOEs are engaged in almost all sectors, from producing food and medicine to condoms and computer components.

Despite progress in the past decade, most of the companies are mired in protracted inefficiency despite the many facilities they are awarded by the state.

Some firms have often been used to accommodate the cronies of the President. For example, the position of commissioners in toll road operator Jasa Marga is filled by the President's campaign member and cousin.

Graft is also rampant in some companies, as evident in the prosecution of executives from Adhi Karya, PGN, PLN, port operator PT Pelindo, to name but a few.

Decision-making in SOEs is considered sluggish, with major undertakings needing to secure approval from ministries and the House.

Hinging on the lack of flexibility, Minister Rini has proposed abolishing the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and replacing it with a superholding company. That is, if the forming of the holding companies proceeds smoothly as planned.

Rini has rekindled Indonesia's long-held desire to have highly valued SOEs, such as a sovereign wealth fund or an investment company, more or less like Temasek Holdings in Singapore or Khazanah Nasional Berhad in Malaysia.

She said the planned restructuring was also in line with a plan to revise Law No. 19/2003 on SOEs, which has been included among the House's priority bills for deliberation for this year, with the intention of granting SOEs the needed flexibility in decision-making.

"There should be an entity that can manage the SOEs in a fast, efficient and effective way as in the best practices of corporations. The current format only allows SOEs to punch below their weight," Rini, former CEO diversified conglomerate PT Astra International, said recently. (dan)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/restructuring-of-major-state-firms-in-motion.html

Banking & taxation

Skeptics say tax amnesty now in dire need of 'miracle'

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2016

Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo hoped that his flagship tax amnesty policy would be the dawn of a new day for the country's economy, with billions of dollars of Indonesian funds stashed overseas being repatriated and the country's notoriously low tax base widened.

The policy was launched with a bang, but looks like it might end in a whimper. Skeptical economists have started to question whether the amnesty is yielding the desired effects after sluggish results during the first few months and as the end of the low-penalty period approaches, after which interest in the amnesty is expected to wane.

The amount of money that had been collected from the amnesty was "very low" compared with the initial expectations, said Akhmad Akbar Susamto, an economist at the Jakarta-based Center of Reform on Economics (CORE).

"If there is no sudden miracle, the program is likely to be fruitless," Akhmad said in a discussion in Jakarta on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday evening, almost a third of the way into the program, each of the targets for repatriated assets, declared assets and penalty payments remained pitifully unmet.

Repatriated assets only amount to Rp 13.9 trillion (US$1 billion), a mere 1.4 percent of the initial target; declared assets Rp 245 trillion, 6 percent; and penalty payments Rp 6.43 trillion, 3.9 percent.

Many, including Jokowi himself, expected most of the funds to be raised by September, after which penalty rates will be increased to 3 to 6 percent of declared assets until December and then 5 to 10 percent until the end of the program next March. Currently, penalty rates stand at 2 to 4 percent.

"People will join the amnesty if there is a serious punishment for not availing of it. In fact, the government is trying to convince people who have been avoiding their tax obligations for years to join the amnesty just through public meetings. That is far from enough," Akhmad said, calling for a carrot-and-stick mechanism to encourage more participants.

Separately, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam said the tax amnesty program ran a high risk of failure, given the "unrealistic" initial target of funds to be raised.

"The government has to prepare for the worst-case scenario, meaning there should be a plan B in case the amnesty does not hit the target," he added, urging the government to consider increased borrowing to cover the lack of funds from the amnesty program. Latif acknowledged that the government's effort to widen its tax base for future tax collection was progressing, but he cast doubt on whether the amnesty was dominated by wealthy Indonesians, as initially targeted.

Government data show 1,591 brand new taxpayers have participated in the amnesty program so far amid the government's drive to boost the number of individual taxpayers to 30 million people from 24 million last year. It also wants to boost the tax-to-GDP ratio to at least 16 percent, from 12 percent at present, one of the lowest in Southeast Asia.

More than half of the participants have paid penalty rates of between Rp 1 million and Rp 100 million, indicating the program has yet to net many big fish, with only 39 taxpayers out of 31,322 overall participants paying more than Rp 10 billion in penalties.

Many of the drawbacks of Jokowi's amnesty now emerging had been predicted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

IMF deputy director of fiscal affairs Michael Keen had said "it's hard to think of good arguments for amnesties," while Philip Kerfs, head of international cooperation in the OECD's Center for Tax Policy and Administration, had warned that a tax amnesty would only favor noncompliant taxpayers.

The director for the state budget at the Finance Ministry, Kunta Wibawa, who spoke in the discussion, acknowledged that the first three months of the amnesty program were crucial for the government before deciding on other fiscal policies to manage the state budget, which was recently revised for the second time as a result of an expected tax revenue shortfall.

He said the government would wait until the end of September, before deciding steps to ease the budget shortfall, including by widening the state budget deficit to nearer the 3-percent-of-GDP limit set by law. (mos)

[Prima Wirayani contributed to the story.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/08/skeptics-say-tax-amnesty-now-in-dire-need-of-miracle.html

Why tax amnesty is likely to falter and why we should care

Jakarta Post - September 2, 2016

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – Since its passing in late June, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's signature policy, the overly hyped tax amnesty program is projected to be a letdown.

And a recent string of remarks by newly appointed Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati seems to suggest the nail is already in the coffin for the policy despite her efforts to convince the public that the policy's future remains rosy.

As though signaling she was not convinced that the proceeds target from penalties under the amnesty could be attained to help plug the state budget deficit, she drastically cut government spending less than a week into her job over concern about the ballooning deficit stemming from the program missing its mark.

In a hearing with lawmakers last week, the iron lady said tax reform should come before tax amnesty. "But this hasn't happened. Hence, we're accelerating tax reforms as quickly as possible while upholding the morale of tax officials. But at the same time, they have a very specific target."

Her statement came after the latest data showed that only 1.3 percent of the Rp 165 trillion (US$12.37 billion) amnesty proceeds target had been pocketed, and only 2 percent of the targeted Rp 4 quadrillion in unreported assets had been declared. Of the Rp 1 quadrillion target of repatriated funds, only 0.76 percent had been realized.

With the program lasting for another seven months and the policy plagued with so many problems, confidence seems to be declining for the government to again be given the benefit of the doubt.

So what is the source of the problem? To start with, doubt lingers over the validity of the claim that the unreported assets are worth Rp 4 quadrillion, with around Rp 1 quadrillion stashed overseas.

Is it really that much? If so, is there really a demand for the amnesty? How big actually is the demand? No recent study has been commissioned to verify the claim.

Politicians have indicated the number is based on a 2002 underlying figure when state-run Bank Mandiri commissioned McKinsey & Company to calculate Indonesian assets parked overseas. The figure was then cooked and updated by several government ministries and abracadabra, came the 4 quadrillion amount.

Jokowi even claims to have a list of Indonesian conglomerates with whopping undeclared assets and could easily call them to have their assets declared and repatriated, or risk the consequences.

Taxation director general Ken Dwijugiasteadi backed the claim, saying he also kept the list. But he retracted his statement last week, saying it was his former boss, Bambang Brodjonegoro, who claimed to have it.

But despite the list, they may not be aware of the many conglomerates having their overseas assets already stashed into trustee instruments, whose confidentiality cannot be cracked under the automatic exchange of information treaty, which Indonesia will implement in 2018.

The government's argument that recalcitrant taxpayers will no longer find safe havens to hide their wealth is just ludicrous. Why bother joining if their assets are already comfortably and safely stashed?

After the sketchy figure then comes the legal problems. Deliberated in less than four months, Tax Amnesty Law No. 11/2016 was among the fastest pieces of legislation to be passed by the House of Representatives. But that comes with a consequence: it leaves many devils in the details.

Among them is Article 8 point 3(b). The article basically prohibits taxpayers from participating in the program unless they settle all their unpaid taxes.

Legal experts insist this article has partly killed the amnesty itself because taxpayers may not have sufficient financial capacity to pay all their tax dues at once in order to get the amnesty.

Another concern is the risk of taxpayer data being compromised and used for future prosecutions. Five law enforcement institutions, aside from the tax office and the Finance Ministry, will have access to the data as mandated by their governing laws despite the supposed firewall of secrecy stipulated in the law.

Another drawback hampering the amnesty is obviously the unresolved structural problem at the Finance Ministry's directorate general of taxation, which is responsible for carrying out the program.

The tax office has endured a pervasive lack of manpower that has already held back its efforts to collect further tax revenue.

One tax official serves 7,500 taxpayers, far higher than in Australia and Germany, where one official serves 1,000 and 700 taxpayers, respectively, and that is with more advanced IT systems.

As a result of the shortages, the agency could not expand the collection base outside the 30,000 companies that have long contributed to around 80 percent of total tax revenues. Thus, for the tax officials it has always been hunting in the zoo.

With the amnesty, the tax officials now have to juggle between meeting the amnesty targets and ensuring this year's tax collection will not miss the mark, increasing their workload by between 30 and 50 percent.

Even if the tax agency can well serve the amnesty participants, there is concern on how the repatriated funds can be absorbed by the country's notoriously underdeveloped financial system. Huge inflows of funds into the banking system, for example, could create costs for the banks if the funds are not immediately channeled to productive instruments.

It was not until a month after the amnesty law was passed that the government rushed to prepare an array of investment instruments, indicating a gross ignorance in the way it prepared the program.

Now, why should we care about all this mess? Because the tax amnesty seems to be another blatant example of how policymaking under this administration is recklessly conceived and implemented.

If the President's very own signature policy is churned out in haste with all the drawbacks, what then are the prospects for the credibility of other policies?

When the going gets tough, several officials may provide justifications for the amnesty's eventual failure as just obvious, as other countries implementing similar programs have a success rate of below 60 percent.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Why else should we care? Because it will be just outrageous if there is a sinister motive at play, in which the amnesty may have actually been intended for accommodating the interests of "a few".

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/why-tax-amnesty-likely-falter-and-why-we-should-care.html

Workers urge court to annul Tax Amnesty Law

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2016

Jakarta – Dozens of workers recently staged a rally in front of the Constitutional Court demanding the annulment of the Tax Amnesty Law, during the first hearing of their judicial review against the law. They warned of nationwide rallies if their demands were ignored.

The workers, representing the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) and Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI), called the Tax Amnesty Law an "act of injustice" against Indonesian workers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

KSPI chairman Said Iqbal argued that the law violated the Constitution, which stipulates that the state budget must be determined annually, carried out openly and that it bears a mandate to create prosperity for the people.

"It seems that the law is used to protect tax evaders whose source of wealth is unknown. Meanwhile, the workers always pay income tax every month, and so do SMEs. That is unfair," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

However, tax perpetrators' profiles would remain clean as the Tax Amnesty Law obligates authorities to keep tax amnesty applicants' data confidential.

Said added that workers would stage huge rallies in 20 provinces in September, urging the government and local administrations to annul the law if their judicial review was ignored.

In the hearing, a panel of judges led by Anwar Usman called on the workers, as the plaintiff, to revise their lawsuit, especially in terms of the legal standing and legal reasons. He gave the workers 14 days to do so. (wnd/ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/09/01/workers-urge-court-to-annul-tax-amnesty-law.html

Analysis & opinion

Jokowi's broken human rights promises

Indonesia at Melbourne - September 6, 2016

Christian Donny Putranto – The Indonesian Military (TNI) recently promoted four officials to the rank of brigadier general, at the same time as they were granted senior positions in the Ministry of Defence, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT).

On the surface the promotions might seem pretty routine – the 2004 Law on the Military allows active officers to serve in a variety of civilian posts related to security matters. But these were no ordinary promotions.

In 1999, the Military High Court convicted the same four officers for the abduction and disappearance of pro-democracy activists during the turbulent period surrounding the fall of Soeharto in 1998.

Members of the notorious Mawar (Rose) Team, Fausani Syahrial Multhazar, Nugroho Sulistyo Budi, Yulius Selvanus and Dadang Hendra Yuda received sentences ranging from 16 to 20 months in prison. The court also ordered that three of the four officers were to be discharged from the TNI. But the three officers appealed their dismissals and continued to serve. The appeals process was opaque, and the final verdict was never made public.

Army spokesman Mohamad Sabrar Fadhilah said last week that the four officers had served their sentences. But he did not go into detail about what punishments, exactly, they had received. His response did little to reassure the public about the accountability of the armed forces.

Perhaps the most pressing concern is, however, that the promotion of the four officers is a blatant and direct abandonment of President Joko Widodo's commitment to end impunity during his presidency. During the 2014 election campaign, the president made it clear that ending impunity for past violations of human rights would be one of his top priorities.

Jokowi, in fact, explicitly promised that his administration would commit to resolving past violations of human rights, including the May 1998 Riots, the Trisakti and Semanggi I and II shootings, forced disappearances, the Talang Sari massacre, the Tanjung Priok massacre and the 1965-1966 anti-communist violence. He also specifically pledged that revising the 1997 Law on the Military Court would be a priority for ending impunity, as it had contributed to violations of human rights.

Ending impunity is not only about ensuring perpetrators face justice. Eradicating impunity also involves effectively investigating human rights violations, providing remedies to victims, and preventing the recurrence of such violations. How can the government prevent the recurrence of human rights violations if, at the same time, it promotes convicted human rights abusers to top positions in public office?

Beyond the issue of impunity, the promotions signal that any hope of Jokowi strengthening human rights protections (if any hope was remaining) is well and truly gone. The fact that the newly promoted officers were installed in strategic positions in security agencies such as BIN and BNPT shows what the Jokowi administration really thinks about human rights. There are many military officials who are intelligent and, at the same time, have good human rights records – I have worked with some of them. If Jokowi cared about human rights, why would he sully his reputation by choosing members of the "old guard", with already tainted records, to serve in the security agencies?

It is certainly not the first time Jokowi has ignored the human rights pledges he made during the 2014 campaign. The most obvious example came in July, when he appointed former General Wiranto as coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, the top security post in the country.

Having helped Jokowi into the presidency two years ago, Hanura Party chief Wiranto finally made it into the cabinet, despite his chequered human rights record. He was indicted by the now-defunct UN Serious Crimes Unit for his command responsibility for the crimes against humanity committed by TNI-backed militias in East Timor in 1999. He was also in charge of the armed forces in 1998, at a time when systematic human rights abuses occurred in many major cities across the country. Wiranto's appointment is sure to put an end to attempts to come to terms with, and further investigate, the 1965-1966 mass killings, a process that was slowly gathering steam under his predecessor, Luhut Pandjaitan.

The promotion of army officers responsible for abducting civilians to strategic posts at the BNPT and the BIN is a new low. At the time of the 2014 Presidential Election, many activists recognised that Jokowi had serious flaws. But they voted for him because he was not part of the old generation, like his rival, former General Prabowo Subianto. Despite Jokowi's serious problems, an important reason why the people voted for him is that Prabowo, when serving as head of Kopassus, was widely considered to have given the orders to the Mawar Team. Few of Jokowi's passionate campaigners would have ever imagined that two years after the election his administration would promote the very officers involved in abducting pro-democracy activists.

Jokowi attempted to set himself apart from the previous generation of Indonesian leaders. He promised that he would set a new standard, distinct from them. But rather than forging a new trajectory, he appears to be duplicating the old generation's path.

Jokowi must not forget that human rights protection is not a mere election promise, it is a mandate imposed on him by the Constitution. He has an obligation to put human rights protection back on the agenda. But given his clear lack of interest in human rights so far, the culture of impunity that has long plagued Indonesia looks like it is set to become even more entrenched.

[Christian Donny Putranto has recently completed a Master of Laws (Human Rights) at the Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne, as an Australian Awards Scholar. He previously worked at the UNHCR Indonesia and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Indonesia.]

Source: http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/jokowis-broken-human-rights-promises/

Indonesia's workforce in need of total overhaul

Jakarta Post - September 3, 2016

Victoria Fanggidae, Jakarta – Improving productivity and competitiveness is at the heart of Nawacita, the nine-point development agenda of the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo government. However, while a strong focus on the economy, and infrastructure is evident, a lack of attention to improving workforce competitiveness is also apparent.

Its predecessors have left the current administration with a legacy of low human development indicators, which remains an enormous task to solve. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hit a raw nerve last June when it released a survey on adult skills, one of the most credible studies of this kind in the world, called the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).

PIAAC is the 'adult version' of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). The Indonesian public might be familiar with PISA, a survey of students aged 15 years to assess their proficiency in literacy and numeracy skills – where Indonesia always hit the bottom rank. PIAAC assesses adults aged 16-65 years, the productive segment of the population.

It checks their proficiency level in areas such as literacy, numeracy and problem-solving capacity in technology-rich environments. This is the first time Indonesia voluntarily participated in the test.

Of 34 OECD member countries and key partners, Indonesia consistently fared worst in all PIAAC competency categories, across all age cohorts. For instance, the mean literacy score of Indonesian adults aged 25-65 with university education is lower than the average OECD countries' adults aged 16-24, who are not even in education and only went to primary school.

In other words, our adults with university degrees are less competent in reading than OECD countries' primary school graduates.

Our university graduates aged 25-65, our youth aged 20-24 without university degree, our youth aged 16-24 with high school degrees and those who are not in education or only have primary school education, scored the lowest in literacy from all 34 countries. Given those results, it appears that qualification is indeed not a good indicator of proficiency. We frequently hear about employers resenting their employees' inability to follow simple instructions at the workplace, despite the employee's shiny educational credentials. Concerns that more basic training and coaching are required for even the employees with good academic credentials are common among Indonesian employers and firms.

The PIAAC results are bad news for our workforce, and poorly-scoring university graduates are only a fraction of Indonesia's total workforce. Currently, those with tertiary degrees only account for 13.7 percent of the total working population, which is still dominated by people who only graduated from primary school or below, who account for 43.5 percent or 52.4 million people (BPS, 2016) and whose competitiveness is equally poor.

To rub salt into the wounds, the fact that the PIAAC test was only taken in Jakarta, the center of Indonesian development, should scarce us more. Hypothetically, if a similar test were to be conducted in other, less-developed regions of Indonesia, the results would be unimaginably embarrassing.

The embarrassment is one thing, but the future is our real enemy.

The International Labour Organization (2015) projects that Indonesia's high-skill employment will increase by 55.7 percent between 2010 and 2025 and that the largest absolute demand will be for medium-skilled employment. An analysis by Boston Consulting Group (2013) predicts that in 2020, Indonesia will suffer from a shortage of 17 million workers at the middle-management level.

Concomitantly, McKinsey Global Institute (2012) estimates that demand for semi-skilled and skilled workers will skyrocket to 113 million by 2030, which will put Indonesia at a disadvantage in global competition due to a lack of skills.

These projections make us nervous. When we combine the PISA and PIAAC results, we get a comprehensive picture of our current and future workforce. Both provide us with gloomy prospects. What can possibly be done to ease the problems?

Education is a long-term investment. The fact that the quality of our workforce in older cohorts is no worse than in younger cohorts indicates stagnancy, that the quality of our education has not get any better over decades.

In a broader sense, education is a lifelong process that begins with the qualification of children sent to schools. Formal education is not the only factor responsible for the poor competency of our workforce. If parents keep sending stunted, undernourished children to school, there is only so much that can be undone by teachers.

Unfortunately, one in three under-five-year-old Indonesian children is stunted, and the ratio of undernourished children keeps increasing (Riskesdas 2013). The health sector must work hard to improve these metrics.

An overhaul is badly needed for these two sectors if they are to relieve the headache of the employment sector. When translating the problems into policy – as a means of problem-solving, health, education and employment are inseparable. A concerted effort must ensure that the health sector provides sufficient means for parents to raise healthy children in a healthy environment, that the education sector educates students with high-quality teachers ans facilities and finally, that the employment sector trains employees to sharpen the skills they have received at school.

The current administration must ensure that its top officials in those aforementioned sectors work together under strong leaderships to secure Indonesia's place in global competition. The latest Global Competitiveness Index shows that Indonesia lags behind and has even dropped, from rank 34 to 37 among 140 countries assessed.

The president as the conductor needs to ensure that sectors responsible for human development, such as health, education and employment, are led by the right people, and that they play the same song from the same music sheet. Keeping incompetent players for long will risk more embarrassment for the nation and sacrifice our current and future workforce.

[The writer is a social policy researcher at Perkumpulan Prakarsa (Center for Welfare Studies).]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2016/09/03/indonesias-workforce-in-need-of-total-overhaul.html