Candra Malik, Solo – A Central Java radio station was attacked by militants, investigated by police and reprimanded by a broadcast watchdog after airing an old communist-affiliated song on Sunday.

A handful of members from the Laskar Hizbullah militant group attacked the Soloradio FM office after the station played "Genjer-Genjer," an old song popular with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in the 1960s.

The militants accused the radio station of intentionally spreading communism and offending past victims of PKI violence and their descendants.

Yanni Rusmanto, the Laskar Hizbullah leader, reported the matter to the police and urged the station to apologize publicly. The provincial office of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) also reprimanded Soloradio over the matter.

The announcer at Soloradio, Stephanus Aji, known as Jinge, was taken to the Solo Police headquarters and questioned by the chief of the intelligence and security unit, Comr. Jaka Wibawa.

"Presently, using or spreading the symbols of communism, for instance the PKI symbol with the hammer and sickle, are prohibited," Joko explained. He said that he only questioned Aji about where he got the song and why he played it on air.

Aji said he downloaded the song from the Internet and played it on the Friday morning Ramadan Show as part of a quiz about film soundtracks. He said "Genjer-Genjer" was a song from the film "Gie," a 2005 production about the late activist Soe Hok Gie that was set in Java in the 1960s.

According to Aji, the song was popularized by Lilis Suryani, who also sang "Gang Kelinci." He did not, however, deny that he was aware "Genjer-Genjer" was synonymous with the communist movement.

Laskar Hizbullah alleged Soloradio was trying to propagate communism. "It is so regretful, moreover, it was broadcast during the holy month of Ramadan," Yanni said, adding that unless the radio station apologized publicly, the militant group would continue to picket its office.

The general manager at Soloradio, Yunianto Puspowardoyo, said he wanted to settle the issue peacefully. "We will apologize to the community for the incident and are ready to do anything to clarify that we did not intend to spread communism. It was just an impulsive decision by the announcer," he said.

Hari Wiryawan, a member of the KPI in Central Java, said the commission would ask for an explanation from Soloradio regarding the issue.

"It is true, there is no rule to ban the song for being played on TV or radio, however, our society is still psychologically traumatized by PKI cruelty," Hari said. "We think the broadcasting of the song brought that trauma to the surface again."

Solo Police Chief Comr. Joko Irwanto said the police would still investigate the case but did not want to act rashly. "This is a sensitive issue. The announcer from Soloradio FM has been interrogated but he was not arrested," he said.

Indonesia's official history blames the PKI for brutally killing several top Indonesian generals in an abortive 1965 coup attempt; however, historians maintain the evidence linking the PKI to the assassinations is inconclusive. The killings paved the way for the fall of the nation's first president, Sukarno, and a takeover by the autocrat Suharto. Indonesia banned communism in 1966.

Mass violence against communists and alleged sympathizers claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in Indonesia in 1965 and 1966. Communism and those associated with it are still widely stigmatized.

Poverty, lack of education lead to underage marriages

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Jakarta – The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) said on Thursday that underage marriages, which were often caused by poverty and lack of education, should be prevented at all costs.

Respected religious leaders must raise awareness in their communities about the ill effects of underage marriages, the commission said in a discussion on underage marriages at the commission office.

Religious leaders need to bring up this issue, especially in rural areas where underage marriages are common practice, said KPAI commissioner Susilahati.

Aisyah Aminy, an official from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), argued that punishing the individuals responsible for performing the illegal ceremonies was one way to stop underage marriages.

"The MUI has proposed a bill at the religious court that regulates this punishment," she said.

Susilahati added that many underage brides or grooms used fake identity cards to fulfill the Marriage Law age requirement of 16 and 19 years old respectively. "Therefore, cracking down on forged identity cards can also help prevent underage marriages," she said.

But underage marriages were also caused by other deeper social problems, Susilahati said, such as the lack of education and poverty.

"Underage girls living in rural areas whose parents are too poor to pay for their education are often married quickly," she said. "The girls think that getting married is their best option. Most of them cannot see any other alternative."

Without a higher education, she said, the young girls are not be able to get good jobs. If they look for work in the cities without qualification, they risk being mistreated or taken advantage of. "It is a dilemma," she said.

Susilahati cited the case of Pujiono Cahyono Widianto and his underage wife Lutfiana Ulfa as an example of poverty-driven marriage.

"The KPAI found out Ulfa has participated in a contest organized by Puji to choose his second wife," she said. "Puji promised the winner of the competition that she would control his company." Ulfa quite possibly viewed marriage as the best option to secure a good future, Susilahati said.

Underage marriages are widespread in Indonesia. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) reported that in 2008, about 34.5 percent of the two million marriage ceremonies held each year involved underage brides or grooms.

Bappenas said East Java had the highest percentage of underage marriages followed by South Kalimantan and West Java.

The KPAI chairman Hadi Supeno said underage marriages also led to many other social problems. "I believe underage marriages can lead to a high divorce rate, a high maternal mortality rate, abortion, a high infant mortality rate, and many other problems," said Hadi.

He added that girls under the age of 18 were not strong enough to give birth. Therefore, many of them would die in the process. They might not know how to care for their babies, leading to a high rate of infant mortality.

Many underage marriages end in divorces, she said, often because of the children's unstable psychological condition.

"They are not ready to take the commitment of marriage seriously. Yet, in Indonesia, we can find many girls divorced at the age of fifteen," Susilahati said. "There are a number of married and divorced teens who already have children." (mrs)

Strong earthquake rattles Indonesia

Agence France Presse - September 8, 2009

A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit off Indonesia late on Monday, seismologists say, but no tsunami alert was issued and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake struck at 11.12pm (0212 AEST) at an underwater depth of 15 kilometres, south of the main island of Java, according to the US Geological Survey.

Earthquakes are common in Indonesia because it sits on the so- called Pacific Ring of Fire, where several tectonic plates converge.

At least 100 people were likely killed by a major 7.0-magnitude quake that rocked Java last week, an official said earlier on Monday, and over 88,000 people were left homeless.

Authorities have confirmed 74 people were killed in last Wednesday's quake, which also struck off the south coast of Java.

A 7.7-magnitude quake triggered a tsunami off southern Java in 2006, killing 596 people and displacing about 74,000.

A massive quake off the coast of the island of Sumatra in 2004 triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people around Asia, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Actions, demos, protests...

Even animals want an end to corruption

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Men dressed up as a gorilla, a tiger, a rabbit and a bear took the center stage at the office of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) on Sunday, asking for stronger action against corruption.

The theatrical event was "a symbol and a criticism of lawmakers at the House of Representatives who are currently deliberating the corruption court bill," said ICW deputy coordinator Emerson Yuntho, disguised as a monkey.

"Even animals want the Corruption Court to remain, and wish for a stronger KPK (the Corruption Eradication Commission) to ensure we keep fighting against corruption," he said, addressing a one-day talk on the issue.

So far, lawmakers appear to be ignoring the public's demand for a stronger and stricter legal basis to eradicate graft, he said.

Legislators, for example, have approved a ratio of career to ad- hoc judges in the Corruption Court that favors career judges. However, when the Corruption Court was first established, ad-hoc judges were initially r cruited because district court career judges were reputed to be corrupt.

"The KPK and the Corruption Court have undeniably given us hope that we can get rid of the perpetrators of corruption in this country," Emerson said.

"The number of graft cases previously untouchable under conventional legal institutions, which have been successfully handled by the KPK and Corruption Court, are a testament to this."

"We are very concerned with politicians, corrupt individuals and their supporters' attempts to weaken the two institutions through the bill, including the plan to eliminate the KPK's authority to prosecute."

Dadang Tri Sasongko of the ICW said his organization wanted to remind lawmakers, with their animal theatrics, that corruption could not be dealt with in an ordinary way.

"The essence of the (current) corruption court bill seems to have a tendency to bring corruption eradication efforts back to square one," he said.

The 2006 Constitutional Court ruling, he added, "only ordered that the government draft a special law as a legal basis for the Corruption Court. The ruling did not order the dismantling of the KPK's authorities."

The ruling has given the government and the House three years to pass a new corruption court law before Dec. 19, 2009.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, director of the Indonesian Legal Resource Center, said lawmakers were clearly intending to cut the KPK's authority.

"Besides ending the KPK's authority to prosecute, the House is also in the process of removing the KPK's rights to wiretap, while there are so many high profile cases that could be solved with wiretapping."

Therefore, they all urged the House to stop deliberating the corruption court bill and asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to issue a government regulation in lieu-of-law instead.

"The President should take over this problem and show he is determined to eradicate corruption," said Dadang. "Otherwise, the President's reputation based on his campaign promises to eradicate corruption will be tainted."

Governor greeted by protest

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Dozens of vendors stages a rally in front of Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo he arrived at Cipinang rice market in East Jakarta during an inspection on Saturday morning.

Among other things, the vendors protested the market's only entrance gate that was damaged and an increase of the ware house rent from Rp. 23,500 to Rp. 34,000.

Fauzi later told reporters that the administration would consider their protest. "I clearly see that the facilities need to be repaired," he said, adding that the administration would also need to hear the market operator's view although it held the majority of share.

Sjamsul Hilataha, the director of PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya, said the market operator only provided one entrance gate to make it easier to control the security. "Every vehicle that enter (the market) can be controlled," he said.

He said the company decided to rise the rent fee, which was still below the standard set by State Logistic Agency, after maintaining the previous price for 10 years.

Fauzi visited Jatinegara market, Cipinang rice market and an animal butchery, also in the same municipality, to watch the stability of food staple ahead Idul Fitri.

He said the city would control the price by safeguarding the supply of staple food and conducting a market operation where some food staple, including meat, would be sold in a low price.

Jakarta to see at least eight demos today, watch out for traffic

Detik.com - September 10, 2009

Novi Christiastuti Adiputri, Jakarta – Protest actions will be widespread today in Jakarta and surrounding areas with at least eight actions being held in already congested area of the capital. Watch out for traffic jams!

According to the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Centre website for Thursday September 10, the first action will be held at 10.30 am directly in front of the Attorney General's Office on Jl. Sultan Hasanudin in South Jakarta.

Following on from this, at around 11am protest actions will be held in front of the United States Embassy on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and the International Labor Organisation representative office on Jl. MH Thamrin, both in Central Jakarta.

At 1pm a demonstration will be launched in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) offices.

This will be followed at 2pm by a group of demonstrators who will hold an action at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

Also at the same time, the National Police Headquarters on Jl. Truno Joyo in South Jakarta will see the arrival of protesters who are planning an action until 5pm.

Between 2-4pm meanwhile, a protest action will be held at the Century Tower building located on Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta.

Then at 4pm, protesters will pay a visit on the Malaysian Embassy, also on Jl. HR Rasuna Said.

Between 4-5pm meanwhile, a protest action will be held in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

It seems that the flow of traffic will be congested due the large number of demonstrations being held. Although it is not yet known how man protesters will take part, you are advised to avoid these stretches of road in order not to get caught in traffic jams. (nvc/mad)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Aceh

Indonesia's Aceh passes law on stoning to death

Associated Press - September 14, 2009

Fakhrurradzie Gade, Banda Aceh – Adulterers can be stoned to death and homosexuality is punishable by steep prison terms under a new law passed unanimously by lawmakers in Indonesia's devoutly Muslim Aceh province Monday.

Aceh's regional parliament adopted the bill despite strong objections from human rights groups and the province's deputy governor, who said the legislation needed more careful consideration because it imposes a new form of capital punishment.

The chairman of the 69-seat house asked if the bill could be passed into law and members answered in unison: "Yes, it can." Some members of the moderate Democrat Party had voiced reservations, but none of them voted against the bill.

The law, which reinforces the province's already strict Islamic laws, is to go into effect within 30 days. Its passage comes two weeks before a new assembly led by the moderate Aceh Party will be sworn in following a heavy defeat of conservative Muslim parties in local elections.

Aceh, where Islam first arrived in Indonesia from Saudi Arabia centuries ago, enjoys semiautonomy from the central government. A long-running Islamic insurgency in the province ended in 2005 in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 130,000 there.

A version of Islamic law, or Shariah, that had been introduced in Aceh in 2001 already bans gambling and drinking alcohol, and makes it compulsory for women to wear headscarves. Dozens of public canings have been carried out by the local Shariah police against violators of that law.

The majority of Indonesia's roughly 200 Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith and surveys suggest they do not support such hardline interpretations of the Quran, the Muslim holy book.

Several countries have laws on stoning, but the punishment remains a point of disagreement between Islamic scholars.

Out of fifty-two Muslim-majority countries worldwide, stoning is legally sanctioned in varying forms in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and parts of Nigeria. Illegal stonings have also been reported in recent years in Iraq and Somalia.

The most notable example in modern Islam was that of Amina Lawal, a young woman who was sentenced to death in a Nigerian state in 2002 for having sex outside marriage, but was later released.

The new Indonesian law also imposes tough sentences and fines, to be paid in kilograms of gold, for rape and pedophilia, but the most hotly disputed article was on adultery and states that offending married couples can be punished by a minimum of 100 lashings and a maximum of stoning to death.

"The stoning to death is the toughest punishment included in the (new) Shariah law Bahrom Rasjid, one of the drafters and a member of the United Development Party, said after its passage.

It also imposes severe prison terms for other behavior considered morally unacceptable, including homosexuality, which will be punishable by public lashings and more than eight years in prison. Aceh Vice Governor Muhamad Nazar said that even though his office opposed the clause on stoning to death it has no legal power to block it. "Whatever law is passed we have to enforce it," he said.

Aceh lawmakers pass shariah law that allows stoning, caning

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Despite opposition from human rights activists, the Aceh Legislative Council on Monday endorsed a bylaw mandating stoning to death for adulterers and lashings for unmarried persons caught engaging in sexual intercourse.

The decision was taken by acclamation in a plenary session attended by 38 of Aceh's 69 legislature members. Zainal Abidin, deputy chairman of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA), led the session that endorsed five bylaws including the jinayat, or Sharia crime bill.

As the factions were reading their final stances, opponents and supporters of the stoning bylaw squared off outside the legislature building compound, prompting dozens of police and public order officers to tighten security around the complex.

Activists from nongovernmental organizations demanded the councilors delay endorsing the bylaw which, they said, did not reflect the wishes of the Acehnese people, while activists from university campuses and Muslim organizations attended in support of the bylaw. No clashes were reported between the two groups.

Bachrom M Rasyid, a United Development Party (PPP) councilor who chaired the committee deliberating the stoning bylaw, said after the session that all articles in the jinayat were approved and there were no significant changes to the draft.

"The bylaw has been endorsed, including the article on stoning. Thirty days after endorsement the bylaw will automatically become effective, with or without the governor's signature," he said.

The bylaw covers adultery, premarital sex, consumption of alcohol, rape, sexual harassment, homosexuality and gambling, according to a draft obtained by the Jakarta Globe. One article says persons engaging in premarital sex could be lashed 100 times, while adulterers could be stoned to death.

However, Bachrom acknowledged the bylaw may prove hard to implement. "It will be very difficult to prove whether or not someone has committed adultery because it requires four witnesses catching the offender in the act," he said. "The issue of implementation will come later, so long as we have a legal framework."

He added: "I guarantee the bylaw respects the rights of suspected offenders since one cannot just accuse others of committing adultery, as one who levels a false accusation is to be lashed 80 times."

Before the councilors endorsed the drafts, each faction read out their final stance on the bylaw and, according to Bachrom, only President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic faction made no reference to the stoning provision.

Muhammad Ali Yacob, chairman of the faction, declined to say if it supported the ordinance. "We did not say we didn't endorse the bylaw, we just don't want to comment on the stoning to death punishment," Ali Yacob said.

Aceh officials in no hurry to cast first stone

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – With lawmakers in Indonesia's Aceh province set to pass a draconian Shariah bill on Monday that could lead to married Muslims being stoned to death for committing adultery and single people lashed 100 times for premarital sex, local officials sought to distance themselves from quick implementation of the measure.

The proposed legislation for the semi-autonomous region has drawn criticism from human rights groups that say the bill could lead to abuse. With Aceh already under partial Shariah law, the punishments are part of a bill on jinayat, or Islamic crimes, officials said last week.

As the controversy mounted, they said the legislation needed more study before lawbreakers were actually put to death.

Aceh Regional Secretary Husni Bahri told members of the provincial house on late Friday that the local executive government had yet to fully endorse the measure.

"For now, we have not agreed" to the stoning of married persons, Husni said. "We need to look more in-depth at the issue because, in practice, it is identical to the death penalty."

Husni said the legal system was not prepared to implement a law on stoning. "Carrying out the stoning law should not be done in a hurry," he told lawmakers. " It must be done in stages."

The bill requires "facilities and infrastructure as part of the national legal system" before it can be implemented, he said.

However, Husni stopped far short of condemning the legislation, adding that "in due course if law enforcement agencies and the public are ready to accept it, stoning will be applied in Aceh."

In a draft of the bill obtained by the Jakarta Globe, Article 24 stated that "any person who [has sex outside of wedlock] being subject to be whipped 100 times for the unmarried and stoned to death for those who are married."

Local officials declined comment on the whipping provision.

In addition to adultery, the regulation also outlines a variety of punishments for drinking alcohol, gambling, being in seclusion with a member of the opposite sex, homosexuality and rape. Punishments for other crimes include whipping, fines and prison terms.

Lawmaker Bachrom M Rashid of the United Development Party, the chairman of the special committee considering the bill, said his party backed it because it would deepen the practice of Shariah law in Aceh.

He said, however, that in practice, stoning would be difficult because "to prove a person has committed adultery, there must be four witnesses."

The purpose of the legislation, he said, is to get the accused to seek repentance, not to kill the violators. "We want to save people from going to hell," he said, calling the proposed law "a door to repentance."

House member Moharriadi of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) called the bill "a preventative step for the people of Aceh to avoid moral damage."

The Coalition on Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization, has urged the Aceh legislature to delay passage of the bill because it was incomplete.

The 2006 Law on Governing Aceh, passed by the national House of Representatives, authorized the province to pass regional regulations and said it was free to implement an Islamic criminal code.

Last week, Nurkholis, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-HAM), said the legality of the proposed law was in dispute. "Such a code has the potential to violate human rights if it's not enforced properly," he said.

Isolated instances of stoning ordered by Shariah courts have been reported in Nigeria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran and elsewhere, but the practice is rare and is routinely denounced by Human Rights Watch among other international bodies.

Aceh's plan to stone 'ethical' criminals widely condemned

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Jakarta – Human rights activists and legislators have condemned the Aceh Legislative Council's (DPRD) plan to pass a regional bill that would see those found guilty of "ethical" crimes, such as adultery, stoned in public.

"Stoning is constitutionally baseless. Such punishment is cruel, inhuman and degrades the value of humanity," Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"Every single human being has non-negotiable human rights, such as the right to not be abused or treated cruelly," he added.

The Aceh DPRD plans to pass the bill on Monday. Anyone who is found guilty of committing adultery, by a sharia court, will be stoned.

This bill is another attempt to more seriously implement sharia law in the autonomous region. Sharia law stipulates that a person convicted of committing adultry must be buried neck deep before the public is permitted to stone them to death.

Mahfudz Siddiq, the chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction at the House of Representatives, said that the punishment needed to be introduced into the society.

"This idea needs to be elaborated further. The Aceh administration needs to talk with other fellow civil organizations," he said. "It should be proven that the law positively impacts on the society before it is passed," he added.

Azis Syamsudin, a House legislator from the Golkar Party, said stoning was illegal in Indonesia.

"There is no regulation that allows stoning. That kind of punishment is abusive," he said. "It is totally against basic human rights. People should realize that punishments are not only aimed to punish, but also to educate the society," he added.

Under the bill, unmarried people of the opposite sex found guilty of socializing in private would be caned one hundred times, and married persons found guilty of adultery would be stoned to death.

The new Islamic criminal law would also regulate sentences for individuals and entities that abet others in committing adultery, such as beauty salons, motels and hotels. The proposed law would not cover murder, robbery, corruption or other crimes.

On Tuesday, students grouped together as the Communication Forum for Sharia staged a rally in Banda Aceh to demand a stricter form of jinayat, or Islamic criminal law.

In response, senior legislator Rayhan Iskandar said the Aceh legislative council was reviewing the jinayat bill and promised to pass it into law soon.

Should the law be endorsed, it would make Aceh the only province in Indonesia with its own legal system, equivalent to the criminal code, based on Islam. Aceh has so far only partially adopted sharia law, which makes praying five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, giving alms to the poor and dressing modestly mandatory for the province's Muslims.

Sharia was implemented under a broad autonomy package granted by the central government in 2001 to pacify demands for independence in the region. (hdt)

Hardliners won't go quietly: Islamic law tightened

Sydney Morning Herald - September 10, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Religious conservatives in Aceh are trying to ram through Islamic laws that would allow stoning to death for adulterers and public lashings for those who engage in premarital sex.

The laws are likely to be voted next week by the provincial legislature in Aceh, just weeks before a new, pro-secular government takes control of the parliament.

Adulterers who are single would be whipped 100 times in public while a married person who committed the same act would be stoned to death. Even consenting adults who are not married but have sex would be caned.

"It's a complete humiliation for us Acehnese," said Nurul Achmal, from the committee for the resurrection of Acehnese women.

Aceh is renowned for its strict adherence to Islam. It was the first region in Indonesia to adopt the religion and is known as the "veranda of Mecca" due to the role Arab seafarers played in spreading the religion to Asia from Aceh.

After five years of sharia in which gamblers received public canings and a sharia police force demanded women wear the veil, the appeal of sharia has waned.

In April, Partai Aceh, comprising former independence fighters, won at the first elections held since the province gained formal autonomy from Jakarta following a peace deal in 2005.

It ran on a secular platform and wants to unwind aspects of sharia that have been enforced with less rigour in recent times as the budget of the sharia police was trimmed. But Partai Aceh will not take up power until next month and conservatives are pushing the laws before the changeover.

Opinion remains divided on whether they will be passed. Ms Achmal believes they will, as does Raihan Iskander, from the Muslim Prosperous Justice Party.

But a renowned Indonesian observer who spends a lot of time in Aceh, Harold Crouch, was more sceptical. "I think there are enough people in the old parliament who will be worried about it... I don't think it will happen."

A resident of Banda Aceh, who asked not to be named, told the Herald: "There have been sharia police and a prosecutor who committed adultery but were never whipped. Only ordinary people or poor ones get whipped."

Aceh prepares to see stonings, lashings as law

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita – Married Muslims in Indonesia's staunchly Islamic province of Aceh could be publicly stoned for committing adultery under a new piece of legislation that the autonomous province's legislature is scheduled to pass on Monday.

With partial Shariah law already in place under the broad autonomy accorded to end almost three decades of violent separatist conflict, Aceh looks set to take a giant and controversial step with the law, which also mandates that single Muslims caught having premarital sex will get 100 lashes with a whip.

The drastic punishments are part of a regional regulations bill on local customs (qanun) regarding Islamic crimes (jinayat) that the Aceh Provincial Legislature (DPRA) will endorse, Raihan Iskandar, deputy chairman of the body, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

Iskandar, a member of the conservative Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said a special legislative committee had finished deliberating the bill after receiving input from various groups.

"The team has discussed it with... experts from the police, [local] Attorney General's Office, judges, the High Court, Shariah Court, scholars and Islamic law experts," he said, denying the bill was controversial and saying that it mostly followed nationally accepted laws.

He also said the 2006 Law on the Governing of Aceh, passed by the House of Representatives in Jakarta, authorized the province to pass regional regulations and that the province was free to implement an Islamic criminal code.

"But we cannot blindly lash or stone people," he said. "It must be done based on regulations as stipulated in the qanun, starting with investigation, interrogation, arrest and trial in the Shariah Court."

Dozens of young men from the Communications Forum for Shariah rallied in front of the local legislative building on Tuesday in support of the bill.

Basri Efendi, one of the demonstrators, said Aceh's provincial government and its governor, Irwandi Yusuf, did not support implementing more Shariah laws.

Former President Abdurrahman Wahid first endorsed Shariah for Aceh nearly a decade ago, but said at the time that it couldn't include harsh punishments such as stoning or decapitations because they violated human rights and the country's Constitution.

Nonetheless, Iskandar assured the demonstrators in Banda Aceh that the bill would be passed. "We have received much support to ratify it. We hope with the existence of the qanun jinayat code, there will be a clear mandate to enforce Islamic Shariah in Aceh," he said.

It remains to be seen whether the public stonings in Aceh will provoke controversy. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng declined to comment on the proposed legislation on Tuesday, saying he wasn't fully aware yet of its details.

Andi Nasrun, an expert on state administration based in Jakarta, said a qanun jinayat code was not against the law because Aceh had a special privilege to impose Shariah based on its history as the country's bastion of Islam.

"Even the Constitution states that the province's special character should be respected and preserved," Andi said.

But Nurkholis, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the legality of the code was still debatable. "Such a code has the potential to violate human rights if it's not enforced properly," he said.

Aceh native Thayeb Loh Angen, editor in chief of the Harian Aceh newspaper, blasted the planned legislation as unnecessary. "Fix the governance system, arrest corruptors, stop taking care of unimportant matters – that's what this province really needs," he said.

Aceh students demand harsher sharia law implementation

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Students from the Communication Forum for Sharia staged a rally on Tuesday at the Aceh legislative council building in Banda Aceh, demanding legislators immediately approve the jinayat, or Islamic criminal law, before the end of their tenure this year.

Groups affiliated with the forum – FPI Aceh, Unsyiah Students Administration, KAMMI Aceh and PMII Aceh – also demanded that the Islamic sharia law, which has already been imposed in Aceh, be correctly implemented.

"We urge the legislature to immediately enact jinayat. Don't be afraid to implement Islamic sharia law truthfully in Aceh," said Tengku Arya from the Islamic Defenders Front.

Jinayat, currently a draft law waiting to be enacted, outlines the sentences to be applied to those violating sharia law. It also lists the agencies authorized to oversee, prosecute and execute punishments pertaining to sharia law in Aceh.

The sharia law will be more strict if jinayat is implemented in Aceh. Article 37 of the draft jinayat, for example, clearly states that a person who commits adultery faces 100 cane lashes, or the death penalty.

"Unmarried couples committing adultery will be caned, while married people will be sentenced to death," said Aceh Legislative council special committee XII head Bachrom M. Rasyid.

Besides punishing violators, jinayat also regulates sentences for individuals or entities abetting others violating sharia law with regards to adultery, such as beauty salons, motels or hotels.

Legislative and executive institutions are still deliberating the draft law because of the numerous clauses in it sparking controversy.

The Aceh provincial administration said the National Commission on Human Rights had requested the United Nations evaluate the content of a number of provisions in the draft law, such as the ones on caning and stoning to death, deemed as improper nowadays.

KAMMI leader Basri Efendi said sharia law had so far not been implemented according to the wishes of the Acehnese community.

Law enforcers in Aceh are often lenient when meting out punishments against sharia law offenders, whose numbers have further increased despite the presence of ordinances and regulations that can be used to punish them, Efendi said.

However, many critics deplore the implementation of sharia law as it violates human rights and hampers investment in Aceh.

In response to the student demands, legislator Rayhan Iskandar said the council was reviewing the jinayat draft law, promising them it would soon be passed. "We have even submitted the draft law to the Supreme Court," said Rayhan.

Rayhan said Aceh would be the only province in Indonesia with its own legal system equivalent to the criminal code based on Islam, if the jinayat draft law was approved.

The police and prosecutors will also have the right and authority to arrest and prosecute offenders in Aceh.

West Papua

Dialogue vital to solve Papua conflicts: Rights activists

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2009

Jakarta – Human right activists are urging the government to initiate a dialogue with representatives of various groups in Papua to find a peaceful solution to violence and separatism in the resources-rich province.

"A dialogue between the central government and the people of Papua would be a peaceful and effective way to stop violence and bloodshed in Papua," Neles Tebay of the Jayapura Archdiocese said on Saturday.

The calls came after repeated attacks targeting US-based gold mine operator PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika regency. A group of gunmen opened fire on a company bus on Saturday morning, injuring two men. It was the latest incident since armed attacks on the mine claimed three lives in July.

"The shooting incidents near Freeport gold mine I think have been perpetrated by a group of people who do not know how to address their problems," Neles said, adding that frustration would easily trigger people to acts of violence.

A group of Papuan leaders, led by West Papua legislative council speaker Jimmy Demianus Ijie, asked Vice President Jusuf Kalla to mediate a dialogue between Jakarta and Papua to solve long- standing problems facing Papuan people.

The Papuan figures deemed Kalla suited to the job, thanks to his key role in restoring peace in Maluku, Poso in Central Sulawesi and in Aceh.

Neles said such a dialogue had been sought ever since Papuan leaders concluded in a congress in 2000 the need for a meeting between central government officials and Papuan representatives to cope with wide-ranging problems facing the local people.

The government enacted a law on special autonomy for Papua in 2001, which many considered a breakthrough to silence demands for separation from Indonesia. Eight years on, however, the separatist movement is still active and poverty and illiteracy remain a cause for concern, despite the impressive Rp 30 trillion in special autonomy funds that has poured into the province.

Neles said Papuan people insisted on a direct dialogue with the central government as they deemed the provincial government to represent Jakarta. "The governor does what the central government tells him," he said.

Neles suggested that the separatist group OPM be invited to the dialogue in order to reach a true peace, similar to what happened in Aceh in 2005.

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) member Yosep Stanley Adi Prasetyo said the rights body agreed to a plan to hold a national dialogue on Papua and would like to facilitate it.

"Various Papuan society groups have asked the Komnas to facilitate a dialogue," he said, adding the commission had lobbied the vice presidential office to arrange the dialogue.

"But Jusuf Kalla will soon relinquish his post as the vice president and I heard the vice presidential office will be dissolved," so he expressed pessimism on the prospects for dialogue.

Stanley said the Papuan leaders demanded a direct dialogue with the central government because they were disappointed with the regional administration.

"No one doubts the capability and experience of Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu. Yet, he has not initiated a legal reform as mandated by the Special Autonomy Law," he said. (mrs)

Indonesian police arrest Papuan leader on subversion charges

Radio News Zealand International - September 14, 2009

The spokesman for the military wing of the Papua separatist group, the West Papua National Liberation Army, has been arrested by Indonesian police on subversion charges.

The arrest of Jonah Wenda has been reported by a local NGO. The Australian-based spokesperson for the West Papua Peace Working Group, Paula Makabory, says the arrest of Mr Wenda is a serious set-back to the push for a peaceful resolution to conflict in the region.

She says Mr Wenda had been working to end hostilities between the Indonesian security forces and the indigenous people of Papua.

Two injured in Freeport bus shooting

Jakarta Post - September 13, 2009

Markus Makur, Timika – At least two people were injured as a group of unidentified persons attacked a PT Freeport Indonesia security bus on Saturday at Mile 42, both of whom were rushed to the Kuala Kencana clinic for intensive care, a police officer has said.

The two victims were Jelke Pangkarago, who suffered an injury to his thigh, and Anselmus Gau whose right temple was severely wounded from broken glasses.

"The attacked occurred at about 8:50 local time," Papua Police public relations division head Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto told The Jakarta Post by phone on Saturday.

He added that the bus was heading to Mile 50 after departing from Mile 34 when the attack occurred between Mile 42 and Mile 43. The perpetrators had shot at the bus from the forest, Agus said.

The bus was carrying the company's 12 security personnel and two cleaning service employees, he said.

Police are currently intensifying the investigations into the case. At about 11 a.m. local time the same day, for example, the Amole Timika Police secured the entrance to the company compound. They also continued to hunt for the perpetrators.

Rianto said the area between Mile 41 and Mile 43 was geographically advantageous to any perpetrators wanting to attack passing Freeport vehicles, making it an area prone to attacks.

Rianto, however, assured that the access road from Timika to Tembagapura was secured.

Last week another group of unidentified persons also attacked a military vehicle belonging to the Tembagapura Military Command between Mile 41 and 42.

Shootings at the Freeport Indonesia mining site have been reported repeatedly since July this year, despite some 1,320 Amole Timika Police personnel having been deployed to secure the area.

At present there is only one access road to the Freeport Indonesia site, which has so far been the main road to transport all of the company's logistics needs from Amamapare Port to Grasberg.

Transparency a must for Freeport: Rights body

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Markus Makur, Timika – Monolithic mining company PT Freeport Indonesia should be forthright on the problems taking place within its concession area, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said Thursday.

In a meeting with Freeport's management, the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), the police and military top brass at the Hotel Grand Tembaga in Mimika, Nur Kholis from Komnas HAM, said unless Freeport becomes more transparent about its operations, the problems, which include a series of shootings in its concession area, will not be resolved.

"Freeport has complained about the shooting incidents that have taken place since July 8," Kholis said.

He added the cases should be resolved comprehensively from economic, political and socio-cultural aspects and that Komnas Ham was ready to follow up on an appeal made by Freeport and the SPSI for the central government and the provincial administration to immediately restore security in the area so workers could return to earning a living in peace.

"Komnas Ham, currently monitoring and investigating the spate of shootings in the concession area, has asked the central government and provincial administration to immediately settle the shooting cases," he said. Komnas Ham was in Mimika, added Kholis, to investigate the recent attacks.

Kholis said Komnas Ham viewed the shootings, which occurred along the road between Timika and Tembagapura, as the outcome of the unequal share of the company's revenue as well as the social and economic gap between economic migrants and the local community.

"Police have so far named seven suspects in the shootings. Komnas Ham will protect and observe the legal process of these suspects. I will ask about them from the Papua Police chief later today," he said.

Kholis said Komnas Ham questioned Freeport's reticence toward outside parties, especially when it came to accessing the mining sites, which creates the impression that Freeport was like "a state within a state". As an example he cited the fact that Freeport is allowed to issue its own driving licenses.

Freeport's vice president of legal and tax affairs, Tony Wenas, confirmed that some locations within the mining sites were off limits to outsiders and only authorized Freeport employees were allowed to access them.

Kholis said Freeport should hold discussions with the local community, including the government, and ensure it contributes its fair share to the community. "Foreign companies should recognize the local customs because their presence is an inherent part of the area's culture," he said.

Kholis said the rights of the local community had been ignored and that the relationship between the community and the company should be improved. "I believe the position of the local community in Mimika is very weak and that they must accept every decision by the company, which could trigger problems," he said.

The shootings, added Kholis, were currently being monitored by the Komnas Ham. He said the rights organization planned to conduct field observations in Freeport's concession area, but that it was not allowed to do so given the current conditions.

Gunmen fire at military car near Freeport

Jakarta Post - September 10, 2009

Markus Makur, Timika – Despite an increase in the number of security officers guarding PT Freeport Indonesia's mine in Timika, Papua, a military car was shot at by unknown gunmen in the area on Wednesday.

The road leading to Freeport's Grasberg gold and copper mine was the scene of a series of shoot-outs in recent months, which claimed three lives. However, the identity of the attackers remains a mystery.

Gunman shot out the window of a military vehicle belonging to the Tembagapura district military command as it passed along mile 41 of the road leading to the mine at around 6:10 a.m at local time on Wednesday, local police said.

They said bullets broke through the glass window on the right side of the vehicle, driven by Capt. Ronald Nainggolan, and through the dashboard. "No one was injured in the incident," Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Riyanto said.

He added the gunmen had taken advantage of the recent calm in the area to launch the ambush. "The shooters also know the situation and the location very well and are very mobile. We will continue to hunt for their whereabouts," Agus said.

The latest incident took place just a day after an additional 600 TNI personnel arrived to help safeguard the mine. The soldiers joined more than 1,300 police personnel already on guard around the mine.

Agus said the attackers managed to escape the joint military- police manhunt by moving from one place to another. "Unidentified gunmen have already taken control of areas near PT Freeport Indonesia," Agus added.

In July, an Australian employee of Freeport as well as an Indonesian security guard and a police officer were killed in shootings that occurred along the same stretch of road.

More shootings, seemingly targeted at Freeport workers, rocked the area in August. Later in the month police arrested nine suspects, including two Freeport employees, charging them with premeditated murder and the illegal possession of firearms.

Security authorities initially blamed the attacks on the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), who have been campaigning for independence for their resource-rich region since the end of Dutch colonial rule and see Freeport as a symbol of outside rule.

However, the authorities apparently no longer suspect the rebel movement.

Some analysts believe the shootings stem from a rivalry between the police and the military over the multimillion-dollar illegal gold mining industry in the restive province, or lucrative contracts to provide security for PT Freeport.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has denied the Indonesian Military (TNI) was involved in the recent armed attacks on Freeport, calling it "wild speculation".

Freeport employees ask rights body for protection

Jakarta Post - September 10, 2009

Markus Makur, Timika – The All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) of US mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia has submitted an official proposal to the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) asking for protection following a series of shootings by unknown gunmen.

Union secretary Ronny G. Kadrun gave the letter to commission member Nur Kholis in Tembagapura on Thursday.

In its letter, the union wrote that the brutal shootings had caused anxiety among workers from Freeport and from other private companies. "The union has asked for the commission to guarantee the employees' safety and security so as the 21,000 workers can work as usual," a union press release stated.

Nur said the commission would immediately urge the government to resolve the matter. "I will review the case and conduct further investigations," Nur said.

Between July and August, there have been six shootings claiming at least three workers' lives.

Extra troops pour into Timika to help secure Freeport mining area

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

John Pakage & Antara – At least 600 soldiers have arrived in Timika, Papua, to tighten security around PT Freeport Indonesia's mining site after a series of deadly attacks on the company's employees, a police officer said on Tuesday.

"The troops will help Timika Police maintain the outer ring of security," Papua Police spokesman Chief Comr. Agus Rianto said on Tuesday.

The additional troops, according to Agus, are from the Cendrawasih Military Command and will assist a local task force of 1,320 police personnel already stationed in the Freeport area.

A series of deadly attacks by armed groups at the site of the world's largest copper and gold mine over the last few months have killed at least two people, prompting employees to wear flak jackets and helmets. Police have also arrested more than a dozen suspects.

While the security conditions around Freeport have been relatively calm over the past few weeks, Agus said security personnel would remain alert to anticipate recurrences of acts of terror by gunmen yet to be identified.

"With the additional military assistance, we will continue to increase security measures and make every effort to solve the previous terror cases," Agus said, adding that transportation from Timika to Tembagapura, home to Freeport employees, was limited, with security extremely tight.

The increased security, however, has raised alarm among local religious leaders, who are concerned the presence of more security personnel will only increase attacks on the mining company.

"The extra troops only invite further attacks on PT Freeport," Saul Wanimbo of the Papua Diocese's Justice and Peace Secretariat said in Merauke on Tuesday.

He also suggested the attacks may have been engineered, pointing to the absence of counterattacks by security personnel during the ambushes.

"I don't know if there were security personnel involved during the attacks, but [the absence of counterattacks has led us to think that] security personnel were warned to stay away from the attacks," he said.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie was scheduled to arrive in Timika on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the security situation.

Government provides housing aid to former Papua rebels

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Mimika – Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie presented government housing assistance Tuesday to former members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the Pegunungan Bintang and Lanny Jaya regencies of Papua.

The ceremony took place during Aburizal's visit to Mimika, where US-based gold mining company PT Freeport Indonesia operates the world's largest gold mine. Aburizal will also tour Paniai regency during his trip. The former rebels recently turned themselves in to the military.

Aburizal, who is the frontrunner in the race for the chairmanship of the Golkar Party, was scheduled to meet with local party leaders later in the day to confirm their support for his bid. Golkar's Papua office has officially announced its support for Aburizal, but 29 regency-level branches are backing his main rival, Surya Paloh.

Meanwhile, about 600 Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers arrived in Timika, to help local police secure the area around Freeport after a series of attacks in past months.

The soldiers join 1,320 police personnel guarding the mining company, Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto told Antara on Tuesday.

Human rights/law

Journalist Upi cleared in defamation case

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Ismira Lutfia – With black tape covering their mouths to symbolize freedom of expression being silenced, journalists on Monday demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court and urged it to act as a "last line of defense" to protect citizens from being prosecuted for expressing their opinions.

The rally was held as a show of solidarity over the verdict in the trial of Jupriadi "Upi" Asmaradhana, a freelance journalist in Makassar, South Sulawesi, who was acquitted on Monday of a defamation charge filed by former South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto.

State-run news agency Antara reported that the Makassar District Court acquitted Upi of the charge, with the panel of judges hearing the case ruling that the dispute between Sisno and Upi had been a "misunderstanding."

"This is a victory for journalists. We finally achieved what we have been fighting for, so journalists do not need to be afraid to fight back," Upi was quoted as saying.

Upi publicly protested a call from Sisno in May 2008 urging local officials not to hesitate to file charges against journalists they felt had defamed them. A defamation charge was subsequently leveled against Upi as a result of his protest.

But the judges ruled that Upi could not be charged with defamation because his statements had not been proven to be a personal attack on the former police chief, and were instead intended to criticize institutional authority in general.

"We demand the Supreme Court stop treating defamation as a criminal case," Wahyu Dhyatmika, head of the Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists, said in front of the Supreme Court building.

He said Upi's case was only one of the many defamation cases leveled against journalists for doing their job and against citizens for expressing their opinions.

"We urge the court to take a clear stance on defamation and publicly state that defamation can only be treated as a civil case," Wahyu said,

He also said defamation charges were often filed against citizens who wrote letters complaining about poor services.

He was referring to charges against kiosk owner Kho Seng Seng for writing letters to the editor over a land right dispute with developer PT Duta Pertiwi, as well as the high-profile case of Prita Mulyasari, whose trial is ongoing over an e-mail she sent to friends about poor service she reportedly received at Omni International Hospital.

Wahyu, who is a journalist at Koran Tempo daily, said he was informed by editors at his newspaper and Kompas daily that since Seng's case went public, there had been a drastic drop in the number of letters to the editors of both newspapers.

International rights group criticizes handling of Munir case

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Nivell Rayda – An international rights group on Monday slammed Indonesia's police for botching a key human rights case and for wielding defamation charges as a political weapon against critics.

New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the police to drop criminal defamation charges against a prominent human rights activist and redirect their efforts to solving the 2004 murder of prominent activist Munir Said Thalib.

Jakarta Police began a criminal defamation investigation early this month against Usman Hamid, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), for statements he made to the press concerning the acquittal of retired senior intelligence official Muchdi Purwopranjono.

On Dec. 31 2008, Muchdi was acquitted by the South Jakarta District Court of charges that he orchestrated the murder of Munir, who died of arsenic poisoning on Sept. 7, 2004, while flying from Jakarta to Amsterdam aboard Garuda Indonesia.

Prosecutors alleged that Muchdi had used his influence at the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to orchestrate the murder in an attempt to avenge his ousting from the top post of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) in 1998, believing that Munir's criticisms over the kidnapping of students and activists by the elite unit had cost him his career.

"Five years on, the masterminds behind Munir's murder are still free, while Munir's fellow activists continue to face intimidation," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The police should focus on gathering stronger evidence to bring those who planned Munir's death to justice."

Muchdi told police that during his trial, Usman allegedly shouted "Murderer!" and that after his acquittal, Usman reportedly said in a press statement: "Who murdered Munir? Muchdi."

On June 15, the Supreme Court upheld the district court's decision in Muchdi's trial.

Only three people, all from Garuda, were ever convicted for the murder. Pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto was sentenced to 20 years in prison for administering the fatal does of arsenic, while a former chief executive of the airline, Indra Setiawan, and Rohainil Aini, a former Garuda secretary, both received a year in prison as accessories to the crime.

The watchdog said it believed the three only played minor roles in the murder, adding that there was plenty of evidence to support Muchdi's involvement.

"There is compelling evidence that witnesses in the Muchdi trial changed their stories or left things unsaid because they were too scared to speak out in the courtroom," Pearson said.

Separately, Usman said he would not retract his statement. "I will not back down and issue an apology for saying what I believe in," he said.

Victims 'may not get compensation'

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2009

Jakarta – The Witness and Victim Protection Agency told families and victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre Saturday that it might be difficult for them to ask for compensation from the government.

A commissioner from the agency, Lili Pintauli Siregar, said she could not find ways to get the government to pay compensation to the victims for the pain and loss they had endured because the case was turned down by the Supreme Court level and no perpetrators had been punished.

"But the agency can provide victims and their families with medical treatments and counseling should they need them," she said.

Anyone wishing to enjoy the facilities, she said, must first register with the agency and provide a letter from the National Commission on Human Rights stating that they were victimized by the incident.

Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Usman Hamid said getting medical treatment and counseling might be a good thing for victims and their families.

However, he questioned why was it was hard for the government to pay the amount of money that the victims had demanded in order to improve their quality of life. "The government needs to acknowledge the incident and admit that what was done in the past was wrong."

The Tanjung Priok massacre remains one of a number of unresolved human rights violations that the public has demanded be reopened.

On Sept. 12, 1984, a number of soldiers opened fire on a group of Muslim protesters led by Amir Biki demanding the release of four persons detained by the North Jakarta Military District Command.

The four were being held for their alleged involvement in Amir's movement protesting the government's policy of the sole basis, which required all groups to adopt state ideology Pancasila as their own ideology.

The total death toll in the incident remains unknown as Tanjung Priok residents claimed 400 people were either killed or went missing, but the government only acknowledged 18 of them.

Usman said the bloody mayhem repressed the freedom of speech. Twenty-five years on, he added, "the repression is still there although it has taken a different form".

"It's getting more and more evident during these past few years that the government is finding another way to repress people," he said. "Using legislative power, they create laws that limit our freedom," he added, pointing out the secrecy bill and the antiterrorism law as examples.

The families and victims of the massacre, however, said they kept their faith that someday the government would acknowledge their pain, although their attempt at justice for a quarter of century had yet to provide satisfactory results.

In another attempt to search for justice, the victims and their families also sent a letter to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers on Friday, pleading for intervention in the unresolved case.

To mark the 25th year of the incident, on Saturday, victims and families retraced the scene where the protest had taken place.

Beni Biki, Amir's brother, said the retrace was important because "we need to keep remembering (the incident) so that the government will not practice any more violence in the future". (adh)

President under pressure to step in on state secrecy bill

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was under strong pressure on Monday to intervene in the drafting process of the controversial state secrecy bill by ordering the Defense Ministry to postpone deliberations.

Speaking in Jakarta, Leo Batubara, deputy chairman of the Press Council, claimed that "invisible hands" were at play to direct the country back towards its authoritarian past through the endorsement of bills such as the state secrecy bill and the Anti-Corruption Court bill.

Such bills would hamper the democracy obtained by reform in 1998, which demanded freedom, transparency and accountability, he said.

"If President SBY is still committed to good governance, anti- corruption, freedom of the press, accountability and transparency principles, then he must do something to stop the deliberation of this bill," Batubara said.

"He has the right to intervene in the drafting process. All ministers responsible for drafting the bills are his subordinates," he said.

Officials tasked with drafting the bill announced that they had finished and would be ready to bring it to parliament in a plenary meeting at the end of this month.

Under the proposed legislation, anyone in the possession of or found to have any way distributed any information, object or activity classified as a state secret would face a minimum of four years in prison and a maximum fine of Rp 5 billion ($505,000).

The bill defines a state secret as any information, including activity and object, that has been officially declared confidential by the president.

State secrets would fall into three categories: "top secret," "secret" and "limited secret."

The draft also calls for harsher penalties for government officials found guilty of leaking state secrets. Under the proposed legislation, officials would face up to a third more jail time for the offense than civilians.

Anyone caught revealing state secrets during times of war could be sentenced to death.

Batubara said such regulations would kill freedom of the press, with no journalists daring to conduct investigative work. If the Parliament passes the bill at the end of this month, he said, the Press Council would file a judicial review to the Constitutional Court.

"Many articles in the bill are against Article 28F of the Constitution that guarantees citizens' rights to obtain and use information," Batubara said.

Effendy Choirie, a lawmaker who was part of the bill drafting process, denied the claims. "The bill gives a clear limit because our anti-corruption, good governance and freedom of the press principles must always exist," Effendy said.

Antasari promised Nasrudin Rp1.5 billion project, says widow

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The widow of slain businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen said on Monday that the accused mastermind of the murder, antigraft agency chairman Antasari Azhar, has promised involvement in a project that could earn her husband Rp 1.5 billion.

Sri Martuti, 44, said Nasrudin told her about the project during their last conversation on March 9.

"Nasrudin said he was promised a project in Kolaka regency by Antasari Azhar and could earn Rp 1.5 billion. He told me if the project was successful, he would give me Rp 500 million," said Sri, who married Nasrudin in 1990.

"I thought it was quite unusual because he rarely spoke about any project, especially with such a huge amount of money as the fee," Sri said as she testified in the hearing at the Tangerang District Court.

"But he convinced me by quoting Antasari as having said that the project was halal [acceptable according to Islamic law]."

Sri said she didn't understand the project because Nasrudin refused to elaborate and his visit at her house was to discuss one of their two children, who was about to enter college and needed money.

"But I knew who Antasari was when the conversation took place. He was the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission," she said.

Sri and Nasrudin had lived separately since he married again in 1999 with another woman named Irawati Arienda. But Sri said she was still Nasrudin's wife.

Nasrudin's driver also testified at Monday's hearing.

Suparmin, who drove the car at the time of the attack, said he heard two gunshots. When he looked at the back seat, his boss was lying with blood all over his face.

"He didn't make any sound but I knew he was still alive. His hand made some movement," Suparmin said of Nasrudin.

He said his car ran slowly at around 40 km per hour and that shortly before the shootings, a Toyota Avanza van overtook his car from the left and ran steadily at a distance of around three meters in front.

"After the gunshots, I saw two men on a motorcycle run away from the scene. I stopped the car and cried for help. The crowd told me to take Nasrudin to hospital, so I returned to the car and rushed to Mayapada Hospital."

Suparmin said the two men rode a Yamaha Scorpio bike, confirming it as the same type and color of a motorcycle presented in courtroom as evidence.

Juan Felix Tampubolon, chief of the defense team for defendant Daniel Daen, showed the witness several photographs of motorcycle and asked Suparmin which one was a Yamaha Scorpio.

The lawyer asked if Suparmin knew one of the two men on the motorcycle was carrying a pistol.

"I didn't see the gun," the witness said.

House, government resolve 200 issues on secrecy bill

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives has finally resolved more than 200 issues in the controversial state secrecy bill with the government, despite requests from civil society groups to stop the bill deliberation.

The final issue that the House and the government settled during a meeting Friday was the stipulation on the maximum penalty for corporations should they obtain information considered state secrets.

The House and the government agreed that corporations found responsible for leaking state secrets are to pay a maximum of Rp 100 billion (US$9.94 million) in fines, while the minimum fine is Rp 50 billion.

An expert on politics and ideology from the Defense Ministry, Agus Brotosusilo, said the government had set a such a large fine to ensure that foreign corporations would feel a significant impact should they breach the law and leak the country's state secrets.

"I want everyone to understand that the 'corporations' term does not always mean domestic corporations, but foreign ones as well," he said.

House legislators, who at first seemingly objected to the large fines, succumbed easily to Agus' explanation and decided to agree to the terms.

A legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), Djoko Susilo, even suggested an additional stipulation, saying that any corporation proved to have leaked state secrets should be closed down

Djoko's suggestion was accepted by the forum, led by the Golkar Party's Theo L. Sambuaga, the chairman of the House Commission I overseeing defense, intelligence and foreign affairs.

Agus Sudibyo, a press freedom activist and deputy director of the Science, Aesthetics and Technology Foundation, told The Jakarta Post he regretted the House decision to accelerate the deliberation of the bill without making any significant changes.

"The House and the government did not exclude media corporations from the bill," he said. "This confirms our worries, as press and media activists, that this bill has no other intention than to limit press freedom."

Agus said he noted that there was unfairness when he compared the state secrecy bill with the already endorsed Public Information Law.

"In the Public Information Law, it is stipulated that the minimum punishment for state officials who neglect their jobs and cause harm to the public is a two-year imprisonment," he said.

"However, the state secrecy bill stipulates that a reporter, for example, is punishable with at least a four-year imprisonment should he or she obtain information that is considered a state secret. This shows that the public interest is overridden by the state's interest to keep its information secret and inaccessible to the public."

Agus said the only hope now to stop the bill from being passed into law was to increase public pressure more and more.

"This bill can only be cancelled if all civil elements stand together and pressure President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the government and the House from passing it into law. I believe we can still do that," he said.

"In the past, civil society ele-ments were divided over the deliberation of controversial bills, such as the Pornography Law, but in this case, the sentiments of rejection are the same for all elements," he added. (hdt)

Victims report to UN special rapporteur

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Jakarta – In another attempt at justice, families and victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre sent a letter to a United Nations special rapporteur Friday pleading for an intervention in the unresolved case.

The Human Rights Working Group and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) assisted in sending the letter to Gabriela Carina Knaul de Albuquerque e Silva, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Yetti, whose father fell victim to the bloody incident, told The Jakarta Post that she hoped sending the letter would lead to a new investigation, and in turn, a review of the case.

"I am optimistic that we'll get something good out of it. There are witnesses that have never been presented in courts or undergone questioning," she said on the sidelines of a press conference on Friday.

The Tanjung Priok massacre took place on Sept. 12, 1984, when a number of personnel from the armed forces opened fire into a crowd of Muslim protesters.

There were conflicting reports on the total death toll, but Tanjung Priok residents claim 400 people were either killed or went missing.

Usman Hamid, coordinator of Kontras, a local NGO that has long represented the Priok victims, said that sending the letter would act as a reminder for the government to reinvestigate the case. "It is also to remind the President to use his authority to give the victims their rights."

Usman said that there was no reason for the government to worry that by inviting the UN special rapporteur to investigate the case, there would be intervention from other countries.

"Inviting the rapporteur here will let us know if there were errors in the trial process and what the government could do to address the problem."

The rapporteur, he added, would also analyze past trials, which acquitted all suspects who had played major roles in the incident. "She would identify what went wrong. It could be that the judges or the prosecutors made mistakes. Or maybe the indictment was weak," Usman told the Post.

The Tanjung Priok case was first tried by an ad hoc human rights court in September 2003. Fourteen defendants were brought to the court, including Rudolf Adolf Butar-Butar, Sutrisno Mascung, both from the North Jakarta District Military Command.

Pranowo and Sriyanto Muntrasan, both Sutrisno's superiors, were also tried but were acquitted. The court sentenced Rudolf to 10 years imprisonment and gave Sutrisno two to three years in prison. A series of appeals finally resulted in acquittal of the two from all charges.

Analysts have cited prosecutors' weak indictments due to alleged pressure from the military as the reason for the acquittals.

Rafendi Djamin from Human Rights Working Group said that the Tanjung Priok case was a symbol of failure of the country's trial system. "The next legislative members have to come up with a law system that's effective to punish perpetrators of gross human rights abuses," he added.

Rafendi is scheduled to meet with the UN representative in Geneva in late September. (adh)

Killing of Munir dogs President Yudhoyono into new term

The Australian - September 10, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – A retired Indonesian spy chief controversially acquitted of murdering a human rights lawyer is pursuing a criminal defamation case against one of the lawyer's successors – for accusing him of murder.

The poisoning death of Munir Said Thalib five years ago this week aboard a Garuda airlines flight to The Netherlands became a defining issue during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first term.

Shortly after being inaugurated, Dr Yudhoyono formed a fact- finding team to investigate the affair, declaring it a test of "whether Indonesia had changed" since the era of former dictator Suharto.

Now Munir's killing, which involved the national intelligence agency, serving and former military officers and senior Garuda figures, looks set to be one of the main issues hanging over into Dr Yudhoyono's second five-year stint as president, after he is sworn back in to office next month.

The powerful fact-finding team, which has been disbanded, found little other than questions over whether the right people had been convicted in the case.

Yesterday, one of its members, Usman Hamid, who now heads the human rights organisation Munir founded, was questioned by police after being charged with criminal defamation in a case brought by former spy agency deputy head Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

Mr Muchdi's lawyer said the case revolved around Mr Usman's shouts of "murderer, murderer" during the retired general's trial last year for arranging Munir's killing. "Our view is that Usman Hamid does not respect the law," lawyer Rusdiyanto Matulatua told The Australian.

Mr Usman was not the only one bandying about accusations: others included Munir's widow, Suciwati, who in 2005 was named one of "Asia's Heroes" by Time magazine for her tireless campaign to bring her husband's killers to justice.

Appearing on national television this week in a program commemorating Munir's anniversary, Mrs Munir admitted she would have preferred to have been the one who died because the groundbreaking activist "could have achieved so much more".

Mr Muchdi's surprise acquittal last year came after judges in the murder case refused to admit crucial evidence, including a series of phone calls between him and the man who carried out the deed, Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Priyanto.

The Supreme Court upheld Mr Muchdi's acquittal two months ago – a remarkably quick turnaround for the country's less-than- transparent peak legal forum – prompting accusations by pro- Munir lobby groups that the higher court had "ignored the public interest".

The two key figures to do time over the murder – Pollycarpus, who laced Munir's on-board drink with arsenic and received 20 years' prison, and former Garuda CEO Indra Setiawan, sentenced to one year – have been widely regarded as political pawns. But bringing the real perpetrators to justice could involve reaching far too deeply into the Jakarta establishment, critics fear.

Evidence in the original trial suggested Mr Muchdi was motivated by revenge, after Munir proved the general had been involved in the disappearance of anti-government activists during the months leading up to Suharto's fall in early 1998.

That revelation led to Mr Muchdi being sacked as head of the army's elite Kopassus special forces squad after less than two months in the job.

Another figure implicated, although not brought to task, was Mr Muchdi's boss at the time of the murder, former intelligence agency chief A.M.Hendropriyono. Some suspect the conspiracy could reach as high as Dr Yudhoyono.

Munir's supporters vowed to fight on. "We still believe Muchdi murdered Munir," said one, Chairul Anam, after Mr Usman was released by police yesterday.

Happy birthday Mr President, don't forget your promise to Munir

Detik.com - September 9, 2009

Shohib Masykur, Jakarta – The coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid, took time out on Wednesday to wish President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) a happy birthday.

Hamid, the suspect in a case of alleged defamation against former top spy Muchdi Purwoprandjono, also demanded that Yudhoyono fulfill his promise to resolve the murder of renowned human rights activist Munir.

"To Mr. SBY, I want to say happy birthday. Consider this as a gift to remember that there is still a promise that has to be fulfilled," said Hamid during a break in a press conference at the Kontras offices on Jl. Borobudur in Central Jakarta on Wednesday September 9.

The promise referred to by Hamid was Yudhoyono's pledge to resolve Munir's murder, as Yudhoyono once stated that the Munir case represented 'homework' for the upholding of human rights.

Without a resolution of Munir's murder, said Hamid, the upholding of human rights in Indonesia will be under threat. If people in the past can arbitrarily do away with other people and not be punished in kind, cases such as Munir's murder will occur again.

It is also not impossible that in the future there will be other victims, not just activists but attorney generals, justices of the Supreme Court, members of the House of Representatives, and even presidents. "We still have to see whether with his increased political powers SBY will be capable of resolving human rights problems or not," said Hamid.

Second police summons

Meanwhile a member of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum), Choirul Anam said that they will respect the laws that are in effect. Hamid will fulfil the second summons from the Metro Jaya regional police after failing to appear earlier in the morning.

"We will respect the laws that are in effect. We will attend (the second summons). But because Hamid had an event, he was unable to attend earlier," said Anam. (sho/anw)

Notes:

Yudhoyono was born in Pacitan, a small town in East Java, on September 9, 1949.

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Expressing happy birthday to SBY, Usman demands fulfillment of promise to resolve Munir case".]

Police summon Munir activist over Muchdi defamation allegations

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Bati Kartini – The executive director of a committee fighting for justice for murdered human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib was called to the Jakarta Police Headquarters on Wednesday to be questioned as a suspect in a defamation case.

Usman Hamid, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was summoned to answer police questions about alleged defamation against Muchdi Purwoprandjono, a suspect in Munir's murder who was later acquitted by the courts.

Usman arrived alone at the headquarters at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday. He told the press that he was prepared for the investigation. "They [the police] have reasons to name me as a suspect. I will face the law to the very end," Usman said.

Previously, Adj. Chief Cmr. Daniel Boli Tifaona, the head of state security unit at Jakarta Police, said that Usman had been named as a suspect because police had gathered enough evidence from witnesses.

Muchdi's lawyer reported Usman to the police because he allegedly called Muchdi a murderer when he attended a court trial into Munir's death a few months ago. Muchdi, former deputy chairman of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), was a defendant in the case, but was acquitted by the court.

Munir, who founded Kontras and Imparsial, died of arsenic poisoning on a Garuda flight en route to Amsterdam in September 2004. He was 38.

Prosecutors alleged that Muchdi used his influence at BIN to orchestrate the murder in an attempt to avenge his ousting from the top post of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) in 1998, believing that Munir's criticisms over the kidnappings of students and activists by the elite unit cost him his career.

However, the South Jakarta District Court ruled that Muchdi was not guilty as prosecutors had failed to prove the motive. The verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court in June this year, who rejected the prosecutors' appeal.

Human rights activists, including Munir's wife Suciwati, have labelled the courts' decisions as unjust.

Two newly-passed laws meet tough resistance

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives passed three bills into law during a plenary session Tuesday, but two have drawn heated criticism from industry experts.

The House passed the environment management bill, the electricity bill and the film bill into law. However, only the environmental bill managed to be passed unscathed.

The Indonesian film industry believes the new 2008 law on film will restrict creativity and the freedom to make movies as they claim it gives too much power to the government, especially the Culture and Tourism Ministry, to interfere in film production.

The film industry has specifically criticized Articles 14 and 17. Article 14 of the new law stipulates that movie producers have to acquire operational permits from several ministries and local administrations.

Article 17 stipulates that before making a movie, a production house must report its plans, title and plot to the ministries. Under the new law, production can only begin three months after the report has been submitted.

A number of directors and actors, including noted filmmakers Riri Riza and Nia Dinata, staged a protest during Tuesday's plenary session. "What we want is a bill that will protect the freedom of stakeholders in the film industry," Riri told reporters.

"However, the essence of this bill is nothing but more and more censorship. Now we have two layers of censorship. The first one is before a movie is produced, while the other takes place after the production process is complete."

Riri also said he regretted the fact the House had not sufficiently involved film industry stakeholders in deliberations of the bill. "We did attend a hearing with the House on Aug. 31. Surprisingly, it took the House only eight days to endorse the bill without any further discussions," he said.

Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik, however, has jumped to the defense of the bill, saying the bill would improve the country's film industry, because it regulated cinema owners to allocate 60 percent of its movie slots to local movies. However, Riri said the protectionist style requirements were pointless.

"That stipulation will only encourage the production of low- quality movies to fulfill the 60 percent quota," he said.

The passage of the electricity bill was also greeted with protest from the state electricity firm PT PLN's labor union.

The union said the newly passed electricity law was nothing more than an instrument to aid the privatization of electricity resources, currently under the sole ownership of PLN.

The environmental management bill was passed without much resistance despite it containing harsher jail terms and fines for polluters.

The new environmental law also obliges companies exploiting natural resources to pay environmental tax to be used to restore areas damaged by business activities. The law also allows civil servant investigators to arrest those accused of endangering the environment. "There is no need to worry about possible misunderstandings between the police and civil investigators," State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said after the plenary session. (hdt)

Indonesia: Protest demands justice for activist's death

Adnkronos International - September 8, 2009

Jakarta – Five years after the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, his supporters have accused the government of lacking resolve to settle the case.

State prosecutors have said they simply lack the certified copy of the ruling needed to pursue a case review.

"Without it we cannot formulate any argument to use for the case review," Jasman Pandjaitan, a spokesman for the Indonesian attorney-general's office said on Monday.

He said activists could help by trying to get a certified copy of the Supreme Court ruling. "We have the same concerns [as activists]. Therefore, don't heap the blame on us," Jasman said.

Munir was an outspoken critic of Indonesia's military and its methods of quashing dissent and separatism in provinces such as Aceh and Papua.

He was poisoned by an off-duty pilot on Indonesia's national carrier, Garuda Airlines, while flying from Jakarta to Amsterdam in September 2004.

The pilot, Pollycarpus Priyanto, was jailed for 20 years in January, after being initially acquitted while Indra Setiawan, former Garuda chief executive, was also found guilty of being an accessory to Munir's murder and sentenced to one year in jail.

Official autopsy results revealed Munir's death was due to arsenic poisoning.

His widow Suciwati, a former labour activist, said the AGO's excuse was a mere "technicality". "Why on earth are the prosecutors waiting for the copy of the ruling to arrive on their desks? This kind of technicality simply represents the AGO's lack of seriousness in their approach to this case," she said.

Suciwati joined a rally in front of the attorney-general's office Monday, later meeting with Jasman.

State prosecutors had said they would file a review against a Supreme Court ruling last December that saw former state intelligence deputy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono acquitted of all charges of masterminding the murder.

In June, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by state prosecutors against the court's decision to acquit Muchdi.

There have been some suggestions during the investigation however that the Indonesian secret services were involved in the murder. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all asked Indonesia to do more to investigate Munir's death.

Indonesia's House pressed to shelve late bills

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – With lawmakers likely to pass two new pieces of legislation today, critics have called for a moratorium, arguing that new laws could end up being struck down by the Constitutional Court because they are poorly written.

After managing to pass only 63 percent of bills put forward since taking office in 2004, members of the House of Representatives have shifted into overdrive to push through a number of bills before the outgoing legislators' terms end on Sept. 30.

Today they are expected to endorse a contentious film bill that industry activists have said supports stricter censorship and is undemocratic, and an environmental protection and management bill.

But Irman Putra Sidin, a law expert, warned on Monday that laws pushed through just to meet the Sept. 30 deadline could be flawed. "If the laws are not yet ready to be passed, it's better to delay them rather than endorse them with a number of weaknesses," he said.

The controversy surrounding the House's surge of energy in its last few weeks is set only grow, as lawmakers also plan to endorse the controversial state secrecy bill before the end of the month, having recently passed a law on legislative bodies.

"If the process of legislation gets too long due to interest bargaining, what is likely to happen is laws get swept through [at the end of the legislative term]. This has a potential for weakness, but commonly happens," Putra said. "While a slow process doesn't mean perfect laws, sweeping laws through has a bigger potential to create flawed laws."

Analysts have long criticized the House's record for passing laws – some of which have even had contradictory articles in them – just to protect the individual interests of political parties with legislative seats. This has led to a number of laws, or articles, being struck down as unconstitutional, including parts of the legislative and presidential election laws earlier this year.

Siti Zuhro, a political researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said both of the election laws were passed hurriedly, and she accused lawmakers of failing to properly debate bills or consult the public.

"Actually, no laws are deliberated with sufficient time to get the best results," she said. "Because of the poor deliberation process, many laws end up in the Constitutional Court for judicial review."

Siti noted that the new law on legislative bodies was challenged in the Constitutional Court just days after its passage, and said lawmakers should withdraw controversial bills until the next legislative session begins on Oct. 1.

"However, current [House] members place their own interests first," she said. "Last year, they all focused on autonomy laws after requests from several regions. Meanwhile, important laws such as ones on bureaucratic reform and public service have been left neglected."

Angelina Sondakh, a lawmaker from the Democratic Party, rejected claims that legislation was being pushed through simply because of the deadline.

"We will pass bills when they are ready to be passed," she said. "As for the film bill, we discussed it for years before endorsing it. There is actually strong public demand for us to pass bills. "There is no such thing as a perfect law, but we need laws that bring better conditions."

'Lazy' House unlikely to pass 22 key bills

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives has three weeks to pass their target of 22 priority bills, but legislators are apparently unable to even show up to deliberate the potential laws.

For example, a planned meeting that was supposed to discuss four bills related to the judicial system – the judiciary power bill, the general judicial system bill, the religious judicial system bill and the state administration judicial system bill – had to be cancelled Monday because most members of a working committee deliberating the bills failed to show up.

"Only nine out of 50 committee members showed up. How can we start a meeting if we do not have the needed quorum?" asked committee chairman and member of the Golkar Party Agung Gunandjar Gunarsa.

The House's internal regulations stipulate that at least 50 percent of a committee's members must show up before a meeting can commence.

Agung, appearing upset, waved the nearly blank attendance sheet at the few legislators who did attend the meeting.

"None of the members from the National Awakening Party (PKB) showed up. Only two out of nine representatives from the United Development Party (PPP) showed up," he said as he read the attendance list.

"I hope that the House Board of Honors will take firm action against these lazy legislators. The board must not only give them a warning, but also to remove them from any strategic post at the House."

Legislators who failed to show up included some re-elected for the 2009-2014 period, such as Marwan Jakfar from the PKB and Maiyasyak Johan from the PPP. Maiyasyak did not respond when The Jakarta Post asked him why he did not show up to the meeting.

A political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Siti Zuhro, said that she was not surprised to learn that legislators were not attending meetings.

"Laziness has become a part of being a legislator. What happened today is just business as usual," she said. "The legislators are lazy during their active tenures, let alone nearing the end of their terms."

Siti said it was more understandable that legislators who were not re-elected had started to slack off. She, however, said she was very disgruntled to learn that those who managed to secure another term were also too lazy to show up.

"That situation shows that laziness will be a part of the House for a long time to come," she said. "Those legislators have no awareness at all that they were elected by the people as their representatives."

"Having said that I find it im-possible that the House will meet its target of passing 22 bills into law this month. It would be impossible even if the House decided to drop the hammer on each bill every single day of the week starting today."

Other than the four lowercase judicial system bills, the legislators also, apparently, aim to endorse the corruption court bill and the rural development bill, among others, before the end of their term this month.

The House is scheduled to pass the electricity bill and the film bill into law on Tuesday. (hdt)

Labour/migrant workers

Malaysia sending more Indonesian workers home

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Nurfika Osman & Antara – The holy month of Ramadan has seen an increase in the number of illegal Indonesian workers deported from Malaysia, an official said on Sunday.

Said Parman, head of the Manpower and Transmigration Agency in Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands, said as many as 600 illegal workers were arriving from the neighboring country each week, up from an average of 400.

"The Malaysian government used to return the workers twice a month through the Sri Bintan Pura Tanjung Pinang harbor, but now they return them four times a month," Parman said. But Teguh Hendro Cahyono, the labor affairs attache at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, told the Jakarta Globe that the number of illegal workers deported had ups and downs.

"There is no pattern to the number of workers being sent to their home towns. It keeps fluctuating," Cahyono said. "Each month, Malaysia sends home an average of 400 to 600 maids who do not have proper documents each month."

He said the Indonesian government also deported foreign workers without proper documents. "I think it is normal," he said, adding that the number of Indonesians deported could reach more than 24,000 this year.

But, according to Said, that number had been steadily increasing. In 2005, the number reached more than 10,700, and surpassed 23,900 the next year. In 2007, more than 34,900 were sent packing, but about 35,300 were deported last year. From January to August this year, about 23,300 workers were returned.

"Sometimes the Malaysian police arrest the wrong person. They arrest workers with documents," Teguh said, adding that those who are arrested would be released or return home within two weeks.

Separately, Muhammad Jumhur Hidayat, the head of the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers (BNP2TKI), slammed Malaysia for continuing to receive Indonesian informal workers despite a moratorium pending the signing of a new agreement to cover workers' salaries and holidays, among other things.

"Malaysia is very annoying. Placement of informal workers has been suspended, but they still receive our workers from different channels. Why don't we stop sending all workers?" Hidayat said.

According to Foreign Ministry data, officially there were some 3.2 million Indonesian workers in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, the ministry estimated the actual number may be twice as high when taking undocumented workers into account.

Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said in Malaysia alone, there were an estimated two million Indonesian workers, including those who were undocumented.

Faizasyah said problems related to migrant workers were complex, and his ministry received complaints daily, indicating the country had not yet done enough to secure the rights of its workers abroad.

Indonesian businesses angered by government rule on bonus

Jakarta Globe - September 11, 2009

Janeman Latul & Teguh Prasetyo – An irate business community on Friday slammed a recently issued Manpower Ministry directive ordering firms to pay a one-month Idul Fitri holiday bonus to nonpermanent contract workers, saying it was unexpected and had serious financial implications.

The directive, issued on Aug. 28, means employers will have to find additional money within the next few days to pay holiday bonuses not only to their permanent workers, but also nonpermanent ones. This year, Idul Fitri falls on Sept. 21 and 22.

"I think the manpower minister is just trying to garner popularity," said Bambang Soesatyo, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

"This is inappropriate and businesses should not be forced to suffer as a result. Businesses are still having a tough time as a result of the global crisis, high interest rates, high taxes and high raw-material costs," he added.

"They should be thankful that we're not laying off workers or cutting salaries, given the circumstances. We had only factored in bonuses for our permanent staff."

The latest figures from the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) show that the number of contract workers in the formal sector stood at about 17.5 million at the end of 2008, out of a total of 28.7 million workers in the formal sector.

The country's labor force is estimated to currently number about 112 million people.

Djimanto, Apindo's secretary general, said most companies would have few problems in paying bonuses to their permanent staff. "But on the ground, there are definite problems about bonuses for contract workers, especially in cases where manpower is supplied by outsourcing firms," he said.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno insisted on Thursday that if a company failed to comply with the directive, it would leave itself open to sanctions, including possible criminal prosecution.

He said that if an employer were financially incapable of paying the bonuses, they should inform the ministry and prove their case by presenting evidence showing the company's financial position.

"The government will provide leeway as long as the company promises to pay the bonuses later, or pay them in kind with goods that are of the same value, subject to the approval of the workers," he said.

Environment/natural disasters

Sadness and uncertainty for earthquake victims as search stops

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2009

Nivell Rayda, Cianjur (West Java) – Confusion and sadness were just some of the emotions felt by earthquake victims in one small village on Thursday, as the search and rescue efforts to find those still missing after the disaster officially ceased.

At 4 p.m., all efforts to locate and evacuate the missing bodies from the 7.3 earthquake-triggered landslide in the village of Cikangkareng, in Cianjur's Cibinong subdistrict, came to a stop.

The moment was marked with a mass prayer for the deceased and the surviving families. "Let us pray so that their spirits lay in peace, especially those still buried in the landslide," said subdistrict chief Wodi Efiana.

Locals observed the prayer with great emotion, as they paid their tributes and last respects to their missing relatives and friends.

For the last eight days, officials from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) and members of several university mountaineering clubs had successfully located and evacuated 27 bodies. Members of the Siliwangi Military Command also assisted with the rescue, undertaking most of the hard labor, while West Java Police's mobile brigade deployed sniffer dogs to locate the bodies.

It is estimated that around 40 bodies are still trapped underneath 500,000 cubic meters of earth and rocks. Most of the bodies uncovered were from the northern portion of the devastated area. Rescue efforts there were more successful due to greater accessibility for heavy equipment.

Nevertheless, bulldozers and excavators, loaned by the Public Works Ministry and private developers, had been struggling to remove huge chunks of solid rock, some the size of a small house.

The village is situated in a valley, at the bottom of 100 meter high cliffs. Most of the residents were fortunate enough to have been at their rice fields when the landslide struck. Those who were not as lucky could not escape the falling rocks and earth which annihilated areas as far as one kilometer away from the foot of the cliff.

The quake has left huge scars on the hearts of the survivors. Like in most small villages around the country, many people are related by blood, marriage or friendship.

Sofiandi said that he lost eight of his relatives, including his brother and his brother's family who are still officially missing.

"I'm still hoping that the search and rescue team will stay and locate my relatives. They deserve proper burials so that their spirits may rest in peace," he said.

Endang, another victim, shared the same hopes as Sofiandi, but said that she understood why the government had called off the search efforts.

"Looking at the condition of the landslide, I can see that it is impossible for the efforts to continue," she said. "But if they couldn't find my family and relatives I wouldn't know what to do. It's a mixed feeling for me."

Most of the victims had been evacuated to a refugee camp five kilometers away from the site. Some residents feared another landslide caused by an earthquake or heavy rain and have chosen to remain at the camps rather than to return to their own homes.

"I hope they will just relocate us to a safer location," resident Iman Nugraha said.

"The site is no longer safe and the water is polluted by the rotting bodies. Most of us are too afraid to go out at night because with so many undiscovered bodies, the site would most certainly be haunted," he said.

"At least, we should just leave the site as it is, so that their spirits can be at peace."

Despite the search effort being called off, the National Disaster Relief Agency (BNPB) and several non-profit organizations continued to pledge their assistance, and private donations have continued to pour in. With a glut of food and medical supplies in Cibinong, heightened by a recent visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the subdistrict has become the relief center for other affected areas.

The site had also attracted the curiosity of people from neighboring villages, all wanting to see the devastation and have their pictures taken.

Experts hope Indonesia's new green law not just a paper tiger

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – As with any law, implementation is the key. While the passage on Tuesday of the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law was largely welcomed, an environmental law expert said it would only be effective if it was enforced with a strong hand.

"This new law gives the State Ministry for the Environment tremendous authority, including giving its investigators the power to arrest violators," Rino Soebagyo, the executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, said on Wednesday.

"However, the first task for the ministry is to maintain its integrity because, if it's weak, it could be corrupted."

Rino said the ministry would need to prepare infrastructure to support its new authority.

"If they are now allowed to make arrests, it has to be clear where they are going to detain their prisoners," he said. Anna Sinaga, a research officer for the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), said the law showed progress, especially in terms of law enforcement.

"However, they should take into consideration the need for cooperation between various sectors, such as forestry," she said.

Anna said the next task for the ministry was to finish formulating about 18 government decrees and eight ministerial decrees to implement the law. "So, the bottom line is seriousness in enforcing the law, otherwise it will end up just looking good on paper," she said.

The new law replaces the 1997 Environmental Management Law, which was seen as ineffective in the face of the multitude of environmental problems faced by the country.

Compared to the previous law, the 2009 law is viewed as more progressive because it mandates coordination between civil servant investigators, police and prosecutors in handling environmental cases. It also gives the ministry authority to hand over their investigation reports directly to prosecutors, instead of going through the police.

Rino said the ministry's investigators had sufficient training and were ready to take on their new role, but added that they would need to increase their numbers.

"There are only about 90 civil servant investigators in the ministry," he said. "They are spread throughout all sections and not unified under one investigative authority."

Furthermore, Rino said, the new law did not in any way take away the police's authority to arrest violators. "The law stipulates coordination with the police," he said.

Some Sidoarjo mudflow victims make uneasy peace with Bakrie

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – A group of Lapindo mudflow victims broke their fast on Wednesday with the Bakrie family in Kahuripan Nirwana Village, the housing complex built for them by the Bakrie group.

One of the residents who accepted the cash and resettlement scheme offered by the Bakrie group said the invitation was extended as an expression of gratitude to the Bakrie family for their assistance.

"This breaking of the fast is our way to thank God and the Bakrie family for helping us so that our family can have a home now," said Choirul Huda, secretary of the Union of Lapindo Mudflow Victims (GKLL).

Choirul said he was better off now as he had a house in Jati Rogo, in the center of Sidoarjo, unlike last year when he and his family lived in a rented house. In addition, he said he also had money in the bank as Lapindo had paid him Rp 15 million ($1,500) as part of the compensation for his damaged house, plus Rp 10 million for his land.

Choirul said he has no problem with the damages being paid in installments. "We actually wanted [the damages] paid in cash in advance. But the Bakrie group's financial situation does not allow that at the moment. We have to understand that," he said.

Choirul said he and his associates were not afraid to be branded traitors for inviting the Bakrie family for the breaking of the fast. He said that reporting on the Lapindo mud victims had been far from balanced, giving the impression that all mud victims were suffering.

"In reality, not all of them are miserable. Some of them feel lucky after the transaction, because their property was bought at prices higher than the market value," he claimed.

PT Lapindo Brantas, a company that is part of the Bakrie Group controlled by the family of Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, has been blamed for the mudflow in Sidoarjo that has displaced thousands of residents. The government has ordered the company to compensate victims, but payment has been slow.

Other residents disagreed with Choirul, fearing his move might undermine other mudflow victims' ongoing fight for their rights.

"What's their motive for saying thanks? Don't thank them yet, [not] until all Bakrie's commitments to pay damages are realized," said Pitanto, a mudflow victim from Renokenongo village.

Earthquake victims use discarded election banners for shelter

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Nivell Rayda, Garut (West Java) – With the election season over, victims of the Indonesian earthquake in West Java are finding new ways to utilize obsolete campaign banners, using them to build tents and protect their homes.

Residents in Garut's Cisompet subdistrict salvaged the banners soon after the election was over and used them to cover their barns or protect rice grain. But after last week's 7.3 magnitude earthquake, residents starting using the discarded banners to build tents.

Still barely noticed by the local media and donors, the subdistrict has almost 10,000 quake refugees. In the village of Sukanagara alone, more than 500 homes were badly damaged some were completely destroyed, leaving close to 2,000 people homeless.

With very little assistance from the provincial government, residents are starting to experience fevers and diarrhea.

"The local government only visited us once last Wednesday," village chief Wawan Setiawan told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday. "Since then we have only received 25 kilograms of poor quality rice, which we had to distribute to all 2,000 victims."

Wawan is a victim in his own right, with his home and the village office among those buildings heavily damaged by the quake. Since the disaster, he has been living with the other victims and has had to undertake his administration work in the tents.

The quake also destroyed the local health clinic. Nandang, a local doctor, haas had to examine patients in a tent with minimal health equipment.

"Everything got destroyed. Except for this and some other equipment," he said, showing his stethoscope and blood pressure monitoring device.

The village, however, has received some much needed relief from non-government groups, such the Al-Azhar Foundation, which donated tents, and Save the Children, a charity group who have tried to support the nutrition of child victims.

"We found the village by chance, because we want to help those not already aided by other organizations," said Al-Azhar coordinator Agus Nafi. "We got here a day after the quake and we have stayed here since."

A week since the quake jolted and devastated the region, volunteers in Sukanagara village have started the much needed process of emotional repair for the victims, particularly children.

"These children are traumatized and if not treated properly, this might result in acute depression or phobias later in life," said Iman Surahman of Dompet Dhuafa, a charity group.

"We have to uplift them using games and storytelling, and at the same time discourage them from believing the misconception that quakes are the wrath of God or the work of mystical and evil creatures."

Kalimantan forest fires close schools and airport

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Ronna Nirmala – Thick haze from forest fires has forced the closure of schools and the main airport in Indonesia's Central Kalimantan, officials said on Tuesday.

The thick haze forced authorities to shut down all school activities, with Governor Agustin Teras Narang issuing the order for the closure until air quality improves, Antara news agency said.

"This morning the governor ordered schools closed in response to the poor air quality, which is endangering our health," Central Kalimantan spokesman Kardinal Tarung said.

Kardinal could not be immediately reached for confirmation and his staff declined comment.

The spokesman said the order was particularly aimed at the greater Palangkaraya area, which had been blanketed in thick smog for the past three days. However, he added that almost every district in Central Kalimantan was experiencing severe haze problems.

School opening hours in the Palangkaraya area have been pushed back since mid-August because the haze is at its worst in the morning.

"Students are calling in sick every day, so classes are largely ineffective anyway, especially since the school hours have been reduced as well," Riri, a teacher at state-run elementary school SD Negeri Menteng, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Central Kalimantan's main airport, Tjilik Riwut in Palangkaraya, was also forced to shut down on Tuesday because of low visibility.

"Haze has reduced visibility on the runway, rendering flights impossible," said airport chief Jamaluddin Hasibuan.

Hasibuan said the airport had stopped issuing flight permits and declared the airport closed after visibility remained at 400 meters – falling as low as 50 meters in the morning – far below the minimum aviation standard of 1,600 meters.

The closure led to the cancellation of 14 domestic and regional flights, leaving hundreds of outbound passengers stranded.

A Batavia Air passenger, Yanto, who was going to Surabaya, said he had waited a whole day before getting confirmation that his flight had been canceled.

The head of Tjilik Riwut's weather bureau, Imam Mashudi, said he doubted the situation would improve quickly.

"The smog is thickening again because the burning of land [for plantations] continues to go on unabated around Palangkaraya," Imam said. "To make matters worse, the wind speed has been low, at only two knots [3.8 kph]."

Mashudi also said that fires in peat seams, although appearing extinguished on the surface, continued to simmer underground, spreading the fire wherever the seams pass.

Masnellyarti Hilman, the deputy of Nature Conservation Enhancement and Environmental Degradation Control, said the government had already taken steps to apprehend those behind the fires.

"Today I received a report that the police had arrested 18 suspects," Masnellyarti said. "However, we must be careful not to generalize all the fires as man-made, because they can also start naturally in peatland."

Most fires have so far been blamed on land clearing, both by small-scale farmers and plantation companies, to ready the land for the new planting season.

Although land clearance by burning has been banned, enforcement in the field remains weak due to financial and manpower constraints.

Corruption among the police and local administrations has also been blamed for the continuing practice.

Indonesia approves tougher law against polluters

Reuters - September 8, 2009

Sunanda Creagh – Indonesia's parliament passed a new environment bill on Tuesday giving the Environment Ministry the power to revoke polluters' business licenses, which environmentalists said could lead to more effective enforcement.

Indonesia's rapid economic growth has been accompanied by widespread pollution of its waterways, soil and air, as well as the destruction of its forests and wildlife, prompting criticism from green groups and the World Bank.

The new law, a draft of which was seen by Reuters, will require companies whose operations impact the environment to obtain an environmental license and undergo an environmental assessment process before starting operations.

If the terms of the environmental assessment process are breached, the Environment Ministry can revoke their permit to operate and issue fines. Anyone who deliberately pollutes the environment could face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to 10 billion rupiah ($1 million).

"This will affect basically all industries or companies whose activities create an impact on the environment, including manufacturing, construction, mining, pulp factories and others," said Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace's country representative for Indonesia.

"Before, for example, if a company pollutes, the Environment Ministry could only give a recommendation and there was no enforcement in terms of the minister stopping the operation because their operation license was held by another department," she said. "Now it's integrated, so if a company violates the environment, then their operation can be stopped."

The new law also stipulates sanctions for local and central government officials who issue permits without following the proper procedures. (Editing by Sara Webb and Sugita Katyal)

Environment bill passed by Indonesian house

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Ten factions in the House of Representatives united to pass the Environmental Protection and Management Bill on Tuesday, stating that the new law would give much stronger authority to the State Ministry of Environment and impose stricter sanctions.

The new bill will replace the 1997 Environmental Management Law. The passage of the new bill has been stalled for almost eight years.

Albert Yaputra, a spokesman from the Democratic Party, said there had been multiple intepretations of the previous law that had lead to the destruction of natural environments.

"There has been too much bureaucracy, resulting in very weak law enforcement and, most of the time, unfinished law enforcement," Albert said, adding that the stricter sanctions in the bill could resolve these problems.

Ben Vincent Djeharu, spokesman from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the bill comprehensively included all aspects needed to protect the environment.

"It has also included a much tighter legal framework, allowing more room for awareness for all decision makers to protect the environment," Ben said.

"We also support the granting of more authority for the State Ministry of Environment to manage and coordinate in order to protect the environment."

Berry Nahdian Furqon, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said on Monday that the new bill marked a significant change in the government's efforts to protect the environment.

"However, this will not automatically change everything," Berry said. "The next challenge is how to synchronize the new bill with other regulations."

Health & education

House urged to delay health bill endorsement

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Critics have urged the House of Representatives to delay the endorsement of the health bill, now dragging on for nine years, saying it was an effort to shift the government's responsibility to provide public healthcare services onto the people themselves.

A discussion held Sunday also highlighted the failure of the bill's latest draft to guarantee healthcare services for the poor and workers' rights to financial support from their employers in work-related health problems.

Ratna Kusumaningsih, from Indonesia Corruption Watch's (ICW) public services monitoring division, said at the discussion that the health bill only emphasized the people's need to take care of themselves, but not the government's responsibility to provide affordable quality healthcare services.

"This is a step back from the current health law (the 1992 Law on Health), which states that the government is responsible for providing healthcare services to its citizens," she said.

"When they say (in the latest health bill draft) that people are obliged to take care of their health, what's the definition and limitation of 'obliged'? Do the government and the House intend to liberalize the healthcare sector?"

ICW researcher Febri Hendri questioned the objective of Article 6(1) of the bill, which states, "Every person is obliged to take part in a social health insurance program."

"This sounds like an attempt to undermine the 2004 Law on the National Social Security System, which rules on the health insurance scheme for the poor, now called Jamkesmas," Febri said.

Ari Sunarijati, from the Reformed Federation of Workers' Unions Across Indonesia, said the bill, with its articles on health efforts in the workplace, only mentioned that "workplace health efforts are meant to enable workers to live healthily and free of health disorders and adverse impacts from work".

Ari said the term "enable" was barely enough to protect workers from work-related health problems, because it made protecting workers from work-related ailments optional rather than compulsory for employers.

Another article in the bill deemed contentious rules on abortion, which requires an emergency status to allow a pregnant woman to undergo an abortion, and threatens violators with a maximum 15 years in jail and fines of up to Rp 10 billion (US$1 million).

Ratna also questioned Article 78 of the bill, which forbids people having communicable disease from infecting others.

"It's not clear; if one has a flu, for instance, and then coughs or sneezes and unintentionally infects others around, is one then subject to the maximum five years in jail and Rp 100 million in fines?" she asked.

Ratna also expressed suspicion that the deliberation of the bill, the first draft of which was submitted in 2000, had been closed to the public and sped up due to "certain groups' interests".

"We recommend the House delay the passing of the bill into law, and pay more attention to the contentious articles we've highlighted," she said, adding the House was planning to endorse the bill by Tuesday.

Larger education spending increases corruption: ICW

Jakarta Post - September 14, 2009

On Friday, the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) reported 142 graft cases, which allegedly took place at various institutions within the national education sector between 2004 and 2008, to the KPK for further monitoring and investigation.

"We want the [Corruption Eradication Commission] to monitor graft cases being tried at district courts and the legal processing of many cases that has remained stagnant, and also to investigate many cases in regions that have gained little attention from the general public," ICW researcher Febri Hendri said after handing over a report on the 142 cases to the commission.

The cases were worth a total of Rp 243 billion and implicated 287 individuals, mostly public officials and school principals, Febri said. He cited numerous forms of graft in the sector such as the imposition of illegal fees, school construction projects markups, bribes to teachers and school principals.

Febri also urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and students' parents to play more active roles in fighting increasing corruption in the education sector, in line with the recent increases to education spending.

Education is a large and important sector that the general public should monitor, he said, adding that the education sector had become a fertile ground for corruption since it was allocated a larger budget by the state government.

"Power abuses have been rampant not only at the National Education Ministry but also in provincial and regency/municipal administrations under regional autonomy," Febri said.

Numerous power abuses and graft cases had remained unexposed because law enforcers and relevant stake holders had not paid enough attention to the sector, Febri said.

Separately Lody Paat, the coordinator of the Education Coalition, said the KPK could help reduce corruption by putting corruptors behind bars.

However, only transparent processes in designing budgets and keeping accounts open to inspections by students' parents could really prevent power abuses and red tape in the sector, Lody said.

"I believe parents, teachers, principals, and other stakeholders must make budget plans together for schools and supervise implementation. They should be able to take part in educational budget planning from national to local levels," he said.

The coalition had carried out several pilot projects in Garut and Tangerang to teach parents how to make and scrutinize schools' budgets and accounts, Lody said.

Since 2003, the National Education Ministry has proclaimed school-based management that theoretically allows anyone to acquire schools' budget reports, Febri said. "But, if you try to get these reports, many schools will not hand over this information," he said.

Under school-based management, school committees, which include students' parents and school staff, should plan for and scrutinize schools' budget spending.

However, in most cases committees had not managed their education budgets effectively since most parents did not know how to scrutinize schools' budget reports, said Jumono from the Students' Parents Alliance for Education. (mrs)

Indonesia watchdog calls on house to postpone health bill

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Dessy Sagita – Indonesia Corruption Watch has demanded the House of Representatives delay passing the controversial health bill, claiming the legislation remains flawed and had failed to include public participation during deliberations.

"We were totally left out, never involved in any discussions and we didn't have access to review the bill," ICW researcher Ratna Kusumaningsih told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

The bill, which has been debated since 2001, was expected to be endorsed either today or Tuesday as lawmakers – most of whom have been voted out of office – continued to rush through contentious legislation before their terms expire.

Ratna said that bill repeatedly referred to health as a public obligation, which indicated lawmakers were attempting to transfer ownership of health care from the government to the public.

"Health is supposed to be a basic human right, not an obligation – it is the government's responsibility to take care of its people," she said.

Ratna was particularly critical about one article in the bill that stipulated every citizen had to take out health insurance.

"Millions of Indonesians cannot even afford food, how they are going to pay for the insurance scheme, it should be paid by the country," she said. "Moreover, the bill is prone to multiple interpretations that can lead to problems."

Because of the bill's vague wording on the issue of who was ultimately responsible for the health insurance, Ratna said that it needed to be amended to clearly indicate it was the government's responsibility.

She said that if the bill was not postponed, the ICW would lodge a judicial review in the Supreme Court.

Members of the House of Representatives Commission IX for population and health have previously been criticized for their repeated failures to increase transparency in debating the bill and were accused of violating a 2004 law that stipulated the public had to be involved in the process of formulating laws.

The current health commissioners have been working on the revision of a 1992 law regarding the health sector for the past four years. The old law is considered outdated and does not cover key issues such as health financing and reproductive health.

The new bill has come under fire though from critics who say it inappropriately imposes religious values on public health issues and fails to guarantee health security for all citizens.

Max Sopacua, who is on Commission IX, denied that the House had not taken public opinion into consideration when formulating the bill. The Democratic Party lawmaker said that their deliberations had involved numerous elements from society, including the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) and the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI).

"It took eight years to finally endorse this bill, so many institutions, organizations and stakeholders have been involved in making the decision," Sopacua said.

"We never kept it a secret. We were open to all opinions, but of course we could not accommodate input from every party – we had to prioritize them according to public importance."

Sopacua said the bill was ready to be endorsed and there was no need for it to be reviewed first.

Indonesia education compromised by corruption, ICW says

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2009

Anita Rachman – Corruption within the well-funded education system is a major factor in the failure of the Ministry of National Education to meet its policy goals, including reducing the number of children dropping out of school and improving facilities and standards, a leading anticorruption watchdog said on Wednesday.

Ade Irawan, public service monitoring coordinator with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said that the failure was particularly telling given the central government had increased the ministry's budget, making it the best-funded government department.

"Corruption is one of the main factors that has caused the ministry to fail to reach its target – providing good-quality education for Indonesian students," Ade said. "Why, despite their bigger budget share, do we still see a high number of dropouts and classrooms continuing to collapse?"

Corruption in the ministry's budget management was evident from Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) audit results, particularly in school operation aid (BOS) and the special allocation fund (DAK) – both designed to guarantee free schooling for all.

The BPK audit revealed that in 2007, six out of 10 schools in a sample of 3,237 schools misused these funds, with an average of Rp 13.7 million in misused funds per school, or a total of Rp 28 billion ($2.8 million).

ICW data also showed that from 2004-2009, authorities have investigated 142 education corruption cases, which caused total losses of Rp 243.3 billion. From those cases, 287 suspects were been named, most of them are officials at the local level.

West Java was named as the most corrupt province in the education sector with 21 cases from the same period, followed by Central Java and North Sumatra.

"It's sad, that corruption in education are only seen as trivial [by the authorities]. Sad because it has prevented our youth, especially those from low-income families, from gaining an education," Ade said.

"It seems that increases in the education budget has also brought about an increase in corruption," he said.

Febri Hendri, member of the public service monitoring team, stated that in 2004-08, over 4.3 million students dropped out from elementary and junior high schools. He said that the government had only managed to reduce the number of dropouts by 5 percent during this period.

"And number of unqualified teachers is only being reduced by 10 percent per year," Febri said. ICW urged the president to quickly evaluate the department's budget management.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is also expected to prioritize investigations of corruption in the Ministry of National Education.

The commission has also urged the public to become actively involved in the education department's budget management at the school level in order to encourage schools and other education institutions to be transparent and accountable.

Muhadjir, the ministry's spokesman, said that the ministry "is not sleeping. "The ministry has managed its funds according to legal regulations," he said.

He added that all the ministry's achievements have been published in a book, where people can read and check them.

Corruption & graft

Lawyers rally around Corruption Eradication Commission

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Nivell Rayda – Watchdog groups and lawyers on Monday criticized the recent police summons of several active members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), saying the move amounted to direct interference in the independent body.

At least 20 lawyers went to the body's headquarters in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta to show support for the commission, also known as the KPK, in response to last week's police questioning of four deputy chairmen over abuse of power allegations.

Critics have slammed the police and questioned the motive for the probe, which appears to have shifted several times over the past few months.

Police initially suspected that the deputies had received bribes from a fugitive businessman, but lack of evidence caused them change the allegations to misuse of power, including the KPK's authority to issue travel bans.

Bambang Widjojanto, the lawyers' representative, told reporters that they would offer legal assistance to KPK officials should the police try to declare them suspects in the case.

"This is criminalizing KPK authorities and their effort to eradicate corruption," he said. "Police have no right to question KPK authorities. Police are clearly trying to pin down the KPK."

A separate group of lawyers also showed their support for the KPK, accusing the House of Representatives of stalling the deliberation of the Anti-Corruption Court bill and questioning calls from several politicians to strip the commission of its power to prosecute.

"We see that the current bill strays far from what the public wanted. People want a clean government, and the KPK is the only institution that can deliver that," said Saur Siagian, a representative of the second group of lawyers. "We will challenge any law that strips the KPK of its powers and sue the House for issuing it."

Wearing formal lawyers' robes, the second group rallied in front of the House and the Constitutional Court before ending their demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace.

Suyanto Londang, a legal expert from Krisna Dwipayana University in Jakarta, said the KPK was meant to have the power to investigate as well as prosecute.

"The KPK was born because the police and the prosecutor's office are corrupt themselves. There is little evidence that things have changed since," he said. "The KPK must be draconian if we ever want to eradicate the rampant practice of corruption in the country."

Speaking at a discussion at the National Legal Aid Foundation, Emerson Yuntho, deputy chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said there was an ongoing systematic effort to undermine the KPK by both the House and police, two of the most corrupt institutions in the country according to a recent study by Transparency International Indonesia.

"Corrupt officials have a lot to gain from the destruction of the KPK," Emerson said. "If the government is serious about fighting corruption, they should leave the KPK alone."

AG supports plan to reduce anti-corruption body's authority

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – Attorney General Hendarman Supandji is backing a House of Representatives plan to remove the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)'s prosecutorial powers.

"I fully support the plan. The task of prosecuting should become the sole authority of the prosecutor's office," Hendarman told reporters on Friday.

"According to the law (on public prosecution), prosecutors are members of a single entity and the top leadership of prosecution lies in the hands of the attorney general," said Hendarman.

A working committee in the House of Representatives said recently it was seeking to limit the KPK's authority to investigate and arrest corruption suspects. The committee, which is working on the controversial anti-corruption law, said that allowing the KPK to prosecute leads to overlapping authorities among law enforcement agencies.

According to the 2002 law on the KPK, the commission can initiate investigations and bring cases to the Anti-Corruption Court.

Since the commission recruits state prosecutors from the AGO for limited periods to carry out prosecutions, Hendarman said the move would not impede the KPK's work. "Remember that the prosecutors who work for the KPK also belong to the AGO," Hendarman said.

Non-governmental groups have criticized the committee's plan as weakening the anti-graft effort, however, arguing that a powerful body with sweeping powers is necessary to fight the country's ingrained corruption.

"We are wondering if the AGO is behind the ongoing attempt at the House to reduce the KPK's authority," Emerson Yuntho from Indonesia Corruption Watch said recently.

The two organizations have sometimes been at odds in recent years. In March 2008 the KPK arrested a senior AGO official in a bribery scandal that caused two of Hendarman's deputies to be demoted.

In May, the AGO took the unusual step of announcing that then-KPK chairman Antasari Azhar was a suspect In a murder case before the police did.

Analysts say the murder case, a current police investigation into alleged bribery at the KPK and the House deliberation of the anti-corruption bill have put the KPK in its must vulnerable position since its estab lishment in 2002.

Watchdogs vow to foil endorsement of Corruption Court bill

Jakarta Post - September 10, 2009

Jakarta – Anti-graft activists have vowed to fight to prevent the House of Representatives from passing the Corruption Court bill, claiming lawmakers have altered the bill in an attempt to undermine efforts to eradicate corruption.

"We are going to mobilize everyone we can to reject the passage of the bill. If the bill is endorsed, we will pursue all possible legal avenues to revise it," secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia (TII) Teten Masduki said Thursday.

Zainal Arifin Muchtar from Gadjah Mada University's Center for Anti-corruption Studies (Pukat) joined the chorus of opposition to the bill. "The last alternative is to ask the president to issue a regulation-in-lieu of law to prevent the bill from being passed," Zainal said.

Corruption watchdogs were previously urging the House to immediately pass the bill, with the knowledge that if it doesn't pass it before the end of their term this month the draft law process will have to start again from scratch.

But in an about-face, the antigraft community is now pushing for the suspension of the bill, which since it has been watered down would now actually weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the whole legal process against graft.

Most recently, the antigraft activists accused the House of trying to weaken the KPK's authority by revoking its right to prosecute by giving it back to the Attorney General's Office.

A lawmaker involved in the deliberation of the bill told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday the House also planned to strip the KPK off its authority to wire-tap suspects. The KPK has implicated a number of lawmakers in graft cases this year thanks in part to wire-tapping.

Zainal said the lawmakers were now showing their true colors and were either ignorant of or simply didn't care about the severity of corruption in the country.

"Corruption has become an extraordinary disease and the country is suffering, and to eradicate it, we need extraordinary instruments and measures," he said. "That is why we need the KPK to keep its authority, including wire-tapping and prosecuting."

A member of the House's committee deliberating the bill, Dewi Asmara of the Golkar Party, dismissed speculation that the lawmakers were trying to kill the KPK. She said all options remained on the table. (hdt)

War on terror

Indonesia's tough anti-terror plan under fire

Agence France Presse - September 8, 2009

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – A push by Indonesia to dramatically toughen its approach to fighting Islamist militants has come under fire as a threat to human rights that could ultimately reverse gains in tackling extremists.

The security ministry has asked lawmakers for sweeping amendments to strengthen the hand of the state under the country's 2002 anti-terror law, rushed into effect after bombings in Bali that year that killed 202 people.

The proposed amendments would allow detention of anyone believed to be involved in terrorism for at least 30 days – up from a current seven – without declaring them a suspect, anti-terror chief Ansyaad Mbai told AFP.

The changes would also boost from 120 days to two years the time a suspect can be held before they see the inside of a courtroom and encompass bans on glorifying or inciting terrorism, as well as outlawing terrorist recruitment.

"Terrorism (relies on) networks. It is an extraordinary crime, it needs extraordinary measures," Mbai said. "Why are all countries practising very tough laws while our laws are very soft?"

The move comes in the aftermath of July 17 double suicide bombings at Jakarta's luxury JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels that killed seven people.

The attacks, the first in nearly four years, were blamed on fugitive Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammed Top, who heads a violent splinter faction of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) movement and who has been accused of a slew of bombings.

Noordin is believed to have narrowly escaped dramatic police raids that killed three of his acolytes last month and analysts say he has proved remarkably resilient at recruiting and planning attacks while on the run.

Anti-terror chief Mbai said the move to give authorities more clout will bring Indonesia into line with many Western nations that have tough anti-terror laws that allow for preventative detention.

But some terror experts here say it will backfire. Since 2002, Indonesia has won plaudits for a two-track strategy that has seen hundreds of militants accused of violent attacks put on trial while extremists from JI and other groups have been left to preach and recruit undisturbed – no matter how violent the message – as long as they do not take up arms.

But a more draconian turn could radicalise more would-be militants while driving extremists underground, out of the reach of intelligence agencies, International Crisis Group (ICG) Southeast Asia director Jim Della Giacoma said.

"By creating a larger group of sympathisers you could be creating larger pools from which to draw radicals and creating larger pools in which radicals could hide," he said. "These are very hard networks to crack. They are very small in some ways, they all went to school together and all know each other."

Rights groups are alarmed by the move to tighten the law and also say they are concerned by proposals to expand the anti-terror role of the military, blamed for widespread abuse dating back to the New Order regime of former dictator Suharto.

"When Indonesia had anti-subversive laws in the New Order era, the detention period was only 100 days. This is two years," said National Commission on Human Rights head Ifdhal Kasim.

"We're worried that over two years, detainees can be tortured, they won't be able to communicate with their families... this clearly isn't in line with the rule of law and human rights. This proposal is over the top."

Kasim also said the law, while officially restricted to terrorism, could blur into crackdowns on separatists in regions such as Aceh and Papua.

Military and police in those areas have been implicated in a long list of rights abuses and laws already on the books see activists locked up for between 20 years and life for acts as minor as unveiling a pro-independence flag.

"Using the anti-terror law against separatist groups isn't allowed, but we're concerned in practice it could happen," Kasim said.

Islam/religion

Viewers seek entertainment, not religion, during Ramadan

Jakarta Globe - September 11, 2009

Ismira Lutfia – Though the month of Ramadan is supposed to be a time of spiritual reflection, TV ratings show that most people are tuning in to reality shows as soon as they break their fasts.

The most watched entertainment program during the fast breaking time is Indosiar's dating show "Take Me Out Indonesia," according to a survey of audiences aged over five years old in 10 cities across the country, conducted from Aug. 22 to Sep. 7 by AGB Nielsen Media Research.

"Take Me Out Indonesia" has a 30.6 percent audience share, and is followed by Trans TV's reality show "Termehek-mehek" ("Overwhelmed"), which attracted 21.9 percent of viewers.

"Reality shows and drama series are still the most watched programs during the fast breaking time despite the increased airtime for religious shows," Hellen Katherina, a director at the television rating agency, said on Thursday. "Even though this is Ramadan... viewers still prefer to watch entertainment shows," she added.

These entertainment shows are also a hit during the wee hours of the morning, when Muslims wake up to take their pre-dawn meals between 3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

Muhammad Izzul Muslimin, a member of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission, said he was advised by a television ratings agency that audiences preferred entertainment programs during the predawn meal because they were more suitable for people fighting off sleepiness.

"That's why the ratings for such programs are high," Izzul said last week, adding it was understandable that broadcasters would prefer to air the popular entertainment shows rather than religious shows during the early hours.

Data from Nielsen Media confirmed that TV stations were airing more of these shows during this time slot.

"There is a larger portion of entertainment shows during the pre- dawn meal time," said Andini Wijendaru, a spokesperson from AGB Nielsen Media Research, adding that the time allocated for entertainment programs increased from 24 to 27 percent.

The preference for entertainment shows prevails despite the fact that religious programs are also enjoying more airtime.

"There's a three percentage point increase in airtime for religious shows from 3 percent to 6 percent of a day's broadcasting," Andini said.

Among religious shows, the programs that scooped the highest ratings were Trans TV's comedy series "Saatnya Kita Sahur" ("Time for Our Pre-dawn Meal") which has nearly 1.7 million viewers. In second place was "Mukjizat Shodaqoh" ("The Miracle of Charity"), which tells stories about miracles that have happened to philanthropists and broadcasts testimonies from people who regularly give alms. It managed to draw over 1.6 million viewers.

Andini said the average total hours of television viewing per person per day increased during Ramadan from 2 hours 52 minutes, to 3 hours 30 minutes, with the pre-dawn meal and fast-breaking times the two main times drawing more viewers.

"Most housewives watched television during the pre-dawn meal time, while students make up the most viewers during the fast-breaking time," Andini said.

He added that the majority of viewers for all airtime segments were people whose monthly spending power was Rp 1.8 million ($181) and below.

Elections/political parties

Court again declines to let independents to run for president

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The Constitutional Court on Monday rejected for the third time a demand to change the Election Law to allow independent presidential candidates to run.

The court said the applicant's demand to overturn some articles in the 2003 election law was unconstitutional.

Sri Sudarjo, chairman of the National Council Independent Committee for People's Governance, lodged a judicial review after the court had already twice rejected the idea of independent candidates.

The court also rejected a demand for a judicial review filed by eight applicants in October 2004. Earlier this year, the court rejected a similar demand, this time on the 2008 election law, filed by Fadjroel Rachman, a political activist who announced his independent candidacy.

The 2008 presidential election law states that presidential and vice presidential candidates should be nominated by a political party or a coalition of political parties that hold 20 percent of House seats or receive 25 percent of the votes in the legislative elections.

Sri Sudarjo claimed the particular articles limited an applicant's constitutional right to nominate himself as a presidential candidate. "There is a process [mandated] in the Constitution that requires [candidates] to be nominated by a political party or coalition of political parties," said Achmad Sodiki, one of the judges.

Achmad also said the original intent of the Constitution's framers was clear enough, that candidates should be nominated by a political party or coalition of parties, reflecting a political system with a communal rather than individual base.

The court also emphasized that the minimum 20 percent of seats or 25 percent of votes requirement was to show that the political parties were strongly supported by voters.

Achmad also said that although people may believe a law is wrong, the Constitutional Court could not just strike it down.

"What is seen as being bad is not necessarily unconstitutional," he said. "Unless the legal policy is clearly against morality and rationality or is intolerably injust."

Outside the court Sri Sudarjo said, "This kind of ruling is based on conspiracy with no clear consideration. I believe that the court is just afraid."

Tommy Suharto says he's ready to bankroll Golkar for next 5 years

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Kinanti Pinta Karana – Tommy Suharto, the son of former President Suharto, denied in a television interview on Monday that his leadership push for the Golkar Party was a way for his family to get back in the political game. "I'm not a delegate from Cendana [Suharto's family]," Tommy said in an interview broadcast on RCTI.

Suharto's youngest son announced last week that he would officially run as a candidate for Golkar's top post, which is also coveted by heavyweights such as party patron Surya Paloh and Aburizal Bakrie, the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare.

During the interview, Tommy said that he was well aware of the party's view that anyone who wishes to become chairman must be "well nourished," or wealthy.

"I won't say how much [money], but if Golkar does need a building with dozens of floors, I will be prepared," he said, commenting on Bakrie's promise to build a large party headquarters and set up an eternal fund.

Tommy said that he is ready to finance Golkar for the next five years.

"Since the reformation era, Golkar went downhill in the 2004 and 2009 elections. I am worried if nothing is done to improve the party, we might not even reach the electoral treshold at the next election," he said.

Tommy's surprising and sudden comeback to the Indonesian political arena started two weeks ago when he first mentioned his wish to be Golkar chairman. Experts predicted that he was merely "testing the waters" for his oldest sister Sri Hardiyanti Rukmana. However, she denied having any political aspirations.

Tommy promised that if he is elected, he will hold a convention three years before the next presidential election so that the public will know the party's candidate in advance. However, he stated that he had no intention of being a minister or a president.

"I'd rather be in the legislature. I think the core of politics is in the legislature, not with the executives," he added.

Tommy has a controversial past, including a conviction for ordering the July 2001 murder of Supreme Court Justice Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who convicted him of fraud in 2000.

The fraud conviction was later overturned and though Tommy was convicted of murder in 2002, he was released after serving just four years.

Tommy will be facing a tough competition from Paloh and Bakrie, as well as top legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan and young executive Yuddy Chrisnandi, who are also vying for the party's top post. The chairmanship will be decided at Golkar's national congress to be held from Oct. 4-7 in Pekanbaru, Riau.

Golkar should aim at being a 'friend' to the people

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The Golkar Party should aim at being a "friend" to the people through its programs if it wishes to regain supremacy in the country's political arena, aspiring party leaders and Golkar members say.

Chairman candidate and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, Aburizal Bakrie, said the main challenges facing the party were not issues of coalescing with the government.

"The toughest problem is how to turn Golkar into a 'favorite' party for the people," Aburizal's spokesman, Lalu Mara Satriawangsa, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Lalu said that if Abdurizal was elected, he would set up a think-thank tasked with analyzing government policies and international affairs.

"If the government makes the right decision, Golkar will support it. Aburizal will be in the front criticizing any policy however that is not friendly to the people," he said.

Aburizal, a businessman who has promised to donate Rp 1 trillion (US$100 million) in a perpetual fund for the party, has promoted four key points – known locally as Catur Sukses – in his pledge for developing Golkar in the next five years.

"Aburizal will ensure successful consolidation, recruitment, democracy and general elections in 2014," Lalu said.

Golkar will hold its national congress in October to elect a new chairman to replace Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who was defeated in the July presidential election.

Meanwhile, young chairman candidates Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra and lawmaker Yuddy Chrisnandi said if Golkar wanted to bring back the "glory days" of the party under the New Order era, it would have to run independently.

"Golkar will not coalesce with the government," Tommy, the youngest son of the late former president Soeharto, said Thursday as he officially declared his bid for the leadership position. Tommy promised to promote a free schooling system to strengthen national education levels.

Yuddy, a former spokesman for Kalla's presidential campaign team, said if elected he would lead the party to victory in the legislative and presidential elections in 2014.

Commenting on Tommy's candidacy, Yuddy said he would remain defiant in the face of candidates with more financial strength.

"I have the least financial power compared to them, and we all know that financial power is a major factor in the Golkar's chairmanship race," Yuddy said Friday at the House of Representatives. "However, I believe that compared to them, my idealism and vision puts me in with the best chance."

Yuddy said the fact Tommy was being considered as a candidate despite not having met several key requirements for the race showed internal regulations were too easily being bent. "So, don't be surprised if we see more and more tycoons joining Golkar's chairmanship race in the future," he said.

Golkar senior member Poempida Hidayatulloh said none of the candidates had "sharp" programs that would make Golkar any better in the future. "Their agendas are still too shallow," he told the Post.

Another member, Harry Azar, said the next Golkar chairman should be able to rebuild public trust through its programs. "Otherwise, people will leave the party. It is not a matter of coalescing or opposing the government." (hdt)

Former president's son to bid for Golkar top post

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Seeking a new role on the national political stage, the youngest son of the late former president Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, officially declared his bid for the post of Golkar Party chief on Tuesday.

It is also his first appearance in front of the Golkar Party, which helped his father rule the country for 32 years, after serving his jail sentence in 2006 over the murder of a Supreme Court judge.

Tommy, a greenhorn when it comes to politics, conveyed his key agenda in a rare press conference, saying that if he was elected Golkar chairman, he would promote a free education system to help perk up the country's knowledge capital.

Calling his program "Trikarya", Tommy also vowed to bring back the "glory days" of Golkar under the New Order era, and transform it into an independent and dynamic party after its three defeats in the 1999, 2004 and 2009 general elections.

Golkar has to be a political "vehicle" for the people to make their dreams come true in the years ahead, he said. "Golkar will not coalesce with the government," he told reporters, as quoted by Antara state news agency.

He said Golkar should promote a 12-year compulsory and free education system as well as improve the quality of public health services. "With a state budget of more than Rp 100 trillion, it is not difficult to create a free education system."

A number of regional chapter leaders including Taufik Gunawan from Sumedang and Ali Salampessy from Maluku Tengah attended the press conference.

Tommy held a series of meeting with regional chapter leaders including a few from West Java provinces on Monday.

Tommy will be facing a tough competition when running against Golkar chief patrons Surya Paloh and Aburizal Bakrie, top legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan and young executive Yuddy Chrisnandi for the post, which is to be contested during the party's national congress on Oct. 4-7 in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru.

Yuddy officially declared his bid on Monday after his offer to support Tommy's sister, Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, fell on deaf ears.

Aburizal, who is also the coordinating minister for the people's welfare, met with dozens of Golkar provincial chapter heads in Grand Mahakam Hotel in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The East Kalimantan provincial chapter leader, Mahyudin, admitted that 24 provincial chapter heads had promised to support Aburizal in the national congress.

Aburizal, who promised to donate Rp 1 trillion into a trust fund if elected, claimed he had secured the support of over 400 regional branches of the party.

Surya, owner of the Media Indonesia group, previously said he had won the support of 11 provincial chapters and more than 310 regency and municipal branches. He added that he wanted Golkar to be an opposition party in the coming five years, and vowed to have all party leaders actively involved in revitalizing Golkar so that it would perform well in the 2014 general elections.

Mustahid Astari, member of the patron board of SOKSI, an association affiliated with Golkar, said the party was in dire need of a strong leader with ideals as opposed to a leader seeking a coalition with the election-winning party.

Government/civil service

Indonesian democracy under threat: Experts

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Jakarta – Experts have warned that a parliament without an opposition party is a slippery slope toward an authoritarian government, without any credible force to criticize its policies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been trying to gain parliamentary support from all parties, especially the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), by tempting them with ministerial posts, Bonni Hargens, a political expert from the University of Indonesia, said on Wednesday.

But without an opposition, the government risks becoming too strong and acting like the New Order government, which was unwilling to hear the people's demands, Bonni said, when discussing prospects for the new government.

He criticized the President for not prioritizing the people's welfare in his first five-year term and feared the situation would deteriorate in his second mandate if no one was willing to question his decisions.

"I call for the PDI-P and Gerindra to do their best for our nation by becoming opposition parties," he said. "These parties should balance the government's power in the parliament. That would prove their sincerity by prioritizing the public interest over their aspirations to rule."

However, Bonni doubted the parties would take such a stance. Over the last five years, the PDI-P has positioned itself as an opposition party in the parliament.

However, the Democratic Party, established by Yudhoyono, recently supported Taufik Kiemas' candidacy – the husband of Megawati Soekarnoputri, patron of the Democratic Party – for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker post.

Analysts said the support from the President's party showed the PDI-P might reverse its stance and support the government.

Kasmir Tri Putra, a member of the Regional Representatives Council, said a big coalition of all parties in the parliament could also be harmful to the next Cabinet.

"In order to be successful in making laws to support his government, the President will try to gain the parties' support by establishing a Cabinet that will accommodate their interests," said Kasmir.

On the other hand, the parties' levels of support for the government will depend on their satisfaction with the Cabinet's composition, he said.

He added that gaining other parties' support would be essential for the government since the President's party, the Democratic Party, had only gained 20 percent of the House of Representative seats. To prevent Indonesia's democracy from becoming a government-parliament conspiracy, an opposition party was badly needed, said Kasmir.

Without an opposition force in parliament, the people can only voice their objections to the government from outside the ineffective parliament, he said.

However, Syarief Hasan, chairman of the Democratic Party faction in the House of Representatives, said that the experts' fears would not materialize.

"I appreciate the warnings they gave about Indonesia turning into an authoritarian state. But the President still wants a checks and balances system in the parliament," he said.

He added that the composition of the Cabinet was down to the President. The most important thing was for the President to chose credible candidates.

When asked about the President's priorities during his second term, Syarief said SBY would focus on improving the country's economic situation and maintain security.

The government also planned to decrease the national budget used for importing oil by improving the usage of renewable energy sources.

To improve the economic situation in regional areas, the government will allocate more funds toward infrastructure, and will also focus on raising agricultural production, he said. (mrs)

Facebook brings Surabaya government to its knees, prompting ban

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – Obsessive checking of inane status messages and chatting on Web sites like Facebook has brought Surabaya to a screeching halt.

At least that's what the city's municipal administration appears to believe, and in response it has blocked access to social networking sites Yahoo Messenger and Facebook to stem plummeting performance among civil servants working for the city.

"We have intentionally blocked these two sites since last week," said Chalid Buhari, the chief of Surabaya's Information and Communication Agency.

The heads of a number of city task forces had reported a drop-off in productivity among civil servants as a result of such sites. "The use of both sites was disturbing work performance," Buhari said.

In addition to distracting workers, the relentless use of the sites was also blamed for crowded bandwidth that caused the Internet connection in governmental offices to slow to a crawl.

"So many people were using Facebook and Friendster that Internet access in the municipal government became slower when employees simultaneously" logged on to the sites, Buhari said.

Buhari said limiting access to Yahoo Messenger and Facebook could revive key online city projects, including data transfer between the city's central office and subdistrict offices, a closed- circuit television connection with police and an electronic system for the city's offices.

"At first, I didn't believe reports from the task forces. But, after the ban was applied, the effect was immediately noticed," he said.

Before the ban, around 14,000 users could be found using the Internet simultaneously. Since the ban, the peak number of users has dropped to 4,000. "Apparently, it's quite effective," Buhari said.

But some city staff members were upset by the decision, and called the ban on social networking sites excessive and intrusive. "I'm disappointed. There was no performance decline," city employee Miftakhul Arif said.

Jakarta/urban life

Jakarta officials break own bylaws

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Nurfika Osman – An embarrassing new survey by a consumer advocacy group reveals that 74 percent of officials working for the city administration smoke in their offices, a clear breach of city own bylaws that prohibit lighting up in public places.

Tulus Abadi, from the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI), said the findings were disappointing because city officials were supposed set a good example for others.

"This is ironic as they should be role models for citizens in upholding the 2005 bylaw, which is aimed at reducing the number of people smoking in public, which disturbs and harms others," Abadi said.

He said the 2008 survey sampled 130 administration offices around Jakarta.

Violations of the bylaw carry a maximum fine of Rp 50 million ($5,000) and prison sentences of up to six months.

"Since the officials are violating the laws that they made, monitoring cannot be done simply by the officials," Abadi said. "It also needs supervision from the public."

He recommended provisions be added to the bylaw that would empower residents to demand those found smoking in public places to stop. Abadi said senior officials should not be exempt from the ban or efforts to shame violators. "Intensive monitoring is needed to fully implement the law," he said.

Imam Prasodjo, a sociologist from the University of Indonesia, said the public could be involved by forming pressure groups consisting of people from various occupations and levels of society, such as teachers, politicians or even celebrities, who could hand out deterrents.

Such sanctions, he said, could be as simple as cards issued to smokers stating: "You are violating the 2005 bylaw on air pollution control and you are harming the people around you."

"Basically, all we have to do is make them feel publicly ashamed of what they have done," Prasodjo said, adding that the government should get involved by helping to coordinate these kinds of efforts. "All of us have a role to play to make sure everyone can help 'butt out smokers,'?" he said.

"We can even create a Web site showing people who smoke in public places. Why not?"

The city enacted a bylaw on air pollution control four years ago that bans smoking in enclosed public places, including all trains, buses, vans, offices, restaurants and cafes.

Ridwan Panjaitan, head of the law enforcement unit at the Jakarta Environmental Board, said city officials were being monitored and asked by their unit chiefs not to smoke in their offices.

"We've always monitored them and asked them not to smoke while working in their offices," Panjaitan said. "We have been doing this since the first day we implemented the law and I think the number is decreasing every year."

In July this year, the YLKI surveyed 549 public mikrolets (minibuses), Patas express city buses and the smaller MetroMini and Kopaja buses in five municipalities and found that smoking had continued unabated in nearly 90 percent of the vehicles, despite the city bylaw.

'89 percent' of public vehicles violate smoking ban

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration's efforts to implement a smoking ban on public transportation since 2005 seems to have gone up in smoke, as a recent survey by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) reveals a high percentage of violations.

The survey, in early to mid-July, showed violations in 89 percent of 549 public buses and minivans in the city's five municipalities.

YLKI's coordinator Tulus Abadi said Thursday the survey involved 226 mikrolet (minivans), 206 Metromini and Kopaja minibuses and 117 regular buses. YLKI said during the survey, the vehicles were, on average, half occupied by passengers.

Interviewers got on the buses and held 10-minute interviews with passengers, he said. "We found 807 people smoking in 482 out of 549 public vehicles, or about 89 percent [of vehicles]."

He said violators were found in 86 percent of mikrolet, 87 percent of regular buses, 90 percent of Metrominis and 91 percent of Kopaja buses.

Out of the 807 violators caught smoking in vehicles, 348 were drivers, 320 passengers and 139 were drivers' assistants.

"Seventy six percent of the violators said they smoked inside public transportation vehicles despite the ban because they were addicted, while 24 percent said it was because there were no officials that would crack down on them," Tulus said, adding some violators were actually aware of the smoking ban.

The city administration began introducing smoke-free zones in 2005 to effect implementation of a gubernatorial regulation issued that year. Absolute smoke-free zones include public transportation, health-care buildings, schools, children's areas and places of worship.

The rules say people can still smoke in parts of public places and offices but only in designated areas.

Last year, YLKI and the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) held a similar survey targeting offices of the city administration and central government, and found that 45 percent of violators were civil servants.

He said YLKI chose public transportation as the target for this year's survey after finding out that 70 percent out of 1,000 respondents surveyed by the foundation last year complained about smokers on public transportation systems.

In 2006, Fakta surveyed 60 malls in the city and found violations in 50 percent of them.

Tulus said the survey results showed the smoking ban "requires stricter monitoring, not only from the city officials, but also from the public." "Therefore, the administration should facilitate the public to report if they find smokers in prohibited places," he said.

T.R, Panjaitan of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) said the organization and the Transportation Agency had once put "no-smoking" stickers in public transport vehicles, but the stickers disappeared just days later.

Former lepers struggle to survive since crackdown

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – The Tangerang municipality's crackdown on begging has made the intersection at Jl. TIM Taruna an unsafe place for former lepers to ask for alms this Ramadan.

Many former lepers have resorted to staying at home instead of begging at the popular intersection, fearing public order officers will catch them.

"I have no choice but to stay at home. The intersection is no longer a safe place for us to look for alms," Kasman, a 47-year- old former leper, told The Jakarta Post in a small hut behind the Sitanala Leprosy Hospital in the Neglasari district Tuesday.

About 25 recovered lepers bearing the scars of their past illness – including bleeding open sores, dry skin and amputated limbs – sit on the roadside every day in the direct sun, begging passing motorists for money.

While some former lepers can walk from vehicle to vehicle begging, others like Kasman, who lost his legs to the disease, are forced to remain in the one spot.

He tried begging at road intersections in Jakarta, but was caught by public order officers and sent to Kedoya Social Shelter, a facility belonging to the city's social agency in West Jakarta.

Even once lepers recover from their illness and are discharged from Sitanala, they are treated as social outcasts and cannot find jobs. "Who is willing to employ a disabled and disfigured person like me?" Kasman said.

Nurhayati, a 29-year-old former leper, lost her right leg to the disease. She said her family in Cirebon never once visited her during her treatment at the hospital between 1997 and 2001.

"This is my destiny and I have to bear it alone until I die. I was deeply saddened at being ditched by my family and so I will never return to them," she said.

Nurhayati used to bring home Rp 25,000 after spending eight hours at the intersection, often in terrible conditions. "Rain is the only thing we are afraid of as most former lepers are sensitive to cold weather," she said.

Around 5,000 former lepers and their families stay in a complex located behind Sitanala Hospital that has three community divisions.

Sudarman, the head of one of those divisions, said most lepers released from the hospital begged because the administration ignored them. "They are often treated like dogs, with the public order officers hunting us on streets."

Sitanala Hospital deputy director, Poppy Maryani, said the people did not really accept former lepers.

The hospital is currently treating nearly 50 lepers, 75 percent of whom are from poor families, meaning the health agency covers the bill. Sitanala Hospital admits an average of 900 lepers each year from Jakarta, Bogor, Bekasi, Karawang, Depok and Cirebon.

Many choose not to return to their hometowns as residents reject them, and stay at huts near the hospital instead.

Armed forces/defense

Indonesian military finishes review of equipment

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that it had wrapped up an audit that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered a few months ago following a string of deadly military accidents.

In a closed meeting, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and Military Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso detailed the audit in front of House of Representatives' Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs.

Speaking after the meeting, Djoko said some military equipment would have to be scuttled. He declined to disclose details, saying such information was confidential.

But a document provided by the Defense Ministry for legislators outlined a host of problems the military was facing in its maintenance programs, including a shortage of spare parts and minimal support facilities such as docks and workshops for repairs. The document also complained of an inadequate budget.

An array of such factors has forced the military to compromise the quality of replacement parts used in maintenance, including some aircraft, the document stated.

Djoko said Yudhoyono had ordered overall maintenance to be stepped up and stressed that the safety of military personnel would be the top concern.

"So the limited budget must be used for efficiently maintaining military weaponry, but only those often used by the military in its operations," Juwono said.

Both Juwono and Djoko said large military purchases would have to be delayed for at least five years.

Yudhoyono ordered the Defense Ministry to conduct an audit that began in June to look into the military's budget needs and to inspect all military equipment.

Nationalism & chauvinism

Indonesia's anti-Malaysia sentiment still boiling

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2009

Dessy Sagita – Despite calls from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for police action against anti-Malaysia demonstrators, another rally involving bamboo stick-wielding protesters took place on Sunday.

Detik.com reported that about 50 people from the Indonesian Contract Labor Association gathered at the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Jakarta before marching, to the chant of "destroy Malaysia," along Jalan Diponegoro to the scene of last week's controversial protest, where the People's Democracy Defense set up a roadblock to search for Malaysians.

"Malaysia has mistreated Indonesia and the government just doesn't seem to care," Neni, one of the protesters, was quoted as saying.

Though there was some disturbance to traffic, the demonstrators, wearing red and white headbands, did not actively "sweep" for Malaysians.

Effendi Choiri, an international relations expert, said active sweeps for Malaysians could have adverse consequences. "If you really want to do something, please go march down the street, but don't go overboard because it will cause reciprocal results for Indonesia," he said.

Effendi said chasing Malaysians from the country and banning its students from studying at universities here would only hurt Indonesia.

"There are millions of Indonesians living in Malaysia currently," he said. "What would happen to them if Malaysia decided to kick them out? They would lose their jobs and the students would not be able to finish their studies."

Effendi, however, said he understood people's reaction to the recent string of squabbles between the two countries, given their history of disputes. He said the underlying tensions between the countries had exploded to the surface because of the recent disputes.

"In a short time, we had to deal with the Ambalat issue, Manohara and the pendet dance. Suddenly, people were reminded of all the previous issues," he said. Effendi said the key to easing the tensions was more intensive people-to-people contacts.

Akhyar Rido, a 27-year-old lecturer who just finished his master's degree at University Kebangsaan Malaysia, said his friends in the neighboring country were aware of the tensions between the two sides.

"But they managed to remain calm and they still treated me very nicely, regardless of the dispute," he said, adding he never experienced any bad treatment while living in Malaysia. Rido did say, however, that some Malaysians looked down on Indonesians.

He also noted the "cyberwar" between Indonesian and Malaysian bloggers. "The Malaysian prime minister has been repeatedly asking Malaysians not to be provoked. I wish our government would do the same thing," he added.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the head of the youth wing of the United Malays National Organization, Malaysia's largest political party, was quoted by Malaysia-based Web site thestar.com as saying Indonesians should stop "testing the patience" of Malaysians.

"Indonesians should understand that Malaysians are also sensitive and get angry at hearing our country labeled negatively and seeing our national flag burned," he said in a statement released on Friday.

"We realize we need to understand and learn about the sensitivities of Indonesians. I hope Indonesians will not continue testing the patience of Malaysians because it will incite similar aggressive nationalism from us."

Police ban anti-Malaysia raids, flag-burnings

Jakarta Post - September 10, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The police say they will take action against ultra-nationalist groups who attempt to "raid" Malaysian nationals in the capital, following a series of spats between the neighboring countries over alleged cultural "theft" and border disputes.

The Relawan Ganyang Malaysia (Anti-Malaysia Volunteers) stopped motorists and pedestrians travelling along Jalan Dipongoro in Central Jakarta on Tuesday in a search for Malaysian expatriates. The incident has concerned Malaysia, which has summoned Indonesia's Ambassador, Da'i Bachtiar, to clarify the incident and assure the safety of its citizens living in Indonesia.

Malaysia's Foreign Ministry issued Wednesday a statement urging the Indonesian government "to take the necessary actions in order to ensure the welfare and well-being of Malaysian citizens in Indonesia are taken care of, as well as to ensure that such aggressive actions of certain extremists in Indonesia are curtailed immediately."

Da'i, a former national police chief, contacted Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to convey Malaysia's concern, the statement said, adding that Indonesia had assured that necessary measures would be taken to ensure the safety of Malaysian nationals.

Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, said on Thursday the police could not ban citizens from expressing their opinions, but made it clear they would not tolerate flag-burnings and the interrogation of members of the public.

Nanan, however, played down Tuesday's bullying by the nationalist groups, saying the media should not hype such incidents. He added that there had been no official request from the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta to boost security near their premises, although the activists said they planned to conduct the next rally near the embassy. "We will do our job as usual," he said.

Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, urged all parties to help ease the mounting anti-Malaysian sentiment, which could jeopardize bilateral relations.

"A sense of nationalism can be channeled in other ways, such as fighting for the legal recognition of national cultural heritage," he said.

Armed Indonesian nationalists block road in hunt for Malaysians

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Dozens of people belonging to an anti-Malaysia group briefly attempted an intimidating road-block and ID check to identify Malaysians along a busy Central Jakarta street on Tuesday, but came up empty-handed.

The operation, initially planned for an hour, only lasted for thirty minutes, but witnesses said the action managed to raise tension as activists stopped drivers and asked for their IDs.

A road block was erected directly in front of the central post of the anti-Malaysia group, the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (People's Defense of Democracy) in the vacant former headquarters of a political party.

The sight of men carrying sharpened bamboo sticks was more than enough to raise concerns among those who were stopped.

The group also distributed small Indonesian flags and tied red and white scarves, the colors if the country's flag, around their heads and at the ends of their makeshift weapons.

Police immediately closed off the segment of the road where the roadblock was erected and redirected traffic through Cikini, while dozens of police watched on guard from afar but took no apparent action.

Muchtar Bonaventura, who claimed to be the coordinator of the group, said the sweep was held to warn the Malaysian government not to act recklessly against Indonesian citizens and to stop claiming Indonesian culture as their own.

Although they did not find any Malaysian citizens, Muchtar vowed to continue similar actions and even expand the operation to seek offices and houses belonging to Malaysians. His group has been virulently anti-Malaysian, and had even opened registration for volunteers to wage war against the neighboring country.

Anti-Malaysia activists launch raid on Malaysians

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Dozens of NGO activists dubbing themselves Relawan Ganyang Malaysia (Anti-Malaysia Activists) Tuesday conducted a raid on a street in Central Jakarta in a hunt for Malaysian nationals until the police halted their activities.

Starting from 10 a.m., about 40 activists, sporting red-and-white attire and paraphernalia, stopped pedestrians, motorcyclists and cars in front of their office on Jl. Diponegoro in the plush area of Menteng.

They asked them to show their ID cards or passports to prove they were not Malaysian citizens.

No Malaysian citizens were caught in the raid. However, two Malaysian sedans passing the road were almost seized by the activists.

"We released them because they promised to join our cause," one of the activists who is also a member of the People's Democracy Fortress (Bendera), Nando Sidabutar, told The Jakarta Post.

Another volunteer, Aji Kusuma, said the raids were aimed to show they were infuriated at the government's slow response to confront Malaysia.

"Our dignity and pride have been weakened, but the government seems to ignore it," the secretary general of Volunteers of Democracy in Struggle (Repdem) told the Post.

"We need a decisive government and we haven't see that during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's tenure," he added.

The raid brought the traffic around Cikini and Menteng to a halt for several hours despite the police redirecting vehicles to alternative roads.

Aji said they might continue the rally for couple of days. "We will evaluate our action today before we plan the next rally. It could be at the Malaysian Embassy.

"Indeed, we didn't get any Malaysians today. But I think our action has sent a clear signal to the government. If they keep ignoring our demands; just wait for our next action," he said.

At 1 p.m., the police stopped the rally. "They did not report it. They were not given permission to conduct the rally," chief of operations at the Central Jakarta Police Adj. Sr. Comr. Aries Syahbudin told the Post.

Aries did not explain why police took so long to disperse the rally despite the fact the group had not received prior permission.

The harsh reaction against Malaysia was triggered by last month's Discovery Channel's TV advertorial program Enigmatic Malaysia that featured Balinese Pendet dance as a Malaysian art form.

Both the Discovery Channel and the Malaysian Tourism Ministry have apologized over the polemics.

Earlier this month, Jakarta's chapter of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that Malaysians topped the list of tourists visiting the capital in July, the month when the twin bombings rocked the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in South Jakarta. (bbs)

Mining & energy

Oil and gas blocks fail to attract investors

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – Indonesia has failed to attract enough investors to develop the oil and gas blocks offered in the first quarter of this year due to the global economic slowdown and concerns over revisions to the cost recovery mechanism.

Of 16 oil and gas blocks offered between December and April this year, only five blocks won developers, according to the final results of the bidding process announced in Jakarta on Friday.

Should the situation persist, the government will be in serious trouble due to its inability to meet oil production targets amid soaring demand that has already made Indonesia a net importing country.

"This is very bad, but this is the fact. If the situation remains like this, my objective to maintain national oil production at about one million barrels per day cannot be achieved," said Evita Legowo, director general for oil and gas.

Evita cited three factors hampering investors' interests in bidding for the blocks, the first being the global liquidity crisis, but the second factor is the government's plan to revise the cost recovery mechanism. Cost recovery is the investment reimbursement given to oil and gas contractors after they begin production.

The controversy over cost recovery by contractors heightened in late 2006, after the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) revealed in its audit of major oil contractors in 2004-2005 that there was a total of $1.8 billion of potential losses to the state due to "excessive cost accounting", triggering criticism from lawmakers that finally led to the plan to revise the cost recovery system.

"We understand that the investors may be worry about this, but the government is trying to be fair and just in this matter," Evita said.

This year the government has capped state revenue spending on cost recovery payments up to a maximum of US$11.05 billion.

The third factor, Evita said, was that there were "drying holes" in the surrounding areas where the offered oil and gas blocks were located, where oil wells are drying up.

"The drying holes are not in the blocks [on offer], but the investors seem to be worry that this will also occur in these blocks," Evita said.

Energy analyst Pri Agung Rakhmanto, executive director of the Reforminer Institute, said that the third factor was likely the main reason behind the low bidding proposals from the contractors.

"I don't think that this is caused by the global crisis and the cost recovery issue. It could be that the offered blocks are not [good] prospective blocks or [that] the government did not provide sufficient data about the blocks," Pri said.

Energy analyst Kurtubi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, argued the low investment in the oil and gas sector was caused by the new law on oil and gas. "With the [new] law, investment in the sector is becoming very bureaucratic and this hampers the investors [who want] to come to Indonesia" he said.

Oil and gas has been the backbone of Indonesia's state revenue. Data from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry suggests that the sector last year contributed as much as Rp 304.38 trillion or more than 30 percent of the total state revenue.

On Friday, the government awarded exploration rights for five oil and gas blocks located in the area of the Andaman islands, Halmahera and West Papua.

The nine selected contractors have committed to invest a total of $53 million for exploration activities in the first three years.

Indonesia house votes to allow private electricity investment

Jakarta Globe - September 8, 2009

Reva Sasistiya – The House of Representatives' approval of the electricity bill on Tuesday means an industry long dominated by the state power provider will now finally be partially deregulated, and allows the possibility of fairer electricity pricing between regions.

Coming after five years of discussion, the landmark piece of legislation removes PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara's monopoly on selling electricity directly to consumers by allowing private companies into the run-down, blackout-prone sector, which is in great need of new investment.

It will also change how electricity is priced among the regions and is likely to see richer, more developed areas like Java and Bali paying more than poorer ones. The legislation is expected to speed up rural electrification in the 35 percent of the country that has no electricity coverage.

The bill was approved at a House plenary session, with nine factions in favor, and only lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) abstaining.

It now needs to be formally signed into law by President Susilo Bambang-Yudhoyono and is not expected to be implemented until next year or 2011.

Speaking after the law was passed, a PDI-P legislator warned that the new legislation could damage national unity.

"With the bigger role of private companies in the country's power utilization and the implementation of regional tariffs, which will set different rates in different areas, the law could have a negative impact on the country's unity," PDI-P lawmaker Ismayatun said.

Replacing the 1985 Law on Electricity Generation, the new legislation means PLN will now consult with central and regional governments to set regional power rates, with the state electricity company supposed to charge regions based on the quality of services they receive.

It also allows private power producers to sell electricity directly to consumers in areas that have no electric power, without having to sell first to PLN. By giving priority to non- electrified areas, the government hopes it can speed up rural electrification.

"As long as [producers] have power transmission and networks to distribute power from their plants, they can sell power to the people directly," said Purnomo Yusgiantoro, minister of energy and mineral resources, after the plenary session. "If they do not had any transmission and distribution networks, they can rent PLN's network, and we hope this could become PLN's main business in the future."

Although the law allows a bigger role for private companies, the government will keep subsidizing electricity to rural areas and low-income customers, he said.

"The subsidy now will be more selective," Purnomo said. "In the future, we can assure that tariffs in elite areas, such as Pondok Indah or Menteng, will not be the same as tariffs in Depok."

Ali Herman Ibrahim, president director of PT Bakrie Power, a private power producer that plan to build plants in East Kalimantan, East Java and North Sumatra, welcomed the new law, saying it would open up opportunities for the company.

"Now we can monetize all the resource potential in the country without having to worry about a complicated bureaucracy," Ali said.

However, he warned that business and government would have to first agree on power prices and permits before investment came into the sector because of the high investment costs in building transmission and distribution networks.

Fabby Tumiwa, an electricity analyst from the Institute for Essential Service Reform, said that the regional tariff model, while well-intentioned, could be difficult for PLN to implement.

"First we need to know what the benchmark will be for PLN to propose higher tariffs in an area. Better service, higher purchasing ability or what? It will be difficult to set rates," Fabby said.

Inadequate local government supervision of the sector could also cause problems, Fabby said. "We already have [local governments] supervising local water companies, and they often do a bad job."

With electricity demand growing by 9.2 percent per year, the country will need to add 16,183 megawatts by 2010 in order to curb power shortages and meet increased demand.

House passes controversial electricity bill

Jakarta Post - September 8, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – The House of Representatives almost unanimously passed on Tuesday a new electricity bill into law, which will allow each region to apply different electricity rates.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters after the House plenary session that the region-based tariff was a positive development initiated by the newly passed bill.

"Now, the tariff in Menteng [upmarket area in Central Jakarta] equals that in remote areas. With the new law, the tariff in regions may be different depending on the people's purchasing power," Purnomo said.

Nine out of 10 factions at the House approved the bills, with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) abstaining instead of voting against. "The new law poses a threat to the territorial integrity of Indonesia," PDIP lawmaker Isma Yatun said.

Hundreds of labor union activists rallied outside the House building during the plenary session, demanding that the lawmakers reject the bill.

Analysis & opinion

25 years later

Jakarta Post Editorial - September 12, 2009

Twenty-five years ago, Sept. 15, 1984, or three days after the military brutally cracked down on Muslim protesters in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on the order of president Soeharto, The Jakarta Post wrote in the last paragraph of an editorial, "Nothing can compensate the wretched losses of the innocent victims of this tragedy, But, if we can learn some painful lessons from this experience, their sacrifice may not have been in vain."

This newspaper also reminded the government "that prompt and full disclosure of the facts behind such a social disturbance, which the government provided in this instance, is the most effective means of containing this kind of explosive [situation]." Has this newspaper's appeal been answered?

The editorial was quite courageous, knowing at that time that Soeharto and the military had absolute control of any elements of the nation, and the media was tightly scrutinized. Under Soeharto's 32-year tenure, only the president and the elite members of his regime could determine the truth. Laws were in their hands and anyone who questioned their absolute power, like the Tanjung Priok protesters, would be severely punished. Even after Soeharto's fall in May 1998, the military's brutality remains untouchable until now.

And now who cares about the loss of the civilians lives? Perhaps only their relatives, and their number continues declining because of the time factor and also because the government and those who were directly involved with the killings used money to "silence" the poor victims, or their poor families.

According to the official military version, which was announced Sept. 14, 1984, nine protesters were killed and 50 were injured when anti-riot troops dispersed about 1,500 protesters. They were marching to the local military office to demand the release of their friends.

According to human rights and civil society groups, the number of victims was much higher than the military version. According to the Post's report, the violence erupted in the wake of tension- charged speeches in Tanjung Priok's Rawa Badak Mosque by three Muslim preachers reportedly criticizing the government and agitating the congregation.

The Sept. 12, 1984 riots then triggered a wider anti-government movement. Soeharto accused the movement of being subversive and brought several retired military officers and civilian leaders, including the late Lt. Gen. H.R. Dharsono, to court, accusing them of masterminding the movement. A famous group of government critics, the Group of 50, became prominent after the Tanjung Priok incident. With Lt. Gen. (ret) Ali Sadikin, former Jakarta governor as its informal leader, this group consistently criticized Soeharto's government although they had to pay a very expensive price for their courage. Most of them were economically destroyed and their civil rights were denied.

To be honest, there is little hope that this newspaper's appeal for full disclosure of the incident will be heard. It is saddening to see the tendency of this nation to cover up pains, wounds and to delete negative memories. If asked now, many Indonesians show indifferent attitudes towards past gross human rights violations, like the 1965 anti-communist riots and the May 1998 riots which forced Soeharto to step down, and many other tragedies.

Many of the victims of the Tanjung Priok tragedy and their relatives may feel hopeless in their search for justice. And we as a nation, who are proud of Indonesia as the world's third largest democracy, should feel ashamed with them, because we have failed to give them the justice they need.

Factors keeping terrorism alive in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2009

Noor Huda Ismail, Semarang – Based on my interviews with the actors of past attacks – both inside and outside prisons – there are three primary factors that will keep their movements going in Indonesia.

The first factor is global injustice. Ali Imron told me that during an interrogation session with an FBI agent, the agent asked how to stop terrorist movements. According to Ali Imron, his answer was, "If you don't change your attitude towards the Muslim world, we, the defenders of Islam, will never cease to terrorize you."

Global injustice is a persistent and common theme of those involved in terrorist attacks in Indonesia. In many ways it is the driving force, and the basis of the global jihad movement.

This theme is reiterated in a statement on the internet that was strongly believed to be authored by, or sent on behalf of Noordin M. Top after the July 17 suicide bomb attacks in Jakarta.

The second factor is an enchantment with martyrdom. For the group, the main principle to live by is Innal hayata la aqidatun wal jihad (life's purpose is to maintain faith and jihad). "One should not live life like a fowl! Eat, marry and excrete. Life is a struggle," said Anif Solchanudin, during an interview in prison, in June 2009.

He had committed himself to be a "martyr" in the second Bali bombing. Those who commit themselves in this fashion are ready to face any challenge or risk in the process, including being tortured in prison or facing death sentences. "To die fighting for our faith is noble (syahid) and heaven awaits our arrival with 72 beautiful angels," Anif said.

To recruit someone as committed as Anif to these ideals is not a difficult thing to do. The committed consider their activity as istisyhad (in search of syahid), rather than "suicide".

"At the moment, Noordin never goes looking for people committed to the cause. Instead, young people seek him out to sacrifice themselves. If you are on the same track, you will be able to find him," Anief said.

The third factor is the appearance of a figure known as Noordin M. Top. He represents the rallying point for those disenchanted with the current regime and world. Born Malaysian, Noordin is a charismatic man with wavy hair, light skin and a stout body. He is soft-spoken and generally reserved and quiet. He is very thorough, organized and innovative in his work. According to Ali Imron, Noordin was a student of Ustadz Mukhlas when he taught at Pesantren Lukmanul Hakim in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

Noordin was not involved in the first Bali bombing incident. His role became prominent after Mukhlas – his teacher – was arrested. Noordin's dream was to continue the struggle of his idol by taking over all bombing campaigns, beginning with the first JW Marriott bomb attack.

A former right-hand man to Noordin said in an interview that Noordin was a man of high discipline in carrying out the amaliyah (the code for terrorist acts) and possesses a fingerspitzengefuhl – an innate sense of his environment and strong instincts as to when police are closing in. He moves from one location to another and never uses a cellular phone. "In times like this, he can move in minutes, even seconds," he further explained.

The prospects of imprisonment and the death sentence will not weaken their ideology but instead will strengthen and elevate terrorist leaders' social status. When covering the story of Amrozi and Mukhlas' funerals in Lamongan, I witnessed the enthusiasm of thousands of supporters and followers.

They came from several areas in Central Java, East Java and even Malaysia. Over a short period, they established a media center decorated with a giant banner with Kafilah Syuhada written on it, had built a public kitchen and taken over the whole process of the funeral ceremony. The two bodies were welcomed as heroes and apparently inspired a lot of people.

How did this happen? Borrowing a slogan from Bill Clinton, the answer is, "It's the ideology, stupid!" This leads us to the "de-radicalization" processes of the actors involved in these networks. Altering an ideology of a group can never be achieved by opposing it with another ideology. A clash will only encourage a new form of sustainable resistance, such as what we have experienced during and after the New Order era.

From the statements of jihadists, we are able to conclude that the environment and experience develops and forms the human mind, our patterns of thinking and hence our behavior and beliefs, and not the other way around.

The environment and experiences of fighting a war create defined contradictions between "us" and "them", "friends" and "foes", and also when the choices available are limited, either to kill or be killed, and solidifies the concept of "enemy".

Therefore, members of terrorist networks – if they are to be de-radicalized – must be introduced into a whole new and different environment to the ones they have gone through in the past.

Not a war or a prison, but a social environment where people are able to interact openly and inclusively. Through new experiences they can accept an understanding that "non-Muslim" does not necessarily mean enemy, and moderate Muslims are not thoghut (satan).

Some may argue that convicted terrorists in jail are prisoners of conscience rather than criminals, but this argument holds little sway with the victims and victim's families. Regardless of the semantics of the argument, the de-radicalization process is about achieving ideological change.

Empty jargon must be replaced with systematically planned real hard work by the government and must be fully supported by the general public. For example, helping them start small-scale businesses to keep them occupied and improve their financial conditions.

Without these real efforts, we will continuously harvest new terrorists who will conduct acts in even more horrifying forms.

[The writer, the executive director of an international institute for peace building, earned a master's degree in international security at St. Andrews University.]

The new law will put films back in the box

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2009

Thomas Barker and Veronica Kusuma, Jakarta – Unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade, you would have noticed that in terms of annual output, the Indonesian film industry has been growing exponentially.

For the first time, the market share of Indonesian films exceeded those from Hollywood by 55 percent to 45 percent this year. In Indonesia, where imported films have historically and consistently dominated the box office, this is no small victory.

The growth of the film industry over the past decade has been consistent with one fact: the complete absence of government regulation (interference or support) with the exception of post- production censorship.

This fact alone should make any lawmaker wary of trying to regulate domestic film production. Films have not been free from controversy – Virgin (2004), Buruan Cium Gue (2004) and Lastri (unproduced) are examples that readily come to mind – but this is no cause for reintroducing regulations that read frighteningly similar to the rules imposed on filmmaking under the New Order.

The House of Representatives passed the film bill on Tuesday (Sept. 8). This came as a surprise to many in the film industry, since the Film Law was drafted without any prior consultation with active producers, directors and other relevant parties. In August, film stakeholders, including prominent film producers and filmmakers (Christine Hakim, Garin Nugroho, Mira Lesmana, Riri Riza, Chand Parwez and Deddy Mizwar just to name a few) held a press conference to announce their opposition to the law.

The film bill will do the same for movies that the Pornography Law has done for culture in general: delegitimize diversity and liberalism and give legal ammunition to moral conservatives.

The central problem with the proposed film law is that it reads like a reaction to the numerous social and cultural controversies of the past decade wrapped in the state's sad case of sour grapes at being left out of the film industry for so long. This is not a law drafted by a state serious about promoting a more mature and dialogue-based polity, nor one that supports creativity, free speech and cultural industries.

The second major problem with the law is that it continues the outdated and absurd isolation of film as a medium distinct from all other forms of media. When this distinction was established with the Dutch Colonial Administration's Film Ordinance, it was a reasonable assumption to make because film was the only pre- recorded audio-visual material in existence. Whilst our technological world has changed and now includes television, mobile phones and the Internet, progressive film laws continue to treat film as both separate and more influential than any other type of media.

The use of this "media influence" model, which treats the audience as cultural dupes in need of protection from unsavory images, remains the central paradigm of this new bill. It seeks to control film making so as to limit its scope of creative inquiry and representation. It is patronizing to both filmmakers and audiences and assumes they have no moral responsibility in what they make or watch.

This law gives greater legal authority to those who find content objectionable. It seeks to circumscribe the limits of what can and cannot be filmed in order to preempt potential protest and thus avoid situations in which the state would have to deliberate. Instead of protecting film and the dialogue it can open, it seeks to limit what a filmmaker can imagine on screen.

This goes right to the heart of democracy in Indonesia. The law is being rewritten to appease morally conservative elements in society instead of promoting and protecting the diversity and plurality of ideas and cultures that film can covey on screen.

The draft contains some progressive articles on film censorship (that the Censorship Board will no longer cut films but provide recommendations to filmmakers to cut the film themselves and the implementation of a film classification system) but the regulations governing the film business read as they did under the New Order. A dangerous re-bureaucratization of film making is proposed, stipulating prior approval for films titles and scripts, permission for importing and exporting film, and the compulsory registration of all film making activities. Compulsory written contracts will formalize the relationship between the film industry and the Ministry.

If this is simply a means to put to work idol functionaries in the department, this is a horrible way to do so. It bespeaks of the department's lack of innovation and constructive activity, and heralds their return to the easier gate-keeping function all too reminiscent of the repressive New Order.

Import quotas and minimum screen time allocation for local productions (50 percent; Article 32) seem good on paper, but the lesson of this flawed policy should have been learnt long ago. Local productions have achieved a 55 percent market share without the help of a screen time obligation. Any system of quotas, either on imports or screen time, will adversely affect audiences, who will have less choice at the cinema and will logically turn to other sources of entertainment.

Import quotas will only encourage the import of commercially promising films at the expense of smaller films for specialized audiences. Screen quotas are dangerous because they could threaten already struggling local cinemas by forcing them to play films that might not sell. It would be farcical if productivity in the film industry declines to 30 films a year.

Moreover, such a blanket law would preclude the establishment of art house cinema for example, which might source its films from overseas, or a cinema dedicated to Indian or Chinese films. Cases of local films being pulled prematurely might seem to now be protected, but it is an industry-wide 50 percent quota, and will not protect individual films.

Although supposedly written in the spirit of reform, the film bill reads like it is meant to replace Law No. 8/1992. It does not address the changes in the media landscape over the past two decades nor the realities of globalization and democracy. Instead it attempts to return film to the box of control and repression from which it has only recently escaped.

The most glaring absence from this law is the lack of state support for the film industry. Provisions are provided for compulsory archiving of material, and the government would continue to promote Indonesian films overseas. But there is no concrete institutional support that would strengthen or even sustain the film industry, either in terms of reaching audiences who do not have access to Indonesian films, subsidizing film production, establishing facilities that would help the industry or promoting film literacy. The only institution that is strengthened is the censorship board.

The government cannot have it both ways. It cannot hope that film will become a vital and productive cultural domain while at the time treating it as a cultural threat and thus subjecting it to a disproportionate amount of control. If this law is pushed through it will be a victory for reactionary politics and a severe defeat to a film industry that has worked so hard to recover from financial and cultural restraints.

[Thomas Barker is PhD student at the Sociology Department of the National University of Singapore. Veronica Kusuma recently graduated from the Film Studies Department of the Jakarta Arts Institute and is cofounder of Klub Kajian Film IKJ.]