Ezra Sihite – The lawyer of gang leader Hercules Rozario Marshal said on Wednesday that he would file a pretrial motion against the chief of the West Jakarta police for arresting his client on what he called a "fabricated" charge.

"The case against Hercules is harassment. [The police] seem only to be trying to discover mistakes he's made [that can put him in prison]," lawyer Boyamin Saiman said in a release sent out to journalists on Wednesday.

"The alleged incident of extortion happened in 2008. If he committed any act of extortion, he should have been charged by police at that time."

Hercules was arrested on Saturday over allegations of money laundering and extortion directly after completing a four-month prison sentence at the Jakarta Police detention center for his role in an anti-police riot in Kembangan, West Jakarta.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that Hercules was being accused of four cases of extortion and money laundering. West Jakarta police chief Sr. Comr. M. Fadil Imran said earlier that Hercules allegedly committed the crimes in West Jakarta between 2006 and 2013.

It's not yet clear how much the well-connected gangster – wwho declared just last year that his underworld days were behind him – supposedly gained from his illicit activities.

One alleged victim claimed, though, that Hercules and his underlings extorted Rp 950 million from him over two years alone.

Rikwanto said Hercules would be most likely charged under Article 368 of the Criminal Code on extortion, which carries a maximum sentence of nine years in prison.

Boyamin said the pretrial motion would be filed on August 12 at the West Jakarta district court.

"This extortion case should technically be combined with his first charge [inciting an anti-police riot]. But according to the penal code, his first [extortion] case should not even be processed given how long ago it happened."

Indonesian legislator calls on public to pray for Egypt

Antara News - August 5, 2013

Jakarta – Indonesian legislator Muhammad Najib has called upon the Indonesian people to pray for Egypt so that the Arab country could find its way, without further bloodshed, toward building a democratic country.

"As a friend of Egypt, we should help the Egyptian people through prayers and our experiences," Muhammad Najib said here on Friday. He noted that the situation in Egypt is very worrying, as both conflicting sides appear unwilling to compromise.

Further, Mahfudz Siddiq, the chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission I, said Indonesia should criticize the coup in Egypt to prevent such actions from becoming a precedent in the future.

Indonesia should also urge the military junta to end all violence and release President Morsi, along with the House Speaker, MPs and politicians who are under arrest, as well as reopen TV stations and restore civilian and press freedoms.

Ideologically, according to Siddiq, Indonesia should encourage Egypt to return to a democratic path.

The politician from the Justice and Prosperous Party (PKS) even suggested that the Indonesian government should freeze bilateral ties if necessary until democracy has been restored in Egypt through general elections.

On Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expressed his hope that the conflicting parties in Egypt could exercise self-restraint in order to prevent additional bloodshed.

"Hopefully in this situation, both parties could exercise self-restraint to avoid there being more victims. Reconciliation and compromise should be accomplished," President Yudhoyono said.

He additionally called upon the United Nations to help find a solution. "Neighboring countries should also help ease the tension and not encourage a separation," he said.

The head of state also ordered the Indonesian ambassador to Egypt to protect Indonesian nationals living there. "I have been informed that the Indonesians there are under control and our students are also safe," he said.

Further, he instructed Indonesians in Egypt not to involve themselves in the ongoing conflicts. "Stay away from dangerous places and maintain communications," he said.

Yudhoyono described the conflict in Egypt as dangerous because it is a horizontal conflict that involves hundreds of thousands of people facing off against each other.

End in sight for mighty Hercules

Jakarta Post - August 4, 2013

Jakarta – Hercules Rozario Marhsal, 55, has been the epitome of Jakarta's seedy underbelly since the 1980s, ushered to the top by a meticulous arrangement of military elites.

In line with the diminishing clout of his backers, Hercules' attempts to regain his crown as the city's "Godfather" faltered on Saturday as the police rearrested the native Timor Leste minutes after ending his four- month jail term.

Unlike the previous charges that saw Hercules serving light sentences, the latest prosecution is likely to end his underworld venture as he faces money laundering and extortion charges, which carry 20 years of imprisonment.

"Crimes related to thuggery always carry light sentences despite the fact that they have severely hurt the public," said West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Fadil Imran.

"That's why we're laying the money laundering charges against gang leaders so that the punishment will be heavier," said Fadil, adding that the police had received reports from four individuals involving extortion of more than Rp 900 million (US$90,000) committed by Hercules in the past two years.

Money laundering charges against a gang leader is the first of its kind, as in the past they had usually only been leveled against corrupt officials, legislators, businesspeople and terrorists.

The West Jakarta Police decided to lay the charges after the West Jakarta court handed down a mere four-month jail term to Hercules after his gang clashed with the police in a commercial district in West Jakarta in March. The police were deployed in the area following reports that Hercules and his men were actively engaged in extortion

During Hercules' trial, the prosecutors claimed they could not demand harsher punishment as they could not build a case of instigating a crime, vandalism, obstruction of justice or extortion, all of which carry a maximum prison term of 18 years in total, as demanded by the police. Hercules was only found guilty of obstructing justice.

West Jakarta Police detectives chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hengki Haryadi said that besides Hercules, the police had identified 163 suspects in the extortion and money laundering cases dating back to 2006.

"We're also hunting down three of Hercules' inner-circle members who are still at large. We're aiming at ending their operations for good," he said.

Hengki, who led a team of more than 20 fully geared officers when escorting Hercules from the Jakarta Police prison to the West Jakarta Police headquarters, said that the fight against gang leaders was a "holy war".

Upon arriving at the West Jakarta Police headquarters, Hercules only said: "as a responsible citizen, I will respect and abide by the law". Hercules' lawyer Agung Sri Purnomo said that his client did not understand the charges.

Agung claimed that some of Hercules' associates might have used his name in their activities, which the police claimed were extortion and money laundering.

Hercules made his name as the leader of Central Jakarta's underbelly, which encompasses areas such as Tanah Abang textile market, the largest in Southeast Asia, and part of Kota between the mid 1980s until 2006, when he lost control of the areas to Betawi native Haji Lulung.

Hercules followers, however, still maintain a loose grip on several small pockets in the Kota area and property compounds in West Jakarta. Hercules also engages in the coal business, and used to spend time in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Hercules established the New Indonesian People's Movement (GRIB) in May last year and made Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chairman Prabowo Subianto head of its advisory board.

He forged a close relationship with Prabowo when the latter served in Indonesian Military in East Timor during the 1980s. Hercules was relocated to Jakarta in the mid 1980s for his service in helping the Army fight Timor Leste separatists.

As the reform movement swept the country in 1998 and the military's power was reduced, the police found the courage to prosecute the once untouchable Hercules in 2000 for ransacking the RSCM hospital. However, he only received a two-month jail term. In 2006, Hercules was again sentenced to a two-month jail for ransacking the office of Indo Pos newspaper. (ian)

West Papua

Papua activist blames deadly shooting on military firing at ambulance

Radio New Zealand International - August 8, 2013

An independence campaigner in Indonesia's remote Papua province says a deadly shooting last week was the fault of Indonesian soldiers, who shot at an ambulance.

Reports from local media say one man, Erik Yoman, was killed, and several others injured, including medical officers.

Yasons Sambom says the ambulance was attending to a pregnant woman when the gunmen opened fire, and local rebels would never shoot at an ambulance.

The activist says the military post nearby responded very slowly to the shots, which he says is further proof they were responsible for the incident. Mr Sambom has accused the Indonesian military, or TNI, of breaching international law.

The families of the victims say they don't know who the perpetrators are, and the military and police have both accused a rebel group, OPW, of the shooting. The group has reportedly denied the allegations.

Women traders losing out in Papua

Tabloid JUBI - August 6, 2013

Jayapura – Papuan indigenous traders are very worried about the fact that they are not able to compete economically because of the arrival in Papua of immigrants who are 'taking over' the trade in many simple commodities which has for a long time been where Papuan women (mama-mama) are conducting their business activities.

'If nothing is done about this, we can be sure that within the next ten years, the mama-mama will not be able to compete in the markets. Many shopping malls, shops, agricultural product businesses, self-service shops and hypermarkets will be selling these commodities, with the help of lorries which are transporting the commodities everywhere, even along alleyways,' said Robert Jitman, an activist in SOLPAP (Indigenous Papuan Traders Solidarity).

He said that he was seeking the help of the MRP (Majelis Rakyat Papua) to play a more active role with regard to building markets for the mama-mama to ensure that they can carry out their business activities. He also said that he was seeking support from the MRP with regard to what happened to some mama-mama who were recently evicted from Jalan Irian.

Robert Jitman stressed the importance of these markets in ensuring a self- supporting economy and said it is necessary for the government to take action as quickly as possible. He said that he wrote last month to the Governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe to seek information about the fact that a permanent market where the mama-mama can trade has not yet been built in one of the main roads in Papua, Jalan Percetakan Negara.

SOLPAP is also seeking an audit from the BPK (?) with regard to the allocation of funds for building the market for the mama-mama, which was allocated as long ago as 2009. He was also seeking to ensure the inclusion in SOLPAP of church leaders, NGOs, students and the press (Alliance of Independent Journalists).

The letter to Governor Enembe also suggested that there should be a special regional regulation (perdasus) to protect and assist the mama-mama in conducting their trade in certain commodities and also suggested that a team be set up to ensure that the special market for the mama-mama is built.

[Translated by TAPOL.]

Mobile police deployed to shooting region in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 5, 2013

A platoon of the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade, or Brimob, has been deployed to Mulia, in Papua province's Puncak Jaya regency, in response to a fatal shooting last week.

The newspaper, Kompas, reports that the Brimob platoon has been sent to pursue the gunmen who reportedly shot at an ambulance last week, killing one person and injuring several others including medical officers.

It is the same area where reports from rights activists and church groups in May claimed that up to forty Papuans had been executed in a mass killing by Indonesian security forces.

The stories were dismissed by Indonesian authorities but a reported increase in the security forces deployment in the area is being linked to casualties.

Jakarta defends its policy approach in Papua region

Radio New Zealand International - August 5, 2013

A Senior Indonesia vice-presidential advisor says the government is serious about protecting human rights in West Papua and Papua provinces.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, who is the Deputy for Political Affairs to Vice President Boediono, says while there are issues of violence and undemocratic behaviour by the military in Papua region, it is not a clear- cut case of state being pitted against civilians there.

She told Johnny Blades the government's policy to take a holistic approach to development in the region is to ensure justice can be done for West Papuans.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar: So now the emphasis is really on improving the welfare of all the Papuans in the two provinces, focusing firstly on primary health care, on education, on development of infrastructure, on giving affirmative action, especially giving special attention to university education for young Papuans, and also to ensure economic welfare that will not only reach the migrants to Papua, but also, particularly, the local Papuans. But this doesn't mean that the approach is only economic, because we also must ensure the democratisation side, the protection for human rights and ensure that no discrimination takes place there. So the government is really trying to ensure that justice is being done to Papua.

Johnny Blades: A lot of ground reports emerging from there seem to depict a problem with the military. But from the government's point of view is it difficult to control the military's actions over there?

DFA: I think that report has been very biased on one side. There have always been reports of, for example, military repressions against separatists and so on. The fact of the matter is that violence has been going on in Papua and there are many perpetrators. The military has been the victim of violence, the police have been the victim of violence. There have been endless tribal conflicts. And there has also been violence by the state, by the military towards Papuans. But a lot of the victims are in fact not the result of state oppression against Papuans. A lot of the conflicts in the past years have taken place due to local conflicts related to local elections, for example. There have been some serious problems when candidates have come from two different tribes and when the results of the elections have been unsatisfying to one group, that led to violent conflicts. That has happened. Even within one party that nominated two different people from two different tribes, that led to a major clash just last year, which led to a number of deaths. So I think that one should be very clear that there is certainly violence in Papua, but it is not a clear-cut state versus society type of violence.

JB: With the military, though, the UN Human Rights Committee and other groups have voiced concern very recently that there's impunity for those military and security personnel who perpetrate violence on the West Papuan citizens over there.

DFA: Well, impunity is not the policy of the Indonesian government. As you know, since we have become a democracy, human rights and protections of democracy are very much part of our constitutional obligations. There are still concerns about undemocratic behaviours perpetrated by our military, but it is not the government policy to excuse them from their wrongdoing. We still have problems however. At the moment we don't have an independent civil court for the military yet. This is still something that we still have to work very hard on. This is one part of the unfinished reform of the military, you might say. At the moment, any wrongdoings by the military are punished through the military court, and many would argue that if the violence is not related to military disciplines, that the ones who committed the crimes should have been tried in a civilian court. Unfortunately, this is still some of the homework that we have to do.

JB: Why are the two provinces so closed to outside access, to NGOs, humanitarian groups and journalists?

DFA: Well, it seems that the NGOs overseas have shifted their attention after the independence of East Timor. They look at Indonesia – 'Hm. What's the next trouble sport for Indonesia?' Aceh is not terribly interesting for us because it's mostly a Muslim-majority province. And Papua is the one where the Muslims are not majority, they are different, so they focus their attention to it. To be fair, a lot of problems have taken place in many parts of Indonesia. We are still struggling to consolidate our democracy, our state institutions are still being reformed, and we have to admit that we have problems of injustices and violence, sometimes police and military violence in different parts of Indonesia. But I must say the people in New Zealand, people in Australia and in Europe have zoned in mostly on what is happening in Papua. So you explain that to me. They don't pay as much attention, for example, if violence were to take place in other parts of Indonesia.

JB: There's a Pacific regional link and it seems in the same region.

DFA: There is this Melanesian Spearhead Group and so on, but I think it would be interesting for people to know that there are more Melanesians living in Indonesia, not just in Papua, than in the Pacific. We have people of Melanesian origin living in Maluku and in Ambon and in the NTT province of Indonesia. So we, in Indonesia, are very seriously trying to repair the damages that have been done by the previous regime towards the handling of Papua, and I think we would appreciate very much all the support, as well as constructive criticism from the international community.

JB: On that count, wouldn't it help foster understanding from the outside community if there were some more openness?

DFA: I would agree. And I think that we are discussing this seriously with the Indonesian government.

Aceh

Aceh governor decries removal of flags

Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2013

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah has criticized the action by security forces to forcefully seize hundreds of flags bearing the symbol of the now-disbanded separatist Free Aceh Movement without any consultation with him.

"It is regrettable that the governor of Aceh was not consulted in this matter. It is a violation of the agreement between the Aceh government and the central government," Zaini told a press conference at his residence on Sunday.

Zaini is a member of the ruling Aceh Party, which was formed by the leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The provincial governor and legislators decided in March that the GAM flag would be the official symbol of Aceh, and Aceh Party supporters proceeded to hoist the flag in many places across the province.

He said nobody had the right to take down the flags because Aceh and Jakarta have not agreed on a solution to the flag issue since the 2005 peace agreement between GAM and the central government.

"The seizure is a provocative action. The Aceh military commander has stated that they would forcefully remove the flags," the governor said.

In the last few days, plainclothes security force personnel moved through the streets of several Aceh districts, seizing the flags.

Officers seized hundreds of flags in Lhokseumawe city early on Friday morning, as local residents, awake for their predawn Ramadan meal, looked on.

Armed soldiers and police showed up in Simpang Kuta Blang, Lhokseumawe, at 2:30 a.m. and fanned out across the city to confiscate the red crescent star flags that have flown in front of residents' homes and lined streets for more than two months.

"They even took down the large Aceh flag that was raised in Simpang Kandang," a local resident said, who declined to be identified.

Both the Lhokseumawe military and local police have been silent on the issue. Top army brass said they had not received orders from Jakarta to remove the flag.

"We just follow the government's policy," Army chief of staff Gen. Moeldoko said at a fast breaking event on Thursday. "Whatever the political decision is, we are ready."

The central government called the flag a symbol of separatist forces and said national laws overruled local bylaws, even in autonomous Aceh.

Aceh shariah police nab 35 food vendors over daylight operations

Jakarta Globe - August 4, 2013

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Shariah Police in West Aceh said on Sunday that they have arrested total of 35 food vendors in the district for selling meals during Ramadan while other people were fasting.

"We've carried out operations [targeting warung owners] in accordance with a request by the West Aceh administration, which asked sellers not to sell food during the day out of respect for those who fast," West Aceh Shariah Police chief Khairuzzadi said.

The 35 people ran street-side food stalls, or warungs, and served rice and assorted side dishes.

Aceh, Indonesia's westernmost province, is the only province in Indonesia that applies a set of Shariah-inspired bylaws, known locally as qanun.

Khairuzzadi added that his office, with support from the Indonesian military and police officers, conducted raids on food hawkers across the district.

"Whatever excuse they had, we didn't accept it. It is forbidden to sell rice in the day time. It's against the qanun in Aceh," Khariuzzadi said.

The 35 sellers were released shortly after they were arrested and were briefed on Shariah law by the officers. They were placed on parole, however, and are required to report back to the Shariah police twice a week until mid-August.

"We can still educate them since this is their first offense. There is no need to cane them in front of the public," he said. "They've been asked to write a letter saying that they won't sell food in the daylight [during Ramadan] again."

Aceh administration agrees to change contentious flag: Government

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Ina Parlina and Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi is claiming that the Aceh administration has opened negotiations to change its official provincial flag and coat of arms, which has stirred controversy since it was launched in March.

"Yes, there is a spirit to change them. There will likely be a new symbol [and flag]. There is a joint team of central and local administration representatives to discuss it within two months," the minister said on the sidelines of a plenary cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on Friday.

The joint team, which will start working on Aug. 15, is set to deliberate the much-debated qanun (bylaw) No. 3/2013 on the Aceh provincial flag and coat of arms, which assigns the province as the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Bouraq and Lion as the Aceh provincial flag and symbol.

The team will comprise representatives of central government and Aceh administration, as well as Aceh legislators.

The bylaw, which was passed by the Aceh Provincial Legislative Council (DPRA) on March 24, has sparked anger of the ruling authorities in Jakarta.

In the face of central government's resistance, some Acehnese proudly hoist the official provincial flags.

On Friday, dozens of Aceh Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel took down hundreds of "Aceh flags" in Lhokseumawe, Aceh. None of the locals reacted strongly against the operation.

"I don't know about [the incident]; but the governor [Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah] has indeed asked people not to raise GAM flag again as there is still an ongoing negotiation," Gamawan said.

Home Ministry spokesperson Restu Ardy Daud said that the governor also prohibited the flag during the commemoration of the Helsinki peace agreement on Aug 15.

"During a meeting on Thursday, the governor has agreed not to unfurl the Aceh flag, which we have not agreed on. This also applies during the commemoration of Helsinki peace agreement. We appreciate the governor for that," Restu said on Friday.

Since being signed in 2005, the Helsinki peace agreement, signed in 2005 ends the decades-long armed insurgency launched by the GAM.

While the Helsinki Agreement gave Aceh the right to use regional symbols in its flags, crests and songs, the central government has insisted that the province adhere to national law in doing so.

The central government bases its argument on Article 4 (2) of the Helsinki agreement, which stipulates that "GAM members will not wear uniforms or display military insignia or symbols after the signing of this MoU".

The Aceh Party, which was founded by former GAM rebels, has persistently defended the Aceh flag to be recognized by the central government. Governor Zaini, who belongs to the Aceh Party, has discussed with governmental officials in hopes of maintaining the flag.

In May, Constitutional Court chief Akil Mochtar defended Zaini's stance, claiming that the flag was in line with the 1945 Constitution.

"The Constitution stipulates that our national standard is the red-and- white flag. However, it also recognizes special regions, such as Papua and Yogyakarta," he said, adding that Aceh had the rights to use regional symbols, including a flag, insignia and hymn as stipulated by Law No. 11/2006 on Aceh Government.

Aceh GAM flag stripped from Lhokseumawe in pre-dawn crackdown

Jakarta Globe - August 2, 2013

Nurdin Hasan – Dozens of plain-clothes security forces moved through the streets of Aceh's Lhokseumawe city early Friday morning, seizing hundreds of flags bearing the symbol of the now-disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists as local residents, awake for their pre-dawn Ramadan meal, looked on.

The soldiers and police, all armed, showed up in Simpang Kuta Blang, Lhokseumawe, at 2:30 a.m. and fanned out across the city to confiscate the red crescent star flags that have flown in front of residents homes and lined some streets for more than two months.

"They even took down the large Aceh flag that was raised in Simpang Kandang," said a local resident who declined to be identified.

Both the Lhokseumawe military and local police have been silent on the issue. Top army brass said they had not received orders from Jakarta to remove the flag.

"We just follow the government's policy," Army chief of staff Gen. Moeldoko said at a fast breaking event on Thursday. "Whatever the political decision is, we are ready."

The flag has been a hot-button issue in Jakarta since provincial legislators approved an Islamic bylaw, known as a qanun, in March adopting the flag as the official symbol of Aceh. The central government called the flag a symbol of separatist forces and said that local bylaws, even in autonomous Aceh, are overruled by national laws.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will send a team of officials to hold talks with local legislators on August 31, minister Gamawan Fauzi said last week. Until the central government issued a decision, the flag would be barred from Aceh's flagpoles, he said.

But the local administration, in an apparent slight to Jakarta, plans to raise the flag on April 15 to mark the eighth anniversary of the Helsinki peace treaty, an agreement that granted Aceh regional autonomy and ended GAM's 30-year war with Indonesia.

Indonesian security forces will be seconded to the location on April 15 to confiscate all Aceh flags, Gamawan said.

"I urge everyone not to raise the flag on August 15," he said. "We have to wait for the decision [from the central government]... the qanun on which the plan is based is not yet official. The flag cannot be used."

Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah, a former GAM leader, has remained defiant, insisting that local residents fly the flag out of pride in their province. His deputy, Muzakir Manaf, said the flag had nothing to do with GAM or separatist ideas. The province has witnessed eight years of positive change since the end of the war, Muzakir said. Local residents have no interest in fighting for independence, he explained.

"The military, under Iskandar Muda Military Command [Kodam], started to win the people's hearts with public works projects like roads and facilities in some villages," he said.

Political disputes like this, he added, are just a sign of a dynamic democracy.

Military operation in Aceh was 'gross human rights violation'

Jakarta Post - August 2, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declared that the military operation in Aceh, which lasted from 1989 until a peace deal was signed in 2005, could be categorized as a gross human rights violation and that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was responsible for the atrocities.

Following a tense meeting where Komnas HAM chairperson Siti Noor Laila, deputy chairperson Siane Indriani and Yanto Bachriadi challenged the findings from the commission's investigative team, which was led by the rights body commissioner Otto Nur Abdullah, the commission made the announcement on Thursday.

Otto said the conclusion was based on an investigation focusing on five particular cases: the tortures between 1997 and 1998 at Rumoh Geudong in Pidie, a former headquarters of the Indonesia's elite Army Special Forces (Kopassus), known as the slaughter house; the 1999 May Simpang KKA incident, also known as the Dewantara incident, when the military randomly shot hundreds of protesters who rallied against an earlier shooting in April 30; the 2001 Bumi Flora massacre in eastern Aceh; the finding of skeletons of the remains of victims of the conflict in a mass grave in Bener Meriah regency in 2002; and the 2003 massacre in Jambo Keupok village in southern Aceh.

"We have thoroughly examined five major violent incidents during the deployment of the military operation to combat the Free Aceh Movement [GAM] rebels in Aceh, and concluded all incidents could be deemed gross human rights violations as they fulfilled the elements outlined in Law No. 26/2000 on human rights," Otto said.

Article 9 of the law defines a crime against humanity as a systematic and widespread attack on civilians that includes annihilation; apartheid; ethnicity; forced disappearances; forced prostitution; limitations on physical freedom; murder; race; rape; religion and gender; slavery; torture; tradition; and widespread abuse based on ideology.

Komnas HAM recommended that the government set up a military tribunal.

"We, therefore, recommend that the government set up a rights tribunal. It is really important to follow up on our findings in order to sever the cycle of impunity among members of the military. Reluctance to do so will promote the culture of impunity, which will undoubtedly encourage the military to commit more rights violation," Otto said.

The House of Representatives has conducted its investigation on the allegation of human rights abuse during the military operation beginning in July 1998. The team, led by Lt. Gen. Hari Sabarno, head of the military faction at the House, never went public with its findings.

In October 1998, the House reported that it had received over 1,700 reports of alleged human rights violations, including 426 cases of missing people and 320 cases of killings in Aceh.

Komnas HAM started its first investigation into past abuses in Aceh in from July to August the same year and recorded 781 deaths, 163 disappearances, 368 cases of torture and 102 rape cases allegedly committed by members of the military during the military operation from between 1989 and 1998.

Komnas HAM never completed its report until Thursday's announcement. Several local and international rights watchdogs had previously released their findings of past abuses in Aceh.

The London-based Amnesty International, for example, called for a rights tribunal as well as a truth and reconciliation commission, which were mandated by the 2005 Helsinki peace agreement, earlier in April. The group was concerned that nothing has been done in spite of much publicized reports on crimes, ranging from unlawful killings, enforced disappearance and torture, committed by members of the military.

Komnas HAM chairperson Siti Noor Laila said Komnas HAM had yet to agree on the findings. "We can't declare them as gross human rights violations yet because we haven't thoroughly and comprehensively discussed the findings," Siti said.

Human rights & justice

Indonesian widows get Dutch compensation, apology over 1946-47 killings

Agence France Presse - August 9, 2013

The Hague – The Dutch government said Thursday that it had compensated 10 women whose husbands were executed by its army between 1946 and 1947 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

In a statement released in The Hague, the Dutch state said it will also publicly apologize for the crimes.

"Ten widows have received compensation for the executions of their husbands by the Dutch military," said the statement. "The ambassador of the Netherlands, on behalf of the state, will present apologies for the summary executions," it added.

The move brings to an end a battle for justice for relatives of the victims. On December 20, 2011, lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said that the widows were seeking justice for the deaths of their husbands.

It was not possible to bring criminal proceedings as the crimes took place too far back. But a civil suit was launched and a settlement was finally reached, on the basis of a September 2012 ruling of another case on a similar atrocity.

Zegveld said that Sulawesi inhabitants claim that between December 1946 and February 1947, approximately 40,000 Indonesians were killed on the island by the Dutch army. Investigations carried out by the Dutch media claimed however that between 3,000 and 5,000 people lost their lives.

"We're happy, but it is only one step in a larger process: the Netherlands must apologize for all the massacres and executions committed in Indonesia. They cannot simply apologize case by case," Zegveld told AFP.

"The widows have already received the money, it is a similar amount awarded in the Rawagedeh case" in which compensation reached 20,000 euros ($27,000) per person, said Zegveld.

In that case eight widows and one survivor seized by the Dutch in 1947 in Rawagedeh, a village on the island of Java, were awarded compensation following a ruling in The Hague last year, which held the Dutch state responsible for the atrocity.

The Netherlands also apologized for the attack on Rawagedeh. Dutch officials say some 150 people were killed in that attack, but a support group and the local community say the death toll was 431. Indonesia gained its independence in 1949.

Labour & migrant workers

Low productivity caused by old machinery, poor infrastructure: Activist

Berita Satu - August 8, 2013

Shesar Andriawan/FMB, Jakarta – According to Budi Wardoyo, the national secretary of Politics of the People and the Joint Labour Secretariat (Sekber Buruh) working body, complaints [by employers] about the large number of public holidays that cause a drop in productivity are simply a red herring.

Wardoyo said other issues aside from public holidays contribute more to the decline in productivity. The following factors were mention by Wardoyo when contacted by Berita Satu by phone on Thursday August 8.

"First, machinery that is old and out of date. The older the machines the lower the performance. There was once a government program to replace old machines, but it failed to be realised."

"Second, infrastructure that is not good yet. For example there are roads with potholes that are the cause of traffic congestion. That's why if you want to transport goods to the Tanjung Priok [port in North Jakarta] it takes so long, so it's not possible to take advantage of optimal time."

And on the third issue, Wardoyo said that the real reason productivity is low is because of the continued dependence in imported raw materials.

"What often happens is we export raw materials, then it's processed overseas into a semi-finished material, and then we buy it back again. Since Dutch colonial times we've had a tendency to follow overseas market trends. In the past for example in Europe allspice was expensive, so we here were used as a center for its production", said Wardoyo.

Wardoyo said that Indonesian employers are not prepared to fight this situation. If there were then Indonesia could create its own market without needing to worry about overseas trends.

Wardoyo does not see that Indonesia needs to increase the number of working hours. "In Indonesia right now our working hours are 40 hours a week, but in Germany it's only 32 hours and [they] can still be productive. Another example is the issue of leave, in Venezuela if a female workers gives birth she's given one year's leave and an allowance as well so she can concentrate on taking care of the child", he said.

"Meanwhile in Indonesia it is only one month at most. So the child has to be left in the care of relatives or a child care centre. This can be a burden for the mother".

In order to increase productivity, Wardoyo said that workers need to have a higher level of education that now.

"The quality of workers' education in Indonesia is still low. Many of them cannot access adequate education. On average they have only graduated from junior high school, there are few senior high school graduates, let alone those with diplomas or degrees. The higher the education level the easier it is for workers to be taught many things", said Wardoyo.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Political parties & elections

Political parties seeking support procure rest areas for travelers

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Nana Rukmana, Cirebon – A number of political parties, taking advantage of the annual Idul Fitri exodus to gain support ahead of the 2014 election, are providing rest facilities along Cirebon's northern coastal highway (Pantura) for homeward-bound travelers.

The parties include the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Democratic Party, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the Golongan Raya party (Golkar).

Each rest area provides free drinks and snacks for travelers who stop by. Free medical services and free massages are also available.

Besides assisting travelers, Golkar's Regional Representatives Council (DPD) head for Cirebon City Toto Sunanto said that the provision of rest area facilities was also aimed at drawing support for the party.

Sunardi, the secretary of PDI-P's Cirebon branch executive board, shared a similar idea. He said that the procurement of such facilities was proof that the PDI-P had shown its attention to Muslims who wished to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns.

Environment & natural disasters

Activists will return awards to protest deforestation

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Three environmentalists in North Sumatra are going to give up their awards in protest against the national government, which they claim has persistently neglected widespread illegal logging that is causing severe damage to the environment around Lake Toba.

They plan to return a number of awards they received from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a show of their disappointment toward the government, which they allege does not care about environmental degradation around the lake.

The environmentalists planning to return the awards are Marandus Sirait, recipient of the 2005 Kalpataru Award in the environmental pioneer category; Hasoloan Manik, recipient of the 2010 Kalpataru Award in the environmental savior category; and Wilmar E. Simanjorang, recipient of the Wana Lestari prize and the 2011 Lake Toba Award.

They also went to the North Sumatra gubernatorial office in Medan on Friday and surrendered a number of certificates of appreciation they had received from the provincial administration to provincial secretary Nurdin Lubis.

The environmentalists said they would directly hand over their Kalpataru and Wana Lestari awards – which they had been given by the Office of the State Minister of the Environment – in Jakarta after the Idul Fitri holiday.

"We do this as a symbol of our disappointment in the government, which has failed to take action against rampant deforestation in Lake Toba," Marandus said, after handing over several certificates of appreciation to the provincial administration at the gubernatorial office.

Marandus said the number of awards they received would not mean anything if the government overlooked the issue. According to him, the forests around Lake Toba were currently in critical condition, as they had been further plundered by irresponsible parties.

"We'd rather not get the awards, if it means the Lake Toba area remains intact," said Marandus.

Wilmar said deforestation around Lake Toba was now rampant, and thus causing anxiety among local residents. He added that if deforestation continued unchecked, disasters, such as flash floods and drought, would be imminent.

"If deforestation continues, the Tele region will become a desert. Rivers flowing into Lake Toba would also further deplete as water sources vanish," said Wilmar, former acting Samosir regent.

According to Wilmar, they have repeatedly complained about deforestation to the provincial administration, central government and law enforcers, but to no avail, as illegal logging around the Lake Toba area continues. "There seems to be a conspiracy behind this," Wilmar asserted.

Provincial secretary Nurdin Lubis said the provincial administration would follow up with the concern expressed by the environmentalists by coordinating with a number of regencies and mayoralties and take the necessary steps against the widespread forest conversion occurring in the Lake Toba area. "The Lake Toba area encompasses seven regencies and mayoralties. That's why we will coordinate with them in the near future to overcome the issue," said Nurdin.

Lake Toba is the world's largest volcanic lake, covering 1,707 square kilometers. It was formed about 70,000 years ago after a massive volcanic eruption.

With a depth of about 450 meters, it is one of the earth's deepest lakes. Samosir Island, considered sacred by locals, lies in the middle of the lake and has more than 100,000 inhabitants,

Little cause for celebration on Tiger Day

Jakarta Globe - August 3, 2013

Wildlife conservation activists in Indonesia marked a somber Global Tiger Day earlier this week with dire warnings about the relentless destruction of the last remaining forests that are home to the critically endangered Sumatran tiger and the growing online trade in tiger parts.

In a press release to mark Global Tiger Day, which fell on Monday, the World Wide Fund for Nature's Indonesian office said that a combination of external factors was driving the apex predator to the inevitable brink of extinction.

Among these is the worst rate of habitat destruction experienced by any of the six extant tiger species worldwide.

"Every year the island of Sumatra loses more than 500,000 hectares of forest to make way for agricultural land," WWF said, noting that this represented a loss of nearly 6 percent a year.

The organization said the massive forest fires that raged throughout much of Riau province in June and made international headlines for the record- breaking haze they caused in Singapore and Malaysia had also destroyed vast swaths of tiger habitat.

"Forty-two percent of the fire hot spots in Riau were inside primary forests that are tiger habitats," it said.

Besides the loss of habitat, another major threat to the continued survival of the species is poaching, with various parts of the animal in high demand in East Asia for use in traditional medicine.

WWF Indonesia cited 2008 data from the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as saying that of the estimated 51 Sumatran tigers killed each year, three-quarters were victims of the illegal wildlife trade.

Anwar Purwoto, WWF Indonesia's program director for forest and freshwater species, said Indonesia was obliged under its commitment as a tiger range country to double the number of Sumatran tigers in the wild by 2022 from 2010 levels, but warned that it was not acting fast enough. There are an estimated 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.

"Time is ticking away. We're already a quarter of the way toward the deadline. The government must speed up the implementation of its strategy to save the Sumatran tiger population so that it can meet the target," Anwar said.

WWF Indonesia said it was working closely with the government and private organizations to manage key tiger habitats, including through patrols, setting up guard posts and camera traps, and establishing field stations for research, conservation and education purposes.

Sunarto, WWF Indonesia's elephant and tiger conservation coordinator, said there were not enough forest rangers patrolling the tiger habitats against poachers and the illegal loggers destroying their habitats.

He added that WWF Indonesia had consistently urged the Forestry Ministry to get people living in or near the forests involved in sustainable forest management, which would both empower local communities and help protect tiger habitats and populations.

While the threat posed by poachers is not a new phenomenon, activists have sounded the alarm on a relatively recent medium that has boosted demand for tiger parts: online trading.

Iding Haidir, secretary of the Harimau Kita (Our Tigers) forum in Jambi, said buyers from all over the world now had access to Sumatran tiger parts as a result of the flourishing online trade.

"Often the parts are disguised as antique objects or parts from species that aren't endangered," he said as quoted by Antaranews.com, adding that many popular Indonesian e-commerce websites were known to tolerate or overlook users buying and selling protected wildlife.

Iding said that in 2011 and 2012, wildlife authorities seized from online traders tiger pelts, claws, teeth, whiskers and even whole stuffed animals believed to have come from at least 22 poached tigers.

He said the advent of e-commerce had allowed transnational syndicates to spring up, collecting tiger parts from poachers all over Sumatra and selling them to buyers in Indonesia and abroad.

"There needs to be more seriousness and cooperation between countries [to address the problem], because the illegal wildlife trade is no longer just between towns or provinces. It's international," Iding said.

He added that Harimau Kita was working with the popular online forum Kaskus and e-commerce site Berniaga.com to crack down on users trading in tiger parts.

Siska Handayani, the North Sumatra and Aceh coordinator of the organization Tiger Heart, agreed that the Internet had allowed the illegal wildlife trade to reach unprecedented levels.

"The seller and buyer can carry out a transaction in an instant and the goods are sent by courier, without either of them ever meeting in person," she said in Medan as quoted by Antaranews.com.

"Almost every part of the tiger's body is a sought-after item on the black market, which is why the number being poached continues to increase."

Agus S.B. Sutito, the head of the Forestry Ministry's sub-directorate of species conservation, acknowledged that the Sumatran tiger faced threats to its survival on several fronts.

He said the ministry had estimated the financial cost to the country from the illegal trade in all wild animal species at Rp 9 trillion ($875 million) a year.

Protests mount over Benoa Bay reclamation

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

Luh De Suriyani – Environmental activists staged protests over the planned reclamation of Benoa Bay in front of the governor's office on Wednesday, demanding the governor revoke the controversial project's permit.

The activists from Kekal (the Working Committee for Environment Advocacy) – an alliance of organizations that include Walhi and university students' executive bodies, accused the governor of deceiving the public by issuing a permit that allows the development of various tourist spots in Benoa.

"The governor issued the permit secretly, without the public being aware of it. He even pretended he didn't know about the reclamation plan when asked by journalists last month," said Pande Taman Bali, the protest coordinator.

Kekal argued that the permit granted to PT Tirta Wahana Bahari Internasional (TWBI) had violated some regulations, including the coastal management law that forbids commercialization of coastal waters, and the presidential regulation on spatial planning that classified Benoa as a conservation area.

The group also claimed the governor had violated the moratorium on hotel development in south Bali that he himself had issued.

The permit was also legally flawed because it was issued without incorporating the Amdal (environmental impact analysis) document.

"We demand the governor revoke the permit and oppose the reclamation that would damage the ecosystem and rob natural resources from the local people in Benoa," Pande said.

In the demonstration, some protesters staged a theatrical act about local fishermen being against investors. I Wayan Widiantara, who represents a youth organization in Banjar Kauh customary village in Benoa, said there had been positive and negative feelings among the villagers about the extensive project.

"The investor has been making a lot of donations of staple foods and building development here," he said.

Before the villagers were aware of the reclamation, they were only informed that an investor was interested in reclaiming Pulau Pudut, a two-hectare island in the area.

"At first, we were glad to hear that the island would be restored. We didn't know about a big project behind that, a project that would damage the environment to make way for luxurious facilities," he said, adding that he was worried the reclamation would cause abrasion that would affect the residential areas.

A series of protests will be staged until this Saturday, when the governor is scheduled to hold a discussion on the controversial issue.

Health & education

FSGI presses government to evaluate new school curriculum

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

SP/Nathasia Christy Wahyuni – The new school curriculum has many abstract and irrelevant benchmarks that students cannot possibly be tested against, a teachers' body has said as it urged the government to establish a body to scrutinize the implementation of the new syllabus.

"We call for the establishment of an independent team by Vice President Boediono," Federation of Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) secretary general Retno Listyarti said on Monday. She added that committee members should not be officials from the Ministry of Education but instead "should be academics who are really independent and understand the 2013 curriculum."

"This evaluation team should then provide quarterly recommendations. After one year, it should then be decided whether the curriculum will continue."

Retno said the FSGI has sent Boediono a request to discuss the issue, though it has yet to receive a reply. She also said her organization had sent the vice president the results of field work monitoring the implementation of the new curriculum.

Abstract targets

The FSGI found that teachers often could not effectively measure student performance under the new curriculum because the parameters were too abstract and sometimes unrelated.

She said, for instance, that the performance target for teaching biology at senior high school level was "for students to admire and be thankful for their body's anatomy."

For the accounting subject in high schools, the target set by the curriculum was "for students to conduct accounting activities based on their respective religions."

"How can teachers measure whether the students admire their own anatomy?" Retno said. "And for accounting, how is it possible to use religious principles? What if my religion prohibits usury but others don't? What then?"

Retno added that the government should have included personal or character values in the curriculum via strategies based on individual schools' culture.

Ministry invited

The FSGI has also urged Education Minister Muhammad Nuh to revoke all regulations pertaining to the 2013 curriculum.

"We are still awaiting the response from the minister. We will wait for 14 working days, and if no agreement is reached, we are ready to file a demand for a judicial review to the Supreme Court," Retno said.

She added that she hoped the minister would discuss the curriculum because both FSGI and the Legal Aid Institution (LBH) had found significant flaws in it. The discussion, she said, should be facilitated by an objective third party.

In response to the request, Nuh said the issue should be resolved internally within the ministry, and also in accordance with academic principles. He said he was ready to listen to people's views on the curriculum. "We believe this is an academic domain, so a discussion or debate would be fitting, even if it gets heated. That's OK," Nuh said.

The ministry has conceded that there were flaws in the implementation of the curriculum, and so it is planning a 2013 Curriculum Census to start later this month.

Early in the curriculum's implementation, several schools reported an excess in books and others a shortage. The imbalance was caused by poor quality data and the sudden decision by some schools to participate in the program, the ministry said previously. Some teachers appeared unprepared to teach the new curriculum.

Nuh said the ministry's decisions had to be based on facts. "It cannot be based on 'I think the new curriculum has been going well' or 'I think the new curriculum isn't going so well.' There has to be data for everything," he said, as quoted by JPNN.com.

Curriculum census

Nuh said he has summoned leaders in the State Educational Quality Control Agency (LPMP), an institution that works with the ministry on a provincial level, to assist with the census.

Nuh said the LPMP played a key role in monitoring the implementation of the new curriculum.

The census will involve officers from the team interviewing relevant people about the curriculum, including students, teachers, principals, supervisors and parents. He said that experts will not be included as sources in the census.

Nuh said he was confident the census would gather insights on the curriculum implementation, including the quality of books, teachers' training and learning materials.

The minister said he wanted the census results by October, with data to be made available to the public.

The new school curriculum, launched last month, cut the number of subjects taught in a day and dropped science, English-language and social studies courses in favor of Indonesian language classes, nationalism and religious studies.

Nuh said the new curriculum will benefit future generations of Indonesians by developing their sense of morality and social responsibility, though he failed to convince critics.

Yohanes Surya, a prominent physicist, said the move away from science and English-language studies during early schooling would hurt Indonesia's ability to compete internationally and would impact profoundly on those who could not afford private tuition.

The new curriculum will be introduced over three years, starting with students at 6,400 schools in selected grades this year.

The government trained about 60,000 teachers across the nation before the implementation to ensure they were ready to teach the new curriculum, but many said the training was only cursory, leaving teachers unprepared.

"To be honest, I am not ready. Participating in the training did not give me the full substance [of the curriculum]," said a math teacher from the State Middle School 8 in South Tangerang, as quoted by Republika.com, who added that the training did not seem reliable.

In a 2009 Program for International Student Assessment study, of 74 countries Indonesia ranked 68th in student performance in mathematics, 66th in science and 62nd in reading.

Schizophrenic patients go untreated

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – The Health Ministry has revealed that more than 90 percent of people diagnosed with schizophrenia in the country have no access to medical treatment.

"The ministry estimates only around 10 percent of people with schizophrenia are treated in a proper health facility," Deputy Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti said. Ghufron said that what hampered the treating of schizophrenic patients was a lack of infrastructure as well as an awareness that schizophrenia was a treatable disease.

"A lot of people with schizophrenia are treated inhumanely because of the lack of knowledge in our society," Ali said, adding that the lack of knowledge resulted in harsher treatment for schizophrenic patients. "A lot of them are chained, simply because their family and the community have no clue about how to treat them," he said.

Data from the ministry shows that some provinces lacked facilities to treat schizophrenic patients.

Seven provinces, including Banten, Gorontalo and East Nusa Tenggara, have no mental hospitals available.

"We are aware that coverage of mental health facilities has not yet become evenly distributed. And if the regional administrations in those provinces intend to build mental hospitals, we will definitely support them," Ali said.

Data from the 2007 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) conducted by the Health Ministry shows that more than 1 million people in Indonesia are at high risk of severe mental disorders, including schizophrenia, but that only around 3.5 percent, or around 35,000 people, received treatment in mental hospitals.

The Health Ministry estimated that around 50 percent of the total number of people at high risk of mental disorders were diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The ministry has not yet released the latest data with figures on schizophrenic patients in the country, saying that it will only be available after the launch of the 2013 Riskesdas in August.

Ghufron said the ministry was facing difficulties in expanding the coverage of mental healthcare due to the lack of mental health specialists. He said that only around 700 psychiatrists were available in the country. The ideal number is at least 2,500 psychiatrists.

The Health Ministry's mental health division director Diah Setia Utami said that the number of schizophrenic patients in the country had increased annually.

"We predict that the number of people with schizophrenia is increasing every year because based on our research, factors like the pressure of modern life and individualism have only gotten worse," Diah told The Jakarta Post.

Diah said that compared to the other countries in Southeast Asia, Indonesia may have performed the worst in dealing with schizophrenic patients.

"Other countries have better systems for handling people with mental illness. For example, Thailand has a mental health directorate general, which of course helps it treat people with schizophrenia," she said. "We don't have such a directorate general, and we have a bigger population as well as a broader area."

Separately, Emil Agustiono, deputy to the coordinating people's welfare minister for health, population and the environment, said that stronger cooperation among ministries was needed to curb the growing number of schizophrenic patients.

"We should not take this problem lightly because schizophrenia is a lifelong disease and could decrease the country's productivity and cost the nation a lot," Emil said.

Government to scrap taxes for imported books

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

Rendi Witular, Jakarta – The Finance Ministry will soon issue a regulation that will eliminate value-added tax (VAT) and income tax for the importation of non-fiction books, a move that is expected to help the public afford international resources deemed beneficial for domestic development.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri said on Wednesday that a ministerial regulation was prepared for the tax exemption, which would take effect sooner than later.

"The state gains little from taxing imported books. So why should we maintained the policy if scrapping the taxes could actually create bigger gains in terms of knowledge and perspective," said Chatib.

"We expect the public could soon afford books that are actually beneficial for development," he said. In combined, the VAT and income tax for imported books account for around 10 to 20 percent of the book price.

Graft & corruption

Corruption suspects grumble in detention

Jakarta Post - August 2, 2013

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – For some graft suspects who lived large before being detained by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), spending time behind bars could be excruciatingly dull as fulfilling even the most basic needs has now become a major challenge.

For graft suspect in the beefgate scandal Ahmad Fathanah, life behind bars had taken a toll on his sex life.

Recently, Fathanah complained that he now abstains from being intimate with his wife, 30-year-old dangdut singer Sefti Sanustika, while spending time inside the KPK detention center at the basement of the antigraft commission's headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The problem has come to a head with Sefti going as far as demanding the KPK to provide a special room for her to have a conjugal visit.

"Personally, I am a wife, a regular human being who has the need [to be intimate with my husband]," she told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview. "So don't consider Fathanah only as a graft suspect, but also see him and me as regular couple [who have basic needs]."

Sefti, who married Fathanah in Dec. 2011, said although the KPK allowed her and her daughter to visit Fathanah twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, it was barely enough.

"We could only visit him for two hours. Of course it is never enough. He [Fathanah] also complains about how time goes so fast during my visits."

Sefti also said that Fathanah also complained about the quality of food served by the KPK.

"The food [provided by the KPK] is enough in portion, but it does not have chili sauce. He likes spicy foods, especially my sambal terasi [shrimp paste chili sauce]," Sefti said, adding that she always cooked for her husband prior to her visit.

Fathanah is not the first KPK detainee to complain about foods served in detention. Earlier, graft convict businesswoman Siti Hartati Murdaya said she could hardly eat the food provided due to her illnesses and her being a vegetarian.

"As a vegetarian, I can only eat dry bread at the detention center. Every morning, they give me cakes containing sugar and coconut milk. These are toxic to my body. I can't eat it," she said.

Food is not the only complaint among graft detainees. Riau Governor Rusli Zaenal, who has been named a suspect by the KPK in a bribery case, has grumbled aloud about the lack of time and space for him.

Rusli said that the visiting hours the KPK set on Monday's and Thursday's made it difficult for him to carry out his job as an active governor.

"The visiting hours are just not enough, considering that he has to meet with a lot of his staff members," Rusli's lawyer Rudy Alfonso told the Post.

Rudy said that Rusli remains Riau Governor until he is convicted. "As a leader, Rusli needs time to discuss with his staffers whenever there are documents that need his signature," he said.

Rudy said that he had filed a request to the KPK to allow his client to receive guest only on Saturdays, when most of his staff members had free time to visit him. "But until now the KPK has not approved my request," he said.

Contacted separately, KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the antigraft body had its own rules with regards to keeping its detainees inside the detention center.

Johan said that the KPK could only provide a room for detainees and visitors to have face-to-face conversations and not for other purposes. As for Sefti's request, Johan said: "It's a room for meetings, not for sexual activities. So Sefti, please be patient," Johan said.

Andi bought Democratic chairmanship, Anas's lawyer claims

Jakarta Globe - August 1, 2013

Rizky Amelia & Novianti Setuningsih – Antigraft investigators have received a compact disc that allegedly contains evidence former Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng bought votes in his bid to secure the Democratic Party chairmanship during the party's 2010 congress.

The disc was submitted by Firman Wijaya, the attorney representing former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum – a political rival of Andi, also accused by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of accepting bribes.

"We brought several pieces of evidence obtained during our investigation related to a relatively big amount of money spent by one of the candidates and we think that the KPK should investigate it thoroughly," Firman said at the KPK offices on Wednesday.

The KPK has named both Andi and Anas as suspects for receiving kickbacks in the graft-ridden Hambalang sports center case. The KPK has sought to verify claims that Anas used Hambalang project money to buy votes to secure the chairmanship.

"We hope the KPK can be fair about whatever happened during the congress," said Firman, who also stated that Andi had used President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's name to try to win votes by claiming that the president was on his campaign team.

The KPK has already summoned witnesses to gather information related to the congress such as Congress Committee chairman Didik Mukrianto, other PD officials, including deputy secretary general Saan Mustopa, and hotel managers in Bandung, West Java.

The questioning of the hotel managers is believed to be related to allegations that money was handed out by Anas's camp to congress participants in one of the hotels where they were staying. The former PD treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin – jailed in 2012 for accepting bribes – has said that the Aston Hotel was the location where $5 million and Rp 35 billion ($3.4 million) was allegedly dropped off and distributed.

The KPK scheduled Anas for questioning as a suspect in the Hambalang case for the first time on Wednesday but he did not show up. Firman said Anas was unable to heed the summons but declined to elaborate on the reason.

He said he had asked the KPK to reschedule the questioning for his client after Idul Fitri and made an assurance that Anas would attend next time, but also questioned whether the KPK would take the opportunity to detain Anas when he showed up.

"The KPK has had ample time to detain all the suspects, so go ahead," he said, but added that there was no requirement for the agency to detain Anas as long as he was cooperative. Firman said he would demand an explanation from the investigators as to what the real charges against his client were, if he was detained.

"We want a fair process. The team of attorneys is still wondering until today what violations Anas had committed."

The antigraft probe into the allegations levied against Anas has only scratched the surface of the Hambalang sports center case, KPK chief Abraham Samad said recently.

"There are many more allegations," Samad said. "But we can't list them in detail yet because we're still investigating."

Meanwhile, Andi has been charged with irregularities in the administration of funding for the center, whose budget ballooned from Rp 300 million under the previous minister to Rp 2.5 trillion under Andi.

Terrorism & religious extremism

Densus 88 accused of making false arrest

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Two terror suspects arrested and later released by the Densus 88 Counterterrorism Unit last month are known to be members of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in the country.

"They are Mugi Haryanto and Supari. Both are chairman and deputy chairman of the Muhammadiyah branch in a village in Tulungagung [in East Java]," Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin said as quoted by tempo.co on Monday.

Din said that the antiterror squad had made a wrongful arrest, claiming that neither Mugi nor Supari had ties with the two terror suspects shot by Densus, Rizal alias Eko and M. Hidayah, or any terror groups.

Rizal reportedly came to Mugi's village to propagate Islam and teach Koranic recital. He lived in a kindergarten managed by Aisyiyah, Muhammadiyah's women organization. Din said that Rizal was welcome and well liked by the villagers.

After three months staying in the village, Hidayah came to visit Rizal and asked Mugi and Supari to take them to the city to get a bus. Densus members raided them when they were standing at a bus stop. Rizal and Hidayah were killed in the raid, while Mugi and Supari were arrested.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said that based on its investigation the killing of the terror suspects in Tulungagung was a violation of human rights. "They have not yet been proven guilty yet," Komnas HAM member Siane Indriani said as quoted by Antara.

Komnas HAM's investigation found that the terror suspects did not resist arrest and were only carrying boxes containing instant noodles and books when they were attacked by plainclothes Densus members.

Human rights activists deplored the arrest of Mugi and Supari, who were detained for a week without any clear charges.

Fuel bombs thrown at private Jakarta high school

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

Bayu Marhaenjati – Two fuel bombs were hurled into the backyard of St. Fransiskus Assisi Catholic private high school in Tebet, South Jakarta, at around 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, police said.

One of the bombs exploded, though three school guards and a local man successfully extinguished the resulting fire, Tebet police chief Comr. Nico Andreano Setiawan said.

"The fire was immediately doused with toilet water," he said, adding that the bombs caused no damage or injuries.

Nico said that the guards didn't see who threw the bombs and were alerted only by the sound of an explosion.

"After they checked the site, one of the bombs – which was about the size of a syrup bottle with a burning cloth at one end – was found. Another bottle was broken and on fire," he said.

Nico added that the investigation is still ongoing. "The perpetrator[s] and the motivation remain unknown, and we are still conducting the investigation. It is in the hands of the Tebet detective office," he said.

Bomb threatens pluralism

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Nadya Natahadibrata and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Indonesia's pluralism, already marred with cases of intolerance against Shia and Ahmadiyah followers, is facing a bigger challenge after the bombing of a Jakarta vihara occuring less than a week before Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadhan.

On Sunday night, a low-powered explosive went off inside the Ekayana Buddhist temple in West Jakarta, injuring three people and destroying part of the site.

While authorities and terrorism experts were still looking for a motive for the bombing, including whether it was linked to the violent conflicts between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, religious leaders were wary that Sunday's attack would wreak havoc on Indonesia's religious life.

Indonesian Buddhists Association (Walubi) deputy chairman Suhadi Senjaja said he condemned the attack and warned the Buddhist community to not be easily provoked by it and to maintain peace during the holy month of Ramadhan. "The principle of Buddhism is that there should be no violence and that there should be no hatred," he said.

Sunday's attack was the first incident in which the Buddhists became a target. Buddhists account for less than one percent of Indonesia's population, about 90 percent of which is Muslim.

In the past, attacks were targeted at churches. In 2000, bombs exploded in various towns on Christmas Day, killing 19 people and injuring dozens of others. The terror continued in December 2004, when the police discovered homemade bombs in Riau and West Java, suspected to be aimed at creating public unrest ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. (ret.) Marciano Norman said the bombing could have been linked to the plight of the Rohingya Muslims, who faced persecution in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. "I think the perpetrators were just aiming to make a mess here. They tried to provoke Buddhists and Muslims."

Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail told The Jakarta Post that the bombing was probably a follow up from previously failed bombing attempts at the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta. He added that the bombing was not aimed to inflict casualties, but as a wake-up call for the government.

Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) chairman Jusuf Kalla, who recently led a humanitarian mission to Myanmar, called on the followers of both faiths to refrain from violence. "I strongly encourage adherents in both countries [Indonesia and Myanmar] to calm down and not respond to the attack," Kalla told reporters at DMI's headquarters in Central Jakarta. "Violence is contagious, thus all of us should do our best to prevent it from becoming widespread," he added.

The former vice president said that Muslims should not be provoked by the violence in Myanmar as things had improved there over the past couple of months thanks to the ongoing efforts to promote peace there.

The police, however, were cautious to link the bombing with the violence in Myanmar. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said the police were still thoroughly investigating the incident to ascertain the real motive behind the attack that left three people injured on Sunday evening.

"For the time being, we cannot announce which group was involved in such an attack because we are still gathering all the evidence" Ronny told reporters at the National Police's headquarters on Monday.

Captured footage by security cameras at the temple reportedly showed an unidentified man entering the temple during a crowded sermon on Sunday evening with two packages.

The footage also showed paper stating "Kami menjawab Jeritan Rohingya" (We are responding to the cries of the Rohingyas) found among the ruins.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, meanwhile, also said he condemned the bombing at the Ekayana Buddhist temple, saying the action was not unjustifiable.

"I condemn what happened last night for whatever reasons, including on behalf of a certain religion. This is not the right way to convey solidarity," said the minister. (koi)

Incidents of violence ahead of religious holidays

Dec. 25, 2000: At least 19 people were killed and dozens of others were injured when bombs exploded almost simultaneously in or outside churches in various towns, as Christian communities prepared to celebrate Christmas.

Dec. 15, 2004: Riau Police discover four home-made bombs in a house in the Dumai area, which they believe would have been used to attack churches around Christmas time.

Dec. 17, 2004: Police discover nine bombs inside a Mekar raya bus traveling between the town of Garut and the Cicaheum terminal in Bandung – West Java Police suspected that the group planned to create public unrest ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Sept. 12, 2010: Two pastors from the Huria Kristen Batak Protestant (HKBP) are attacked as they, along with HKBP worshippers, are on their way to a Sunday service at the church's construction site at Ciketing village in Bekasi, West Java. The incident was just a day after Idul Fitri celebrations.

Aug. 4, 2013: A bomb explodes inside the Ekayana Buddhist Vihara in West Jakarta, injuring three people and destroying some parts of the site. The incident occurred four days before Idul Fitri.

Buddhist temple bomber disrespects sanctity of Ramadhan: Minister

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said the perpetrators of Sunday's bombing of Ekayana Buddhist Vihara in West Jakarta did not respect the sanctity of the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan and could therefore be considered "accursed and barbaric".

"The faithful should not be inflamed by the incident," Suryadharma told journalists in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by Antara news agency.

The minister said it was hoped that the bombing would not disrupt relations between Muslims and Buddhists. "I urge all religious followers not to be provoked by the incident," said Suryadharma.

The minister visited the Buddhist temple shortly after the attack on Sunday evening. He stayed at the location for around 30 minutes to inspect parts of the building damaged in the attack. The temple gate was closed immediately after the religious affairs minister left the location

Police increased security in and around the temple following the blasts. A loud boom was heard at Ekayana Vihara, which is located in a residential compound in Duri Kepa, West Jakarta, at around 8 p.m. local time on Sunday. (ebf)

Jakarta vihara bombed, three injured

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

Jakarta – A bomb exploded inside the Ekayana Buddhist Vihara in West Jakarta late on Sunday, injuring three people and destroying some parts of the site, which was established in 1995 to accommodate Buddhist students studying in nearby universities.

West Jakarta Police chief Fadil Imran said witnesses heard two explosions from inside the vihara. "They seemed to be bombs installed in separate sections inside the building. We're still gathering more information," he said.

Witnesses said they heard two separate explosions from inside the vihara, located on Jl. Mangga II and is around three kilometers from the bustling shopping malls of Central Park and Taman Anggrek. "The first explosion occurred at 9:10 p.m. followed by a second at 10:45 p.m." said Iwan, a local resident.

As of Sunday 24:00 p.m., the police's bomb squad was still combing the building for more explosives.

Since April, extremists and terrorist groups have conveyed their plans to target Buddhists and Myanmar facilities in Indonesia in response to sectarian conflict in Buddhist-majority Myanmar that has cost the lives of many members of the Muslim minority community.

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic group that has long been subject to persecution in Myanmar. A terrorist group launched a failed attack at the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta in May.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, has waged a campaign against radicalism and terrorism since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including foreign tourists. The authorities have detained more than 700 suspected terrorists and accomplices, and killed more than 65. (ogi/asw)

Freedom of religion & worship

JK warns forced conversion of Sampang Shiites unconstitutional

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2013

Margareth Aritonang, Jakarta – Former vice president Jusuf Kalla warned that forced conversion imposed on members of the Shia community in Sampang, East Java during the reconciliation process was unconstitutional.

Kalla, who also chairs the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) also called for a review on the ongoing mediation process as the reconciliation process reportedly involved forced conversion of the Shiites.

"That is not reconciliation. Reconciliation will equally guarantee the rights of conflicting groups. And it is definitely free from imposition of the will [of the majority group]," Kalla told reporters on the sideline of an Idul Fitri open house event at his residence in South Jakarta on Friday.

He emphasized that whoever imposes conversion on the Shiites is violating the rights to freely exercise religious belief. "The [central and regional] government must take all measures to safely return them [the Shiites] to their village without converting them," said Kalla.

Sampang Shiite Spokesperson Hertasning Ichlas previously testified that the Sampang local administration had forced the Shiites to sign an agreement of nine points, which included their willingness to return to "the true teaching of Islam" as well as to condemning of the teachings of Shiite cleric Tajul Muluk, who is currently imprisoned over blasphemy.

According to Hertasning, several members of the Sampang Shia community had been asked to sign the agreement before Sampang Regent Fanan Hasib, who was nominated by the United Development Party (PPP), and Head of Sampang's Municipal Political and National Unity Office (Kesbangpol) Rudi Setiadi.(dic)

Home ministry denies forced conversion of Sampang Shiites

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2013

Margareth Aritonang, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi rejected accusations centering on the government's alleged ultimatum to the displaced Sampang Shiites – convert to the "true" version of Islam and be able to return to their village.

"It was not meant to be a conversion. We used this method to make the transition smooth so they could return to their home village safe and sound," Gamawan said on the sidelines of Idul Fitri prayers at the Istiqlal Mosque on Thursday.

According to Gamawan, seven families have left the relocation neighborhood in Sidoarjo, East Java, and returned to Sampang. "We are planning to return 22 families in total. I hope this plan is successful," said Gamawan.

Critics had earlier said that the repatriation process was illegal because the Shiites were forced to sign an agreement of nine points, which included the condemning of the teachings of Shiite cleric Tajul Muluk.

Sampang Shiite spokesperson Hertasning Ichlas said that he received complaints from several members of the Sampang Shia community who were asked to sign the agreement before Sampang Regent Fanan Hasyib and Head of Sampang's Municipal Political and National Unity Office (Kesbangpol) Rudi Setiadi.(dic)

Islam & religion

MUI official slams Jakarta police call to limit takbiran

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

An official with the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) has criticized the Jakarta Police's call to curb the amount of Idul Fitri prayer convoys in the capital, alleging it as an attempt to "defy" and "belittle" Islam.

MUI deputy secretary-general Tengku Zulkarnaen on Tuesday said the prayer activities, in which participants chant the long version of the takbir (Allah is the greatest) while parading across the city, are recommended in Islam because they spread religious teachings.

He criticized the police's suggestion to limit takbir-chanting – often called takbiran in Indonesian – within the confinement of mosques.

"The excuse they use to ban these takbiran convoys is no different than defying Islamic teachings," Tengku told Indonesian news portal republika.co.id. "Their ban on this is an attempt to belittle Islam."

Many Indonesian Muslims – especially males – commonly march across cities and drive in pickup trucks while chanting takbir and beating traditional drums called beduk on the eve of Idul Fitri, which marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Tengku said that it was ironic that police allowed people to gather in Jakarta during New Year's Eve but they will not permit worshippers to congregate for Idul Fitri eve.

He added that police should have been willing to coordinate with religious leaders to ensure a safe evening of takbiran. "It sounds as if the police are attempting to imprison Muslims, even though they allowed other believers to celebrate New Year's eve," he said.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto denied that police were banning takbiran convoys, and said that the police have only called on people to avoid the activities because there have been many takbiran-related accidents recorded in the past.

"Some [participants] were hit [by vehicles] and some others fell from trucks or buses," Rikwanto told the Jakarta Globe. "Not to mention takbiran participants often taunt and fight with one another."

He added police would be ready to issue speeding tickets to violators or send them back to their homes. "We call on people to not parade on the streets. [We want people to participate in] takbiran in their neighborhoods," Rikwanto said, adding this was not the first time police made this call.

Five million people leave Jakarta as Idul Fitri exodus peaks

Jakarta Globe - August 4, 2013

Bumper to bumper traffic jams were reported on several main roadways outside of Jakarta on Sunday, as nearly five million homebound travelers left the capital for Idul Fitri.

Jakarta Police traffic director Sr. Comr. Chrysnanda Dwi Laksana said the annual Idul Fitri exodus, commonly referred to locally as mudik, was expected to reach its peak on Sunday and Monday.

"More than 50 percent of mudik travelers from Jakarta have departed," Chrysnanda said on Sunday, according to Jakarta administration news portal beritajakarta.com.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency predicted earlier that a total of 9.7 million citizens would make the journey from Jakarta to their respective hometowns for Idul Fitri, which is expected to fall this Thursday.

From that amount, 7.2 million people are expected to use private transportation, while the other 2.5 million will go by public transportation. Nationwide, the figure is estimated to reach a total of 30 million.

"We call on mudik travelers to delay their departure if they are able to. We predict that the exodus will reach its peak tonight," Mario S. Oetomo, a spokesman for ferry service provider ASDP Persero Indonesia, said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

"If you can put off your departure until tomorrow, why not do it? It will be more comfortable, and it won't be as crowded or jammed," he added.

Heavy traffic jams were reported along Java's northern coastal highway (Pantura), as well as the Sadang and Nagrek areas of West Java, where vehicles were supposedly backed up for more than 20 kilometers. Traffic was also at a stand still on the road leading to Banten's Merak Port, which connects Java with Sumatra.

Many fatal traffic accidents involving holiday travelers have also been reported, although authorities have yet to release an official death toll.

State & governance

SBY: You are either with me or against me

Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has lashed out at critics he says are interfering with his government's ability to implement and run its policies.

Speaking in front of industry executives, state-enterprise directors and ministers during an event at the Ministry of Industry on Saturday, the president called on the public to support him in his last year of leadership and dismissed those who appear to be interfering with his efforts.

"If you cannot help me as a president, then do not interfere. If you interfere, it becomes impossible to carry out [government programs]," he said.

Golkar Party politician Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator from House Commission III that oversees legal affairs, said the police should be permitted to silence critical voices if the interests of the state were being compromised.

"The law enforcement institutions should also act if the state and the public are being aggrieved by those attempting to disrupt the government's performance," he said. "I am under the impression that the president has evidence of the various disturbances conducted against his government, including the perpetrators' identities."

Bambang said that Yudhoyono may have been holding back from making public accusations, but added it would be "outrageous" if the president's comments were merely a tactic to divert from his government's failure.

"If the statements [Yudhoyono was referring to] were in fact mere provocations he is citing to build a facade atop the government's failure to manage the country, then that is outrageous," said Bambang.

Not all politicians agreed that the president's objection to criticism was reasonable.

Deputy chair of the National Mandate Party, Dradjad Wibowo, said on Sunday that Yudhoyono had exaggerated, noting that criticizing the government cannot be categorized as intererence. Instead he described it as a "check and a balance to push the government's performance."

Dradjad added that Yudhoyono had merely received harsh comments and that there have been no serious instances that could be considered as interference or a damaging political move against the government.

"I lived for nine years in a western democratic country. The harsh words raised today [against the government] are nothing compared to those in western countries," he said, adding that Indonesia's politicians face no serious risk of violence, as they do in Pakistan. "The way I see it, it's quite light, nothing that should be debated," he said.

Dradjad, who is an economist, said government performance regarding national economic issues such as the trade deficit, inflation and interest rates were legitimate targets for criticism and snide remarks. "In my view, those are the interferences Yudhoyono refers to," he said.

In April this year plans resurfaced to reinstate criminal charges for insulting the president or vice president that were previously struck from the Criminal Code in 2006 on the grounds that they were unconstitutional. Some legislators at the time came out in support of the move.

Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, the chairwoman of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, argued a rise in demonstrations against the president had gotten out of hand – with protesters burning his picture – and that some semblance of order was needed.

Government accused of wasteful spending

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

A graft watchdog criticized the government for spending Rp 2.57 trillion (US$194 million) on procurement of cars, saying that it undermines the government's efforts to cut fuel spending.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) says that, according to the 2013 state budget, 87 ministries and government agencies spend the money to buy 18,502 vehicles, or Rp 289 million apiece.

"The allocation contradicts the government's campaign on saving. It is very ironic that the government purchases more official vehicles at a time when people are dealing with the effect of increased subsidized-fuel prices," FITRA activist M. Maulana said.

Maulana said that the largest portion of the budget went to the National Police, which spent Rp 988.9 billion to purchase 3,664 vehicles. The Agriculture Ministry came second with a budget of Rp 260 billion.

The Finance Ministry and the Transportation Ministry both spend Rp 120 billion and Rp 114 billion on vehicles respectively.

Jakarta & urban life

A million newcomers to flood Jakarta after holiday, says NGO

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2013

Jakarta – The Indonesian Labor Institute has announced its estimates that approximately a million newcomers, most of them are unskilled workers, will seek work in the capital after the holiday.

According to the NGO, these newcomers were the families or friends of the workers who had already worked in Jakarta, who went to their hometowns during the Idul Fitri holiday season.

"They come here simply because of job availability," Andy William Sinaga of the institute said on Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He then asked the administration to limit the number of these newcomers or else they could become a new problem for the city with around nine million people already.

Earlier Jakarta governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo had stated that he wouldn't initiate operation that would screen people based on their ID cards, just like what the administration used to do under governors before him.

"I find it useless (to prevent people coming to Jakarta) as long as the government fails to provide jobs for them in regions besides big cities like Jakarta," he said.(ian/dic)

Armed forces & defense

House to scrutinize Moeldoko over harassment of Ahmadis

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Members of the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense will question Army chief of staff Gen. Moeldoko, the sole candidate to replace retiring Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Agus Suhartono, over his alleged involvement in what could be deemed as harassment against Ahmadis in West Java in 2011.

Although Moeldoko will most likely get an endorsement from most lawmakers. Commission I lawmakers said that it was important to bring up the allegation during a fit-and-proper test slated for Aug. 20.

"[It's important to highlight the issue] since he has been under the spotlight for his alleged involvement in assisting the West Java Governor Akhmad Heryawan to carry out Operasi Sajadah (Prayer Mat Operation) that aimed to kick Ahmadis out of West Java in 2011," Commission I deputy chairman Tubagus Hasanuddin said on Wednesday.

Moeldoko was said to have been responsible for assisting the West Java administration to force the Ahmadis – who have been deemed heretical – to return to the "right path" of Islam following the attacks against Ahmadis in Cikeusik, Banten, in February 2011.

At the time, he was commander of the Siliwangi Regional Command, in charge of a military operation tasked to encourage Sunni Muslims in the province to occupy mosques ran by the persecuted Ahmadis during the Sajadah Operation.

Moeldoko denied the allegation when he was first questioned about the operation soon after being appointed as new Army chief of staff, replacing retiring Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, earlier in May.

Moeldoko said that there had never been intimidation toward Ahmadis in West Java. He said that it was part of a communication campaign. However, the three-star general said that further investigation was needed to shed light on the allegation.

Three Ahmadis were murdered and dozens more severely injured when they were attacked by a mob in Cikeusik, Banten, West Java, on Feb. 6, 2011. The West Java government kicked off the Sajadah Operation weeks after the Cikeusik lynching.

Despite his alleged connection to the operation, Tubagus said that Moeldoko would have an easy time during his fit-and-proper test. Tubagus said that Moeldoko has the capability to lead the military due to his extensive experience within the military.

"For example, it has only been months after he was appointed the new Army chief of staff. Nonetheless, he has the experience needed for a tougher job," said Tubagus, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P).

Commission I member Hayono Isman said that Commission I would press the Ahmadi issues as it would affect how Moeldoko would handle his job in the future. "Commission I will absolutely do something if the allegation is true and we will aim to uncover it," Hayono said.

Prior to his appointment as the Army chief staff in May this year, Moeldoko served as Army deputy chief of staff from February to May. He previously served as the deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) from August 2011 to January 2013. He graduated with honors from the Military Academy in 1981.

Analysts said that could face tough challenges ahead, especially in reforming the military as well as preparing the armed forces to face new security challenges at domestic and regional levels.

Judicial & legal system

Activists to challenge Patrialis appointment

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Activists from the Indonesia Legal Roundtable (ILR) are planning to challenge the legality of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decision to appoint former law and justice minister Patrialis Akbar as a Constitutional Court justice.

The activists claimed Patrialis' surprising appointment was illegal as it was taken without a transparent and accountable selection process, as stipulated in the 2011 Constitutional Court Law.

They said they would soon submit a legal challenge to the presidential decree on Patrialis' appointment, signed by Yudhoyono on July 22, at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN).

The President is expected to postpone Patrialis' inauguration pending the issuance of the PTUN ruling. However, media reports said that Patrialis would likely be installed as soon as August 13 or just a few days after the Idul Fitri holiday.

The activists have questioned the President's move to speed up the inauguration, saying that it could be an attempt to slip in Patrialis' appointment as people were busy celebrating Idul Fitri, according to Erwin Natosmal of the ILR.

Wahyudi Djafar of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said the appointment of Patrialis could undermine the court's legitimacy as guardian of the Constitution.

"It will hamper its credibility as the sole institution tasked with guarding the Constitution as the appointment is legally flawed," he said. (ebf)

Economy & investment

Indonesia's robust growth at an end

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – Indonesia's impressive period of 6-plus percent economic expansion is over, after its economy posted only 5.8 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of this year, with analysts predicting more slowdowns on the way.

The country's 5.8 percent year-on-year growth in the second quarter is its slowest pace in almost three years, with the country previously succeeding in maintaining growth of above 6 percent for 10 consecutive quarters.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Friday that the slowdown was caused by a steep deceleration in investments and moderation in household consumption, which were Indonesia's two major growth drivers, jointly accounting for around 80 percent of its GDP.

In the second quarter of this year, gross fixed capital formation – an indicator of investment – grew only 4.7 percent, as compared to the impressive 12.3 percent recorded in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, household consumption decelerated to 5 percent from 5.2 percent.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri, who had previously always expressed optimism that the government would be able meet its annual growth target of 6.3 percent, finally acknowledged that "it would be very difficult, even with all the extra efforts", for Indonesia to grow at such a rate by the end of the year.

"Our growth now can no longer rely only on investment," he told reporters after Friday prayers in his Jakarta office, warning against tighter liquidity in the global economy that could limit both portfolio and direct investment coming into the country.

Responding to the slowdown, the minister said he would focus on propelling consumption. The government would implement policies so that the people's purchasing power would not be affected by surging inflation, which topped its four-year high level of 8.6 percent in July.

"We are now exploring all options from the fiscal side that could spur household consumption," Chatib said. "For example, the government once increased the level of non-taxable income, or PTKP, and we are now studying the possibility of implementing such policies again."

Concerns have arisen on whether Indonesia can sustain its robust economic expansion, with the economy now beset with various problems, notably languid exports stemming from the weak global recovery as well as moderate investment due to regulatory uncertainty ahead of the 2014 elections.

An economic growth of only 5.8 percent means that Indonesia's economy has decelerated for four consecutive quarters.

Analysts warned of steeper deceleration ahead, citing the recent monetary tightening performed by Bank Indonesia (BI), which has jacked up its key interest rate by 75 basis points to 6.5 percent within a two-month timeframe.

"We believe a further slowdown is on the way – loan growth is falling and recent macro-prudential measures will come into effect in the third quarter," said Citi Research economist Helmi Arman, who revised down his outlook for Indonesia's economic growth from 6 to 5.8 percent this year.

BI Governor Agus Martowardojo had forecast that the economy might only grow 5.9 percent both in the third and fourth quarters, with economic growth by year's end expected to fall within the central bank's range of between 5.8 to 6.2 percent.

Nevertheless, Agus reassured that there was nothing to worry about in relation to the slowdown.

He said the robust growth that Indonesia had enjoyed for the past several years was actually unsustainable, citing "structural problems" in the economy, notably the high current account deficit that the country had posted for six consecutive quarters.

Economy set to slow as inflation bites

Bloomberg - August 1, 2013

Novrida Manurung – Indonesia's inflation accelerated to the highest level in more than four years in July, adding to risks facing Southeast Asia's largest economy as growth cools.

Consumer prices rose 8.61 percent in July from a year earlier, after a 5.9 percent gain in June, the Statistics Bureau said in Jakarta today. That exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of 23 economists. Gross domestic product probably grew 5.9 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the first drop below 6 percent since March 2010, a separate survey showed before a report due tomorrow.

Higher costs may hurt domestic consumption that has been the driver of growth in Indonesia, at a time of falling demand for the country's commodity exports. Bank Indonesia has already raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points in the past two meetings to fight inflation.

"Measures should be taken to stabilize inflation, contain the current account deficit, and minimize financial stability risks," said Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Bank of America Corp. in Singapore, who expects another 25 basis-point rate increase this year. "Inflation is driven by a fuel price adjustment, not from demand."

The Jakarta Composite Index and 10-year bonds pared early gains after the inflation data, while the rupiah was little changed. The rupiah has dropped more than 6 percent this year, and led emerging-market currency declines in July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

It may weaken a further 3 percent to 4 percent, Michael Tjoajadi, chief executive officer of PT Schroder Investment Management Indonesia, said in an interview in Jakarta yesterday. Bank Indonesia has allowed the currency to decline, Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo said last month, and the central bank said it sees the rupiah finding a new equilibrium.

The government raised subsidized fuel prices on June 22 for the first time since 2008, resulting in an increase in distribution costs across an archipelago of 17,000 islands. It has tried to address higher prices by opening up the country to more imports of food such as shallots and scrapping import quotas for cattle.

The food imports will arrive in August and Bank Indonesia is optimistic monthly inflation will slow to about 0.9 percent in August from a 3.29 percent pace in July, Warjiyo said today.

The central bank has lowered its economic growth forecast for 2013 to about 5.8 percent to 6.2 percent, from a previous estimate of as much as 6.6 percent. The World Bank also cut its forecast for economic growth to 5.9 percent from a previous estimate of 6.2 percent for 2013. Exports fell 4.5 percent in June from a year ago, the Statistics Department said, compared with a survey median for a 1 percent increase. Imports dropped 6.8 percent in the same period, more than the median 0.1 percent decline predicted by economists, leading to a trade deficit of $847 million. Foreign direct investment rose 18.9 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2010.

"The softness in imports came despite a helpful base effect and probably says a lot about the state of domestic demand in the country," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Singapore, said in a note today. Tomorrow's "GDP numbers will provide more detail on this front but we expect to see a further decline in investment growth." With the rupiah under pressure, Credit Suisse expects one more 25-basis- point rate increase this quarter, he said.

Given current conditions, the probability of an increase in the benchmark rate is lower, Warjiyo said on July 26.

"It's not easy to make a decision at this point because BI needs to control two things," said Eugene Leow, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore. "To control inflation and external stability needs a higher rate but to support the economy, you don't really want to go with a higher rate."

Analysis & opinion

More violence for Indonesia's religious minorities

Human Rights Watch - August 7, 2013

Andreas Harsono – This week fresh violence erupted against some of Indonesia's religious minorities. Now the question is whether the government will identify and prosecute those who did it.

On Sunday, a bomb planted by unknown perpetrators exploded inside a Buddhist temple in downtown Jakarta while congregants worshipped, injuring three men. Police are investigating.

The violence comes just weeks after Indonesian Islamist militants vowed vengeance against Buddhists for attacks in Burma by members of the Buddhist majority against the local Rohingya Muslim population. A day later, unknown perpetrators tossed Molotov cocktails into the yard of a Catholic high school in Jakarta. Staff scrambled to extinguish the flames and kept the devices from igniting by dousing them with water from the school's bathroom.

While those responsible for the attacks and their motivation remain under investigation, they occur in a context of rising religious intolerance and related acts of violence against the country's religious minorities.

Human Rights Watch issued a report in February 2013 documenting an alarming rise in religious intolerance and related acts of violence. The report also addressed the unwillingness of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government to prosecute the perpetrators, amend existing laws and regulations that discriminate against religious minorities, and uphold religious freedom as embodied in Indonesia's constitution and International law.

Human Rights Watch warned that a failure by Yudhoyono to act decisively against religious intolerance would foster a form of "toxic osmosis" and only encourage Islamist militants to target new victims. Instead, Yudhoyono's spokesman dismissed such concerns as "naove" and said that "Even in a homogenous country there is friction between groups."

The events in Jakarta over the past few days suggest that such "friction" may have increasingly dangerous consequences for Indonesia's social fabric and the lives of its citizens.

The Jakarta Post headlined a short, but important message, with the temple attack: "Bomb threatens pluralism." Yudhoyono needs to end his ambivalence to that danger or the Indonesian people will pay the price.

Indonesia News Digest 29 – August 1-9, 2013

Hercules to file pretrial motion against West Jakarta police chief

Jakarta Globe - August 7, 2013

Indonesian legislator calls on public to pray for Egypt

Antara News - August 5, 2013

End in sight for mighty Hercules

Jakarta Post - August 4, 2013

Papua activist blames deadly shooting on military firing at ambulance

Radio New Zealand International - August 8, 2013

Women traders losing out in Papua

Tabloid JUBI - August 6, 2013

[Translated by TAPOL.]

Mobile police deployed to shooting region in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 5, 2013

Jakarta defends its policy approach in Papua region

Radio New Zealand International - August 5, 2013

Aceh governor decries removal of flags

Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2013

Aceh shariah police nab 35 food vendors over daylight operations

Jakarta Globe - August 4, 2013

Aceh administration agrees to change contentious flag: Government

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Aceh GAM flag stripped from Lhokseumawe in pre-dawn crackdown

Jakarta Globe - August 2, 2013

Military operation in Aceh was 'gross human rights violation'

Jakarta Post - August 2, 2013

Indonesian widows get Dutch compensation, apology over 1946-47 killings

Agence France Presse - August 9, 2013

Low productivity caused by old machinery, poor infrastructure: Activist

Berita Satu - August 8, 2013

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Political parties seeking support procure rest areas for travelers

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Activists will return awards to protest deforestation

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Little cause for celebration on Tiger Day

Jakarta Globe - August 3, 2013

Protests mount over Benoa Bay reclamation

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

FSGI presses government to evaluate new school curriculum

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

Abstract targets

Ministry invited

Curriculum census

Schizophrenic patients go untreated

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

Government to scrap taxes for imported books

Jakarta Post - August 1, 2013

More politicians linked to major graft cases

Jakarta Post - August 3, 2013

Among the graft-riddled projects reported by Nazaruddin were:

Corruption suspects grumble in detention

Jakarta Post - August 2, 2013

Andi bought Democratic chairmanship, Anas's lawyer claims

Jakarta Globe - August 1, 2013

Densus 88 accused of making false arrest

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Fuel bombs thrown at private Jakarta high school

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

Bomb threatens pluralism

Jakarta Post - August 6, 2013

Incidents of violence ahead of religious holidays

Buddhist temple bomber disrespects sanctity of Ramadhan: Minister

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

Jakarta vihara bombed, three injured

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

JK warns forced conversion of Sampang Shiites unconstitutional

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2013

Home ministry denies forced conversion of Sampang Shiites

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2013

MUI official slams Jakarta police call to limit takbiran

Jakarta Globe - August 6, 2013

Five million people leave Jakarta as Idul Fitri exodus peaks

Jakarta Globe - August 4, 2013

SBY: You are either with me or against me

Jakarta Globe - August 5, 2013

Government accused of wasteful spending

Jakarta Post - August 5, 2013

A million newcomers to flood Jakarta after holiday, says NGO

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2013