Deborah Snow – Two recent accounts by former Australian defence force personnel who worked in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (now West Papua) in 1977 suggests there was ADF knowledge at that time of alleged atrocities committed by Indonesian troops.

The Defence Department has issued a qualified denial of a claim made by the Asian Human Rights Commission that military aircraft supplied by Canberra were used in bombing runs over Papuan villages resisting Indonesian rule.

Defence told Fairfax Media that an initial search of Defence archives does not support the claim that two Iroquois helicopters were supplied by Australia to Indonesia in the 1970s. But it side-stepped questions about ADF knowledge of the alleged massacres detailed in the report.

The commission claims, in a report released on October 24, that both US- supplied Bronco aircraft and Iroquois helicopters were used in bombing and strafing runs over Papuan villages that were suspected of aiding the Free Papua Movement (or OPM). It said at least 4000 and possibly up to 9000 Papuan civilians died in air and ground attacks launched by Indonesian troops in 1977-78.

Now two accounts from former ADF members operating in the region at the time have come to light. The Australians were part of Operation Cenderawasih, a mapping exercise of Irian Jaya being carried out by an army survey team, supported by RAAF Iroquois helicopters and Caribou and Hercules aircraft.

The first account, by former major Don Swiney and former sergeant Peter Jensen, was published in 2011 in an Australian survey corps association newsletter.

The authors say The Indonesian Army [in July 1977] was conducting an intense operation against the OPM, including setting villages alight with rockets from the air and accompanying ground operations. Mr Swiney was the commander of the Australian field survey squadron.

He told Fairfax that I was aware of a ground operation based at Wamena and I estimated at the time of in excess of a battalion of [Indonesian] troops supported from the air by an OV-10 [Bronco] aircraft. This aircraft was armed with rockets. I witnessed from the air, huts in villages that had been burnt out but how that was done, I can only surmise. The Australians had a forward base at Wamena near the Baliem Valley (a focus of OPM activity) and were sharing an airfield with the Indonesian army from which they observed rockets being loaded onto Indonesian-operated aircraft.

The second account, written recently by former RAAF crewman Paddy Sinclair for a squadron reunion, also refers to Indonesian atrocities.

Mr Sinclair was on board a RAAF Iroquois helicopter that crashed while on survey operations in July 1977 on a steep, jungle-clad ridge near the Baliem Valley. An Indonesian army surveyor was also on board. In his account of the crash and subsequent rescue, Mr Sinclair reports that he and another crewman had used masking tape to write the word AUSTRALIA in makeshift letters on the tail of the helicopter.

Mr Sinclair says this was because Indonesian military were allegedly carrying out atrocities against the local population using Bell Iroquois aircraft painted in the same livery as the RAAF helicopters.

However, another ADF source disputes this, saying AUSTRALIA was emblazoned on the tail as a way of alerting the OPM not to mistake the RAAF helicopter for an offensive aircraft.

Richard Woolcott, who was Australian Ambassador to Jakarta in 1977, said he had not received reports about atrocities from Australian defence attaches at the embassy.

The Hong-Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission claims the Indonesian army s 1977-78 assaults against Papuan villages constituted a neglected genocide.

Maternal mortality rate in Papua still too high: BKKBN

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Jakarta – The National Family Planning and Population Board (BKKBN) has said the maternal mortality rate in Papua Province remains high.

"The local government should pay serious attention to the high maternal mortality rate. It should protect Papuan women and improve their reproductive health," Julianto Witjaksono, BKKBN deputy of family planning and reproduction health, said on Wednesday. Julianto said that about 500 mothers died of bleeding during labor every year in Keerom regency.

It was also difficult for officials to provide family planning services for native Papuan women, he said during the visit by the organization of cabinet ministers' wives at Wulukubun village in Keerom regency to have a close look at public facilities and family planning services there.

"Of the many family planning services, they prefer to use pills, injection and implant methods," he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Papua government rejects new provinces

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Nethy Dharma Somba and Panca Nugraha, Jayapura/Mataram – The governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe, has strongly rejected the plan to split the province, as the planned creation of a south Papua province and a central Papua province did not follow the proper procedures.

"I have told the House of Representatives' Commission II [overseeing domestic governance] that the creation of new provinces in Papua has to be carried out via the correct procedures and not simply based on pragmatic interests," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The House has agreed to deliberate on the creation of 65 new regions, including eight provinces, two of which are located in Papua province and one in West Papua province.

The desire to create a south Papua province and a central Papua province has been expressed for some time, but previous governor Barnabas Suebu did not give his approval.

Based on the Papua Special Autonomy Law, the creation of new provinces in Papua should be approved by the Papua governor, the provincial legislative council (DPRD) and the Papua People's Council (MRP) before being submitted to the central government.

Enembe said his office only supported the plans to create 22 new cities and regencies that had been through the proper procedures.

Meanwhile, the 2011 Yap Thiam Hien Award winner Father John Jonga rejected the creation of new regions in Papua, saying there were no new regencies that could be considered successful.

"Papuans' quality of life does not improve with the creation of new regions," he said. "Outsiders are coming to Papua to get government paychecks while the natives are forgotten."

He pointed to the creation of Nduga regency in 2010, which had witnessed continuous conflict. "The regency budget is spent on paying compensation to the victims of sectarian clashes," he said.

Jonga called on the central government to be wiser in responding to requests for new regions in Papua. "It's wiser to optimize current regencies and cities in terms of employees and infrastructure in order to improve the welfare of Papuans as the main goal," he said.

Meanwhile, the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) provincial administration said it fully supported the creation of Sumbawa Island province.

"The NTB governor issued a recommendation in 2011 to support the creation of a Sumbawa Island province," provincial spokesman Tribudi Prayitno said on Friday.

"We're glad with the House's approval to deliberate the bill to create the new province, but the central government holds a moratorium on the creation of new regencies."

Tribudi said he expected all parties, especially House members from NTB, to support the creation of Sumbawa Island province.

BPK details misuse of Papua social aid funding

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A report from the Supreme Audit Agency from July 6 shows that a presidential adviser and several Papuan legislators received hundreds of millions of rupiah last under the guise of social aid from the from the budget of one of the least developed provinces in the country.

It was revealed that recipients of the money included local councilors and presidential adviser Velix Vernando Wanggai, who received Rp 200 million ($18,000).

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report said the money to Velix, paid by the Papua provincial administration, was meant for the printing expenses of 3,000 copies of a book titled "Development for All: Managing Regional Development."

Velix did not return calls for comment. Yan Mandenas, one of the councilors who also received the social aid, said he would comment on the issue today.

Robert Jitmau, an analyst on social matters, said the money should have been allocated for the underprivileged.

"It's called social aid, which means it should be used for social activities," he said. "The councilors and the presidential adviser should be fighting for the people's rights and not taking it from them. The money they took should have been for the people to fight for their interests," Robert added.

Although the recipients were able to account for the money, Robert said it was still unethical of them to have accepted. "We're talking about the ethics and morality of the councilors and the presidential adviser. This is not a matter of accountability," he said.

Robert alleged that the money handed out was a form of conspiracy between the government and the councilors. "This could be an indication of a game between the government and legislative in the use of the provincial budget," he said.

Among the councilors who received money from the 2012 social aid fund were Boy Markus Dawir, who used it to pay for his medical expenses in Singapore; Ruben Magai, who received Rp 200 million that he used to pay for the construction of his house; and Yunus Wonda, who received Rp 105 million, which he used to pay for his child to go to university in New Zealand, and another Rp 148 million for medical check-ups in Jakarta.

In June this year, the BPK revealed that nearly $1 billion in social aid funds was misused by two government ministries, prompting claims that the funds were being used to bankroll political campaigns ahead of next year's elections. Various factors were blamed, including the lack of clarity on the fund recipients.

Allegations of Papuan atrocities likely to be 'stonewalled'

SBS News - October 25, 2013

Kate Lamb – Allegations of genocide, rape and napalm bombs dropped on the restive province of West Papua in the late 1970s are likely to be 'stonewalled' by the Indonesian government, analysts say.

According to an extensive report released by the Asian Human Rights Commission this week, thousands of West Papuans were killed in aerial raids, including by cluster bombs and napalm, in a bid to quell sectarian tensions following the national elections in 1977.

The report also states that two helicopters supplied by Australia were used during the military operations.

Following the release of the report – The Neglected Genocide: Human rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977-1978 – Indonesian analysts say they are doubtful the claims will ever be investigated.

"No one in the government is going to say, 'Hey maybe that is true and we need to investigate,' says Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer at the Indonesian National Defense University in Jakarta. "I mean, no way, that's not going to happen," he adds.

Andreas Harsono, a researcher at the Indonesian branch of Human Rights Watch reluctantly agrees. "I expect the Indonesian government will stonewall it or try to ignore it," he says, "Or they will make promises, but again never follow through."

Indonesia declared sovereignty over the resource-rich province of West Papua after a contentious United Nations referendum in 1969. Separatist movements have ensued since and the Indonesian government has sought to closely guard its easternmost territory.

Based on historical records, field research and the testimonies of survivors in 15 affected communities, the AHRC identified 4,146 victims of the killings but said the total number of victims who died from torture, disease and hunger as a result of the violence could total 10,000.

Developed over three years, the report says that bombings and 'indiscriminate shootings' also occurred alongside 'unspeakable atrocities' such as villagers being slashed with razors, forced to have sex in public as well as being buried, boiled and burnt alive.

Despite allegations of widespread human rights abuses, the Indonesian government has never recognized that mass killings and atrocities were committed by the Indonesian military in the late 1970s.

In modern day Indonesia, West Papuan independence remains a politically sensitive issue. Separatists are jailed for flying the independence flag and foreign journalists are restricted access to the province, where military and intelligence officers have a strong presence.

Defense analyst Sulaiman says that while many activists are campaigning for greater transparency in Papua, he doubts the government will 'open that can of worms' any time soon.

Besides, he argues, it would not be politically advantageous for any political party to push for an investigation into transgressions in Papua in the lead up to the presidential election next year.

The Hong Kong based AHRC is urging for legal redress and for the Indonesian government to establish a reconciliation process. Indonesia's foreign ministry and presidential office declined to comment on the AHRC report when contacted by SBS on Thursday.

Claim Aussie choppers used in Papuan 'genocide'

SBS News - October 25, 2013

Thea Cowie & Sacha Payne – A report claims Australia provided Indonesia with helicopters which were used to carry out 'genocidal' attacks in West Papua in the late 1970s.

The report by the Asian Human Rights Commission says Australian helicopters were among aircraft used to carry out napalm and cluster bombing in the West Papuan highlands. And a warning, this report contains some disturbing material.

The startling report claims West Papuan independence supporters were burned and boiled alive; women were raped, had their breasts cut off and internal organs pulled out; while other villagers were sliced with razors and forced to eat soldiers' faeces.

Entitled "The Neglected Genocide – Human Rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands", the report estimates more than four-thousand people from 15 communities were killed in 1977 and 1978.

The Asian Human Rights Commission's Basil Fernando says it's upsetting that Indonesia and its neighbours have failed to recognise what he says was genocide.

"Such a large number of people being killed, but has not been a preoccupation for the Indonesian government as well as for the neighbouring countries – such as Australia – that is one of the most shocking aspects of this report."

The Indonesian military launched the alleged attacks in response to West Papuan independence uprisings following 1977 general elections. University of New South Wales West Papua expert, Associate Professor Clinton Fernandes, explains:

"In the 1970s the Indonesian military was annexing West Papua and some of the Papuans who were resisting had to be crushed by force. The Indonesian air force's doctrine was to destroy agricultural areas, destroy foodstocks, buffaloes, paddy fields and so on. And they would use napalm and they would do that in order to starve the resistence into submission."

The report claims two helicopters provided by Australia were used in bombing attacks on the Central Highlands villagers. But Associate Professor Fernandes says it's very difficult to obtain a fuller picture of Australia's involvement in West Papua at the time because many of the relevant diplomatic cables have yet to be released. That's despite the fact they were due to be de-classified five years ago.

Associate Professor Fernandes says the Department of Foreign Affairs is objecting to their release on national security grounds. "It looks like the Australian government is claiming national security problems but really is afraid of embarrassment about what the public would think of it, were it to realise how closely involved we were with the Indonesian military."

Associate Professor Fernandes says what is known is that between 1975 and 1978 Australia spent $26-million helping to modernise the Indonesian military. He says it's impossible that Australian authorities didn't know Australian choppers were being used in the attacks in West Papua.

"It's inconceivable. Anybody who provided the helicopters as well as Australian intelligence would have been writing detailed reports about what they knew, how they'd been used and so on simply in order to inform out own intelligence services about the doctrine, training and operational capabilities of the Indonesian airforce. Bureaucrats can never say they knew nothing. It's possible that certain high level politicians may not have read certain reports and so on but this is all the more reason for the government to declassify its holdings from the 1970s."

Tom Clarke from the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre is calling on the federal government to launch a comprehensive review of Australia's relationship with the Indonesian military and security forces. He says it's not only historical ties between the two nations that are of concern.

"Detachment 88 is Indonesia's elite counter-terrorism unit and this is a detachment that is accused of committing human rights abuses in West Papua in the last few years. So this is a unit that the Australian government provides support to. So the Human Rights Law Centre would like to see a complete review of Australia's relationship with Indonesia's military to make sure we're not in any way complicit with human rights abuses."

In a statement to SBS Radio the Department of Foreign Affairs says the contemporary human rights situation in West Papua does not resemble the situation portrayed in the Asian Human Rights Commission report. The Department says it is unable to comment on the situation 35 years ago.

[Transcript from World News Australia Radio.]

Indonesia accused of Papuan genocide

Jakarta Globe - October 25, 2013

Dessy Sagita & Rizki Amelia – Indonesia is responsible for a genocidal military operation carried out in Papua between 1977-1978, which killed more than 4,000 indigenous Papuans, including women and children, the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission and Human Rights and Peace for Papua said in a statement released Thursday.

In the report, which took researchers three years to complete, it is reported that infants and children were among the victims of aerial bombings and strafing by American-supplied OV-10 Bronco attack planes. The report also highlighted brutality and inhumane behavior by the Indonesian military.

AHRC interviewed a survivor, Reverend Matius Wenda (not his real name) who said he witnessed Indonesian military officers forcing elderly Papuans to consume excrement.

Another witness told interviewers he saw highlands Papuans detained by the military before being shot in a field, the witness saying he only survived by pretending to be dead.

The report also mentioned sexual violence against Papuan women, which it says was common during the military operation around the Central Highlands, as described by one of the interviewed female survivors. "Breasts of some women were cut and they died. We were raped, abused and killed... Some women were only raped but others were raped and murdered," the report says.

An AHRC director, Basil Fernando, said "the publication of the report is aimed at raising awareness amongst the general public, particularly in Indonesia, on the history of violence in Papua."

The AHRC said atrocities perpetrated by the state in Papua could be classified as genocide based on the definition provided by the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.

AHRC claims that the horrendous human rights violations documented in the report are attributable to high ranking officials of the Indonesian military at that time, including former President Suharto.

"The long period of authoritarianism under Suharto has effectively silenced Indonesians from discussing its dark history related to Papua," Fernando said.

He pointed out that available sources examining the abuses in the Central Highlands during 1977-1978 were very limited. The report recommended the establishment of a local truth and reconciliation commission in Papua as called by the Special Autonomy Law enacted in 2001.

It also calls for the government to comply with its international human rights obligations by lifting unreasonable and disproportionate restrictions on freedom of expression in the country to encourage open discourse on the history of violence in Papua, and by ensuring the safety of any individual speaking up on the issue.

The national government hopes increased autonomy in Papua will help reduce violence in the region. But the governor of Papua province has said it will take more than autonomy to fix the region's serious problems.

While most Papuans live in abject poverty, the resource-rich island is host to one of the world's largest copper and gold mines, operated by US company Freeport and co-financed by British-Australian miner Rio Tinto.

The central government has poured trillions of rupiah into the region since establishing the first autonomy program in 2001, but poverty rates remain at 31 percent and the rate of HIV transmission is the highest in the country outside of Jakarta.

Haris Azhar, chairman of the Jakarta-based Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that while it was true there has been continuous state violence in Papua since the 1960s, there have been insufficient studies to determine whether it qualifies as genocide.

"There has been a lot of violence in Papua, there has never been genocide, but there have been crimes against humanity," Haris said Thursday. Haris said a crime could only be classified as genocide after a comprehensive study. Genocide, he said, must constitute government policy to qualify.

"There a lot of brutality and torture in Papua but there has been no strong evidence about genocide against a particular ethnicity," he said. "The government can follow up by asking the National Commission of Human Rights to investigate whether or not it is true," he said.

Presidential spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, said the use of the term genocide was controversial and could potentially be dangerous.

"I have not read the report, but the term genocide is very tendentious, do they have the proper methodology to measure if the word can be used? Did they actually investigate the case in Papua or did they hear the story from a third party? We don't know," Teuku said to the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

Teuku said the term genocide could only be used for a very serious crime and should not be used casually for the situation that has happened in Indonesia. "It is very dangerous if any group can easily use the word genocide and claim a country is responsible for it," he said.

Defence department rejects claims its helicopters used in Papuan 'genocide'

ABC Radio Australia - October 24, 2013

Karen Barlow and staff – The Australian Department of Defence has rejected claims that Australian-supplied helicopters were used by Indonesia's military to kill Papuan civilians in the late 1970s.

A three-year investigation by the Asian Human Rights Commission alleges the murder, rape and torture of more than 4,000 Papuans more than 45 years ago. The report claims two Australian-supplied Iroquois helicopters were used in the operation.

The Defence Department says its archives tell a different story. In a statement given to the ABC, the department said:

"From 1976 to 1981, Defence units undertook Operation Cenderawasih, the survey and mapping of then Irian Jaya.

"Iroquois, Caribou, Canberra and C-130 Hercules aircraft from Australia operated within Irian Jaya.

"The base for the operation was Mokmer Airfield on the island of Biak."

The statement went on to say that any further requests on the subject should be submitted as a Freedom of Information request.

A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was not in a position to comment on the situation in Papua in this period, 35 years ago.

"The Australian Government's current policy towards Papua is clear: we condemn all violence affecting civilians and security personnel alike," DFAT said.

"The contemporary human rights situation in the Papuan provinces does not resemble the situation portrayed in the AHRC report.

"Any requests for access to departmental records from this period should be directed to the National Archives of Australia in accordance with the Archives Act 1983."

Rights commission releases damning report

The report – The Neglected Genocide – Human Rights Abuses Against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977-78 – attempts to document violence that occurred when Indonesia launched several military operations around Wamena, in response to independence uprisings after general elections in 1977.

The AHRC conducted field visits, interviewed witnesses and examined historical records. It collected the names of 4,146 people it believes were killed by the Indonesian military, and claimed the total number of victims who died from torture, disease and hunger as a result of the violence could be well over 10,000.

The report says two Australian-supplied Iroquois helicopters, along with US-supplied Bell UH-1H Huey helicopters, were among aircraft used by local command in the attacks.

The report details one incident in which villagers in the Bolakme area were told they would be receiving aerial aid from Australia, only to be bombed by American-supplied planes.

Papua governor's unfounded pledge leads to petition to lift journalist ban

Pacific Scoop - October 24, 2013

Daniel Drageset – A petition to revoke the ban on media reporting from West Papua has been initiated by press freedom groups.

At the time of publication, the avaaz.org petition had only accumulated 237 electronic signatures. The petition, which was launched recently, was initiated after the governor of West Papua said journalists would be allowed to enter the Indonesian-ruled region.

However, the Australian newspaper The Age reported shortly after the announcement that the promises of the governor appeared to be "unfounded", and that the same legal process of applying for a journalist visa to the region was still in place.

The Jayapura branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AIJ) confirmed journalists were still having difficulties getting permits to report from West Papua. Journalists from New Zealand, the Netherlands, the UK and Australia have had to wait for three months to get a permit, according to AIJ.

"Even after they get into Papua some of them have to be accompanied by a government agent in doing their journalistic duty," chairman of AIJ in West Papua, Victor Mambor, told Antara news agency.

'Unclear' policy

Mambor said AIJ was particularly critical to the Indonesian press freedom policy, saying it was "not clear".

"So far there has been no government regulation restricting foreign journalists from doing journalistic work in Papua. However, foreign journalists have complained they had been restricted by making it difficult for them to get the permit to enter Papua," Mambor said.

He also said the government had deliberately created unclear regulations, so that authorities could interpret the legislation any way they wanted.

According to Mambor, the current policy could degrade the Indonesian ranking in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. In the 2013 index, Indonesia was ranked 139th of the 179 countries in the ranking – up seven places from 2012.

Reporters Without Borders placed the country in the 'red' category, the second worst out of the five categories, calling the press freedom situation "difficult".

'No improvement'

Although the World Press Freedom Index suggested Indonesia had improved from 2012, AIJ said there had been no signs that the government had listened to the "demand of [the] international community for greater access by foreign journalists" in West Papua.

According to Indonesia's Foreign Minister Natalegawa, 35 foreign journalists were given access to West Papua in 2011 and 2012. However, the journalists were not given freedom to perform their duties in the region, Mambor said.

"Seven of the foreign journalists were deported from Papua and most recently an ABC reporter had to be disguised as tourist to enter Papua," he said.

Mambor said the foreign minister had pledged that no journalists would be barred from West Papua, but foreign journalists had nevertheless continued to face restrictions when entering the region.

[Daniel Drageset is the Pacific Scoop internship editor.]

Australia 'neglecting UN obligations' by deporting Papuan asylum seekers

The Guardian (Australia) - October 24, 2013

Marni Cordell – Experts in refugee law have warned that Australia cannot pass off to Papua New Guinea its responsibility to process the claims of seven West Papuan asylum seekers.

The seven West Papuans told Australian immigration officials when they landed by boat in the Torres Strait last month that they feared for their lives after taking part in a protest against Indonesian human rights abuses in West Papua.

But instead of processing their claims Australia deported them to PNG, where they are now in a remote refugee camp close to the Indonesian border.

"We can't just ignore [their claim for asylum]," the director of the clinical legal program at Murdoch University, Anna Copeland, told Guardian Australia. "Because we're signatories to the UN refugee convention the whole obligation is that we don't just ignore it.

"We are supposed to implement [the convention] in good faith with the intention that it was set out, so this kind of manoeuvring to be able to refuse is a breach of our international obligations," she said.

The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, told the media that the seven were deported under a 2003 memorandum of understanding designed to prevent PNG being used as a transit country for asylum seekers hoping to make it to Australia.

Under the agreement, Australia is only able to return asylum seekers to PNG if they have spent more than seven days in that country prior to their arrival.

The West Papuans say they repeatedly told Australian immigration officials that they had only spent two days in PNG on their way to Australia. When questioned on this, Morrison said there had been "a concession agreed between the two governments".

Use of the memorandum does not merely allow Australia to wash its hands of them, according to legal analysis of the 2003 agreement by Dr Savitri Taylor, director of research in the school of law at La Trobe University.

Australia still has ongoing obligations under international law to ensure the group has a meaningful chance to have their asylum cases considered and that they are safe from persecution in the interim. The group said both of these conditions had been breached.

When Guardian Australia spoke to one of the seven, Yacob Mechrian Mandabayan, via phone from the remote border camp on Monday night, he said they were in fear for their lives because the camp was close to the porous Indonesian border. "We do not feel safe here because this place is not guarded by police or security guards," he said.

Mandabayan also said there was no immediate prospect of their asylum claims being processed. After the group's initial refusal to seek asylum in PNG – where they say they face the persecution – they now believe they have been dumped at the camp "to just stay until we die in here".

Mandabayan said the group lodged an application with Port Moresby Court on Friday 11 October to request a stay on their relocation to the camp. It was to be heard the next Monday. But on the Saturday, before this could happen, PNG immigration officials arrived at their hotel with "police officers with M16 guns" to take them by force to the airport.

He also described an incident last week in which an "Indonesian-looking" man arrived at the house in which they were staying and tried to take their photos.

"We don't want to seek asylum in PNG; we only want to seek asylum in Australia," Mandabayan told Guardian Australia. "In Australia we feel safe because it's far away from the Indonesian authorities."

Australia link to '70s atrocities

Sydney Morning Herald - October 24, 2013

Jenny Denton – Research into one of the most violent episodes in the history of West Papua claims that helicopters provided to Indonesia by the Australian government were used in military operations in the 1970s that amounted to genocide.

According to a report by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, two Iroquois helicopters supplied by Australia were among aircraft used by the regional military command in West Papua in operations in the Central Highlands in 1977 and 1978 that killed thousands of civilians.

The AHRC report, The Neglected Genocide: Human rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977-1978, details mass killings by aerial strafing and bombings – using both napalm and cluster bombs – in and around the Baliem Valley, where support for the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) was strong and tensions had escalated going into national elections in 1977.

In one incident described in the research, villagers were bombed with napalm from US-supplied OV-10 Bronco attack aircraft as they waited for planes they had been told would deliver aid from Australia.

RAAF pilots had been sent to West Papua for a six-week mapping exercise in 1977 as a form of military assistance to Indonesia and were flying Iroquois helicopters.

One of them crashed in July 1977, according to The Sydney Morning Herald of that year, reportedly due to weather conditions. An Australian army Pilatus Porter plane was shot at over West Papua by unknown assailants in August 1977.

The latest report, which has been three years in development, collected interviews from survivors of the military operations in 15 affected communities and used the accounts, together with historical records, to compile names of 4146 identified victims of killings.

In addition to aerial bombardment and indiscriminate shootings, the report describes a range of "unspeakable atrocities" inflicted on indigenous Papuans by Indonesian soldiers in the Central Highlands operations. Villagers were sliced with razors, forced to eat soldiers' faeces, thrown into wells, drowned, buried, burnt and boiled alive, according to the report.

The Indonesian government has never recognised that mass killings and atrocities took place in the Central Highlands military operations and has denied ever using napalm or cluster bombs in Papua.

Basil Fernando, director of policy and programs at the Asian Human Rights Centre, said thousands of people in West Papua remember the events described in the report and information about them was easy to obtain.

"What is most shocking is that for all these years there has hardly been any investigation into this large number of killings, and the basic political issues remain unresolved," Mr Fernando said.

The report's authors state their research is "consistent with estimates" of a death toll from the 1977-78 operations numbering at between 5000 and "tens of thousands".

They argue that "the pattern of mass violence" constituted genocide. The Asian Human Rights Commission is calling for an apology, legal redress and a process of dialogue from the Indonesian government as essential to achieving justice and reconciliation.

A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the department did not have "any information to hand" about allegations that Australian aircraft were used in the operations.

Indonesia accused of using Australian helicopters in West Papua 'genocide'

The Guardian (Australia) - October 24, 2013

Oliver Milman – Helicopters supplied by Australia were used by Indonesia in a "genocidal" crackdown on civilians in West Papua in the 1970s, a new report has claimed.

The report, conducted by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission, says two Iroquois helicopters from Australia were among the aircraft deployed by the Indonesian military in the central highlands of Papua in 1977 and 1978.

The commission said the military operations resulted in the death of more than 4,000 indigenous Papuans, often from aerial assaults by helicopters and OV-10 Bronco planes, supplied by the US.

The report accuses Indonesian soldiers of "brutal and inhumane" treatment of civilians, with survivors telling the AHRC that officers forced elderly Papuans to eat their own excrement, while those arrested by the military were lined up and indiscriminately shot.

The report paints a disturbing picture of sexual violence against Papuan women, with accounts of rape and sexual abuse "common". Some women had their breasts cut, while others were buried, burnt and boiled alive.

In one incident, villagers were bombed with napalm as they awaited planes they were told would deliver aid from Australia.

The military campaign intended to quash support for the separatist Free Papua Movement, which was popular in the region.

The AHRC said accounts of the killings, which took three years of research, amounted to genocide under UN conventions, with high-ranking Indonesian military officials, including former president Suharto, implicated.

Basil Fernando, AHRC director for policy and programme development, said: "The long period of authoritarianism under Suharto has profoundly silenced the Indonesians from discussing its dark history related to Papua.

"Without any recognition from the government and the public at large in Indonesia on the state-sponsored wrongdoings in Papua, the ongoing conflicts in the area will only continue."

"There should be genuine efforts from the government to provide justice for the Papuans, one of which is by fulfilling their right to truth."

The report calls for a truth and reconciliation commission to be established, the lifting of "unreasonable and disproportionate" restrictions on freedom of expression on West Papua and the encouragement of an "open discourse" on the violence in the region.

Jennifer Robinson of International Lawyers for West Papua said: "AHRC's work in documenting the mounting evidence of the genocide committed by Indonesia in West Papua is invaluable.

"For too long the UN and the international community have neglected the suffering of West Papuans as a result of Indonesia's crimes. Without recognition and justice, there will be no peace in Papua."

The Australian government says it is studying the report.

New report claims Indonesia responsible for Papua genocide

ABC Radio Australia - October 24, 2013

Cathy Harper – An extensive new report has been released, containing graphic detail of the alleged murder, rape and torture of more than 4,000 Papuans by Indonesian military in the late 1970s.

The report, by the Hong-Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHCR), names numerous Indonesian military commanders, including the late Indonesian President, General Suharto, as those responsible for ordering or failing to stop the violence, and says they should be tried by a human rights court.

The report "The Neglected Genocide – Human Rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977-1978" attempts to document violence that occurred when Indonesia launched several military operations around Wamena, in response to independence uprisings after general elections in 1977.

The AHRC conducted field visits, interviewed witnesses and examined historical records. It has collected the names of 4,146 people it believes were killed by the Indonesian military and claims the total number of victims who died from torture, disease and hunger as a result of the violence could be well over 10,000.

The report says Papuans in the Central Highlands were victims of napalm bombing and indiscriminate shooting from the air, sometimes from aircraft supplied to the Indonesian military by Australia and the US.

In one reported incident, villagers in the Bolakme area were told they would be receiving aerial aid from Australia, only to be bombed by American-supplied planes.

The report also contains details of independence supporters being burned alive, boiled alive, and being forced to perform sexual acts in public.

In other incidents, the report claims women and children were targetted: children's heads were cut off, women were raped and had their breasts cut off and internal organs pulled out.

The report names 10 Indonesian commanders and senior military leaders it says were responsible for either ordering or failing to prevent the violence perpetrated by various battalions. Among those resposible, according to the report, is the former President Suharto, as Supreme Commander of the Indonesian military.

A spokesman for the Asian Human Rights Commission Basil Fernando says some of those named in the report are still in positions of power within the Indonesian military.

The report calls for an ad hoc human rights court to be set up to hear the allegations and try those responsible, as well as the establishment of a truth commission. The AHRC is calling on the international community to demand the Indonesian government be held to account for human rights violations in Papua.

Human rights & justice

No violence at anti-communist protest, say Yogyakarta police

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Yogyakarta Police on Tuesday denied that relatives of the victims of the 1965 anti-communist purge had been subjected to violence at the hands of vigilante groups.

Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Haka Astana said there had been no intimidation nor assault against the 40 people, mostly relatives of the 1965 purge who had gathered for an event in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Sunday.

Haka, however, acknowledged that local youths had dispersed the meeting because the group had failed to get an official permit.

"[The organizer] invited more than 40 participants from many cities, such as Cilacap and Pati [Central Java]. Considering the scale of the event, the organizer should have informed local officials in the village about the event. That's all," he said.

Haka denied that the decision to disperse the gathering came from the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI), regardless of claims by eye witnesses who saw protesters in uniforms emblazoned with the organization's logo.

Earlier on Monday, the Yogyakarta chapter of FAKI confirmed it had disrupted the gathering.

On Tuesday, FAKI, joined by the Family of Indonesian Veterans and Police and Military Retirees (GM-FKPPI), staged a violent protest at the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Yogyakarta) headquarters, demanding the outfit to turn down requests from the 1965 victims for a legal assistance.

FAKI members accused the victims' families of attempting to resurrect the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and of being communists.

"[The families of the victims] are also communists. It is legal for us to kill them, just like when we killed members of the PKI in the past," shouted Burhanuddin ZR, FAKI Yogyakarta founder.

Burhanuddin, who also boasted of being one of the 1965 executors, added that they would launch an attack on the LBH Yogyakarta headquarters if it did not heed the call.

Despite the threat, LBH Yogyakarta director Samsudin Nurseha on Tuesday accompanied Irina Dayasih, a member of the gathering's organizing committee, to file a police report.

Irina is the daughter of the late Njoto, former deputy chairman of the PKI central committee. In the police report, victims of the attack called on the police to investigate the violence that left at least three people injured.

In Bandung, West Java, Ribka Tjiptaning, politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), denounced the violence committed by the anti-communist thugs.

"We keep seeing incidents like this because there has been no effort to correct the history books about what really happened with the PKI and the purge. The mind set that relatives of PKI members deserve discrimination remains. Reconciliation will never succeed if our history is not revised," she said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said vigilantism, such as this, resulted from the state's failure to ensure that the basic human and constitutional rights of the families and victims of the 1965 anti- communist purge were met.

"At least two basic constitutional rights were violated in the Sleman incident. First, the right to gather and form a union and second, discrimination against the families of the 1965 victims," Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah said.

[Arya Dipa contributed to the story from Bandung, West Java.]

Resurgence in intimidation of families of 1965 purge victims

Jakarta Post - October 29, 2013

Bambang Muryanto and Bagus BT Saragih, Yogyakarta – A rowdy rally on Monday denouncing communism along with death threats – aimed at the heirs of those linked to the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) – followed the dispersal in Yogyakarta on Sunday of a gathering of relatives of the victims of the 1965 anti-communist purge.

"[The families of the victims] are also communists. It is legal for us to kill them, just like when we killed members of the PKI in the past," shouted Burhanuddin ZR, founder of the Yogyakarta chapter of the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI).

Dozens of FAKI members, as well as members of the Youth Forum of the Family of Indonesian Veterans and Police and Military Retirees (GM-FKPPI), rallied at the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Yogyakarta). The groups demanded that the institute turn down requests from the 1965 victims for legal advocacy and assistance.

Earlier on Monday, the relatives of the purge victims had gone to the LBH Yogyakarta to report the incident on Sunday when their meeting at the Santi Dharma Retreat in Sidoagung village in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, was disrupted by the anti-communist vigilantes.

The FAKI members accused the victims' families of trying to resurrect the PKI and bring back communism. They attacked the participants and left at least three people injured.

Burhanuddin said they would attack the LBH Yogyakarta should the latter agree to provide assistance to the families. "If they are given assistance you are forcing our hand," Burhanuddin, who claimed to be one of the executors of the 1965 purge, said loudly while banging on his chest.

"The institute must go over our dead bodies before granting the 'communists' requests," Risang Haryo Seto, a GM-FKPPI member said.

Some of the institute's property was damaged by the violent demonstrators. LBH Yogyakarta director Samsudin Nurseha said his organization was committed to providing advocacy particularly to poor and marginalized citizens. "We must treat all complaints without discrimination," he said.

Samsudin accompanied Irina Dayasih, a member of the organizing committee of the dispersed gathering, to file a police report, later on Monday.

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Roichatul Aswidah said the vigilante's acts were a result of the state's failure to ensure the basic human and constitutional rights of the victims of the 1965 purge.

"The group was so confident in its right to confront the victims' families because elements of the state – including the government – are reluctant to change and reconstruct the way society treats the ex-PKI members and their families," she told The Jakarta Post. "This has resulted in sustained discrimination," she added.

Roichatul led the Komnas HAM team tasked with probing past human rights abuses including the 1965 purge.

After comprehensively investigating it for nearly four years, the commission officially announced in July last year that the "state- sponsored" purge met all the criteria of a gross violation of human rights, comprising murder; extermination; slavery; forced disappearances; limits on physical freedom; torture; rape; persecution; and forced prostitution.

Komnas HAM stated that the Attorney General's Office had agreed to set up a joint investigative team to review and follow up Komnas HAM's findings.

Hard-liners attack 1965-66 purge support group

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Three people were injured after a group of people who called themselves the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front attacked the families of victims of the 1965-66 purge of suspected communist sympathizers.

The attack came as the victims' families gathered on Sunday in Sleman, Yogyakarta, to discuss the problems they faced during decades of official and social discrimination from being labeled communists or communist sympathizers.

"They said they were from the FAKI [Indonesian Anti-Communist Front], they attacked from all directions. We were besieged," Irina Dayasih, a committee member, said as quoted by Tempo.co.

Irina said that the discussion was not only attended by family members of the victims of the purge, but also by people with no connection to those events.

"There were also young people who were facing financial difficulties. This was the first gathering that we ever held. We were going to discuss how to solve their problems," Irina said.

Organizers scheduled the discussion for 11 a.m., but half an hour before it started three people who had just arrived were attacked by a group of people from the FAKI in front of the building. The three victims sustained injuries.

Irina said that the police, village and subdistrict officials came to see the organizers earlier in the morning to inform them that a group of people were planning to break up the discussion. Irina said she had told her visitors that the event was harmless and that they were going to have a discussion about the economy. Irina said that the police had told her that they would guard the event, but failed to do so.

Syamsudin Nurseha, the director of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Foundation, said that the state had failed to protect the rights of its citizens.

He said that Indonesia had ratified the international covenant on civil and political rights, which required the state to protect its citizens when they gathered and held discussions.

"The police must investigate the case and arrest the perpetrators. Let's prevent such incident from happening again," Syamsudin said.

Up to a million people accused of being members or sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were killed from 1965 to 1966, while millions other suffered extrajudicial detention and discrimination. On the pretext of his claimed success in getting rid of the communist threat, Suharto then took power from President Sukarno to begin what became known as the New Order.

Anti-communist group disperses meeting

Jakarta Post - October 28, 2013

Yogyakarta – Dozens of members of the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI) disrupted a meeting involving the families of victims of the 1965 communist purge at the Santi Dharma Retreat in Sidoagung village, Godean district, in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, on Sunday.

"Three people were injured people and an elderly man passed out. I do not know what happened to him," one of the organizers, Irina Dayasih, told The Jakarta Post. She lamented that the meeting was forcibly dispersed because they were doing nothing wrong.

"We were only going to discuss how to make organic fertilizer," she said. "It used to only be old people that attended our meetings but now some young people have shown an interest."

FAKI founder and advisor, Burhanuddin ZR justified his group's behavior: "We do not want communist meetings in Yogyakarta," he said.

He explained that the meeting in Yogyakarta followed a similar meeting in Pacitan, East Java, held on Oct. 22 and he did not believe the meeting was about organic fertilizer. Burhanuddin was confident that the meeting focused on how to resurrect communism in Indonesia.

'There can be no mercy for communists' says Yogyakarta anti-communist group

Tribune News - October 28, 2013

Yogyakarta – Freedom of association in the era of reformasi (the reform process beginning in 1998) is, as it turns out, still little more than jargon.

The reason being that there are still many groups that act arbitrarily and discriminatively based on the stigma attached to other people. This is what was done by the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.

Yogyakarta provincial FAKI chairperson Burhannudin said that his group closed down an even by the families and children of former 1965 political prisoners (tapol) at the Santi Dharma Retreat at the Sidoagung Godean Dam on Sunday October 27.

"The event was a PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) cadre congress. It had to be closed down", insisted Burhannudin on Sunday.

Burhannudin said that they got wind of efforts at the formation of cadres in an event disguised as social gathering. Because of this, continued Burhannudin, it was their duty to close down the event. "There were hundreds who arrived earlier to close down the event", he explained.

According to Burhannudin there can be no tolerance for the PKI's activities in Yogyakarta – "There can be no mercy for communists that exist and hold meetings in Yogya. This is non-negotiable", he asserted.

Meanwhile based on information from Iriani, one of the managers of the Santi Dharma Retreat, the event was simply a discussion on how to improve the economic welfare of the families and children of former 1965 prisoners. One of the activities at the event was how to make fertilizer. "It was more about the empowerment of family members", he said.

As reported earlier, several FAKI members unexpectedly forced their way into the Santi Dharma Retreat where family members and children of former 1965 prisoners were planning to hold an event.

They tried to close down the event claiming that it was for the formation of cadres. During the incident, FAKI members assaulted several event participants including Ciptadi (62), a resident of Kroya Cilacap, Bayu Cahyadi (30), a resident of Sumpiuh Banyumas, Ardi Nugroho (23), a resident of Cilacap and Sukrisdiono (45), a resident of Purwoketo.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Social gathering by 1965 victims attacked by anti-communist group

Tempo.co - October 27, 2013

Pito Agustin Rudiana, Sleman – A social gathering by victims of the 1965 tragedy at the Santi Dharma Retreat in Godean sub-district, Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, was attacked by the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI) on Sunday October 27. At least three people were injured during the attack and are reported to have returned to their homes.

"They said they were from FAKI, they attacked from all directions. We were surrounded", said event committee organiser Irina Dayasih when contacted by Tempo today.

Dayasih explained that the event was attended by families of victims of the 1965 tragedy. There were also young children who were experiencing financial problems. This was the first time they had held such an event. "We were discussing the question of how to alleviate their [financial] problems", said Dayasih.

The event was planned to start at 11am however by around 10.30am less than 10 people had turned up. It was around this time that three participants who had only just arrived on motorcycles were attacked without warning by several members of FAKI in the grounds of the building. They suffered injuries.

Prior to the attack, at around 8am, they were visited by officials from the police, village and regency administration. They were informed that a social group was planning to close down the event. Dayasih explained to the officials that the event did not represent any kind of threat.

"If you want to, feel free to sit down, see and listen to what we will be discussing", said Dayasih. The police, according to Dayasih, stated they would safeguard the event. It turned out however that they were not quick enough to prevent the attack from occurring.

Yogyakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) director Syamsudin Nurseha said that the state had failed to protect its citizen's rights, bearing in mind that Indonesia has ratified the UN convention on civil and political rights, within which is right of citizens to gather and express themselves.

"The police must investigate the case and arrest the perpetrators. Don't let this kind of incident be repeated", said Nurseha.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Women's rights

Indonesia lags behind Laos, Vietnam on gender gap index

Jakarta Post - October 27, 2013

Veeramalla Anjaiah, Jakarta – More and more women have enjoyed access to education and health care across the globe in 2013, with a new global report disclosing that more than 80 countries had improved the global gender gap between 2012 and 2013, with the area of political participation showing the greatest progress.

The Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) released on Friday its annual Global Gender Gap (GGG) Report 2013 – a report that measured the extent of gender inequality in four broad areas, namely economic participation and opportunities, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. The study covered 93 percent of the global population or 136 countries, including Indonesia, on all continents.

"On average, in 2013, over 96 percent of the gap in health outcomes, 93 percent of the gap in educational attainment, 60 percent of the gap in economic participation and 21 percent of the gap in political empowerment has been closed. No country in the world has achieved gender equality," announced the GGG Report 2013.

Being a member of G20 with a US$1 trillion economy – the largest economy in Southeast Asia and an emerging market – did not put Indonesia in a respectable position on the GGG index.

Indonesia ranked 95th on the list of 136 countries – below the Philippines, Cuba, Lesotho, Mozambique, the poorest country Malawi, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam and Armenia. Despite a slight improvement of two places since 2012 but eight places down since 2010, Indonesia received an overall score of 0.6613 this year.

In ASEAN, Indonesia lags behind the Philippines (ranked fifth), Singapore (58), Laos (60), Thailand (65), Vietnam (73) and Brunei (88). Indonesia even lags behind at least 13 African countries in gender parity.

"Indonesia moves up two places in the rankings. Decreases on the Educational Attainment subindex are offset by improvements on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex and the Political Empowerment subindex," the report cited.

The government claims it had good planning in place to narrow the gender gap but faced problems in its implementation.

"We have a five-year plan to narrow the gender gap. The government is committed to providing a systemic response to the plan by allocating funds for women's education and health care and to provide opportunities in the economic sector," the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry's deputy for women's rights protection, Luly Altruiswaty, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The government, she said, always encouraged women to enhance their role in the political arena and asked political parties to implement the policy of allocating 30 percent of seats in legislative bodies to women. In 2012, the percentage of women in the House of Representatives reached just 18.20 percent, far below the target.

It is not easy to implement a five-year plan that focuses mainly on sustainable development, good governance and gender mainstreaming.

"At the central level, we are doing okay. Due to the Regional Autonomy Law, we are facing several hurdles in implementing the plan at provincial and regency levels," Luly said.

Indonesia can learn from the Philippines, which had the highest position of all countries in Asia. "The Philippines is the highest-ranking country in Asia, primarily due to success in health, education and economic participation," the WEF said in a statement.

With a score of 0.08731, Iceland has the narrowest gender gap in the world, followed by three Nordic countries – Finland, Norway and Sweden. Yemen took the infamous honor as the world's worst country for gender equality, coming in at 136th place.

Sexual & domestic violence

Nine alleged rape suspects remain free

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Syamsul Huda M. Suhari, Gorontalo – After naming four rape suspects, the Gorontalo Police have yet to resume examining nine other perpetrators, including eight police officers, allegedly involved in the rape of a 17- year-old senior high school student.

"The others have not yet been questioned," Gorontalo Police chief spokesperson Lisma Dunggio told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The police claimed they were still focusing on completing the case files of four suspects that had been detained at the police headquarters since Wednesday. She added that the police had also sent the investigation commencement letter to the local prosecutor's office.

The four suspects have been identified only as IM, a warrant officer on duty at the Paguyaman sector in Boalemo regency and civilians MN, NN and KK. They have been charged with violating articles 81 and 82 of the Child Protection Law, which carry a prison sentences of between three and 15 years.

Asked why the eight other police officers had yet to be questioned, Lisma only said that investigators were still looking into the case. She acknowledged that the police were not concerned that the suspects would try to flee before being examined. "God willing, they will not escape, moreover where would they flee?" she added.

She also called on the media not to use the word "rape" in the case. "The meaning and connotation is different. If the word rape is used, it means the incident took place there and then in a group and there was resistance from the victim. Furthermore, rape has yet to be proven," Lisma said.

According to Lisma, the media should have used the term "molestation" in their reports, because the incidents took place repeatedly over time and was committed by different people. Despite that, Lisma said the police had pledged to resolve the case, because whatever the reasons, the victim should be protected and the perpetrators must be punished accordingly.

Earlier, based on the victim's recollection in front of investigators, she was raped by 13 people, nine of them police members, three factory security guards and a civilian. The alleged rapes took place between July and October this year.

Separately, a Women's Institute for Research and Empowerment Gorontalo (WIRE-G) activist, Andi Inar Sahabat, deemed that the police had intentionally played down facts in the case by asking the media to use the term "molestation". "The victim was obviously raped, as she was forced and threatened by the perpetrators. This is rape and molestation," asserted Inar.

Furthermore, she added, what was mentioned as an act of resistance, as defined by the police as rape, was debatable due to the lack of classification and clear argument.

She said her group would ask the police to not obscure the facts and essence of the case. "This could be a bad precedent for the police. Quick or sluggish handling of the case by the police could be a deciding factor in restoring public trust," said Inar.

Four suspects named in gang-rape case

Jakarta Post - October 25, 2013

Syamsul Huda M. Suhari, Gorontalo – The Gorontalo Police finally announced on Thursday that four men had been named suspects in a gang-rape case that implicates a number of policemen.

The suspects are IM, a police officer with the Paguyaman police sub- precinct in Boalemo regency, and civilians MN, NN and KK. They were detained on Wednesday evening after being questioned.

The four suspects have been charged under articles 81(1) and 82 of Law No. 23/2002 on child protection, which carry a prison term of between three and 15 years. "There is still the possibility of more suspects," Adj. Sr. Comr. Lisma Dunggio, Gorontalo Police's chief spokesman, said on Thursday.

The 16-year-old girl at the center of the case, referred to as IU, was reportedly gang raped by 13 men, comprising nine policemen, three security guards and a bank employee, on several occasions between July and October.

The provincial police force have been heavily criticized for their slow handling of the case, despite the victim's family filing a police report on Oct. 8. Some people have accused the police of protecting their own personnel.

Separately, the Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK) said it was ready to help facilitate IU's physical and psychological recovery. The offer was made during a meeting with IU and her family in Gorontalo regency.

LPSK deputy chairwoman Lies Sulistiyani said that in-depth medical and psychological assessments of IU would be necessary. "We will cooperate with the relevant agencies on the matter, including the local child protection agency and women's rights groups to accompany the victim until the trial," she said, adding that the LPSK would accompany IU during questioning sessions, if necessary.

She said as the victim was an underage female, it would be better if she was accompanied by a woman. The LPSK also plans to coordinate with the Gorontalo Police so that any questioning can be carried out in a just and sensitive way.

Lies said that so far, no threats had been made against the victim, but that the LPSK was ready to provide physical protection if such a need arose.

She said the LPSK had initiated the visit to IU and her family because the victim was still a minor and the case involved police officers who had a responsibility to protect the public. "This case is shocking as well as concerning."

Initially, the LPSK team also planned to meet with a team from the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), but the latter could not make it on Thursday. The Kompolnas team confirmed, however, that it would visit IU in the near future.

During the meeting, IU's family shared what they and IU had been subjected to during police questioning. The victim's father, AU, said the police focused on the most recent rapes, which allegedly took place on Oct. 1-4, before the family reminded the police that the rapes had begun in July.

AU said the police only started to ask about the start of the case on Tuesday, the second day of IU's questioning. He added that he had requested further questioning to be held at the family's home, so that IU would feel more comfortable.

Members of the public in Gorontalo are following this case closely. Atika, a university student, said the rapists should be handed severe punishments. "If police officers become the bad guys, then who can we trust?"

Another local, Andry, said the case constituted a heinous crime, adding that the victim's future had been destroyed. "This is a warning to everyone, especially families, to really take care of their loved ones."

A sociologist from Gorontalo State University, Basri Amin, said the increase of sexual crimes in Gorontalo had been caused in part by technological changes that offered far more opportunities for strangers to meet.

"Such changes [such as the introduction of cell phones and the Internet] also allow space for discussions of subjects still considered taboo, such as sex," Basri said.

Sexual assault by Koran teachers in public glare

Jakarta Globe - October 25, 2013

SP/Fana FS Putra – A Koran teacher in East Jakarta has been accused of having sex with his teenage student, resulting in her getting pregnant and giving birth to a baby boy, city police said on Thursday.

"We received the report on October 11 and we are still questioning the victim; the investigation is still ongoing," East Jakarta Police spokesman Comr. Sri Bhayangkari told the Jakarta Globe.

The 54-year-old teacher, identified only by the initial P., a resident of Duren Sawit, is accused of impregnating L., his 15-year-old student, who gave birth last month.

Rather than report the teacher to the police, however, the girl's family initially demanded that P. marry the girl and provide for the child. Only when the Koran teacher, who is already married, dodged the request did the girl's family file a report with police.

"He had been my daughter's teacher for a long time, since she was still in elementary school," said the girl's father, A.H.

"My daughter said P started to lure her into having sex with him in 2012," he said, adding that P often called his daughter and asked her to come to his house when there was no one else at home. She always did what he asked, as if she had been hypnotized," A.H. added.

Meanwhile, in Temanggung, Central Java, another Koran teacher was arrested for molesting six of his pupils.

Temanggung Police arrested 40-year-old Nurokhim, who they said admitted he had sexually assaulted six teenagers and raped three of them. "I really regret that I could not control my desire," Nurokhim said on Thursday.

Temanggung Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Marino said the victims were between 14 and 18 years old. "The suspect has been arrested and could face up to 15 years in prison for having sexual intercourse with minors. He also faces a fine of up to Rp 300 million [$27,0000]," Marino said.

He said the teacher sometimes asked one of his students to stay behind after class to help him clean up, before locking the door and assaulting the child.

The two recent cases are the latest in a series of abuses of trust perpetrated by teachers of Islam.

Last month in Ternate, North Maluku, a 56-year-old Koran teacher, Akhmad Basir, was arrested after he allegedly molested five of his pupils at an Islamic boarding school under his management. Akhmad victims said he forced them to have sex with him, later giving them Rp 20,000.

And earlier in the year, a Koran teacher in Cakung, East Jakarta, was accused of sexually harassing 14 of his students. The teacher, 28-year-old Abdul Aziz Salam, apparently chose his victims randomly and raped them after lessons were completed.

The rapes reportedly began in December 2012 and continued until April 2013, with the teacher threatening his students not to tell their parents about the attacks.

However, in April, one of the students complained to his parents of rectal pain and revealed to them that he had been raped by Abdul. The confession sparked outrage among other parents, who asked their own children if they too had been victims of the religious instructor.

Parents of eight of the victims decided to bring the case to the police. The neighborhood unit chief then called the Cakung police to arrest the perpetrator, who was almost beaten to death by an angry mob.

That case was reported shortly after the arrest of Muhammad Firman, 25-year-old Koran teacher at a Tangerang mosque. He was accused of inviting a 14-year-old female student to his house in the Bukit Modern Hill housing complex last January, raping the girl and threatening her with violence if she told anyone, police said.

Firman reportedly continued to rape the girl until the abuse was eventually discovered by the girl's older sister. The sister read the girl's diary and discovered an entry detailing the rape. The family then reported Firman to the police and took their daughter in for medical tests on April 2 this year.

Labour & migrant workers

National strike begins as workers demand healthcare and higher pay

Jakarta Globe - October 31, 2013

As the Jakarta wage council sat down today to set the regional minimum wage for 2014, a two-day strike began across the country and workers took to the streets.

"Our protests are concentrated in industrial areas," Said Iqbal, chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers (KSPI), told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday. "We stopped production because we are protesting policies that affect workers' welfare."

Two million workers in 20 provinces have joined the strike, he said, including 250,000 workers in the Pulogadung and Cakung areas and 300,000 in Bekasi.

The unions were demanding an average national wage increase of 50 percent, he said. In Jakarta, they hoped to see the minimum wage set at Rp 3.7 million ($334) per month. Apart from wages, workers are demanding rules against outsourcing and universal health coverage for all Indonesians by Jan. 1, 2014.

The wage council – which has 28 members and is made up of workers, employers and city administration representatives – began its deliberations at Jakarta city hall at 3 p.m.

Iqbal said the workers' contingent would not attend the meeting because they rejected the premise of today's conversation, since it was based on a cost of living index (KHL) that no longer remained accurate. "How can we discuss the minimum wage, the basis for which is the reasonable cost of living index, which has already changed?" he asked.

The city claims that the minimum reasonable cost of living is Rp 2.2 million per month, while the KSPI argues that Rp 3.7 represents the true cost.

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said that the city deferred to the central government's criteria in determining the index. Protests are expected to continue on Friday as the regions set their wages.

Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that the city would set the wage today, whether or not the workers chose to attend the meeting.

"If they don't want to join the wage council meeting, then it is okay," he said. "What's most important is that we will still decide the minimum wage for 2014, and that we decide on a fair amount."

Basuki said the administration understood both sides of the debate. "I've said it many times, if [employers] in Jakarta pay under the KHL, then move your factories," he said. "But if you ask for salaries above the KHL, just open your own business."

Based on the current rate of economic growth, which is just above six percent, Basuki predicted that the minimum wage would go up 10 percent.

Sarman Simanjorang, deputy head of the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said 37 companies – mostly in the state-controlled industrial area of Kawasan Berikat Nusantara – had submitted letters asking for no increase in 2014.

"Most are foreign investors," he told Indonesian new portal Liputan6.com on Thursday. Most of the requests had come from the garment and textile industry, he said.

According to Sarman, the letters argued that the 44 percent increase in wages last year had placed an unfair burden on employers that would force some of them to move if minimum wage continued to rise. "If the wage is increased, they could really relocate their businesses outside Jakarta, to other cities and even to other countries," he said.

In Depok, south of Jakarta, three retailers – Giant, Carrefour and Tip Top – were closed this morning due to the strike. Tip Top, a supermarket, reopened in the afternoon.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Cmr. Rikwanto said that 17,276 officers had been assigned to manage traffic and maintain orderly conduct during the strike.

Eight injured in clash between Pemuda Pancasila and striking workers

Jakarta Globe - October 31, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – A brawl between striking workers and paramilitary youth organization Pemuda Pancasila left eight people injured and 18 motorcycles destroyed in South Cikarang on Thursday morning.

"This morning, at 8:15 a.m., there was a clash between workers and [Pemuda Pancasila], who did not like the rally," said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Cmr. Rikwanto. "Eight persons were injured, hit by stones or stabbed. Four workers and four security guards [were injured]."

Pemuda Pancasila is known for thuggish behavior. In September, members of the organization attacked the Depok District Court in West Java.

According to Rikwanto, the clash involved 15,000 workers and 500 members of Pemuda Pancasila, who claimed that the strike would affect their livelihoods and the investment climate in Indonesia.

Despite police denials, rumors spread throughout the day via social media that several people had died in the clash. "Concerning news about some workers who were killed – it's not true," said Rikwanto. "It's a hoax."

The local hospital confirmed Rikwanto's account. "Nobody died, but many people were injured," an emergency unit official at Hosana Medika Hospital in Cikarang told the Jakarta Globe. She would not say how many people were admitted to the hospital after the clash.

Papua's 2014 minimum wage set at Rp 1.9 million

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Papua Governor Lukas Enembe has set the province's 2014 monthly minimum wage at Rp 1.9 million (US$169.10), up from the current minimum wage of Rp 1.75 million. "It has been signed, Rp 1.9 million or up by around Rp 200,000," said Lukas in Jayapura on Thursday.

Although it had signed a decree on the new provincial minimum wage, Lukas said the Papua administration would make a study of minimum wages again because the current real value was too little compared to the prices of basic items in Papua.

"If the minimum wage is still perceived as too low, we will review it again because the cost of living in Papua is very high. Ideally, Papua's minimum wage should be above Rp 2 million per month," said Lukas.

"We have to spend Rp 750,000 to rent a room in a boarding house, transportation is Rp 500,000, and food costs another Rp 500,000. We have no money left over to save," said Wati a worker in a private company in Jayapura.

To overcome the shortfall, it is commonplace for a worker in Jayapura to share a room with one or two co-workers. Wati said Papua's minimum wage should be set at Rp 2.5 million per month. (ebf)

Minimum wage hike will not affect inflation

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Jakarta – Deputy Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro says that an increase in the provincial minimum wage will not affect inflation in 2014. Bambang said that inflation in 2014 would remain at 5.5 percent regardless of the hike.

Bambang added that inflation would only rise due to two factors – administered price policies, such as the ones regarding subsidized fuel and logistics prices. "We can still manage inflation if those two factors remain unaffected," Bambang said as quoted by Kontan.co.id.

Bambang said that raising the provincial minimum wage would in fact contribute positively to the economy as it would boost consumption.

Jambi workers reject new minimum wage

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – A decree by Jambi Governor Hasan Basri Agus, which sets the province's 2014 minimum wage at Rp 1,502,230 (US$133.7) has drawn protests from the provincial branch of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Confederation (KSBI).

The confederation is urging the Jambi governor to review the decree and increase the province's minimum wage to Rp 1.6 million. According to the KSBI, the newly set minimum wage does not reflect workers' basic cost of living (KHL).

"A minimum wage of Rp 1.6 million must be introduced because our KHL value is set at Rp 1.6 million," KSBI Jambi regional coordinator Roida Pane said on Thursday.

Roida said the KSBI had proposed a minimum wage of Rp 1.6 million in a meeting held by the Jambi Renumeration Board to determine the province's 2014 minimum wage. However, both the local administration and the business sector have rejected the workers' demand.

Roida said the Jambi governor had been too arrogant and was in too great a hurry to decide the new minimum wage, which will be announced on Nov. 1. "The decision has caused distress among the workers. They are being used as a political object, although they had been united in supporting his [Hasan's] nomination for governor," Roida said.

Separately, Hasan promised to review the workers' demand. He asserted that the wage decision was made following several discussions with the Jambi Renumeration Board, which consists of representatives from workers' associations, the business sector and independent teams.

Hasan said the Jambi administration had checked the minimum wages in several provinces on Sumatra before drafting the decree. He added that, in fact, Jambi's minimum wage was higher than those in Bangka-Belitung and Bengkulu.

"In determining the minimum wage, we not only need to consider the interests of the workers but also businesspeople who employ the workers. We don't want to see their businesses fail, resulting in workers being laid off because of an overly high minimum-wage increase.

Jambi's Social Affairs and Manpower Agency head, Harris AB, said the minimum wage of Rp 1,502,230 per month would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. (ebf)

Bogor, Depok workers strike for better pay

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Theresia Sufa, Depok – Workers in Bogor and Depok held rallies at several locations, resulting in traffic congestion in many areas. They demanded that the minimum wage be increased to Rp 3.7 million per month starting next year and that outsourcing be eliminated.

More than 50,000 workers in both cities rallied. In Bogor, workers rejected the Bogor regent's proposed minimum monthly wage of Rp 1.7 million, saying that it was far from enough to meet daily needs. In Depok, workers blocked Jl. Raya Bogor for about an hour and spent the day listening to speeches by rally coordinators.

All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) Depok chairman Sugino said the fuel price increase had forced workers to demand the salary adjustment. "This year alone we have experience fuel and electricity price hikes. We are only just surviving," he said. (dic)

Workers visit factories ahead of general strike

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Andi Hajramurni and Fadli, Makassar – Ahead of the two-day nationwide strike on Thursday, dozens of workers in Makassar, South Sulawesi visited factories at the Makassar Industrial Estate (Kima) on Wednesday.

The workers not only disseminated plans on the strike but also requested that each factory and company send representatives to participate in the strike.

The representatives are expected to recruit their fellow workers to join the nationwide strike and stage a rally to demand increased minimum wages and the dissolution of a contract system for workers. Workers also distributed flyers listing their demands at the companies they visited.

"Tomorrow [Thursday] is the peak of our action. The workers in Makassar will take part in the strike to fight for proper wages for workers," said Eros from the Confederation of Indonesian Labor Union Struggle (KSPBI).

He said based on the confederation's assessment, the minimum wage for 2014 should be increased by 50 percent as the price of basic goods had skyrocketed after the government hiked fuel prices.

Eros said the minimum wage for South Sulawesi should be Rp 2.1 million (US$187.91) and for Makassar at least would be Rp 2.2 million ($195,8) per month. "Those are the minimum standards while it should be even higher for a proper living," he said.

After conducting their activities, the workers returned to their duties while the operations of companies inside Kima were not affected.

The workers are scheduled to stage rallies in three places: Under the Makassar flyover, in front of the South Sulawesi governor's office and in front of the South Sulawesi Legislative Council (DPRD). The authorities are preparing at least 3,000 policemen and soldiers to safeguard the strike.

In Batam, Riau Islands, a number of factories were forced to stop operations on Tuesday as their workers took part in rallies.

The Riau Islands chapter of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said the losses reached some $20 million per day with acting chairwoman Nada Faza Soraya expecting there would be no strikes.

"The figure is for the real calculation, such as the loss of time for production according to factory capacity," she said. "A factory making 70 percent of the world's contact lenses stopped its operations. We can imagine the losses."

More losses will be suffered if more companies are affected by the planned strikes on Thursday. "We hope the labor unions cancel their plans for a strike because it will greatly affect the export-oriented companies in Batam," she said. Workers in Batam demanded a minimum wage of Rp 3.4 million for 2014.

Meanwhile, thousands of workers from various trade unions, such as the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers Union (FPSMI), the All Indonesia Labor Union (SPSI) and the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) were already split on staging separate rallies in Batam.

Batam chapter SPSI head Saiful Badri claimed the model of struggle between the organizations was different, with his group wanting unions to fight for their aspirations in a polite manner.

Cikarang factory production brought to virtual standstill

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Rangga Fadilah, Cikarang – Factories on the MM2100 industrial estate in West Cikarang, Bekasi, had their production severely disrupted on Thursday due to the ongoing nationwide workers' strike.

"Today, most of the workers at this company stopped working. Only a few of us worked to ensure that vital machinery was kept running," said Nasan Indra Wijaya, a union member who works at home appliance maker PT Maspion.

He acknowledged that due to the strike, the company would suffer a loss of around 70 percent in production. However, he said he was unsure whether the strike action would continue until Friday.

The streets of the industrial estate were packed on Thursday with thousands of workers, many of them wearing the black jackets of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI).

Bahruddin, a union member who works for PT Suzuki Indomobil, claimed that all the workers from the company's three largest production plants in Cakung, East Jakarta, and Tambun, Bekasi, had joined the strike.

"For today, all Suzuki workers have stopped working. We're still waiting for instructions from the FSPMI about tomorrow. If there is an instruction to continue the strike, we'll obey it," he said. (dic)

Workers skip wage talk for street rally

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – A meeting of the Jakarta Wage Council scheduled for Wednesday to negotiate a minimum wage increase for 2014 was canceled because workers' representatives refused to participate, opting instead to lead a demonstration in front of City Hall.

In the latest fight over the minimum wage, council workers' representative Akhmad Jazuli said that workers were demanding that the official basic cost of living be set at Rp 2.7 million (US$243).

Meanwhile, the council had proposed the benchmark be set at Rp 2.29 million, based on 60 standard of living components (KHL) stipulated in Presidential Instruction No.9/2013 on the provincial minimum wage.

The council's proposal was supposed to be discussed further by workers associations and business players at the canceled meeting. "We refuse to attend the meeting today," Jazuli said on Wednesday at City Hall.

He said that their boycott of the meeting was aimed at preventing the city administration from determining the minimum wage. "If they make a decision, it will be unlawful," he added.

The wage council member representing businesses, Asril Chaniago, said that they had to decide on the minimum wage by Nov. 1.

"On that date the governor will have the final say. Last year, it was the representatives from businesses who skipped the meetings and the governor set the minimum wage at Rp 2.2 million despite objections from the businesses," he added.

Jakarta Manpower and Transmigration Agency head Priyono said the workers' demands were irrational. "We can't grant their demand to add the number of items in the KHL to 84 from 60. It has been regulated in Manpower and Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 13/2013," he said.

Priyono added the workers should address their demands to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry instead of to the city administration.

Previously, the workers said that if the government would set the basic cost of living at Rp 2.7 million as they had proposed, then a nationwide strike set to take place from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1 could be avoided.

On Tuesday, the protesters asked Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to meet and discuss the workers' demand for a minimum wage increase or else, Jazuli said, they would stay at City Hall until the governor granted them a meeting. The protesters, however, left City Hall in the afternoon.

The governor has signaled he will not meet the workers as demanded. "I'm not going to have a pointless discussion with the workers. I will only consider once the remuneration council proposes the figures. If the figures are rational then I will make my decision," he told reporters.

He added that the workers should also consider the current economic condition before putting forward their demands. If the workers and employers had a good relationship, they could settle this issue internally, he said.

Jokowi pointed out that the central government should take action to prevent such events from recurring every year. "There should be a law on remuneration so this kind of thing doesn't happen every year. The law may regulate a minimum wage based on the business sector or region," Jokowi said.

Earlier, Winarso of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) said his federation would join the nationwide strike unless the Jakarta administration increased the provincial minimum wage by 50 percent.

Hundreds of workers joined the rally in front of City Hall, occupying a lane on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan and stopping up traffic around the area and forcing the Transjakarta bus corridor 2 route serving Harmoni- Pulogadung to be shortened.

Batam strikes paralyze industry

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Fadli, Batam – Approximately 1,000 foreign investment companies across 26 industrial estates in Batam shut down almost all their operations on Thursday as workers joined the nationwide strike.

Several industrial estates dispatched members of a mass youth organization in front of their entrance gates to drive away protesters and prevent them from orcing other workers to join the strike action.

A number of people affiliated with the Pemuda Pancasila (PP) youth organization guarded the main entrance of the Tunas Industrial Estate and closed road access into the industrial complex. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers wearing black jackets belonging to the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) shouted workers' rights slogans in front of the compound.

Similar scenes were witnessed at virtually all the industrial estates, which are home to around 1,000 foreign companies investing in Batam.

At Executive Park industrial complex, dozens of workers tried to demolish the entry gate, causing it to become dislodged from the wall.

Yudi Karya, a worker at the Siemens fabrication yard in Batam, said he and his colleagues were given an official day's holiday on Thursday in exchange for not joining the strike, which would affect the company's operations. "We are afraid to go to work. We are worried that we will become targets in our work uniforms. Something could also happen if we refuse to join the national strike, so we were given a vacation," he said.

An attempt by some protesters to blockade Batam's Hang Nadim International Airport and several ports failed as hundreds of Barelang Police personnel stood guard around the airport. (ebf)

Workers clash with youth organization during strike

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Jakarta – A clash between striking workers and members of the Pemuda Pancasila (PP) youth organization has broken out in front of the PT Schneider factory in the Cikarang industrial area, West Java.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that the clash happened when the workers rejected PP members' demands to end the strike.

"They [PP members] said that the workers' aspiration for a monthly wage of Rp 3.7 million [US$333] was irrational and that it would cause huge lay- offs. As a result, they would also lose their livelihoods from recycling factory waste or selling food to workers," Rikwanto said on Thursday.

He said that eight people – four factory workers and four security guards- were injured in the clash. "One of them was stabbed. He is currently undergoing treatment," he said.

Rikwanto said that according to police estimates, there were at least 15,000 strikers and 5,000 PP members. "Fortunately, we have successfully prevented the clash from spreading to other areas," he said. He added that the police had deployed 17,276 personnel across the Greater Jakarta area, 4,000 of whom were deployed to the Bekasi and Cikarang areas. (koi)

Indonesia hit with mass strike over wage hike demands

Agence France Presse - October 31, 2013

Arlina Arshad, Jakarta – Tens of thousands of workers went on strike across Indonesia Thursday, in the latest industrial action to hit Southeast Asia's top economy as its citizens seek a greater share of the spoils from stellar growth.

Unions are calling for hefty pay rises as the cost of living skyrockets due to surging inflation, which has been driven up in recent months by an unpopular fuel price hike.

Factories producing everything from clothes to electronics, often for international companies, stopped operations as workers across the country downed tools on day one of a two-day strike. Union leaders said that two million took part in the action across the archipelago.

Their figures are usually higher than those given by the police, who said around 60,000 had walked out in the capital and surrounding districts and there were also small strikes and demonstrations in other parts of the country.

Security was tight with more than 17,000 police mobilised in Jakarta and surrounding areas.

Thousands of workers in uniform marched past deserted factories in Pulogadung industrial estate in East Jakarta, led by a truck with people shouting from loudspeakers. Hundreds of strikers rode motorcycles, waved banners and shouted: "Long live the workers" and "Raise our pay".

"I am not asking to live in a castle or sleep on a bed of gold, just for what we deserve from working so hard to contribute to the economy," said Achmad, 46, a welder who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

The protests were largely peaceful although police said that some windows were smashed and motorbikes pushed over in the industrial hub of Bekasi, just outside Jakarta.

Elsewhere, police said around 5,000 took part in the strike in Surabaya in East Java province, and 1,000 downed tools in Makassar on the central island of Sulawesi.

TV pictures also showed crowds striking in the industrial hub of Batam island, near Singapore, although police did not have an estimate of the numbers involved.

"All factories in Java's industrial hubs have stopped," said Said Iqbal, chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union, adding that the strike would affect 20 of the nation's 34 provinces.

With inflation hitting 8.4 percent year-on-year in September, Iqbal said ordinary people were deeply concerned over the rising cost of living.

"Many workers who could not afford their rents have had to move out of their homes and live under bridges and in sewers. They are eating instant noodles instead of rice."

Workers say they have been hard hit by the government's decision in June to raise petrol prices by 44 percent and diesel by 22 percent, a move aimed at reducing subsidies that were gobbling up the state budget.

Workers are demanding "just a decent pay raise to compensate for inflation", said Iqbal, adding: "We labourers have contributed so much to the economy, why are we trampled upon?"

Strikes and protests by Indonesian workers have been on the rise as they demand higher wages at a time when the economy is booming, clocking up average annual growth of above six percent in recent years.

Industrial action typical heats up in October and November as local governments decide on minimum wages for the following year in their areas.

Workers in Jakarta this year received a 44 percent increase in minimum salaries to 2.2 million rupiah ($200) a month, and others across the country have also received sizeable raises.

Jakarta is due to decide on its new minimum wage between November 1 and 20, according to Iqbal, who said unions were calling for it to be hiked to 3.7 million rupiah.

However employers have expressed concerns that big rises are denting profits and could lead foreign investors to take their business to neighbouring countries.

The government has also raised concerns about soaring wages, particularly at a time when growth is slowing, and there has been recent economic turbulence due to fears that the US may reduce its stimulus programme. Nevertheless, Indonesian factory workers remain some of the lowest-paid in Asia, often earning less than their counterparts in China or India.

10,000 workers protest in Surabaya for minimum wage increase

Tempo - October 31, 2013

Agita Sukma Listyanti, Surabaya – Protesting workers are threatening to occupy the East Java governor's office in the provincial capital of Surabaya if their demands for a regional and municipal minimum wage (UMK) of 3 million rupiah a month are not met, saying that for workers this amount is non-negotiable. East Java Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) deputy secretary Jamaludin (Jamal) said that in accordance with an instruction from the KSPI national office, workers will occupy all governors' offices in Indonesia between October 31 and November 1. "We will occupy the governor's office until the demand for 3 million is met", said Jamal on Thursday.

According to Jamal, workers are insisting that three demands be met, namely the annulment of Presidential Instruction Number 9/2013 and an increase in the regency and municipal minimum wage to 3 million rupiah, an end to contract labour or outsourcing and revisions to the reasonable living cost index (KHL) increasing the number of components from 60 to 84.

Around 10,000 workers from Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Gresik, Pasuruan and Mojokerto have packed Jl. Governor Suryo in front of the governor's office. They have blockaded the road by sitting and giving speeches and playing dangdut music (a popular music with strong Hindu type musical beat). Hundreds of police are on guard in the vicinity of the governor's office.

Meanwhile around 30 worker representatives from 30 different trade unions have met with East Java Governor Soekarwo, East Java Provincial Government 3rd Assistant Edi Purwinarto, the East Java regional police chief and the V/Brawijaya regional military commander to discuss the three demands and the delivery of a formula for a minimum wage plus-plus.

Soekarwo said that the regional government had set a formula for the 2014 UMK plus-plus. The formula is made up of the current UMK of 1.7 million rupiah a month plus inflation plus economic growth that will then be adjusted to the conditions in each regency and municipality.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Workers, students and urban poor hold solidarity action in Makassar

Tribune News - October 31, 2013

Erul, Makassar – On Thursday October 31, several different organisations from the group Social Solidarity Action for the Indonesian People (Samurai) again held a protest action in front of Makassar Industrial Zone (KIMA) Gate II on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan Km 15 in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar.

During the solidarity action by students, workers and urban poor organisations, protesters closed off several lanes of the road. National Trade Union Confederation (KSN) chairperson Salim Samsur said the action was held to condemn the government, in this case South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

"Today around 300 workers closed off the road. If our demands are not met, in coming days three thousand workers will close the road", he said. The workers blockaded the main road leading to the centre of Makassar city for around one hour.

Biring Kanaya sectoral police chief Police Commissioner Akbar Setiawan said that he had deployed around 60 local officers to secure the demonstration. "Around 60 officers were deployed. This was a joint operation with the Tamalanrea sectoral police", he said.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Workers demand action after peaceful protest attacked by paid thugs

Viva News - October 31, 2013

Sandy Adam Mahaputra, Syahrul Ansyari – The president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), Said Iqbal, is demanding that three social organisations in Bekasi, West Java, be held accountable for an attack on workers who were holding a peaceful demonstration.

Iqbal said that the three organisations had carried out an act of terror. "The Pancasila Youth (PP), the Son's of Bekasi Association (Ikaput) and the Bekasi Association of Waste Companies (Asperindo). The police must question their chairperson, Hartono, and secretary Budianto", said Iqbal at a press conference at the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) in Jakarta on Thursday October 31.

Iqbal alleged that there was a meeting between Hartono and Budianto to plan the attack and if the police fail to act, then the workers would take up the fight. "We will go up against them in the context of defending [ourselves] not attack. What kind of country is this where black employers work with criminals", he said.

Iqbal is convinced that the attackers were not local residents but a group of thugs and called on the media not to write stories painting their actions or their movement in a negative light. "Thugs who were paid, slashing and stabbing with machetes, samurai. This is clearly what was caught on television news", he said.

They are also calling for the removal of Bekasi district police chief Senior Commissioner Isnaini. "We are asking for Senior Commissioner Isnaini to be removed who it is reasonable to suspect allowed people to carry sharp weapons. We will give them 3 x 24 hours to sack Isnaini", said Iqbal.

If this demand is not met, Iqbal threatened that they would fight to the bitter end insisting that they already had a permit from the national police for the strike action that was attacked.

"As a consequence 28 people were injured, seventeen with serious injuries, eleven were able to return home, two were stabbed, five suffered broken bones after being struck by blunt instruments, the others were injured as a result of the clash and so forth", added Iqbal.

Earlier, a clash broke out between workers from the companies PT Schneider Indonesia and PT Abacus Kencana with a group of people from the PP at the EJIP industrial estate in Cikarang, Bekasi. As a result eight people were injured after being hit by stones and two people had to be rushed to hospital after suffering stab wounds.

According to the head of the public relations division, Police Senior Commissioner Rikwanto, the clash occurred because local residents opposed the workers' protests over the last few days. They believed the action had impacted upon local economic activities such as motorcycle taxi drivers, waste management and boarding houses. (eh)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Indonesia workers abused abroad: Report

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Many domestic workers within Asia and those who have migrated from Asia to the Middle East experience a wide range of abuse, including unpaid wages, restrictions on leaving the households where they work and excessive working hours with no days off, says a group of NGOs.

Some may face psychological, physical, or sexual abuse and can get trapped in situations of forced labor, including trafficking, it says.

"Domestic workers from Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka experience horrific abuse," Human Rights Watch (HRW) senior women's rights researcher, Nisha Varia, said in a report made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"These governments should pick up the pace of reform to introduce long overdue protection for both domestic workers at home and those migrating abroad".

The 33-page report "Claiming Rights: Domestic Workers' Movements and Global Advances for Labor Reform" said that roughly 40 percent of domestic workers globally were employed in Asia, yet the region was slow to enact reform despite major progress in other parts of the world.

Businesses lose Rp 220 billion per day from strike

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Fadli, Batam – The Riau branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) Riau says the two-day provincewide strike resulted in a revenue loss of Rp 220 billion (US$19.8 million) to the business sector in Batam as workers walked off their jobs to join the strike, forcing factories to suspend operations.

The losses could get even higher if a two-day national strike from Oct.31 to Nov. 1 takes place as scheduled. Kadin Riau caretaker chairman Nada Faza Soraya said factories in Batam had stopped operations since Monday due to the strike.

"We hope there will be no more strikes because it has heavily affected businesses here," said Nada in Batam, on Tuesday. "A company that produces lenses in Batam for 70 percent of the global market has stopped operations due to the strike. Just imagine the losses it will suffer. Many other companies in Batam will stop operating if the national strike takes place on Thursday, possibly causing even greater losses," said Nada.

She said Kadin Riau hoped that workers' associations would cancel their plans to hold a national strike because it would heavily affect export- oriented businesses in Batam.

"This could set a bad precedent for the investment climate in the Special Economic Zone because during the past year, workers' rallies have often taken place. We urge the government to be more proactive in accommodating the workers' aspirations so that they don't have to strike," said Nada.

Workers in Batam said the provincial minimum wage in 2014 should be increased to Rp 3.4 million. The proposal was calculated based on a survey of the workers basic cost of living using 84 necessities. A survey conducted by the Riau Renumeration Board only included 60 basic necessities. (ebf)

Former labour activist Sari urges workers to negotiate, not demonstrate

Metro TV News - October 30, 2013

Jakarta – Former labour activist Dita Indah Sari says that a mature labour movement must strengthen its "negotiating muscles" or capacity to negotiate with individual companies rather then organise big demonstrations to achieve wage settlements.

"If [they] want to increase wages significantly workers must strengthen their 'negotiating muscles' rather than their 'demonstrating muscles'. So that they deal directly with a company", Sari said in Jakarta on Wednesday October 30.

Because of this therefore, according to Sari, now is the time for move towards strengthening dialogue and negotiating abilities with companies, as well as increasing the strength of trade unions.

"Trade unions must play a greater role, because now is the time for a momentum to strengthen the approach of dialogue and negotiations", she said.

An approach using dialogue and negotiations between workers and companies, continued Sari, would provide an opportunity for individual employers who have different capacities to settle wage increases.

"Because each company's capacity [to pay wages] is not the same. For example a company with a workforce of 50 or 100 people, is of course different from one that has 1,000 workers", she said.

Because of this therefore, Sari suggesting that it would be best if workers demand a standard wage that is not too high, is realistic and in line with a company's capacity.

"Because in actual fact the minimum wage should only apply to new workers, while those who's terms of employment have already reached two years or more it is appropriate to make demands through the channel of direct negotiations with a company", she said.

The National Labour Movement Consolidation [a united labour front established by trade unions in early October – JB] plans to hold a national strike on October 31 and November 1. The national strike will be preceded by labour actions throughout Indonesia on October 28-30.

The national strike is demanding, among other things, an end to the politics of low wages and the abolition of outsourcing or contract labour. In Jakarta province, workers are demanding that the minimum provincial wage (UMP) be set at 3.7 million rupiah per month.

According to Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) Secretary General Muhammad Rusdi, workers are fighting to obtain a minimum wage of 3.7 million rupiah per month so that they can enjoy a reasonable standard of living, can own a home and pay for their children to go to school (Antara)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Protesting workers blockade north coast road in Semarang

Detik News - October 30, 2013

Semarang – Hundreds for workers from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang have blockaded the Java northern coast (pantura) road demanding that the Central Java governor agree to a 3 million rupiah a month minimum wage for workers.

The blockade began at 9.50am when scores of motorcycles and trucks carrying hundreds of workers arrived from a westerly direction and stopped on Jl. Siliwangi directly in front of the Semarang State court.

They then sounded their horns and began giving speeches. "We reject low wages. The governor must agree to a wage of 3 million rupiah", said action coordinator Somad on Wednesday October 30.

As many as 178 police officers were on alert at the location and the end of the toll road to keep watch over the action. Almost the entire road was closed off although police controlled traffic so a small section could be opened for trucks to pass.

West Semarang sectoral police chief Police Commander Yani Permana said that they would give the workers time to give speeches on the pantura road rather then be uncompromising. "We will allow them to give speeches here first, what's important is that cars can still pass through", Permana said.

The workers plan to hold even bigger actions in front of the Semarang city hall, which will be followed by demonstrations at the Central Java governor's office. Protesters from several different parts of Central Java will gather and demonstrate.

"We will gather at the Youth Monument to meet up with our comrades from the east, and then we will go to the city hall", shouted Somad.

Although the demonstration only continued for around 20 minutes, the blockade of the pantura road created considerable traffic congestion with vehicles wanting to pass only having a narrow space to pass the crowd of workers giving speeches.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Wage increase doesn't solve workers' problems: Employers association

Antara News - October 29, 2013

Jakarta – The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Chairman, Sofyan Wanandi, said a labor wage increase would not solve labors' problems, especially relating to their standard of living.

"For sure, a wage increase will not solve labors' problems, so the government should play its role," Sofyan said at a press gathering here on Tuesday.

The government's assistance is badly needed to solve the problem of labors' standard of living, for instance by providing low-cost housing, affordable health care, and less expensive transportation, according to Sofyan.

"In addition, the government should control inflation. Yet entrepreneurs have raised labors' wages and guaranteed their insurance," Sofyan disclosed.

Sofyan said the planned demonstration by unions on October 31 and November 1 will also lead to a decline in the investment climate in Indonesia or even cause investors to leave the country.

"Of course, the unions have a right to demonstrate, but what is wrong is that the workers who previously didn't join the demonstration were forced to participate in the street rally" Sofyan noted.

Sofyan added that in 2012 many investors left Indonesia due to conditions which were not conducive, and caused 200 thousands workers to be discharged from their jobs.

In the meantime, thousands of workers rallied in front of Jakarta's City Hall on Tuesday to demand a pay increase. Workers began arriving at 11am and filled the road in front of City Hall. Despite heavy rains, they continued the demonstration, and singing labor fight songs while flying union flags.

"We came here to meet Jokowi and Ahok (the Jakarta governor and deputy governor). We are demanding a raise in the provincial minimum wage (UMP) and inclusion of more items in the Decent Livelihood Components (KHL)," said Winarso, the chairman of the regional executive board of the Federation of Metal Workers Unions (FSPMI).

Winarso noted that the demonstration was only a rehearsal before the national strike planned for October 31 to November 1. "Later, during the national strike, workers will stop operating all engines in their companies. After the national strike, we hope there will be negotiations with the government for our demands," he said.

He also said workers demanded an increase in the UMP by 50 percent from the current Rp 2.2 million to Rp 3.7 million, the end of outsourcing and a rise in the KHL from Rp1.9 million for 60 items to Rp2.7 million for 84 items.

Workers stay off work to prepare for nationwide strike

Jakarta Post - October 29, 2013

Rangga D. Fadillah and Fadli, Jakarta/Batam – Tens of thousands of workers stayed away from their workplaces in a number of cities in a warm-up for a nationwide strike scheduled for Thursday.

In Jakarta and surrounding areas, thousands of workers staged peaceful strikes. Workers rallied in industrial estates in Pulogadung, Cilincing, Bekasi, Cikarang, Tangerang and Bogor to announce the nationwide strike. Most employers had no objection to the action as only some of their workers participated.

Tatang, a worker at PT Exel Metal Industry in Cibitung, Bekasi, told The Jakarta Post that the labor union at his company had sent only 10 to 15 representatives to participate in a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

"There has been no disruption in production activities. Employees are working as usual. Those rallying aren't from the morning shift; they'll go to work after the demonstration," he revealed.

Not all factories in that area were that fortunate. There were no apparent activities at publicly listed packaging company PT Dynaplast, for example. The gate was shut and the production plant remained silent.

A security guard at the factory, who refused to be named, revealed that there was no production activities in the morning. "If the condition is safe, the factory may resume operations in the evening. But I don't know for sure," he said.

Meanwhile, thousands of workers had rallied at the Jakarta Industrial Estate Pulogadung (JIEP) in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, since morning.

The industrial estate's roads were filled with workers, while the factories along the main street looked empty with their gates closed. A number of security guards stood behind the fences and watched the workers pass by.

Asep, like other workers, demanded Rp 3.7 million (US$334.54) as a minimum wage. "Our current wage [Rp 2.2 million] is not enough to buy makeup for our wives," he said.

Responding to the demand, Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said the city administration could not meet the workers' demand for Rp 3.7 million in minimum wage.

According to Ahok, the city administration would focus on determining the basic cost of living (KHL), whereas the provincial minimum wage would be adjusted according to inflation and economic growth. "The result of the basic cost loving in 2014 will increase slightly to Rp 2.3 million from the previous KHL of Rp 2.2 million," he said.

In Batam, Riau Islands, dozens of companies temporarily stopped production activities to allow workers to demonstrate.

"We are off on Monday, but we don't know about tomorrow. The thing is today we're all off, both management and employees," said Nurani, an operational staffer at cigarette maker PT Rock Indonesia, which is located in the Citra Buana III industrial zone.

The head of the Indonesian Metal Workers Union (SPMI) Batam, Suprapto, said that today's demonstration was just a warm-up and on Wednesday, all workers in Batam would strike to attract the government's attention. "We demand a 50 percent pay rise, the eradication of outsourcing and provision of health insurance by Jan. 1," he revealed.

A member of the Jakarta Minimum Wage Council representing businesspeople, Sarman Simanjorang, said the planned strike would cause financial losses for manufacturers and may lead to worse.

"The strike and demonstrations will hamper Indonesia's investment climate. Potential investors may rethink their decisions to do businesses here due to the unconducive labor situation," he told the Post. (nai)

Three million workers to join nationwide labor strike: Labor leader

Antara News - October 28, 2013

Bekasi, West Java – The Indonesian Labor Union Confederation (KSPI) is predicting that three million workers will join a nationwide strike on October 31 and November 1, 2013 to demand a 50 percent salary increase in 2014.

"The workers are from 20 provinces and 150 districts and cities throughout Indonesia," Said Iqbal, the president of KSPI, said in a statement here on Monday. This number, however, does not include hundreds of thousands of additional workers from companies located in 40 industrial zones in Indonesia, he noted.

"They will stop production, including in seaports which will be affected by the strike," Said said. "The mass strike is expected to be well organized and peaceful," he said.

Labor strikes are scheduled to be staged in Jakarta, Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, South Kalimantan and East Kalimantan.

In Jakarta, workers will strike in Pulogadung, Sunter, Cakung and the Tanjung Priok industrial zones. "In Bekasi, 500 workers will join the strike from Delta Silicon, Ejip Cikarang, Tambun-Karawang, Lippo Cikarang, and MM 2100 Cibitung. Other workers are from 11 industrial zones in Karawang, Purwakarta, Subang, and Medan," he said.

Labor unions joining the mass strike include KSPI, Sekber Buruh, GSBI, KSN, FSBI, SPTSK, Opsi, Spin, SBSI Mochtar Pahpahan, SBSI 92, FBLP, KSBSI (Lomenik), KSPSI (Lem, Farkes, Pewarta), FSPMI, FSP-Kep, FSP-Farkes Reformasi, FSPPPMI, FSP-Par-Reformasi, FSP-ISI, Aspek Indonesia, FSBTPI, KASBI Progresif, as well as the alliance of Indonesian labor unions.

The strike has no political motivation and is not supported by any political party, Said noted. The main demand of the strikers is a 50 percent salary increase in 2014.

"Workers demand the calculation of a minimal salary using 84 items as a Decent Living Standard (KLH)," he said.

They also demand the implementation of national health insurance for all Indonesians as of January 1, 2014 and the abolition of outsourcing of work, including in state-owned companies.

Jakarta sets reasonable living cost index at 2.2 million rupiah

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

The Jakarta Wage Council has set the 2014 reasonable living cost index (KHL) at Rp 2.2 million ($199), much lower than the Rp 2.7 million that workers were originally calling for.

"The Jakarta Wage Council has agreed to make the reasonable living cost index for workers Rp 2,229,860.33," Sarman Simanjorang, a member of the council, said as quoted by the Jakarta government's news portal on Sunday.

The capital's minimum wage is pegged to the living cost index, which totals the average costs of standard expenses like housing transportation and food in Jakarta. Workers pushed for a higher living cost index after fuel subsidy cuts and the weakening rupiah drove up inflationary costs in the capital.

Last year, the minimum wage exceeded the index. This year, despite a push by labor unions, the two will total Rp 2.2. million a month.

Over the weekend, a meeting about the living cost index ended in a deadlock after workers' representatives at the Jakarta Wage Council would not budge on their demand asking for Rp 2,767,320 as the minimum KHL.

"The representatives walked out of the meeting room," Sarman said. "But according to the regulation, the decision [to set the KHL] is valid because two representatives [with the government and entrepreneurs] have agreed.

"Last year, entrepreneurial representatives walked out of the minimum wage meeting, but that decision was still valid because it was the official decision of the council."

Dedi Hartono, member of the council representing the workers, said he rejected the decision because it was far off from his constituents' original request. "That amount [Rp 2.7 million] is the closest amount to the real living cost of workers in 2014," Dedi said as quoted by Kompas.com.

Sarman insisted, however, that the calculations by the workers' representatives were baseless. He also said that a survey conducted by entrepreneurs determined that workers were asking for too much money.

For instance, workers reportedly requested a minimum of Rp 800,000 for room rental, even though the survey found out that they only really need Rp 570,000 a month to cover such costs. The council, in a compromise, granted the workers Rp 650,000 a month for rent. The council will later convene to decide on the 2014 minimum wage.

This year, Jakarta's minimum wage is set at Rp 2.2 million, and its reasonable living cost index is set at Rp 1,978,789.

Thousands of workers rally in Batam

Jakarta Post - October 28, 2013

Jakarta – Thousands of workers rallied in front of the manpower office in Batam, Riau Island, causing traffic congestion along Jl. Raja Haji, Sekupang, on Monday, Antara news agency has reported.

Local labor union leaders warned on Sunday that 10,000 workers would strike on Monday in the lead-up to a nationwide strike planned for Thursday and Friday by a federation of national labor unions.

The workers pressed for an end to the outsourcing system of labor recruitment, a pay rise and improved social security.

Government braces for nationwide labor protests

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The government has called on workers to remain peaceful during an upcoming five-day national strike, which is expected to start on Monday.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto urged workers not to vandalize public property or disturb public order.

"It is their right. However, since nationwide rallies have implications, we are taking certain steps ahead of the strike. We have prepared measures to deal with any workers who take to the streets and commit acts of violence or vandalism," Djoko said at the State Palace on Friday.

Earlier that day, Djoko had convened a meeting to prepare measures to handle the national strike. Attending the meeting were Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, the National Police's security chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, Army chief of staff Gen. Moeldoko and National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman.

Earlier this week, thousands of workers from various unions staged a rally in front of the House of Representatives, demanding a 50 percent increase to the Jakarta minimum wage, or Rp 3.7 million (US$336.70) a month from the current Rp 2.2 million provincial wage in Jakarta. They also demanded that the 50 percent increase be applied in all provinces across the country.

Moreover, the protesters gave an Oct. 28 deadline to the government to ban the practice of outsourcing employees at private and state-owned companies. The workers vowed to stage a national strike between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1 if their demands were not met.

Djoko urged union leaders to monitor their members' protests and prevent them from resorting to violence. He also instructed the National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) to prepare for an even larger protest than the one the unions have prepared. "I hope no one takes over public infrastructure or facilities," he said.

Labor unions say they expect at least 3 million workers to join the strike. Said Iqbal of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) said in a statement that the 3 million workers would join a "peaceful" nationwide rally, which is expected to disrupt activities in some of the country's largest industrial parks including Pulogadung, Sunter, Tanjung Priok and Cakung in North Jakarta; Karawang, Cikarang, Purwakarta and Subang in West Java and Medan in West Java.

Nyumarno, a leader at the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI), said the industrial action would definitely halt production at a number of metal companies.

The labor leader gave his assurances, however, that the rallies would be peaceful. "The rallies will be peaceful, without any destruction or vandalism," he said.

On Friday, a small number of workers from Jakarta had already begun their industrial action by staging a rally, marching from the Tugu Tani traffic circle in Central Jakarta to City Hall at 5:30 p.m.

The workers, who are grouped under the Jakarta Labor Forum (JLF), also announced their plan to join the nationwide protest, saying they intended to camp outside City Hall.

The JLF urged Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama to increase wages to meet basic costs of living (KHL), which include residential rents and transportation costs. They claimed their demand to raise the minimum provincial wage to Rp 3.7 million was reasonable as the country's economy was booming.

Workers demand wage increase

Jakarta Post - October 25, 2013

Andi Hajramurni and Suherdjoko, Makassar/Semarang – Workers from a number of companies in Makassar staged a rally on Thursday, demanding the South Sulawesi provincial administration raise both the regional minimum wage (UMR) and the city minimum wage (UMK) for the upcoming year.

They said that the current South Sulawesi minimum wage of Rp 2.16 million (US$198) and the Makassar minimum wage of Rp 2.25 million per month was not adequate for basic living needs following skyrocketing food and fuel prices.

"The current minimum wage is unable to support workers, especially those supporting families. We urge the provincial and the city administrations to raise the minimum wage 50 percent for next year," said rally coordinator Akbar.

"We make big contributions to the economy, but we only earn a small amount of money for our hard work," he added.

The protesters also demanded that the government abandon outsourcing in private and state companies, which they said violated their rights.

They also demanded that the President cancel Presidential Instruction No. 9/2013 on the minimum wage immediately, saying that the instruction did not bring any benefit to workers.

Moreover, Akbar warned of a national strike scheduled for Oct. 28 to 30. "Today's rally is just the beginning. We call on all South Sulawesi people to support the strike to express concern over the problem," said Akbar.

Not only in South Sulawesi, workers in Central Java have also demanded a wage increase. In Semarang, four workers went on a hunger strike as part of their protest, saying that the minimum wage in most regions was considered too low. Workers in West Cilacap, for instance, only take home Rp 816,000 per month.

A representative of the workers, Prabowo, said that Governor Ganjar Pranowo had to offer a win-win solution for both employers and workers to solve the wage issue and improve workers' welfare as promised in his campaign to become governor.

Political parties & elections

PDI-P open to Joko presidential bid: Official

Jakarta Globe - October 31, 2013

SP/Carlos Paath – A senior member of the Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said on Thursday that the party held no objection to nominating Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as a presidential candidate in the 2014 national election.

"For Megawati [Sukarnoputri], it has never been a problem," Sabam Sirait said. "The PDI-P has no objection if it is Jokowi, but let us see when the time comes. The time is not yet right, we only need to wait for the right moment."

He said that the party would only announce its candidate for the 2014 presidential elections slightly before the campaigning period. An early announcement, he said, would leave the candidate open to political attack and give an advantage to the PDI-P's political rivals.

Sabam added that Jokowi hada better chance of becoming the party's candidate than Megawati's daughter, Puan Maharani, who is also a party deputy chairperson.

"Puan is a good girl, but she is not suitable to become president," he said. "Not all good people are suitable to become president.'

Prabowo makes last effort to woo voters

Jakarta Post - October 27, 2013

Jakarta – Chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto, made a pledge on Saturday that if he was elected president he would hand out cash to all the villages in the country.

To lend credence to his pledge, Prabowo signed a pact – with the pledge inscribed on the document – with the leaders of seven mass organizations at an event held at Gerindra's headquarters in Ragunan, South Jakarta.

In his pledge, Prabowo promised that he would spend Rp 1 billion (US$90,818) annually on more than 72,000 villages across the country. He said the cash distribution would be part of his program to build the country from the bottom up, starting at the village level.

"Ninety percent of Indonesia's population lives in villages, yet 60 percent of money in the country circulates within cities," Prabowo said.

Home Ministry data shows there are 72,944 villages in the country, meaning that if Gerindra's plan is followed, more than Rp 72 trillion will be spent every year for village development. Currently, only an estimated Rp 42 trillion is allocated from the state budget every year for village development.

When asked if his cash handout program would breed corruption, Prabowo said: "Villagers don't practice corruption, city folks do. It's smart people who are easily tempted to commit graft. Villagers, on the other hand, are honest people," he said.

Prabowo also pledged that if he was elected president, he would set up a ministry dedicated solely to village affairs. The former chief of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) said that if villages were economically strengthened, the whole country would benefit.

At the event, Prabowo won support from a number of mass organizations that had complained about the government's failure to introduce progress in the country's villages.

Rachmat Pambudy of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) said the government's mismanagement of funds left villages to suffer with poverty and a lack of educational programs and health care. "Villages around the country have been neglected for too long. Now, poverty is everywhere," he said.

Supriyatno of the Indonesian Traditional Market Traders Association (APPSI), meanwhile, urged Gerindra to fight for the deliberation of the village bill, a piece of legislation that, if endorsed, would devolve more authority to village administrations.

A plenary session at the House of Representatives on Friday extended deliberations on the village bill after failing to endorse it after two consecutive legislative sessions.

Yoes Kenawas, a political analyst from the Parahyangan University's School of Social and Politics, said that Prabowo's pledge was a last-ditch effort to win back lower- and middle-class voters who had recently swung in the direction of popular Jakarta Govenor Joko Widodo.

He said it was likely that Prabowo, even if he was elected, would have a problem keeping his village pledge. "Presidential candidates have other ways of increasing their electability ratings, such as proposing realistic goals based on their track records," he said.

KPU races against time to fix voter list problems

Jakarta Post - October 25, 2013

Jakarta – The General Election Commission (KPU) is optimistic that it can beat the two-week deadline given by the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to fix the glitches in voter list data for the 2014 polls.

On Wednesday, the KPU postponed publication of the final voter's list following protests from Bawaslu and political parties who said that the list was flawed and could leave millions of eligible voters disenfranchised.

Bawaslu had earlier said that more than 11 million voters could lose their right to vote if the glitches were not fixed. Bawaslu and political parties that will contest the 2014 poll demanded that the KPU fix the problems before finalizing the list.

"We are sure that we can meet the deadline. We actually believed that our data was accurate but since other parties [political parties and Bawaslu] doubt it, we will fix problems [like duplication of data] through the program we have on our database," KPU chairman Husni Kamil Manik said on Thursday.

Husni said that data correction could take some time because the KPU could only make changes to the data by changing its variables manually with data collected by local election commissions (KPUD).

Valid voter data should have five variables; name, date of birth, civic registration number, gender and address. If one of the variables is missing, the data is considered inaccurate.

KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said that the KPU would accommodate complaints from political parties and Bawaslu.

"We will match our data with that of political parties and Bawaslu. Their data should have more details so we can spot the problems. We will crosscheck the data directly at our offices in regencies and municipalities," Ferry said.

Ferry said that the postponement would not affect the election schedule as the next stage in the election process, which is logistics provisioning, would only start on Nov. 14. He said the printing of ballot papers kicked off in December.

Bawaslu said that there was a mismatch in the data of around 400,000 voters. The KPU's manual data showed that 186.8 million voters were eligible for the 2014 general election while the electronic data stored at the KPU website www.kpu.go.id showed 186.3 million voters. Bawaslu also recently announced that its investigation found that data on around 11 million voters was flawed.

Ferry shrugged off Bawaslu's complaint. He said that the mismatch was a minor problem as the data was yet to be entered into the system. "All manual data will be entered into the system at the end, so it is not a problem," he said.

KPU had announced that it had recorded the data of around 186,842,553 voters, comprising 93,544,429 male voters and 93,298,124 female voters, in all 496 regencies and municipalities.

Political parties have accused the KPU of underestimating the data problem. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) claimed its investigation found that data on 20.3 million voters was inaccurate.

"We don't want to turn the invalid data into a future political issue, so it has to be fixed now," lawmaker Arif Wibowo of the PDI-P said.

The NasDem Party put the blame for the "chaos" regarding the electoral roll squarely on the Home Ministry, which launched the electronic identification system in 2011. The party called on Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi to resign from his position.

Gamawan shot back at his critics on Thursday saying that the KPU should share the blame for the data glitches. He said that his office had already sent the KPU its data on potential voters in February, two months before the deadline set by the General Elections Law.

"That's because they [the critics] know nothing [about the mechanism and our role]. We have nothing to do with the postponement, our role is only to assist the KPU," he said on Thursday. (hrl)

Environment & natural disasters

Swallowed by coal: UK profits from Indonesia's destructive mining industry

The Guardian (Australia) - October 30, 2013

John Vidal – Just 30 years ago, Samarinda was a sleepy village surrounded by deep equatorial forest and known mostly for its traditionally woven sarongs. Today it is the largest city in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province, with nearly 1 million inhabitants. It is also the centre of the burgeoning coal industry, surrounded by more than 1,000 mines and concessions.

The forests have gone, opencast mines circle the city and giant barges pass down the river Mahakam every few minutes taking coal to India, Japan, Korea and beyond. Nearly 70% of the city has been handed to coal companies as concessions. In theory, Samarinda could be swallowed by coal.

The city and most of East Kalimantan is unrecognisable to those who left some three decades ago, but now, say Indonesian and British campaigners, coal mining is poised to rip through central Kalimantan, or Borneo, a few hundred miles west of Samarinda.

Mining companies such as BHP Billiton are moving in with money raised in London to exploit some of the world's largest deposits in what is being called coal's last frontier. So far, 449 exploration concessions have been awarded, covering 15,313 square miles (39,662 sq km) – about 25% of the area of the whole densely forested province famed for its tribespeople, remoteness and wildlife.

According to the World Development Movement and its partner in Indonesia, the East Kalimantan Mining Advocacy Network, mining and the infrastructure needed to extract and export coal from the heart of Borneo will inevitably ruin vast, heavily forested areas at great cost to people living there and the environment.

Apart from the millions of tonnes of carbon that will be emitted from the burning of the coal, massive railway projects are planned, and giant pits and waste dumps will be needed to support the industry. This will lead to pollution of rivers and land-grabbing during the digging of vast open-cast pits each covering several square miles, as people flock there in search for jobs.

The pace of the mining is speeding up in central Kalimantan. More than 8.5m tonnes of coal were dug last year compared with less than 1m tonnes in 2005; and by 2020 companies could be extracting more than 20m tonnes a year. Indo Met, the largest concession in central Kalimantan, owned by BHP Billiton, covers 350,000 hectares and is thought to have coal reserves of more than 774m tonnes.

Where mining has started, people complain of air pollution, flooding, and land grabs. "We receive all the negatives of coal but very little of the benefits. We will receive the full impact of the waste when they start dumping. The forest will be gone and we will lose our rubber trees," Erly Aisha, a Dayak leader from Maruwei village, told WDM.

Waste from Borneo Lumbung's mine has seeped into the local rivers, say other villagers. "The water is dark and dirty and makes your skin itch. We don't drink it now. The new mine is not operating but the company already has our land. We feel afraid," said Yesmaidfa, a mother in Maruwei.

According to WDM, the UK financial sector is involved in more than 50 major coal mines worked by 12 large companies in East and others in central Kalimantan.

BHP Billiton, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has recieved millions of pounds of investment from Barclays. Because it is part of the FTSE 100, almost every pension holder in the UK has money invested in it. Borneo Lumbung, which controls the Asmin Koalindo Tuhup mine in central Kalimantan, received a loan of $1bn (#0.6bn) from the UK bank Standard Chartered in 2012. Most of the money, says WDM, was used to buy shares in Bumi, the troubled London-listed firm co-founded by financier Nat Rothschild that owns large stakes in some of the biggest mining projects in East Kalimantan.

BHP Billiton, which has a 75% share in the giant IndoMet coal project, is estimated by WDM to have used about #110m of money raised in London. Elsewhere, Adaro Energy, Indonesia's second-largest producer of thermal coal, received #245m from a coalition of UK banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered.

"With the financial sector shrouded in secrecy, it will be very hard to do anything more than estimate the true extent of involvement that UK financial and investment institutions have in fossil fuel projects in places such as Indonesia," said Alex Scrivener, author of the WDM report. "The sector and its institutions must be held to account for their bankrolling of climate change and environmental destruction."

Andrew Hickman, from the Indonesian mining watchdog Down to Earth, said: "The energy we consume in Britain is dirty, but the profit that UK companies make from Indonesia's coal is dirtier. Local communities facing health problems, pollution and human rights abuses in Indonesia know that this coal is deadly too. BHP Billiton's Borneo coal concessions will be a disaster for local people, the environment and our climate."

A spokesman for BHP Billiton in London said: "The IndoMet coal project is a joint venture between BHP Billiton and Adaro. The first stage of development is a small operation called Haju and we are continuing to evaluate the potential for larger scale developments in the region. Any development in central and East Kalimantan will be subject to detailed environmental and social impact assessments, feasibility studies and will require all appropriate permits to be in place before activities commence."

Demands to scrutinize forestry crimes

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Novianti Setuningsih – An antigraft watchdog has urged Indonesian law enforcement institutions to strengthen their fight against crimes in the nation's forestry sector.

The call came after Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) released a report that showed potential state losses from such crimes totaling Rp 691 trillion ($62 billion) between 2011 and 2012.

Lalola Estele, a researcher with ICW, said the total losses had been calculated from 124 cases of forest crimes recorded by the watchdog from 2011 to 2012.

"The crimes vary from forest conversion, for example the one million hectares of palm oil projects. The second is the illegal use of forest products. The third is tax evasion, for example in the case of Asian Agri," Lalola said at the ICW headquarters in Jakarta on Sunday.

Lalola emphasized that the problem pointed to the weak law enforcement efforts in charging the corporations involved in the foul play.

According to the organization, of the 124 cases, police had only charged 37 field operators in 20 cases, and a small percentage of company directors and legislators from the House of Representatives in six of the cases.

As such, ICW called on Indonesia's law enforcement institutions to implement the money laundering law and the anti-corruption law in charging companies, which would make the companies and not just their officials liable to criminal charges.

"The forestry and plantation law doesn't recognize the act of charging a corporation. That's why most of those who are charged are individual actors in the field and not the companies," Lalola said.

ICW's report reflects the grim reality of prevalent crime in the nation's forestry industry over recent years.

In August, the University of Indonesia branch of the People For Indonesian Judicial System (MAPPI) organization claimed that potential state losses in a corruption case involving Burhanuddin Husin, the former head of Kampar district in Riau province and the former chief of Riau's forestry office, could reach up to Rp 687 trillion.

Burhanuddin was found guilty in October 2012 and sentenced to two years and six months in prison, in addition to Rp 100 million worth of fines, for practices of corruption in approving annual working plans for 14 companies in Pelalawan and Siak subdistricts during his time in office between 2005 and 2006.

The court had deemed the licenses invalid as they failed to comply with Forestry Ministry policies because they included swaths of natural forest.

According to Muslim Rasyid, coordinator of the Riau Forest-Saving Network (Jikalahari), the approval of the companies' permits had subsequently resulted in the deforestation of 38,357 hectares of land, which, with thorough calculations, could see up to Rp 687 trillion of wasted state losses. That amounts to more than the Rp 519 billion calculated by prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Burhanuddin's case.

Meanwhile, in June, the names of several high-profile public officials surfaced in a forestry corruption case in West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and South Sumatra, which allegedly cost Rp 1.92 trillion worth of potential state losses.

"Three ministers [are said to be involved], as well as five other regional chiefs or former regional chiefs, one ministerial adviser, one regional government adviser and six company directors," Tama S. Langkun from the Anti-Judicial Mafia Coalition, who is also director of investigation with the ICW, said in June.

However, Tama refused to disclose the names of the 16 individuals involved in the case, but promised to submit the list of names to the KPK. "We will guarantee that these names will be submitted to the KPK," he said, as quoted by Waspada.co.id.

The 16 individuals are alleged to be involved in five different cases of corruption, including an alleged corruption case at a state-run sugar cane plantation in South Sumatra with Rp 4.8 billion worth of potential state losses, as well as alleged corruption in the conversion of forest areas into oil palm plantation in Kapuas Hulu district in West Kalimantan, with potential state losses of up to Rp 108.9 billion.

Separately, a case of illegal logging activities also surfaced earlier this year, involving low-ranking police officer First Insp. Labora Sitorus from West Papua's Sorong district, which further damaged the police's efforts against forest crimes.

Labora was arrested in May after police revealed that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), the government's anti- money-laundering watchdog, had traced transactions worth Rp 1.5 trillion ($134.8 million) passing through his bank accounts between 2007 and 2012.

The money was believed to be linked to his alleged fuel smuggling and illegal logging activities, for which evidence included 115 shipping containers bound for China – traced to one of Labora's companies, Rotua – holding a total of 2,264 cubic meters of merbau wood, a rare hardwood prohibited for commercial logging and for export as rough-sawn timber.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) earlier in May released video footage of illegal loggers harvesting merbau and other species for Rotua from forests on Batanta Island in the Raja Ampat district of West Papua, an ecologically important area with high levels of plant and animal biodiversity.

Rotua has also been reported for receiving timber from the forests of Sorong, Bintuni and other regions of West Papua, the EIA said.

According to the EIA, Labora's network transferred approximately $100,000 to the National Police headquarters in Jakarta and a similar sum to the Papua province police chief.

The use of the money laundering law in fighting crime in the nation's forestry sector is considered important as such practices are often used to clean up the trail of dirty money, according to ICW.

"Many of the business licenses issued in the forestry sector involve corruption, and the results from such practices would get cleaned up through money laundering," Lalola said.

She highlighted that in the case of Burhanuddin, the court's failure to charge the companies involved had resulted in an inadequate seizure of assets.

"Institutional crime policies have existed in Indonesia since the 1950s and are regulated in the anti-corruption law, money laundering law and others, but law enforcement officers remain reluctant in using them," she said.

Indonesia forests still dwindle despite reforms

Associated Press - October 25, 2013

Matthew Pennington, Washington – At home and abroad, Indonesia is highlighting its progress in curbing the environmental destruction that has depleted forests and made the Southeast Asian nation a leading source of greenhouse gases. But environmentalists are unconvinced.

They say pulp and palm oil plantations are still expanding at an alarming rate in Sumatran forests, despite efforts by the government and industry. That expansion has contributed to climate change and threatens endangered tigers and orangutans.

More than 80 percent of Indonesia's emissions are due to clearing of what is the world's third-largest area of rainforest, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. About half of Indonesia's rainforest has already been destroyed.

Greenpeace, which has conducted extensive research on deforestation in Indonesia, says government maps show the country lost 4,790 square miles (12,400 square kilometers) of forest between 2009 and 2011. The main cause, accounting for about a quarter of lost forest, was for production of palm oil, which is used as food and as biofuel.

Carbon-rich peatlands being cleared for plantations must be drained first. That releases vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has committed to cutting greenhouse emissions by 26 percent by 2020. His government in 2011 declared a moratorium on new concessions in primary forest in a $1 billion deal with Norway. The moratorium was extended this May for two years. Environmentalists say that doesn't go far enough because it doesn't cover existing concessions.

The US government reported in June that Indonesia's palm oil industry has enough land that the nation's authorities have said can be developed for agricultural use to continue its current, rapid rate of plantation expansion for at least 10 years.

Indonesia is a nation of 250 million people scattered across hundreds of islands that would be vulnerable to climate change from rising sea levels. But it's also a big contributor to the global problem, being among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases after China and the United States.

Indonesia's ambassador to Washington, Dino Patti Djalal, said the government is working with industry and environmental groups to protect forests.

He highlighted the move this February by Asian Pulp and Paper – the country's top pulp producer – to halt clearance of natural forest and use just existing plantation and degraded land; and a commitment by Sinar Mas – which controls both that company and top palm oil producer Golden Agri- Resources – to protect orangutans.

"It shows that the industry wants to change, they want to do the right thing, but sometimes we have just got to help them," Djalal told the Stimson Center think tank this week.

The amount of forest cover lost annually has fallen: from an estimated 1 million hectares (about 2.5 million acres) between 1990 and 2010 – equivalent to nearly 1 percent of the national total per year – down to 600,000 hectares (about 1.5 million acres) per year between 2009 and 2011.

Amy Moas, a US-based forest campaigner for Greenpeace, acknowledged some progress but said "there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of companies still skirting lax laws and regulations in Indonesia and finding the cheapest and easiest way to do business, which means horrible environmental devastation."

Moas said government data shows that Asia-Pacific Resources International Ltd, or APRIL, Indonesia's second-largest producer of pulp, is still using rainforest wood to supply its mill in Riau province, which has faced the most intense deforestation on Sumatra, a western island famed for its biodiversity.

APRIL spokesman Mike Zampa said Greenpeace was exaggerating the amount of rainforest wood entering the mill. He said 65 percent of the fiber used is from plantation wood. He said the company develops only about half the land on its concessions in Indonesia, and the rest goes to conservation and community use.

Accidental and deliberate forest fires this summer in peat-rich Riau, also a major center for palm oil production, cast a haze as far as Thailand, angering Indonesia's neighbors. According to Greenpeace, between 2009 and 2011 the province saw 10 percent of its tiger habitat destroyed – putting stress on the dwindling population of 400 tigers in Sumatra.

Over the same period in Borneo, a central region that abuts Malaysia, 545 square miles (1,410 square kilometers) of forested orangutan habitat was cleared, a third in areas licensed to palm oil concessionaires, Greenpeace says.

Richard Cronin, a Stimson Center expert on Southeast Asian environmental issues, said decentralization of decision-making that came with the dawn of democracy in Indonesia 15 years ago means that the central government has problems controlling what happens in provinces. He said commercial pressures, corruption and demand from a growing population for agricultural land take a toll.

Djalal, the ambassador, acknowledged that it's not easy to get national environmental policies implemented locally and that, "there are times that the industry needs to be disciplined, especially in terms of how they get their land."

Nigel Sizer, a forestry expert at the World Resources Institute, a Washington-based environmental research organization, said just 15 percent to 20 percent of Indonesia's palm oil is certified under industry standards – which critics say are too weak anyway.

The institute says producers looking to adopt more environmentally friendly cultivation face complex regulations if they wish to shift their operations from forested to degraded land. And land is often improperly classified. In some cases, areas that should be protected can be used for plantations, while degraded land cannot.

It cites Borneo, where there's an area of degraded land the size of Greece suitable for palm oil production, but more than one-third of that land is classified as forest that can't be used for agriculture.

Sumatran tiger habitat loss blamed on plantation firms

Inter Press Service - October 24, 2013

Thalif Deen – The tiger population in the rainforests of Sumatra is vanishing at a staggering rate, reducing the number of the endangered species to as few as 400, Greenpeace International has warned.

The primary reason is the expansion of oil palm and pulpwood plantations, which were responsible for nearly two-thirds of the destruction of tiger habitat between 2009 and 2011, the most recent period for which official Indonesian government data is available.

In a new study released on Tuesday, Greenpeace says such destruction fragments the extensive tracts of rainforest required for tigers need to range freely in order to hunt. "It also increases their contact with humans," the study says.

"This leads to more poaching for tiger skins and traditional medicines and more tiger attacks, resulting in both tiger and human deaths." The decline of Sumatran tigers is a measure of the loss of rainforest, biodiversity and also climate stability, according to the study titled "Licence to Kill."

This summer, huge fires, both accidental and deliberate, raged across the Sumatran province of Riau, destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of rainforests – including the deep peatland forests that the last stand of tiger habitat in the province.

The fires released record amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants in a haze that stretched as far as neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

There are no estimates as to how many tigers have been killed so far, although the figure could be in the thousands over the last decade.

Asked whether the United Nations was engaged in the protection of tigers, Bustar Maitar, the Indonesian head of Greenpeace's Forest Campaign and Global Forest Network, told IPS, "I don't see much UN activity on forests.

"The only thing I know is the UN Development Program manages a $1 billion fund from the Norwegian government for the UN collaborative initiative on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD)."

He said REDD was working closely with its Indonesian counterpart to accelerate its projects in Indonesia. Maitar added that the UN's focus was more on general sustainable development and democracy in Indonesia than on protecting the tigers, described as a critically endangered species.

"Or they might not really be clear as to how to fit in with this issue in Indonesia," he said, adding that the UN could provide more technical assistance and capacity building for government and civil society.

The UN REDD program was launched in 2008 and encompasses the technical expertise of the UNDP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

It supports nationally led REDD+ processes and "promotes the informed and meaningful involvement of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, in national and international REDD+ implementation," according to the United Nations.

Currently, about 85 percent of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions typically come from land-use changes (principally related to deforestation for plantations or agriculture), and around half of this is peat-related.

Even Sumatran tiger habitat in protected areas such as the world-famous Tesso Nilo National Park has been virtually destroyed by encroachment for illegal palm oil production, and government officials acknowledge that protection for such areas exists only on paper, Greenpeace International said.

The study also pointed out that forested tiger habitat in licensed plantation concessions has no protection at all.

One million hectares – 10 percent of all remaining forested tiger habitat – remained at risk of clearance in pulp and oil palm concessions in 2011.

Over the 2009-2011 period, pulpwood suppliers were responsible for a sixth of all forested tiger habitat loss. During the same period, the palm oil sector cleared a quarter of the remaining tiger habitat in its concessions.

"These failures expose how unregulated and irresponsible expansion, notably of oil palm and pulp wood plantations, undermines the Indonesian government's commitments to stop deforestation and to save the tiger and other endangered wildlife," the study showed.

Greenpeace also said its investigations have revealed that household names, including Colgate Palmolive, Mondelez International (formerly Kraft), Nestle Oil, Proctor & Gamble, Reckitt Benckiser and a host of other companies are linked to Singapore-based Wilmar International and its international trade in dirty palm oil.

Wilmar is the world's largest palm oil processor, accounting for over one- third of the global palm oil processing market and with a distribution network covering over 50 countries.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pointed out that forests are vital for human wellbeing. In a message for the International Day of Forests last March, Ban said forests cover nearly a third of the globe and provide an invaluable variety of social, economic and environmental benefits.

Three-fourths of freshwater comes from forested catchment areas. Forests stabilize slopes and prevent landslides, while also protecting coastal communities against tsunamis and storms. More than 3 billion people use wood for fuel, some 2 billion depend on forests for sustenance and income, and 750 million live within them, he added.

Ban also said forests are often at the frontlines of competing demands. Urbanization and the consumption needs of growing populations are linked to deforestation for large-scale agriculture and the extraction of valuable timber, oil and minerals.

Often the roads that provide infrastructure for these enterprises ease access for other forest users, who can further exacerbate the rate of forest and biodiversity loss.

Health & education

Sex education urged by Joko in wake of scandal

Jakarta Globe - October 29, 2013

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo has stressed the importance of providing sex education to young children, following the emergence of a sex video involving two junior high school students.

Joko said on Monday that sex education was important so that young children could be made aware of what was appropriate for people their age.

"For instance, we can invite psychologists and officials from the National Commission for Child Protection [Komnas PA] into schools so that they can explain what is appropriate for children," Joko said at City Hall as quoted as saying by Kompas.

Joko added that the junior high school sex video scandal should be resolved as discreetly as possible. "I have asked the [Jakarta Education Office] to resolve it privately because it concerns the future of those children," the former Solo mayor said.

Joko said the case was not only the responsibility of the education agency to prevent but also the responsibility of schools and parents.

Jakarta Education Office head Taufik Yudi Mulyanto said the office had taken an approach to solving the case in accordance with the governor's instructions and that all students who were involved in the making of the sex tape had already been transferred to other schools.

"Based on the agreement between the school, parents and the students themselves, they will continue their studies elsewhere," he said.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has ordered Taufik to dismiss the principal of the school in question, State Junior High School (SMPN) No. 4.

Basuki later revoked his instruction to dismiss the official after finding out that Achmad Jazuli had only been the school's principal for two days before the incident took place.

The principal declined to comment on Basuki's order but said he was focusing on restoring academic activities to normal. "I just want to talk about the future, how to restore the situation so that the children can be better for the sake of their future," he said.

Achmad said student activities at the school had already returned to normal and that they were no longer distracted by the sex video scandal.

Briefing

The Jakarta Education Office said it would soon hold a meeting with all school principals in Jakarta after the student sex video went viral on the Internet.

Taufik said his office had invite the principals of junior high schools as well as students and parents in the Jakarta area for a discussion early next month. "On November 1, we will give a briefing at a gathering of school principals, students' parents and school committees," Taufik said.

He added that his office had invited noted psychologist and sex expert Zoya Amirin, educator Arief Rahman and psychologist and HIV/AIDS activist Baby Jim Aditya as guest speakers at the meeting.

Taufik added that he hoped to prevent similar incidents from happening again by holding the discussion. "We want to focus on establishing a collective mind-set on the students' behavior," he said.

Speaking on the same note, Joko said that he planned to summon the education office head and other concerned officials to discuss the matter of the sex video.

He added that he would take strict action against any officials found to have been negligent in allowing the sex act to take place and be filmed inside a classroom after school was over. "I don't have detailed information [regarding the case] yet. I need to understand it before I can comment," he said in Solo over the weekend.

Taufik said his office would still impose some sort of censure against Achmad, even though he was new to the school at the time of the incident. However, he added that whatever sanction was meted out would be tempered by considerations of Achmad's track record as an educator.

Taufik also said his office planned to provide counseling for the students involved in the incident, saying that the sex scandal had affected more students than initially thought.

"It turned out after studying it with the school... the problem created by the small group [of students] has affected a wide group of others," he said.

He said the counseling, set to take place in the near future, was hoped to minimize the psychological damage the students had endured after their school drew widespread media attention.

The Jakarta Police have questioned several people over the sexually explicit video, an official said.

Based on the witnesses' testimony and observations of the video, investigators had come to an early conclusion that the video's participants were not forced to be in it.

"Seventeen people have been questioned," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said last week. "They are the 10 students who watched and recorded it, four officials from the school – the principal, deputy principal, counselor and a teacher – as well as three security staff. We have questioned them all," he added.

Police became involved in the case when the parents of the girl in the video, who is understood to be around 15 years old, filed a complaint saying she had been coerced into performing a sex act on another student by several of her peers who threatened her at knife point.

Rikwanto said police had yet to question the two students filmed in the act.

Tobacco control stumps Indonesia's health minister

Jakarta Globe - October 24, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Dina Manafe – Tobacco industry lobbyists and lawmakers are rebuffing demands for stricter regulation, saying such a move would end millions of livelihoods.

"Many small industries can no longer survive. We feel like we are going to get murdered and only big industry will survive," said Hafash Gunaman, head of the Association of Kudus Cigarette Makers.

Hafash was responding to renewed calls on the government to accede to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), a treaty convened by the World Health Organization in 2003, after the world community singled out Indonesia as the only country in Asia, the Pacific or the G20 that has not attempted to pass tobacco control laws that meet even minimum international standards.

The FCTC requires parties to legislate a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising and undertake measures to ban sales to minors, reduce demand, help people end tobacco addiction, protect non-smokers' health through indoor smoking restrictions, and eliminate smuggling.

"If the tax excise is increased, our product's market [will shrink], because it will be too expensive. We don't have enough capital to cope with that," Hafash said.

There are few places in the world where cigarettes are cheaper than in Indonesia. Indeed, they are affordable even for the poorest households and children. A pack of Marlboro, including taxes, sells for $1.30 in Indonesia, compared to $9.70 in Singapore, $14.50 in New York, $3.20 in Malaysia and $1 in the Philippines and Vietnam, according to cigaretteprices.net. The highest price, $17.70, is found in Australia, which has some of the world's strictest tobacco controls.

The tobacco industry has previously claimed acceding to the FCTC would threaten the livelihood of 10 million people who work as tobacco and clove farmers, factory workers and cigarette vendors.

The Ministry of Health says the framework would not hurt workers' livelihoods, and would only regulate the tobacco trade to improve the farmers' welfare and prevent children from taking up the habit.

"Vehicle fumes are more dangerous than cigarette smoke. But why doesn't the government limit the number of cars?" Hafash said.

Zulvan Kurniawan from the National Coalition to Save Kretek (Cigarettes), or KNPK, said Indonesia already has a tobacco regulation and FCTC accession is unnecessary. "Current regulationa are strict enough. But is law enforcement working?" he said.

Zulvan denied that cigarette commercials influence people, especially children, to take up the habit. "Advertisements only inform people about cigarette brands. Smoking itself is more related to influence from people's surroundings," he said.

Poempida Hidayatullah, a lawmaker on House of Representatives Commission IX, which oversees health and welfare issues, said FCTC accession was a ridiculous move that would only benefit foreign tobacco. "Everything was copy-pasted to be implemented in Indonesia based on foreign importance," he said.

Poempida said the push for FCTC accession is motivated by trade competition and a desire dominate the Indonesian market by killing the local clove cigarette industry.

Minister of Health Nafsiah Mboi said on Wednesday she was thoroughly embarrassed during the Organization of Islamic Countries' summit of Health Ministers in Jakarta on Tuesday. Indonesia is one of only 10 states that have not signed the FCTC, alongside Zimbabwe and Somalia.

"Somalia has not ratified the framework because they have practically no government. I really don't know what to say about Indonesia, so I could not give any response when asked about tobacco control. But I was very ashamed," she said.

Nafsiah said Indonesia has repeatedly violated the global commitments it made in several international forums.

In 2011, Indonesia voted in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution recognizing the most prominent non-communicable diseases are linked to common risk factors, such as tobacco and alcohol use, unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity. The meeting, attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also recognized the fundamental conflict of interest between the tobacco industry and public health.

In 2011, a regional WHO meeting issued the "Jakarta Call for Action on Noncommunicable Diseases," participants from Southeast Asian countries called on global leaders to combat NCDs by ratifying the FCTC and scaling up a package of interventions proven effective, including the reduction of tobacco use.

In 2007, at an OIC Health Minsters summit in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia stated its willingness to recognize that tobacco poses one of the greatest threats to health. The country joined an effort to call upon OIC member states to introduce stronger tobacco control legislation.

Diplomats have noted Indonesia's eagerness to project itself as a leader in international forums, but say the country's reputation will suffer if, rather than taking action and responsibility on basic agreements, the government is instead seen as merely blowing smoke.

Sex workers & prostitution

Kids are pimping out kids for sex in Indonesia

Associated Press - October 31, 2013

Margie Mason, Bandung, Indonesia – Chimoy flicks a lighter and draws a long drag until her cheeks collapse on the skinny Dunhill Mild, exhaling a column of smoke.

Her no-nonsense, tough-girl attitude projects the confidence of a woman in her 30s, yet she's only 17. Colorful angel and butterfly tattoos cover her skin, and she wears a black T-shirt emblazoned with a huge skull.

Chimoy – by her own account and those of other girls and social workers – is a pimp. She got into the business when she was 14. A boyfriend's sister asked her to sell herself for sex, but she recruited a friend for the job instead.

Then she established a pimping operation that grew to include a car, a house and some 30 working girls earning her up to US$3,000 a month – a small fortune in a poor country. "The money was too strong to resist," she says. "I was really proud to make money on my own."

Two years ago in Indonesia, there were zero reports of child pimps like Chimoy who work as the boss with no adults behind the scenes. But the National Commission for Child Protection says 21 girls between 14 and 16 have been caught working as "mamis" so far this year, and there are likely far more.

It's easier than ever. Kids can use text messages and social media to book clients and make transactions without ever standing on a dark corner in a miniskirt and heels.

"The sickening thing is you see 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds, getting into these practices," says Leonarda Kling, Jakarta-based regional representative for Terre des Hommes Netherlands, a nonprofit working on trafficking issues. "You think: 'The whole future of this child is just going to waste.'"

Chimoy, who has occasionally worked as a prostitute, and other teens in the sex industry interviewed for this story are identified by their nicknames. The Associated Press does not typically identify children who have been sexually abused.

Recently, in the eastern city of Surabaya, a 15-year-old was busted after escorting three other teens to meet clients at a hotel. Police spokeswoman Maj. Suparti says the girl employed 10 prostitutes – including classmates, Facebook friends and even her older sister – and collected up to a quarter of the $50 to $150 received for each call.

She conducted business over the popular BlackBerry Messenger service, earning up to $400 a month, says Suparti, who uses one name like many Indonesians. The girl also met potential clients in malls or restaurants first to size them up. "She was running her pimp action like a professional," Suparti says.

Human trafficking and sex tourism have long been big business in this vast archipelago of 240 million, thanks to rampant corruption, weak law enforcement and a lack of reporting largely due to family embarrassment or little faith in the system. The UN International Labor Organization estimates 40,000 to 70,000 children become victims of sexual exploitation in Indonesia annually.

Much of this abuse is driven by adults, but poverty and consumerism play a role. Indonesia's have-nots rub up against a growing middle class obsessed with the latest gadgets and the ultra-wealthy flaunting their designer clothes and luxury cars.

It was a smartphone that drove soft-spoken Daus into prostitution at age 14. The son of a factory worker and a street food vendor, the lanky boy says he was soon making $400 to $500 a month for having sex regularly with three women in their 30s and 40s.

"I didn't want to do it, but I had to have the BlackBerry," he says. Indonesia is a social-media crazed country that ranks as one of the world's top Facebook and Twitter users. "If we don't have a BlackBerry, we feel we are nothing, and we are ignored by our friends."

But the biggest issue is not money. It's problems at home, including neglect and abuse, says Faisal Cakrabuana, project manager of Yayasan Bahtera, a nonprofit in the West Java capital of Bandung that helps sexually victimized children.

Many girls end up on the street and connect with others facing similar situations. Sometimes they band together and rent a small room or apartment, with one girl emerging as the pimp.

Often she's the one with prior experience. The other girls may pay her in cash, booze and drugs, or simply contribute to the group's rent and utilities, Cakrabuana says. In other cases, no money is collected at all from pimps, some of whom continue to receive support from well-off parents.

"They are just seeking what their family doesn't give them: attention," he says. "They make big families of their own."

Chimoy was an only child living alone with her mom. She says her father was always gone, taking care of his four other wives. Polygamy is not uncommon in Muslim-majority Indonesia.

She recalls with a proud smile how she was always among the top students in her class, with a knack for business and cooking. At one point, she even opened a small shop selling traditional spicy crackers.

In sixth grade, Chimoy was already running with a tough, older crowd. She was drinking and regularly using drugs by ninth grade, when she dropped out of school to manage the prostitution business full time. She got pregnant and had her first daughter at 15. The second baby came a year later.

Chimoy worked at karaoke bars, sometimes also selling herself, and racked up a list of clients. Money began to flow, and so did the drugs: She became hooked on crystal methamphetamine, known here as shabu shabu.

First she had three girls working for her, and later many more. Most were 14 to 17 years old, but some were in their 20s. All waited for her call to meet a growing list of local and foreign customers in the popular tourist town of Bandung. "We rented a house to live together," she says. "It makes life easier to yell out: 'Who wants this job?'"

Customers called or sent texts asking for a specific type of girl: tall or maybe light-skinned. Facebook was sometimes used to display photos of the girls, but Chimoy says no services were offered directly online.

Once, she says, a client paid around $2,000 plus a BlackBerry and a motorbike in exchange for a girl's virginity. Chimoy pocketed $500 from that deal.

Nuri, a chopstick-thin 16-year-old with long auburn-dyed hair, says Chimoy is family and never demands a cut of her earnings. The girls decide how much to pay her. A high school motorbike gang serves as their muscle.

"She's different from my previous adult pimps because money doesn't matter to her, but my safety means everything to her," adds 16-year-old Chacha, who started selling sex three years ago at a karaoke bar in western Indonesia. "I feel very comfortable working with her," she says. "She is even a mother to us."

Prostitution operations around the world are typically led by adults, but enterprising teens in many countries have figured out how to get money for sex on their own, says Anjan Bose of ECPAT International, a nonprofit global network that helps sexually abused children.

Well before smartphones and social media, school girls in Japan, often from middle-class families, left their numbers at phone booths near train stations for men to call. Today, Bose says children as young as 13 in the Dominican Republic earn more than their teachers selling sex for everything from free car rides to mobile phones. In Thailand and the Philippines, teens go online and strip or perform sex acts in front of webcams, often for customers in Western countries. And a Canadian high school girl has been on trial this month for allegedly using Facebook to lure teens as young as 13 to have sex with men for money.

Both teen prostitutes and teen pimps need help to leave the business, says Bose, who's based in Bangkok. "A child cannot consent to prostitution," he says. "It's an exploitative situation where they are serving the needs of the customers. We have to look at them as being victims."

Today, Chimoy sits on the floor of a rented ground-floor room just big enough for a twin-size mattress. This is home since she lost nearly everything to her ravenous meth addiction.

Now, she says, she's given up drugs, and also wants to quit pimping. She's been working with Yayasan Bahtera for two years and says people there have given her the support she needs to start scaling back her operation.

The foundation offers skills and counseling. Cakrabuana, the program manager, says children who seek help are not judged or turned away, even if they are still involved in the business.

"I'm trying to get rid of my past," says Chimoy, who is raising her children with help from her mother. "I also explain to the girls, 'Don't do this anymore. You can find another job. This job is risky.'"

But she still conducts business regularly with about five girls who are also in the program. They're trying to quit too, but when money runs low, they call Chimoy to arrange clients.

They are not hard to find. As Chimoy sits talking about her dream of becoming a pastry chef, a gangsta rap ringtone keeps interrupting, along with several text messages. All are calls from men looking to book girls.

[Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.]

Refugees & asylum seekers

Indonesia ramps up battle over people smuggling

Sydney Morning Herald - October 30, 2013

Michael Bachelard – Indonesia will offer to step up naval patrols in the ocean between Java and Australia in an attempt to combat people smuggling, a government spokesman has said.

The offer came as Australian immigration minister Scott Morrison met Indonesian officials on Wednesday afternoon after having gone out of his way not to give journalists details of the appointment.

However, Mr Morrison would be disappointed that he could not meet the relevant minister, Djoko Suyanto, who was called away by president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to another event in Padang.

Mr Djoko, the co-ordinating minister for security, politics and law, is the chairman of Indonesia's people smuggling taskforce, and the man who must agree to any new policy direction.

Agus Barnas, a spokesman for Mr Djoko, denied there was any snub intended to Mr Morrison, saying the need for the Indonesian minister to leave Jakarta had only arisen recently.

Indonesian army commander, General Moeldoko, was also unable to attend the meeting, which was instead chaired by justice and human rights minister Amir Syamsuddin.

General Moeldoko, who will ultimately decide how many ships to deploy to the Timor Sea, sent instead his chief of staff for general affairs, Boy Syahrial.

Mr Agus said Indonesia would offer Mr Morrison to "maximise our navy patrols in the south sea, because normally we don't have that many ships there, because there has been no threat from the south". "But now we will intensify the sea patrols because these asylum seekers are trying to go south," he said.

The promise amounts to an increased militarisation of the Timor Sea under the Indonesian plan combined with Australia's military-style "Operation Sovereign Borders".

If accepted by Australia, the military response may mollify Indonesian concerns that Australia was about to threaten its territorial sovereignty by implementing Tony Abbott's long promised election policy of turning boats back to Indonesia.

Details of how many Indonesian navy ships would be sent to the area are yet to be finalised – a decision that would be under the control of General Moeldoko.

Neither Mr Morrison's office nor the embassy in Jakarta would give details of the meeting in advance, and the minister refused to answer questions from Fairfax Media both on the way in and on the way out. He did not say if he had raised the "turn back the boats" policy.

In an interview last week, the meeting's chairman, Mr Amir, said Australia should "pay more attention" to the countries of origin of asylum seekers in searching for a solution, and be kinder towards refugees.

"The Australian government should pay more empathy to the position of the Indonesian government, who is not comfortable with having so many asylum seekers here, but also to show empathy with asylum seekers who are seeking to have a better future."

Graft & corruption

Wiretap law 'won't weaken KPK'

Jakarta Globe - October 30, 2013

Rizky Amelia – A controversial proposed revision to the Criminal Code that bans wiretapping will not weaken or slow down the antigraft body's campaign to fight the rampant corruption blighting the country, a legislator has said.

Wiretapping has played an important role in helping the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to catch high-profile graft perpetrators. In the Criminal Code revision, however, drafters have proposed that the KPK be required to obtain a warrant before conducting a wiretap.

"We have started deliberating it. But it's clear that it will not weaken the KPK," Nudirman Munir, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said on Tuesday.

Nudirman claimed that the revision would instead strengthen the KPK. He said it could still use a special law designed to get around the provision if it felt its authority was being undermined. "The KPK can use that, and we believe it can be carried out," Nudirman said.

The draft calls for all law enforcement institutions to comply, including KPK, with exceptions only applying in the case of an emergency. But even then, the KPK would still be required to report its plan to carry out a wiretap.

Andi Hamzah, who heads the team that drafted the Criminal Code bill, defended the team's idea to require a court warrant for wiretapping.

Andi said the KPK was not the only institution that had the authority to carry out wiretaps, pointing out that civil investigators employed by government institutions such as the tax office also had recourse to this investigative method.

Andi said that if wiretaps were at the heart of the KPK's investigation process, then a new regulation that gave exception to the KPK should be made for the body to continue exercising that method.

Indonesia Corruption Watch, a nongovernmental organization, says it has found at least nine articles in the draft that it says could hamper the KPK's antigraft fight.

Erwin Natosmal Oemar, a researcher with the Indonesian Legal Roundtable, agreed, accusing the legislators of working in the interests of graft perpetrators.

"As for the nine articles in the Criminal Code and the Criminal Code Procedures, they are obviously the work of the corruptors in the House who are fighting back and who are not happy with what the KPK has done. This is because the KPK has arrested many legislators from various political parties," Erwin said as quoted by Sindonews.

He said that if the draft was passed with the nine articles intact, it would mean victory for corruptors. "This will be noted as a tragedy in Indonesia's modern history if these articles are passed into law," he said.

Akil received $8.9 million in funds from regional heads: PPATK

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Rizky Amelia & Camelia Pasandaran – The allegations levied against disgraced Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar continued to build on Monday as the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK) uncovered some Rp 100 billion ($8.9 million) in wire transfers from regional heads in Akil's accounts – a worrying sign that evidence of election fraud may expand beyond races in Banten and Central Kalimantan.

"We suspect many regional heads had transactions [with Akil]," PPATK deputy chair Agus Susanto said at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

The dismissed chief justice already faces allegations of election rigging in district-level races in Lebak, Bantan, and Gunung Mas, Central Kalimantan. Since his arrest a number of additional allegations have surfaced, including claims of suspicious verdicts on contested elections in Riau and Halmahera dating back to 2010.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) first received reports of suspicious transactions in 2010, beginning two years after Akil joined the Constitutional Court as a justice. He has presided over more than 200 cases since his 2008 appointment to the court, one of the highest authorities in Indonesia.

The PPATK's report, which declined to specify names or the number of transactions, discovered suspicious funds in Akil's personal accounts, as well as those registered to companies listed in his name.

"The value is around Rp 100 billion," Agus said. "The PPATK has strongly suspected that the respected person [Akil] was laundering corruption money [through his companies]."

The total adds some credence to claims that Akil had sold off his authority wholesale while manning the bench. In 2010, a district chief in North Sumatra came forward with claims that Akil was extorting local representatives for Rp 1 billion a case when hearing election disputes. The KPK has already claimed that Akil allegedly accepted Rp 4 billion to rig election verdicts for cases in Gunung Mas and Lebak.

Indonesia Corruption Watch urged the KPK to investigate the wire transfers and bring those elected officials before the court.

"Rp 100 billion is a big number, but it is only a temporary finding," said Ade Irawan, a researcher at ICW. "There were many cases brought before the court since 2008, so there might be other [corruption] cases involving Akil."

The Constitutional Court, once seen as one of the nation's few clean organizations, was awarded the power to settle election disputes in 2008, taking over a process once handled by the Supreme Court. The court has heard 608 election cases since it was granted the authority. Akil allegedly presided over one-third of those as part of a three-judge panel.

He was promoted to chief justice in April 2013, following the retirement of former court chief Mafud MD.

Akil's arrest, one of the most significant made by the increasingly bold KPK, served as a stark reminder of the level of graft to permeate Indonesian bureaucracy. The county is routinely ranked as one of the most corrupt places on earth. Graft allegations have reached the upper echelon of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling party and annual reports by ICW allege more than $200 million is lost to corruption in a single year.

The KPK has been given the authority to utilize a previously untapped law on money laundering to track the flow of graft funds in corruption cases. The law was used against Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo to assemble a list of Rp 200 billion in illicit assets bought during the crooked traffic chief's time in power.

KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto said on Saturday that Akil will face similar scrutiny as the antigraft body files both corruption and money laundering charges against the former chief justice. The commission has already confiscated Rp 2.7 billion in mixed currencies, Rp 2 billion in bonds and stocks and three luxury cars. Investigators could conduct further seizures under the authority of the money laundering law.

Akil's lawyer has denied the claims and chastised the KPK for releasing information to the press first.

"If the KPK wants to charge him with an article, they should inform the suspect, instead of telling to the press first," attorney Otto Hasibuan said.

ICW was firm in its push for an exhaustive probe into Akil's wealth. The antigraft watchdog has embarked on an exhaustive investigation of its own into corruption allegations surrounding the political dynasty of Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah following the arrest of her brother over election fraud allegations.

The implications of Akil's alleged actions, which amounts to the sale of the nation's electoral process, raised serious concerns over the integrity of Indonesia's 14-year-old democratic system, Ade said.

"It destroys democracy in Indonesia," he said. "When the regional heads bribed the court, it means they lacked the integrity to lead the regions. The effect [of this corruption] was so huge that it could cause rampant corruption in the regions."

KPK claims another scalp in Koran corruption

Jakarta Globe - October 26, 2013

Rizky Amelia – Antigraft investigators arrested a former Religious Affairs Ministry official on Friday in connection with the corrupt procurement of Korans, a spokesman said.

Ahmad Jauhari, the former director of Shariah guidance at the directorate for Islamic guidance, is charged with abusing his position for financial gain in a case that shocked even those with the most cynical view of Indonesia's relationship with transparent procurement.

"[Ahmad] is being detained in Salemba [penitentiary] for the next 20 days," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said on Friday. He has been charged under the 1999 law on corruption.

"I had no intention to corrupt, not even a little bit," Ahmad said as he walked out of the KPK building in Kuningan, South Jakarta, after his interrogation.

Ahmad, if convicted, would not be the first scalp that anti-graft investigators have claimed in the case.

The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court in May sentenced Golkar lawmaker Zulkarnaed Djabar to 15 years in prison. In addition to serving jail time, the court also ordered Zulkarnaen to pay Rp 300 million ($30,600) or spend an additional month in jail.

Zulkarnaen, who served on House Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs, was named a suspect in July, 2012, for rigging the bid to procure Korans for the Religious Affairs Ministry, among other projects. He appointed Fahd El Fouz as a broker between him and the ministry.

Zulkarnaen's son, Dendy Prasetya, was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay Rp 200 million in fines or face another month as a guest of the state.

Students occupy Ratu Atut's lavish official residence

Jakarta Post - October 24, 2013

Jakarta – A violent clash broke out on Wednesday between students and riot police in Serang, the provincial capital of Banten, during a protest demanding the resignation of the province's Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah.

The protesters, members of a coalition of students from local universities, called on Atut to resign from her position as she had been implicated in a graft case.

The students also demanded the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) move swiftly to detain Atut for her alleged role in graft cases that have allegedly involved members of her extended family.

Three students were injured and were taken to a local hospital after clashing with members of the riot police who prevented them from occupying the official residence of Atut.

The students targeted the official residence as they claimed the building was one of the symbols of excess and greed in Atut's administration.

Atut reportedly allocated Rp 6 billion (US$600,000) from the provincial budget to spend on the interior of her official residence. The provincial government had spent Rp 16.4 billion on the construction of the plush residence.

Atut then made the baffling move of opting to live in accommodation rented by the provincial administration at Rp 250 million per year. Media reports have also alleged that Atut spent an additional Rp 45 million of taxpayer funds on medicine for her pet deer.

"Law enforcers in Banten have apparently been unable to investigate the graft cases and arrest suspects. So we support the KPK's move to handle the case and demand that Atut be arrested," Kahfi, one of the protesters said.

In their statement, the students also alleged that graft could have taken place in the construction of Atut's official residence. The decision to spend lavishly on Atut's official residence was made while many people in the province remained mired in poverty.

Despite an annual budget of nearly Rp 6 trillion, the Banten administration has failed to build infrastructure or develop a poverty-reduction program, which has left Pandeglang, Lebak and Serang among the most disadvantaged regions in the country.

According to data from the Disadvantaged Regions Ministry, Pandeglang and Lebak are among the 183 most disadvantaged regions mapped by the ministry. Lebak has a population of 1.27 million, of which 579,373 are classified as poor.

Members of Atut's family control many parts of the poverty-stricken province, with five of Banten's eight regencies and municipalities under their control.

After arresting Atut's younger brother Tubagus Chaeri "Wawan" Wardhana for allegedly bribing former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar, the KPK has targeted many of her family members.

Earlier this week, the KPK launched an investigation into alleged corruption in the administration of South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany, Wawan's wife.

The KPK is now looking into possible irregularities surrounding the procurement of medical equipment in South Tangerang between 2010 and 2012.

A member of Wawan's legal team, Sukatma, said that he had not yet received information about the graft probe into the wife of his client. Sukatma also maintained that Wawan had earned his wealth through legal means.

He said that Wawan was able to amass so much wealth from his involvement in the construction business. The work was so lucrative that it was only natural for Wawan to live a lavish lifestyle, he said. "He made his money from legal projects in his capacity as a businessman and contractor," Sukatma told reporters.

Terrorism & religious extremism

Ex-jihadist says prison best place to recruit new terrorists

Jakarta Globe - October 31, 2013

The Indonesian prison system is a fertile recruiting ground for terrorist organizations to find new recruits, a former jihadist said on Wednesday.

"By going to several jails, I have direct experience of seeing that terrorists continue to recruit new members that they met and trained in jail," Abdul Rahman Ayub, a former member of Jemaah Islamiyah, said in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, as quoted by the state-run Antara news agency. "That is why the number of terrorists continues to rise."

Ayub said that many incipient terrorists were radicalized in jail, where many had arrived to serve sentences for minor crimes.

"In the past, the recruitment pattern started with bai'at [a special ceremony to receive new members], but it's not necessary now," Ayub said. "Mostly the prisoners invited are those who are frustrated by the authorities."

The prison's Koranic study group was frequently used to recruit new jihadists, Ayub said.

Hard-line & vigilante groups

Four-month sentences for FPI duo carrying samurai sword at fatal raid

Jakarta Globe - October 31, 2013

The Semarang District Court has handed down four-month prison terms on Thursday to two members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) over a violent raid in in Central Java that left one woman dead.

"Both defendants were proven to have carried weapons – a machete and a samurai sword...," said presiding judge Sukadi, as quoted by Sindonews. "For that, the panel of judges sentence each defendant to four months in jail, minus the detention time [they have already served]."

The sentence is more lenient than the seven months demanded by prosecutors. The judges said that both defendants, Satrio Yuwono, 22, and Bayu Agung Wicaksono, 22, were found to have breached a 1951 law on carrying weapons.

The lawyer for both defendants, M. Sutopo, said neither man would file an appeal, while prosecutor Fifik Zurofik said he was considering whether or not to challenge the sentence. "We accept the judges' ruling, even though the trial process did not prove that our clients kept the weapons," Sutopo said.

Sukadi said that the men had behaved well during the trial – a common reason given for a degree of mitigation in Indonesian courts – and that they were still young and first-time offenders.

The FPI forced the closure of an unknown number of "entertainment venues" in Sukorejo subdistrict during a raid intended to target establishment as selling alcohol. Violence flared, however, when residents fought back against members of the hard-line group.

Several members of the FPI then fled the scene, and Tri Munarti, a local woman, was killed after a car carrying FPI members hit a motorcycle on which she was traveling.

The driver, Sony Haryono, has been named a suspect in her death. He remains on trial. Four residents were also named suspects in attacks against FPI members and their vehicles.

Home minister clarifies comments, calls for FPI to be 'empowered'

Jakarta Globe - October 29, 2013

Ezra Sihite – The Home Affairs Minister attempted on Tuesday to clarify statements on the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) for which he was widely criticized last week.

"They need to be empowered," Gamawan Fauzi said in Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra, according to a release sent by the cabinet secretariat on Tuesday. "And if they engage in violations, they will receive sanctions commensurate with the mistake."

On Oct. 24, during a speech at an urban planning conference, Gamawan had sought to paint the FPI as a potential "national asset" and had urged local officials to foster a more constructive relationship with the hard-line group.

Gamawan was taken to task in many corners of the Indonesian media for advocating that the FPI should be given greater responsibility when the hard-line organization has failed to stamp out violence within its ranks.

The minister instead said that the FPI was officially registered under the government's mass organization legislation, and that it needed to be given a degree of legal protection.

"There are currently some 100,000 mass organizations," Gamawan said. "And if they are not provided with guidance, they will go their own way and conduct a variety of activities."

The Islamist group has gained clout among conservative public officials in regions such as West Java. The FPI, and several affiliated organizations, have been implicated in the destruction of Ahmadiyah mosques, the death of a woman in Central Java and the increasingly successful drive to shutter protestant churches in West Java.

The FPI is also known for dozens of raids against entertainment clubs and alcohol sellers as well as violent altercations with local residents in many regions.

Pancasila Youth backs Fauzi's call for closer government ties with FPI

Tribune News - October 27, 2013

Wahyu Aji, Jakarta – It seems that not everybody has a negative assessment of Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi's appeal to regional governments to foster closer ties with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as a partner in development.

Pancasila Youth (PP) central leadership board chairperson Japto Seolistyo Soerjosoemarno in fact supports Fauzi's statement that the FPI is a national asset.

According to Soerjosoemarno, mass organisations can be used to cooperate in a variety of areas, and thus should be taken advantage of.

"All mass organisations (ormas) are government partners, supporting and helping the government is social activities or other activities. Thus the FPI should also (become a partner) especially in religious matters", said Soerjosoemarno on Saturday October 26.

Soerjosoemarno explained that mass organisations in Indonesia a diverse. There are mass organisations that are active in sports as well as politics.

Nevertheless, continued Soerjosoemarno, the aims of all mass organisations are the same. "All ormas surely have an AD/ART [statutes/rules of association], and the preamble to the AD/ART can be seen, what kind of ideological direction the ormas has", he said.

For example, continued Soerjosoemarno, the PP has been forging a partnership with the TNI (Indonesian military) and the national police to safeguard the integrity of NKRI (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia). The PP also often holds joint training with these two institutions. "We have long had close partnership ties [with them]", he said.

It is because of this that Soerjosoemarno is convinced that the FPI is also a mass organisation whose aims are clear because it has an ideology and is registered as a legal entity. "We are also their partners, because they are active in accordance with Islamic teachings. So no one should be allowed to criticise them", he asserted.

Notes

Both the Pancasila Youth (PP) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) have close ties with various factions of the military and police. The PP was established by the army in 1959 and under former president Suharto was used to carry out the regime's dirty work. Since 1998 it has diversified into racketeering and extortion racket and more recently has been mobilised against labour strikes. The FPI was founded in 1998 to counter student demonstrations following Suharto's overthrow and has since gone on to adopt a conservative religious ideological platform that is used as a camouflage to extort money from gambling and prostitution businesses.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Despite enmity, Basuki open to working with FPI – but no violence

Jakarta Globe - October 26, 2013

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama says the city administration is amenable to working with all community groups, including hard-line ones, provided that they don't break the law.

Basuki said at City Hall on Friday that it was "OK with us" to work with such groups in addressing issues of concern to local communities, where the groups would have a better understanding of the problems and possible solutions. "But we can't work with groups that resort to violence, because that violates the law," he said.

He noted that even the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), notorious for its vigilante raids and acts of violence, had actually been of help to the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) in cracking down on prostitution in the city.

Basuki declined to comment on a call by Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi on Thursday for regional leaders to embrace the FPI as a "national asset" and engage it in community-building efforts. The deputy governor said he feared any comments he gave would be taken out of context and give rise to more problems.

Basuki, a double minority because of his Christian faith and Chinese ethnicity, has frequently been the target of condemnation and protest by the FPI and other hard-line Islamic groups.

Most recently, he faced down a group of hard-line protesters, including FPI members, that had demanded that a female, Christian ward chief in South Jakarta be replaced because the mainly Muslim residents refused to acknowledge her. The protest fizzled out as the city stood its ground.

The FPI was also among the groups opposed to Basuki's efforts to clear the Tanah Abang market area of illegal roadside traders. Once again, the city prevailed, with traffic flow through the area now vastly improved.

However, the city has not won all its battles against the hard-liners. Shortly after his inauguration a year ago, Governor Joko Widodo promised to issue a decree revising the scope of duties of the deputy governor, whose portfolio has typically included the oversight of religious affairs.

The move was prompted by days of protest outside City Hall and the City Council in which the FPI said it refused to recognize Basuki's authority on Islamic matters because he was Christian.

The FPI chapter in Solo, the Central Java city where Joko served as mayor before his election victory in Jakarta, took a similar hard-line against the then-mayor's deputy, F.X. Hadi Rudyatmo, a Catholic.

The group said it would not accept his becoming mayor if Joko won the Jakarta poll. Hadi is today the mayor of Solo.

FPI hits back at Nurul Arifin

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

National – The Islam Defenders Front (FPI) have attacked Golkar Party politician Nurul Arifin for making a statement saying that the hardline organization lacked credibility.

FPI spokesman Munarman said that Nurul should take a closer look at her own political party which also lacked credibility.

"Nurul Arifin is a member of the Golkar Party, a party which is implicated in the Koran procurement graft scandal. So why do we have to listen to a person whose organization [party] is involved in a corruption case? The party fails to take care of its members [so why listen to her]?" FPI spokesman Munarman said on Friday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

On Thursday, Nurul, a member of the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs slammed Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi for calling on local administrations to work with the vigilante group in solving urban problems.

"That means that the government should legitimize the group, that the FPI is a group to be reckoned with and considered professional. The minister should find outfits that have more credibility than the FPI," Nurul told reporters.

Munarman was involved in a tea-throwing incident in June following his argument with University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola in a live talk show on national television.

The FPI is notorious for its violent actions across the country. In July, a brawl erupted between FPI members and residents of Sukorejo village, in Kendal, Central Java, as members of the FPI from Temanggung, Magelang and Yogyakarta were conducting a raid on brothels and illegal gambling in the village. The clash claimed the life of one resident and left three others injured.

Home affairs minister wants to build bridges with FPI

Jakarta Globe - October 25, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Indonesian lawmakers criticized Gamawan Fauzi on Friday after the Home Affairs Minister sought to paint the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) as a potential "national asset" and urged local officials to foster a more constructive relationship with the hard-line group.

"Why not suggest regional governments cooperate with motorcycle gangs?" said Eva Kusuma Sundari, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle. "They share the same thuggish characteristics."

Gamawan made the controversial statements in a speech on Thursday at an urban planning conference held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"If necessary, you can cooperate with the FPI on certain things," he said. "They should not be seen as a different mass organization, but as our partner. We can benefit from the relationship."

Gamawan sought to emphasize that the group, which is best known for its frequently violent – and occasionally fatal – raids on premises that sell alcohol, was not entirely without merit. "During the Aceh tsunami they were helpful," he said, referring to the aid the group had offered after the 2004 catastrophe.

Gamawan stood by his comments when questioned by reporters outside the Vice President's office in Jakarta. "We have positioned them in a certain way," he said, according to the Indonesian newspaper Tempo. "We can approach them and ask them to cooperate so they can become a national asset."

Indonesian lawmakers were less convinced of the FPI's potential for a positive contribution to regional development.

"Instead of cooperating with them, the right statement should be educating them," said Martin Hutabarat, of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party. "The Home Affairs Minister often says eccentric or unnecessary things."

Eva, a member of the House commission on legal affairs, went further. "The Home Affairs Minister is disoriented," she said. "He has endangered legal enforcement in the regions and the implementation of principles found in the Constitution."

The Islamist group has gained considerable influence among conservative public officials in regions such as West Java, where local officials are routinely accused of cowing to hard-line pressure.

The FPI, and several affiliated organizations, have been implicated in the destruction of Ahmadiyah mosques, the death of a woman in Central Java and the largely successful drive to shutter protestant churches in West Java.

While Gamawan expressed feelings of solidarity with the organization on Thursday, the two have had a rocky relationship in the past. When the minister banned local bylaws prohibiting the sale of alcohol, the FPI stormed his office and hurled stones at the building in protest.

Gamawan responded with a "three-strikes" rule, claiming that he would ban the FPI if they were involved in two more incidents.

The FPI has since been implicated in dozens of raids and violent altercations. In each instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the incident didn't count, because it wasn't "at a national level."

Gamawan describes FPI as an 'asset to the nation'

Jakarta Post - October 25, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi has urged local administrations to work with the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) in solving urban problems.

Gamawan issued the controversial statement, in which he described the FPI as an asset to the country, on Thursday during a national coordination meeting on urban area management in Central Jakarta.

The Minister reiterated his statement after a meeting with Vice President Boediono on Thursday evening. "All this time we've painted a picture that [the FPI] is all bad. What if we involved them in community development programs?" he said.

Gamawan said that it would be better to involve the FPI in organizing events on religious holidays.

"The principle of modern society and governance is to involve uncooperative mass organizations or NGOs in development. That's civil society," he said. "If we work together with them, there won't be two camps attacking one another."

Gamawan made the statement as prosecutors sought seven-month prison sentences for two members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) charged with involvement in a deadly clash with villagers in Sukorejo, Kendal regency, Central Java, in July.

The brawl between the FPI members and Sukorejo villagers occurred as members of the FPI from Temanggung, Magelang and Yogyakarta were conducting a raid on brothels and illegal gambling in Kendal. Following the clash, calls mounted for the disbandment of the FPI.

Members of the House of Representatives have called on the government to take stern action against the FPI, saying the Home Ministry has the authority under the newly-enacted Mass Organization Law to take action against organizations which promote violence.

Responding to the demand to disband the FPI, Gamawan has said the government could only act if it received recommendations from members of the public or the National Police.

Member of the House of Representatives Commission II overseeing home affairs Nurul Arifin slammed Gamawan's statement. "That means that the government should legitimize the group, that the FPI is a group to be reckoned with and considered professional," Nurul told reporters.

Rights activist Wahyudi Djafar of human rights watchdog the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) said that Gamawan had no reason not to ban the FPI.

"The basic foundation for all government actions is the Constitution. Under the Constitution, all actions should be taken to protect the constitutional rights of citizens, So we must first see whether or not an organization respects the rights and interests of all groups and people," Wahyudi said.

Gamawan's statement on the FPI is the latest in a series of comments that many have regarded as unwise given his position as a key Cabinet minister.

Gamawan recently called on Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi' Widodo to replace Lenteng Agung sub-district head Susan Jasmine Zulkifli following protests by locals who wanted her to be replaced simply because she is a Christian.

Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama hit back at Gamawan saying that the minister should study the Constitution more closely.

Recently, Gamawan has been busy countering allegations that he was involved in graft in the procurement project for the electronic ID, or e-KTP, system.

The e-KTP project has cost the state Rp 5.8 trillion (USD$527.8 million). The project was part of a government effort to establish a comprehensive database on citizens, however, it has been marred by various corruption allegations and technical faults in its implementation.

Freedom of religion & worship

Sidoarjo residents attack Koran study group over 'deviant' teachings

Jakarta Globe - October 29, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – Hundreds of residents of Siwalan village in Sidoarjo, East Java, assaulted a Koran study group on Saturday afternoon, injuring the group's leader and some of its members, over allegations that it was spreading unorthodox teachings.

"They demanded Majlis Tafsir Al-Quran [MTA] stop its activities for allegedly violating religious teachings, such as allowing dog [meat consumption] and forbidding tahlilan [a gathering to hold prayers for the dead]," Aan Anshori, the coordinator of Anti-Discrimination Islamic Network (JIAD), told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. The attackers were students from an Islamic boarding school, he said.

The angry mob also expelled several village residents who had joined MTA. He said the attack was not the first on MTA in Siwalan village – various attacks in East Java and Central Java have been reported, however.

"People's anger could not be held back any longer," Bahrul Ulum, a religious figure in the village told Indonesian news portal Detik.com on Saturday. "They're uneasy about MTA activities."

Agus Supriyanot, MTA's head who received three stitches after his head was injured in the attack, denied allegations that his group consumed dog meat. "It was an old issue, but they use it to attack us," Agus said. "We have clarified that it is not true."

He described a scene of fear and chaos outside the group's customary meeting place. "[Study group members] were chased and beaten," he said. "Around five members were injured. Some of the attackers were using iron bars."

But he conceded that disparities in religious practice may have motivated the violence. "The attackers could not accept our differences," Agus said. "When our members refused to join [tahlilan], they consider us deviant."

Muslims in Indonesia and some parts of Malaysia practice tahlilan, but it is not found in other parts of the Muslim world.

Aan said the police should increase security to prevent any future violent attacks against the study group. "People should engage in dialogue instead of violence to solve problems," Aan said. "If dialogue fails to solve the problem, they have to go through legal processes."

Buduran Police chief Cmr. Hendy Kurniawan said that some officers were assigned to guard MTA, but they failed to stop the angry mob.

Islam & religion

Religious Affairs Ministry defends budget

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday that it still needed more money to manage the thousands of religious-based schools across the country.

It questioned the accuracy of a report published by the Finance Ministry that said the former's budget on average increased by 25 percent annually in the last five years. It is second only to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, with 26.1 percent, the report says.

The Religious Affairs Ministry's budget, according to the report, rose from Rp 14.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) in 2008 to Rp 45.4 trillion in 2013, an increase an opposition lawmaker has branded "extreme".

"The fact is, it's not 25 percent according to our data," the ministry's planning division head Syamsuddin told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He argued that the budget for 2008 was not Rp 14.9 trillion as the Finance Ministry claimed, but Rp 17.59 trillion. The number jumped by 54 percent to Rp 27.184 trillion in 2009. But after that, the growth never exceeded 15 percent, he argued. According to data from the Religious Affairs Ministry, the average annual rise is only 21 percent.

The number is still higher than the budget increases for both the Agriculture Ministry and the Education and Culture Ministry, which are 17.9 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively.

Despite the rise, Syamsuddin claimed the amount of money allocated to his institution was insufficient. "People may perceive the Rp 49.6 trillion for the 2014 budget is very big for us, but in fact the budget is less than what we requested from the government. We actually need Rp 55 trillion to fund all our programs," he said.

The official said his ministry spent 85 percent of its budget on education, only 10 percent on religious affairs and 5 percent on public service. "Of the 49.6 trillion budget, around Rp 43 trillion has been allocated to education. That's because religious-based schools and universities, private or state-funded, are under our supervision."

The ministry managed 98,379 Islamic schools and universities in 2012, according to the ministry's directorate general for education. The Education and Culture Ministry, which will receive Rp 82.7 trillion next year, is currently managing more than 260,000 state and private schools and universities.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri said the budget allocation for the Religious Affairs Ministry had increased since 2009, the government was required by the Constitution to allocate 20 percent of its budget to education.

"At first, I thought it was the Education and Culture Ministry that took care of the budget for teachers at religious-based schools, but in fact it was the Religious Affairs Ministry that handled it. Every time the state budget increases, the budget for the Religious Affairs Ministry will also increase," he said.

Said Abdullah, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs, said the ministry should no longer manage education as it was the responsibility of the Education and Culture Ministry.

He added that the budget for education was prone to misappropriation under the Religious Affairs Ministry, which scored poorly in the integrity index issued by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"It is better for the ministry to just focus on taking care of religion because we all know that religious intolerance is rising in the country," the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker told the Post. (hrl/sat)

Government throws cash at religion

Jakarta Post - October 28, 2013

Jakarta – With religious minority groups still suffering persecution and systemic corruption plaguing the Religious Affairs Ministry, questions have arisen as to whether the government's decision to raise the ministry's budget by an average of 25 percent annually since 2008 is justified.

A Finance Ministry report says the Religious Affairs Ministry's budget increased from Rp 14.9 trillion (US$1.3 billion) or 5.7 percent of the total state budget in 2008 to 45.4 trillion or 7.3 percent of the total state budget in 2013.

For the 2014 state budget, the ministry will receive Rp 49.6 trillion. In terms of annual growth within the 2008-2013 period, the ministry sat in second place with 25 percent after the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry with 26.1 percent, the report said.

While some critics said the country should have spent more money on improving its shoddy infrastructure and science-based education to boost the economy, others questioned whether there was any point at all to the ministry's budget increase.

"The growth is extreme – from Rp 6 trillion in 2004 to Rp 49.6 trillion in 2014. Within eight or nine years its budget increased as much as Rp 43 trillion," Said Abdullah, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The ministry has long been perceived as notoriously corrupt, with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) placing it as the most corrupt institution of the 22 government agencies it surveyed in 2011.

Last Friday, the antigraft body detained a former director of sharia guidance at the ministry's directorate general for Islamic guidance for his alleged role in a graft case involving the procurement of Korans.

The ministry claimed to have used the budget to develop several programs aimed at creating religious harmony in the country, such as building/revamping haj facilities in 15 locations in Saudi Arabia and recruiting 1,500 officers for the Haj Management Committee (PPIH), according to the report. It has also given scholarships to around 8 million impoverished Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Christian students.

Chairwoman of the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religion, Ida Fauziyah, defended the government's decision, saying the budget rise was justifiable as the ministry shared educational responsibility with the Education and Culture Ministry.

"The Religious Affairs Ministry receives part of the 20 percent allocated budget for the education sector [Rp 350 trillion]. Of the Rp 49.6 trillion budget, around 42 trillion is from the education budget to fund religious [Islamic, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu] education institutions from kindergarten to university," the National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker said.

The ministry managed 98,379 Islamic schools and universities in 2012, according to the ministry's directorate general for education. The Education and Culture Ministry, whose annual budget increase is 12.9 percent, managed 269,079 state and private schools and universities in 2011.

Ucok Sky Khadafi from the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) said the ministry's services were far from good. "People still pay for clerics when they get married, while in fact the service should be free," Ucok said.

Fitra recorded that of the Rp 49.6 trillion given to the ministry in the 2014 state budget, Rp 25.5 trillion went on staff salaries, Rp 10.3 trillion on goods procurement, Rp 2.1 trillion on capital expenditure and Rp 11.5 trillion on social aid.

"Only Rp 149 billion was spent on programs to promote religious harmony," Ucok said, adding that the social aid funds were prone to abuse.

Religious Affairs Ministry spokesman Zainuddin Daulay did not return calls and text messages from the Post on Sunday. (hrl)

Regional autonomy & government

In creation of new regions, parties, not people, benefit

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Dessy Sagita – Following the House of Representatives' approval to form 65 new administrative areas, questions have emerged over whether the creation of new regions will bring prosperity, especially in restive Papua.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said that, among other reasons, a primary rationale behind the creation of so many new regions was to bring the government closer to the people, making land ownership processing more accessible and improving prosperity, especially in underdeveloped border areas.

But many analysts and experts reject that explanation, and suggest that the motive behind the creation of a whole slew of new administrations is to open up a rich new field of government spending, ripe for plowing by the local political elite. This argument even hints at the possibility of kickbacks for central government politicians in exchange for the opening of new regional bureaucracies, bringing fresh opportunity for corruption and patronage through the allocation of state funds on new local salaries and buildings.

In the 2013 national budget, the central government has allocated Rp 528.6 trillion ($48.1 billion) to more than 500 administrative regions so that they can finance their operations. The creation of 65 new regions means the government will have to spend an additional $5.9 billion next year on financing elections, civil servant salaries and new offices.

Analysts have said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should reject the House's proposal to form new regions, because of this additional burden on the national budget.

"The creation of these many regions will be very costly. The money should instead be allocated directly to infrastructure, education and health care," said Siti Zuhro, a regional autonomy expert at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The Home Affairs Ministry said recently that half of the money allocated to regions was spent on salaries alone.

Regional corruption

Masdarsada, from the Institute for Political and Democratic Analysis in Jakarta, went as far as to argue that new regions would actually impoverish their residents compared to their current situations.

"If the government really wants to help local people, then use the money to build infrastructure, education and health facilities," he said, echoing Siti's comments.

According to the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), 85 percent of new regions fail to develop because few investors are keen to open businesses in newly created administrative areas due to incompetent and corrupt bureaucracies, legal uncertainty from unclear regional regulations, and rampant illegal fees. Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi has acknowledged the problem, noting that 298 governors, district heads and mayors had been jailed since regional autonomy was introduced in 1999.

Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Jakarta-based Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the creation of new regions would simply provide unlimited opportunities for officials to embezzle regional budgets.

"This idea is perplexing. You have a lot of dirty dishes, but instead of washing them, you decide to build a new kitchen – that is just absurd," he said.

Bribery and elections

In the face of clear evidence of the failure of new regions, in 2009 the government and the House actually agreed on a moratorium on the creation of new regions.

However, the lure of getting hefty kickbacks from local elites and the chance for political influence in new regions has proved too much to resist for political parties ahead of next year's legislative and presidential elections.

Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch said the public had good reason to be suspicious of legislators who proposed the creation of new regions. "I think the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] should investigate what really happened," he said.

Legislators have in the past been caught red-handed receiving money from regional officials who pushed for new laws or projects in their areas.

Meanwhile, new regions mean political parties have a chance to place party members in public office. "I'm afraid it's all about money and getting more votes rather than boosting prosperity for the people of those regions," Emerson said.

Divide and conquer

In Papua, where discontent with the central government runs high, leading to pervasive separatist sentiment, division into five provinces is a means of breaking Papuan unity and reducing the push for Papuan independence, said Papuan priest Socratez Sofyan Yoman.

"The creation of new regions is based only on security and political motives. It groups Papuan ethnicities into different regions so they can't unite," Socratez said as quoted by Selangkah Magazine during a seminar in Yogyakarta last week.

He said the new regions could also create tension between indigenous Papuans and transmigrants, who continue to flood into Papua and have made the indigenous people a minority in many areas.

In 2005, native Papuans constituted 59 percent of documented citizens on the island. However, in 2011, that proportion had fallen to just 47 percent of the total population, according to census data.

Andreas Harsono, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, said that breaking the island up into tiny pieces was not a solution to the problems there.

"We know that Papua does not have sufficient human resources to support development," he said. "With this limitation there will be a lot of unqualified and incompetent civil servants employed, thus creating a poor- quality bureaucracy."

Legal expert Irman Putra Sidin, however, said that new administrative areas might be good for Papua, adding that for a vast island like Papua, more local bureaucracy was needed to narrow the gap between the public and public services.

"You can imagine how far a Papuan has to go to obtain documentation. With new regional administrations, services will get closer and eventually make people's lives easier," he said.

65 new autonomous regions, proposed

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Nethy Dharma Somba and Apriadi Gunawan, Jayapura/Medan – Despite the results of various academic and government studies that have shown that the expansion of new cities, regencies and provinces very often has an adverse impact on local economies and politics, the House of Representatives (DPR) decided on Friday to deliberate the creation of several new autonomous regions.

The plan was drawn up in apparent secrecy. With legislative elections only six months away, the House decided to assign Commission II, which oversees home affairs and regional autonomy, to discuss the establishment of 65 new autonomous regions, including eight new provinces mainly in North Sumatra, Papua and Kalimantan.

The government had previously announced a moratorium in 2009 following the death of North Sumatra Provincial Legislative Council speaker Aziz Angkat during a violent demonstration by the supporters of the establishment of Tapanuli province in North Sumatra.

The moratorium ended in November 2011 and since then 12 new regions have emerged. Earlier this year seven new regencies were formed.

"Among the factors, aside from the economic and cultural considerations, behind proposing these new autonomous regions are the strengthening of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia within its borders and the need to meet local aspirations," House speaker Marzuki Alie said during the House plenary session on Friday.

During Friday's session the House endorsed 65 bills on the creation of eight provinces, and 57 regencies to be deliberated by Commission II. Once they are endorsed the bills will automatically become law within 30 days without the need for approval from the government. "This new bills will be debated in the next House sessions," said Marzuki.

Separately, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, who will represent the government in the deliberation sessions, said he still could not decide on the government's stance on the matter as there had been no instructions from the President concerning the creation of new regional governments.

The minister said the President would gather related ministries to discuss the matter before giving any formal instructions. "I do not want to speculate as it is a politically sensitive issue," Gamawan said.

Home Ministry data shows that 217 new autonomous regions were formed between 1999 and 2013, including eight provinces, 175 regencies and 34 cities. A report by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) revealed that more than 80 percent of new autonomous regions failed to improve the welfare of their people and eventually became a burden on the state budget.

The plan to set up new provinces in Papua has often been seen as an effort by the central government to divide Papuans rather than having them present a united front against the central government. Yusak Reba, an activist at the Institute for Civil Strengthening in Papua, hoped that decentralization would lead to an improvement in the welfare of indigenous Papuans and not have the opposite effect of marginalizing them.

"After decentralization, Papuans are still poor and don't even have proper housing, healthcare or education. It is as if decentralization only profits the few," Yusak said.

Tahan Manahan Panggabean, who has campaigned to make Tapanuli a province since the 1980s said the House approval was a positive move. (asw)

Jakarta & urban life

Komnas Perempuan lambastes FPI efforts to oust Christian ward chief

Jakarta Globe - October 28, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – The National Commission on Violence Against Women said on Monday that the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) should stop using religion to try to force Lenteng Agung ward chief Susan Jasmine Zulkifli to step down.

"They can't use that claim in this country," Masruchah, deputy chairwoman of the Commission, told the Jakarta Globe on Monday. "The constitution gives no room for discrimination."

The FPI said it planned to begin conducting a Koran study in the ward, in an attempt to influence more people to get behind their efforts to force out the Christian ward chief.

"We will do it once a week, or at least once a month," FPI Jakarta chapter secretary Novel Ba'mumin told Indonesian news portal Tempo.co on Sunday. "We were invited by residents from every neighborhood unit, to make them realize this."

Some residents have been staging protests against Susan's appointment, hopping to have her replaced by a Muslim chief. One protestor, named Ruslan, said that Susan had violated Islamic teachings by greeting her constituents with the words "good morning, selamat pagi, bonjour," rather than with an Arabic greeting.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi echoed the protestors, suggesting that Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo should transfer her to a non-Muslim area because of the dissent.

Joko said that he would only replace an urban ward chief if he or she performed poorly, and Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that Gamawan "needs to learn the constitution." "I am still learning the constitution," Gamawan conceded.

Some Lenteng Agung residents, however, have expressed confidence in their ward chief. "There's no need for people outside to demonstrate against Susan," Halim Mahfudz, who lives in the ward, told Tempo on Monday. "She works well. So let it be like this, no more demonstrations."

Masruchah said that the Jakarta administration should be strict and steadfast in its decision. "They considered Susan to have the appropriate capacity to be the urban ward chief and they should not replace her because of pressure from the FPI," Masruchah said.

Indonesia politician grabs new headlines by banning monkey business

Reuters - October 28, 2013

Kanupriya Kapoor and Randy Fabi, Jakarta – On the congested streets of Indonesia's capital, chained monkeys are a surreal sideshow. Some ride tiny bicycles wearing baby doll masks or shake people's hands for small change.

Not for much longer. Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo has banned all such entertainment, reinforcing his image as a can-do politician cleaning up one of Asia's most frenetic cities ahead of presidential elections next year in which voters expect him to run.

Widodo has criticized the shows as animal abuse and an unwelcome distraction for motorists who slow their cars to gawk at macaques outfitted in skirts, cowboy hats or plastic baby doll heads that cover their faces.

The ban, which comes into force at the end of the year, is an unusual departure from the big, bold initiatives Widodo has pushed through in his first year as governor. Nevertheless, it has received the same widespread praise from Jakarta's 10 million residents, many of whom are desperate to see tangible improvements in their daily lives.

"Voter expectations are relatively low in Indonesia, and low expectations are easily met," said Douglas Ramage, political analyst at consultancy Bower Group Asia. "So when any government is perceived to be trying something, they get enormous credit for it."

Widodo's popularity has surged since he took office in October 2012. Polls place him as the frontrunner in next year's presidential election if he decides to run.

For now, the 52-year-old governor, known widely as Jokowi, has shrugged off questions over his political ambitions, saying he is focused on Jakarta's biggest problems: poor infrastructure, rampant corruption and abject poverty.

His biggest headline-grabbing initiatives include the start of construction on a long-delayed subway system, the relocation of hundreds of illegal street vendors to ease traffic congestion, and the dredging of reservoirs to prevent flooding.

Widodo's administration is quick to highlight that even though the governor may take on smaller initiatives like the monkey ban, it doesn't mean his priorities have changed.

"The issue of monkey buskers is just a small one but it needs to be addressed simultaneously with the big problems," said Eko Hariadi, a spokesman for the Jakarta administration.

Police last week started to raid neighborhoods and confiscate the monkeys, which animal rights groups have long said were being mistreated by their handlers – they say the animals are tortured to remain obedient and their teeth are pulled so they can't bite.

Widodo said he will compensate monkey owners and the animals will receive proper care before being sent to a zoo. But this means little for Agus Supriyanto, 21, and the other monkey buskers who don't actually own the animals but rent them. They will not receive any compensation. The former snack food vendor had been able to make up to 150,000 rupiah ($13.62) a day entertaining motorists and pedestrians.

But Supriyanto remains a Widodo supporter. "It's ok if Jokowi wants to ban the monkey buskers in Jakarta," he told Reuters. "(The governor) is good, there are a lot of differences and changes in Jakarta right now."

[Additional reporting by Viriya Paramita; Editing by Jason Szep and Nick Macfie]

Armed forces & defense

Furore over school visit

NT News - October 28, 2013

Alison Bevege – The Education Department has come under fire for allowing the Indonesian military to enter schools on a public relations exercise.

The Indonesian warship KRI Dewa Ruci sent naval officers in uniform to Darwin High School, Darwin Middle School and St Johns Catholic College for a marching band performance after docking in Darwin.

Photos were taken without parental permission. Some students were from West Papua, a region where the Indonesian military has recently been involved in human rights abuses.

Parent John Logan, who has a son in Year 11 at Darwin High, said he was disgusted. "This is not a cultural group," he said.

"ABDUL, get your facts straight my friend. There were NAVAL CADETS (not Army) doing a Dance, Music and Acrobats display at 3 High School GROUNDS (not classes). The whole forum has gone way off course spreading propaganda. It should go along the path of SCHOOLS... AND if you take that into perspective you will know that Naval or other Cadets have not long finished DISCIPLINED Family Life, School and a perhaps a bit of Uni. for the past 22 years.Somethings our lives lack."? Enjay

The Indonesian Consulate organised the visit in conjunction with language teachers at the schools.

Indonesian consul Ade Padmo Sarwono asked the navy to promote Indonesia while in Darwin and said he would ask for more visits next year. "If the navy are here we want to invite the Indonesian navy to meet students," he said.

Human rights law professor and Jesuit priest Frank Brennan urged caution on allowing any military except Australia's in any school. "Particularly when it comes to the Indonesian military," he said.

Department of Education executive director Allan Baillie said the visit was not a promotion of the Indonesian military but an opportunity for students to practise Indonesian language, listen to Indonesian music and participate in Indonesian dances.

He said parental permission was not sought because staff had supervised students. "This protocol is observed irrespective of the cultural group visiting the schools," he said.

Mr Baillie would not say whether or not the military would be allowed in to Government schools in future, instead saying: "School visits to broaden the cultural awareness of schoolchildren will always be encouraged".

But NT Director of Catholic Education Michael Avery said his office would reserve judgement on future dealings.

The US State Department describes human rights as a "friction point" between the US and Indonesia.

Amnesty International's 2013 regional report states that Indonesian soldiers attacked a West Papuan village in June, stabbing dozens of people with bayonets and burning buildings. Indonesian soldiers also tortured two West Papuan men during a 2010 interrogation.

Sydney Peace Foundation chairman Professor Stuart Rees said the display was not appropriate.

"It's a technique of trying to pretend everything is normal when it is not," he said. "That an Australian educational institution allowed the Indonesian military to parade their wares before school children... It's offensive in my opinion."

TNI expresses 'doubts' about democracy, desire to return to politics

Kompas Newspaper - October 28, 2013

Jakarta - Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad, Green Berets) commander Lieutenant General Gatot Nurmantyo has expressed doubts about the current course of democracy.

The statement provoked reaction from several circles who believe that his statement, as the commander of Kostrad, is controversial and indicates a desire on the part of the military to meddle in politics.

"Our democracy at the moment is populist and led by forces by means of the vote", said Nurmantyo speaking before hundreds of members of the Pancasila Youth (PP) at the PP's 54th national gathering on Sunday October 27 at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, Jakarta.

Nurmantyo continued by illustrating the determination of choice. His conclusion was that at the moment, something that is right is not always liked by the majority of people. "The many are not necessarily right", said Nurmantyo, who spoke for almost an hour.

According to Nurmantyo, Indonesia already has the [state ideology] of Pancasila as a basis for the state. Its implementation however is incomplete. He added that his presence at the PP event was because the PP was founded by the army (TNI AD) and it is hoped that members of the PP will spread the spirit of patriotism. "Whoever disturbs Pancasila, the PP and the TNI are ready to deal with them", he said.

Nurmantyo is aware of the fact that the military is not allowed to become involved in practical politics. However he is talking about the politics of the state, namely government policy. He wished to explain about the four pillars of nationalism so that society is vigilant. The PP is seen as a legal mass organisation (ormas) based on Pancasila.

[Golkar Party politician] and member of the House of Representative's (DPR) Commission I on Defense, Yoris Raweyai, who offered an image and message to the meeting, said that the Kostrad commander's speech needs to be considered as a basis for the PP. Raweyai said that the culture of guided democracy, namely the TNI and bureaucracy is still closely associated with the PP.

Commenting on the Kostrad commander's speech, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Haris Azhar said that Nurmantyo is entering into the political arena, which is forbidden. Democracy is a mutually agreed upon decision and because of this, cannot be questioned anymore.

Azhar said that he sees Nurmantyo's statement as an indication of the direction of the TNI's politics in 2014, namely that it will not support political parties that are strongly orientated toward democracy. He also said that democracy is fluid, and cannot just be seen from a the process of voting or consensus. The principle of democracy is to channel the aspirations and participation of everyone.

"Democracy requires a process, hopefully all parties are aware of this. Democracy cannot just be measured, what can be measured is education or healthcare", said Azhar.

A similar view was conveyed by International Binus University lecturer Anton Aliabas. According to Aliabas it would be better for the TNI elite to maintain a distance from and refrain from commenting politics in public.

The general chairperson of the PP's national leadership board Japto S. Soerjosoemarno said that a liberalisation of democracy has taken place. (EDN)

Notes

Pemuda Pancasila (Pancasila Youth) was established by the army in October 1959, ostensibly to uphold the state ideology of Pancasila, but under former president Suharto the organisation became an association of notorious thugs and petty criminals who carried out dirty work on behalf of the regime. The organisation still has close ties with various factions of the military and police, and has been linked to criminal activities such as racketeering and extortion and in recent years has been involved in a number of violent turf wars with other vigilante groups.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Police & law enforcement

KPK chief doubtful of police antigraft squad

Jakarta Post - October 29, 2013

Jakarta – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad said on Monday that the National Police's plan to set up a special antigraft unit would prove useless.

"To combat corruption, the police should first improve their internal affairs. There is no need to create a special anti-corruption detachment," he said in Makassar as quoted by kompas.com.

The police force, he added, should have assisted the KPK, which has become overwhelmed with the high number of corruption cases it currently has to deal with.

The KPK now only has 40 to 60 investigators, some of whom are police officers assigned to the agency, while it receives 30 to 40 reports of alleged graft per day.

The National Police have formed a team to assess the establishment of a special antigraft detachment to step up the force's corruption eradication efforts. National Police security maintenance chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that the team would discuss the need for the unit and its structure.

"The detachment might directly report to the National Police chief or function as part of the National Police criminal investigations directorate," Badrodin said in Jakarta on Monday.

The proposal to form the detachment was first suggested by members of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs during the fit-and-proper test of National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Sutarman earlier this month.

New police chief vows to get tough on firebrand groups

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Newly installed National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman made a pledge on Friday that he would crack down on violent mass organizations that caused public disorder.

Sutarman said after his inauguration ceremony at the State Palace that under his leadership the police would take action against such organizations and would not allow "the law of the jungle" to take the reins in the country.

"Any citizen has the right to conduct activities as long as they are consistent with the law. If no law is broken, there will be no problem," he said. "But, if someone does violate the law, we must take stern action in order to make sure no groups make their own rules to handle their problems," he said.

Sutarman's statement came only one day after Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi hailed the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI) as an asset to the nation. Gamawan urged local administrations to work with the FPI in solving urban problems.

Gamawan made the statement as prosecutors sought seven-month prison sentences for two FPI members charged with involvement in a deadly clash with villagers in Sukorejo, Kendal regency, Central Java, in July.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono swore in Sutarman to replace Gen. Timur Pradopo as the National Police chief.

Yudhoyono proposed Sutarman as the sole candidate for the top post at the National Police in what many described as one of the most crucial decisions made by the President ahead of the 2014 elections. On Friday, Sutarman, a former adjutant to former president Abdurrahman Wahid also vowed to eradicate thuggery, gambling and drugs.

Responding to the recent rape case of a 16-year-old girl that implicated a number of police in Gorontalo, Sutarman said that he would improve oversight within the force. "Public trust contributes to our performance. The police are here to ensure the safety of the people," he said.

Sutarman secured the House of Representatives' approval during a "fit-and- proper" test last week. During the test, Sutarman told lawmakers that he would step up efforts to curb endemic corruption within the force and other government institutions in the country.

"We must handle corruption together, whether in enforcing the law or in preventing violations," he said.

Antigraft watchdogs, however, have expressed their skepticism that Sutarman can take a bold stance against corruption, given his stance in openly opposing the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) investigation into Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, a defendant in a graft case surrounding a Rp 144 billion (US$13.1 million) vehicle simulator procurement project.

His 2012 wealth report shows that Sutarman had Rp 5.34 billion worth of assets and savings totaling $24,194, a slight increase from Rp 5.31 billion in 2011. He also had savings of $24,175 in 2011.

KPK Chairman Abraham Samad said that he was optimistic that Sutarman could work better in building cooperation with the antigraft body.

"Don't look back. It is important to maintain cooperation with the KPK in the future. Without such synergy, it will be hard to eradicate corruption," Abraham told reporters after the inauguration ceremony.

"I hope [both institutions] will not repeat what happened in the past," Abraham said, alluding to a rocky relationship between the two institutions which involved the police arresting KPK commissioners and police detectives storming the KPK headquarters following the arrest of Djoko Susilo.

Foreign affairs & trade

Indonesia summons Australian Ambassador over spying report

Agence France Presse - October 31, 2013

The government said Thursday it was summoning the Australian ambassador after a report that his embassy in Jakarta was being used for surveillance as part of a US-led spying network.

Ambassador Greg Moriarty will face questions at the foreign ministry Friday over the "totally unacceptable" activities reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, the ministry said.

The report said Australian embassies were being secretly used to intercept phone calls and data across Asia as part of a US-led global spying network. It cited information from fugitive analyst Edward Snowden and a former Australian intelligence officer.

The paper said the clandestine surveillance facilities at embassies were being operated without the knowledge of most Australian diplomats.

The summons was just the latest diplomatic fallout related to the US surveillance controversy, which began as a row between Washington and its European allies.

"Responding to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on October 31, 2013 about the existence and use of wiretapping facilities at the Australian embassy in Jakarta and other countries in the region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is demanding an explanation from the Australian embassy in Jakarta," the foreign ministry statement said.

"The Australian ambassador in Jakarta has been summoned to come to the foreign ministry... on November 1, 2013, to provide an official explanation from the Australian government about the report.... As a friendly neighbouring country, such an act as reported does not reflect the spirit of friendly relations which has been established and is something that's totally unacceptable to the government of Indonesia."

A spokesman for the Australian foreign ministry said: "As a matter of principle and longstanding practice, the Australian government does not comment on intelligence matters."

Indonesia's anger came a day after it protested strongly to the United States after a report in the same newspaper said Washington had been monitoring phone calls and communication networks from its embassy in Jakarta.

The Asia-Pacific row came after Europe and Washington traded more spying accusations Wednesday, as envoys met to seek ways to rebuild trust after the shock revelations about the scale and scope of US surveillance of its allies.

Now, Indonesia's turn to protest alleged US surveillance

Jakarta Post - October 31, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Foreign Ministry has officially summoned the top American diplomat in Jakarta, Charge d'Affaires ad interim Kristen Bauer, to seek an explanation over the alleged existence of surveillance facilities at the US Embassy in Jakarta.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the ministry director general for America and Europe, Dian Triansyah Djani, had met with Bauer to clarify details related to the allegation.

"Today we summoned the US Embassy charge d'affaires to meet with our director general for America and Europe, [in addition to Bauer's] telephone conversation with me yesterday," Marty told The Jakarta Post via text message on Wednesday.

The position of US ambassador to Indonesia is currently vacant following the recent departure of Scot Marciel. A new ambassador is expected to arrive in Jakarta soon.

Indonesia is the latest in a growing list of US allies – which includes Germany, France and Spain – to lodge a complaint with the American government for its wiretapping activities in their countries.

The US Embassy in Jakarta has been in hot water following an article in Australia's Sydney Morning Herald claiming that the US has been tapping telephones and monitoring communications networks from electronic surveillance facilities in US embassies and consulates across East and Southeast Asia, including in Indonesia. The newspaper based its report on information disclosed by intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The article published on Tuesday included a top-secret map listing 90 US surveillance facilities worldwide, including communications-intelligence facilities at embassies in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Yangon.

The map shows no such facilities located in the US closest allies, including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan and Singapore.

The Herald also reported that a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) group known as the Special Collection Service conducts sweeping surveillance operations, as well as clandestine operations against specific intelligence targets.

The map confirms the global reach of US signals intelligence operations, with Special Collection Service facilities located in most major capitals on every continent.

In East Asia, the US intelligence collection efforts are focused on China, with facilities located in Shanghai and Chengdu, while another monitoring facility located at an unofficial US diplomatic office in Taipei.

NSA director Gen. Keith Alexander defended his organization on Tuesday, saying that the US did not collect European records and that the nation was given data by NATO partners as part of a program to protect military interests.

Following the disclosure, Marty strongly condemned the US' wiretapping activity in Indonesia, calling it "unacceptable".

Chairman of the House of Representatives Commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and informatics, Mahfudz Siddiq, told the Post that the report was very likely accurate.

"The US government previously said it would carry out activities considered common in intelligence. This includes wiretapping," he said.

"Thus, it's very likely that the US government also wiretaps communication networks here. It will be a serious political scandal if the bugged conversations were leaked," the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician added.

Indonesia expressed similar outrage three months ago following a report that the British government spied on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the G20 meeting in London in 2009. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that China was concerned by the recently exposed surveillance activities and was closely monitoring the situation.

"We will also take the necessary measures to resolutely uphold our own information security," she said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Government warns of influx of goods ahead of ASEAN single market

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Jakarta – Industry Ministry MS Hidayat expressed his concerns on Friday over the possibility that local manufacturers would lose out in trading goods when the ASEAN Economic Community [AEC] became effective in 2015.

He said the influx of goods from other ASEAN member countries would flood the domestic market in a desire to capitalize from the growing middle class, and local producers had only two years left to enhance their skills and capacity to meet the increased competition.

"The 2015 AEC will provide our nation with many opportunities but also challenges with such an expanded market for our industrial products," he said during an Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) national meeting.

The national meeting focused on strengthening added value in local industries to edge out the imminent competition. "On the positive side, the AEC will attract foreign investment to Indonesia and provide joint venture opportunities to gain wider access to raw materials," Hidayat said.

He said Indonesia needed to learn from the implementation of the ASEAN- China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) in 2010. China's manufactured goods began flooding the Indonesian market in early 2010 at lower prices, beating similar products produced locally.

Citing the similarities of products manufactured by neighboring ASEAN members, he said Indonesia would likely have to compete in same-market segments.

"At the time [ACFTA began its implementation], local goods couldn't compete with those from [China], and we don't want that to happen again [when the AEC comes into effect]," said Hidayat, who led Kadin just two months before assuming his ministerial position in October 2009.

The AEC was created in 2003 to integrate the regional economy by creating a single market and a production base with free flows of capital and free movements of goods and services, as well as investment and skilled workers.

Within the AEC, Indonesia offers the largest market with its population of 240 million, which accounts for about one-third of ASEAN's total population of 600 million.

Kadin chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto said local manufacturers could improve their competitiveness by adding value to their products via manufacturing. "The natural-resource processing industry needs to go through to the downstream industry and to manufacturing so that goods [that we produce] can be exported [with added value]," he said.

Suryo added that manufacturing value-added products could also help create jobs, reduce the country's dependence on imported raw materials and increase state revenues.

In an attempt to reduce its dependence on imports, for example, state-owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia plans to use more local aircraft components to produce its N219 commuter aircraft, according to the firm's director for technology and engineering development, Andi Alisjahbana.

"Indonesia depends heavily on foreign aircraft components, which account for 60 percent of the total components used here," Andi said, adding that the firm would gradually reduce its dependence on imported components to 40 percent by 2015. "We are waiting for local aircraft component manufacturers to sign a deal with us," he said. (tam)

'Ambassador Fauzi' not proving popular

Jakarta Globe - October 26, 2013

Ari Susanto, Solo – Opposition to the appointment of Fauzi Bowo, the former Jakarta governor, as Indonesia's ambassador to Germany continues to mount, with a group in Berlin urging German President Joachim Gauck to reject Fauzi's credentials.

In a press release on Friday, the Indonesian Embassy Care Alliance said its letter to Gauck described Fauzi's track record as worrying and listed the reasons for its disapproval of his being named the country's main envoy to Europe's biggest economy.

"We thought that the German government should be informed for balance about Fauzi Bowo and his track record as the former leader of Indonesia's capital, before they decide to give him a letter of accreditation as the Indonesian ambassador in Berlin," said Erwin Sutanto, the coordinator of the alliance.

He said his group was disappointed by Fauzi's smear campaign in his ultimately failed bid for re-election in 2012.

Resorting to dirty tricks, including racial and religious slurs against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, now the deputy governor, showed that Fauzi was incapable of being the representative for a pluralistic and multicultural society like Indonesia, the alliance argued.

It also said that under Fauzi's watch, hard-line groups had flourished in Jakarta, increasing the threat of intolerance and violence against minority groups. The alliance has also launched a petition on Change.org, which 638 people have signed, both in Indonesia and Germany.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono once said Fauzi had achieved nothing, so why did he appoint him to be the ambassador to Germany? Is it not an embarrassing choice?" said Dina Sihombing, an Indonesian living in Berlin.

The Indonesian Students Association in Germany also took issue with the appointment when it was made last month.

However, the former governor has received the blessing of former president B.J. Habibie, an honorary German citizen. The two men are also German university alumni and speak German.

Economy & investment

Indonesia behind ASEAN peers in WB survey

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Jakarta – Despite the Indonesian government's strong commitment to improve the investment climate and simplify licensing procedures, the country still ranks among the lowest in the annual survey on Ease of Doing Business conducted recently by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Indonesia's ranking improved to 120th position in the 2014 survey from a position of 128th, but the country's position was still relatively low compared to other ASEAN members.

Singapore topped the list of the 189 economies surveyed by the World Bank and the IFC. Malaysia ranked 8th, Thailand 18th, Brunei Darussalam 59th, Vietnam 99th, and the Philippines 108th. Southeast Asian countries ranked below Indonesia were Cambodia in 137th place and Myanmar in 182nd place.

The report also stated that throughout 2012 and 2013, Indonesia accomplished only one piece of business reform – improving its credit information system. "Indonesia improved its credit information system through a new regulation, setting up a legal framework for establishing credit bureaus," the survey stated.

The survey analyzes regulations that apply to an economy's business during a life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes and resolving solvency.

Most of the points were contained in a policy package announced by Vice President Boediono last week. The package includes easing the process of obtaining a business permit, access to power supply and bank credits.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that difficulties in obtaining permits and starting businesses were partly caused by a lack of proper spatial planning in most of the country's provinces.

"A lot of regions in Indonesia don't have proper spatial planning. For example, when businesspeople already decide to construct infrastructure in a particular area, they have to stop and relocate because the local administration suddenly tells them it's going to allocate the space for another purpose and annuls their permit," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday in a telephone interview.

Standard Chartered Bank Indonesia economist Eric Sugandi said that a lack of coordination between the central and local governments hampered the construction of infrastructure facilities such as power plants.

He said that many times, the central government had already approved companies' proposals to build power plants in certain areas, but then the companies had to cancel their projects shortly before implementation as they faced resistance from local residents whose land they were about to acquire.

"Investors will hesitate to make investments in infrastructure development when they face such inconsistent messages" he said. Sofjan suggested the government reduce its energy subsidies to allocate more money for infrastructure development.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Mahendra Siregar said he believed Indonesia's business climate would improve next year thanks to the eight-point policy package launched by the Vice President recently.

The policy package is mainly aimed at helping start-up companies. It includes new regulations to speed up the process of obtaining business permits and applications for electricity access. "We plan to implement the policy package by February 2014," he told the Post on Tuesday in a text message.

Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the World Bank's report was unfair because it compared countries with different complexities.

"It compares a city-state like Singapore to Indonesia, which comprises a lot of cities from Sabang in Aceh province to Merauke in Papua province and other big countries like China, Brazil and India," he said. (ogi)

Poor sanitation stunting Indonesia's growth: World Bank

Jakarta Post - October 30, 2013

Jakarta – Inadequate sanitation services diminish Indonesia's economic growth potential, says the World Bank's latest report on the country's urban sanitation.

Lack of adequate sanitation costs the country the equivalent of around 2.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) annually in terms of health and environmental related economic losses, according to the report, which is based on an earlier study done by the World Bank's Water Sanitation Program (WSP).

Indonesia's impressive economic growth in recent years has not been matched by an increase in urban sanitation services. Less than five percent of the sludge collected from septic tanks is properly treated, and only about one percent of the wastewater generated by the population is treated, creating health and environmental concerns. Around 14 percent of urban dwellers still practice open defecation.

"Almost half of Indonesia's population lives in cities and many more will move to urban areas in coming years. Better wastewater and septage management services are urgently needed, especially for the poor," World Bank country director for Indonesia, Rodrigo Chaves, said in an official release.

"The country would benefit from transformative solutions involving the public and private sectors, as well as increased public awareness of improved hygiene."

Since 2000, the Indonesian government has been carrying out reforms in water supply and sanitation that are showing results. For example, the Urban Sanitation Development Program (PPSP) has assisted hundreds of local governments in preparing city-wide sanitation plans.

Recently, the government significantly increased funding for sanitation services, helping to finance some 1,700 decentralized wastewater systems with plans in place to construct many more. The government is also planning to construct centralized sewage systems in large urban areas.

"Quality urban sanitation services support the economic growth of cities, reduce health risks and protect the environment," Sudipto Sarkar, World Bank water sector practice leader for the East Asia and Pacific region, said.

"Comprehensive and cost-effective measures are needed to improve sanitation, in order to achieve a better quality of life for the population, including the poor."

The Indonesia urban sanitation review is part of the World Bank's forthcoming East Asia and Pacific Urban Sanitation Review, which focuses on three emerging middle-income nations in the region – Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Indonesia investments stand tall despite market turbulence

Jakarta Post - October 24, 2013

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – Indonesia is on course to meet its annual investment target as overall investment growth has been maintained at above 20 percent in the third quarter, with robust growth in domestic direct investment (DDI) compensating for the slowdown in foreign direct investment (FDI).

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) reported on Wednesday that total investments had jumped 23 percent year-on-year to top Rp 100.5 trillion (US$8.9 billion) in July-September, the highest ever recorded, despite the capital outflows and financial market turbulence that took place during that period.

"This is an important signal that Indonesia, amid the bleak global economic outlook, remains a major destination for investment," BKPM chairman Mahendra Siregar told a press briefing.

The increasingly greater role of local investors meant that Indonesia would be more resilient to external shocks, he said, referring to the fact that FDI growth – which accounts for two-thirds of total investment – had slowed to a three-year low of 18.4 percent, compared to the 33 percent DDI growth.

Japan was the biggest contributor to FDI in Indonesia, accounting for 19 percent of total foreign investments, mainly because of the increased investment by Japanese automotive and electronics firms.

Total investment realization in the third quarter generated at least 411,543 jobs, though the number could reach at least 1.2 million given the fact that investments have at least a quadruple multiplier effect on job creation, according to Mahendra.

With three months left before the end of the year, the country had realized Rp 293 trillion of investments, meaning that the country was on track to meet its annual investment target of Rp 390 trillion, he said.

The new BKPM chairman, who was just elected this month, targeted to realize Rp 450 trillion of investments next year, a 15 percent increase compared to this year.

Investments account for around 25 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP), which is the second-biggest growth driver after household consumption.

World Bank senior economist for Indonesia Ashley Taylor, warned that the lack of clarity over certain domestic policies and regulations related to trade and investment "have recently tested investor confidence".

"Reassuring investors and markets that the financial market turbulence seen over recent months is prompting greater focus on coordinated policy reforms, will be decisive in encouraging much-needed foreign direct investment," he said in an email.

Although election-related uncertainties could temporarily depress its FDI inflows, Indonesia remains attractive among foreign investors due to its economic stability, manufacturing competitiveness, rapid urbanization providing higher paying jobs, as well as a rising middle-class that represents a large consumer base, according to international ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P).

"We believe FDI will remain strong in the medium term, particularly in manufacturing and services, areas not affected by policies that are perceived as 'anti foreign investor'," Agost Benard, a primary credit analyst with S&P, said in response to questions from The Jakarta Post.

"There has also been steady progress in addressing shortcomings in governance, one of the key deterrents to investment," he added.

The BKPM data shows that manufacturing and services are the two most attractive sectors among foreign investors coming into Indonesia, with the two jointly accounting for 76 percent of total FDI in the January-September period.

"The fact that our investments are concentrated in the two sectors is in line with our strategy and priority to boost added value industry and climb up the value chain," Mahendra said. "More added value means that more skilled and semi-skilled jobs will be generated, something that we should focus on in the future."

Analysis & opinion

Another proliferation of Papua is not a smart move

Pacific Scoop - October 31, 2013

Petrus K. Farneubun – While waiting for approval from government upon the decision of House of Representative to form new administrative areas and create new provinces in Indonesia called as proliferation (Pemekaran), people are divided whether the decision is a smart move or not. Certainly, any political decisions will spark controversy and suspicions among communities and elites and naturally it is divisive.

In regard to the distribution, the most interesting thing is in the case of Papua. It is interesting because public wonders why majorities of the newly formed areas will take place in both Papua and West Papua provinces while the reality shows that in terms of number of population, available infrastructures and local leadership capacities might not be ready. Both these areas will have 33 newly formed autonomies: 30 new districts and 3 new provinces.

Thus, most Papuans say that the formation of the new administration areas is not a smart move.

The opposing parties claim that the new formation demonstrates another systematic plan of Jakarta to silence Papua ongoing aspirations and deliberately to divide Papuans.

Papuas have learned that special autonomy granted in 2001 was a political compromise; Papuans called it "gula-gula politik (Political candies). Central government believes that providing special autonomy to Papua which is to promote the welfare of Papua, the demand of independence will be waning.

The logic is, of course, once Papuans are happy being prosperous, it is unlikely that they will ask for independence. But this assumption is proven wrong as Papuans do not see the benefits of special autonomy. They even decided to return special autonomy during massive rallies on 12 August 2005 and again on 18 June 2010. The same rejection has been done for numerous proliferations taking place in Papua since special autonomy was granted.

Thus, special autonomy and pemekaran is not the solution as this welfare approach does not answer the basic need of Papuans.

Head of Evangelical Church in Papua (GKI), Rev. Alberth Yoku, as quoted by local outlet Bintang Papua says that the plan to form more new areas should be postponed because it will not be the best solution to the problems in Papua.

He says, "The formation of new administrative areas is not the solution of humanitarian and economic problems in Papua rather it is to serve the interests of political elites who have failed to become member of parliaments and head of districts."

Not only the church leaders raise their oppositions but also governor of Papua, Provincial House of Representatives, West Papua National Freedom Army (TPN/OPM), Central Highland Students Association Communication Forum (FKPMPTP) and Papua Students Alliance (AMP) and West Papua National Committee (KNPB).

Governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe, for example, as quoted by local outlet Majalah Selangkah, says, "the people of Papua does not need pemekaran in the land of Papua. Therefore, I totally reject any plans of formation of new administrative areas."

Similarly, head of commission A Provincial House of Representatives claim that the formation of new administrative areas is not a rational decision and absurd. He says, "the formation of new areas is to serve the opportunists interests who failed in governorial election. This is not for the sake of development."

The arguments that the proliferation benefits local people; shorten the line of authority, increase local welfare and bring locals closer to public services such as health and education facilities clearly does not seem to work in Papua.

Anderson in his article, "The Failure of Education in Papua's Highlands" believes that pemekeran brings more harm than good.

He says, pemekaran "allows local elites to access funds while pushing ordinary Papuans further away from the services that could improve their lives. Special autonomy has created a dividing line between Papuan elites who benefit directly from it, and the majority of Papuans, who receive a pittance." Looking at Human Development Index (HDI) released by Central Statistics Agency (Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia, BPS) in February 2012 shows that the the percentage of poverty in Papua Province and West Papua province still above 20 percent, much higher than the national average.

The percentage of poor people in Papua Papua Province and West Papua province in 2011 are the highest respectively 31,24 and 28,53 while special autonomy law was introduced in 2001, ten years ago.

Similarly, BPS data shows that 32 percent of Papua children under 15 years of age were illiterate. This is the highest illiterate rate in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, it has been reported many times that there is a high absenteeism among local leaders including head of districts and state officials when communities urgently need for service. Public services are usually found closed including health and education services.

This situation shows that government needs to take smart move to gain trust from Papuans. Special autonomy, pemekaran, welfare approach, autonomy plus are not a smart move.

If the government insist on granting more pemekaran to Papua despite strong rejection from governor of Papua Province, church leaders, parliament and students and youth associations, it will convince Papuans that central government is more interested in preserving its political, economy and security interests than the interests of Papuans. It is againsts the will of Papuans majority. Also, it will create stronger resistance against any further government plans to implement in Papua.

The MSG's visit: A blessing or curse for Papuans?

Jakarta Post - October 26, 2013

Budi Hernawan, Jayapura – Late in September, Vanuatu broke the silence over human rights abuses in Papua. In light of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Prime Minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil raised the situation in Papua with the UN General Assembly.

He requested that this body appoint a special representative to investigate the state of human rights abuses in Papua. Vanuatu is no stranger to the Papuan cause. On the contrary, it is the driving force of the Melanesian Spearhead Group's (MSG) empathy for Papua. Many of us may not be so well- informed of the invitation extended by the Indonesian government for the MSG to visit Jakarta and Papua. Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto presented the invitation to the Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama during his visit to Fiji in June 2013.

During the 19th MSG summit in Noumea, New Caledonia, the MSG leaders welcomed the invitation and decided to send a Foreign Ministerial Mission (FMM) to Jakarta and Papua led by Fiji. This decision reflects deliberation over the application for membership submitted by the West Papuan National Coalition of Liberation (WPNCL) on behalf of Papuans.

This is an important decision. It highlights the surge of interest among MSG countries to significantly contribute to peace efforts in Papua, the region with longest unresolved subnational conflict in the Pacific. More importantly, in their spirit of cooperation with Jakarta, MSG leaders are paving the way toward an end to the stalemate surrounding peace initiatives promoted by Papuan and Indonesian civil society.

What is the significance of the FMM for Papua's peace efforts? The 2013 MSG Summit was the first forum of its kind to officially invite Papuan representatives. They addressed the summit as official guests. They were equal to Indonesia and Timor Leste, which both have observer status. They no longer have to stand behind the Vanuatu delegation, as they used to. In other words, Papuans were recognized internationally as a political entity equal to that of MSG members and observers.

Second, if properly handled by the government and Papuans, the FMM may carve a new space for dialogue between Jakarta and Papua. This would be an unprecedented move, given the stalemate currently experienced by both sides in engaging with Papuan peace initiatives. The MSG diplomacy may encourage the opposing parties to find a feasible solution for conflicts in Papua.

Third, if properly exploited by the government and Papuans, the visit could result in a significant improvement of the image of both sides. Indonesia will take its credit and be more respected as a genuine democracy through a high-level visit to Papua. Papuans, on the other hand, will gain momentum in the quest to substantially engage with international diplomacy in a more strategic way.

There are some key challenges, however, that will confront both sides.

First are the issues of suspicion on the government's side and over- expectation on that of Papua. As we already know, Indonesian hard-liners remain resistant to accepting the idea of a Jakarta-Papua dialogue. So this group tends to be dogmatic in interpreting any international diplomacy with Papua as an attempt to undermine Indonesia's sovereignty.

On the other hand, sovereignty implies a commitment to the protection of citizens. This is the essence of the responsibility to protect (R2P) principle to which Indonesia subscribes.

On the Papuan side, there is a risk that the visit will be misinterpreted as providing a conclusive solution to the Papuan conflict. This can be misleading. While the spirit of the Melanesian brotherhood is well represented in this mission, it is not within the MSG jurisdiction to solve the Papua problem. The MSG, however, will definitely welcome any invitation to act as mediator of Jakarta-Papua political negotiations, but such an option will very much depend on the government's decision.

Second, if Papuans are not able to make the appropriate preparations and work closely with the MSG, it is not unlikely that the visit will be nothing more than "business as usual", in the sense that it will not substantially cover the complex reality of the Papuan conflicts. This risk may become a reality if Papuans do not prepare specific agendas and a plan of action for the FMM. If this happens, Papuans will miss a strategic opportunity to highlight their causes with their closest, and most sympathetic, neighbors.

Third, Papuans will have to make sure that information about the MSG is distributed among the Papuan community. The community has to be well- informed about the meaning, benefits and limits of such a diplomatic mission. This is necessary for the elimination of unrealistic expectations among Papuans, in order to work out a feasible strategy for a peaceful solution.

This is a challenging task, given that certain key Papuan leaders are incarcerated and so are unable to disseminate information to their people. The Papuan civil society, however, can play a critical role here. In collaboration with the media, they need to fill this information gap.

The FMM can only be effective in paving the way for peace in Papua on two conditions: First, there must be willingness on the part of the government to cooperate fully and allow the FMM unrestricted access to meet any relevant individuals and organizations. Second, Papuans must prepare a clear agenda and a plan of action for the FMM.

[The writer is a part time researcher at Franciscans International, an international NGO accredited with the United Nations and is based in Jayapura, Geneva and New York. The views expressed are personal.]

Humanizing Indonesia

Jakarta Post Editorial - October 24, 2013

Celebrations this week mark the 15th anniversary of the National Commission on Violence against Women, or Komnas Perempuan. Established on Oct. 15, 1998 by then president BJ Habibie, which was the historic response to the unresolved May 1998 riots in Jakarta and other cities, where over 1,000 people were killed, including women who were also raped and tortured.

The Commission's work reflects the struggle not only to end violence against women, but to improve Indonesia's human rights. Its establishment reflected state recognition of gender-based violence – stemming from discrimination on the basis of someone's gender. In May 1998 for instance, Chinese Indonesian women were targeted due to their race and gender, to send the impression that the society that had gone beserk would target the "rich Chinese".

Today, as this type of violence and similar impunity continues, the Commission notes more women have found the courage to report acts of violence against them, with an increase from 3,169 reported cases in 2000 to 216,156 cases in 2012. It's "the tip of the iceberg", the Commission says, despite the 70 percent increase in reported cases.

Working with the National Police, the Commission also contributed to the establishment of special women and children protection units within police stations.

But the latest case in Gorontalo province, where nine members of the police have been implicated in the rape of a 16-year-old, has shown signs of typical police defense of "l'espirit de corps", just like the military. Residents and activists staged a rally on Monday at the Gorontalo Police headquarters as investigations into the alleged rape reported in early October showed no progress.

In the Commission's discussions on Wednesday with representatives of regional women crisis centers, legal aid bodies and other organizations, commissioners also heard the difficulties of volunteers and lawyers accompanying victims of crimes committed by members of the military.

Reports on Saturday quoted the support of the Bukit Barisan Military Command to enforce the law on two soldiers implicated in the murder of a family in Langkat, North Sumatra. Without the verbal support of their commanders at the very least, criminal investigations of military members remain impeded by the fact that they are tried in military courts, which are less transparent than civilian courts, as the draft law on trials of military members has not seen any progress.

Stopping sources of violence and discrimination itself is a much larger challenge for the Komnas Perempuan. Wednesday's talks also raised discrimination against indigenous people and their beliefs. One volunteer said police would not investigate domestic violence reported by indigenous women, or followers of unofficial religions, as their marriages are not registered by the state.

Humanizing Indonesia involves overhauling a culture that unintentionally encourages violence and impunity. In ending intolerance, for instance, the national rights bodies face an entire society – which has yet to accept the universality of human rights.