A group of protesters staged a rally in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday, calling for the antigraft body to arrest Edhie "Ibas" Baskoro Yudhoyono, the son of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for his alleged role in the Hambalang graft case.

"Arrest SBY's son!" the protesters shouted during the rally on Wednesday, despite a heavy downpour.

The protesters called on the KPK to summon Ibas as he had been mentioned by graft convict Yulianis, former deputy financial director of the privately owned Permai Group, who claimed that he had accepted US$200,000 from the company.

Yulianis said the Permai Group wired Ibas $200,000, money that was allegedly pooled from the Hambalang project. The money was reportedly used to finance the Democratic Party congress in Bandung in 2010, at which Anas Urbaningrum was elected chairman.

She said that the record of the money transfer had been saved on her personal computer and laptop, both of which were confiscated by the KPK.

Ibas has denied the accusation, saying he did not know Yulianis and that the allegation was an attempt to tarnish his reputation.

Student protest greets SBY in Bandung

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Jakarta – Dozens of students from various universities staged a rally in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday to express their disappointment over what had been achieved by the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The rally was held to greet the arrival of Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono to open a meeting of palm oil associations at the Trans Studio Hotel on Jl. Gatot Subroto.

In the protest, which was tightly guarded by the police, the students vented their anger by burning tires, thereby causing traffic jams.

"During the two terms of SBY's leadership, we have not felt comfortable. We feel victimized. Our actions are part of our struggle against the SBY regime," an unidentified protester said as quoted by kompas.com.

The students tried to expand their protest, but their efforts were prevented by the police. The students then directed their anger at the police, saying: "Police, police you're so cruel. You hit the students, but protect the corrupt." The student protest ended at 11 a.m.

West Papua

TNI hunts soldier's shooters in Papua

Jakarta Post - November 30, 2013

Jayapura – The XVII/Cenderawasih Military Command (Kodam) chief Maj. Gen. Christian Zebua said Friday that both military and police would hunt for those who shot a soldier in Ilu market, Puncak Jaya regency, in Papua.

"We will seek and destroy those who are armed and disrupt public security, perpetrate shootings and disturb the government," he said on Friday. "The military and police will keep hunting down assailants because shooting innocent people violates human rights."

Chief Sgt. Wandi Ahmad was shot on Thursday and his condition was improving after being treated at Marthen Indey Army Hospital in Jayapura, the Kodam chief spokesman Col. Lismer Lumban Siantar said.

Meanwhile, the body of David, a public minivan driver who was shot dead on Thursday, had been sent to his home in Wamena, Jayawijaya regency. David was shot at 3:30 p.m., 5 hours after unknown assailants shot Wandi.

Any plans to free Papua from Indonesia won't be tolerated – Police Chief

Radio New Zealand International - November 30, 2013

Indonesia's National Police Chief General Sutarman says the country's police will take stern measures against those wanting to separate Papua from Indonesia.

General Sutarman told local media that police will take firm action against groups or individuals wanting to separate Papua from Indonesia because Papua is part of Indonesia.

The Indonesian government is paying more attention to Papua and has therefore set up the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua, UP4B, particularly to speed up infrastructure construction.

The police chief says with so much attention being diverted to the region, any intentions to separate from the Republic of Indonesia will not be tolerated.

The police chief has been on a working visit to Papua since Tuesday. He signed a cooperation agreement with Public Housing Minister Djan Faridz in Sorong on Tuesday for the construction of 100 housing units for police officers stationed in Raja Ampat.

On Wednesday, General Sutarman visited the Papua Provincial Police office in Jayapura to meet the police officials stationed there.

West Papua activist says PNG is threatening him with arrest

The Guardian (Australia) - November 30, 2013

Marni Cordell – The West Papuan activist Benny Wenda has said immigration officers in Papua New Guinea threatened to have him arrested along with an Australian lawyer for "engaging in political activities" and breaching their visa conditions.

Wenda and Jennifer Robinson plan to take part in an event in Port Moresby on Sunday to mark the West Papuan national day of 1 December. The event will culminate in a raising of the Indonesian province's banned morning star flag at the Port Moresby city hall.

Wenda, who lives in exile in the United Kingdom, told Guardian Australia: "The immigration and police are outside the hotel and they want to arrest me in a few hours' time. I'm sure that the Indonesians gave the order to do it."

He still expected the demonstration on Sunday to go ahead as planned. "Even if they arrest me and put me in jail, my people and all our Papua New Guinean friends are ready to still [raise the morning star flag]."

An organiser for the event, who asked not be named, told Guardian Australia: "Immigration officers and police came to the hotel where we are staying and they issued Benny with a letter. It's a bit of a siege here actually."

The letter was issued by the PNG immigration authorities and warned Wenda that taking part in political activities was a breach of his visitor's entry visa.

The organiser said: "It won't stop the action going ahead. Benny is ready to get arrested and people are ready to protect him."

The threat came as a surprise to Robinson and Wenda who have said they are in PNG at the invitation of the Port Moresby governor, Powes Parkop.

Separatist killed in lead-up to OPM anniversary

Jakarta Globe - November 30, 2013

A day before the 48th anniversary of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), an outlawed militant separatist organization, a member of the group was killed in an exchange of gunfire between fighters and police in Papua's Jayapura district.

Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw, Papua's deputy police chief, told state-run Antara news agency that officers were "still at the site" and that the identity of the slain militant remained unknown. A policeman was shot in the hand during the incident and was in stable condition, Paulus said.

The officers, members of the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), were on patrol when the separatists opened fire. The Indonesian military (TNI) has increased its presence in the province in the past decade.

Earlier this week, TNI solider First Sgt. Wandi Ahmad was shot and injured severely while walking in Illu market, in Papua's Puncak Jaya district. Col. Lismer Lumban Siantar, a TNI spokesman, said that Wandi was shot in the face by an unidentified assailant who fled into the forest.

On Friday, the National Police said that they had temporarily increased their forces in Papua by 100 officers to anticipate the OPM's anniversary, but said that there was no urgent threat.

Gen. Sutarman, the National Police chief, told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that he would pay special attention to restive Papua. "We should solve violence in Papua with a humane approach," he said.

Despite these soft words, he said police would have zero tolerance for displays of the Morning Star flag – a symbol of Papuan separatism.

TNI member shot in Papua

Jakarta Post - November 29, 2013

Jayapura – A member of the Indonesian Military (TNI) assigned as a non- commissioned officer serving as Community Affairs (Babinsa) personnel in Wurak village, Puncak Jaya, Papua, was shot by an unidentified person on Thursday.

Chief Sgt. Wandi Ahmad, 28, was at a local market when he was shot. The bullet pierced Wandi's left cheek through his left eye. He is currently being treated at the Marthen Indey military hospital in Jayapura.

According to spokesperson of the Military Regional Command XVII/Cenderawasih, Col. Lismer Lumban Siantar, the shooting took place at around 10:30 a.m. local time when the soldier was shopping at the market. He was shot from close range using an FN gun. Separately, Commander of the 1714/PJ Military District Command, Lt. Col. A Risman, said that together with the police his side had been pursuing the perpetrator

Shootings, killings, beatings, arrests after police fire on peaceful demo

West Papua Media - November 28, 2013

WPM apologises for the delay in posting due to the remote location of the WPM team, and the delays in finding independent witnesses to help in cross-checking of this extreme situation. This situation is developing and will be updated as more information comes to hand.

Key developments:

Indonesian police open fire on peaceful protesters in Jayapura, with at least four gunshot wounds and one death;
West Papuan activists and families forced to flee to the jungle for safety;
Indonesian security forces conduct scores of raids, sweeps and offensives against West Papuan civilians;
Attacks happen during visit of National Police Chief General Sutarman
Over 200 people arrested across West Papua;
Journalists attacked by Indonesian police.

Indonesian forces have again opened fire on a peaceful Jayapura gathering of about 500 people held by the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), with the shooting of at least 4 demonstrators, and the confirmed death of at least one, on November 26. A total of 15 people are still in serious condition in hospitals around Jayapura with a range of wounds sustained during the live fire dispersal by Indonesian police.

In the worst single act of Indonesian state violence since the October 19 2011 crackdown on the Third Papuan Peoples Congress, ongoing sweeps and arrests have been continuing in the time since, causing most members of the KNPB fleeing with their families into the relative safety of the jungle. Unconfirmed reports have also surface that the police have called in the Indonesian Army (TNI) to hunt for KNPB members.

Correspondents have also reported to West Papua Media that Indonesian radio stations in Papua have been broadcasting repeated messages from the Indonesian police against all pro-independence forces, starting with the KNPB. "We will use force to break apart the KNPB," a senior Indonesian Police figure in Papua was heard to say on all Jayapura radio stations early on Wednesday morning. Unconfirmed reports have said that these broadcasts have been repeated hourly across West Papua, with the National Police Chief also issuing warnings that separatism will not be accepted any more.

The rally was part of a nationwide day of mobilisations in solidarity with the opening of the Free West Papua Campaign office in Papua New Guinea on November 28. 31 people were arrested by Police in Timika, and 3 arrested in Sorong as KNPB chapters there also organised rallies and prayers to support the opening of the PNG office, which is being held with the involvement of thousands of people throughout Papua New Guinea, including senior members of the PNG Parliament.

A rally in Wamena drew several thousand enthusiastic and cheering supporters wearing traditional dress (many bedecked in the banned Morning Star flag) on a long march mass action, led by KNPB Wamena region Chairman, Simion Dabi This was the only rally where police were vastly outnumbered by participants, and police blockaded several points along the route but did not attempt to prevent the rally from going ahead.

Jayapura

The Jayapura shooting victim, KNPB activist Matthius Tengget from near Oksibil in the Star Mountains, died of his wounds in custody. However, his body was not retrieved until Wednesday evening after it was dumped into the lake, allegedly by those members of the Brimob paramilitary police units who shot him as they were conducting the dispersal. At time of writing, his family were conducting his funeral in Sentani.

According to a statement from KNPB General Chairman Victor Yeimo, currently in Abepura prison, "KNPB and family members of the victims are also looking for four (4) other KNPB members that are missing: their whereabouts are unknown or their bodies have not yet been found. Three of the victims carry the Mul surname and the fourth Lambe. We strongly suspect that the police shot them and disposed of their bodies."

"Until now we are still looking for possible victims of yesterday's mass action who were most presumably shot and disappeared: in their attempt to disperse yesterday's demonstration, the Police and the Mobile Brigade fired a lot of shots and they chased many demonstrators towards Buper, the Housing Complex III, Ekspo, until Iyoka and all the way to the edge of Sentani Lake," said Yeimo.

Up to 15 people were hospitalised from both gunshots and beatings, including a group of three young women from the Yahukimo dormitory who were savagely beaten by police during their arrests. More reports have also been given that scores of female activists were rounded up and severely beaten by Indonesian police and military officers.

The shootings were under the operational field command of the notorious hardliner Deputy Jayapura Police Chief Kiki Kurnia, Abepura area POlice commander Deky Hursepunny, together with Jayapura Police Chief Alfred Papare, with the Deputy Papua

Police Chief Paulus Waterpauw and Papua Police Chief Tito Karnavian allegedly sighted monitoring the situation from their private Kijang vehicles.

Police have predictably launched a propaganda offensive across its tame colonial media networks in West Papua, accusing the KNPB of conducting a riot. However, stringers for West Papua Media, independent witnesses in the busy Waena shopping area, and KNPB spokespeople have all vehemently denied riotous behaviour by the protesters, instead describing how a peaceful sit-in was brutally dispersed under the orders of a cohort of four senior police officers, who have been personally responsible for ordering significant and ongoing human rights abuses against KNPB members.

Direct witness to brutality

A survivor of Tuesday's violence fled to Papua New Guinea immediately after the shooting, was directly interviewed by West Papua Media – unidentified for their own safety – and has described how police opened fire without targeting, instead firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

Before the shooting, a mass of people had gathered in the field outside the Expo Waena bus terminal and market in front of the Museum, mainly sitting and chatting while listening to speeches. According to the witness, police surrounded the gathering on three sides, and the protest leader Buchtar Tabuni attempted to negotiate with senior police present, including the Alfred Papare, Kiki Kurnia and Deky Hursepunny. As it became clear that police were refusing to negotiate with Tabuni, demonstrators agreed to maintain the peaceful action.

According to the witness, Senior police then yelled to the crowd, ordering them to disperse. However, almost immediately, and without further warning of escalation of the threat, Police commanders ordered the front ranks of police in front of the bus terminal to open fire.

"When the the shooting started, as I was running, I saw the KapolSek Deky Hursepunny and Kapolresta Alfred Papare standing at the gate, directing his police where to fire," the witness said.

Upon questioning, the witness testified that police initially fired tear gas, but switched very quickly to automatic weapons. The witness also confirmed that instead of individually targeting demonstrators, police seemed to be firing wildly into the crowd, firing indiscriminately.

Both the order to open fire without warning, and the subsequent excessive use of firearms against civilians are direct violations of both Indonesian and international law. International Lawyer Jennifer Robinson, Convener of the International Lawyers for West Papua and currently meeting in PNG, told West Papua Media that "This use of excessive force against KNPB members is in breach of international law and Indonesia's own police regulations on the use of force".

"This latest incident falls within a repeated pattern of the use of excessive and lethal force by Indonesian police against peaceful activists in West Papua which is indicative of a broader state policy. Continued impunity for the police involved is unacceptable and the failure to punish gives rise to command and state responsibility," Robinson said.

Many beatings were meted out on KNPB members by Police during the arrests, with allegations that rifle butts were repeatedly used – a standard practice for the Indonesian police against peaceful demonstrators in Papua.

Plain clothes police special forces, described by the witness as "Polisi Preman" (Police gangsters), then continued two days of terror against West Papuan civilians, some in no way connected with the civil resistance movement. This campaign, at time of writing, shows no sign of lessening.

"We were running across Waena. Police used many rental cars and were driving around in balaclavas like terrorists, pointing automatic weapons outside their vehicles, and shooting now around Perumnas 1, causing all who could see it to hide in their houses. At the same time a black Avanza stopped in front of us, followed by white and red Avanzas, pointing weapons at all Papuans present. We ran, because we knew we were about to be shot – we had to seek safety with Indonesian transmigrants, who were unaware of the situation," the witness told West Papua Media wearily.

"After police shoot the demonstrators, participants fled to the forest. Police then conducted a brutal sweep, targeting anyone who was wearing dreadlocks, beard, or even wearing sunglasses, and arresting them all," the witness said. Civilians have fled in panic, and the witness described Waena as deserted when they fled. Families of those at the demonstrations have fled to the jungle. It is not known of normal social functions are continuing, due to the difficulty in getting direct contact with sources in Jayapura.

Our witness reported that two days prior to the demonstration, Indonesian army helicopters were searching extensively around the hills in areas that would be the the first point of refuge for civilian after any shooting.

The witness survivor believes that this indicated that the shootings by police were premeditated and planned, although West Papua Media has been unable to independently confirm this. However the attacks on protesters occurred just prior to the arrival at Sentani airport of National Police Chief General Sutarman, who has exploited the lack of honest reportage by colonial media to issue more threats against any Papuans who dare dream they can freely express themselves.

"We will take firm action against groups or individuals wanting to separate Papua from Indonesia because Papua is part of Indonesia," State media Antara quoted Sutarman telling the colonial press in Jayapura.

Tabloid Jubi reported that the Papua Deputy Police Chief Waterpauw has denied KNPB the right to freedom of expression, permanently. "I made it clear to the group West Papua National Committee (KNPB), immediately stop the steps that are likely to violence. Whatever the form of their intention and desire to perform activities in public hearings, (it) will never be given permission or recommendation to implement it, because we know the purpose of the organisation and their desire is clear, (they) want to form a state, split off and so on," said Waterpauw on Tuesday (26/11) evening in Jayapura City police headquarters.

An independent international observer in Jayapura contacted by West Papua Media just prior to publication, speaking on condition of anonymity, went even further than the witness now in PNG, stating unequivocally that the crackdown was a "premeditated, highly engineered manufacturing of consent of the type that Tito Karnavian is such a master of, just like his OTK killings."

"It beggars belief that Karnavian, hoping to please his boss – or more to the point those who would seek to replace the boss with Karnavian – would not be the engine of of a textbook counterinsurgency operation to smash a pesky bunch of separatists. The only problem is, those separatists are unarmed and were conducting a peaceful gathering. It looks like the whole thing was organised for a long time. It is well beyond time those gangsters were held to account," the observer said, naming Karnavian, Kurnia, Papare and Waterpauw as the perpetrators of massive human rights abuses against Papuan civilians.

The observer added that they saw the gathering just prior to its dispersal and can vouch for the gathering's peaceful conduct, but was disturbed at the large number of security forces that were surrounding Waena. "There were at least ten platoons of Brimob, and hundreds of swanggi (ghosts) everywhere, surrounding on three sides the KNPB sitting in a park," the observer said – confirming maps drawn by the survivor witness. "They were itching for brutality. How is this policing?"

A total of twenty eight people were arrested, but were released by Wednesday night. KNPB national spokesperson Wim Rocky Medlama told SuaraPapua.com that they are fed up with the police's actions, which are arrogant and excessive. "This is too excessive. And I think that the police have much to learn. So that they undertake their duties in accordance with the orders", as quoted in SuaraPapua.com.

Olga Hamadi, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Papua, also told SuaraPapua that the police's actions were excessive and the pattern of arrests should stop.

"I've only just heard this information. I think that the police are too excessive. Patterns of arrests such as this should no longer be necessary. This is included under the rights of each person to express themselves. Moreover this is a democratic country right", she said in an SMS message sent to Suara Papua, adding that people expressing their views should not be attacked and arrested.

"They should be given space. The issue of expressing views in public should not be responded to with arrests and law enforcement. If [the police] are going to be like this it won't solve the Papuan problem", said Hamadi.

More arrests

Earlier on Tuesday morning at 8:13 local time. KNPB Secretary-General Ones Suhun was arrested with 6 members of the KNPB (Assa Asso, Okram Wanimbo, Sam Lokobal, Meminda (Mendenas) Sol, Konoru Wenda, and Bonsan Mirin) by Indonesian Police outside the Student dormitories at Putaran Perumnas 3, Waena, Jayapura – They had just begun to hand out leaflets about the afternoon's peaceful rally calling for the respect of West Papua's right to self-determination. Most were released by Wednesday night.

Reports received by West Papua Media overnight from distressed sources fleeing through the jungle have confirmed that a further series of brutal sweeps and raids had occurred all afternoon and evening on Tuesday and continuing through Wednesday, with unconfirmed reports of Puma helicopters being used to find activists. Hundreds of heavily armed Police were used to raid the offices of the KNPB Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon, also confiscating all the contents and destroying what was left.

At least thirty more people were reportedly arrested overnight on the 26th, although this has not been independently verified by West Papua Media, however Buchtar Tabuni was moved by his supporters to a safe location.

Across Papua

In Sorong, the KNPB rally was also forcibly broken up by Police, and Marthinus Yohame (regional Chairman of KNPB), Kantius Heselo (Vice chair KNPB Sorong), Natalis Surabut Gebby Mambrasar, Nius Loho and Welem Surabut, were arrested for holding the rally, but were released overnight.

In TImika, 31 people were arrested by a Joint Police and TNI taskforce at Kelly Kwalik's Cemetery Park at about 8.15 in the morning as they began to gather for their demonstration. Police also arrested The Chairman of KNPB Region Timika, Steven Itlay and the chair of Mimika's Parliament, Abihut Degey while leading peaceful rally in demand the right of Self- determination in West Papua and are being held still at the Police Post, Mile 32. Their names are:

1. Steven Itlay
2. Abihud Degey
3. Billy Hagawal
4. Dony Mote
5. Petrus Bobii
6. Bony Bora
7. Yulianus Edoway
8. Paulus Doo
9. Martinus Pekey
10. Paulina Pakage
11. Agustin Pekey
12. Sony Ukago
13. Daniel Kotouki
14. Seprianus Edoway
15. Argenes Pigay
16. Menase Dimi
17. Timotius Kossay
18. Welius Kogoya
19. Demianus Kogoya
20. Kasianus Kamke
21. Aduart Suruan
22. Melianus Gobay
23. Pais Nasia
24. Makson Kotouki
25. Maria Piligain
26. Markus Entama
27. Yustinus Pigome
28. Sior Heselo
29. Semuel Edoway
30. Agus Itlay
31. Yakonias Womsiwor

Biak also saw its KNPB rally broken up police, with several arrests reported and injuries sustained. KNPB Biak Chairman Apollos Sroyer reported to West Papua Media that the actions of police were again excessive in preventing a prayer session from going ahead, using scores of police and troops to blockade access to the church. Police dispersed the crowd later in the afternoon.

In Manokwari, KNPB members were also banned from holding any events in solidarity with the PNG office opening, but were able to negotiate with the hundreds of riot police, and the rally went ahead with several hundred participants, dispersing peacefully after a prayer in the late afternoon.

In remote Yahukimo in the highlands, an action supported by KNPB Yakuhimo in support of the IPWP/ILWP meeting at Parliament Haus in PNG on Nov 27, and FWPPNG office opening in PNG was held in front of the Ruko Putra store. The action was carried out in face of threats from Brimob officers and a platoon of fully armed TNI of Kodim Wamena 1702 (Battalion 752), and also 15 Kopassus special forces brought in from Jakarta. They were backed up by a large but unknown number of police from from POLRES Dekei Yahukimo under the command of the local Polresta Eliakin Ap.

The forces presence was was requested by Ones Pahabol, the Yahukimo Bupati (District Head). Ones Pahabol is also the local head of the Committee of the 17th District of the GIDI (Indonesian Evangelical Church), who is considered extremely pro-Indonesian. According to KNPB sources in Yahukimo, Pahabol's reason for requesting military support was to break up any KNPB demonstration, and he ordered the dispersal of the KNPB activists because he was prohibiting the expression of the KNPB in public.

However the KNPB reported that even though the local government, police and local church committee refused to give permission for the rally to go ahead, the district head of gidi church did give them permission. However the KNPB commented that it was "as if the church were giving permission to the military to kill their parishioners. Despite this military threat we give our full support to the IPWP meetings happening in PNG on the 27th – 29th." said a KNPB spokesperson from Yahukimo.

Media attacks

Several Journalists were also attacked by police during the Waena dispersal, forcing an apology from the Jayapura police chief Alfred Papare. Police officers reportedly beat and threatened the journalists at a scene behind the administrative court offices, Waena, Jayapura – According to a report in SuaraPapua.com, the three West Papuan journalists that suffered intimidation from police, were Aprila Wayar (tabloidjubi.com), Micelle Gobay (SKH torch Papua), and Arnold Belau (suarapapua.com), Hengky Yeimo (MajalahSelangkah) as well as a national reporter, Alvarez Oru Maga (Reuters)

In addition, independent media website Suara Papua has been subjected to a denial of service attack, after they published accounts conflicting from the official police version of the story. It is believed by many season observers on cyber conflict in Indonesia, that this is the work of a shadowy cyber-division of the Indonesian police trained and funded by the Australian government, despite the fake outrage generated by the Canberra- Jakarta spy scandal.

In news to hand just before publication, two more bodies have been recovered from around Jayapura suffering gunshot wounds, though it is unconfirmed whether they were victims of the November 26 shootings, or further murders by security forces.

A highly credible source reported to West Papua Media that on November 27 at 3.30pm, a Papuan youth named Ottis Membilang (17), was shot by two TNI soldiers. According to witnesses, Membilang was standing on the side of the road in front if his home near the Mega store at Waena when 2 TNI members arrived in an unidentified vehicle and shot and killed him for no apparent reason. This is within metres of the area that West Papua Media's witnessing survivor of November 26's violence described troops and police driving around in Avanzas, wearing balaclavas and threatening to shoot all nearby Papuans.

At the time that the first victim Mathius Tengget was being buried by his family, another body was found at Koya Barat (West Koya), at Wlara Tami near Skouw. KNPB sources have yet to confirmed if the body belongs to one of those missing since Tuesday's brutality. The Tami River has long been a notorious dumping ground for victims of the Indonesian security forces' Ninjas, as the river after rain sweeps all bodies far out into the Pacific Ocean into shark infested waters.

Police to take stern action against separatists

Antara News - November 28, 2013

Jayapura, Papua – The National Police Chief General Sutarman has stated that the country's police will take stern measures against those wanting to separate Papua from Indonesia.

"We will take firm action against groups or individuals wanting to separate Papua from Indonesia because Papua is part of Indonesia," Sutarman told the press.

The government is paying more attention to Papua and has therefore set up the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B), particularly to speed up infrastructure construction.

With so much attention being diverted to the region, any intentions to separate from the Republic of Indonesia will not be tolerated, the general said.

On Wednesday, General Sutarman visited the Papua Provincial Police office in Jayapura to meet the police officials stationed there.

Police chief pledges crackdown on rioters

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – National Police chief Gen. Sutarman emphasized he would take firm action against protesters who resort to "anarchy", including those involved in a West Papua National Committee (KNPB) rally in Jayapura recently, which turned violent and left nine people injured.

"Members of the public are allowed to express their opinions according to the rules. Freedom of expression is protected in the law on public address and the National Police will uphold it. But citizens must follow a ruling that prohibits disruption of public order," said Sutarman on Wednesday.

"Those who break the law or commit violence have to be punished. This includes those involved in the recent anarchy. They were also arrested for carrying illegal objects, such as traditional weapons," said Sutarman on Wednesday during his visit to Papua.

During the rally, held by the KNPB in Jayapura on Tuesday, the local police arrested 28 protesters. As many as nine residents were wounded in the incident.

Besides violent protests, Sutarman also said that the police would crack down on groups that intended to separate from the unitary state of Indonesia, including by strictly enforcing a ban on flying the Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) separatist flag, which West Papuans often try to raise in a special ceremony each Dec. 1.

"The Bintang Kejora flag raising ceremony on Dec. 1 is forbidden, and those involved will be dealt with seriously," he said.

Sutarman's visit to Papua and West Papua was his first to the province after being appointed as National Police chief by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in October.

Before visiting the Papua Police headquarters in Jayapura, Sutarman, who was accompanied by the chief and deputy chief of the Papua Police, visited the Raja Ampat Police precinct in West Papua.

Meanwhile, the police are still investigating Tuesday's rally. "Twenty- eight people will be questioned on the matter. One of the victims, named Syamsul Ma'arif, has undergone surgery after he was stabbed in the abdomen. His condition is improving," said Jayapura City Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alfred Papare.

Dozens of West Papuans arrested in Timika

Radio New Zealand International - November 27, 2013

Dozens of West Papuan activists are reported to have been arrested by a combined police and military deployment in the Indonesia province of Papua on Tuesday.

The National Committee for West Papua, or KNPB, reports 31 Papuans were arrested while staging a peaceful protest in Timika, calling for the right to self-determination of West Papuans.

The group had gathered at the tomb of West Papuan military leader Kelly Kwalik. Those arrested include members of the KNPB and the so-called National Parliament of West Papua.

The KNPB says members of the local community are being intimidated, arrested and killed just because they look to claim their rights peacefully.

West Papuan activities calling for self-determination are increasing ahead of the December 1st anniversary of the 1961 West Papuan declaration of independence. The declaration was ignored by Indonesia which subsequently annexed the former Dutch New Guinea.

West Papua pro-independence group claims members have been arrested

Radio New Zealand International - November 25, 2013

The West Papua National Committee, or KNPB, says 16 of its members have been arrested for handing out leaflets, but the Indonesian police deny the report.

The group says its members were distributing leaflets on Monday, with details about meetings in Port Moresby and encouraging foreign ministers of the Melanesian Spearhead Group to visit Jakarta and Papua.

A spokesperson for the group says they were taken to the police station at Jayapura and all the leaflets were confiscated.

The Jayapura Police Chief, Alfred Papare, has denied any arrests of the 16 members of the KNPB. The group, established in 2008, has been campaigning for a referendum on independence for the West Papua province of Indonesia.

It's leaders Buchtar Tabuni and Victor Yeimo are currently in prison and the former vice-president Mako Tabuni was killed by Indonesian anti- terrorist troops in 2012.

West Papua pro-independence activists arrested for distributing leaflets

Suara Papua - November 25, 2013

Arnold Belau, Papuan, Jayapura – As many as 16 members of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) were arrested earlier this afternoon by the Jayapura municipal police (polresta) when they were handing out leaflets about a planned demonstration to take place throughout the land of Papua tomorrow.

The goals of the planned demonstration were to support the opening of a Free Papua Movement (OPM) office in Port Moresby on December 1, supporting a meeting between the International Parliament for West Papua (IPWP) and the International Lawyers for West Papua (ILWP) in Port Moresby on November 25-28 and to support a planned visit to Jakarta and Papua by foreign affairs ministers and representatives of countries that make up the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG)/

When sought for confirmation, KNPB national spokesperson Wim Rocky Medlama said that the 16 had been arrested in Padang Bulan, Abepura at around 3.15. "That's correct. Earlier as many as 16 of our members were arrested by police from the Jayapura City polresta", said Medlama.

Medlama said they are fed up with the police's actions, which are arrogant and excessive. "This is too excessive. And I think that the police have much to learn. So that they undertake their duties in accordance with the orders", he said angrily.

Meanwhile the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Papua, Olga Hamadi said that the police's actions were excessive and the pattern of arrests should stop.

Hamadi added that people expressing their views should not be attacked and arrested. "They should be given space. The issue of expressing views in public should not be responded to with arrests and law enforcement. If [the police] are going to be like this it won't solve the Papuan problem", said Hamadi.

When sought for confirmation by Suara Papua meanwhile, Jayapura municipal police chief Assistant Superintendent Alfred Papare denied that the 16 KNPB members had been arrest for distributing leaflets. "There were no arrests", wrote Papare.

Papare instead responded by asking questions in a threatening tone, "Who said that there were arrests earlier. And do did you [actually] see it or not", he said to media journalists via an SMS message.

Based on information gathered by Suara Papua, the 16 were arrested earlier this afternoon and taken to the Jayapura municipal police station were the leaflets were confiscated by police. Following this they were returned home.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Former editor in Indonesia says Government must solve Papua issue

Radio New Zealand International - November 24, 2013

A former Chief Editor of the Jakarta Post says restrictions on foreign media visiting the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua should be lifted.

Endy Bayuni says there is a lack of development and social justice in the region, and there are frequent human rights violations, which means the interest of foreign media is understandable. Endy Bayuni says the Government must look at problems from the inside rather than worry about outside impressions.

"If there is a problem in Papua this is mostly because of mismanagement and misrule on the part of Indonesia in Papua. We mishandled Timor-Leste badly but we have not learned the lessons of Timor-Leste. We seem to be repeating the mistakes in Timor-Leste in preventing justice to the Papuan people"

Endy Bayuni says Papua is the most resource-rich region but a long way from Jakarta, where it is seen only for its economic benefits, and the Government must look after the people if it wants to avoid unrest.

Military ties

TNI chief: Bilateral ties with Singapore at risk

Jakarta Globe - November 29, 2013

A week after Indonesia announced the suspension of military cooperation with Australia in the wake of allegations of spying by Canberra, Jakarta said it could re-evaluate bilateral cooperation with other countries that had facilitated Australia in tapping into the mobile communications of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and senior cabinet ministers.

In a report by Indonesian news portal Republika.co.id, Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen. Moeldoko said on Thursday that if Singapore was proven to have assisted Australia in its spying activities on Indonesian officials, the city-state had compromised trust between the two countries.

He emphasized that ties between countries should be grounded on solid trust and that any violation of such trust called for the re-evaluation of the relationship and any cooperation.

Singapore and South Korea recently emerged as "third parties" to an intelligence alliance named the "Five Eyes," comprising the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Documents leaked by US whistle-blower Edward Snowden and published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday detailed the alleged involvement of Singapore's spy agency in tapping Internet and telecommunications traffic moving through the city-state.

Most of Indonesia's Internet and telecom traffic runs through Singapore. The country's biggest telecom operator, SingTel, is majority-owned by Temasek Holdings, the government's investment arm, and includes former intelligence officials on its board of directors, SMH reported.

Yudhoyono said he had tasked the Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to look into the matter. "I've instructed the foreign minister to discuss the issue with ambassadors of the two countries," Yudhoyono said.

According to the latest documents, the spying plot used to intercept Indonesian officials' communications were also applied by Singapore to facilitate wiretapping on Malaysia, which on Tuesday summoned Singaporean officials to seek clarification on the allegations.

"We have no interest in doing anything that might harm our partners or the friendship between our two countries," said Ong Keng Yong, Singapore's high commissioner to Malaysia, in comments carried by the Straits Times newspaper. "We have excellent bilateral relationship and cooperate closely on many matters of common interest."

Wiranto, a former TNI chief and presidential candidate in next year's polls, said the spying row had redefined the "methods of war" between nations.

"When it comes to the issue of wiretapping, it can be quite confusing. Australia would say 'this is part of my defense strategy, we mean no harm,'" he said as quoted by Liputan6.com. "We have just experienced it. It's an unconventional definition of war."

TNI, MAF agree to step up military cooperation

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) have agreed to step up cooperation to enhance the security and stability of the two nations, TNI chief Gen. Moeldoko said.

He said the agreement was reached during the 11th conference of the High Level Committee of Malaysia and Indonesia (HLC Malindo) in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

The TNI chief noted the agreement was related to an increase in joint exercises, sharing intelligence, social and economic development in border areas and air, sea and land cooperation.

Moeldoko further stated that matters related to the border between the two countries had been discussed at the conference in order to maintain security and stability, Antara news agency reported from Kuala Lumpur.

According to him, the TNI and MAF's joint efforts to maintain security and stability, particularly along the Malacca Strait, had gained international recognition.

Moeldoko explained that he had also discussed progress in the fields of intelligence, operations and training, police and maritime operations and even social and economic fields with MAF chief Gen. Zulkifeli Bin Mohd Zin.

Moeldoko also revealed that the 12th conference of the HLC Malindo would be held next year in Jakarta.

Human rights & justice

Victims of human rights abuse break silence

Jakarta Post - November 26, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – "It was late at night in 1968 when a group of men barged into my boarding house and pointed their guns at me. They shouted that I was a member of the PKI [Indonesian Communist Party]," Yogyakarta native Christina Sumarmiyati, 68, said.

Christina's voice broke as she went into the details of what she endured before an audience gathered at the National Library in Central Jakarta on Monday.

She talked about being locked up for 10 years without trial during which she suffered sustained sexual abuse in different prisons from Yogyakarta to Buru Island in Maluku.

Christina was not the only survivor of human rights abuse to finally speak up about injustices they suffered. On Monday, seven of 32 victims of past rights abuses opened up about their terrible past in the hope that the government will one day finally acknowledge their plight and apologize for the abuse.

Some of the victims were women who survived torture as well as sexual abuse during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor, which lasted from 1975 to 1999, years of military operations in Aceh and Papua, and those who were victims of social and agrarian conflicts in different parts of the country.

A Papuan woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told of being left by her husband and children because of the "shame" she brought on the family as a victim of repeated sexual abuse by members of the Army soon after she was arrested for joining a ceremony to raise the Papuan separatist Morning Star flag in July 1998.

"I'm grateful that I survived that horrible incident even though I'll never forget the soldiers smacking my head until it bled or when they mutilated my genitals," she said. "Many female friends lost their lives in terrible and inhumane conditions".

Also joining the 32 survivors were victims of religious discrimination as well as the families of rights campaigners who were murdered for their activities, including the widows of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib and leftist poet Widji Thukul.

Kamala Chandrakirana, coordinator of the Coalition for Justice and Revelation of Truth (KKPK), said 47 rights groups had linked up to support the victims and give them the platform to air their grievances.

"This event is also important to remind the public of what happened in the past while at the same time telling our younger generation, who might have very limited knowledge, about our dark history," Kamala said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has declared a number of past rights abuses gross human rights violations after years of investigation.

The commission declared the 1965 massacre of communists a gross rights violation in 2012. In August this year, Komnas HAM also declared the military operation in Aceh a gross human rights violation.

Survivors and relatives of victims of the rights violations must wait for the government to act upon any findings from Komnas HAM as well as civil society groups.

Sinta Nuriah Wahid, the widow of late former president Abdurrahman Wahid, who attended the gathering on Monday, called on the government to immediately act upon the mounting public calls for justice.

Sinta, who specifically highlighted religious discrimination in her speech, said that politics could be behind the government's reluctance to bring closure to past rights abuses. "Politics must not sacrifice the people. The cries for justice will only grow louder until the government acts," she said.

Women's rights

Women-headed households launch federation

Jakarta Post - November 29, 2013

A new organization, the Federation of Women-headed Households and Unions that comprises around 20,000 members across 19 provinces, was established on Thursday in Central Jakarta.

The members directly elected Aminah from Aceh as the federation's chair for 2013 to 2016. There are an estimated 9 million women-headed households across the country, half of which account for some of Indonesia's most- disadvantaged people.

Twelve years since the founding of the Women-headed Households Association (PEKKA), "we finally concluded that a federation, including local unions and their specific characteristics, was the right form of organization" for the women, said Nani Zulminarni, PEKKA's founder and leader.

Women-headed households are those run by single women, widows, divorcees or those with incapacitated husbands due to illness or disability. The designation also includes households where husbands have left home and been absent for years or where the men are providing for other families, either in official or unofficial polygamous relationships.

The PEKKA federation "aims to strive for the rights and dignity of women", said Aminah, who has provided for her family since her father, a suspected Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel, was arrested in 1998.

Several senior women leaders hailed the declaration. "It is a breath of fresh air in a nation full of corruption and uncivilized behavior," said women's rights campaigner, Maria Ulfah.

Kemala Chandrakirana, former chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), said the key challenge for the federation was to maintain transparency and accountability, to avoid the country's most common disease.

Women-headed households still invisible, 'robbed of rights'

Jakarta Post - November 27, 2013

Ati Nurbaiti, Jakarta – The invisibility of women-headed households leads to them encountering difficulties when accessing various facilities, said participants in a discussion of the issue on Tuesday.

They were addressing the National Forum of the Association of Women-headed Households (PEKKA), attended by 500 representatives of the association's 20,000 members across 20 provinces, held in Central Jakarta.

The association defines women-headed households as households where the women bear the largest burden of earning income, whether they are single, divorced, widowed, or with spouses or husbands who do not work owing to illness or other reasons, or who hardly provide for them because they leave the home for long spells for work, or because the men are providing for other families in polygamous marriages.

Given such realities, the former chairperson of the women's rights body, Kemala Chandrakirana, said: "For 40 years, women have been robbed of their legal rights". The 1974 Marriage Law explicitly names men as the heads of the household, while wives must take care of the household. The legal barriers strengthened structural discrimination against women, Kemala said.

Both PEKKA and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported data that showed more women heads of households sought facilities such as free health services. But the forum participants said because documents were difficult to access in several areas where they were still charged a fee, many could not access such facilities.

In Yogyakarta, the documents are free, a woman said, while in Madura, East Java, some villages still charge Rp 25,000 (US$2.13) for documents such as the family ID card or kartu keluarga, a representative from Madura said.

The director of social protection and people's welfare at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Vivi Yulaswati, urged women to ensure that they had their identification cards as a basis to access facilities.

Labour & migrant workers

Protests over minimum wage rage on

Jakarta Globe - November 29, 2013

Lenny Tristia Tambun & Bayu Marhaenjati – Thousands of workers rallied outside City Hall on Thursday as they once again protested against the Jakarta administration's decision to ignore their demands for a higher minimum wage.

The protest, joined by some 13,000 workers across the Greater Jakarta area, followed a series of demonstrations in recent months by workers who demanded that Governor Joko Widodo and Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama raise the 2014 provincial monthly minimum wage to Rp 3.7 million ($325).

In Thursday's protests, workers raised up to seven demands to the Jakarta administration, including revisions to the 2014 minimum wage for the Greater Jakarta Area, Karawang, Serang, Cilegon, Bandung, East Java, Batam and other industrial areas to between Rp 2.6 million and Rp 3 million, from the current figures of Rp 2.4 million in Jakarta and less elsewhere.

"The second one is to implement a minimum wage by sector in every region, with an increase of up to 15 to 30 percent from the revised minimum wage," said Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) chairman Said Iqbal.

"The third, reject any delays [by companies] on the implementation of the minimum wage, and imprison business owners who are not paying workers according to the minimum wage." Workers also demanded that law enforcement officials take strict action in recent cases of violence against several workers in Bekasi.

KSPI secretary general Muhammad Rusdi emphasized that workers would again return to the streets today to protest the government's minimum wage policy and to demand that the National Police investigate an attack by a mob on 28 workers during a nationwide strike last month.

Rusdi said that thousands of workers from across Indonesia would again be joining in another nationwide strike today.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said nearly 9,000 police officers were deployed to secure the protest on Thursday, which saw workers knock down the gates at City Hall.

According to Said, the union will give the National Police up to 10 days to conclude their investigation of the attack. "If there is no response from the National Police, we will go on a much bigger demonstration," he said.

In East Java, hundreds of workers marched on Surabaya's Grahadi Building, the office of the governor, to voice their dissatisfaction at East Java Governor Soekarwo's decision on the minimum wage.

The East Java government this month agreed on a Rp 2.2 million minimum wage for workers in Surabaya in 2014, the highest among other all 38 cities and districts across the province.

"Soekarwo, who is supposedly the East Java governor, who claims to be an East Javan, is apparently inconsistent," said Andy Peci, a protest coordinator, as quoted by Merdeka.com. "Apparently he has never sided with the workers," he said.

Andy said the governor had previously agreed to raise Surabaya's minimum wage to Rp 2.8 million, but reneged.

Earlier last week, private businesses in East Java's Ring I area, which covers Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Gresik, Mojokerto and Pasuruan, had threatened to move their factories to other regions with a lower minimum wage.

"Businesses can't survive with the regional minimum wage being above Rp 2 million. It is not impossible for us to move to other regions," Ridwan Sugianto, chairman of the East Java chapter of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said in Surabaya on Nov. 21.

Among the regions being considered by businesses is Lamongan, a district 60 kilometers from Surabaya, where the 2014 minimum wage is Rp 1.2 million, he said. According to Ridwan, businesses may have to consider a major layoff should they insist on remaining in Surabaya.

"Business owners created their businesses to seek profit, not to continuously experience losses," he said. "I am calling for the governor to revise the 2014 minimum wage."

Johnson M. Simanjuntak, an Apindo official, said the employers' association had only expected an increase in the minimum wage of 9 to 10 percent at most, for a monthly total of Rp 1.9 million.

Protesting workers block road to Batam airport

Antara News - November 28, 2013

Batam, Riau Islands – Noisy crowd of protesting workers are converging on the Hang Nadim cross road seeking to close access to the Batam airport.

The workers said they protested as Riau Islands Governor Muhammad Sani had failed to meet his promise to determine wages of workers. "So far the governor has remained silent. Decision was promised to be signed and announced on Nov 27," a leader of the protesters said.

The protested were held by police at the cross road around 500 meters from the airport. They came to the location by motorcycles and parked their vehicles in the road.

Another group of protesting workers also rallied in front of the office of the city mayor. Meanwhile all roads to the industrial estates in the industrial island were heavily guarded by police and the military.

Political parties & elections

KPU data problem could affect voter turnout

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Unless the General Elections Commission (KPU) fixes a data entry problem on the final voter list and restores trust with the public, then millions of eligible voters in the 2014 general elections could be deterred from voting, an election expert has warned.

Political analyst Ramlan Surbakti of Airlangga University said errors related to the entry of voter data onto the list had triggered questions about the KPU's professionalism and impartiality.

"Public perception on the problematic voter list is worse than the 'objective condition' of what the KPU has done in the field. The KPU must do something to restore trust with the public, otherwise voter turnout may be affected," said Ramlan, a former KPU member.

A recent opinion poll conducted by the country's leading newspaper Kompas published on Nov. 18 showed that 54.8 percent of 792 respondents believed the KPU wouldn't be able to solve the problems affecting the final voter list.

The survey also found that 56.8 percent of the respondents said they were unsatisfied with the poll body's performance.

Ramlan said that voters would be hesitant to cast their ballots if they believed that the KPU had credibility problems. "People will definitely say, why should I cast my ballot if the final voter list is marred with problems?" he said.

Ramlan also said that losing candidates could cite problems with the final voter list to challenge election results.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has estimated that the country's population will reach 251 million people on legislative election day in April 2014. The agency has also estimated that eligible voters should account for 70 percent of the total population, or 188.2 million people.

In the 2004 general elections the KPU recorded 147 million voters out of the total population of 218 million, while in the 2009 general elections the poll body recorded 171 million voters out of the total population of 231 million.

On Nov. 4, the KPU announced 186,612,255 people on the final voter list, though 10.4 million still lacked a citizen registration number due to the data entry problem. The KPU, however, is working with the Home Ministry to sort out the problem and has reported progress.

"The Home Ministry confirms that around 5.6 of the 10.4 million voters already have their citizen registration number," KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said recently.

The KPU had originally set a deadline of Dec. 4 for assigning the missing registration numbers, but it recently extended the deadline to Dec. 31.

"There is no problem with extending the deadline as the final voter list has already been announced and the extension does not mean adding more eligible voters to the list," said Ferry.

Khoirunnisa Agustyati, a researcher with The Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem) called on the KPU to be transparent about what had happened in the data entry snafu.

"The KPU should tell the public whether the only problem with the 10.4 million names is missing citizen registration numbers or if there are other issues," she said. (hrl)

Prabowo to quit politics if losing presidential race

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto said Wednesday he would be willing to step away from politics if his presidential bid was not successful.

"If the people need me, I am ready to serve. Otherwise, I am ready to step aside," Prabowo told a public lecture attended by students and professors at the University of Indonesia (UI) campus in Depok, West Java on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

The former commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) maintained that his political aspirations had no ulterior motives and that his decision to enter the presidential race was motivated by his concern over the country's dire economic situation.

Prabowo promised that if he were elected president he would fix the country's economy by reducing graft and wasteful spending so the government could create more jobs and turn the country around.

He also promised to make the country self-sufficient in energy and food. "I believe that not all problems can be solved in five years, but we will first stop the budget leakage," he said.

Although the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) had yet to officially endorse his candidacy, the nomination looks certain.

However, Prabowo's presidential ambitions could run into troubles if his party fails to garner 25 percent of the popular vote nationwide, the benchmark for a political party to be able to nominate its own candidate.

Several surveys indicated that Prabowo is one of the 2014 presidential election forerunners.

Apparently confident of his chances, Prabowo went on to give details about his possible running mate. "I will be looking for a figure who will be able, experienced and committed to serving Indonesia and has a clean track record. He must also be honest, adhere to Pancasila and be a nationalist," Prabowo said.

Prabowo declined to comment if a 2009 deal between Gerindra and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) could be a stumbling block for his candidacy, saying "let it be resolved, later, in time, between the leaders". The PDI-P leadership has insisted that there would be no such deal.

PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri teamed up with Prabowo for the presidential election in 2009, but lost to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate, the current vice president, Boediono.

The 2009 deal was also believed to have been behind Gerindra's decision to support Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the Jakarta gubernatorial race last year, in which Jokowi was paired with Gerindra's Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama.

In recent months, Jokowi has topped a number of public opinion polls, leaving Prabowo in his shadow. Analysts predict that Prabowo would lose if Jokowi were to be nominated by the PDI-P.

Political analyst from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Ari Dwipayana said that said that Prabowo would not give up his presidential ambitions easily. Ari said that Prabowo was confident that a large number of voters would support him.

"I don't think he will quit anytime soon, not now, 2014 will be his last battle and he has the potential for a large portion of the vote," Ari said. "Moreover, such a deal with the PDI-P would have had certain conditions and it was made before 2009. Maybe the situation has changed."

Rising conservatism will not translate into electoral power

Jakarta Post - November 27, 2013

Although religious conservatism has gained ground following the demise of the Soeharto authoritarian regime, Islamic-based political parties would not reap the benefits, analysts said.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Department of Politics and International Relations chair Philips Jusario Vermonte said that since the 1999 general election, none of Muslim-based parties had gained enough votes to control the legislature and the trend would continue into 2014 and beyond.

Philips said that the open political system introduced in 1999 had paved the way for Islamist movements to thrive, yet direct elections had allowed individuals to cast their votes independent of ethnic and religious affinities.

"Direct elections encourage people to become more moderate and rational," Philips said during a seminar to launch the book Sejarah Islamisasi di Jawa dan Penentangnya dari 1930 sampai Sekarang, written by historian MC Ricklefs, which is the Indonesian translation of the last volume of his trilogy Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java c. 1930 to the Present, at the CSIS building in Central Jakarta.

Ricklefs himself said that of around 250 million Indonesians, 100 million live in Java, and the number of Javanese Muslims is the second largest in the world after Muslims in the Middle East.

He said that the awakening of Islam in Java was part of a global phenomenon that had also happened to other religions.

Philips said that the Muslim population of Java alone could determine the result of a nationwide election. "With such a huge proportion of Muslims, Java and Islam are important geopolitically in terms of the electoral factor," Philips said.

Philips said that Muslim-based political parties had failed to capitalize on this demographic. "Islamist parties should be able to channel Muslims' aspirations through electoral processes," he said. Only through such processes could some conservative elements be moderated.

Pollsters earlier predicted that a slump in the popularity of Islamist parties in the 2014 general election would be unavoidable.

Late last year, the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) found that if the general election were to take place at the time of the survey, major Islam-based political parties – namely the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), National Awakening Party (PKB), National Mandate Party (PAN) and United Development Party (PPP) – would all get less than 5 percent of the vote each and collectively would only garner 21.1 percent of the popular vote.

There have been talks about reviving the so-called "central axis", which successfully defeated a major nationalist political coalition in 1999.

As survey conducted by CSIS in 2012 found that society was getting more conservative. According to the survey, 68.2 percent of respondents did not want people from different faiths to build places of worship in their neighborhoods. (hrl)

Absence of strong political icon hurting Islamic parties' prospects in 2014

Jakarta Globe - November 26, 2013

Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy – With the lack of a strong Islamic figure in Indonesia's current political scene and the rise of other political icons such as Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, Islamic-based parties may have to settle for nominating a vice presidential candidate in next year's election, a new survey shows.

"It is very difficult for Islamic parties if they want to support their own presidential candidates," Umar S. Bakry, the executive director of the National Survey Institute (LSN), said on Monday. "The most realistic move for them is to nominate a vice presidential candidate."

In the LSN's latest survey, former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud M.D. emerged as the leading Islamic candidate, with 16.4 percent of the 1,240 respondents polled saying they would vote for him.

Dangdut singer Rhoma Irama and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali were next with 9.6 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. However, Umar noted that Mahfud's popularity remained a far cry from that of Joko Widodo.

"He will need a spectacular running mate to be able to compete against Joko," Umar said, adding that it might be necessary for Mahfud, affiliated with the National Awakening Party (PKB), to form a coalition with other parties to support his run.

In doing so, he said, Mahfud would initially have to prove himself capable of bringing together existing Islamic-based parties before eventually approaching a nationalist party to round out the coalition.

"As long as Joko and Prabowo are still highly favored, they will be tough to beat," Umar said, referring to Prabowo Subianto, the co-founder and chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). "Mahfud can at least run as a vice president," he added.

In the same survey, 45.6 percent of respondents supported the merging of Islamic parties into a single coalition, a move expected to be useful in strengthening ties between Muslims across the nation and strengthening the conservative voter base.

Despite the evident public support, however, Syamsuddin Haris, a political analyst for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), remained pessimistic that much good could come out of such a coalition, citing the lack of a unifying figure.

"Islamic parties have the right to form a coalition, but the problem is they don't have that one figure who could tie them all together," he said, noting that the nationalist parties also enjoyed strong support from Muslim voters.

"Mahfud can be the answer because as a famous figure he is relatively clean, but the question is will other Islamic party leaders support him willingly?" Syamsuddin said. "And don't forget the number of votes for Islamic parties is small. It accounts for less than 30 percent of all votes."

Mahfud, who had initially planned to join the Democratic Party's convention, has expressed interest in running in the 2014 presidential race should he earn sufficient support. "It is something to be appreciated that Muslims want to come together and be represented. I am ready to compete and to follow the process," he said.

However, Mahfud emphasized that should a coalition be deemed necessary, he was willing to be nominated only as a representative of the PKB and not of any of the other Islamic-based parties. "Until today, discussions on the many alternative [strategies] are still ongoing," he said.

Mahfud said no serious efforts had been made by other Islamic-based parties in plans to merge and form a coalition.

Major Indonesia Golkar party clings to unpopular presidential candidate

Reuters - November 25, 2013

Kanupriya Kapoor, Jakarta – Indonesia's second biggest political party has stood behind its candidate for next year's presidential election despite fears among some members that the controversial tycoon was far too unpopular among voters to stand any chance of winning.

Most opinion polls show that the chairman of the former ruling Golkar party, Aburizal Bakrie, would win less than 10 percent of the vote in July and party lawmakers acknowledge they have their work cut out to get the wealthy businessman into the presidential palace.

"His image of being a very successful business mogul doesn't go very far with regular voters," said Hermawan Sulistyo, political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. "He's a liability for Golkar, which otherwise would get pretty good support in legislative elections."

But legislators, speaking on Monday after the party's weekend gathering to confirm Bakrie as their candidate, said they expected their party to do well enough in April's parliamentary election to have a powerful voice in who will next lead the world's third largest democracy after India and the United States.

Presidential candidates must have the backing of a party, or parties, with at least 20 percent of the seats in parliament or 25 percent of the national vote for parliament. Golkar won 14.45 percent of the 2009 votes for parliament, and just over 19 percent of the seats.

"We are one of the biggest and oldest parties and we have strong grassroots support... We're targeting 33 percent or 186 seats in parliament next year," said one senior Golkar MP, Tantowi Yahya.

Golkar became the parliamentary rubber stamp of the long authoritarian rule of former general Suharto, who rose to power in 1965 and ruled until he was forced to step down in 1998, dragging down with him the fortunes of the party he created.

But Golkar made use of its organizational reach across the archipelago to rebuild its standing even though many of its ageing leaders owe their political rise to Suharto.

'Long way to go'

Suharto's rule became a byword for the graft that made Indonesia one of the world's most corrupt nations, a label it has had no success in shaking off after 15 years of democracy.

"We have a long way to go. We have to improve support from the regions and the regional leaders," another Golkar MP, Harry Azhar Aziz, said of efforts to improve Bakrie's electability.

Bakrie and his brothers head the Bakrie Group, one of whose main assets is Bumi Resources, Asia's biggest thermal coal exporter which was involved with the Rothschild banking dynasty in a tie-up which fell apart in a very public dispute. The deal is still being unwound.

His conglomerate has faced heavy criticism for its links to a huge mud flow in East Java that destroyed homes and swathes of farmland. Bakrie had a controlling share in the drilling company blamed for triggering the mudflow.

Recent polls have consistently shown Jakarta's charismatic governor, Joko Widodo, whose political roots have nothing to do with the Suharto era, is the man most Indonesians would like to be their next leader, after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's second and final five-year term ends.

Yudhoyono's own ruling party has sunk badly in popularity, damaged by graft scandals involving senior members, and what appears to be growing disillusion with the former general's leadership as economic growth starts to falter.

Widodo, popularly known as "Jokowi", however has not declared his candidacy, nor has the party he is affiliated with, the opposition PDI-P, said whether it will back him. That decision largely rests with former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's founding ruler and who dominates the party.

[Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Robert Birsel.]

Surveys & opinion polls

Another poll gives Joko presidential lead

Jakarta Globe - November 26, 2013

SP/Carlos Paath & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo has again topped a poll of prospective presidential candidates, despite there being no move by his party to officially nominate him for the nation's highest office.

In a survey by Australia-based Roy Morgan Research, Joko was chosen by 37 percent of respondents, followed by Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) co-founder and chief patron Prabowo Subianto, who was favored by 15 percent.

"Joko is 22 points ahead of Prabowo. Such a significant difference is rarely seen in a presidential or vice presidential election," Roy Morgan Research executive director for Asia Pacific Debnath Guharoy said on Monday.

Behind Joko and Prabowo are Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, who took 14 percent, Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was favored by 6 percent of respondents, and State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan, who also garnered 6 percent.

Additionally, former vice president Jusuf Kalla was favored by 5 percent of the survey's respondents, while former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud M.D. was picked by 3 percent, and Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy, was favored by 2 percent of respondents.

Other familiar figures also emerged in the survey, including Ani Yudhoyono, the wife of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; National Democrat Party (NasDem) founder and chairman Surya Paloh; and Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Ani's brother and the former Army chief of staff. Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan and Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the former finance minister and current World Bank managing director, received less than 2 percent of votes each.

Joko's electability was on par with that of his party, the PDI-P, which earned 24 percent of votes in the survey, ahead of Golkar on 21 percent and Yudhoyono's Democratic Party on 15 percent. "Even now, the clear winner of both the legislative election and presidential election is proving to be obvious," Debnath said.

He said the difference in votes between the PDI-P and Golkar was something that the public would need to keep an eye on because there was room for the two parties to switch places by the time the legislative election finally rolled around next April.

"There is still much time before the legislative election to work toward improvements and change. It is wrong for any party to give up in this phase, or even to celebrate a temporary victory," Debnath said.

The Roy Morgan Research survey was conducted in October, with 2,985 respondents aged 17 years and above across 33 provinces nationwide.

Despite having consistently topped election polls by various survey institutions, the PDI-P has yet to decide whether it will officially nominate Joko as its presidential candidate, as party officials continue to wait for Megawati to make the call.

Ari Junaedi, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia, criticized the PDI-P's strategy, saying its decision to put on hold the announcement of its presidential candidate may inspire a smear campaign by those trying to keep Joko out of next year's race.

"Although the PDI-P has not yet appointed Joko as its candidate, his presence has caused quite a stir among other presidential candidates. How much more heated will things get should Megawati make her official announcement?" Ari said.

He added he had heard of several legislative candidates from other parties who conceded they were facing difficulties campaigning due to the lack of popularity of their parties' presidential nominees.

The PDI-P, he said, may face grave consequences should it fail to nominate Joko in the near future, or should it eventually decide not to nominate him at all, as other PDI-P members were simply not on par with the Jakarta governor.

"If the PDI-P was the Barcelona football club, then Joko would be Lionel Messi. It would be a huge loss for the PDI-P not to raise his profile. It will forever remain an opposition party if it doesn't nominate Joko Widodo," Ari said.

M. Qodari, a political analyst at Indo Barometer, another pollster, said last Thursday that there were several reasons behind the PDI-P's reluctance to officially announce Joko's candidacy.

"The first is that the PDI-P would first like to see whether Joko will remain popular until next year's legislative election," he said, adding that it was also possible the party was merely trying to save Joko from possible attacks by other candidates and their parties. "A third reason could be that Megawati is still looking to run again next year," Qodari said.

Meanwhile, Joko continues to earn mounting public support from community groups. On Sunday, a group of people from Yogyakarta and Bali, who have named themselves the Public Cooperation for Joko, declared their official support for Joko to run in the 2014 presidential election in front of the Yogyakarta Post Office.

End is near for Dems, says LSI

Jakarta Post - November 25, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – A new public opinion survey has sounded the death knell for the ruling Democratic Party (PD), with the party projected to receive less than 10 percent of the vote in the 2014 legislative election.

The Jakarta-based pollster, the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), also predicted the PD would encounter serious problems building a coalition with other political parties due to intensified graft prosecutions launched against PD politicians.

A survey by the LSI in January 2011 found the PD would garner 20.5 percent of the vote if an election had taken place at that time, but the number has steadily declined to only 9.8 percent in the pollster's latest round of surveys conducted in October this year.

The LSI found the presence of figures like former party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin and former chairman Anas Urbaningrum, both of whom had been implicated in graft cases, had contributed to the party's slump in electability.

The declining approval rating for party chairman President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had also contributed to the slump, the LSI found. Yudhoyono's job approval rating dropped to 44.9 percent in October this year from 56.7 percent in January 2011.

The LSI also found the ongoing PD convention to select a presidential ticket had failed to improve the party's standing against other political parties, with candidates contesting the race failing to compete with established names endorsed by rival parties like Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

"Other political parties will be reluctant to collaborate with the Democratic Party in the presidential election because the low electability ratings of contestants in the convention will unlikely boost their ticket," LSI researcher Rully Akbar said.

The situation could also prove to be a vicious circle for the PD as its share of the vote in the 2014 legislative election may not be significant enough to attract other political parties to build a coalition.

"The Democratic Party will have a hard time attracting support from parties to form a coalition in the [presidential] election due to its free falling electability rating," Rully said.

The PD had earlier announced that 11 participants could contest its convention. The candidates are Indonesian Army chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) member Ali Masykur Musa, Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan, Indonesian Ambassador to the US Dino Patti Djalal, former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Endriartono Sutarto, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Speaker Irman Gusman, lawmaker Hayono Isman from House Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs and North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo Harry Sarundajang.

The LSI's research found the most popular figure in the PD convention, Dahlan, had an electability rating of 10 percent, below the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri with 18 percent.

The survey found that less than 60 percent of the 1,200 respondents interviewed for the survey between September and October this year were familiar with candidates contesting the PD convention.

The survey also found that more than 70 percent of respondents said they knew Megawati, Golkar chairman Aburizal, Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto and Jakarta Governor Jokowi.

Responding to findings from the survey, PD deputy chairman Max Sopacua warned pollsters not to rush to conclusions. "The real elections are still five months away. Many things can happen from now until then. There are still opportunities for us to improve on our performance," Max said.

Survey indicates broad support for Islamic coalition in 2014

Jakarta Globe - November 24, 2013

Indonesian voters appear to welcome the notion of an Islamic party coalition ahead of next year's presidential election, a new survey found, despite some Islamic parties' own reluctance to the proposal.

The National Survey Institute (LSN) said its latest poll found that 45.6 percent of respondents favored, in principle, a coalition of Islamic parties, while 23.7 percent disagreed. The remainder were undecided or had no opinion. The survey was conducted from Oct. 20 through 30, from 1,240 eligible voters across Indonesia's 34 provinces.

"Uniting the Islamic parties, though, is not easy," LSN researcher Dipa Pradipta said while announcing the survey result in Jakarta on Sunday. "Group egos, which form the foundation of the Islamic parties, will likely serve as the main obstacle."

He added it was not easy to form such a coalition because Islamic parties today were lacking influential figures able to unite them, such as the late Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and Amien Rais, who founded the National Mandate Party.

Gus Dur, who became Indonesia's fourth president through a legislative election 1999 with the backing of an Islamic party coalition called the Central Axis, died in 2009; while Amien, initiator of the coalition, has kept a low political profile in recent years.

"Post the era of Gus Dur and Amien Rais, Muslims [in Indonesia] are losing unifying figures," Dipa said. "Presently, there is no potential unifying figure for Islamic parties."

The United Development Party (PPP) recently proposed the establishment of a new Islamic party coalition – dubbed the Central Axis Chapter II by some – but the PKB and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have shown indifference to pooling their resources.

Media & journalism

Police blasted for lack of answers in journo murder case

Jakarta Post - November 27, 2013

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A team of lawyers from the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI) Yogyakarta branch blasted the Yogyakarta Police's tardy 17-year investigation into the murder of journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin alias Udin, which remains unsolved.

The accusation was conveyed at the first pre-trial hearing on the murder case on Tuesday at Sleman District Court. The pre-trial hearing was proposed because the PWI Yogyakarta was angered by the lack of promising results despite the investigation spanning almost two decades.

"The PWI Yogyakarta provided information to the Yogyakarta Police but it seems this was ignored and [as a result] the case went cold," Ramdlon Naning one of the PWI's lawyers told the court on Tuesday.

The team of lawyers also said that the excuse provided by the police – that it had thoroughly investigated the case – was just lip service.

Udin was beaten by unidentified person(s) on Aug. 13, 1996, at his home in Bantul and died three days later at Yogyakarta Bethesda Hospital without regaining consciousness.

The police had named Dwi Sumaji alias Iwik as a suspect in the case. The police alleged that Iwik had killed Udin over an extra marital affair between Udin and Iwik's wife. Iwik was later tried at the Bantul District Court but acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Despite the acquittal, Ramdlon said, the police continued to believe Iwik was Udin's murderer. Thus, he went on, the police had secretly and unilaterally stopped its investigation. "That's why the PWI Yogyakarta branch asked the court to examine and hear the case," Lasdin Wlas, another PWI lawyer said.

The team also asked the court to order the Yogyakarta Police to continue its investigation into Udin's murder or issue a warrant to terminate the investigation (SP3) within eight days after the pre-trial had finished.

Responding the issue, Yogyakarta Police lawyer Adj. Sr. Comr. Bambang Wardani asked the court to turn down the pre-trial, arguing that the material proposed was beyond the authority of the pre-trial, he quoted from Article 77 of the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) as reference.

"The Yogyakarta Police have never unilaterally terminated the investigation into the case as accused. This is just the subjective view of the pleader," Bambang said. He also said that the police would continue its investigation whenever it received new information regarding the murder.

Ramdlon refused to response to the police's remarks. He said the team planned to present witnesses including an expert witness. The pre-trial was adjourned until Wednesday to hear from the witnesses.

"The trial is limited in terms of time. I hope the sentencing will take seven days," presiding judge Asep Koswara said.

After the trial, journalists staged a rally in front of the court, demanding the police thoroughly investigate the murder.

Police lacked seriousness in Udin's death case, says lawyer

Jakarta Post - November 26, 2013

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The lawyer for the Indonesian Journalist Association (PWI) blasted the police's lackluster investigation into the death of Bernas newspaper journalist Muhammad Syafruddin aka Udin, in 1996.

"We have supplied the police with information about the incident but the police has not given it the proper attention. Thus, it is no wonder in 17 years they have achieved nothing," lawyer Ramdlon Naning said on Tuesday. He also added that he suspected the police had stopped its investigation a long time ago.

The PWI requested a pre-trial hearing to raise complaints over the police's 'investigation'. However, commenting on the pre-trial, Adj, Sr. Comr. Bambang Wardani of the Yogyakarta Police said it was irrelevant and asked the panel to halt the hearing process.

"The police have never stopped investigating. Once we receive new – and convincing – information, we will continue the investigation," he said.

Many believe that Udin was killed because of his investigative reporting into allegations of corruption in Bantul regency, under then regent Col. (ret) Sri Roso Sudarmo. During the investigation, the police threw evidence into the sea and arrested Dwi Sumadji, alias Iwik, fingering him for the murder.

The police said Iwik had killed Udin out of revenge because Udin had an affair with his wife. However, later on the Bantul State Court declared that Iwik innocent.

Environment & natural disasters

NGO questions mapping of oil palm plantations in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - November 25, 2013

Jakarta – Greenomics Indonesia's spatial verification results on the "Global Forest Cover Change 2000-2012" map, which was published by the University of Maryland in the US in mid-November, show that oil palm plantations have been mapped out as forest cover gains.

"The mapping needs to be questioned further on whether oil palm plantations have been scientifically categorized as forest cover, or world class researchers have made a mistake in interpreting satellite image data," Greenomics Indonesia director Elfian Effendi said in an official release, on Monday.

He gave oil palm plantations belonging to Sinarmas Group in Papua as an example. "The Global Forest Cover Change map has mapped out oil palm plantations owned by Sinarmas Group in Papua as forest cover gains," said Elfian.

As the consequence, he said, it was strange if oil palm plantation companies in Indonesia claimed that their oil palm plantations had played crucial roles in increasing global forest cover.

"Greenomics asks related institutions to seek clarification on the map to professor Hansen, as the head of research in the Global Forest Cover Change study team based at the University of Maryland," said Elfian. "We will also ask for technical explanations from the professor in the near future," he went on. (ebf)

Health & education

Protest shows flaw in health system

Jakarta Post - November 29, 2013

Nadya Natahadibrata and Arya Dipa, Jakarta/Bandung – Wednesday's national strike by doctors protesting a Supreme Court ruling that sentenced three doctors to 10 months in jail for the death of a patient has highlighted a serious flaw in the national health system.

Marius Widjajarta, the chairman of Indonesian Health Consumers Empowerment (YPKKI), said that the controversy over the court's ruling was rooted in the fact that Indonesia had no set of national medical service standards, a diagnostic and treatment process doctors should follow for certain types of patients, illnesses and circumstances.

"Such standards are very important to protect good doctors from malpractice allegations, and also to protect patients, to ensure that they receive proper treatment," Marius told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He argued that the lack of set standards had complicated malpractice allegations because no benchmarks for proper medical treatment were available to guide courts. He added that the only guidance available were the standard operating procedures (SOPs) applied by each hospital and health facility.

On Wednesday, doctors held nationwide rallies to reject the court's ruling that found three obstetricians, Dewa Ayu Sasiary Prawani, Hendry Simanjuntak and Hendy Siagian, guilty in the death of Julia Fransiska Makatey in 2012 due to a heart embolism during a Caesarean procedure at Kandou Hospital in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, the three doctors did not properly inform Julia and her family of the risks of the Caesarean procedure. Relatives were told it was an emergency situation to save both the mother and the infant although Julia was left neglected at the hospital from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., after being referred from a community health center.

The ruling also stated that the doctors were not licensed to perform the procedure, nor had they permission from an obstetrician, as they were still obstetrics and gynecology students when they operated on the patient.

Marius said that the absence of medical service standards had forced the court to use the Criminal Code in the case, in which the Supreme Court found the three doctors guilty of violating Article 359 of the Criminal Code on manslaughter.

The Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) said that malpractice was regulated under the 2004 Medical Practice Law and that every malpractice case should be first heard by the Medical Discipline Council, not a district court. According to Marius, medical service standards would be the basis for the public to file a lawsuit alleging malpractice, as is common in developed countries.

Meanwhile, Akmal Taher, the Health Ministry's director general for health development said it was impossible for the ministry to regulate standard procedures for every type of treatment.

"There are probably around 500,000 type of disease in the world so it is impossible to regulate all of them. Therefore, we have a national guideline used as a basis for determining the standard operating procedures in every hospital in the country, based on the hospital's human resource capacity and facilities," he said.

"Every hospital has their specific SOPs and I'm sure that Kandou Hospital has strict SOPs that were used as guidance in determining this case," he continued.

IDI chairman Zainal Abidin said that national medical service standards were essential, adding that the current guidance was not enough. "The absence of medical service standards is the ministry's responsibility, not the three doctors who have been criminalized."

Meanwhile, the Association of Indonesian Consumers Institution (HLKI) filed a report with the West Java Ombudsman on Thursday, claiming that the West Java Health Agency chief Alma Lucyati and several hospital directors in West Java had neglected their public services during the strike on Wednesday.

"They neglected both medical and non medical services during the strike, which meant that many health facilities were unavailable," HLKI chairman Firman Turmantara Endipraja said.

House presses ahead with tobacco bill despite concern

Jakarta Post - November 28, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Concerned about the role of the tobacco industry in the country's economy, the House of Representatives will press ahead with its deliberation of the controversial bill on tobacco.

The move comes despite the government's commitment to adopting the international treaty on tobacco control. The House's Legislative Body (Baleg), which is tasked with deliberating the bill, insisted that the government's plan to accede to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) would not affect the bill's deliberation.

"We will not cancel the deliberation because of the government's plan to ratify it [FCTC]. Having said that, we will write to the Health Minister to discuss this issue so that we can match the draft bill with the treaty," Baleg deputy chairman Sunardi Ayub from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) said on the sidelines of a hearing with tobacco companies on Wednesday.

He said that Baleg would carry on with the deliberation with or without the endorsement of the FCTC.

Earlier this month, Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said that Indonesia aimed to accede to the FCTC by the end of this year to support the fight against rampant smoking in the country, a move that has been opposed by the Trade, Industry and the Manpower and Transmigration ministries.

The three ministries argued that the accession would hurt tobacco farmers and reduce the state's income from tobacco excise that makes a substantial contribution to the state budget.

Data from the customs and excise office said that as of July tobacco duties had contributed 95.97 percent of the total Rp 61.22 trillion revenue from excise, or Rp 58.75 trillion.

Last year, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey showed that 60 million people or around 34.8 percent of all Indonesian adults were active smokers, making it one of the largest cigarette markets in the world.

According to the Health Ministry, the government spends more than around Rp 40 trillion on treating cigarette-related illness every year.

Data from the ministry showed that around 260,000 Indonesians died from tobacco-related illnesses last year, about 25,000 of them from secondhand smoke.

During Wednesday's hearing, representatives from tobacco companies warned lawmakers that attempts to control tobacco production and distribution in the country would not reduce demand but would only hurt the state's revenue as well as the welfare of tobacco farmers and cigarette factory workers. "It will only encourage an illegal market in tobacco that will have an impact on many sectors including employment," Zulfikar of PT Bentoel said.

He called on the House to expedite the deliberation of the bill. "We suggest the House speed up the deliberation of the bill if the government truly aims to accede to the FCTC by the end of this year."

Because of the controversy surrounding the deliberation, Baleg had earlier held similar meetings with the Indonesian Tobacco Society Alliance (AMTI) and the National Commission on Tobacco Control (KNPT) during which both urged lawmakers to propose stricter tobacco control.

In February the KNPT told lawmakers that although the country had a number of regulations on tobacco production and trading, it lacked regulations that could mitigate the impact on the large number of smokers.

In 2009, House's Commission IX on health and welfare affairs proposed a bill on the impact of tobacco products.

Baleg rejected the bill, citing the major socioeconomic implications of the bill for many citizens, particularly tobacco farmers.

In 2011, the commission revised the bill and proposed it under a new name: the bill on public health protection from the threat of cigarettes and similar products.

Terrorism & religious extremism

Jihadists responsible for police shootings

Jakarta Post - November 30, 2013

Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said on Friday that members of the West Indonesia Mujahideen were responsible for the fatal attacks on police officers earlier this year.

The police chief said that YY, the terror suspect arrested by officers from the force's Densus 88 counterterrorism squad and the Jakarta Police on Monday, was a known member of the group. "He is linked to a number of shootings in Cirendeu, Ciputat and Pondok Aren," he told reporters as quoted by Antara news agency.

Sutarman was referring to the shooting incidents in three districts in South Jakarta and South Tangerang that killed four police officers in July and August.

The West Indonesia Mujahideen was also responsible for armed robberies across Sumatra, Java and Bali as well as terror acts led by Santoso, a fugitive and leader of the East Indonesia Mujahideen.

Sutarman, who replaced Gen. Timur Pradopo last month, had pledged to solve the shooting incidents following his installment as the new police chief.

He previously said that the police had made a number of arrests during their investigation into the shootings, but stopped short of confirming if those arrested were suspected terrorists.

Some of them were charged with making and supplying the firearms believed to have been used in the attacks. According to the investigating officers, the men clandestinely operated an illegal weapons factory in Cipacing, Sumedang, West Java.

YY is believed to have launched an attack on two police officers in Bekasi, West Java, last year.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie, said YY had been arrested at a house in Cipinang, East Jakarta, on Nov. 21. It is believed that YY and five accomplices were involved in the attack on two patrol officers, Brig. Ery Sasongko and Brig. Jaka, in a commercial area of Bekasi at dawn on May 25, 2012.

Ery initially approached the group, suspecting they were criminals, when one of the men opened fire on the officers. After missing their targets, the gang then chased and assaulted Jaka with machetes. As Jaka tried to flee he was run down by two of the gang members on motorbikes. Both officers survived the attack.

This year's shooting incidents came amid growing criticism that Densus 88 officers had committed extra-judicial killings and tortured terror suspects. Such an approach, critics said, only fueled extremism and hatred against the force.

On July 27, an officer identified as First. Insp. Patah Saktiyono was shot dead while riding a motorcycle on Jl. Cirendeu Raya. A week later, another policeman, First. Insp. Dwiyatna, was shot dead in the early hours of the morning near the Sari Asih Hospital in Ciputat.

On Aug. 16, two Pondok Aren police officers, Second Brig. Maulana and Adj. Second Insp. Kus Hendratma, were shot dead by two unidentified assailants riding a motorbike on Jl. Graha Raya in Pondok Aren, South Tangerang, Banten.

The latest fatal shooting incident took place on Sept. 10, when four unidentified gunmen shot dead Chief Brig. Sukardi, an internal affairs officer with the National Police's Water and Air Police (Polairud), in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in South Jakarta.

At the time, Sukardi was escorting a convoy of trucks carrying elevator parts from Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta to a construction site in Central Jakarta.

Initially, the police treated the shootings as cases of premeditated murder as they could not find hard evidence to suggest that they were perpetrated by a terror group.

Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chair Neta S. Pane said that commercial rivalry could perhaps lie behind the murder of Sukardi, as it took place in the heart of the city.

He said the police needed to look into the possibility that the killing may have been related to the "security and escorting business involving competition between some police officers and criminal gangs".

Freedom of religion & worship

Religious minorities suffer from state persecution

Jakarta Post - November 29, 2013

Jakarta – Members of religious minority groups have again spoken of the misery they have suffered for years due to what they claim is state- sponsored persecution.

Speaking at a forum for victims of human rights abuses organized by the Coalition for Justice and Truth on Wednesday, religious minority group members said the state had forced them to conform to the major religions.

DK, 38, said she was unable to get birth certificates for her children because her family subscribes to the Djawa Sunda religion. She also did not have a national ID card or marriage certificate.

"To be recognized as citizens in our own country, we were forced to declare our faith as one of the official religions," she said. "The politics of conformity betrays the Constitution and our unique differences," she added.

She said those who practiced religions other than one of Indonesia's six officially endorsed faiths were not considered citizens. "The government has systematically killed our beliefs and culture," she said.

The six official religions are Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

The government has forbidden followers of indigenous faiths to state their religion on their ID cards. Recently, members of the House of Representatives decided to retain the policy during the deliberation of an amendment to the Civil Administration Law.

Djawa Sunda is an indigenous religion, which according to its followers, existed long before the Abrahamic or Vedic religions came to Indonesia. The religion was developed when Indonesia was under Dutch rule, DK said. Initially, she added, the religion had revolved around the development of art and culture as a way to fight colonizers.

Since the Japanese occupation period, marriages carried out by Djawa Sundas were considered illegitimate. "Because of our beliefs, my father was paraded around the village and rocks were hurled at him," she said. "Radical Islamists tried to burn down our place of worship," she added.

N, an Ahmadi, said his family in recent years had experienced at least 13 serious incidents in which they were persecuted. "We are currently refugees in our own country," the 44-year-old said.

He said the police discriminated against Ahmadis, consistently blaming them for inciting violence. "We have love for all, we hate no one," he said. Nia Syarifuddin, coordinator of the Unity in Diversity Alliance (ANBTI), called on the government to stop asking its citizens to state their religion on national IDs to prevent further division between followers of different faiths.

She said the government should treat all religions the same and to respect indigenous religions."The religions the government recognizes have all been imported, they are not indigenous to Indonesia," she said. (asw)

Ahmadiyah flee Jambi village over threats, conversion attempts

Jakarta Globe - November 28, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – Two Ahmadiyah Muslim families left their homes in Jambi after members of a local Islamic boarding school offered the families an ultimatum: convert to Sunni Islam or face the possibility of violence.

The head of the Assalamah boarding school, in Palalawan Jaya village, led a group of 80 students and community leaders to the homes of two Ahmadiyah family on Nov. 8 and ordered them to convert to Sunni Islam under the threat of violence. The families were given one week to make their decision, said Ahmad Ilyas, a local Ahmadi member said.

"The village chief said that if Rukmana and Majid and their family members refused to abandon their faith or leave the village, [the chief] would not be responsible if something bad happen to them," Ilyas said. "[The villagers] said they would come again with official letter declaring [the Ahmadi's] agreement to convert."

A week later the mob returned to ask Rukmana and Majid if they had made a decision. The men were hesitant to respond and the local village chief said he would return in a day. Instead the families left, Ilyas said.

"They decided to leave the village, rather than convert," he said. "Majid has moved to Curup, Bengkulu, and Rukmana has moved to Batu Putih village, the village I live in."

Ahmadiyah routinely face pressure to convert to Sunni Islam in Indonesia, where some prominent Muslim leaders have labeled the minority sect "deviants" and governments, like the one in Jambi, have passed local regulations banning public Ahmadiyah activities all together.

Discrimination kept alive

Jakarta Post - November 27, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Discrimination against adherents of non-denominational faiths would likely continue as the House of Representatives approved on Tuesday an amendment to the civil administration law that forbids followers of indigenous faiths to state their religion on identification cards.

All political factions in the House endorsed the amendment, however, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) had reservations about the decision to keep Article 64.

Although amended, the 2006 Civil Administration Law, which was approved by the House of Representatives in a plenary meeting on Tuesday, retained Article 64 that bars subscribers of indigenous faiths to state their beliefs on their ID cards.

"We want to remind the government that in spite of this article, the government must uphold fairness and non-discriminatory principles," said PDI-P politician Arif Wibowo, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission II overseeing regional administration.

Currently, the government recognizes only six organized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, which was added in 1999.

The data from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP) in 2005 showed that more than 400,000 people follow non-denominational faiths, or Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa (Belief in One God), which is not officially recognized by the state.

According to the ICRP, there are around 245 non-denominational faith organizations across the country. The 2010 census found that 270,000 Indonesians listed "other" as their religion.

In the early 1970s, calls mounted for such faiths to be given equal status to the then five officially recognized religions. However, the 1978-1982 State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) stated that a special ruling stipulated that Kepercayaan Terhadap Tuhan Yang Maha Esa was not to be recognized as a religion.

Adherents of non-denominational faiths have long aired their grievances that the failure by the government to recognize their faiths had led to rampant discrimination.

Ayal Kosal, a 72-year-old subscriber of Kaharingan, a native religion of the Dayak tribe in Kalimantan, said that the failure to identify faiths outside of the six religions recognized by the government had given them enough problems.

Ayal said that his first son Arjan was forced to put "Islam" on his ID card so that he could apply for a job as a teacher in a local public school. "He had no choice but to sacrifice his true faith, otherwise he would not get the job," Ayal said on Tuesday.

Ayal, a leader of the Dayak tribe in the Loksado village in South Kalimantan, said that more than 6,000 of his fellow Kaharingan believers dealt with similar problems.

"Some of us give up our faith for administrative reasons. Meanwhile, others are still fighting to gain access to basic public services by getting around the rules and regulations," he said.

Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi defended the decision to keep the controversial article, saying that it would protect the sanctity of the six established religions in the country.

Gamawan said that once subscribers of non-denominational faiths were allowed to declare their beliefs it would pave the way for people to promote their own interpretations of major religious teachings.

"I don't want to name names. But we know for certain that there are groups that have different views from the teachings of mainstream religions and they will demand that their faith be put on the ID cards if we don't keep it [Article 64]," Gamawan told reporters on the sidelines of the House's plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Gamawan also pledged that the government would provide equal treatment to all citizens regardless of their faith. "I will summon all relevant government officials and order them to run a public campaign about the amendment of the law. They have to make sure that minority groups are not discriminated against in the future," he said.

Agriculture & food security

Experts call for greater food sufficiency

Jakarta Globe - November 28, 2013

Made Arya Kencana, Nusa Dua – Indonesia's food resilience is considered so weak that it could put the people in jeopardy unless the government immediately took measures to increase food production and curb imports.

Siswono Yudo Husodo, chief advisor to the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI), cited the example of one staple ingredient.

"Seventy-five percent of soy beans for tempeh and tofu, which are the main sources of protein for most of our people, are imported," Siswono said at the 5th Asiahorcs (Head of Research Councils in Asia) in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday.

Unhealthy diet

Siswono said Indonesians consume 6 kilograms of eggs on average per person per year, which works out about two eggs per week. Malaysians, for example, consume 41 kg of eggs per person per year.

As for meat, Indonesians consume 7 kg on average per person per year, compared to the Chinese who consume 43 kg per year.

Indonesia, a country blessed with so much fish from its seas, rivers and lakes, only consumes 26 kg of fish a year – less than half that consumed by another island nation, Japan. There, people get through an average of 60 kg of fish annually.

Indonesians also lags behind when it comes to milk. People consume less than 13 liters a year, far behind India where they guzzle approximately 60 liters every 12 months.

Poverty has been blamed for such low figures. "If their consumption is not improved, Indonesians will in one generation become smaller than Malaysians and less intelligent," Siswono warned.

He said the government has no choice but to boost food production through technology, adding that Indonesia was still using the local rice seeds that could only produce 5.5 tons per hectare while China has moved onto GMO (genetically modified organism) that can produce up to 11 tons of rice per hectare; more than double Indonesia's output.

As for soy beans, Indonesia is also still using local seeds, which could only produce 2 tons per hectare. "In the United States, GMO soybean seeds produce 6-8 tons of soybeans per hectare," Siswono said.

Bogie Soedjatmiko Eko Tjahjono of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the institute has developed several methods to boost food production on several plots of land.

"For rice, we managed to produce 13 tons of dry grain per hectare. It was also the same for soybeans and we harvested 3.5 tons per hectare," Bogie said. He expressed his disappointment with the slow application of LIPI's studies on the community by the bureaucracy.

"All this time we had to go through the Agriculture Ministry and the bureaucracy is so slow. Our solution was to go straight to provincial administrations and asked them to provide land," Bogie said.

LIPI is also not given a special budget to implement the results of its studies and as such it didn't have a direct access to the people to convey the results of the researches.

"We were even reprimanded and reminded to just carry out our job as the researcher. But at parliament we are the one who get the heat because they ask us where the results are," Bogie said.

In the future, he hoped there would be some kind of cooperation between the researchers and policymakers so that the research results could be implemented.

"Such weakness also happens when private companies showed interest in the results of our researches but are impeded by the bureaucracy. There are also no clear regulations regarding royalties," Bogie lamented.

Indonesia's food independence

Efforts to boost food supplies do not necessarily rely on land owned by farmers but also on innovations in creating new land or land owned by companies to plant crops to support the country's food resilience program.

Ilyas Natsir, head of agriculture office in Berau, East Kalimantan, said that there were several plots of land available from plantation and mining companies and holders of forest land concessions, such as state-owned Inhutani, that could be used. "We're trying to coordinate with them to make good use of their land," Ilyas said.

He said Inhutani's vacant land could be used to plant certain crops. "This is what we'll try to explain to them and we hope to get a positive response from the company's management," Ilyas said.

Agricultural subsidies

Emerging countries now tend to increase subsidies for farmers. China, for instance, provides up to $164 million for its farmers by offering subsidized gas to produce fertilizers and for trains that would transport the fertilizers and giving a 30 percent discount for 175 types of agriculture machinery.

India offered a total of $12.1 billion in subsidies for its farmers. "Subsidies for fertilizers in 2013-2014 is about $17.8 billion," Fertilizer Association of India (FAI) director general Satish Chander said in Bali.

Not only China and India, which have large populations, emerging countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, still offer subsidies. "Subsidies for fertilizers in emerging countries tend to increase," IFA vice president for South Asia Rakesh Kapur said.

IFA director general Charlotte Hebebrand said subsidies for the agricultural sector in several countries were inevitable in order to help farmers have easier access to fertilizers and help improve their income.

"Many farmers in many countries are poor and have small plots of land and thus need help in financial access to obtain fertilizers," she said.

But she added that subsidies could make farmers become dependant on cheap fertilizers or handouts and therefore the subsidies needed to be removed gradually.

Compared to China and India, Indonesia only allocated about $2 billion to subsidize fertilizers.

Data from Pupuk Indonesia Holding Company (PIHC) showed that the government only gave a 5 percent subsidy in this year's state budget. The government's biggest subsidies are allocated for energy (61 percent) and electricity (26 percent).

"But with only a 5 percent subsidy, we could reduce Indonesia's dependence on imported food. That's because with the right fertilizers, we could increase crop production," PIHC president director Arifin Tasrif said.

Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2012 showed that the productivity of rice fields in Indonesia reached 5.1 tons per hectare on average, higher than land productivity in India, which can only yield an average 3.6 tons per hectare.

Non-productive land

However, Indonesia's land productivity is still lower compared to China's, which reaches 6.7 tons per hectare.

Sumiter Broca, an FAO official for Asia-Pacific, predicted slower global agriculture output growth until 2050 and pointed out that it was important for Indonesia to strengthen its food resilience.

Broca suggested Indonesia needed to build infrastructure and boost research in the sector as well as improve the nutrition of its soils with the right type of fertilizers in order to increase agricultural production.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan said the government was planning to allocate Rp 18 billion ($1.5 million) in subsidies for fertilizers next year, the same as in 2013.

With the same amount of subsidies, Rusman expected the volume of subsidized fertilizer to drop due to price increases on raw materials and rupiah depreciation.

"2014 is the year of politics with legislative and presidential elections occupying the minds of politicians and their parties. It would be uncomfortable for any political party to see the volume of subsidized fertilizer to go down," he said.

For this reason, he suggested that it would be better for the government to increase the budget for the subsidies through the revised state budget even if it means that the government's debts to the state-owned fertilizer producer increases.

Regional autonomy & government

Decentralization a dangerous burden for state budget

Jakarta Post - November 25, 2013

Satria Sambijantoro, Subang, West Java – Political decentralization since 1999, under which new provinces and regencies continue to be created, has generated inefficiencies that could threaten macroeconomic stability, an official says.

Deputy Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said the establishment of new regions was continuously creating fixed costs for the economy that weighed heavily on state spending.

"This makes our state budget unproductive because it has to keep paying for these fixed costs," Bambang said in Jakarta over the weekend. "Currently, this is the biggest threat to our macroeconomic stability as it creates unnecessary pressure [on the state budget]."

Bambang said the establishment of new regencies and provinces was driven mainly by local politicians for their own financial gain. "If their area becomes a new province, then [those politicians will become local leaders and] will have their own regional budget," he said.

After the fall of authoritarian leader Soeharto in 1998, democracy and a decentralized political and economic system took hold in Indonesia, with local leaders now having the authority to manage regional funds.

In the 2014 state budget, the government earmarked more than one-third of its spending, or Rp 592 trillion (US$50 billion), for "funds allocated to regions", which is to be channeled directly to local leaders. The 2014 allocation is Rp 63 trillion higher than this year's.

Large regional disbursements, however, have not translated into better welfare and infrastructure development, according to economists. According to a study by the Home Ministry, only 22 percent of regional governments are performing well. The remaining 78 percent are failing, it says.

This poor performance is mainly due to inadequate budget management capacity at the regional level, coupled with a lack of oversight that has spawned corruption.

As an example, Bambang said the underdeveloped province of Papua had been lavished with special autonomy funds, yet it still had a high poverty rate. "The funds there are being sucked up by the elites," said the deputy minister.

While some studies have exposed the failings of regional autonomy, lawmakers are spurring decentralization along. In an effort to further diffuse power, the House of Representatives is currently deliberating the villages bill, which if passed, would allow regional leaders as low as sub-district heads to manage their own regional budget.

"Who will supervise the funds' management?" Bambang said when asked about the villages bill. "Sub-districts are fundamentally too small to manage their own budget. It's dangerous."

Budiman Sudjatmiko, a lawmaker from House Commission II overseeing regional autonomy, offered an opposing view, saying "a radical change in the state budget's design" was due.

"If we allocate the biggest share of funds to villages [subdistricts], then it would cut bureaucratic red tape in budgeting and foster the development of the villages," he said on Sunday.

"The current budgeting system has been bulky at the top, and thin at the bottom. This is why regions want to be in charge of their own budget and bypass the central government."

There are currently at least 250 proposals for establishing new political units – provinces, regencies, or districts – under consideration by House Commission II, according to lawmaker Ignatius Mulyono. Latest data from Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) showed that Indonesia currently had 34 provinces, 98 cities and 410 regencies.

Jakarta & urban life

Jakarta to enforce stiff sanctions on handing money to poor

Jakarta Globe - November 28, 2013

Activists are up in arms over the Jakarta administration's plan to enforce a little-known bylaw banning beggars, buskers and bards in the Indonesian capital, calling the law, which makes handing spare change to homeless people a criminal offense, a "weird" and "ineffective" solution to a serious problem.

"What needs to be addressed is the problem of unemployment," said Wardah Hafiz, a coordinator at the Jakarta-based Urban Poor Consortium. "It is the responsibility of the government to figure out how to provide [these people] with jobs."

Some 28 million people in Indonesia live below the government's poverty line, subsisting on less than a Rp 9,054 ($0.75) a day. But those figures only tell a small part of the story. Nearly half of the nation's 247 million people hover around the World Bank's cutoff of $2 a day, an internationally recognized poverty guideline.

The central government shifts the poverty guidelines on a semi-annual basis, last setting a Rp 271,626-a-month cutoff in March 2013. This figure is less than half the World Bank's $2-a-day guideline.

By using a different guideline, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) effectively cleared tens of millions of people from the books. Social aid programs, like rice for the poor and direct cash aid, are available for the everyone classified as "poor" and below.

Direct cash aid – a poverty-eradication welfare program – last reached some 15.5 million households. The government estimates that four people live in every poor household, making the total reach 62 million people. Under these guidelines more than 40 million people who would've been eligible for direct cash aid under the World Bank's standard are left on their own.

For many of those born in underdeveloped villages the cities offer a way out. The Jakarta administration has struggled for years to stem an annual influx of rural arrivals. But decades of Java-centric economic growth and the government's failure to adequately develop infrastructure or create jobs in rural Indonesia continues to pull poor residents to the capital.

Now, as Jakarta's new leaders push for sweeping changes to the chaotic capital, long-ignored bylaws, like this one barring residents from handing beggars money, are getting another look. Cities throughout the region have have passed similar bylaws in a wide-reaching campaign against the nation's so-called "social welfare problem." But most, like the Jakarta bylaw, hope to curb homelessness through police action, not job creation.

In Jakarta, a rarely enforced 2007 bylaw aimed at reducing homelessness in the capital includes hefty penalties for those caught helping people in need. Violators of the newly enforced law face up to 60 days in jail and Rp 20 million ($1,664) in fines if they are caught by Jakarta Police or the city's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP).

"We have to punish those who give money to the beggars," Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said on Thursday. "Police have promised to apply the bylaw to the fullest extend."

An angered Basuki said weak law enforcement allowed the capital to become a magnet for homeless migrants. And residents who hand over a few small bills only make the situation worse, the deputy governor said.

"You destroy them with your money," Basuki said. "They only need food. If they chose to live in a shelter they wouldn't have to work because food, healthcare and beds are all provided. But if people give them [money] and they can get anywhere between Rp 7 million and Rp 21 million why would they bother living in a shelter?"

The deputy governor was referring to the "wealthy beggar," a common myth supported by sporadic media reports on richer-than-expected buskers pulling in middle class wages. Most recent iteration of the narrative is the story of two men, Walang, 54, and Sa'aran, 70, who attempted to ply Satpol PP officers with a bribe in order to avoid being taken to a city shelter.

"I was begging [for money] under the Pancoran flyover at 11 p.m. and then officers nabbed me. They said they wanted to take me to a social house," Walang said. "I don't want that, so I offered the officers Rp 600,000."

When the officers searched the pair's cart they found Rp 25 million stashed in a small box. The men said most of the funds came from selling a cow and a goat in their home village before moving to Jakarta, not from begging. They took the money with them out of fear that it would be stolen back home. The funds were meant to cover the payments on a Hajj trip to Mecca.

Life on the streets, Walang said, was more lucrative than living off handouts in a homeless shelter. "I don't want to be put in a social house," Walang said. "I'd rather beg. I can get a lot of money that way."

The officers transported the men to a nearby shelter. They will be sent back to their village, said Purwono, the head of the Bina Insan Bangun Daya II shelter in East Jakarta. He used the story as an example of when handing money to street beggars is a bad idea.

"Alms, donations are better off channeled through institutions or social shelters dealing with social problems," Purwono said. "Don't immediately believe [all beggars] are ill or poor."

But homeless people like Walang and Sa'aran are the exception, not the rule, Wardah said. Few beggars pull in millions of rupiah a week and treating tales of "wealthy beggars" as anything but an anomaly is irresponsible, she explained.

"Beggars obtaining several millions [of rupiah] in two weeks, that is an exception," Wardah said. "Not all beggars earn that much. Why all the fuss and repressive actions because of such an anomaly?"

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo hopes to reduce the number of poor people living in Jakarta by 0.5 percent in the next five years. Last year, some 355,200 residents – 3.75 percent of the population – were living in poverty in the capital. By 2017, Joko aims to reduce that figure to less than 3.25 percent with a series of anti-poverty initiatives, including the construction of low-cost subsidized housing and a plan to increase foreign investment in the capital. The city's official unemployment rate (TPT) stands at 10.8 percent, but the administration hopes to cut that figure down to 9.3 percent in five years' time.

"We will work hard to achieve this goal," Joko said at a press conference detailing the Jakarta's Regional Medium-Term Development Plan in February.

The city government needs to reduce the number of people living in poverty, Wardah said, but bylaws targeting beggars, or those who hand over small sums of cash, are an ineffective solution.

"If someone becomes a beggar because they are lazy, then there should be sanctions to deter them from doing so; but not by fining people Rp 20 million," she said. "This policy is ineffective. How could anyone enforce the law? Will Ahok find out if I give money to a beggar in front of my house?"

Clarification: The story has been updated to include the most recent poverty statistics from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) and a detailed explanation of how Indonesia's poverty guidelines effect social welfare programs, like direct cash aid.

Foreign affairs & trade

Indonesia receives Hercules C-130 from Australia

Tempo - November 29, 2013

Tri Artining Putri, Jakarta – Despite the rising tension, the Indonesian government decided to accept nine Hercules C-130 airplane donation from Australia. Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro stated that Indonesia have already paid for the purchase of the planes.

Out of the nine transport planes, five of which were bought with a relatively cheap price while the other four were donated to Indonesia by the Australian Government. Minster Purnomo added that the planes will be useful for various purposes such as military operation and disaster management.

The plane donation made the news headlines as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to temporarily halt all forms of bilateral relationship. Purnomo clarified that the decision only affects three issues in his ministry, namely data and intelligence information exchange, and two scheduled joint military training operation.

Jakarta extends bans on co-operation

Sydney Morning Herald - November 28, 2013

Michael Bachelard and Heath Aston – Prime Minister Tony Abbott's hopes for a quick resumption of co-operation with Indonesia appear dashed after Jakarta outlined a road map to restoring relations that could take up to a year to implement.

And Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa has again highlighted that the lack of the word "sorry" in Mr Abbott's letter last week to the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may still be a stumbling block.

Mr Abbott said on Thursday he wanted the two nations to restore normal co- operation "as quickly as possible", but that now looks overly optimistic.

Indonesia is insisting on a complex, six-step process to develop a "code of ethics" to govern the two countries' relationship, before it resumes bilateral action on people smuggling and terrorism and re-engages on joint military exercises.

Asked if the process was a "long road ahead," Mr Natalegawa laughed and said: "Ah, the long and winding road – what's that other song called? Sorry seems to be....?", in an apparent reference to the Elton John song, Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word.

The Prime Minister suggested a round-table as a way to heal the offence taken by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at Australian eavesdropping on his and his wife's mobile phones in 2009 and to create a new framework for intelligence co-operation.

But Mr Natalegawa made it clear that new protocols governing the bilateral relationship, including spying, would need to be negotiated and signed by the two leaders at a face-to-face meeting. The next formal Australia- Indonesia Dialogue is not scheduled until late in 2014.

The leaders also meet at multilateral forums, or they could arrange a special meeting, but much of next year in Indonesia will be consumed by parliamentary and presidential elections in Indonesia, and the political atmosphere is likely to be hot.

Meanwhile, Mr Natalegawa said, "the full weight of the implications [of Indonesia's withdrawal of cooperation] are now being channelled".

National police chief Sutarman told the Indonesian parliament's Commission I on foreign affairs that there was now no cooperation between his forces and Australia on counter-terrorism, information sharing and international crime.

Defence minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told parliament that three joint exercises with Australian troops had been cancelled – one involving the elite Kopassus special forces troops, one in Darwin and another – a navy counter-terrorism exercise in Manado, North Sulawesi – later this month. He denied there would be any disadvantage for Indonesia over these suspensions.

"Joint exercises are important, coordinating patrols is important, but how can we do it if there is lack of trust among the crews or among the soldiers?" Mr Purnomo said.

Mr Abbott has suggested that a "round table" could be quickly formed to resolve these issues, and has not yet committed to the suggested "code of ethics".

But Mr Natalegawa said a round-table – likely to include Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as Australia's envoy – would be only the first step. He described his discussions so far with Ms Bishop on the subject as nothing more than "a precondition towards a stepping stone to discussing a code of conduct".

"The first step in the [six-step] process is establishing communication and addressing those issues that are still left unanswered in the communications from the Prime Minister," Mr Natalegawa said.

This would test "whether there is sufficient reservoir of potential for us moving to the next step". The second step was the negotiation of the code of conduct itself.

The third step was for the Indonesian president to consider the protocol and endorse it; the fourth for it to be signed by the two leaders at a meeting. The fifth step is implementing the protocol with "time to allow for evaluation that it has been implemented".

Step six is: "Re-establishment and revival of a sense of trust before we can proceed to look at the bilateral cooperations," Mr Natalegawa said.

How fast all that happened, he said, was "Up to Australia". "Time is a relative thing. You know, it's really how urgent we want to get it done. We are more than happy to engage as soon as possible... Now the ball is with Australia. Australia must restore the trust that's gone as the consequence of the tapping."

Mr Abbott's office declined to comment on the proposed process. The Prime Minister earlier had expressed his desire to resume co-operation quickly.

"I'm confident that we will be able to use the experience of the last week or so, ultimately, for the long-term good of the relationship. Yes, it's been a difficult week or so in this very, very important relationship for both countries, but I want to bring something positive out of it," he said.

Mr Abbott said he would respond soon to Dr Yudhoyono's most recent statement on the code of ethics. "I think it's important to properly digest the statement so that we can ensure that things go forward on the best possible basis."

Indonesian president offers Australia spying truce

The Guardian (Australia) - November 26, 2013

Oliver Laughland in Canberra and Karima Anjani in Jakarta – Indonesia's president says his country will restore normal diplomatic relations with Australia if the prime minister, Tony Abbott, signs up to a new bilateral code of ethics on intelligence sharing.

But Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also said his government would summon Singaporean and South Korean diplomats in Jakarta over reports they had helped Australian and US spying in the region.

Relations between Jakarta and Canberra were downgraded last week after revelations published by Guardian Australia and the ABC that Australian intelligence agencies had targeted Yudhoyono's personal mobile and those of his wife and inner circle.

Yudhoyono said on Tuesday he would appoint a special envoy to draft and negotiate the new "code of ethics" between the two countries and added that he hoped Abbott would join him to sign the code in person once it had been agreed.

"When both countries, but particularly Indonesia, have regained trust and also when the protocol and code ethics are fully implemented, then we can continue mutual beneficial bilateral relations including military and police co-operation between the two countries," Yudhoyono said.

Yudhoyono added that Abbott's letter had assured him that Australia would not take any action that "disturbs and damages relations with Indonesia".

Earlier, the president tweeted a photograph of himself reading a conciliatory letter from Abbott, which was hand delivered. But he laid out six steps before relations could be properly restored.

The statement is likely to be seen as a positive sign from Jakarta, which had temporarily halted all military co-operation and information sharing with Australia, as well as all co-operation on people smuggling. On Tuesday the Indonesian trade minister said he was considering halting beef imports from Australia.

But the news that Yudhoyono would be summoning Singaporean and South Korean diplomats is likely to raise eyebrows as neither country had previously been mentioned in connection with the phone tapping.

"I have discussed the matter with the [Indonesian] foreign affairs minister and asked for clarification from related ambassadors here," Yudhoyono said at a press conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Yudhoyono had previously described Abbott's response to the phone tapping revelations as "belittling" after the prime minister refused to apologise. Abbott has refused to confirm or deny that the phone tapping took place.

The president used the press conference to reassure Canberra that relations between Australia and Indonesia were "in essence" very good and had to be safeguarded.

Yudhoyono acknowledged that the process of negotiating a new code of ethics might take time. "It needs process of course, intensive discussion and diplomacy," he said. "We will conduct it in the near future."

Separately, Malaysia's foreign ministry summoned a senior Singaporean diplomat over allegations that the city state had helped the US and Australia tap telecommunications links in Asia for espionage. Singapore's government has not publicly responded to the allegations.

The Malaysian foreign minister, Anifah Aman, said his ministry was seeking clarification from Singapore's high commissioner to Malaysia.

"If those allegations are eventually proven, it is certainly a serious matter that the government of Malaysia strongly rejects and abhors," Anifah said. He said spying against a good friend and neighbour was unacceptable.

Indonesia boosting spying capabilities following phone tapping controversy

The Guardian (Australia) - November 25, 2013

Oliver Laughland – Indonesia is bolstering its intelligence capabilities in the wake of the phone tapping revelations, as the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, awaits a reply from Jakarta after sending a letter to the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on Sunday.

Yudhoyono issued a presidential decree over the weekend appointing the head of Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (BIN) Lieutenant General Marciano Norman as the chief of a new Central Intelligence Committee that will co- ordinate intelligence gathering from other agencies including the police force and the military.

The Central Intelligence Committee will open a headquarters in Jakarta as well as branches throughout Indonesia, according to the Jakarta Globe.

Last Monday, Guardian Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Australian spy agencies had targeted the personal mobile phones of Yudhoyono, his wife and eight other senior ministers in 2009.

The revelations have caused a diplomatic storm between Australia and Indonesia, with Yudhoyono suspending all military cooperation, intelligence sharing and halting cooperation on people smuggling as he awaits a response from Canberra.

Yudhoyono wrote to Abbott last week, after using a public address to call for clarity on the phone tapping. On Sunday, Abbott said he had responded to the letter but declined to give details of the response.

Abbott's decision not to offer a public apology has been criticised by many in Indonesia, including senior opposition politician and ex-intelligence chief Tubagus Hasanuddin who said he was "lacking in diplomacy skills". On Thursday and Friday last week there were protests outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, with many of those present calling on Abbott to apologise.

The phone tapping revelations have led the news in Indonesia since the story began last week.

On Saturday, Indonesian newspaper Rakyat Merdeka published a front page cartoon depicting Abbott as a "peeping Tom". The cartoon shows Abbott peering through a door labelled Indonesia and masturbating. The caption runs: "Ssst! Oh my god Indo... so sexy."

Indonesia official to let boats go to Australia

Sydney Morning Herald - November 24, 2013

Megan Gorrey – A top Indonesian immigration official has vowed to no longer stand in the way of asylum seekers trying to make their way to Australian shores by boat as the fallout over the phone-tapping scandal worsens.

The comments, from the head of immigration at the Law and Human Rights Agency in Medan, come as asylum seekers in Cisarua, south of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, say they hope to take advantage of the breakdown in co-operation with Australia and may take boats in the coming days.

The head of immigration at the Law and Human Rights Agency in North Sumatra, Rustanov, who has only one name, said surveillance efforts aimed at stopping boat traffic would be halted.

"We have no business with Australia. Let boat people head there. No surveillance is needed," he said, according to a report in The Jakarta Post.

The official said his office, in co-operation with police, had in the past frequently arrested asylum seekers attempting to take boats. "Now there is no need to waste energy arresting them," Rustanov said.

Several Sri Lankan asylum seekers said they had read reports of a diplomatic crisis, in the wake of revelations Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's phone was bugged by Australian spies, and said they were desperate to try to make the crossing to Christmas Island soon.

However, eight Afghan asylum seekers, also in Cisarua, said on Saturday they were no longer interested in paying people smugglers to take them to Australia.

A senior official with the Yogyakarta immigration office, Tatang Suheryadin, said no new policy had been applied following the Indonesian government's decision to suspend co-operation on anti-people smuggling efforts.

"The Immigration Director General at the Law and Human Rights Ministry has not issued any instructions on the issue," Mr Tatang said.

West Java police chief Suhardi Alius said his office was waiting for instructions from the National Police regarding the handling of asylum seekers.

Political tensions between the two countries continue to escalate, with the most recent reprisals targeting the $174 million-a-year live cattle trade and joint operations against people smuggling. (with AAP)

Analysis & opinion

A bandwagon for everyone

Inside Indonesia - October-December, 2013

Elisabeth Kramer – American whistle-blower, Edward Snowden, revealed that Australian intelligence agencies had been tapping the phones of Indonesia's president, the first lady and a slew of high-level cabinet minister. The incident, which had occurred four years earlier – and politicians; reactions too it – was front-page news in both countries.

When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa demanded an apology from Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott issued a statement of 'regret' of any embarrassment caused to Indonesia but stopped short of an official apology. His reasoning: that phone-tapping was standard intelligence procedure, and that any apology would be insincere. Unconvinced, Indonesia withdrew its ambassador to Australia, temporarily halted military ties and suspended cooperation on people smuggling issues.

Media commentary has focused mainly on the political tit-for-tat between Jakarta and Canberra. But there's another whole layer to this dispute. Indonesia is due to hold national elections in 2014, and candidates are falling over each other to demonstrate their nationalist credentials. The Australian spy scandal provided a perfect opportunity for these parties to blast Australia and Yudhoyono in one fell swoop, whilst also airing their own opinions on the damage done to Indonesia's reputation – a reputation that must, of course, be maintained at all costs.

Making the most of a bad situation?

Far from keeping the phone-tapping incident under wraps, the Indonesian government decided to milk it for all it was worth. Not only Marty Natalegawa gave numerous media interviews on the issue, but Yudhoyono himself took to twitter to condemn Abbott.

Such an open and forceful airing of opinions on the Australian government's handling of the affair seemed out of character for Yudhoyono, who had often been critiqued in the past for his reluctance to speak out about difficult issues. However, given the sensitivity that Yudhoyono has demonstrated in when personally affronted or when his family has been criticised, the reaction does seem more typical.

Also, given the nature in which the information was revealed, it was impossible for Yudhoyono not to respond in this way. And with the pressure to respond also came the opportunity to benefit. Arguments that Indonesia's sovereignty had been violated, outrage that the first lady – who does not herself hold political office – had been spied upon, and claims that Indonesia would never themselves engage in eavesdropping gave Yudhoyono the moral authority to put Australia firmly on the spot.

Indonesia did not just press for an apology; the incident provided leverage for other requests that are perhaps not immediately apparent. The temporary cessation of military ties and of Indonesia's agreement to accept asylum seeker boats turned back by Australian maritime vessels put the responsibility to compensate Indonesia for the loss of trust firmly in the hands of the Australian government. It also provided Yudhoyono with a much-needed opportunity to appear tough on something, with little potential for domestic backlash.

Plenty of room on the bandwagon

Yudhoyono and his cabinet are far from the only ones to be taking advantage of the situation. Those within opposition parties have taken different tacks in their approach to the scandal, reflecting the individualistic nature of campaigning for office in Indonesia, where candidates are generally responsible for building their own public profile. But, overall, the responses fell largely into two camps: those criticising Yudhoyono for over-reacting and those criticising his delayed/inadequate response. For both camps, it's not necessarily Tony Abbott (or Australia) that is the prime target; it's the president himself.

2014 presidential hopeful, Prabowo Subianto, from Gerindra, led the charge against Yudhoyono's over-reaction. He claimed that spying on government officials is commonplace and that the responsibility lies with government officials not to say anything important over the phone. In a curious twist on the issue, Prabowo levelled criticism at the government for not only making a fuss, but also for jeopardising the national interest through their indiscretion. To paraphrase one of his public statements: Yudhoyono needed to apologise to the Indonesian people for not guarding Indonesia's secrets more carefully, and Australia can't be blamed for its actions because if someone steals something from you, it's your fault for not looking after it more carefully.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) have all condemned the government for not acting forcefully enough. PDI-P claimed that Yudhoyono's actions do not go far enough, urging that the Australian ambassador to Indonesia be thrown out. Nasdem issued a statement soon after the Indonesian ambassador to Australia was recalled, stating that it was too little too late. It also accused Australia of maintaining an unbalanced power relationship with Indonesia, particularly in pressuring the government to assist with its 'stop the boats' policy. Hanura, which is led by former General Wiranto, also called on the government to stop all cooperation on people smuggling activities, stating that Indonesia has much to gain from making it easier for asylum seekers to get to Australia. One Hanura MP not only said that the asylum seeker issue could be useful leverage for demanding an apology from Abbott, but accused Australia of using asylum seekers to gather intelligence in Indonesia.

The general consensus (apart from Prabowo), meanwhile, is that spying on the President is unacceptable and the situation warrants the use of all influence possible to elicit an apology. Opposition parties are aware of Australia's interest in ensuring close bilateral ties with the country and have no qualms about using to improve their own political standing. Being able to invoke a foreign threat while also criticising a domestic political opponent is like hitting the political campaign jackpot. The opposition have nothing to lose and everything to gain from jumping on the bandwagon and riding it for as long as they possibly can.

[Elisabeth Kramer (elisabeth.kramer@sydney.edu.au) is a PhD candidate in the Department of Indonesian Studies at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the political discourse of anti-corruption amongst emerging parties in the lead up to the 2014 Indonesian national legislative elections.]

Book & film reviews

Review: A tale of survival and resilience in modern Surabaya

Inside Indonesia - October-December, 2013

Lea Jellinek – This is a brilliant book, a must read for anybody wanting to understand the Asian city. In Indonesia, kampung dwellers make up over half of the urban population. Peters sees Surabaya from the alleyways of Dinoyo, a poor inner-city kampung.

Waves of settlement and displacement have followed one another in rapid succession as the rural poor have surged in to secure incomes and a place to live. The remarkable quality of the kampung is its ability to absorb newcomers at ever-higher density. For its part, the municipal government has tried to control, limit and then push such newcomers out.

Reading Peters takes you into the chaos and unpredictability of the kampung dwellers' lives and the rapidly transforming city. The book conveys an atmosphere of fear, violence and criminality. His description of this complex story, with its many competing and contradictory forces – the military, Islam, Communist Party (PKI) and kampung dwellers – is done without criticism or judgement.

Peters seamlessly weaves the lives of the kampung dwellers into the history of Surabaya and Indonesia. We begin to follow the lives of the people of Dinoyo near the end of the colonial era when Surabaya was a major port city. We witness the Japanese occupation and Indonesia's struggle for independence when the older men of Dinoyo served as 'freedom fighters'.

In the 1950s, most kampung dwellers in Dinoyo supported the PKI because its members came into their communities to provide food, training and the promise of land and housing rights. Left-leaning trade unions defended the factory workers against oppression by management.

This all changed in 1965-66 when the army ruthlessly purged the kampung after the so-called communist coup. We experience the terror and intimidation of kampung dwellers as the military and Islamic forces hunt them down. Peters' vignettes are presented within the framework of what the local papers reported at the time.

In the 1970s, one of Surabaya's leading architects, Johan Silas, who lived beside Dinoyo, encouraged the municipal government to provide land tenure and rehabilitate the city's kampungs instead of razing them. He argued that legalised kampungs would provide tax revenue, housing and jobs for the poor. The Kampung Improvement Program provided residents with a semblance of housing security, though some resented state intrusion.

By the 1990s the industrial estate across the bridge from Dinoyo was replaced by multi-story malls, office blocks, plazas and luxury hotels. Regular jobs in factories were lost and opportunities in petty trade, becak driving, public transport and traditional markets were also shrinking. Some new service sector jobs emerged for attractive young salesgirls, sex workers, guards and chauffeurs. Kampung dwellers saw themselves as being transformed into silent, uniformed, low-paid wage slaves.

A decade later, the new mayor of Surabaya (called the 'saboteur' by the kampung dwellers) accelerated the transformation of the city into a place of beautiful parks and gardens, international hotels, shopping malls and squatter-free riverbanks. The largest traditional market in eastern Indonesia was destroyed by fire. Pigeon racing and associated income- generating activities were eliminated. Motorcycles overwhelmed the once- quiet kampung pathways, which had been places of socialising, trade and festivities.

Amidst all these pressures, the selematan feast for the dead holds the community of Dinoyo together. This inclusive celebration reaffirms people's links to one another and to their community. It integrates newcomers into the community – the very people the city government is determined to keep out.

Each chapter shows how governments have sought to monitor, regulate and control the population. No matter how much the city government tries to map and document people in the kampungs of Surabaya, its statistics are notorious inaccurate. No matter how much the city administration tries to define, limit and spy upon people in the kampungs, they resist by trying to keep the state at a distance.

I wonder what happens to the kampung dwellers as they are pushed aside by modern Surabaya – Peters tells us that many lose their jobs, incomes, become malnourished, contract lung disease or go insane and die. Many are constantly on the move, trying to avoid detection by the city authorities. Others move out of the city. Do some, like those who run boarding houses for the many newcomers in Dinoyo, move up into the lower-middle class? For most, however, poverty and dystopia seem to remain a part of everyday life.

From one perspective it is a universal story showing the rise of capitalism, growing ties between the military, police, big business and middle class and increasing inequality and oppression of the poor. It shows how the poor are disempowered by a ruling elite and forced to eke out a living from ever shrinking space and opportunities, resulting in class warfare and growing inequality.

However, unlike Katherine Boo's study of one poor community in Mumbai, where the poor pull one another down and the government and police reinforce this downward spiral (Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity), the kampung dwellers of Dinoyo get a foothold and manage to hold on. In Surabaya, unlike in Mumbai, there is more social integration and cooperation among the poor. This is consistent with my findings from Jakarta over twenty years ago (The Wheel of Fortune).

But Peters goes much further and has written what I believe is the best study of any Indonesian kampung. Few scholars have managed to do such close and complex ethnographic and oral history research – gaining the trust of people from the lowest to the highest levels of a seemingly chaotic urban society. He provides more breadth and depth than previous studies, especially of the political and criminal underworld. By looking deeply into the pathological underbelly of Surabaya, Peters fills out and brings to life Howard Dick's broader work (Surabaya City of Work: A Socioeconomic History, 1900-2000).

Peters was fortunate to arrive in Dinoyo in 1997, when the Suharto regime was falling apart and people at all levels of society were becoming more open and critical of what had occurred during the 32 years of the New Order regime. His book reflects this openness and honesty.

Robbie Peters, Surabaya, 1945-2010: Neighbourhood, State and Economy in Indonesia's City of Struggle, ASAA Southeast Asia Publication Series. Singapore: NUS Press, 2013.

[Lea Jellinek (leajell@gmail.com) is a researcher at the Monash Asia Institute, Monash University and a regular contributor to Inside Indonesia on Indonesia's poor.]