"Apart from claiming to be journalists from French television station Arte TV, they claimed they were on a trip to Jayapura and Wamena to carry out journalistic duties and meet a group that wished to separate from the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," Jayapura Immigration Office head Gardu Tampubolon told Antara news agency on Friday.

He said the visitors, identified as Thomas Charles Dadoin, 40, and Louise Marie Valentine Bourrat, 29, who were apprehended by police in Wamena on Aug. 6, had violated their stay permits as they arrived in Indonesia using tourist visas.

Tampubolon said they had been charged with violating Article 122 on misusing stay permits of Law No. 6/2011 on immigration. Tampubolon said his office had yet to fulfill a request from the suspects' lawyers, who had asked for city arrest for their clients.

"We have yet to meet the request of the defense team from Todung Muya Lubis and Associates law firm, as we're still coordinating with various parties, including the Papua Police," said Tampubolon.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/30/french-tourists-cite-journalistic-duties.html

French tourists admit to coverage in Papua

Antara News - August 29, 2014

Jayapura, Papua – Two tourists from France, who have been detained in Jayapura immigration office, Papua, confessed to have taken coverage while staying in Papua, head of Immigration in Jayapura, Gardu Tampubolon said here on Friday.

The tourists, who have claimed to be French television journalists, Arte TV, have admitted that during their stay in Jayapura and Wamena, Jayawijaya District, they had been taking journalism coverage and met with a separatist group, Tampubolon stated.

He explained that the suspects – Thomas Charles Dadoin (40) and Louise Marie Valentine Bourrat (29) had been arrested by Wamena police on Wednesday (August 6) due to violation of residence permit, as they had entered Indonesia with tourist visa. Therefore, both have violated Immigration Law No. 6/2011 article 122 on the abuse of residence permit.

The immigration officers are still conducting an intensive investigation in order to complete their filing, which is only 40 percent complete, Tampubolon said. He noted that the immigration office had not met a request from their lawyers to render the two suspects into town custody.

"We have not carried out the request from Todung Mulya Lubis lawyer team, because we are still coordinating with various parties, including Papua Police Office," Tambubolon said.

He added that, earlier, the suspects had been taken to Papua Police Office, but as the prisons were full, they were returned to the Jayapura immigration office.

Valentine Bourrat was found to possess two passports, one being a service passport that she had used during her duty in Israel. (T.KR-LWA/INE/KR- BSR/A014)

Source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/95462/french-tourists-admit-to-coverage-in-papua

Government should not turn blind eye to West Papua, Senator Madigan says

ABC Radio Australia - August 29, 2014

Democratic Labour Party Senator John Madigan has urged the Australian Government to not turn a blind eye to Indonesia's treatment of the indigenous population of Papua province.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop this week signed a Code of Conduct agreement with Indonesia to promote intelligence cooperation and iron out tension over Australian spying activities against Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his inner circle. The agreement is hoped to repair Australia's relationship with Indonesia.

Senator Madigan said the Government should not forget the situation in West Papua, which is facing a conflict similar to the one in East Timor.

"I think we need to learn from past mistakes – the Balibo Five, the annexation of East Timor – the situation that we have in West Papua [is] that we want to see clear, transparent, democratic government," Senator Madigan said.

Two French journalists were jailed this month by Indonesian authorities for not obtaining the correct visa. Local police had raised concerns the journalists' activities could "destabilise" Papua. Earlier this month, five separatist rebels were shot dead in clashes with Indonesia's military.

"We've got problems on our own doorstep and yet they don't seem to get a mention," Senator Madigan said. "I realise, as do the majority of Australians, that we want to develop good relations with Indonesia, but any relationship is based on being able to speak in a robust and truthful manner, otherwise it's a flawed relationship."

The triumph of Indonesia's president-elect Joko Widodo in July's election has raised hopes of improving democracy in the archipelago state, but Senator Madigan said the West Papua situation shows Indonesia still has a way to go.

"Indonesia is on the road to becoming a more vibrant democracy and all Australians would support that, but to become a democracy, you've got to have transparency, and we have ongoing reports that keep coming up regularly of atrocities there," he said.

"We all know the Indonesian nation is a huge, very diverse group of islands and Indonesia, as all governments, has its challenges but we do need to encourage the Indonesian government to act responsibly fairly to all of their people.

"The place I believe we can have the greatest influence in world affairs is initially in our own backyard... We're talking about people, we're talking about people's lives and I won't be complicit by my silence." Madigan pushes issue with fellow crossbenchers

Senator Madigan has been raising awareness of the West Papuan conflict with fellow crossbench senators who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

"[Independent senator] Nick Xenophon and I often speak about it – we've had numerous conversations on this issue. I've mentioned it to another of my fellow crossbench senators," he said.

"I think that it's a process of education, it's a process of having calm discussion about this issue, and it needs to happen. I have raised the issue of West Papua on numerous occasions in the Parliament in the past three years and I will continue to do so for however long I'm here, until such time as we get some real results for these people."

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2014-08-29/government-should-not-turn-blind-eye-to-indonesias-treatment-of-west-papuans-senator-madigan-says/1362636

KNPB leader buried without autopsy

Jakarta Post - August 29, 2014

Jayapura – The body of West Papua National Committee (KNPB) leader Marthinus Yohame, buried at the Sorong city cemetery on Aug. 27, reportedly did not undergo an autopsy.

"Yes, Marthinus' body has been taken by his relatives and has been buried without going through an autopsy. The Wamena tribal chief in Sorong, Tias Kogoya, approached the Sorong Police chief and expressed his reluctance about the autopsy," Papua Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Pudjo Sulistyo told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura on Thursday.

Without an autopsy, Pudjo said, it would be difficult for police to ascertain the cause of death. "We don't know whether he was killed before his body was found at sea or [if he died from] other causes. We could not uncover the [cause of] death due to the lack of an autopsy," he said.

Marthinus' body, which was discovered tied up inside a sack, was found by fishermen in Nana waters behind Dom Port in Sorong on Aug. 26.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/29/knpb-leader-buried-without-autopsy.html

West Papuan teen jailed and tortured for graffiti

Red Flag - August 29, 2014

Amy McQuire – An international human rights group is calling for urgent action after two West Papuan students, one still a child, were allegedly beaten and detained for peaceful protest.

Amnesty International in early August raised an alert over the jailing of Robert Yelemaken, a 16-year-old high school student and Oni Wea, a 21-year-old university student, who are involved with the pro-independence movement the West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat).

The two students were arrested on 8 August at 3am in the Manokwari district after being caught painting pro-independence graffiti.

Amnesty says there have been reports that "their faces are now swollen, lips are bleeding and they have pains in their chest", raising concerns that the two students – Robert is still only a child under international law – have been tortured or ill-treated by police.

"According to local sources they were beaten and kicked by two arresting police officers. Robert Yelemaken was allegedly hit on the head and face with a rifle butt. Both were reportedly forced to roll in a drain filled with dirty water and were drenched in paint.

"They were then taken to the Manokwari District Police Station where the beatings allegedly continued."

Amnesty is calling for the immediate release of the boys, saying they are prisoners of conscience. "They were arrested and remain in detention solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression," the group says.

There are currently dozens of political prisoners in West Papuan jails, jailed for attending or organising peaceful political protests or activities calling for independence from Indonesia. Some have been jailed for raising the pro-independence "Morning Star" flag.

While ethnically Melanesian, the resource-rich West Papua province has been under Indonesian control after the Dutch withdrew in the 1960s.

In 1969, about 1,000 Papuans out of a population of 800,000 were hand- picked to vote in the "Act of Free Choice", which is commonly referred to as the "Act of No Free Choice".

There are concerns they were threatened or coerced into voting for West Papua to become part of Indonesia.

Since then there have been constant concerns over human rights violations in the province and brutal and violent crackdowns on peaceful demonstrations. According to prominent human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson "hundreds of thousands of people have been killed or disappeared by the Indonesian forces."

West Papuan activists and some academics refer to it as a genocide. "Peaceful activists who dare to speak out against human rights abuse, or more sensitively for Indonesia, raise concerns about asking for a referendum for self-determination, are routinely arrested, beaten and tortured," Ms Robinson says.

Despite West Papua being one of our nearest neighbours, the human rights violations in the region have failed to raise the ire of Australia or the international community.

The only country to be consistently in support of West Papuan freedom is the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, where opposition to West Papuan independence can lead to the toppling of Prime Ministers.

One of the reasons for the silence is the fact Indonesia has long prohibited international journalists from entering the province.

Last week two French journalists were arrested while allegedly being in the company of separatists and were detained in the highland town of Wamena. Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, from the television channel Arte now face a sentence of up to five years in jail after being accused of reporting without valid visas.

Human Rights Watch's Andreas Harsono told ABC Radio, "the charge is misusing their tourist visa to do journalism work". "The police said they were suspected of trying to attract international attention on Papua, to raise the rebellion in Papua."

[A Darumbul woman from central Queensland, Amy McQuire is a journalist for NewMatilda.com, where this article was first published. She is also the former editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine.]

Source: http://redflag.org.au/article/west-papuan-teen-jailed-and-tortured-graffiti

Papua activist Marthinus found dead

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Human rights activists called on police on Wednesday to investigate the death of the Sorong Raya West Papua National Committee (KNPB) chairman Marthinus Yohame.

"It's very shocking that the body was found inside a gunny sack floating on the sea," West Papua human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy told The Jakarta Post.

The body of Marthinus Yohame, 27, was found on the sea inside a tied gunny sack in Nana waters by a fisherman who was fishing behind the Dom Port in Sorong, West Papua.

Yan Christian said that the death of Marthinus might have something to do with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to the region to officially open Sail Raja Ampat on Aug. 23.

He said that before Marthinus left his house on Aug. 20 a KNPB supporter, Abner Wanma, who was one of the dancers for Sail Raja Ampat's main event, was taken by police from his lodge in Waisai Raja Ampat after a dance rehearsal.

"Abner was returned home the following day and at the same time there was information saying that the KNPB Sorong Raya chairman had not yet come home," Yan said.

There were rumors that the KNPB was to raise the Papua separatist group's Bintang Kejora flag during SBY's visit, Yan Christian said.

"It's very extreme if someone was killed just to prevent the flag from being raised," he said. He also called on the KNPB and Marthinus' family to provide police with as much information as possible to aid them with the investigation.

Yan Christian also asked the police to give wide access to the family to help reveal the truth of the case. He urged the police to thoroughly investigate Marthinus' death, the motive and the perpetrators.

Meanwhile, the police are still waiting for an autopsy to be performed on Marthinus' body as part of the investigation into the death.

"Without an autopsy it will be difficult for the police to uncover the facts around his death," Papua Police's spokesperson Sr. Comr. Pudjo Sulistyo told the Post in Jayapura on Wednesday.

Pudjo said Marthinus' body was still in the state-run RSUD Sorong hospital awaiting the autopsy, pending his family's approval. He said the autopsy was sought because his death was considered unusual.

He revealed that a wound one centimeter by one centimeter large was found on the left side of his chest and another wound of two by three centimeters large was found in his right abdomen. "If no autopsy is conducted we will never know the cause of the wounds in the chest and abdomen," Pudjo said.

Before Marthinus' body was found, his family had reported to police that he had left his house on Aug. 20 and never returned.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/papua-activist-marthinus-found-dead.html

Concern Papuans in Australia could be 'terrorists'

Radio New Zealand International - August 27, 2014

The Australian West Papua Association says Australia's proposed anti- terrorism laws could be applied to activist groups like itself in the future.

The new law would mean those seen to be encouraging or promoting terrorism would be in breach, and concerns have been raised that this could include the Free West Papua movement in Australia. Indonesia has been fighting a prolonged rebellion in Papua in part by using anti-terror forces.

An Association spokesperson, Joe Collins, says the Australian law is highly unlikely to affect the West Papua activists, as there is so much support for them building in Australia. But he says Indonesia and Australia's growing relationship could mean the law becomes of concern.

"It certainly is on the Australian radar that West Papua is an issue. More people in Australia are becoming aware of it, and I think this is the last thing the Australian government wants. Which is why any sort of anti- terrorism laws is of concern, because one day it could be used against them (activists), highly unlikely, but once it is on the books it is very hard to get anything off."

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/253140/concern-papuans-in-australia-could-be-%27terrorists%27

Rights campaigner found dead in Sorong

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2014

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua Police are preparing for an autopsy to be carried out to reveal the cause of death of Marthinus Yohame, 27, who was the head of the Sorong Raya chapter of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), whose body was found wrapped in a sack in Nana waters near Port Dom in Sorong, West Papua.

"His body is still at the Sorong Regional Hospital as we await approval from his family for the autopsy to reveal the cause of death. Without the autopsy, we cannot establish what caused the wounds on his body," Papua Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Pudjo Sulistyo told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday.

Marthinus' body was reportedly found by a fisherman who was fishing in Nana waters on Tuesday. His remains were taken to the Sorong Regional Hospital, where medical staff discovered wounds to his chest and stomach.

Marthinus' family had previously submitted a missing persons report with the Sorong Police on Aug. 20 and had no information on his whereabouts until the human rights campaigner was found dead on Tuesday.

West Papuan human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the possible motive behind Marthinus' death, which appeared to be an act of murder. "It is really shocking to know that his body was found wrapped in a sack and floating out at sea. Investigators must reveal all the details," Yan Christian told the Post.

He said Marthinus' death was likely related to a visit to the province by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to launch the Raja Ampat Sail event last Saturday. Before Marthinus disappeared, Yan Christian said, police officers rounded up a KNPB sympathizer, Abner Wanma – who was one of a dance troupe that was set to perform during the sail event's opening ceremony – from his home in Waisai, Raja Ampat.

"A day after he was taken by police, Abner was returned home but shortly afterward, we received information that the head of the KNPB's Sorong Raya branch [Marthinus] had not returned home," Yan Christian said.

A rumor spread prior to Yudhoyono's visit stating that the KNPB planned to fly the banned Morning Star flag. "If this was aimed purely to prevent the flag-raising, I think it's too extreme to believe that someone should be killed [...] and thrown into the sea," he added. (alz/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/27/rights-campaigner-found-dead-sorong.html

Australia urged to rethink after Papua arrests

Radio New Zealand International - August 26, 2014

A spokesperson for the Australian Democratic Labour Party says the arrest of two French journalists in West Papua is unacceptable, and has called on Australia to review its support to Indonesia.

Robert Dandois and Valentine Bourrat were arrested two weeks ago for allegedly violating their tourist visas by reporting for a French-German television station, Arte.

But Anthony Craig says the journalists were just doing their job, and the arrests are an example of the Indonesian military running West Papua like a prison camp.

"If you're going to hide something, then you stop people looking into things. And to have the French journalists locked up because they actually want to find out what's going on in Papua, given the atrocity reports that keep coming out of there, then there's something seriously wrong."

Anthony Craig says a Royal Commission into Australia's foreign aid policy and its military support to Indonesia is urgently needed.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/253001/australia-urged-to-rethink-after-papua-arrests

Jokowi urged to solve human rights cases in Papua

Tempo - August 25, 2014

Jerry Omona, Reza Aditya, Antara, Jakarta – Several Papuan figures urged president and vice president-elect Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla to solve past human rights violations and straighten history of Papua's integration to Indonesia as violence may re-emerge if it is not solved.

"Straighten the history first, and only then you can talk about welfare," said Socrates Sofyan Yoman, chairman of Baptist Church in Jayapura, yesterday.

Socrates said that several Papuan people still object to military and political actions in Papua. Conflicts in Papua have always been solved using military power. He believed it would be easier for Jokowi to end the violence compared to previous leaders. "More intense dialogue is needed. Papua's problem is not about how big or small the funds for special autonomy," he said.

The government will be spending Rp7 trillion for special autonomy in Papua next year. According to Sofyan, the fund cannot solve the prolonged conflicts.

John Djonga, recipient of 2009 Yap Thiam Hien Award, asked the government to put all human rights violators in trial, stop violence, control vigilantism by the police and the military and appreciate the custom and culture of Papuan people. "We don't to be victims of militaristic regime anymore," he said.

He hoped Jokowi would reform bureaucracy and eradicate corruption, enforce the law, eliminate discrimination, provide protection, give appreciation and respect the rights of native Papuan. "One of them is by undertaking Jokowi's mental revolution," he said.

Andi Widjajanto, deputy chairman of Joko Widodo-Jusuf Kalla transition team, said after Jokowi's inauguration as president, he will immediately issue a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) about human rights to establish ad hoc human rights court so that human rights violation cases can be solved.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has proposed that the next government push for more affordable prices of basic commodities in Papua. One of them is by creating commodity production centers such as the construction of cement factory in Manokwari and development of cattle breeding. "This is a basic, real and grand program that must be carried out next year," he said.

Source: http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/08/25/055602099/jokowi-urged-to-solve-human-rights-cases-in-papua

Human rights & justice

HRW tells Jokowi to put Indonesia on the rights track

Jakarta Globe - August 29, 2014

Jakarta – One of the world's most prominent human rights' pressure groups has written an open letter to Joko "Jokowi" Widodo calling on the president elect to prioritize Indonesian human rights over the next five years.

"Since the late 1980s, Human Rights Watch has worked on human rights issues in Indonesia and provided input to the Indonesian government," Human Rights Watch Asia director Brad Adams writes in the open letter. "With your election victory, you and your new coalition government have an opportunity – and the responsibility – to address continuing human rights concerns in Indonesia."

The open letter is a broad to-do list for Joko, spanning issues such as corruption-eradication to the "Situation in Papua." HRW places particular attention on the Ministry of Forestry in its clauses on corruption, praising the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for planting the roots of reform in the forestry ministry but calling for a crackdown on tax evasion.

HRW calls on Joko to open Papua to foreign journalists and international observers; comply with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's September 2, 2011 request for the immediate and unconditional release of Filep Karma and other political prisoners in Papua; and to hand over basic law enforcement to local authorities.

The organization also calls for more protection for the country's domestic workers – predominantly young women who are frequently plucked from villages with the promise of steady work only to find themselves working under appalling conditions for exploitative families.

"Many domestic workers labor 14 to 18 hour days, seven days a week, with no day off and make a fraction of the prevailing minimum wage," the letter reads.

The Manpower Act of 2003 excludes domestic workers from the basic protections afforded to other workers – these include the minimum wage, a day off, and a limit on the number of hours worker per week unless overtime is paid. This clearly discriminates against women and must be reformed, HRW says.

In addition to the plight of domestic workers, HRW raises concerns over the rights of women in general.

It notes that the hijab has become mandatory in 79 districts – and that a Christian woman would have to cover her face in the special autonomous region, Aceh. In another example of the gradual import of some of the more extreme elements Arab culture into predominately Islamic Indonesia, the organization points to the continued prevalence of "under-reported" female genital mutilation (FGM) in the country.

The government must repeal all sexist bylaws, HRW writes, and eradicate FGM.

Freedom of religion and full accountability for the security forces in Indonesia are longstanding concerns of Human Rights Watch, and human rights body calls on Joko to use the momentum of a new presidency to make tangible progress in reducing the number of attacks on religious minorities and taking legal steps to prevent minority sects' houses of worship from being shuttered or denied permits.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hrw-tells-jokowi-put-indonesia-rights-track/

Lawmakers urged to revise problematic protection bill

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2014

Erwin Cristianson, Ezra Sihite & Ridho Hizbul, Jakarta – Activists are criticizing lawmakers for their lack of support for witnesses, saying they have failed to touch on crucial matters that would provide maximum protection in the witness protection draft bill, which is being deliberated at Commission III of the House of Representatives.

The law on the protection of witnesses and victims, which is currently undergoing revision, fails to detail the support and level of security witnesses and informants should receive, according to legal activist Emerson Yuntho.

"The clause addressing informants and those who step forward to cooperate with the law is insufficient," said Emerson Yuntho, who is a member of the Coalition for the Protection of Witnesses and Victims and head of the legal division at Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).

The coalition also urged lawmakers to re-evaluate those procedures currently in place that reward witnesses of serious crimes.

"Lawmakers failed to go into detail when explaining each article of the draft bill. They tend to leave them as they are, without making revisions. Also, they tend to focus on the wording of the draft," said Emerson. He added that the document failed to accurately define an informant, describing it only as an individual who reports a crime.

The organization called on the government to pay closer attention to fundamental points in the bill.

"We ask the state to revise the regulation on witnesses and widen its scope to include not only witnesses to criminal cases [reported to the police], but also individuals who step forward to provide testimonies against lawmakers, state-appointed attorneys, members of the General Elections Commission [KPU] and so on," Emerson added.

Reward

The 2006 law also fails to provide detailed explanations on rules and stipulations surround rewards or compensation given to witnesses and informants for their cooperation, according to Emerson.

"The draft bill has not included any special conditions; it only provides general requirements for witnesses who cooperate with law enforcers," he said, adding that the lack of details could be very damaging to a case.

In some criminal cases, the deputy chairman explained, the accused is ordered to pay a hefty fine to the state or monetary compensation to the victim for his crime. However, defense lawyers have been known to take advantage of the lack of details in the 2009 bill, finding a way to convince the judge to excuse the perpetrator from having to pay any fees.

Lili Pintauli Siregar, deputy chairwoman of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK), echoed Emerson's sentiments, saying such weak regulations have in past cases acted as a boomerang by hurting witnesses and rewarding the perpetrator – sometimes, setting him free.

Protection

Emerson also emphasized the importance of an article that would keep the identity of both witnesses and informants strictly confidential in order to prevent retaliatory actions, threats on family members and blackmail.

Any attempt at seeking revenge should be punished with the full extent of the law, he said.

Lily said several articles of the bill "don't elaborate on how the witness protection system should be implemented."

The LPSK deputy chairman added the revision should strengthen the role of law enforcers in providing protection for witnesses and victims involved in all forms of criminal cases, from theft and larceny, to narcotics and acts of terrorism.

Support

Andhi Nirwanto, deputy attorney general for special crimes said his office supports the revision of the 2006 law.

"After years of implementation, we have found that the 2006 law has several loopholes, which have impacted the protection system for witnesses and victims in general. They have also affected the performance of the LPSK," Andhi said.

He added that the revision should aim to encourage the public to step forward and report crimes.

"[The revision] should provide [witnesses] with ample protection so that people would not hesitate to report [an incident] to law enforcers," he said.

"Essentially, the bill should provide sense of security for witnesses, victims and informers and motivate them to testify during the legal process," Andhi added.

According to LPSK chairman Abdul Haris Semendawai, the incoming administration of President-elect Joko Widodo and Vice President-elect Jusuf Kalla has set aims to strengthen the government's role in protecting its citizens.

Abdul said the new bill, if formulated correctly, could be of great help to the state in fighting corruption as it would provide witnesses and informants with a sufficient sense of security.

As deliberations on the 2006 bill continues, suggestions have been raised on increasing the budget for witness protection programs.

"The agency operates on a state budget, which is much less than what is allocated to ministries and other agencies. That makes things difficult for us," Abdul was quoted as saying by newsportal detik.com on Monday.

The government had only earmarked Rp 66.6 billion ($6.7 million) for the agency this year, less than half of the amount allocated last year, when the agency received Rp 148.7 billion.

The LPSK chairman said the agency needed more funds to provide witnesses with medical and psychological services, restitution, compensation and to help witness get their procedural rights.

Teguh Sudarsono, also a deputy chairman of the LPSK, conceded the organization has had to make many adjustments due to budget constraints, including cutting down on the number of safe houses used for witnesses.

Abdul urged the government to provide the LPSK with more funds to improve on the agency's operations.

"The LPSK hopes that there will be no more budget cuts in the future. Please take into consideration the increasing needs for our services for witnesses," the witness protection agency chairman said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/lawmakers-urged-revise-problematic-protection-bill/

Jokowi-Kalla aims to set up human rights court

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In a move to bow to pressure from human rights campaigners, president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is pushing for legal instruments to allow the establishment of an ad hoc human rights court to hear cases of past human rights violations.

Andi Widjajanto, a deputy of the Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla transition team in charge of the issue, said on Monday that regulations being drafted by Jokowi's transition team included a presidential decree to hear cases of human rights violations that took place during the 1998 May riots and a government regulation in-lieu-of law (Perppu) to address the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) to bring about solutions to a number of past human rights abuses.

"We have been reaching out to human rights campaigners for the details," Andi told the press at the transition team headquarters in Central Jakarta on Monday. "Jokowi is committed to resolving human rights violation cases."

Jokowi repeatedly pledged to resolve the 1998 cases, as well as other past rights abuses, during his presidential campaign, a move that apparently earned him support from human rights activists.

Losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, who has been accused of being responsible for the forced disappearances of several activists during the riots in Jakarta in 1998, on the other hand, tried to leave the matter off the agenda during his campaign.

Aside from Prabowo, a report published by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2003 also accused then Army commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto, chairman of the Hanura Party, one of the five political parties that officially endorsed the Jokowi-Kalla ticket in the July 9 election, of being responsible.

Trust toward Jokowi's commitment to upholding human rights, however, has recently been shaken by the appointment of former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief AM Hendropriyono, who is alleged to have been involved in the murder of prominent human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib in 2004, as an adviser to the Jokowi-Kalla transition team.

Hendropriyono had been summoned by Komnas HAM over his involvement in the Talangsari tragedy in Lampung in 1989, during which Garuda Hitam soldiers raided homes in the village, following allegations that residents were attempting to set up an Islamic state.

The soldiers burned houses and detained villagers and residents of neighboring areas. According to the commission, hundreds of civilians were killed, wounded or went missing during the attack. Hendropriyono was commander of Garuda Hitam at the time.

Hendropriyono, however, failed to meet the summons in the Talangsari probe and pleaded not guilty in the case. He also denied any involvement in Munir's death.

Activists have also begun to question Jokowi-Kalla's commitment to human rights as the transition team has excluded human rights issues from the 13 working groups established to detail programs to be implemented by Jokowi and Kalla during their five-year term.

Article 43 of the 2000 Law on human rights stipulates that an ad hoc human rights court can be set up by a recommendation from the House of Representatives and a decree by the president.

Komnas HAM welcomed Jokowi's plan to issue the decree as the 1998 investigation has been stalled at the Attorney General's Office. "We must definitely solve all cases of human rights violations otherwise the country won't move forward," said Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah, who chairs a team focusing on the matter.

Besides the 1998 May riots, the list of gross human rights violations also names the massacres of 1965-1966; the 1989 Talangsari massacre; a number of mysterious shootings in the 1980s; the Trisakti University shootings; the Semanggi I and Semanggi II shootings and the murder of Munir.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/26/jokowi-kalla-aims-set-human-rights-court.html

LPSK says it lacks funds needed to protect witnesses

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2014

Jakarta – Indonesia's Witness and Victim Protection Agency says budget restraints hamper its efforts to provide maximum protection for witnesses.

"The agency operates on a state budget, which is much less than what is allocated to ministries and other agencies. That makes things difficult for us," Abdul Haris Semendawai, chairman of the agency known as LPSK, was quoted as saying by Detik.com on Monday.

Abdul said the government had only earmarked Rp 66.6 billion ($6.7 million) for the agency for this year, less than half of the budget allocated last year when the agency received Rp 148.7 billion.

He said the figure was less than ideal to provide maximum protection and security for witnesses. The LPSK chairman said the agency needed more funds to provide witnesses with medical and psychological services, restitution, compensation and to help witness get their procedural rights.

Teguh Sudarsono, deputy chairman of the LPSK, said the agency was forced to make many adjustments because of the lack of funds. He they had to cooperate with state-run hospitals to provide witnesses with affordable medical services.

The limited budget, he said, would also prevent the agency from providing a sense of security needed by witnesses, including providing more safe houses. "Victims often felt even more victimized because of the lack of basic services," the deputy chairman said.

Abdul said the government should allocate a bigger budget to support the proper operation of the agency. "The LPSK hopes that there will be no more budget cuts in the future. Please take into consideration the increasing needs for services for witnesses," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/lpsk-says-lacks-funds-needed-protect-witnesses/

Labour & migrant workers

Female workers lack access to jobs, paid lower

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Jakarta – Women are still largely discriminated against at the workplace in Indonesia.

The Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry's deputy minister for gender mainstreaming in economy, Sulikanti Agusni, said on Wednesday that many women in Indonesia were still experiencing employment inequality even though the government ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984.

"Indonesia should pay more attention to women," she said on Wednesday. Agusni said gender equality manifested in access, participation, control and benefit. Any of the four factors left unfulfilled indicates inequality in the workplace or employment sector.

She said men had wider access to employment because many considered women's jobs secondary to their main role as a home maker.

"Data from the Central Statistics Agency [BPS] and the National Labor Force Survey [Sakernas] from August 2013 said 57 percent of female workers were employed in informal sectors," she said, adding that protection against sexual assault while on the job was also lacking.

Agusni cited the banking sector as a job field where a large gap remained between male and female employees. "It is true that banks employ many women, but when those women get pregnant and take maternity leave, the banks often don't ask them to return to work," she said.

Based on the same data from the BPS and Sakernas, the average wage of women working in sectors outside agriculture, was around 80 percent of men's, she added.

The National Development Planning Board's (Bapennas) director for manpower and employment development, Rahma Iryanti, said that in 2013 only 209,512 women held top positions in various sectors, or only 18 percent from a total of 1.1 million workers working at the managerial level.

However, Agusni said that gender inequality could also be felt by men because in the electricity, water, and construction fields, women's wages were higher.

In response to the concerns the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, Home Affairs Ministry and National Development Planning Board signed on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen their partnership in reducing gender inequality in workplaces.

The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry's director general for industrial relations and social security affairs, Irianto Simbolon, said that the main purpose of the MoU was to establish an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Task Force at the provincial level as well as district and municipal levels.

He said the purpose of the task force was to ensure that employees received equal rights in terms of quality of working conditions. "Currently, the task force only exists at national level, and thus does not work effectively," he said. (ask)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/female-workers-lack-access-jobs-paid-lower.html

Freedom of speech & expression

For one hothead, a social media minefield

Jakarta Globe - August 31, 2014

Jakarta – The tide of public opinion has turned in the case of Florence Sihombing, the postgraduate student widely condemned for an offensive social media post about Yogyakarta, as calls now mount for her release after she was arrested for alleged defamation.

Florence, 26, was arrested by Yogyakarta Police on Saturday following two hours of questioning, after a complaint was filed against her by Jati Sura, a local nongovernmental organization.

She has been charged with defamation and inciting hatred under the Criminal Code and the 2008 Electronic Transactions and Information Law, or ITE law. Her arrest was just as swiftly condemned as her initial post in which she called Yogyakarta "stupid" and "uncultured."

"The Florence case is the latest instance of the poor enforcement of the law when it comes to cases of defamation being filed under the ITE law," Alex Argo Hernowo, an official with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, said at a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.

"Police should have prioritized efforts to mediate between [Jati Sura] and Florence," he added.

Alex called the police action "outrageous," adding that Florence had apologized for her post last Wednesday on the social media network Path. "The police shouldn't have arrested her," he said.

Florence's lawyer also rebuked the police for not pursuing other options. "We object to the detention of our client," Wibowo Malik, Florence's lawyer, said on Saturday as quoted by Detik.com.

In the offending post, Florence wrote: "Jogja is poor, stupid and uncultured. Friends in Jakarta and Bandung, please don't stay in Jogja."

She later explained that she wrote it because she was infuriated after trying to fill up her motorcycle with gasoline at a Pertamina gas station, only to be barred from using the lane for cars and unwilling to wait in the much longer line for motorcycles.

The government and state energy company Pertamina limited the availability of subsidized fuel toward the end of August because of concerns that the annual quota for subsidized fuel would run out before the end of the year.

Some gas stations across the country were forced to close because of the supply shortage and police were seconded to gas stations around the country to pre-empt any disorder. Long lines at gas stations were common across the country last week, particularly in Java.

Florence's post, and similar offensive ones that she wrote in quick succession, elicited a torrent of criticism from Indonesia's rabid social media community.

That prompted Florence to issue an apology through the Twitter account of her school, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, or UGM, in which she said, "I very much regret it and promise I will not do it again.

"I also apologize to [UGM], mainly the law school, the lecturers and all the faculty at the law school, although I never associated my statement with [UGM]."

While her apology did little to ease the online ire against her, Florence's arrest seemed to win her some sympathy.

"I don't think what she said was right, and I agree she should be punished so that she'll be more careful with her words. But is jailing her the answer? #FreeFlo," Twitter user @novelisa wrote on Sunday.

"Just release florence. why is jogja doing this? thought jogja is soft- spoken and humble? Come on, don't overreact jogja!!" said another user, @denbagushari.

Yogyakarta Police, meanwhile, said that Florence had been arrested because she was "being uncooperative" in the investigation into alleged defamation.

"[She] refused to sign the investigation report, and we've had complaints from the victims, namely the public," Sr. Comr. Kokot Indarto, the Yogyakarta Police's director for special crimes, said on Sunday as quoted by Tribunnews.com. He added that police were also concerned that she would have skipped town if she wasn't arrested.

Kokot said that neither Florence nor Jati Sura were willing to resolve their spat amicably. "So we have to continue to investigate the case," he said.

Yogyakarta Police spokeswoman Adj. Sr. Comr. Anny Pudjiastuti said separately that Florence faced up to six years in prison if convicted of the charges against her. She added that the evidence police had gathered against her included printouts of screenshots of the offending posts.

Police also hope to question the individual who leaked Florence's posts to the general public and thus helped to fuel the popular outrage.

Users' posts on Path are only visible to the users' immediate contacts. In Florence's case, a screengrab was made of her posts, presumably by one of her contacts, and shared online via other social media platforms.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/one-hothead-social-media-minefield/

Student arrested for post calling Yogyakarta 'poor, stupid and uncultured'

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2014

Jakarta – A student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta has been arrested by police on suspicion of defamation after she called the Central Java city "poor, stupid and uncultured" in a post on a popular social media account, Indonesian media reported.

News portal Detik.com reported that Florence Sihombing, 26, was arrested after being questioned for two hours by Yogyakarta police on Saturday morning.

The case originates from an incident on Wednesday. Florence drove her motorcycle to a gas station in the east of the city and attempted to buy gas from the pump that was reserved for cars buying Pertamax 95, which is not subject to government subsidy and is considerably more expensive than the Rp 6,500 paid for a liter of subsidized gas. Florence was told by the gas station staff that she had to queue behind the long line of motorcycles waiting for subsidized gas.

The government and state-owned energy company limited the availability of subsidized gas toward the end of August because of concerns that the quota for subsidized gas would run out before the end of the year. Some gas stations were forced to close because of the supply shortage and police were seconded to gas stations around the country to pre-empt any disorder. Long lines at gas stations were common across the country last week.

Several of the motorcyclists in the queue which Florence had attempted to jump jeered at the her. She left the gas station without buying gas and was furious at the way she had been treated.

She then posted the following on her Path account. "Jogja is poor, stupid and uncultured. Friends in Jakarta and Bandung, please don't stay in Jogja."

The comment was shared widely over social media and published by Indonesian news portal Tribunnews.com. Florence was subject to several abusive responses on various social media. Shortly after Florence's negative comments went viral, the Twitter account of Gadjah Mada University @swaragamafm published her apology.

"...I deeply apologize to the Yogyakarta people for the words on my Path [account]. I very much regret it and promise I will not do it again. I also apologize to [Gadjah Mata University], mainly the law faculty, the lecturers and all academics in the law faculty, although I never associated my statement with [the university]. I don't know who spread my Path status..."

But the consequences of her post were not limited to online bullying. A pressure group named Jati Sura reported Florence to Yogyakarta Police for defamation – a criminal offense in Indonesia.

"We object to the detention of our client," said Florence's lawyer, Wibowo Malik, as quoted by Detik.com on Saturday. "We reported [Florence] for defamation and inciting hatred as stipulated in the 2008 Electronic Information and Transaction Law," Jati Sura lawyer Ahmad Nurul Hakam said, as quoted by tribunnews.com on Thursday.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/police-arrest-student-social-media-post-calling-yogyakarta-poor-stupid-uncultured/

Political parties & elections

PPP to stay away from Jokowi unless good jobs await

Jakarta Post - August 30, 2014

Jakarta – A politician with the United Development Party (PPP) has suggested president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should not bother asking his party to join the government bandwagon if nothing good awaits it there.

"They (the Jokowi camp) have opted to keep transactional politics out of the picture. Thus, they shouldn't bother asking us to join their cause. It will be a complete waste of time," secretary of the PPP's expert council Ahmad Yani said on Friday, as quoted by tempo.co.

He also expressed disappointment toward the Jokowi camp's lobbying effort, which, in his words, was like sending someone less important to do the job. Ahmad said Jokowi should have sent someone with authority to start the conversation.

In a rather different tone, PPP deputy chairman Emron Pangkapi had earlier stated it was true there were still no serious discussions happening between the PPP and Jokowi's camp regarding the upcoming power transition, but he then acknowledged that the possibility of changing sides was still on the table.

Right now, Emron said, his party had opted to honor the Red-and-White party coalition until conditions suggested it do otherwise.

The PPP, along with the Golkar Party, PAN, the PKS and Gerindra, formed the Red-and-White coalition to support the ultimately losing ticket of Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa during the recent presidential election.

Earlier, Jokowi had signalled that he would welcome any party in the Red- and-White coalition that intended to join him, but only with the condition that there wouldn't be any transactional politics undertaken in exchange for support.

Right now, the winning ticket of Jokowi and Jusuf Kalla is being supported by PDI-P, the NasDem Party, the PKB, Hanura and the PKPI. (dic)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/30/ppp-stay-away-jokowi-unless-good-jobs-await.html

Shambolic election campaign leaves president-elect Jokowi much to prove

Reuters - August 28, 2014

Kanupriya Kapoor, Jakarta – When he was nominated in March as a candidate for Indonesia's presidential election, polls showed Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had a 30-point lead over the man who would become his main challenger, former army general Prabowo Subianto.

But after three months of shambolic and lackluster campaigning, the wildly popular governor of Jakarta was staring at defeat.

"If you continue like this, it's clear we will lose," prominent businessman Sofjan Wanandi told Joko and senior members of his Indonesian Democratic- Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at a crisis meeting on June 16. With election day less than three weeks away, Joko had just been given a poll showing Prabowo trailed by only 1.8 points.

"'No more discussion. We have to start fighting'," Joko told the stunned gathering at a Jakarta hotel according to Sofjan, a key financier of Joko's campaign, recalling the drama in a recent interview with Reuters.

That meeting was the turning point. Galvanized by an army of young, social media-savvy volunteers, and by what one advisor called "fear of losing", Joko's campaign kicked into gear. He eventually beat Prabowo by about six percentage points, with 53.15 percent of the 130 million votes cast on July 9.

Alleging "massive cheating", Prabowo still disputes the result and has so far refused to call Joko to congratulate him on his win. On Aug. 21, Indonesia's constitutional court unanimously rejected his last-ditch bid to overturn it.

Decade of experience

Aides insist Joko's amateurish campaign does not presage an equally tepid and directionless presidency. A close media advisor said the near-miss will make him a stronger leader.

"This will be a president who takes risks but who has learned a lot about the country through the campaign," he said. "He's like a sponge. He learns from people and from his experiences."

Lukewarm support from the PDI-P and its long-time leader Megawati Sukarnoputri – a former president who had coveted a return to power – blighted Joko's early campaign. Many now wonder what influence Megawati will exert over the presidency.

"The campaign indicates there are certain key constituencies he will have to handle very deftly," said Jakarta-based political analyst Douglas Ramage.

Less than two years ago, Joko was mayor of Solo, a city of 500,000 in Central Java. On Oct. 20, he will be sworn in as president of the world's fourth most populous country.

Despite this meteoric rise, some experts believe he has the skills to run Indonesia after winning plaudits for his business-like management of the teeming capital over the past 18 months and for transforming crime-ridden Solo into a center for art and culture.

"He might be inexperienced on the national stage, but what we often miss is that he's 53, with a decade of experience in executive positions," said Ramage.

Joko assumes the presidency at a critical time, with Indonesia's growing confidence abroad matched by an unfulfilled domestic yearning for clean government and a more equitable society.

Indonesia under Joko will be more "inward-looking, but that's not a bad thing," said Achmad Sukarsono, a political analyst at the Habibie Center, a Jakarta think tank. "We have a president who [understands] our interests, not just the interests of the few elites."

'Puppet president'

Joko's campaign got off to a late start. The PDI-P didn't nominate him until mid-March, only then scotching speculation Megawati would run despite losing two previous presidential elections. By contrast, Prabowo's bid was years in the planning.

The rift between Joko and the PDI-P widened after the April 9 parliamentary election. The party performed worse than expected. Its campaign, run by Puan Maharani, Megawati's daughter and heir apparent to the PDI-P chair, failed to capitalize on Joko's popularity.

Instead, it promoted the notion that Megawati controlled the party – and, by implication, Joko. This was a gift to Prabowo, who would urge people not to vote for a "puppet president".

Joko later told Reuters he respected Megawati. Agitated, he added: "If there is someone who says that I'm a puppet, that is a big mistake."

Even so, Megawati's debatable influence over Joko was a drag on the campaign. "The party machinery was not working," said the close media advisor, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. "There was no coordination and everyone was just very relaxed."

On May 19, Golkar, Indonesia's second-largest party, unexpectedly threw its support behind Prabowo, and a Joko presidency no longer felt like a sure thing.

Smears and volunteers

A smear campaign was also in full swing. Rumors spread on social media that Joko, a Javanese Muslim, was an ethnic Chinese Christian – a tough sell in the country with the world's largest population of Muslims.

"The most frustrating part of the campaign was spending 70 percent of our time in Islamic boarding schools, countering the black campaign about Jokowi being ethnic Chinese and Christian," vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla told Reuters in a post-election interview.

As Prabowo gained in the polls, more volunteers got involved. Among them was Melany Tedja, an energy consultant.

She had assumed most educated Indonesians would gravitate towards Joko. "In fact, surveys showed that the more privileged you are, the more likely you are to vote for Prabowo," she said. "They really bought the whole concept of Prabowo being this firm, tough leader."

Tedja felt the campaign was focusing too much on the folksy affability of Joko, a former furniture salesman. "What got lost was that his team is full of people who are strong on economics, energy, foreign affairs," she said.

So Melany joined an army of volunteers she estimated would swell to 2 million people. They countered smears and promoted his platform on social media, urging undecided voters to choose Joko.

When it came to presidential debates, however, Joko appeared to be on his own. His forgettable performance in the first debate on June 9 was followed by a spiritless one six days later.

Then came the June 16 crisis meeting attended by Joko, his running mate Kalla, Megawati, her daughter Puan and heads of other parties that supported his candidacy.

They were presented with a poll by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showing Joko's lead over Prabowo had shrunk to 1.8 points.

The results were never published for fear of further eroding that lead, said businessman Sofjan. Joko's team "finally woke up", said Sofjan. "They didn't take [winning] for granted anymore. Even Megawati got into action and started campaigning."

Final push

While the party machinery had idled, campaign volunteers had become a potent force. On July 5, four days before the election, tens of thousands of Joko supporters gathered at a Jakarta stadium for a free concert by famous Indonesian musicians.

That "final push" by volunteers helped swing many middle-class voters, said Anies Baswedan, Joko's spokesman. "[The volunteers] convinced them that they had to be part of this history."

For many Indonesians, Prabowo revived memories of long-ruling dictator Suharto – once his father-in-law – who was overthrown in 1998. "People realized that if Prabowo became president, the kind of Indonesia they had become used to could disappear," said the close media advisor.

On the evening of July 5, Joko – wearing his signature checked shirt – was relaxed and confident in the third and final presidential debate, while Prabowo looked flustered.

Campaigning was forbidden by law for three days before the election. Joko made a quick trip to Mecca, helping silence those who questioned his faith.

President Joko Widodo

President-elect Joko faces huge expectations, particularly from ex-campaign volunteers. "Because we made this happen, it's like we are the government," said Melany Tedja.

As a candidate, Joko has promised to avoid shady political horsetrading and appoint a technocratic cabinet. Keeping that promise will be tough.

"Already there are people in the coalition screaming, 'Why am I not in the transition team? I want this or that ministry!' Jokowi has to deal with that pressure," a member of Joko's transition team told Reuters.

A senior campaign advisor insists Joko's victory has prompted "a fundamental shift" in his relationship with Megawati. "He has delivered a victory she could only dream of," he said. "That gives him a lot of power, and with that kind of power you can't be pushed around."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/shambolic-election-campaign-leaves-president-elect-jokowi-much-prove/

Parties push Jokowi to prioritize his allies

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – As rival parties slowly crystallize into an opposition to match the incoming government of president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, his political allies are calling for a significant presence in the Cabinet.

A politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Puan Maharani, said the president-elect should pay attention to the parties that had nominated him in this year's presidential election.

"We understand that the president-elect has the right to design the Cabinet. But of course we hope that he will also pay attention to the candidates endorsed by the parties that officially supported him," said the PDI-P lawmaker on the sidelines of a House of Representatives plenary meeting on Tuesday.

The PDI-P led a coalition of four political parties that supported the nomination of Jokowi and his running mate Jusuf Kalla in the July 9 presidential election.

After securing victory at the Constitutional Court last week, there has been pressure on Jokowi to woo support from the rival Red-and-White Coalition, which had supported the presidential ticket of Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa, which has a majority of seats at the House of Representatives.

Jokowi's coalition, also known as the Gotong Royong Coalition, only secured slightly more than a third of 560 seats at the House in the April legislative election.

The major members of the Red-and-White Coalition, namely the Democratic Party and the Golkar Party, have so far kept their promise to not join Jokowi's government.

Committed to avoiding President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's old practice of offering ministerial posts to create a coalition with supporting political parties, the Jakarta governor had earlier frequently expressed his commitment to only picking professionals in his Cabinet.

He, the PDI-P and the NasDem Party formed a team to prepare his programs and Cabinet design, leaving out other allies such as the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Hanura Party.

"We were surprised by the announcement [of the transition team]. We thought we had been left behind," PKB chairman and Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said on Tuesday.

"We [feel better] because now we have contacts with Hasto and Anies," Muhaimin added, referring to Hasto Kristiyanto and Anies Baswedan, two of the four deputies of the transition team.

Another politician from the Gotong Royong Coalition, who required anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, warned that the partnership among coalition members applied not only in the House but also in government.

"Why should we, in [the House], support the government if we have no place in the Cabinet? Including party politicians both in the House and the government will make the collaboration stronger," the source told The Jakarta Post.

Analysts believe Jokowi and Kalla have no choice but to involve party politicians in the Cabinet, but they suggest carefully choosing the candidates.

"Unlike previous presidents, who headed their parties, Pak Jokowi is not the sole chief in making the final decision. There are several strong figures, such as [PDI-P chief] Ibu Megawati [Soekarnoputri], who also have a say in the matter," political analyst Arya Budi from the Jakarta-based Pol-Tracking Institute told the Post.

Arya added that to find a win-win comprise, Jokowi and Kalla should ensure that ministerial candidates from political parties fulfilled the requirements, from having clear track records to integrity.

Djayadi Hanan from Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC), meanwhile, suggested that a compromise might be achieved by giving bigger portions of ministerial posts to non-party candidates.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/27/parties-push-jokowi-prioritize-his-allies.html

Jostle for places in Jokowi's cabinet heats up

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2014

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court's confirmation last week of Joko Widodo's presidential win has resulted in the quiet fight among his backers to get louder, with some beginning to complain about an "exclusive" team he has assembled to prepare for the transition to a new government.

Officially, Joko's presidential bid has been backed by five political parties – his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party, the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party and the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI).

But aside from those, Joko is known to have gained wide support from an army of volunteers – young activists, intellectuals and academics – often said to have played even more active roles behind the scenes, compared with the official party vehicles, in support of Joko's campaign ahead of the July 9 presidential election.

The transition team he recently formed to prepare for his new government and cabinet lineup, though, has been criticized by some of his own backers as being too "exclusive."

The team is headed by Rini Soemarno, a known close aide to PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Rini is also a former industry and trade minister under Megawati's presidency. Rini's deputies in the team include PDI-P deputy secretary general Hasto Kristiyanto and Nasdem deputy chairman Akbar Faizal.

Although Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan and University of Indonesia lecturer Andi Widjajanto, who are both non-partisan, also serve as Rini's deputies, many former members of Joko's campaign team are dissatisfied, feeling that they've been left behind in the post-election process. They include volunteers and officials from parties not included in the team, whose headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, is called the transition house.

"How's the work mechanism in the transition house? Why is the transition house working exclusively and privately? What are our jobs in the transition house?" said Boni Hargens, a University of Indonesia lecturer who has volunteered for Joko, while visiting the Menteng headquarters along with dozens of dissatisfied volunteers on Tuesday evening.

"The impression [of exclusivity] comes from the Transition house's slow response to volunteers' good intention to participate in their activities. We hope this uncertainty will be cleared up," he added, according to Indonesian news portal liputan6.com.

Andi, who was in the Menteng house at the time, said there was no such thing as Joko's volunteers being excluded from the process undertaken by the transition team.

"Its just that a big meeting, which will gather all [team members], will only take place next week. So [during the meeting] on Wednesday, all the volunteers will be involved," Andi said.

On Tuesday, Boni denied that he and some fellow volunteers of Joko and Vice President-elect Jusuf Kalla were trying to apply pressure to the pair. "We sincerely want to help and guard the Jokowi-JK government so that they can lead this country toward a better direction," he said.

Separately, Sarifuddin Sudding, deputy chairman of Hanura, defended Boni and his comrades, saying they deserved more place in the transition team.

"The Transition house should accommodate as many people as possible; it shouldn't be exclusive. It's inelegant to make people who have fully supported, who have been committed to Jokowi-JK from the start, feel that they are left behind," Sarifuddin told kompas.com.

"If some of Jokowi-JK volunteers do have capacity, have smart ideas as Boni Hargens does, shouldn't they be given a place at the Transition house?"

PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar said he once felt excluded by Joko because no PKB members were recruited as members of the transition team. But that was before the team began intensively communicating with the only Islamic party in the coalition led by the PDI-P.

"At the beginning, when the formation [of the team] was declared, I was surprised. I thought they wanted to leave us behind," Muhaimin said. "Now we no longer feel so. Now we have kept communicating with Hasto and Anies. So it's fine now."

Young vs. old guard

But the potential discord doesn't stop there. Yunarto Wijaya, executive director of think-tank Charta Politica, identified a potential conflict over cabinet seats between senior politicians and the younger members of Joko's coalition.

"Conflict management is easier during a pursuit for power, rather than after the power is in your hands. Power means more vulnerability to conflict. That is the law of nature," Yunarto told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

"The cabinet lineup is the most sensitive issue. Power sharing is symbolized in the distribution of cabinet seats, possibly between supporting political parties and volunteers.

"But this will be Jokowi's first test: whether he's a mere puppet president as he has been accused of – be it puppet to Megawati, other senior politicians in the coalition or even to the volunteers."

Yunarto said there was no other way for Joko but to stand up to people around him, to underline that choosing members of the cabinet was his prerogative as the nation's president, and that no one should interfere in the process even though they may offer inputs.

As for potential competition between young volunteers and senior politicians, Yunarto doesn't perceive this as something negative or a sign of a rift between Joko's backers.

"Such competition is positive; it allows political discourse and more democratic selection of cabinet members. So Joko must enjoy the competition instead; it will serve as controlling measures in the selection process."

Newcomers?

Another potential problem may come from newcomers, with some party members in the bloc of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto – such as the Golkar Party – reportedly planning to jump ship to Joko's side following the Constitutional Court's announcement of its verdict on the election contest filed by Prabowo, which has reaffirmed Joko's win.

Politicians from current member parties in Joko's coalition, such as Eva Kusuma Sundari of the PDI-P, have emphasized that Joko should not treat old and new members equally when awarding cabinet posts.

"Pak Joko will decide [on new members], but surely there will be different treatment for those who have backed him from the start and newcomers," Eva told merdeka.com on Sunday. "And because [the coalition] should run on the basis of justice, each of their contributions [to Joko's team] will be measured."

But potential new coalition members are believed to demand government posts in exchange for their support. Yunarto said that Joko should not be affected with those parties' claims that he would need them to control majority seats in the House of Representatives – currently dominated by Prabowo's bulkier coalition.

"They're the ones who need Jokowi. It is not Jokowi who needs them. Their claims of him needing them more are only so they can obtain seats in the cabinet," Yunarto said. "But Jokowi must not be lured into horse-trading politics."

"Jokowi must learn from SBY's mathematical logic," he said, referring to outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "His [ruling coalition] controls 75 percent of the seats in the House, but his government has been ineffective; it was still shaken with Century [bank bailout scandal] issues, and more," Yunarto added.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jostle-place-jokos-cabinet-heats/

Surveys & opinion polls

For Jokowi, presidential woes start now

Jakarta Globe - August 29, 2014

Kennial Caroline Laia, Jakarta – As the inauguration of President-elect Joko Widodo draws near, the challenges that commonly plague a country's top executive already have him surrounded.

The latest survey released by Jakarta-based pollster Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) showed that a whopping 73.17 percent of Indonesians are opposed to the idea of Joko raising subsidized fuel prices in the first six months of his term.

After garnering immense popularity with his humble demeanor and people- power approach to politics as Jakarta governor, Joko has seemingly taken a non-populist stance with his take on Indonesia's ongoing problem with subsidized fuel.

The former Solo mayor announced last week that his government would not be against raising the price of subsidized fuel, a move many fear would trigger inflation and therefore cause prices to soar.

"We work for the development of this nation and also for the people's welfare. We don't work for popularity," said Joko, who was accompanied by Vice President-elect Jusuf Kalla when he participated in a dialogue with Metro TV last week.

"For us, subsidy is not a bomb. Raising the price of subsidized fuel is a bold move [that would] make room in the state budget for infrastructure, schools, public housing, agriculture and books... That's what we're going to work on later," Kalla said.

Joko echoed his deputy's statement, saying that funds that had originally been earmarked for subsidies will be reallocated to develop other sectors, which are more productive, so they may spur economic activity.

Joko was confident that the Indonesian people would gradually understand why he had come to the decision. "If we explain [the policy] properly and comprehensively, I think our people will accept it," he said.

The LSI survey, which involved 1,200 participants, showed that some 70 percent of the respondents held higher expectations of the outgoing Jakarta governor that they did for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he assumed his second term in 2009. The figure would also suggest that those who did not vote for Joko in the July presidential election are also pinning their hopes on him.

LSI researcher Ruly Akbar pointed out that the public's high hopes for Joko could be seen as support. However, that support could quickly turn into disappointment if he failed to deliver.

No matter how much Indonesians admired him before, if Joko – better known as Jokowi – goes ahead with his plan to slash subsidies and subsequently raise the price of subsidized fuel, his popularity would immediately decline, according to Ruly.

"On one side, Yudhoyono doesn't want to leave office with a legacy of price hikes, but as a consequence, Joko will have to take over the unpleasant task from his predecessor," Ruly said.

Raising the price of fuel has long been a sensitive issue for Indonesia. Yudhoyono himself experienced a backlash on the matter several times during his administration. In an ironic twist of fate, Joko's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), a political opposition to Yudhoyono's leadership, had always rejected the president's policy on price hikes.

Earlier this month, lawmakers had given the outgoing administration the green light to increase the price of subsidized fuel in an effort to ease pressure off the state budget and slow fuel consumption.

However, the state chose to maintain fuel prices but failed to control distribution, essentially throwing the burden onto Joko's shoulders to manage the subsidy in next year's state budget, which is set to increase to Rp 29.1 trillion ($25 billion) from Rp 246.5 trillion this year.

Should Joko raise the price of subsidized fuel in his first months in office, he would first have to clearly explain the unpopular policy to the public – particularly those in rural areas – in ways they can understand. "In addition, Joko could balance it by issuing other strategic policies," Ruly said.

More beneficial

Hamdi Muluk, a political communication expert at the University of Indonesia, agreed with the president-elect, saying that a subsidy cut is needed, but argued the move would not have a significant effect on Joko's performance.

"Everybody knows that raising the price of subsidized fuel is never a popular policy. However, our people don't understand the fact that by cutting fuel subsidy, the government would finally have the chance to implement programs that would be more beneficial to them," he said.

In the past, he added, the government failed to introduce the reasons behind the policy in layman's terms, which "eventually led to a negative mindset about fuel price hikes."

Hamdi was referring to the two occasions Yudhoyono chose to increase the price of subsidized fuel during his 10-year term: in 2005 with a 140 percent price jump, and in 2013 with an additional 33 percent increase.

"But hopefully the next government will be able to do explain their decision in a way that the general public can understand and eventually accept," he said. "Anybody who issues such policies will certainly be unpopular, but it's [necessary] for the sake of this nation."

The LSI survey also cited several problems that would likely hamper Joko's administration over the next five years.

"People are worried that Joko's administration would not be able to work effectively due to his slim coalition; they are concerned that [Prabowo Subianto's] Merah Putih coalition, which controls the majority of parliament seats, will try to block Joko's programs," Ruly said.

According to the poll, 45.60 percent of respondents believed that Joko could face obstacles in gaining legislative approval on his proposed policies, while 31.09 percent claim they are confident the president- elect's programs will run smoothly.

Hamdi pointed out that Joko's coalition could change. "He has said he would be willing to accept whose who want to join his camp. Several parties have also shown signs they would jump to his side. So people don't have to worry about his performance in parliament."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jakarta/jokowi-presidential-woes-start-now/

Pollsters association will get tough on members

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2014

Jakarta – The Indonesian Association for Public Opinion Surveys (Persepi) will apply strict rules and a code of ethics on its members to prevent them from duping the public with fraudulent results and opinions.

Last month, soon after the July 9 presidential election, several pollsters, including the Development and Policy Research Center (Puskaptis) and the Indonesian Votes Network (JSI), declared that the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa presidential ticket beat Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Jusuf Kalla by as much as 6 percent, while seven other Persepi member pollsters called the election for Jokowi-Kalla.

The seven pollsters favoring Jokowi had been audited by Persepi's ethics council and their results had been declared valid. Puskaptis and JSI did not comply with the audit order and declined to open their data to the public. The two pollsters, therefore, were dismissed from the group.

Persepi deputy chairman Muhammad Qodari said that the level of trust from the public towards pollsters had declined, thanks to this case. "I have never imagined before that there are people or institutions that are toying with quick-count results," he said late last week in a recent discussion on the role of survey and social media in Indonesia.

He said that given their strategic role, pollsters have to be credible and reliable. He said that by publishing fraudulent results pollsters could ruin their own reputations and, worse, could incite conflict in society.

"People could be angry because they feel their presidential candidate, who was supposed to win the election, was turned into a loser and this is very dangerous," he said, referring to supporters of the losing presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto.

Persepi chairman Nico Harjanto told The Jakarta Post that the association would be make it mandatory for pollsters to adhere to scientific principles and not compromise their methods for political gain. "We will strengthen our integrity pact and code of ethics," he said, adding that the association would build the capacity of its members.

Nico said that in the near future Persepi would propose that the House of Representative amend the 1997 Law on Statistics so that it could also cover public opinion surveys and apply proper punishments on pollsters who mislead the public.

Nico said that a public opinion survey, whether it was conducted through social media or in the real environment, had an important role to play in a democratic setting.

Nico, who is also chairman of the Jakarta-based pollster Populi Center, argued that in a democracy credible pollsters could help the government determine future policies so that the executives did not rely only on politicians from the House of Representatives. "Surveys are part of scientific efforts to gauge the aspirations of real people," he said.

Nico said that once pollsters distorted public opinion it could drive the country into the wrong direction. "It can lead to the government making a wrong decision," he said. (ask)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/25/pollsters-association-will-get-tough-members.html

Health & education

Mimika records high number of HIV/AIDS cases

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2014

Timika – The Mimika chapter of the National AIDS Commission (KPA) says that as of the middle of this year, the number of people with HIV/AIDS in the regency has reached 3,900.

This means Mimika regency in Papua has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS cases, following Wamena (5,000) and Nabire (4,000).

"According to data we have received, housewives are now the biggest at-risk group concerning HIV/AIDS, compared to commercial sex workers. People from all professions, starting from farmers and fishermen to civil servants and police and military personnel, are vulnerable to the illness as well. HIV/AIDS do not differentiate between age and social group," said Reynold.

HIV/AIDS infections in Mimika were first found in two commercial sex workers in a red-light district in Kampung Kadun Jaya in 1996.

Reynold said that with continuous efforts involving all components of society, Mimika could control the spread of new HIV infections. He added that the KPA Mimika was involving religious leaders and families to help eradicate discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.

KPA Mimika continued to introduce information on HIV/AIDS prevention, he said, and train health workers to introduce preventive measures, including encouraging clean and healthy living. (put/ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/31/mimika-records-high-number-hivaids-cases.html

Health needs to become a priority in Indonesia

Straits Times/ANN - August 27, 2014

John McBeth, Jakarta – When Indonesian president-elect Joko Widodo takes power in October, he will be confronted by a laundry list of pressing issues, ranging from budget-sapping energy subsidies and urgently needed infrastructure projects to figuring out why heavy spending on education does not seem to be paying off.

Then, there is health. After making steady progress through the 1990s in lowering the country's infant mortality rate, Indonesia has stagnated and will probably fail to meet next year's Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 28 deaths per 1,000 live births.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), a child below the age of five dies somewhere in Indonesia every three minutes. That is about 150,000 a year, with many of those deaths due to a lack of simple sanitation and hygiene.

Every hour, a mother dies because of complications related to pregnancy or during child birth.

More bad news, this time on the HIV front. Bucking a worldwide downward trend in deaths related to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids), a new United Nations report says Indonesia is one of six countries being left behind, with a massive 427 per cent increase in cases between 2005 and 2013.

Tuberculosis (TB) is another priority. With 91,000 deaths among the 528,000 cases of the disease recorded each year, Indonesia has the third highest TB rate in the world, behind China and India. That is a troubling 6.3 per cent of total recorded diseases, compared with 3.2 per cent across the rest of the South-east Asian region.

Poor health-care system

Healthy economic growth is supposed to bring equivalent dividends in the quality of health care. Yet despite this year's promising roll-out of Universal Health Care (UHC) for 86.4 million of the nation's poor, the 1 per cent of GDP invested in health remains one of the lowest in the world.

That leaves it on a par with neighbouring countries like Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines, but behind Malaysia and Brunei on 2 per cent, and Vietnam and Thailand, both on 3 per cent.

Neo-natal deaths – when a baby dies within 28 days of birth – point to flaws in the efficient and effective delivery of quality round-the-clock mid-wifery and referral services, which in turn are often related to larger health system issues.

Infant deaths may have been reduced from 97 to 31 (per 1,000 live births) since 1990, but the rate has plateaued now that the large-scale introduction of immunisation, vitamin A distribution and what health professionals call other so-called "low-hanging" fruit has run its course.

Of course, there are much bigger geographic and demographic challenges for a sprawling archipelago of 250 million people, but, all the same, compare that 31 figure to the Philippines (30), Vietnam (23), Thailand (13) and Malaysia (nine).

But even today, in a country where a surprising number of urban dwellers prefer going to a traditional healer rather than a real doctor, Indonesia has the third highest number of non-immunised children. As a result, it still experiences outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and diphtheria.

While president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government may have increased access to health services over the past decade, better-quality advice is needed when it comes to such things as swaddling and longer-term breast- feeding.

Malnutrition and poor water and sanitation are major contributors to child mortality. It is sobering to read that Indonesia has the fifth highest number of stunted children in the world and the second highest number of people – 52 million – practising open defecation.

Frustratingly, increasing coverage on interventions is not translating into reduced mortality. The same lack of progress applies in a different way to education, despite the fact that public spending absorbs 3 per cent of GDP.

Outer Islands

While rates of mortality soar in less populated parts of Indonesia, it is the high population pockets that contribute to the greatest numbers in terms of morbidity and deaths. Health experts say both require radically different approaches.

Isolated groups of small islands and parts of Papua require more "waiting homes" so expectant mothers have somewhere to go to await birth. It has taken time to explain to husbands why this is necessary, particularly in Papua where under-five mortality rates stand at 90 per 1,000 live births.

In many parts of less-developed eastern Indonesia which, along with Kalimantan, accounts for 15 per cent of the total population, a 24/7 service just is not there. There may be health clinics dating back to president Suharto's days, but they often do not have proper facilities or even basic medicines.

The reason seems obvious. Decentralisation may have been politically crucial when it was launched in 2001, but it has also blurred the lines of authority and impacted negatively on accountability.

The lack of a regular mechanism to track progress masks serious regional inequalities. What is needed is a systems approach to health service delivery, such as the better distribution of skilled health-care providers and the identification of bottlenecks.

The challenge of HIV

Indonesia's HIV epidemic is a related threat. About 10 people die of Aids- related illnesses every day. Six years ago, an estimated 200,000 children and young people under 25 were living with HIV. Today, they are now believed to be responsible for a fifth of new cases, or at least seven a day.

Along with the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Russia and South Sudan, Indonesia faces the triple threat of a high HIV burden, low treatment coverage and little if any decline in new HIV infections.

Experts attribute the increase to the high number of people from traditionally low-risk population groups contracting HIV and to the government's failure to ensure access to anti-retroviral therapy for those already living with the disease.

About 3 per cent of those infected with HIV also have active tuberculosis. This prevents people from earning wages and leads many already-poor families ever deeper into poverty because of the high cost of sustained treatment.

Mostly, the disease preys on those living in rural areas, those with weak immune systems and those seeking health services from centres that do not treat the disease in the directly-observed, low-cost way recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Joko has some major challenges ahead. But given the huge toll that preventable and curable disease is taking on the nation's children, it is hoped health will become as much a priority as education.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/27/health-needs-become-a-priority-indonesia.html

Sex workers & prostitution

Locals oppose Jambi brothel closure

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Jambi – The planned closure of the Payosigadung or Pucuk red-light district by the Jambi municipality has been met by opposition from local residents.

One local resident Eli, 45, said she and her children would not have food on the table if Pucuk was closed because she relied on it to make a living. "What will we eat if Payodigadung is closed. The Rp 1.8 million (US$154) in compensation given to us will never be enough," Eli said on Wednesday.

A neighborhood unit head in Rawasari subdistrict, Sudadi Rusman, said he and 179 other household heads in the red-light district owed the bank around Rp 700 million. Therefore, he was appealing for the planned closure to be postponed.

"Give us until the end of 2016," Sudadi said, adding that if any one of them opposed the closure beyond the extended deadline, they would be ready to face the consequences, such as being evicted.

The Jambi municipality is providing compensation of Rp 5 million for business owners and Rp 1.8 million for sex workers and pimps to cover living expenses, plus an additional Rp 300,000 for transportation costs, allowing them to return to their places of origin.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/locals-oppose-jambi-brothel-closure.html

East Kalimantan in relentless drive to clear red-light districts

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2014

Tunggadewa Mattangkilang – With the support of its provincial government, East Kalimantan's large cities are continuing their war on prostitution, citing fears of an unmonitored spread of HIV/AIDS and cases of drug abuse.

Officials in the capital, Samarinda, and Kutai Kartanegara district recently announced plans to shut down their respective red-light districts, following similar moves in Tarakan and Balikpapan. The latter recently managed to shutter two of its two prostitution hubs, Manggarsari and KM 17.

Mariatin Hartiningsih, secretary of the East Kalimantan Social Service Office, said the aggressive campaign was projected to dramatically reduce the number of sex workers in the province, which currently stands at roughly 4,000.

"[Leaders of] the red-light districts were supposed to manage their workers and the activities that go on in their respective areas," she said. "But we are worried they have turned into a den for narcotics, illegal alcohol distribution and HIV/AIDS, which is why we support [the cities'] actions."

Mariatin added that each city would establish a training program for sex workers who now find themselves without a source of income to support their families.

"The local administrations will help [former prostitutes] by sending them back to their hometowns or by teaching them skills that will secure them a respectable job," Mariatin said.

The Social Advocacy and Rehabilitation Foundation (Laras), a local non- governmental group offering social and health services to sex workers, criticized the local governments' recent move, saying it would hamper work to raise awareness about drug abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community.

"I liken the red-light district to a bag containing a virus," said Laras director Andi Muhammad Aslam. "Prostitution must be contained with the help of strict preventive measures against the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. If that bag is destroyed, the virus will spread uncontrollably. This is very dangerous."

Aji Sofyan Effendi, an economist at Samarinda's Mulawarman University, said East Kalimantan's rapid rate of urbanization had contributed to the problem.

"East Kalimantan has become a key destination for newcomers seeking to improve their livelihoods, including those with no skills," Aji said. "Some people make use of this situation by developing the sex industry." Tunggadewa Mattangkilang.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/east-kalimantan-relentless-drive-clear-provinces-red-light-districts/

Freedom of religion & worship

Activists demand Jokowi-Kalla end religious violence

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In a move to push president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's to unconditionally commit to uphold human rights when leading the country, human rights campaigners strongly called for the Jakarta governor to immediately end prolonged discrimination against the country's religious minorities following his inauguration in October.

Activists included discriminations against members of the Ahmadiyah communities in Bekasi, West Java, and in Ketapang, West Nusa Tenggara, the Sampang Shia community in East Java and the congregation of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin in Bogor, West Java in the list of cases of rights violations submitted to Jokowi through his transition team during a closed-door meeting at the team's headquarters in Central Jakarta.

"Pak Jokowi, as a governor, was widely applauded when he, despite harsh resistance by certain groups, appointed Bu Susan. He has proved that the state could not be suppressed," Hendardi, head of the human rights watchdog Setara Institute, said Wednesday, referring to Lenteng Agung subdistrict head Susan Jasmine Zulkifli.

Susan's appointment last year raised strong opposition from intolerant groups, as well as from some residents, because of her Christian background. They demanded her dismissal. However, against all odds, Jokowi stood by her.

"As soon as he is officially a president, Pak Jokowi must take concrete action and issue policies to allow members of the Ahmadiyah and the Shia communities, who have been exiled for years over accusations of blasphemy, to return home. He must also order the unsealing of the Ahmadiyah's Al- Mishbah Mosque in Bekasi and of the GKI Yasmin's church building in Bogor," Hendardi added.

Leveling accusations of blasphemy, a mob claiming to be members of the Sunni majority attacked and burned houses belonging to the Ahmadis in Ketapang nearly eight years ago, forcing the latter to live in rows of purpose-built shacks measuring two by three meters at the local Wisma Transito ever since.

Some of them have converted to Islam and officially registered "Islam" on their identity cards so as to be able to gain access to social services, including the obtaining of identity cards and birth certificates for their children, which would further expand their access to education, health care and other public services, but around 120 displaced people are still living in dire conditions at Wisma Transito, barely able to meet their basic needs.

Members of the Ahmadiyah community all across the archipelago suffered further discrimination after the government bowed to an Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) edict, which declared Ahamdiyah a deviant sect, and issued a joint ministerial decree in 2008 banning followers of the sect from observing their faith in public.

The decision by the Bekasi administration to lock down the Al-Misbah mosque last May has added to the long list of discriminations inflicted on the country's Ahmadis because of such discriminatory regulations.

For similar reasons, the Sampang Shia community was also forcibly evicted from their homes when a mob that claimed to be made up of local residents attacked their village in August 2012.

After subsequently being evicted from a local sports center, where around 161 Ahmadis took refuge following the attack, they now live in modest apartments managed by the East Java administration inside the Puspa Agro Market in Sidoarjo, hoping that one day they can return to their village.

Meanwhile, the standoff over the GKI Yasmin's building permit has been going since 2008, despite a ruling by the Supreme Court that affirmed the permit in 2010. Bowing to pressures from intolerant groups, the local administration has refused to comply with the ruling and unseal the building.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/activists-demand-jokowi-kalla-end-religious-violence.html

Land & agrarian conflicts

Activists urge release of farmers in Palembang

Jakarta Post - August 30, 2014

Ansyor Idrus, Palembang – Scores of farmers and activists convened at Palembang District Court on Thursday and demanded the release of six of their colleagues charged with damaging forests in the Dangku Wildlife Reserve.

"We call on the judges to understand that the forest areas occupied by our colleagues are located in customary forests. This is our right as a traditional community," said 60-year-old farmer and coordinator of the Dawas and Tungkal Ulu Traditional Community, Sukri, during the rally.

They also demanded that the police investigate large land transactions and illegal logging in the protected area, instead of prosecuting traditional farmers, he said.

"We regret that BKSDA [Natural Resources Conservation Agency] has allowed illegal logging and land transactions in the reserve, where dozens of illegal sawmills have operated for years," said Sukri. BKSDA is the state agency responsible for managing protected forests.

The Dangku Wildlife Reserve spans 31,735 hectares and is home to a variety of fauna, such as the Sumatran tiger, elephant, tapir, deer, honey bear, rangkong bird and black hawk.

Its flora includes a variety of timber, such as meranti, seru, tembesu, pulai, rengas, prupuk and sungkai, as well as durian, rattan and pandan.

The farmers were represented by activists from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the Nusantara Traditional Community Alliance and Indonesian Green Students.

The six defendants are M. Nr Jakfar, 73; Zulkifli, 60; Ahmad Burhanddin Anwar, 20; Samingan, 43; Sukisna, 40; and Dedi Suyanto, 30. The South Sumatra Traditional Community legal team said the six were victims of the conservation area's unclear boundaries.

"The traditional communities have been living there for hundreds of years before it was designated a conservation area by the government," said legal team member Yopie Bharata.

According to Yopie, the Constitutional Court had recognized that traditional forests were not part of state forests. The decision was a revision of Law No. 41/1999 on forests. The court also required the government to again measure overlapping forest areas to prevent disputes with communities.

The six defendants were charged with violating Law No. 18/2013 on preventing the clearing and destruction of forests, which carried a minimum sentence of three years and a fine of Rp 1.5 billion if found guilty. The individuals were caught during a joint raid by members of BKSDA, the police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and forest officials in June.

"For the past year we've warned them to not encroach and damage the conservation forest, but they did not heed us, so we were forced to act," said South Sumatra BKSDA forest security and investigation affairs head Edi Sopian recently. According to Edi, the residents felled trees and converted the area into homes and rubber farms.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/30/activists-urge-release-farmers-palembang.html

Parliament & legislation

Constitutional court begins hearing objections to law on legislative bodies

Jakarta Globe - August 28, 2014

Jakarta – A motley crew comprising women's rights activists, a legislative body with no actual powers, and a former president said to be trying to cling to power vicariously through her daughter, came together on Thursday to contest a hastily passed law they all agree brings out the worst elements of the House of Representatives.

The Constitutional Court began hearing on Thursday the objections to the Law on Legislative Bodies, known as the MD3 law, which has garnered widespread criticism since its passage by the House on July 8 – when the entire nation was fully engrossed in the lead-up to the next day's landmark presidential election.

The first to formally seek a judicial review of the law, an amended version of the legislation first issued in 2009 law, was former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), won the most votes in the April 9 legislative election.

Megawati's objection to the law is its scrapping of a previous provision that automatically gave the House speaker's post to the party with the most seats. Under the new law, the speaker's post will now be put to a vote, which, given the PDI-P's lack of a majority when the new House convenes next month, is unlikely to go to the PDI-P.

Megawati, who was widely expected to name her daughter, Puan Maharani, to the speaker's post, contends that the entire process of deliberating the amendments was flawed, and that the new mechanism for choosing the speaker was not introduced until the deliberations were at a very advanced stage, despite the importance of the issue.

No female quota

Also listed as co-plaintiffs in the challenge to the MD3 law are women's rights activists and organizations, in a coalition led by PDI-P legislator Rieke Dyah Pitaloka and former women's empowerment minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa.

They argue that the new law is unconstitutional because it does away with any mention of minimum quotas for female legislators in key posts such as commission chairs and on the ethics council and budget committee.

The 2009 law simply stated that female representation in such posts should be a reflection of their representation in their respective parties. A supporting regulation later set an arbitrary quota of 30 percent, but this was dismissed by the Constitutional Court in 2013.

Warrants

The third of the five groups challenging the MD3 law is the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), a legislative body comprising four representatives from each province whose task is to work on issues pertinent to regional development – but who in reality have no power to conceive or pass legislation, although they may occasionally be called in by the House to hear ongoing deliberations.

The DPD contends that the new law contravenes the constitutional statute giving it the power to propose and deliberate legislation – but not to pass it – although in this regarded the 2014 law is largely unchanged form the 2009 version.

Two other groups challenging the law are the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and historian J.J. Rizal, who have taken issue with a new provision requiring that law enforcement officers obtain a warrant from the ethics council before they can question a legislator in a criminal investigation.

Dozens of legislators have been grilled and subsequently tried and convicted in graft cases in recent years by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). And the new clause has been criticized as yet another attempt by the House, widely perceived as corrupt, to ward off the graft busters.

The House previously tried to do something similar by requiring that the KPK request a court warrant in order to conduct a wiretap on any individual, but that motion was struck down by the Constitutional Court.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/constitutional-court-begins-hearing-objections-law-legislative-bodies/

Crucial bills languish as House term ends

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Forty bills, including crucial amendments to the Banking Law, Oil and Gas Law and the criminal justice system, face the prospect of being dropped from deliberation by the House of Representatives as lawmakers now only have one month left in office.

The 40 bills, from 66 priority bills included in the 2014 National Legislation Program (Prolegnas), are unlikely to be passed by current lawmakers who wrap up their terms in October.

The lack of a carry-over mechanism, which would allow the new intake of lawmakers to continue deliberating the bills in the 2014-2019 term, prevent them from being passed into law in the near future. "Around 40 bills are unlikely to be passed," the House's Legislation Body (Baleg) chairman, Ignatius Mulyono, said recently.

Some of the crucial bills include amendments to the Criminal Code (KUHP) and the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). The amendments of the KUHP and KUHAP were aimed at reforming the foundation of Indonesia's legal system, much of it a legacy from Dutch colonial rule.

Previously, a number of lawmakers made a trip to several European countries on what they called a "comparative study" to examine laws on such diverse topics as black magic and cohabitation, which they said they would use as input in their efforts to amend the KUHP. The House spent an estimated Rp 6.5 billion (US$667,212) on the trip.

Another crucial bill is the amendment to the 2001 law on oil and gas, which is expected to enhance legal certainty in doing business in the sector after the dissolution of the upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas last year.

The draft amendment on the Banking Law is also unlikely to be passed, according to Ignatius. The bill is aimed at restricting the operation of foreign banks, setting a deadline for them to become legal entities in the form of Perseroan Terbatas (PT) and capping the level of foreign ownership.

Analysts have blamed the absence of a carry-over procedure for so many draft bills being left to languish.

"The House has never implemented a carry-over process, which is part of the reason for its poor legislative performance because the absence of such a system automatically leaves the deliberation of all unfinished bills back at square one when a new House is inaugurated," legal analyst Ronald Rofiandri from the Center of Indonesian Legal and Policies Studies (PSHKI) said on Sunday.

He said the absence of such a mechanism also led to wasteful budgetary spending. "It will be a waste of time and money if we must start over again with all those bills that are nearly complete," he said.

The establishment of a carry-over process in the House would also guarantee the fate of the ratification of several international conventions, including the anti-involuntary disappearance bill, whose adoption has been long overdue.

Ronald warned that the changing political landscape could be a key factor in deciding the fate of draft bills being discussed by the House.

He said that other than establishing the carry-over procedure the House also needed to set up clear guidelines on how it would amend crucial laws, including those that protected democracy and human rights as well as corruption eradication efforts.

"It is important to set up such clear legislative guidelines, which endorse democracy, legal reform and human rights," he said.

Considering that the House only has a short time left to finish its deliberations on the 40 bills, the Baleg is proposing a revision to an internal regulation in order to allow the current House to pass on the burden to the new batch of lawmakers.

"It has been common practice here, from one House's term to another, to start over from zero the discussions of bills when we failed to achieved the legislative target," said Ignatius, a Democratic Party lawmaker.

He added that it had been very costly for the House to have discussion of crucial bills interrupted every five years. He said that the House should no longer adopt a "business-as-usual" approach.

"We can't go on with the same old routine because we've already spent huge amounts of money to fund the discussion of those bills in our Prolegnas."

"We are expecting the approval of leaders of the House to change the regulation that governs the legislative process. However, we can do nothing other than remove all unresolved bills from the list if we don't secure that approval," said Ignatius.

Major bills in limbo: Bill on broadcasting, Bill on the election of regional leaders, Bill on regional administrations, Bill on land, Bill on the Supreme Court, Bill on KUHP, Bill on KUHAP, Bill on banking, Bill on oil and gas, Bill on halal certification, Bill on the management of haj, Bill on human rights, a revision to the 1999 law on human rights, Bill on gender equality, Bill on military discipline, Bill on the National Police, Bill on anti-involuntary disappearance, Bill on the rights of indigenous groups, Bill on people with disabilities, Bill on state ethics, Bill on state administration.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/25/crucial-bills-languish-house-term-ends.html

Jakarta & urban life

Ahok urged to listen to the poor as he develops the capital

Jakarta Post - August 30, 2014

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – Activists and low-income residents have criticized Deputy Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama for having no plan to include the public's participation in creating policies on urban poor issues.

Jakarta Urban Poor Network (JRMK) member Kokom, who often advocated on behalf of evicted squatters, said on Thursday that unlike most bureaucrats, Ahok was easy to meet and quick in responding to complaints from the public, but he never listened to the majority of poor people's aspirations.

Ahok will be sworn in as the new governor, replacing president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

As an example, Kokom cited the 2012 eviction of squatters in Kampung Baru, North Jakarta. Ahok relocated the squatters to Buddha Tzu Chi low-cost apartments to avoid protests, but did so without holding a dialogue with the squatters on whether they were happy with the new apartments.

Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) member Edi Saidi said Ahok was apparently of the view that the poor were troublemakers in the city and his policies had a middle-class bias.

Edi said that in the case of Pluit Dam squatters for instance, Ahok blamed the squatters as the single reason for annual flooding in the area. "He [Ahok] did not see that many other buildings near the dam also contributed to the flood," he said, referring to the Laguna apartment building.

He said when the residents protested regarding why the apartment was not also demolished, the reason given was that the apartments had certificates.

Edy, who praised Ahok for his efforts to reform the bureaucracy, said the condition had worsened since he was bad at communicating with the public.

"This has been balanced by Jokowi, who uses good communication skills with the residents. When Ahok becomes governor, he should have a deputy who brings balance," he said.

According to Edi, Ahok's efforts to tackle urban issues were target- oriented, which neglected the process. Poor say they are part of the city and should be treated as stakeholders in capital's development Ahok criticized for not being creative enough in solving the poor's problems, advised to select a good communicator as his deputy

"His solution [to the poverty issue] isn't creative. He wants all poor people to be relocated to low-cost apartments without considering their workplace, community and their children's schools," he said.

Sandyawan Sumardi, chairman of the Sanggar Ciliwung Merdeka community organization in Bukit Duri, said Ahok was a law-abiding person who did not want to give any privileges to the poor. "However, he forgets that the law is a product of political leadership," he said.

Sandyawan said if the city's leaders did not include the poor or their representatives as stakeholders in the decision-making process, the city would not progress.

"The Pluit Dam relocation is a success story for Jokowi and Ahok. However, do they and other city officials check on the lives of the evicted after they were relocated?" he said.

Marco Kusumawijaya of the Ruang Jakarta Center for Urban Studies, said criticizing Ahok was harsh. "He's a good leader, but the solutions he's put forward to the city's problems aren't creative," he said. Marco said Ahok did not believe in a participatory system, where the poor could find alternatives to their problems.

Assisted by architects, illegal dwellers in the area surrounding Pluit Dam, for example, proposed an apartment design to Ahok that matched their livelihoods, but the design was shelved. Marco said it was even harder to criticize Ahok because the middle-class, who dreamed of a well-organized city without poor people, supported him.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/30/ahok-urged-listen-poor-he-develops-capital.html

Police & law enforcement

Kompolnas member Adrianus caves in to police's ultimatum

Jakarta Post - August 30, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – After days of defending his comments about corrupt practices in police investigations, National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member Adrianus Meliala on Friday apologized and withdrew his statement in the face of National Police chief Gen. Sutarman's ultimatum.

On Friday afternoon, Sutarman held a press conference to reiterate his commitment to continue processing the defamation lawsuit against Adrianus over the latter's statement that crime investigations divisions, both at regional and police levels, were often exploited "like ATMs" by the National Police's top brass.

Sutarman lambasted Adrianus' explanation that the statement was based on public complaints and reports from police officers received by Kompolnas, which is tasked with supervising the police's performance.

"I, 100 percent, do not believe that a police investigator has reported [the issue to Kompolnas]," he told journalists at the National Police headquarters.

"The statement will engender distrust of the National Police, which eventually will spark public animosity toward the institution. Eventually, the public will refuse to cooperate with the police, and this will jeopardize the National Police," Sutarman went on.

The police chief also rejected the suggestion that the investigation was an attempt to criminalize Adrianus. "Indonesia is a country that upholds the law. Any criminal offence must be brought to book," he said.

Sutarman went on to say that Coordinating Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, who is also the chairman of Kompolnas, had given him the green light to process the case.

"I called and [he asked me to] continue. He did not want to make any comment. He has also reported [the case] to Kompolnas commissioners," he said.

Despite having been angered by Adrianus, the police chief expressed his willingness to put an end to the legal process only if the Kompolnas commissioner fulfilled his demands.

"First, he must issue an apology on all media outlets in Indonesia, particularly the channel that aired his initial statement. Second, he must retract his statement," Sutarman said.

Hours after the press conference, Adrianus withdrew his statement. "In relation to the request to revoke my statement, I can accept that. In other words, I retract my statement," he said in a telephone interview.

Adrianus previously had issued an apology in the context that his outspokenness might have come at the wrong time. "I hope this will return the situation to normal, so we can conduct our supervisory role as usual," he said.

When asked about Djoko's role in mediating the case, Adrianus said that Kompolnas commissioners had requested to meet the minister to discuss the case, but Djoko had not responded.

Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane said that Sutarman's tough measures against Adrianus showed the police's reluctance to accept criticism.

"The police are being arrogant. The force has not investigated corruption cases implicating their officers, such as the alleged bribery at the traffic corps in Jakarta and East Java," he said.

"The force has not even completed the investigation into the graft-ridden vehicle-registration project [at the National Police's Traffic Corps], a case that was taken over by the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] in 2012," Neta added.

Meanwhile, Al Araf, a defense analyst at the human-rights organization Imparsial, said the problem centered on Adrianus' statement, which oversimplified the matter.

While making the remark in response to the investigation into four West Java Police officers, who allegedly tampered with an online-gambling case and received bribes, Adrianus had made a large claim that he, himself, might not be able to stand by, Al Araf said.

"The problem is in West Java. [Adrianus should] not generalize like that. He needs accurate and valid evidence to make such a statement. However, I think there was no urgency to bring Adrianus to justice. The National Police and Kompolnas need to acknowledge and respect each other's roles," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/30/kompolnas-member-adrianus-caves-police-s-ultimatum.html

Police chief firm on investigating watchdog

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Civil society and human rights groups have strongly criticized National Police chief Gen. Sutarman for stating that the force will continue to investigate a member of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), a state-sanctioned watchdog, for speaking out in a TV interview about rampant corruption in the police.

Sutarman's target was Adrianus Meliala, also a professor of criminology at the University of Indonesia (UI).

Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane said on Wednesday that the legal battle against Adrianus reflected the police's reluctance to accept criticism and begin the long-stalled process of bureaucratic reform within the institution.

"There are scores of corruption cases implicating rank-and-file officers up to police generals, yet the force appears to keep those from public scrutiny and does not bring corrupt officers to justice," Neta said during a meeting at Kompolnas in Jakarta.

Adrianus, a former journalist, is under investigation for allegedly defaming the force in a recent interview on Metro TV, in which he said that criminal investigation divisions at the regional police level were often exploited like "automatic teller machines" by the police's top brass to enrich themselves.

The statement was made in response to the arrest of four West Java Police officers, who were caught red-handed tampering with an online gambling investigation and accepting over Rp 5 billion (US$425,894) in bribes.

Adrianus declined to withdraw his statement and insisted it was based on numerous public complaints and reports from police officers received by Kompolnas.

Sutarman said the intention of investigating a promiment professor of criminology due to the latter's comments remained intact. Sutarman said Adrianus should be held responsible for his words, despite Adrianus speaking out in his capacity as the member of Kompolnas.

"I will always accept criticism based on facts, but we cannot accept them if they are some sort of analytical view. Even my seniors – former National Police chiefs – feel these analyses are unacceptable," he said.

IPW's Neta said there were several unresolved cases, including an alleged bribery case implicating Jakarta Police Traffic Corps director Sr. Comr. Nurhadi Yuwono and East Java Police Traffic Director Sr. Comr. Rahmat Hidayat. However, despite possessing strong evidence, the National Police have not launched an investigation into the allegations.

In May, Nurhadi, Rahmat and several of their subordinates were removed from their posts for allegedly accepting hundreds of millions of rupiah in kickbacks from agencies arranging driver's licenses and vehicle registration documents.

The National Police have also been accused of dragging their feet in investigating a civil servant in Batam municipality, Riau Islands. The individual had a questionable bank balance of Rp 1.3 trillion and was allegedly linked to the fuel-smuggling business.

Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Civil Society Circle said the investigation into Adrianus gave the impression that the National Police were belittling Kompolnas, which was tasked with supervising the police's performance.

"Adrianus' summons may be the police's way of showing that they can treat Kompolnas as their little brother or subordinate," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/police-chief-firm-investigating-watchdog.html

Foreign affairs & trade

Australia concedes nothing in agreement with Jakarta sparked by spying row

Sydney Morning Herald - August 28, 2014

Michael Bachelard, Nusa Dua, Bali – Australia has given away none of its ability to spy on Indonesia with the signing of a new agreement to settle the nine-month old row between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, overseen by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, signed on Thursday a two-point addendum to the Lombok Treaty, which is called a "Joint Understanding on a Code of Conduct".

It ends the dispute that began with revelations last November of Australia's 2009 phone tapping of Dr Yudhoyono, his wife and inner circle.

The understanding promises that:

"1. The Parties will not use any of their intelligence, including surveillance capacities or other resources in ways that would harm the interests of the Parties.

"2. The Parties will promote intelligence cooperation between the relevant institutions and agencies in accordance with their respective national laws."

It also says the heads of the intelligence agencies of the two countries will "meet and consult on a regular basis", extending the intelligence cooperation already promised under the Lombok Treaty, which was signed in 2006.

There is nothing in the wording of the document, nor in the comments of Ms Bishop at the signing ceremony, to inhibit Australia's collection of intelligence, including by phone tapping, in Indonesia.

However, after the signing ceremony was complete, Dr Natalegawa insisted to journalists that the agreement meant there was "no longer any need for any irregular or unlawful gathering of information or intelligence". Enhanced cooperation between intelligence agencies meant, "there would be no need for more irregular activities," he said.

When it was suggested by journalists that the agreement did not prohibit any form of intelligence, Dr Natalegawa insisted: "We are quite satisfied; we are very satisfied with this agreement".

"I think the gathering of intelligence and the use of intelligence in a way that is detrimental to the interests of the other is something that will not be permitted under this agreement. So it is a very inclusive, a very exhaustive, even, list," he said.

The phone tapping revelations last November, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott's response to them, prompted a series of scathing tweets from Dr Yudhoyono in which he "deplored" Mr Abbott's lack of remorse. Indonesia withdrew its ambassador from Canberra for six months, suspended joint defence exercises and intelligence sharing, and withheld cooperation on some police matters, including people smuggling. Joint counter terrorism activities were not affected.

Dr Natalegawa and Ms Bishop spent the following nine months negotiating the joint understanding, then signed it on Thursday under the watchful eye of Dr Yudhoyono, who had insisted it be completed by August.

Dr Yudhoyono said he wanted it to allow his legacy as leader to be untainted by the row when his term as president ends on October 20.

"With this code that we have completed, I am hoping that the cooperation can be revived again; military to military cooperation, intelligence cooperation and many other cooperations, because before leaving my office, I am hoping personally that we could go back to our strong relations and effective cooperations," he said.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/australia-concedes-nothing-in-agreement-with-indonesia-sparked-by-spying-row-20140828-109nfy.html

Australia and Indonesia sign spying code of conduct

The Guardian (Australia) - August 28, 2014

Daniel Hurst and agencies – Australia and Indonesia's foreign ministers have signed an agreement to promote intelligence cooperation, drawing a line under the rift caused by spying revelations last year.

The document, described as a "joint understanding on a code of conduct", commits Australia and Indonesia not to use intelligence to harm the other.

Indonesia suspended aspects of cooperation with Australia after revelations published by Guardian Australia and the ABC that the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had been a target of spy activities.

A 2009 document leaked by the former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden indicated Australia's spy agencies had attempted to listen in on the personal phone calls of Yudhoyono and targeted the mobile phones of his wife, senior ministers and confidants.

The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, and her Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, spoke of the strength of the relationship as they signed the joint understanding in Bali on Thursday.

Yudhoyono witnessed the formal signing, which was greeted with applause. The outgoing president said he hoped for the close relationship with Australia to be restored.

"I wish you well with this work that you have completed, I'm hoping that cooperation can be revived again, military to military cooperation, bilateral cooperation and many others," he told the ministers. "I am hoping, personally, that we could go back to our strong relations and effective cooperation."

Natalegawa said the agreement would enhance cooperation between the two contracts, including in the area of intelligence.

"The basic message is with the signing of this code of conduct we are back to where we have been in terms of Indonesia-Australia relations," Natalegawa said.

"I have every confidence... that Indonesia-Australia relations will get back to where it has been and not only are we going to be back to where it has been but actually as a matter of fact it will be even more enhanced in the future."

Bishop said she was delighted to be signing the joint understanding as it would "further strengthen and enhance" the relationship. Both countries believed a strong intelligence partnership was vital to "defeat those who would do harm to people of Australia and the people of Indonesia".

The two-page joint understanding, released on Thursday evening, builds on the Lombok treaty between the two countries. Apart from a statement of principles and regular intelligence agency meetings, the document contains two commitments.

The first says Australia and Indonesia "will not use any of their intelligence, including surveillance capacities, or other resources, in ways that would harm the interests of the parties".

The second point says: "The parties will promote intelligence cooperation between the relevant institutions and agencies in accordance with their respective national laws and regulations."

Before leaving Australia to sign the agreement, Bishop said the government looked forward to resuming all cooperation with Indonesia on areas suspended in the wake of "the Snowden allegations". These included the areas of intelligence, defence and border protection cooperation.

Bishop said Australia's bilateral relationship with Indonesia was "one of our most important foreign policy priorities".

The Australian opposition's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, welcomed the agreement. "Given cooperation between our two nations had been suspended in critical areas like defence and people smuggling for almost nine months, we are disappointed it took the Abbott government so long to reach agreement with Indonesia," she said on Thursday.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/28/australia-and-indonesia-sign-spying-code-of-conduct

Mining & energy

Jokowi fails to persuade SBY on fuel subsidy

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2014

Hans Nicholas Jong and Ni Komang Erviani, Nusa Dua, Bali – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hosted a two-hour discussion with president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Wednesday evening.

The President expressed his readiness to help Jokowi during the coming two-month transition period, but strongly signaled that he would not raise the price of fuel, as hoped for by Jokowi.

President Yudhoyono described their discussion as the first of a series of meetings between the two leaders before Jokowi officially takes over the reins of power from Yudhoyono, who has led the country for two terms since October 2004.

Yudhoyono said they discussed various issues during the meeting, including the 2014 and 2015 state budgets, but he made it very clear that he would not discuss technical matters with his successor. Instead, he has instructed his Cabinet ministers and all relevant government officials to arrange regular meetings with Jokowi's transition team to ensure a smooth transfer of power in October.

"By opening the window of opportunity for consultations, Jokowi's transition team can communicate on official terms with the government," Yudhoyono told a press conference at The Laguna Resort and Spa in Nusa Dua.

In emphasizing that he and Jokowi had not discussed technicalities, he added that "the meeting was not a forum to negotiate".

Yudhoyono was likely referring to a request made by Jokowi to help ease the burden on the current-account deficit by raising the price of subsidized fuel.

The President did not confirm whether or not he had submitted to the request, but Jokowi indicated that they had discussed the issue of subsidized fuel prices.

"It was a two-hour meeting, so everything was discussed [including fuel prices]," Jokowi said after the meeting. The outgoing Jakarta governor added that he had put a number of questions to Yudhoyono regarding the 2015 draft state budget.

The government was granted a subsidized fuel quota of 46 million kiloliters (kl) this year, which comprises 29 million kl of Premium gasoline, 900,000 kl of kerosene and 16 million kl of diesel.

In the last few weeks, many regions had been facing shortages of subsidized fuel supplies from state-owned oil firm Pertamina, but the firm insisted that it had to ration subsidized fuel to avoid breaching the quotas before the end of the year. As of Tuesday evening, however, Pertamina lifted the restrictions of subsidized-fuel sales around the country.

The President submitted to the House of Representatives on Aug. 16 a draft budget for 2015, totaling Rp 2.02 quadrillion (US$172 billion), about 15 percent of which will be spent just on maintaining the subsidies. Yudhoyono said he had no plans to reduce energy subsidies, despite repeatedly giving his assurances that he would do his utmost to help the next government.

He has allocated Rp 363.5 trillion for energy subsidies next year, a significant rise from the Rp 350.3 trillion in this year's budget. The funding for the fuel subsidy alone will amount to Rp 291.1 trillion, compared to Rp 246.5 trillion in the 2014 budget.

"We touched on some of the details, but the technical aspects will be followed up by the transition team and the ministries," Jokowi said.

Previously on Monday, Jokowi had said that he would ask Yudhoyono to consider reducing the fuel subsidy by raising fuel prices before his term ended in October.

Yudhoyono's administration and House lawmakers are slated to pass the 2015 state budget no later than Sept. 30, while Jokowi is scheduled to be sworn in on Oct. 20.

The President's decision to maintain the exorbitant expenditure level on the fuel subsidy in the 2015 draft budget offers Jokowi only a limited amount of fiscal space with which to deliver his reform programs.

Before Wednesday's meeting, Yudhoyono was seen entering the room with Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh, Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto. Jokowi, meanwhile, was accompanied by NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/jokowi-fails-persuade-sby-fuel-subsidy.html

Pertamina lifts daily subsidized fuel quota

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2014

Rangga Prakoso & Ezra Sihite, Jakarta – State energy company Pertamina lifted daily quotas on purchases of diesel and gasoline late on Tuesday, eight days after being implemented, in a move to eliminate long lines of customers buying fuel at stations.

"Considering the situation, Pertamina, starting tonight, decided to normalize the distribution of subsidized fuel so that there will be no quota restriction on Premium and Solar anymore," Pertamina corporate communications vice president Ali Mundakir said in a press release on Tuesday night. He was referring to Pertamina's brands of low-octane gasoline and diesel.

The order to cancel the fuel restriction came as a result of a meeting led by Vice President Boediono. Chief Economics Minister Chairul Tanjung assured that there will be no long queues anymore for buying subsidized fuel at gas stations.

"In less than three days, there shall be no unnecessary lines," he said on Wednesday in a statement. "The queues were caused by the distribution. For that, the distribution flow will resume to normal since we have sufficient fuel inventories."

Ali said that Pertamina will maintain the control of the distribution based on each area's situation. "The government will decide a policy that will not hurt Pertamina," he said.

Pertamina had set the daily restrictions on concern that 2014 quotas in the distribution of subsidized fuel would be met before the end of the year. The government had reduced the nationwide quota to 46 million kiloliters from 48 million kiloliters.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/pertamina-lifts-daily-subsidized-fuel-quota/

Long queues form as fuel shortage threatens

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2014

Arya Dipa and Fadli, Bandung/Batam – A number of gas stations in cities and regencies across the country have run out of subsidized diesel and gasoline fuel stocks.

Long queues of motorcycles and cars had formed since the morning at a number of gas stations in Sukabumi city on Monday, despite signboards saying they had run out of diesel fuel and gasoline.

State oil and gas firm Pertamina's Marketing and Trade Division head Hanung Budya said the long queues had taken place in a number of areas over the past few days, especially in Cirebon, Bandung city, Bandung regency, Bogor city and Sukabumi city.

"There is no shortage of fuel, but the long queues are due to panic- buying," said Hanung after attending an energy meeting with members of Commission VII of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.

He added that the queues were likely caused by misleading information about gas stations running out of fuel. "We supervise the subsidized fuels at each gas station according to the quota that we have apparently reduced," he said.

He added that Pertamina had reduced the fuel quota nationwide this year from 48 million kiloliters (kl) to 47 million kl. "If the quota has been reduced nationally, each province will have adjustments down to the gas stations," he said.

According to Hanung, what Pertamina is carrying out is in line with the Downstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BPH Migas) for controlling subsidized fuel distribution at each gas station and the quota limitation target is effective until the end of the year.

"We have reduced subsidized premium gasoline by 5 percent, so if a gas station sells 10 tons of the fuel daily, we will cut a supply of 500 liters daily," he said.

Meanwhile, West Java Deputy Governor Deddy Mizwar has urged the community to understand the government's subsidized fuel limitation policy. "If fuel distribution is not controlled, fuel supplies will not last until the end of the year," Deddy said at the Gedung Sate provincial administrative building in Bandung on Monday.

However, Yogyakarta Governor Hamengkubuwono X has asked Pertamina to keep supplying a sufficient amount of subsidized fuels to his province until Dec. 31.

"The quota needs to be provided fairly and please do not allow scarcity of subsidized fuels to occur in Yogyakarta," he told journalists here on Monday when asked about fuel scarcity in certain places in Indonesia.

The governor said the quota system currently implemented will not be able to meet daily demands. "If the people's demands have to be met every time, the current quota system should not be used," he pointed out.

The central government had started restricting the sale of subsidized fuels in August to control the rapid consumption that has threatened the state's budget. As a result of this policy, the stock of subsidized gasoline has run out in many fuel stations in Gunungkidul regency and other parts of Yogyakarta.

Meanwhile, the reduction in the subsidized fuel quota for bunker fuel stations (SPBB) by Pertamina under the order of BPH Migas has also threatened sea transportation.

Ferry operators running from Batam, Riau Islands, to a number of provinces have reduced their operations. A number of ferry fleets will stop their operations temporarily if fuel supplies are not restored. Ferry operations at the Sekupang domestic port were reduced from Aug. 23 to Aug. 25.

Batam Ferry Operator Association (PDS) head Asmadi told The Jakarta Post on Monday that Pertamina had reduced the quota for subsidized fuel at SPBBs, usually used by ferries to refuel. The cutback has prevented ferries from serving routes taking more than 90 minutes.

"We urge supplies be restored as usual. If the situation persists, our ferry fleets would stop operating," said Asmadi. He added that the policy to reduce the supply of subsidized fuel has forced ferry operators to reduce their operations and temporarily lay off employees.

According to Asmadi, a solution offered by Pertamina to sell non-subsidized fuel at its depot in Kabil, Batam, is unfeasible because of the additional costs.

"If we do it, we must raise fares, but we cannot raise the fares as we like, as it's in the government's domain," said Asmadi. Separately, Riau Islands Pertamina Marine and Industry sales representative Saiful Arief Budiman confirmed Pertamina had reduced the fuel quota to gas stations in Batam so as to maintain supply until Aug. 31.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/26/long-queues-form-fuel-shortage-threatens.html

Bad loans in mining almost triple on low prices, ore ban

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2014

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – The fallout from a sustained decline in commodity prices and the government's recent ban on raw mineral ore exports have caused non-performing loans (NPLs) in the mining sector to jump almost twofold in the first half of the year.

Loans that became hard for banks to collect in the mining sector rose to Rp 2.9 trillion (US$247.57 million) during the first six months of 2014 from Rp 1.08 trillion in the same period of last year, according to banking statistics published recently by Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

The latest growth rate of NPLs was much higher than during the same period last year, when it rose by only 29.3 percent.

According to the statistics, joint-venture banks recorded the highest surge in NPLs of 586.6 percent, up almost seven times, followed by foreign- exchange commercial banks with 181.2 percent and state-owned banks with 92.6 percent.

Doddy Ariefianto, an economist at the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS), attributed the ballooning bad loans on the existing pressure on commodity prices amid soaring expenses. "The outlook for the mining sector remains bleak because of the low international prices," he said on Monday.

Thermal coal prices at Australia's Newcastle port, for example, have continued to decline, standing at $73.66 per metric ton in July 2014 – the lowest since September 2009. The Newcastle Index is used as a price benchmark for Indonesia, Asia's biggest exporter of thermal coal for power plants.

According to the report, total outstanding loans for the mining sector stood at Rp 116.63 trillion in the first half, climbing 7 percent on a yearly basis. Lending grew by 17.3 percent in the same period of last year.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) highlighted the declining prices and soaring expenses in the mining sector in its latest report, Value Creation in Mining 2013: The Productivity Imperative. It noted that commodity prices had fallen on average by 5 percent annually between 2009 and 2012.

Marc Schmidt of the Singapore-based BCG said rising costs were one of the reasons behind the drop in the financial performance of Indonesia's mining companies. Almost all Jakarta-listed miners are suffering from financial woes as a result of the business slowdown.

Coal miner PT Berau Coal Energy, for example, reported a net loss of $10.18 million in the first quarter of this year, which led to worries over its ability to pay its debts.

Berau now has $500 million guaranteed senior secured notes due to mature in 2017 and $450 million in bonds, issued by its subsidiary, Berau Capital Resources II Pte. Ltd.

Bank Mandiri chief economist Destry Damayanti said the escalating NPLs in the mining sector were expected, particularly after the ban on raw mineral ore exports was introduced in January.

Under the policy, miners are required to process their commodities in domestic smelters before exporting. While coal is exempted from the policy, the ban has particularly impacted producers of nickle, bauxite and copper.

Destry warned that the steep rise in NPLs was alarming, and suggested that banks needed to be very cautious when disbursing loans to the sector. "However, the amount of loan funds channeled to miners is still relatively low, at around 3.4 percent of the overall outstanding loans already disbursed by banks," she said.

Indonesian Mining Association vice chairman Tony Wenas projected that the mining sector would continue to suffer from the low prices and export ban in the coming months. "A policy to cap coal output may help improve coal prices, but the situation will still largely depend on global demand."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/26/bad-loans-mining-almost-triple-low-prices-ore-ban.html

Analysis & opinion

New Indonesian president offers hope for West Papua

Eureka Street - August 30, 2014

Pat Walsh – Since its foundation as a modern state in the 1940s, Indonesia has been plagued by a series of conflicts that have threatened the dream of a united republic, inflicted grievous human rights violations and poisoned perceptions of the place, not least in Australia. In recent years, these have included independence movements in Timor-Leste, Aceh and West Papua and violent communal unrest in central Sulawesi.

West Papua is the last of these major conflicts to be tackled. Though they involved the spilling of much blood and many secondary issues remain, each of the other issues has been resolved with varying degrees of success. Only West Papua, perhaps the most complex and intractable of them all, remains. Attempts at a settlement by previous post-Suharto presidents, particularly Gus Dur and SBY, have failed. It is now the turn of Indonesia's incoming president, Jokowi, to address the issue.

Jokowi is well positioned to act. He is expected to focus more on getting Indonesia's house in order than on world affairs and he has already clearly indicated that this agenda includes West Papua. West Papua was the first place he visited at the start of his election campaign where he underlined a personal connection by taking his wife Iriana with him; her grandfather taught there and she is named after Indonesia's original name for the region. He acknowledges the need to address West Papua's serious development deficit including the cost-of-living disparity between eastern and western Indonesia and has committed to lifting the standards of education, health and the public service that are his trademark concerns and are central to the interests of the poor in West Papua.

Jokowi comes to the issue fresh and free of political baggage and hang-ups. He is not part of the old regime that has caused such grief to West Papuans over the last 50 years. He has turned dialogue, a modus operandi also advocated by West Papuans, into an effective art form. In one of his presidential debates with Prabowo, an ex-Kopassus commander, he pointedly highlighted his preference for dialogue over military solutions.

West Papuans seem to like what's on offer. Roughly 70% of voters across the region's two provinces opted for Jokowi over Prabowo. Experts predict that Jokowi's vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, who is credited with helping settle the conflicts in Aceh and Poso referred to above, is also keen to try his hand in West Papua.

The old guard can be expected to resist Jokowi on West Papua including his belief that foreign media and human rights organisations should be allowed to visit the region. But he will enjoy the support of many Indonesians who share his concern for West Papua. The issue is no longer off-limits in Indonesia. Indonesians are aware of the many challenges to be addressed. Regularly reported in the mainstream media, these include clashes between the military and the OPM, human rights, HIV-AIDS, domestic violence, ethnic fracas and the Freeport mine. Communications, including social media, tourism and travel in and out of the region are routine and non-Papuan civil society is better educated today about the history of Indonesia's annexation, the dubious legal basis of that claim and related West Papuan grievances such as fears of being marginalised in their own land.

Though Jokowi was conspicuously silent on Timor-Leste during the presidential campaign, Indonesia's former 27th province holds, I believe, important lessons for him in relation to West Papua. One obvious lesson is not to place too much store on defections from the OPM. Like Nicholas Jouwe, the co-founder of the OPM who was recently awarded a distinguished service medal by President SBY in Jakarta, some senior Timorese also collaborated at various points in their campaign.

Another is that West Papua, like Timor-Leste previously, is not just a developmental challenge. Indonesia spent heavily on development in Timor- Leste but neither this nor the offer of special autonomy in 1999, of the kind since implemented in West Papua, addressed the underlying political and identity grievances of the Timorese. Though much needed, development recipes on their own will not be enough to meet all West Papua's aspirations. Jokowi would also be well advised to listen to the Protestant and Catholic churches in Papua. They represent well over 70% of the population and, as with the church in Timor-Leste, are an influential and credible force.

Settlement of the West Papua issue can only come from Indonesia and the Jokowi presidency offers the best prospects for this in half a century. Creating the conditions in which inclusive dialogue based on mutual respect can occur will tax the political imagination and creativity of all involved. The trust and goodwill Jokowi enjoys, including in West Papua, make for an excellent start to this important enterprise.

Source: http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=41921#.VAANb1bZFZg

Widodo scores presidency but direction still unclear

Red Flag - August 29, 2014

Max Lane – The Indonesian Constitutional Court has rejected all components of a legal challenge by Prabowo Subianto to the July presidential election results.

The Electoral Commission declared Joko Widodo winner, 53 percent to 47 percent. The margin was just over 8 million votes out of around 120 million, with 55 million abstentions. The Constitutional Court's decision ends the legal challenges.

The political atmosphere in Indonesia, especially Jakarta, is now pregnant with expectations and questions. There are two foci for these. The first is related to the kind of cabinet Widodo will form and his first policy initiatives. The second is related to whether the coalition of five parties that supports Prabowo will remain intact. This coalition controls 63 percent of the parliamentary seats. The Indonesian political system is semi-presidential semi-parliamentary, in which the parliament retains significant power.

Widodo is a member of and was nominated as a presidential candidate by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), headed by Megawati Sukarnoputri. His nomination was also supported by the Nasional Demokrat (Nasdem) party, headed by billionaire media tycoon Surya Paloh, and by the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Different influences

However, Widodo has never been an integrated member of the PDIP and has attracted support from outside these parties, especially from the technocrat intelligentsia and the NGO development technocracy, comprising former activists. There are various strands of thinking in this milieu.

There are also business associates and colleagues of Widodo who have been involved in his political rise. As a consequence of his relative non- integration with any single political bloc, there is still a lack of clarity about the balance within his government – although it should be noted that none question Indonesia's general capitalist economic policy framework.

Widodo has appointed a transition team that will advise on preparing for government. This has given hints of the power balance. Team head Rini Suwandi was a former minister in the Megawati government of 2001-04 and is intimately connected to one of the biggest conglomerate groups in Indonesia, the automobile assembly giant Astra. She also heads her own large company.

A second controversial appointment was former lieutenant general Hendropriyono, a close confidant of Megawati. Hendropriyono is accused by human rights organisations of being responsible for massacres of peasants in Sumatra in the New Order period and of being involved, or accountable, for the murder of human rights activist Munir, when head of the Indonesian intelligence service under Megawati. Widodo defended this appointment, saying that the accusations were unproven.

A third appointment was former general Luhut Panjaitan, a business associate of Widodo.

Supporters of Widodo from the technocrat-intelligentsia milieu, however, also claim that Widodo is drawing on their expertise. This milieu was associated with a range of non-party campaign volunteer groups – in Indonesian, relawan – that were active in supporting Widodo, especially on social media. Widodo has called on the relawan to continue to act as a channel of information from the grass roots to the presidency.

Which will be most influential, within the pro-capitalist policy framework of the government – the PDIP, Nasdem and PKB political elites, the big business groups associating with Widodo or the technocratic intelligentsia? This is what observers and participants alike are asking.

Widodo also has recently claimed that he has entered discussions with two parties in the Prabowo coalition: the National Mandate Party and Yudhoyono's Democrats. These are the two parties closest in terms of economic ideology to Widodo and his vice president Yusuf Kalla. There have been no statements from those two parties confirming discussions.

Policy issues mentioned as possible indicators are whether the new government will further reduce fuel subsidies and thus increases prices and push up inflation (and thereby gain some tax revenues) and whether it will open the property market to foreign investment.

Opposition coalition

The initial commentary from most of the pro-Jokowi (as Widodo is known) media after the 9 July election predicted that the coalition of six parties that supported Subianto would quickly collapse after his defeat. These parties include Subianto's own party, Gerindra; the old Suhartoist Party Golkar, headed by Indonesia's richest tycoon Aburizal Bakrie; the Democrat Party, headed by incumbent president Yudhoyono; and three conservative Islamic parties – the National Mandate Party, the United Development Party and the Justice and Welfare Party.

The chairperson of the National Mandate Party, Hatta Rajasa, was Subianto's vice presidential running mate. Rajasa also was Yudhoyono's chief economic policy minister for the last four years and is also his son-in-law.

To date, all these parties have remained solid as a coalition. They have announced that they will use their numbers in the new parliament, to be sworn in on 1 October, to obtain all the key parliamentary positions. They have indicated they will vote to form a commission to investigate the conduct of the presidential elections. There are some indications that they could also boycott the swearing in of Widodo and Kalla in late October.

However, it is not impossible that once they have flexed their muscle in parliament, some of them may be open to doing deals with the Widodo-PDIP- Nasdem-PKB coalition.

In the few weeks since the election, the several small socialist groups in Indonesia have been relatively quiet, judging from their websites. The most visibly active are those that have aligned with the technocratic- intelligentsia milieu who are backing Jokowi. They have been holding seminars and forums to discuss how they can "escort" Widodo down the right path – seemingly of a human rights and welfare state oriented capitalism. It is likely that other Left groups will start to clarify their positions once the various forces in elite politics further clarify their stands.

[Dr Max Lane is a lecturer in politics at Victoria University, Melbourne and regularly visits Indonesia.]

Source: http://www.redflag.org.au/article/widodo-scores-presidency-direction-still-unclear

Geothermal breakthrough

Jakarta Post Editorial - August 28, 2014

Indonesia gained new momentum for harnessing its 28,000 megawatts (MW) of potential geothermal power after the House of Representatives surprisingly approved on Tuesday a new Geothermal Law, which will allow geothermal development in conservation forests and the pricing of geothermal power according to its economic costs.

The new law stipulates that geothermal exploratory drilling and development are not categorized as mining operations. Hence geothermal development in conservation forests, where more than 50 percent of the country's geothermal resources are located, does not violate the 1999 Forestry Law.

Yet more encouraging is that the new legislation, which replaces the old one enacted in 2003, will centralize the licensing for geothermal development and the tendering of geothermal concessions at the central government to turn away unqualified bidders intending only to sell the concessions for quick profits.

Geothermal has been one of the best alternative sources of clean, renewable energy to diversify Indonesia's energy mix, which still depends mainly on fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. It also exacts low and stable electricity-transmission costs. Moreover, around 14,000 MW of potential is found in Sumatra, while there is 9,000 MW in Java and Bali, as well as 2,000 MW in Sulawesi, which form the largest concentration of consumers.

But thus far only 1,300 MW of the 28,000 MW potential has been tapped due to regulatory and bureaucratic barriers. This is way off the 4,700 MW target set under the second-phase 10,000 MW new power generation capacity, to be built within five years.

The new rule on the pricing of geothermal power is crucial because geothermal development, due to the heavy up-front investment it requires, depends mainly on long-term price security and sales contracts. Big geothermal investors in Indonesia such as Chevron estimate that the drilling costs for just one geothermal well could reach US$8-9 million and the construction of a geothermal power plant could take more than five years. But the initial high cost of geothermal plants is offset by their low, long-term operating (including maintenance) costs.

Geothermal executives contend that drilling rigs and actual power plants have small footprints. A concern, however, is that keyhole operations in conservation forests can have a much more invasive legacy as power plants require access roads. These enable local residents to move into previously inaccessible parts of the forests to cut down trees. This is where coordination and cooperation with regional administrations is vital.

After the removal of the regulatory and bureaucratic barriers and the introduction of a viable pricing policy, geothermal projects will become more attractive to lenders, especially as the 2010 Electricity Law also allows power producers to not only generate but also transmit, distribute and sell electricity to consumers without cooperating with state electricity company PLN, but still under a government-controlled tariff system.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/28/editorial-geothermal-breakthrough.html

President Yudhoyono's blind side: Religious violence in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2014

Phelim Kine – Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono broke his long silence on violent religious extremism the other day, describing it in an Aug. 21 interview as "shocking" and "becoming out of control."

To the dismay of the many Indonesians who have fallen victim to the country's rising tide of religious intolerance, Yudhoyono's concerns were not for plight of the country's besieged religious minorities, but rather a response to the actions of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. That group's well-documented brutality and indications that Indonesians are joining its ranks is certainly cause for worry.

But Yudhoyono's comments betray a troubling lack of concern about the acts of harassment, intimidation and violence suffered by Indonesia's own religious minorities from Islamist militants during his decade as president. Instead, Yudhoyono downplayed such incidents in Indonesia by claiming it is "understandable that sometimes there will be conflict between different groups."

That is more than gross understatement. Indeed, it could summarize the Yudhoyono government's sorry record in adequately confronting religious intolerance and related violence during his administration. During the last decade, there have been numerous incidents of harassment, threats and violence against religious minorities. Indonesia's Setara Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Indonesia, documented 220 cases of violent attacks on religious minorities in 2013, an increase from 91 such cases in 2007.

The targets? The many Christian congregations, Shiites and the Ahmadiyah. These groups have become targets of Sunni militant groups who label most non-Muslims as "infidels," and Muslims who do not adhere to Sunni orthodoxy as "blasphemers." Even Indonesia's atheists live in fear of such groups.

The increasing violence against religious minorities – and the government's failure to take decisive steps against it – does more than put the lie to Yudhoyono's sunny assessment of Indonesia as a country in which "We respect all religions." The government's inaction violates guarantees of religious freedom in the Indonesian constitution and Indonesia's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia ratified in 2005.

Indonesia's Shiite minority has had particular reason to worry in recent weeks. In April, the Anti-Shiite Alliance, a gathering of militant Sunni organizations, attracted thousands to hear speeches advocating "jihad" against the country's Shiite minority. Among the participants were members of one of the country's most violent Islamist organizations, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). The FPI that day opted for a uniform of black ski masks and camouflage jackets stenciled with the term "Heresy Hunters" to leave no question about their intentions.

But while Yudhoyono frets publicly about the far-away threat of the Islamic State, he and his government have allowed the FPI and kindred groups to carry out violence against religious minorities with near impunity. A June 2008 FPI attack on representatives of the interfaith National Alliance for Freedom of Faith and Religion at the base of the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta injured dozens. More recently, the FPI forced the closure of an Ahmadiyah mosque in West Java in October 2013 after threatening to burn it down. Rather than confront the FPI, Yudhoyono and his government have chosen to coddle it. On Aug. 22, 2013, Indonesia's then-religious affairs minister, Suryadharma Ali, opted to make the keynote speech at the FPI's annual congress in Jakarta at which he praised the group as a "national asset."

But Yudhoyno's failure to protect religious freedom goes far beyond his acceptance of the depredations of Islamist thugs. On multiple occasions in recent years, police and government officials have been passively or actively complicit in incidents of harassment, intimidation or violence against religious minorities.

On Feb. 6, 2011, police stood by while a group of some 1,500 Islamist militants attacked 21 members of Cikeusik's Ahmadiyah community who were holding a prayer meeting in a private home. The militants bludgeoned to death three Ahmadiyah men and seriously injured five others. A court sentenced 12 of the perpetrators to token prison sentences of three to six months. Adding insult to injury, the court also sentenced an Ahmadiyah man to a six-month prison term for merely attempting to defend himself. Police have yet to publicly release the results of their internal investigation into the attack.

Moreover, Indonesian government officials and security forces have often facilitated harassment and intimidation of religious minorities by militant Islamist groups. That includes making explicitly discriminatory statements, refusing to issue building permits for religious minorities' houses of worship, and pressuring congregations to relocate. Such actions are in part made possible by discriminatory laws and regulations, including a blasphemy law that officially recognizes only six religions, and house of worship decrees that give local majority populations significant leverage over religious minority communities.

Indonesian government institutions have also played a role in the violation of the rights and freedoms of the country's religious minorities. They include the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem) under the Attorney General's Office. Also, the semi-official Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has eroded religious freedom by issuing decrees and fatwas (religious rulings) against members of religious minorities and pressing for the prosecution of "blasphemers."

Yudhoyono will step down as Indonesia's president in late October, leaving a toxic legacy of rising religious intolerance and related violence.

A key challenge of his successor, Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, will be to take immediate steps to recognize and reverse the malign impact of Yudhoyono's decade of failure in protecting religious freedom. Prioritizing protection for the country's religious minorities and a zero-tolerance policy for abuses by Islamist militants will be a vital step toward that goal.

[Phelim Kine is a former Jakarta-based foreign correspondent and the deputy director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch.]

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/president-yudhoyonos-blind-side-religious-violence-indonesia/

Book & film reviews

The Look of Silence gets Venice talking, but verdict from Indonesia pending

The Guardian (Australia) - August 28, 2014

Xan Brooks, Venice – The outside world came to gatecrash the glamour on the opening night of the Venice film festival. In the evening sunshine, local police were summoned to shield the red-carpet arrivals from a boisterous protest by 2,000 public sector workers. Elsewhere, the dignitaries sought shelter in front of The Look of Silence, a stark, unsparing documentary about the Indonesian genocide. The protesters' air- horns and placards merely pointed the way to the horrors within.

The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer's follow-up to his Bafta-winning The Act of Killing, in which he cajoled elderly killers into memorialising their crimes via a series of self-styled gangster movies and musicals. This time, the director has switched the focus to spotlight the survivors and to honour the dead. He examines the ongoing consequences of Indonesia's 1965 military coup and shows that its worst offenders remain at large and unpunished.

"The military dictatorship is still in power," Oppenheimer explained. "So much has not changed in Indonesia. We hope the film will help that change."

Oppenheimer's film charts the investigation of Adi Rukun, a middle-aged optometrist whose elder brother was killed during his homeland's purge of supposed communist sympathisers. Rukun goes door-to-door through his family's rural district, fitting his subjects with corrective lenses and interviewing the guilty. The route leads him from the former leader of the death squad who admits to drinking the blood of his victims to the local politician who boasts that he has never lost an election. Some subjects flinch when confronted with their crimes. Others accuse Rukun of indulging in "communist activity".

"I only wanted the people to admit what they did and acknowledge they were wrong, so that we would somehow be able to forgive each other," Rukun told reporters in Venice. "We live in a community that is split by mutual suspicion and fear. I really want this to end."

Oppenheimer claimed that Rukun risked his own life by appearing on camera. "The film exposes Adi Rukun, who is a man of extraordinary dignity and courage, to grave personal danger," he said. "To mitigate this risk, his family has now had to move to another part of Indonesia, thousands of miles away." Most of the film's Indonesian crew, he added, are not named in the credits: "The crew remain anonymous to protect their own safety."

Official response to The Act of Killing, Oppenheimer's previous documentary, has thus far been muted. The director claimed that, having initially ignored it, the authorities were finally forced to make a statement after the film was nominated for an Oscar last January.

"They released an admission that basically said they that what had happened [during the anti-communist purges] was wrong, but that they would deal with it in their own time," Oppenheimer said. "That was a huge change, even if it was reluctantly done."

Born in Texas but based in Denmark, Oppenheimer has spent the past 10 years researching the Indonesian genocide. With the completion of The Look of Silence, the director finally feels ready to put the subject behind him. He conceded, however, that the decision was not entirely his to make. He has made too many enemies and rattled too many skeletons. "I'm persona non grata in Indonesia now," he said. "I know I will no longer be able to return."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/28/the-look-of-silence-gets-venice-talking-but-verdict-from-indonesia-still-pending

The Look of Silence, review: 'astonishing'

The Telegraph (UK) - August 28, 2014

Robbie Collin – In 1965, the Indonesian government was overthrown by the country's armed forces, who embarked on an instant and merciless purge of Communists, their sympathisers and the ethnic Chinese: in reality, anyone who was less than volubly supportive of the new regime. Within a year, at least half a million people had been slaughtered. The Look of Silence is about one of them.

Joshua Oppenheimer has made a follow-up film to his acclaimed documentary The Act of Killing that's as different from that film as a microscope is from a proscenium arch: while his Oscar-nominated 2013 picture showed the death squads' leaders gleefully re-enacting the butchery in a series of surreal, ghoulish theatrical tableaux, this second film zooms in close, finding unfolding fractal patterns of horror-within-horror in the story of a single victim's plight.

Ramli, a supposed enemy of the new state, was cornered by a squad of soldiers and stabbed until his intestines started spilling out of his side. He fled to his parents' home in the sleepy countryside close to the city of Medan in North Sumatra where a death squad led by two men, Amir Hasan and Inong, picked him up.

They promised his mother they would take him to a hospital: instead, they threw him in a van with other captives, drove him to a nearby river, stripped him naked, carved his flesh with a machete, listened to him plead for mercy, then chopped off his genitals and watched him bleed out, before rolling his body into the water.

We know this because Oppenheimer filmed the two men describing the murder, while laughing, in 2004, standing on the spot where they carried it out. And Ramli's younger brother Adi also knows this, because when we first see him, he's watching Oppenheimer's tape.

The Look of Silence's title really describes Adi's face in that early shot when he watches the tape: his eyes shine and his lips are slightly parted, but he doesn't say a word. Instead, we hear the sound of crickets chirping in the bushes outside: a cartoon sound-effect for silence, which Oppenheimer turns up loud, drawing attention to the cacophony of things that are being unsaid.

Throughout the film, Adi goes to confront various men, now frail and mostly toothless, who were involved in his brother's killing: he's an optometrist, and often interviews them during eye-tests while they wear a trial frame and lenses. The symbolism here is obvious and ingenious: by confronting these decrepit thugs with his brother's story, Adi is trying to correct their self-perception; make them look clearly at their deeds for perhaps the first time.

Some men respond to Adi's calm questioning with mild irritation, others with thinly veiled death threats. At one point, Inong starts talking about drinking human blood during the purge as a means to stay sane, and you assume he's talking figuratively until he describes the process by which the blood was collected: a glass tumbler held under the jugular, which filled up in a second or two when the throat was slit. "Human blood tastes both salty and sweet, did you know that?" Inong asks, one eye twitching strangely, with gentleness in his voice. Again, you realise a look of silence is the only sane response.

The Act of Killing was about the mechanisms of moral delusion – mass- murderers escaping the implications of their pasts by turning them into performance – but The Look of Silence connects the dots back up, and turns the focus back on culpability and complicity. The extent to which Adi's community conspired in the murder of his brother is shattering, and when the end credits roll, and you notice most of the crew's names are listed as "anonymous", the threat seems fresh and immediate. (One of Adi's interviewees, a man directly involved in the 1965 purge, is the current head of his local government.) This is an essential companion piece to Oppenheimer's earlier film; another astonishing heart-of-darkness voyage into the jungle of human nature.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/11060561/The-Look-of-Silence-review-astonishing.html

Act of Killing director's second film is as horrifically gripping as first

The Guardian (Australia) - August 27, 2014

Peter Bradshaw, Venice – Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence is a stunning companion piece, or possibly narrative development, to that extraordinary 2012 documentary The Act Of Killing. Its enigmatic title may indicate the numb silence which is the only possibly reaction to a certain kind of savagery and inhumanity, but perhaps mean the way that a nation sees but not see, sees in such a selective and slanted way as to suppress meaning, sees in such a way as to smother dissent into silence.

The Act of Killing showed Oppenheimer tracking down the grinning, ageing members of the Indonesian civilian militia who with the tacit approval of the army and government carried out the wholesale slaughter of a million suspected communists after the 1965 Suharto coup; sensationally, Oppenheimer persuaded them to re-act their crimes in the styles of their favourite movies.

This technique – a veritable Marat/Sade of 20th-century history – exposed the nature of the offence more effectively than traditional documentary procedure. It revealed that the barbarity was not merely an act of ideological brutality, but group dysfunction, a convulsion of mass psychosis, and that the perpetrators were moreover entirely unrepentant. Indeed, the idea of submitting their acts to some kind of ethical assessment or justification had never occurred to them. Oppenheimer has a claim to have made a sort of history with that film.

This new movie is far more conventional, and conventionally confrontational than the previous one, and the people involved seem at last to have grasped how horrendous they are appearing and so there is more of the familiar embattled-interviewee choreography: the demands to stop filming, the shrill addresses to the director "Josh" behind the camera, and the removal of the radio microphone.

But this film is just as piercingly and authentically horrifying as before. It is filmed with exactly the same superb visual sense, the same passionate love of the Indonesian landscape, and dialogue exchanges are captured with the same chilling crispness.

The person at its centre is Adi, an opthalmologist in his early 40s who travels around making housecalls, fitting people for spectacles – and so the imagery of seeing and willed myopia is established from the outset. Adi's brother Ramli was killed by the militia just before Adi was born, a petty criminal who was dragged out of prison along with hundreds of others and slaughtered so that the militia could boost their own version of a "bodycount" a righteous tally of supposed communist-slayings. Ramli was butchered in various sickening ways which the perpetrators chillingly boast about.

Oppenheimer has the killers on video tape doing just that – he appears to have discovered these stomach-turning characters around 10 years ago, while researching The Act of Killing. We see Adi impassively watching their giggling performance on television, and then going around to interview the killers, in some cases fitting them with glasses, in interview situations set up by Oppenheimer. Incredibly, "Josh" is still not especially suspected or loathed by these villains, and they are of course utterly indifferent to his film and how it has been received.

With great calm and dignity, Adi sets out the facts, and then he – and we – have to listen to good deal of sub-Nuremberg bluster about obeying orders, or a sort of introspective silence, perhaps indicating the glimmerings of conscience or a strategic retreat into Alzheimer's. But often there is the same cackle that this was something that needed to be done.

We get one macabre detail. Many of them seemed to believe that drinking the blood of their victims would prevent them from going mad. Just as Tom Lehrer believed that Kissinger's Nobel Peace Prize rendered satire obsolete, so this blood-drinking detail renders futile any kind of political or psychological analysis. It is pure reactionary-murderous voodoo, and it does appear to be believed by people who, perhaps, deep in their heart, recognised that they had already gone mad. And what is still more painful is that Adi finds that his now 82-year-old uncle was a prison guard who colluded in the killings.

The extra stratum of heartbreak in Adi's life is his parents: they had him in late middle-age when Ramli was killed, and seemed to regard his birth as some kind of providential divine gesture of comfort. But now his mother and father are extremely old, over 100, his father blind (that image again) and wizened, and his poor stooped mother dedicated to looking after this tiny little creature. It is as if they are cursed never to die, a terrible Struldbrugian existence. The horror they have gone through lives interminably on.

After The Act of Killing, Oppenheimer was criticised in some quarters for sensationalism and exploitation and it is conceivable that his unsparing view of Adi's desperately unhappy parents will expose this director to more objections on this score. For me, the film about Adi, his parents and his homeland has a tragic dimension, and it is obvious that he has still only scratched the surface. The Look of Silence – like The Act of Killing – is arresting and important film-making.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/aug/27/the-look-of-silence-review-act-of-killing-venice-film-festival