Since incorporation into Indonesia in 1969, outside access to West Papua – the western half of New Guinea, has been tightly restricted amid a simmering separatist conflict.

However, in May, Indonesia's new president Joko Widodo signalled restrictions on foreign media access to West Papua were being lifted. I'd been declined a visa to visit West Papua in the past, but decided to give it another crack.

The process for obtaining a journalist visa involved jumping through a large number of bureaucratic hoops, but after a few months securing the required supporting documents and submitting relevant applications, I was approved and so too, my colleague Koroi Hawkins.

Door slightly open

We travelled into West Papua by land, across the border from Papua New Guinea – that arbitrary straight line running along the 141st meridian east, down the middle of the huge island just north of Australia.

West Papua is tightly guarded by Indonesian military and police, with reports of killings and human rights abuses against the local population commonplace over the last few decades.

Once past the military checkpoints, the stark contrasts between Indonesia and PNG became clear: productive farmland, better infrastructure, thousands of scooters. Basically – more money. As we entered Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, Indonesian cultural and religious influence was everywhere.

Melanesian culture on the other hand was barely visible. Like the West Papuans, it simply seemed overpowered, outnumbered.

A main reason: the Indonesian state programme called transmigration, whereby people from over-populated parts of the republic are resettled in less crowded regions like West Papua. Transmigration has been changing the face of West Papuan society over the last two decades.

One evening in a house in suburban Kota Raja, the secretary general of the Papua Customary Council, Leo Imbiri, told us that every week up to four ships arrived in Papua with migrants.

"One big ship can bring about one to three thousand people. So if one week, there are four big ships coming to Papua, it means in one week we have up to twelve thousand people come to Papua," he said.

Mr Imbiri paused, and the sound of the call to prayer at a nearby mosque filled the silence.

"It is alarming for us," he went on, "not only for the culture, but for the future life of the Papuan people, because if there is demographic change in Papua, you will (have) loss in political control, economic, social, everything you will lose."

The Melanesian lifestyle and customs are struggling to adapt to a teeming Asian society with an expansive economy. Papua's Governor Lukas Enembe warned that West Papuans may vanish as a people within twenty years if transmigration and other forms of marginalisation continued at their current pace.

Jakarta's development drive

Despite the strong opposition, Jakarta is persevering with transmigration, saying Indonesians have the right to move around the republic freely.

A leading government representative on development in Papua, Judith Dipodiputro, argued that the influx of migrants helped West Papuans diversify their skills and become more competitive.

We visited Mrs Dipodiputro at a major new market construction in Sentani where she was overseeing the Jokowi government's programme aimed at fostering economic and social development among Papuan grassroots communities.

"The need for not modernisation, but to help them integrate into modern market mechanism is there," she explained. "The idea is that the communities have to be part of the supply chain that exists in Papua, and hopefully one day outside Papua. And this supply chain begins in their village."

The Phasaa market is what Mrs Dipodiputro called an integrated complex, where the government was trying to meet all the cultural and welfare challenges, and empowering "the Mamas", who she described as the natural leaders of productivity.

She expected Jakarta's development drive to help grow satisfaction among Papuans with being part of Indonesia. "Because the majority of our people are grassroots," said Mrs Dipodiputro. "The problem of Papua is not unique to Papua. We have poverty, and education, lack of competitiveness, lack of basic infrastructure all over Indonesia."

However, West Papuans felt their efforts to adapt to "modern mechanisms" were hamstrung by the rather backwards structures imposed on them. According to Septer Manufandu of the Papua People Network, if West Papuans complained about their basic rights not being recognised, they were often branded as separatists.

Speaking out

There are about 50 known political prisoners detained in West Papua. The most prominent West Papuan political prisoner is Filep Karma, who we visited at Abepura Prison where he is eleven years into a fifteen year jail term for raising the banned Papuan nationalist flag.

President Jokowi recently freed a handful of Papuan political prisoners but Filep Karma refused the government offer of a pardon because he said it would involve admitting guilt for a crime he didn't commit.

Quite freely, he walked us out to the carpark to say farewell, reiterating that he would continue to campaign peacefully for independence. We were later told that after we had left, intelligence officers emerged and grilled prison staff about our visit.

The climate of fear is pervasive, and numerous West Papuans we met did not want to talk on tape, for fear of repercussions. But plenty did speak, including those simply trying to carve out a constructive living under difficult circumstances.

On a Waena roadside, we met Barbalina Mina Mandenas, a medical student who wanted to help improve HIV/AIDS infection rates in Papua, which are the worst in Indonesia.

"Once graduated, I will share my knowledge," she said, "so the most important thing for me is to do something for the HIV/AIDs, prevent West Papuan people (getting infected)."

Getting on with life

Franzalbert Joku is a West Papuan who in recent years has returned to live in his homeland after years in exile campaigning for independence. On his front porch near Lake Sentani, he told us life was far better today for West Papuans than during the years under President Suharto's rule.

"Even as citizens of Indonesia, we have a right to exist in our own land," he said. "Whether we are part of Indonesia as a province or as a self governing region, we have that right."

Mr Joku, who once felt forced to flee Indonesia, said that Papua had now gone through its worst. "I say this without meaning to undermine my brothers and sisters who are still out there in the jungle or in other countries advocating outright independence. "I just look at the issues," he explained, "and try to look at what options are within the realm of possibilities."

Getting into West Papua as a journalist was something I previously thought was not possible. The Indonesian government must be credited with opening the door a little. The success of the Indonesian government's efforts to open up Papua depend on whether the security forces will allow it to continue.

On our way out of West Papua at the border, soldiers asked for selfies with us before we walked nervously, across the line and back into PNG.

It remains to be seen whether the smiling soldiers will accept the veil being raised on West Papua, or if greater access to the troubled province gives them more problems than it solves. But for the moment – it's a start.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/201777672/insight-for-8-november-2015-west-papua

Three questioned on French journalist's visit to Papua

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

National – West Papua National Committee (KNPB) deputy chairman Agus Kossay and two other Papuans, Bano Kalaka and Nodi Hilka, were interrogated on Friday in connection with the arrival of French journalist Marie Dhumieres in Papua on Oct. 1.

"This morning, I was summoned by the Associated Mission Aviation [AMA]. I arrived at the AMA office at 9 a.m.," Agus told tempo.co after his interrogation. He said that he, along with Bano and Nodi, was interrogated by officials from the Papua Immigration Office and an unidentified security institution.

According to Agus, they were questioned for 30 minutes about Dhumieres' activities while covering the inauguration of the executive board of the KNPB's Bintang chapter in Okhika, Papua, on Oct. 1., and about Dhumieres' journalistic activities in Okhika in general.

Agus explained that the French journalist had come to Papua after she had been informed that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had allowed foreign journalists to enter to carry out their work.

"The journalist came to Papua on her own initiative. We did not invite her. "The journalist left Okhika on Oct. 2., and went home," Agus added.

Dhumieres arrived in Okhika on Oct. 1 onboard the same AMA plane as the KNPB's leader, Victor Yeimo, and Agus Kossay. The pair were travelling to Okhika to inaugurate the executive board of the Bintang chapter of the KNPB, an organization considered by many to be a supporter of the Papuan separatist movement.

In a press release received by tempo.co, KNPB spokesman Bazoka Logo suspected that AMA's management was under scrutiny for allowing the French journalist and the KNPB leaders to fly to Papua. "The day after the inauguration, the AMA forced Agus Kossay to take Dhumieres to the AMA office without giving a reason," Bazoka said.

AMA director Djarot Soetarto said three security officers arrived in his office to enquire about the AMA's position with regard to KNPB activities. Djarot said that his organization agreed to fly the journalist to Okhika because it was told she would take part in a church service. Djarot said that he felt that he had been cheated. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/06/three-questioned-french-journalist-s-visit-papua.html

Jakarta urged to release all Papuan political prisoners

Radio New Zealand International - November 5, 2015

Despite a handful of Papuan political prisoners being freed recently by Indonesia's president, there's a lot more still languishing behind bars in West Papua.

Transcript

A West Papuan activist is calling for the Indonesian government to free all Papuan political prisoners. The Indonesian president Joko Widodo in May freed a handful of prisoners from Abepura prison.

But the prominent Papuan political prisoner, Filep Karma, refused an offer of remission, saying he was not interested in accepting any arrangement where he admits guilt for a crime he didn't commit.

Filep Karma is serving a 15 year jail term for for treason after he raised the banned Papuan Morning Star flag in 2004.

Indonesia's Political, Law and Security Minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, recently said Karma was wrongly convicted of treason, or makar, which implies inciting armed revolt.

According to the online political prisoner database Papuans Behind Bars, 47 political prisoners are currently detained in West Papua.

Ruth Ogetay, who works for the interests of West Papuan political prisoners, told Johnny Blades outside Abepura Prison that there are quite a few more.

Ruth Ogetay: Government of Indonesia say it can free political prisoners. And we talk to Indonesia, say you must free all political prisoners like that, like Filep Karma. And now, in May, President Jokowi freed political prisoners but just five people freed. And then we in Papua, until now, we have had one thousand political prisoners; but now, political prisoners, maybe 75, I have data in here. In prisons all over Papua, all prisons have (political) prisoners: in Wamena, Jayapura, Sorong, Manokwari, Nabire, Paniai have political prisoners. Now in here, in Abepura Prison, we have fifteen political prisoners in here. In Biak, there are seven political prisoner but we don't know, maybe have another people in Polres (Police custody). We don't know because sometimes, government of Indonesia, military take activists...

Johnny Blades: It's not reported always?

RO: Yeah.

JB: And the political prisoners who are put in prison are charged with what? Makar (treason)?

RO: Yeah, makar. But now... Before, government of Indonesia give makar, but now government of Indonesia give criminal... they say criminal for activists. Because Amnesty International know about, Amnesty International for instance in America, Australia or New Zealand know about (Indonesia) having political prisoners in here, and then government of Indonesia give all activists criminal...

JB: Charges?

RO: Yes

JB: So things like maybe a violence or firearms charge, things like that?

RO: Yeah.

Source: http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/201777360/jakarta-urged-to-release-all-papuan-political-prisoners

Indonesian parliament wants to expand military base in Biak

Tabloid JUBI - November 2, 2015

Victor Mambor, Jayapura, Jubi – The House of Representatives said the military should expand its base in Biak to anticipate security problems in eastern Indonesia.

"I support the Indonesian Military to build a bigger base to secure Indonesian territory. If we can see the potential of the Asia Pacific is better, we can mobilize our armament here, then we can obtain recognition in the Pacific," the Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Fahri Hamzah, during a visit in Biak Numfor, Papua on Saturday (31/10/2015).

A larger military base could also serve as a a deterrence against outside threats. "Of course (to remind) the United States will find out who's in charge and dominate our territory," he said.

He said several countries in the Asia Pacific region such as Fiji, Solomon, Vanuatu might already have connection with the United States. "But to build the Military Base in Biak is to give our signal to them as well as business providers that Eastern Indonesia is safe for investment," said this politician.

In addition, he also proposed the Indonesian Military to conduct a military exercise in Biak although regarding to accommodation it might be difficult.

"I propose the military to hold the exercise here. If we conduct the military exercise in the eastern region, it will more positive. Indeed we have the vital region such as Jakarta where located in the Java Island, but if we talked about the exercise, we cannot do it in the western region, but we can do in the area where people is less populated and widespread land. I also propose to celebration of the Military's Anniversary could be held in Biak, Papua," he said.

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/eng/indonesian-parliament-wants-to-expand-military-base-in-biak/

1965 mass killings

Govt, student body deny students were warned off people's tribunal

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government has vehemently denied the allegation that it tried to ban Indonesian students from attending a "people's tribunal" on the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) purge in The Hague, to be held from Nov. 10 to 13.

The Indonesian Embassy in The Hague was reported to have warned the Indonesian Students Association (PPI) in Leiden, the Netherlands, not to attend the tribunal.

The embassy issued a statement on Thursday, denying the report by quoting the conversation between PPI Leiden head Ghamal Satya Mohammad and the embassy's cultural attache, Bambang Hari Wibisono regarding the matter. "So here's the deal Pak Hari, this morning there are reports circulating that the embassy warned the PPI not to attend the tribunal. I deeply apologize for this," Ghamal said in the statement released by the embassy.

According to Ghamal, the report did not originate from him or the PPI. "Indeed, I am fully aware that I made suggestions to my friends who are participating as volunteers [for the tribunal] to reconsider their participation in the tribunal, but not with the statement that the embassy was threatening us," he said. "The reports have deviated from the truth."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said on Thursday that none of the allegations were true. "What happened was that the head of the PPI got a message from the organizer of the tribunal who was asking for Indonesian students to help," he said.

"The PPI head asked the cultural attache, to which the latter responded by saying that the Republic of Indonesia was a democracy and thus could not interfere with any public participation, so go ahead and weigh the positive and the negative aspects of participating in the event."

The head of the tribunal's organizing committee, human rights lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, previously said that she had received a letter informing her that the embassy had threatened the PPI.

"I received a letter that says 'our Indonesian students were called to the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague and told they will lose their scholarships if they join us. The embassy itself has decided it is a form of resurrecting communism'," she said on Wednesday.

Fifty years ago, following the events of Oct. 1, 1965, an estimated 500,000 Indonesians accused of being members or supporters of the PKI were murdered, and many hundreds of thousands of people were detained without trial or exiled. The mass killings have long been enveloped in social and political amnesia.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan has maintained that the government will not resort to any judicial mechanism to resolve past human rights abuse cases, including the purge.

Luhut said the government was still exploring what he called "a format that fit the Indonesian way" to deal with past rights abuse cases.

Since there has been no official attempt to find out who was behind the killings, who the victims were exactly and where they are buried, several Indonesian and local researchers, activists and 1965 victims at home and in various countries in Europe have taken the initiative to hold a people's tribunal called "the International People's Tribunal for the 1965 crimes against humanity" (IPT).

"The tribunal's mission is to examine the evidence for these crimes against humanity, develop an accurate historical and scientific record and apply principles of international law to the collected evidence. Testimonies will be given by a selected number of victims and survivors both from Indonesia and political exiles currently living elsewhere," a press statement from the organizing committee said.

However, since the IPT is not a criminal court, it does not have the mandate to ensure justice and compensation for the victims.

"But it will endeavor to push the state to accept its responsibility for the victims and their families, and toward Indonesian society as a whole. The proceedings will address several counts of gross human rights violations, e.g. mass murder, enslavement and torture," the organizing committee said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/06/govt-student-body-deny-students-were-warned-people-s-tribunal.html

'Communist' toys seized in Yogyakarta, authorities cite safety of children

Jakarta Globe - November 5, 2015

Jakarta – Local authorities in Yogyakarta have seized toys imported from China featuring "communist" symbols over fears they may encourage children to explore communism.

Officials from the district military command in Bantul, Yogyakarta, confiscated 27 toys bearing Soviet flags and hammer-and-sickle motifs.

Lt. Col. Kavaleri Tumadi of the Bantul command said most of the sellers were unaware of the meaning behind the symbols and were not attempting to indoctrinate local children.

"But we're worried that the symbols could be attractive to our children over time. If that happens, then the ideals could enter their minds," Kavaleri said. He encouraged sellers to be more vigilant when ordering stock.

The seizures come in the wake of increased crackdowns of public discussion of the 1965-1966 military-led anti-communist massacres, which led the deaths of up to two million suspected communist sympathizers.

The ongoing crackdown, on the 50th anniversary of the purge, has seen the internationally renowned Ubud Writers and Readers Festival forced to cancel a string of events on the topic after pressure from local authorities.

Central Java police last month forced a university-based magazine to destroy all copies of an edition featuring articles about the massacre.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/communist-toys-seized-yogyakarta-authorities-cite-safety-children/

Embassy tells Indonesia students not to attend 1965 tribunal

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government has allegedly tried to ban Indonesian students from attending a "people's tribunal" on the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) purge in The Hague.

The head of the tribunal's organizing committee, human rights lawyer Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, said on Wednesday that the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague had warned the Indonesian Students Association (PPI) in Leiden, The Netherlands, not to attend the tribunal, to be held from Nov. 10 to 13.

Nursyahbani said the embassy had no business intimidating Indonesian students and had no right to revoke their scholarships.

Likewise, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) chairman Haris Azhar lambasted the reported actions of the embassy.

"I've heard about it and I believe it's such an unnecessary thing to do. For me, it shows an archaic mentality. Why does our government, which is paid for by the people's money, block its own people's initiative [to seek justice]?" he told the Post on Wednesday.

The embassy and the PPI were not able to be reached for comments on the allegation.

Fifty years ago, following the events of Oct. 1, 1965, an estimated 500,000 Indonesians accused of being members or supporters of the PKI were killed, and many hundreds of thousands of people were detained without trial or exiled. The mass killings, and the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators, has long been enveloped in social and political amnesia.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has maintained that the government will not resort to any judicial mechanism to resolve past human rights abuse cases, including the 1965 purge.

Luhut said the government was still exploring what he called "a format that fit the Indonesian way" to deal with past rights abuse cases.

Since there has been no official attempt to find out who was behind the killings, who the victims were exactly, and where they are buried, a number of Indonesian and local researchers, activists and 1965 victims at home and in various countries in Europe have taken the initiative to hold the tribunal called the "International People's Tribunal [IPT] for the 1965 crimes against humanity".

However, since the IPT is not a criminal court, it has no mandate to provide justice or compensation to the victims.

"It will endeavor to push the state to take its responsibility toward the victims and their families, and toward Indonesian society as a whole," the organizing committee said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir denied the allegation. "The information [that we receive] from the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague says that the news is not true. There's never been intimidation or banning," he told the Post on Wednesday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/embassy-tells-ri-students-not-attend-1965-tribunal.html

House to summon education minister over Frankfurt Book Fair

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – House of Representatives (DPR) Commission X overseeing education, youth affairs, sports, tourism, art and culture is set to summon Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan regarding Indonesia's participation at the recent Frankfurt Book Fair.

According to Teguh Juwarno, Commission X member from the National Mandate Party (PAN), the spending of 10 million euros (US$11 million) was excessive as the Indonesian delegation presented only 200 translated titles.

"We know that Indonesia was invited to the fair as a guest of honor, and we did see it as a good opportunity to display the richness of Indonesian literature to the Europeans," said Teguh as quoted by tribunnews.com on Wednesday, "but [we] expected Indonesia to take at least 1,000 titles."

He also noted that most of the translated works exhibited at the event allegedly involved the events of 1965.

"Regarding the books' contents, why did [Indonesia] only display [works] from certain fields? We received complaints from several diplomats who regretted that the showcased material was not in line with our country's diplomacy guidelines," said Teguh.

According to Teguh, the books did not cover Indonesia's status as the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, not its status as a democracy. "Another issue that we regretted was the lack of Islamic literature," Teguh added.

The ministry's budget of 10 million euros for the Frankfurt Book Fair previously attracted calls that it be audited as it is considered by some to be too large for the event. (ami/kes)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/house-summon-education-minister-over-frankfurt-book-fair.html

Ubud festival debates massacre 'that we're not supposed to talk about'

The Guardian (Australia) - November 3, 2015

Nancy Groves – If the Indonesian authorities hoped to silence conversation about the 50th anniversary of the country's anti-communist purges that killed an estimated 500,000 people in 1965, their 11th-hour curbs on the Ubud writers and readers festival failed spectacularly.

Amid the bright floral garlands, free yoga sessions and Bintang beer bottles that dotted 38 venues across Bali's self-styled "cultural capital", politics hung heavy in the humid air. The year of 1965 wasn't so much the elephant in the room as the monkey, popping up wherever it could to add punch and bite to the debate.

Just days before opening the festival, now in its 12th year, the founding director, Janet DeNeefe, was forced to cancel three sessions about the massacre and its aftermath, as well as a screening of Joseph Oppenheimer's critically acclaimed documentary, The Look of Silence, and a photography exhibition, The Act of Living, inspired by the US film-maker's work.

The response from the international literary community was unequivocal. More than 200 writers, including several guests of the festival, signed a PEN International statement condemning the "enforced silence" as a "deeply shocking" violation of free speech. DeNeefe reassured journalists that 1965 would still be discussed, if not actually named. But in the event it was referred to repeatedly, either directly or as "that thing we're not supposed to talk about".

Ubud's major drawcards this year included Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon, foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, New York Times critic and photographer Teju Cole, and Mpho Tutu, daughter of Desmond. Of 168 speakers from 25 countries, homegrown talent made up the largest portion, with 61 Indonesian novelists, poets, journalists and food writers taking part.

This year's tagline – 17,000 Islands of the Imagination – was shared with the recent Frankfurt book fair, where Indonesia and authors from across the archipelago were guests of honour. History, memory, trauma – subjects so common to Indonesian literature – popped up in thematic talks across the four days in Ubud. But on Saturday a replacement panel, Uncensored, tackled the 1965 controversy head on.

Did the cancellations signal a return to the dark "post-purge" past or a new, more insidious form of censorship? Where, ultimately, had the orders come from? And was a boycott of the festival – as some had proposed on social media – the correct response? No one could say.

"That's the beauty of censorship," said Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian journalist and researcher for Human Rights Watch. "It is an art. And only the censors get to talk to all sides."

Indonesians needed to mind the gap between takut (fear) and takluk (surrender), he stressed: "Kita boleh takut tapi jangan takluk" ("We might be scared but never give in").

The Indonesian author Eliza Vitri Handayani, who spoke from the floor about the pressures to self-censor and changes publishers made to her first book, wore a series of T-shirts featuring the text of her latest title, From Now On Everything Will Be Different, which was due to be launched at one of the cancelled sessions.

As this one came to an end, sections of the crowd stood up, raising hidden banners that read: Censored, Freedom of Speech = Human Rights, and Rezim Ini Memangsa Rakyatnya Sendiri ("This regime curbs its own people").

All this on the day that new restrictions on public protest in Indonesia's capital made the front page of the Jakarta Post. A practical move by the city governor, Basuki Tjahaha Purnama, or a sign of increasing restrictions in president Joko Widodo's democracy? Again, the panelists could not agree on an answer.

It was Balinese police who demanded DeNeefe drop the 1965 talks and there was a small presence of blue shirts outside the festival hub, Indus – one of three Ubud restaurants she owns – throughout the festival. But they were outnumbered by the locals crying "Taksi! Taksi", in the hopes of winning passengers from the tens of thousands of festival-goers trudging up its more-than-usually steamy streets. Environmental problems are political, too

"Are you hot?" journalist and poet Debra H Yatim asked the audience during Going Under, a session on climate change and the very real threat that some of those aforementioned 17,000 islands would soon be underwater. "Heat like this, it's not normal for October!"

The panel talked at length about the devastating fires raging through Sumatra, spreading a thick haze across Indonesia and huge swaths of south- east Asia. Blame deforestation and the ravenous palm oil industry, they said. But also blame poor employment opportunities for poverty-stricken communities paid to do the dirty work of torching the ground at night.

Indonesians call them "land fires", not forest fires, because it's the land that's burning – in deep pits of peat, three metres down. Australian academic Thor Kerr filled us in on the rest of the horrifying stats: a 5% spike in greenhouse emissions in the past month alone; half a million people facing acute respiratory problems.

A humanitarian crisis, then, as well as an environmental one. Yes, said Yatim. "Babies are dying right now. I must stop talking or I will cry."

Kerr was due to speak at a second session, For Bali – cancelled more quietly amid the hoo-ha surrounding the 1965 panels – about Bali Tolak Reklamasi, the planned reclamation of 700 hectares of land by Indonesian developers. "We cannot talk freely about local environmental problems because they are political too," he said.

And he should know. Kerr's latest book, To the Beach, tackles coastal reclamation by property developers in Western Australia. As long as the media is in hock to big business, he lamented, these stories won't be told – in Australia or in Indonesia.

Media Watch saw academic Ross Tapsell, human rights lawyer and Guardian contributor Sunili Govinnage and Drew Ambrose of Al-Jazeera English in spiky debate about the negative impact of foreign bureau cuts in the region, the poor training and equipment available to local stringers and the colonialist approach to news reporting – "like a David Attenborough documentary", said Govinnage.

It was only a shame there were no Indonesian journalists on this panel. But right across the festival, Indonesian and Australian writers did share stages, casting recent diplomatic relations between the two states – including the Bali Nine executions – into harsh relief, while throwing up troubling commonalities, too.

'A collective resistance to memorial'

In a session on memory and writing, Indigenous Australian playwright Jane Harrison mapped the common ground between Indonesians struggling with the legacy of 1965 and Aboriginal communities dealing with the lasting impact of the stolen generation. "There can be a collective resistance to memorial," noted novelist Michael Vatikiotis. "In Indonesia, I don't find it always comes naturally."

There was widespread fear in Indonesia that bringing 1965 back into the collective consciousness would bring new conflict, he said. As if on cue, from across the island came news that in the west Balinese village of Batuagung the bodies of nine victims had been peacefully exhumed to stop their spirits haunting the community.

"Victims never forget," observed Vatikiotis. "Given the right circumstances, they want to remember."

It was no coincidence the Batuagung story sounded like the start of a book by Eka Kurniawan. The rising star of the Indonesian literary scene returned a hero to this year's festival. His bawdy but epic novel, Beauty is a Wound – self-published in 2002 – has now found a global readership, thanks to a PEN award-winning English translation by Annie Tucker and publishing deals in 10 countries and counting.

Kurniawan's Q&A, the penultimate session of the festival, was a fitting end to what was ultimately, for all the politics, a books event for readers and writers. The author first started writing when he ran out of things to read, he told the audience, adding that early publishers rejected his novel for being "too literary", "too thick".

Not so for punters at the festival bookshop, where Beauty is a Wound sold out in record time. Nor for the long line of fans queueing up for Kurniawan to sign their copies of his sometimes mad, always moving take on Indonesian identity and the legacy of 1965. That line is only set to grow.

[Nancy Groves' flights and accommodation were provided by the Bali Tourism Board. Guardian Masterclasses held a writers' workshop at the festival.]

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/03/ubud-writers-festival-debates-massacre-that-were-not-supposed-to-talk-about

TNI seizes children's toys to prevent spread of communist ideas

Tribune Yogya - November 3, 2015

Anas Apriyadi, Bantul – Scores of sets of children's toy miniature soldiers in Bantul, Yogyakarta, were seized from a number of toy shops by TNI (Indonesian military) soldiers from the Bantul 0729 district military command (Kodim) because they contained communist symbols – pictures of the hammer-and-sickle.

Bantul 0729 district military commander Lieutenant Colonel Tumadi explained that they were using the TAP MPR Number 25/1966 on the prohibition of communist ideas in Indonesia a guide in confiscating the toys.

The TNI carried out the raids after receiving a series of messages about toys with pictures of the hammer-and-sickle that were being sold in shops around Bantul.

"In total there were 27 sets of toys that we secured, we're still investigating where they obtained the toys from", said Tumadi on Tuesday November 3.

According to Tumadi, the toys were discovered at the toy shop Madania Toys on Jl. Wahidin Sudirohusodo where three sets of toys were secured. Meanwhile 24 sets were also secured from the toy shops Rajawali, Ngipik, Baturetno and Banguntapan.

The toy sets contained miniature soldiers made from plastic carrying the flags of their respective countries. With a background depicting World War II, quite naturally the toys were available with British, German, Italian and Soviet Union flags.

The toys secured by the TNI were those with the Soviet flag which had pictures of the hammer-and-sickle, the symbol of the communist party that was in power in the Soviet Union until 1991.

Although Tumadi said he understood that they were simply the flags of particular countries, nevertheless communist symbols are banned in Indonesia and action had to be taken.

"Although it was the flag of another country, because it was within our country's territory, [we] were duty bound to secure them", he explained.

According to Tumadi, the TNI is still conducting an investigation into the origin of the toys. Although the toys were seized, the traders selling them were only given guidance.

"We will be providing guidance to the toy shop owners so that incidents like this don't happen again", he explained.

Notes Tap MPRS XXV/1966: Provisional People's Consultative Assembly Decree Number XXV/1966 on the Dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party and Prohibitions on Marxist, Leninist and Communist Teachings

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was "TNI Sita Mainan Anak-anak Bergambar Palu Arit di Bantul".]

Source: http://jogja.tribunnews.com/2015/11/03/tni-sita-mainan-anak-anak-bergambar-palu-arit-di-bantul

Lawmakers question Frankfurt Book Fair budget, presence of 'certain groups'

Jakarta Globe - November 2, 2015

Jakarta – Indonesian lawmakers want to know how exactly the government spent 10 million euro ($11 million) in taxpayer money to be present at the Frankfurt Book Fair and why "certain groups" played such a prominent role at the event.

Teguh Juwarno, a member of Commission X at the House of Representatives, said on Sunday that lawmakers would ask Education Minister Anies Baswedan for an explanation after recess.

He said his commission had received complaints from embassy staff and diplomats abroad about Indonesia's representation at the fair, where the country was guest of honor, and had been urged to question everybody involved.

The Frankfurt Book Fair, held Oct. 14-Oct. 18 this year, is the largest of its kind in the world.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) politician added that neither the budget for the project, nor who would be involved in it, had ever been discussed with Commission X.

Goenawan Mohamad, the head of the Indonesian delegation's organizing commission, told Tempo.co previously that the budget had already been approved by Anies' predecessor, Muhammad Nuh.

"There were complaints about the presence of certain groups," Teguh said, adding that these unspecified groups of people had managed to steer discussions at the book fair into a direction that the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry considered undesirable.

Presumably, Teguh was insinuating that there had been unease among Indonesian officials about the prominent role at the event of books dealing with the 1965 anti-communist purges – such as Laksmi Pamuntjak's "The Question of Red" and Leila S. Chudori's "Going Home" – while it was supposed to have been all about promoting Indonesia as "17,000 islands of imagination."

The massacres, which inaugurated Suharto's New Order regime, remain a highly sensitive topic at home, proven again in Bali in the past week, where organizers of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival were forced to cancel screenings and discussions related to '1965.'

The move was criticized by Amnesty International as a violation of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

Goenawan, a prominent Indonesian intellectual, is the founder and editor of Tempo magazine, which has written extensively on '1965' and its aftermath in recent years. The magazine was banned during the New Order.

[Reporting by Markus Junianto Sihaloho.]

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/tourism-news/indonesian-lawmakers-question-frankfurt-book-fair-budget-presence-certain-groups/

Ubud festival stands strong despite government censorship

Jakarta Post - November 2, 2015

Ni Komang Erviani, Gianyar, Bali – The 12th Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) in Bali officially concluded on Sunday evening with a call for writers and the public to continue their fight against government censorship, which had led to the cancellation of some of the event's key programs.

This year's festival, which brought together more than 165 of the world's leading authors, thinkers, artists and performers from about 30 countries, was put under a media spotlight after its organizer was forced to drop all sessions that were to look at the massacre of communists in Indonesia in the 1960s, following pressure from local authorities.

Three panel discussions, a book launch and an art exhibition, as well as a screening of Joshua Oppenheimer's film The Look of Silence, had been scrapped from this year's festival, which takes place in an internationally renowned artists' district in Gianyar regency, even before the event began.

Apart from the sessions related to the massacres, the organizer was also forced to cancel a session dedicated to discuss the controversial Benoa Bay reclamation in Bali upon request from local authorities, which argued that the festival was only eligible to run artistic, cultural and tourism events, not political ones.

However, despite the censorship, the festival still tried to engage its audience in sessions dedicated to exploring Indonesia's past and present, including ones discussing the recovery of the tsunami-devastated region of Aceh and environmental and political degradation in Papua.

There was also one session dedicated to evaluating the performance of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo after his first year in office.

Discussions of the 1965 massacre were also eventually slipped into several sessions. For example, in a session entitled "Persistence of Memory", Singapore-based writer and journalist Michael Vatikiotis shared how he carried out research on the tragedy for his novel.

However, Balinese Ngurah Termana, a member of Komunitas Taman 65, which has been campaigning for an investigation of the massacre, refused to accept an invitation to speak in the session in a show of solidarity to other members of the group whose sessions in the festival had been cancelled.

"We respect his decision to not attend the discussion," said the festival's national program manager, Wayan Juniartha.

Australian lecturer Thor Kerr, who was set to talk in the canceled Benoa Bay reclamation discussion, also expressed his disappointment.

"If you cannot discuss something like that in the writers' festival, where else can you discuss it?" asked Kerr, whose latest book, "To the Beach", examines the dynamics of an effective social movement against coastal reclamation projects undertaken for property development.

Despite all the challenges faced by the event's organizer, UWRF founder and director Janet DeNeefe considered this year's festival to be a success, referring to the number of audience members, which had grown by 10 percent compared to last year.

"I think the festival has ended up being one of the most extraordinary gatherings," she said.

The festival, the brainchild of Australian-born DeNeefe, began in 2004 to help the famous tourist island recover from the impact of deadly terrorist attacks two years earlier. The annual event has expanded over the years, gaining international recognition.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/02/ubud-festival-stands-strong-despite-government-censorship.html

Shining a light on police complicity in 1965

New Mandala - November 2, 2015

Katharine McGregor & Jemma Purdey – The forced cancellation by local Gianyar (Bali) police of panels and other events related to discussions of 1965 at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival last week, has left us asking why the police in Bali, but also elsewhere in Indonesia, continue to censor discussions of this past.

Is this indeed related to concerns about security as the police so often state when they pressure groups to cancel events related to discussions of 1965? Or is something else at play?

The justification given by Gianyar Police Chief Farman for the cancellations was that these events might 'disturb security'. He stated that no permission had been granted to discuss this topic, that these events would commemorate the Indonesian Communist Party, and/or promote the spread of communist ideology.

This kind of rationale is in fact routine and has a long history in police justifications for warning-off groups of people wanting to investigate, discuss, address or commemorate the 1965 violence. According to Indonesian organisation ELSAM, in the year since October 2014, 27 events related to 1965 have been restricted or banned.

Most recently, on 10 October police asked the editors of Lentera, the student magazine from Satya Wacana University covering the 1965 violence in the surrounding area, to pull the publication and burn all remaining copies. The police interrogated the chief editor of the magazine arguing that it was illegal and not suitable for broad distribution.

In March, police forced the Solo based SEKBER 65 (Joint Secretariat) to cancel a meeting of its members to discuss the provision of government health care with members of the National Commission of Human Rights. The police informed the Secretariat a day before the meeting that they could not guarantee security and safety due to alleged threats from local Islamic groups. The police attended the venue the next day, but did nothing to protect the meeting, instead allowing the protest to proceed.

Despite the opening up of discussions and research related to 1965, police continue to block efforts to address this period in Indonesia's past, conjuring up old fears and creating new ones among the victims and their supporters. But what are their motivations?

Research into the mass violence of 1965 is ongoing and there are many aspects not yet fully understood. Increasingly, however, through oral history and archive-based research scholars are beginning to piece together more information about who carried out the violence.

Jess Melvin's forthcoming book "Mechanics of Mass Murder: Understanding the Indonesian Genocide as a Centralised and Intentional Military Campaign" (Hawaii University Press), for example, details how together with the Indonesian army 'provincial and district-level Police Commanders were involved in all major decision-making relating to the coordination of the genocide in Aceh'.

The central role of the police in the violence is connected to the fact that they were part of the armed forces until 2001. Since then they have continued to receive some training and work closely with the military.

In the many published collections of survivor accounts now available in Indonesian and also in translation, it is commonly recounted that in the initial stage of their detention, people were asked to report to local police and military police posts for questioning.

After interrogation, which often lasted for days and involved torture and forced confessions as to their involvement in the 30th of September Movement, prisoners were commonly held in military police gaols and/or transferred to prisons and makeshift detention centres. In Yogyakarta, for example, the headquarters of the military police was used to detain and investigate those arrested.

In "The Dark Side of Paradise", historian Geoffrey Robinson has documented the direct role of the Chief of Police Intelligence and the Regional Chief of Military Police in Bali in the initial inspection team charged with screening Balinese for alleged involvement in the 30th of September Movement.

According to Robinson, a Dutch journalist who visited western Gianyar in 1966 reported the use of police trucks by local militants to round up suspected communists and take them to another village to be killed. She also reported that people were shot dead in police prisons.

The books in the series we were to launch in Ubud, "Translating Accounts of the 1965-66 mass violence in Indonesia", detail the experiences of the 1965 violence from different perspectives. The second volume in our series "Breaking the Silence: Survivors speak about 1965-66 violence in Indonesia" (Monash University Press, 2014) is edited by the Balinese former political prisoner and writer Putu Oka Sukanta. This volume includes testimony dealing with experiences of police persecution and the role of police involved in 1965.

Gianyar born I Ketut Sumarta, a singer and actor with a small arts and dance group, recounted that he was arrested in 1968 by the police and military police who tortured and interrogated him. After his release in 1977 he was required to continue to report to the police when unsympathetic community members made complaints about him. Ketut noted that "the threat (from police) was always subtle...". This demonstrates how police play an ongoing role in the monitoring and intimidation of former political prisoners.

In the same collection is the story of Beny, a former policeman from Soe in West Timor, who confesses to his daughter about his role in the 1965 killings. He testified:

"I wanted to become a policeman first of all because of that smart uniform. But it wasn't just the uniform. The uniform allowed me to protect people who were weak and who stood up for what is right. But experiencing that two years of bloodshed, of people being killed without trial, made me ask – is it true that the police uphold what's right?"

Beny details how the army instructed the police to interrogate, detain and kill suspected members of the Indonesian Communist Party and members of sympathetic organisations. With the military and under their instruction, they arrested and executed people in nearby forests. Beny was one of the few appointed executioners who shot prisoners after they dug their own graves and were beaten and blindfolded.

Beny recounts how members of the firing squads were given quotas – one quota for the army and one quota for the police. He calculated that he himself killed 17 people. His commanders told him he was "doing his duty to defend the nation". All his life Beny has wrestled with his feelings and suffered trauma.

The role of police in enacting censorship in relation to events focused on the history of 1965 must therefore be understood in terms of their own complicity in the violence itself and its aftermath.

These two stories from "Breaking the Silence" signal the multi-perspective approach that Indonesian researchers and writers take to the topic of 1965 and which was to be discussed in various sessions at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

The cancelled panels at Ubud consisted of 11 speakers, all Indonesians, who seek to understand and acknowledge the tremendous impact of this mass scale violence on everyday Indonesians including policemen and their families.

In this process as they reveal the wide web of complicity in the 1965 violence they are most certainly uncovering sensitive truths.

[Jemma Purdey and Katharine McGregor, are editors of the Herb Feith Translation Series "Translating Accounts of the 1965-66 Mass Violence in Indonesia", Monash University Publishing. Their panels at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival were cancelled on Friday, 23 October.]

Source: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2015/11/02/shining-a-light-on-police-complicity-in-1965/

Indonesia writers fear censors over the 1965 communist purges

The Australian - November 2, 2015

When The Jakarta Post's senior editor spoke at the Ubud Readers and Writers festival in Bali, a policeman emerged from the audience to photograph him.

Endy Bayuni was one of four panellists whose identities were overtly recorded last Thursday. Attendees were also photographed, and other events on Indonesia's 1965 communist purges were cancelled. "It's like the old days – during the Suharto era," Endy said.

Indonesian authors, human rights activists and journalists are concerned freedom of expression secured over the past 17 years since the fall of the Suharto regime is being wound back.

The cancellations were highlighted over the four-day festival, which ended yesterday, and would have caused some embarrassment in Washington where Indonesian President Joko Widodo was visiting the White House.

Indonesians fear Mr Joko – vulnerable over his minority government and perceived leadership weakness – is bowing to pressure from military and security forces.

On the 50th anniversary of the purges, Mr Joko has also refused to apologise to victims. The 1965 purges saw more than half a million people slaughtered.

Author Eka Kurniawan, whose panel on the communist purges was banned by authorities, said all writers were being watched.

Blaming the censorship on the military, he said: "They are in every political party. Civil society is still fighting for freedom of speech... the old power is still there.

"In the Suharto era everyone kept silent. But we still have to fight for freedom of speech. This censorship is not a new development. "

His was among a series of cancelled events, including Joshua Oppenheimer's film The Look of Silence, a book launch, translations, and an art exhibition.

Gianyar Regency police chief Farman warned a week ago that the festival's permit, which was issued by Jakarta police, would be revoked if the 1965- themed events proceeded. He cited a 1966 regulation banning communism and Marxism-Leninism.

Despite regional autonomy, it is understood Jakarta was behind the restrictions. Victims from Papua, East Timor and Java and their relatives had travelled to the festival to discuss the "public secret". Many have not spoken openly before and they are reportedly fearful again.

In a hastily prepared censorship panel on Saturday, participants discussed a nervous government unwilling to face reality as books, media and film on the atrocities flood the market.

"They are not ready to confront the reality that something horrible happened in 1965," said Endy. "They want to erase (the massacres) from the collective memory. There is a backlash against the demand for the government to apologise to victims. The President was subject to pressures."

Of additional concern is the "brainwashing of youth" – the absence of any reference to the massacres in the school curriculum – to suppress Indonesia's dark history. Not that young people haven't watched Oppenheimer's graphic films, including last year's shocking The Act of Killing, on YouTube or private screenings.

Festival founder and director Janet De Neefe told The Australian that critics had admonished her for lacking the courage to proceed with the banned events. She had been pushing awareness of the 1965 atrocities on the 50th anniversary.

Despite the controversy, the festival attracted a record crowd of 27000, up about 10 per cent on last year.

Ms De Neefe said she planned to hire a lawyer for next year's festival. "I don't know if authorities need to sign a contract but at least we would have some sort of legal document to ultimately protect us," she said.

"It's extremely difficult to deal with this sort of dilemma in the 11th hour when the team needs to focus on the delivery of the festival."

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/indonesia-writers-fear-censors-over-the-1965-communist-purges/story-e6frg6so-1227590175295

Writers continue to resist, navigate censors

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2015

Ati Nurbaiti and Ni Komang Erviani, Ubud – The young writer Eliza Vitri Handayani went around the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival selling her own novels from her backpack, wearing a T-shirt depicting a scene from her novel – because her book launching was among those canceled at the event.

The local bookstores said they would sell her novel, "From Now On Everything Will Be Different", after the festival ends on Nov. 1, she told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"After I was notified last Friday that my event was canceled, I commissioned five T-shirts depicting five different scenes from the novel," she said. She wore the T-shirts alternately throughout the festival, which started on Nov. 29.

"The censors never learn," said a smiling Eliza, as her books quickly sold out to curious buyers.

Festival founder Janet de Neefe reiterated that police could take steps to revoke the festival's license in the future, thus organizers had to opt to cancel several of the festival's around-200 events.

The cancelations have led to wide criticism of the authorities, but also of the festival organizers whom critics accuse of bowing too much to pressure for the sake of the event's continuity. The festival was initiated to help Bali rebound after the 2005 bombings and after 12 years has gained the support of dozens of sponsors.

The canceled sessions included discussions and book launchings on novels related to the 1960s upheaval, but Eliza says her novel is about today's reformasi generation. "We want to explore what it means to be free," she said.

The festival's Indonesia program manager I Wayan Juniartha said "an internal review" of the novel concluded that it contained references to real events that could cause controversy.

"In accordance with the request of the local government and police that the organizers cancel events that could potentially cause controversy and do not comply with the permit of the festival as a cultural, arts and tourism promotion event, organizers decided to cancel the book launch," Juniartha said.

However, the cancelation also extended to a session on Bali's controversial Benoa Bay reclamation plan, which was moved to a venue outside the festival on Saturday.

The launch of the novel "Crocodile Hole", a translation of the 2003 novel Lubang Buaya by Saskia Wieringa, was also held Thursday at a small restaurant near a festival venue, with several police and plainclothes officers questioning the venue owner and organizers from the Serikat Jurnal Perempuan (Women's Journal Association). Organizers were seen joking with the officers, selling them the novel and their journals and taking pictures.

Police were also seen outside some other events, including the late Friday screening of a film by Timor Leste's Francisca Maia, "Desizaun" (Decision).

On Saturday's panel titled "Uncensored", writers urged for a continued resistance against censorship, but also negotiation in tricky circumstances. Senior journalist Endy M. Bayuni urged people to take legal action against authorities for violating Indonesia's constitutional right to freedom of speech.

Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch said people should be cautious but not fearful. With attempts at legal action, he said, typically with "the beauty of censorship in Indonesia," documents ordering the cancellation of events were unlikely to be found.

Endy of the Post said that if de Neefe "had not called the bluff", the unrest that police warned could happen would likely eventuate.

Participating writers also held up posters including those reading "Freedom of speech = human rights". Earlier a petition against censorship at the Ubud festival gained signatures from more than 200 prominent writers.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/01/writers-continue-resist-navigate-censors.html

Labour & migrant workers

Unemployment reaches 7.56 million: BPS

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – Up until August, unemployment reached 7.56 million people, an increase of 320,000 people from the same period last year.

According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) director of population and employment statistics Razali Silitonga, the increased number of unemployed people was a result of layoffs and a decrease in workforce absorption due to the economic slowdown.

"There were new workers that were not absorbed and on the other side there were layoffs. The layoffs and absorption decrease caused an increase in unemployment," said Razali at his office in Jakarta on Thursday.

The employment structure up until August did not change. Agriculture, trade, social services and industry are still the largest absorbers of workers.

He further said that during August 2014 to August 2015, the increase in employment occurred mainly in the construction sector, 930,000 people (12.77 percent), the trade sector (850,000 – 3.42 percent) and the financial sector (240,000 – 7.92 percent). "Employment in the construction sector increased as it is a labor-intensive industry. It is good for employment," he added.

BPS deputy head of balance and statistics analysis Kecuk Suhariyanto added that 510 new points of entry for workers from August 2014 to August 2015, to 122.4 million people.

According to BPS data, the number of workers increased by 190,000 in August 2015, to 114.8 million people. The number of full-time workers with more than 35 hours working time per week was 80.5 million people, a decreased of 4.08 percent. While workers with fewer than 15 working hours per week were 6.5 million people, slightly down by 3.44 percent.

Improved quality of workers was indicated by the declining population of fewer educated workers. In the past year, low-educated workers decreased from 74.3 million to 71.5 million people. While high-educated workers rose from 11.2 million to 12.6 million people. This led to the number of formal workers increasing by 1.9 million and the percentage of formal workers increasing from 40.62 percent in August 2014 to 42.24 percent in August 2015. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/unemployment-reaches-756-million-bps.html

Government vows to protect businesses from anarchic rallies

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Fadli, Batam – In an attempt to maintain a positive environment for business, the government has pledged to guarantee the safety of foreign investment companies by providing proper security measures that will anticipate any violent labor strikes.

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door meeting with investors in Batam, Riau Islands, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani said the security guarantee was vital to ease investor anxieties.

Investors have been complaining of late about anarchic strikes taking place in the country's major industrial cities, including Batam.

"The government is currently responding to [violent labor strikes] more sternly. [Providing] a security guarantee for investors is a must," he said.

Franky also said that the newly issued Government Regulation (PP) No. 78/2015 concerning wages would also help ease tensions between employers and labor regarding the annual minimum wage adjustment, which usually ended in the latter arranging massive and violent strikes. "The regulation will give assurances to both employers and labor," he said.

Last week, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo signed the regulation, which takes effect immediately, after being postponed for around 12 years. The regulation stipulates a measured annual wage increase that takes into account the current fiscal year's inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates.

Indonesian Employers Association's (Apindo) Batam chapter head Oka Simatupang, who also attended Wednesday's meeting, applauded the government's commitment to security for local companies.

"Labor strikes in Batam has been at threatening [levels]. Investors need a security guarantee [from the government]," he said.

PT Batamindo Investment Cakrawala general manager Mook Soi Wah shared a similar view. "We hope that the new government regulation on wages can be implemented soon to give investors more certainty," he said.

During a visit to Batam in June, President Jokowi ordered the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to investigate alleged foreign involvement in labor rallies in Batam that led to investors leaving the Batam Industrial Zone.

Allegations of foreign support for workers have been made by the government following a massive and chaotic rally in 2011 involving at least 10,000 workers on the island. At least six were injured, including one person who was shot.

Three cars were severely damaged during the rally. The rally was staged to demand an increase in the minimum wage.

In November 2013, another massive labor strike took place in Batam, paralyzing many foreign investment companies as union members conducted door-to-door sweeps throughout 26 industrial areas.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/govt-vows-protect-businesses-anarchic-rallies.html

Governors reject govt's reformed minimum wage policy

Reuters - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – The governors of two key Indonesian provinces say they will not obey a central government directive changing how minimum wages are set, posing a challenge to President Joko Widodo.

On Oct. 15, Joko's government announced that annual increases in minimum wages would be calculated based on the economy's growth rate and inflation, rather than through talks between unions, bosses and local officials, as in the past.

The governors say they will keep setting minimum wages based on the cost of living in their areas, at least for 2016.

"I cannot be forced to comply," Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who last year succeeded Widodo as Jakarta governor, told reporters recently. "If they want me to follow the rule, it has to be corrected first."

The old way of setting wages drew criticism for letting local politicians buy votes with promises of hefty wage rises. In 2012, shortly after he was elected Jakarta governor, Joko hiked the capital's minimum wage by more than 40 percent.

Under the new formula, the monthly minimum wage should increase 11.5 percent in Jakarta in 2016. But Jakarta officials say they will raise it by 15 percent, to Rp 3.1 million ($230).

The governor of Central Java, a populous and politically-important province, said he would not follow the national government's new rules without taking into account local living costs.

Ganjar Pranowo said he will compare the minimum wage increase allowed under the new formula – the same 11.5 percent as in Jakarta – with what the wage hike would be based on province's survey of local living costs, as used in the past, and "we will go for the higher figure."

Neither Basuki nor Ganjar are running in local elections taking place in December.

The new wage regulation contains no sanctions for local leaders who don't comply, although there are sanctions for firms who do not follow them.

Asked what the central government would do about opposition from local politicians, Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri brushed off the matter. "Is Jakarta part of Indonesia or not? If so, they must comply," he said.

Resistance to the new method had been expected from trade unions, but not from governors. There have been union protests, but they have been small. Last week, police fired water canons to disperse some 2,000 workers protesting in front of the presidential palace.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/labor-news/governors-reject-govts-reformed-minimum-wage-policy/

Police criticized for violently dispersing labor protest

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2015

Jakarta – Labor activists have pointed fingers at the Jakarta Police for allegedly committing violent acts when they tried to disperse a labor protest from in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta, on Friday.

"The police have committed violence against our friends – Tigor Gempita Hutapea and Obed Sakti Luitnan – and 23 workers during Friday's rally. The police failed to apply human rights standards. They, instead, triggered the clash," Alghiffari Aqsa, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) director, said in a press release on Saturday.

Thousands of workers from Greater Jakarta staged a street rally on Friday, demanding the revocation of the newly issued Government Regulation (PP) No. 78/2015 that stipulates the calculation of the annual minimum wage increase by using the current fiscal year's inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates. They also called for a wage increase of 22 to 25 percent next year. The rally ended with a clash between protesters and the police.

Alghiffari explained that the clash broke out at 8 p.m. when the police started to beat a number of protesters who refused to end their action. The police also hit Tigor and Obed, who at that time were documenting the rally using their mobile phones.

Alghiffari said Tigor and Obed tried to explain that they were from LBH, which was assisting the alliances. However, the police ignored them and dragged them over to the police cars along with 23 protesters. Both activists suffered from wounds and bruises to their heads and stomachs.

The All-Indonesia United Workers Confederation (KPBI) said in a press statement that the police had allegedly committed violence against the workers and had vandalized three command cars, while the protesters had not committed any provocations or attacks against them.

Both LBH Jakarta and the KPBI demanded the Jakarta Police, particularly the chief, Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian, to release the protestors and activists and to take action against the personnel who had been involved in injuring the victims.

Responding to the matter, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal said that the clash between the police and workers happened after the workers refused to disperse by 6 p.m.

He explained that as stipulated in the National Police chief decree No. 17/2012 on delivering opinions in public, a protest rally should stop by 6 p.m.

"We gave them warnings several times, but they insisted on continuing the rally. They even said they wanted to stay over there," Iqbal said, adding that the protesters provoked them by using the command cars.

He explained the police had to take stern action against the protesters because they kept refusing to disperse, although the police fired water cannons and tear gas at them.

Iqbal said the police released the arrested protesters and activists on Saturday afternoon. However, he added that the police would still proceed with its investigation to find the culprits behind the clash. (agn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/01/police-criticized-violently-dispersing-labor-protest.html

Freedom of speech & expression

Criticism of government must not be called hate speech: AJI

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has urged the National Police not to include criticism of the government in its definition of hate speech as that would only restrict freedom of expression.

AJI chairman Suwarjono said that the police's circular on hate speech, issued last month, had blurred the universal lines of hate speech.

He said that legal action against people who spread hate speech had to be conducted without violating citizens' rights to express themselves, as was stipulated in the Constitution and also in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which have been ratified by Indonesia.

"We demand the National Police only use the standard definition of hate speech, as stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, because unclear guidelines will harm freedom of expression," he said on Thursday in a press statement sent to thejakartapost.com.

"Expressing criticism toward the government must not be criminalized as hate speech."

Suwarjono also made reference to hate speech-enforcement theory from a joint statement by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of American States (OAS).

Legal enforcement of hate speech laws must, Suwarjono said, be required to prove that the hate speech had provoked hatred, discrimination and/or violence.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti issued the circular on hate speech last month to provide guidelines for police personnel for managing hate speech and preventing cases of it escalating into violent social conflict.

In the circular, Suwarjono urged police to quickly act on any hate speech targeting a person or group's religion, faith, ethnicity, race or sexual orientation, but AJI viewed the circular as being in support of certain political interests.

"We feel that it was issued to silent critics of government officials and institutions," he said.

The issue was raised after Badrodin said earlier this week that the police could probe a possible case of defamation against President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo after a false report of his visiting the indigenous Anak Dalam tribe in Jambi went viral.

Human rights activists have previously slammed the circular, fearing that it would hamper democracy and restrict freedom of expression.

Badrodin had rejected those claims, suggesting that the circular is meant as guidelines for police personnel in dealing with hate speech cases as he found many officers in the field were not confident in dealing with the offence. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/criticism-govt-must-not-be-called-hate-speech-aij.html

Police in hot water over circular

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Tama Salim, Jakarta – Civil society groups have warned National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti that a decision to issue a circular on hate speech could infringe on freedom of speech, and they have suggested that he be very careful in implementing it.

Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said that the circular was a temporary solution to the police's reluctance to enforce the law against various acts of hate speech, which were targeted mostly at minority groups and religions.

"The circular letter can be regarded as an internal regulation that provides operational guidelines for the police on how to implement rules on hate speech from the KUHP [Criminal Code] and the ITE [Electronic Information and Transactions] Law," Hendardi said.

The circular stipulated that all police officers must fully understand all forms of hate speech so that they could better identify violations of hate speech laws in campaign speeches, on posters, in social media, religious sermons, mass media, or street protests.

Meanwhile, Wahid Institute senior researcher Subhi Azhar praised the circular, saying it was in fact a new instrument for the police to enforce existing regulations on hate speech.

"A positive aspect of the circular letter is that it invokes the use of Article 157 of the KUHP on the dissemination of hate speech, a stipulation that has previously not been implemented. So this can be seen as a reeducation [tool] for law enforcers to use in their repertoire," Subhi told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Despite his optimism, Subhi had reservations about the new circular. He said it referred to a set of rules that did not clearly spell out what could be defined as hate speech, arguing that the existing KUHP was the product of a different era.

He also said that the circular could still be subject to various interpretations, and he therefore urged the police to be prudent in its implementation and involve other institutions like the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) or an ombudsman to monitor the process.

The police's decision to issue the guidelines followed recent religious conflicts such as a mosque burning in Tolikara, Papua, and a church burning in Aceh Singkil, Aceh.

On July 15, a violent mob allegedly affiliated with the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) disrupted an Idul Fitri prayer service held by Muslims at a local mosque in Tolikara, killing one person and injuring a dozen others.

On Oct. 13, hundreds of people from the Islamic Youth Movement attacked Suka Makmur village in Aceh Singkil and burned down the Huria Kristen Indonesia (HKI) church, which was allegedly operating without a permit, leaving one person dead.

In both cases, the police claimed that initial provocation made the conflicts turn deadly – something the circular intends to address.

With hate speech purportedly mobilizing people to commit radical and often violent actions against minority groups, there is fresh hope that a number of radically minded groups could be targeted by the new guidelines.

Muchsin Alatas, a member of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) – a hard-line Muslim group known for its violent campaigns – said that the circular would not affect the group's activities.

"The rallies of political parties or other groups also often involve burning things. That's part of the risk we face for struggling to fight for what we believe in," he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/police-hot-water-over-circular.html

Lawyers call for revocation of hate speech circular

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

National – Two noted lawyers have demanded that the National Police immediately revoke a recently issued circular on hate speech, saying it could cause misperceptions in society, particularly because it could be considered as a limitation of the freedom of expression.

Circular No. SE/06/X2015 on hate speech, signed by National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, was issued last week. The forms of hate speech mentioned are the same as those stipulated in the Criminal Code, including libel, defamation, unpleasant conduct, provocation, inciting violence and spreading lies.

"Such a circular could cause disquiet in society. The police need to understand that. And it should be revoked," Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradi) chairman Luhut Pangaribuan said as reported by kompas.com on Wednesday.

According to Luhut, the police did not need to issue such a circular in the first place because regulations on hate speech were found in a number of articles in existing regulations. "Even if the National Police [revoke] it, it will not reduce the authority of the police to enforce the law on hate speech," he added.

A similar call was made by former law and human rights minister Amir Syamsuddin, who is also a Peradi member. He said the task of the police was to enforce the law, not to issue circulars that could cause disorder in society.

"People may think that the circular wants to limit the freedom of expression. It also could be considered as social control and it could be considered as being against democracy," Amir added.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said on Monday that the public did not need to worry about losing freedom of expression following the circular. He said that it was in anticipation of any potential conflict in society caused by hate speech.

The circular was issued following recent religion-related conflicts, such as a mosque burning in Tolikara, Papua, and a church burning in Aceh Singkil, Aceh. On July 15, a violent mob allegedly affiliated with the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) disrupted an Idul Fitri prayer service held by Muslims at a local mosque in Tolikara. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/lawyers-call-revocation-hate-speech-circular.html

Press Council: Hate speech circular could curb democracy

Jakarta Globe - November 3, 2015

Jakarta – The Chairman of Indonesia's Press Council has criticized a circular issued by the National Police ordering a crackdown on hate speech, saying that it could be used to curb democracy and freedom of speech.

Bagir Manan, a former Supreme Court chief justice, said the circular is unnecessary as there are no indicators to objectively measure intent by those charged. Public officials and others could misuse the order to suppress or jail people.

"I have my own concern about that circular. It indeed tells people to watch their tongues when it comes to spreading hatred. But it also says that there are legal actions for spreading hatred. That could be dangerous," Bagir said on Monday.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/politics/press-council-hate-speech-circular-curb-democracy/

Political parties & elections

Reconciliation remains elusive for Golkar

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Two rival factions within the Golkar Party have showed no signs of backing down in spite of a truce pledge made by party leaders Aburizal Bakrie and his rival Agung Laksono.

Although Aburizal and Agung recently agreed to reconcile their differences and iron out the kinks in the party's management board, both leaders led separate meetings at the party's headquarters in West Jakarta on Friday.

"We don't have joint meetings. We are carrying out our activities separately," secretary-general of the Agung-led faction, Zainudin Amali, said on Friday.

He said that the meeting led by Agung on the third floor of the party's headquarters was attended by delegation from the party's provincial branches and discussed the next steps to be taken after the Supreme Court's ruling.

In October, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Aburizal, granting him the leadership of the party, annulling the high court ruling that gave the party leadership to Agung.

While Agung's camp held its meeting downstairs, the Aburizal-led faction held its own meeting on the fourth floor, discussing the next steps it would take to deal with possible legal moves by its rival. "We are consolidating for future actions," Aburizal said.

At the meeting were Aburizal's loyal supporters Idrus Marham, Siti Hediyati Hariyadi, Aziz Syamsuddin, Bambang Soesatyo, Tantowi Yahya and Ade Komarudin.

Also making an appearance at the meeting was Yorrys Raweyai, a senior politician who recently announced his departure from Agung's camp.

Yorrys said that he no longer shared Agung's vision. "After the temporary reconciliation [between the two factions], I felt like I didn't belong anymore, and I expressed this stance during a number of meetings," Yorrys said on Friday.

He accused Agung of rigging the nomination process of regional-election candidates at the General Elections Commission (KPU). "At first there were 248 candidates nominated. But during the signing at the KPU on Aug. 9, it all changed," said Yorrys.

He also accused Agung of disbanding the team of five people from his faction tasked with scouting candidates for the Dec. 9 simultaneous regional elections.

Agung's camp acknowledged that Yorrys had resigned from his position as deputy chairman. "He said [he would like to resign] in the last two meetings," Zainudin said. "The point is that we respect his political decision."

In the meeting, Aburizal's camp also expressed condemnation toward the Agung-led faction for continuing its legal battle against Aburizal.

On Monday, Agung's legal team filed a petition for a case review of the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing Aburizal's leadership.

"I advise [them] to repent. All Indonesians are fed up seeing those who had lost [in the legal battle] being so persistent," a member of Aburizal's camp, Bambang Soesatyo, said on Friday.

Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who brokered the reconciliation attempt, maintained on Friday that the conflict between the two camps had ended, with the two rival factions agreeing to form a new party structure.

He said that both factions had discussed the mechanism to form the new party structure. "Now [they're] talking every day. From that dialogue, the new uniformed structure will be formed," Kalla told reporters at his office in Central Jakarta.

Agung had previously called for a national congress, citing that the government had yet to revoke a ministerial decree that granted him leadership and allowed him to gain control of the party's regional chapters.

Aburizal, on the other hand, objected to the idea of holding another national congress, deeming it to be unnecessary since the Supreme Court had ruled to grant him the leadership of the party back.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/07/reconciliation-remains-elusive-golkar.html

Court maintains extra tenures for legislators

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court rejected on Wednesday a judicial review of the 2012 Legislative Elections Law, maintaining provisions that a lawmaker, regional representative council member or local legislator can serve more than two terms.

"The plaintiff does not have legal standing, so [the petition] is legally irrelevant," said court chief justice Arief Hidayat while delivering the decision. The petition was filed by three individuals, Song Sip, Sukarwanto and Mega Chandra Sera, all of whom had previously contested legislative elections in Central Java but lost to incumbent legislators.

The panel of justices further argued that the plaintiffs did not present enough evidence to support their petition.

The plaintiffs were challenging articles of the law that did not set a tenure limit for legislators, at national and regional levels. They said that the absence of the articles had closed opportunities for new contenders for legislative posts.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/national-scene-court-maintains-extra-tenures-legislators.html

Government plays down reshuffle rumors

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Amid speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung acknowledged that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo would soon be meeting the leaders of parties within the pro-government Great Indonesia Coalition (KIH).

However, Pramono denied the meeting would be anything other than a regular meeting of pro-government parties.

"Whether the prerogative [to reshuffle the Cabinet] will be used by the President, or when, only the President and the Vice President know," Pramono said on Wednesday.

"But the President will certainly meet with the leaders of parties under the KIH. Only the President knows when and where it will be held. The meeting is part of [a regular] schedule. It is supposed to be held at the beginning of each month but it has been two months [since the last meeting]," Pramono added.

According to Pramono, the routine meeting will discuss current social and political issues and the state budget.

Speculation over a Cabinet shake-up has been rife since September, following the National Mandate Party's (PAN) decision to partner with the government – a maneuver that analysts believe might result in ministerial posts in Jokowi's administration for the party.

On Tuesday, fresh speculation came to the surface after PAN's chairman Zulkifli Hasan was invited to attend a state banquet held for the visiting Finnish president at the State Palace, although Zulkifli's presence at the event was as chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

"Zulkifli was invited in his capacity as the MPR speaker. There were no talks [about a reshuffle]. If the two [Zulkifli and Jokowi discussed it] in a whisper; how could I know about it?" Pramono said.

That day, a number of executives at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led KIH reportedly also held a meeting at the residence of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The PDI-P has denied speculation that the meeting discussed the Cabinet shake-up.

Other than Pramono, a number of officials at the Palace have previously denied the reshuffle rumors, saying that the President was still focusing on the country's development agenda.

There is further speculation that PAN's Advisory Council chairman Soetrisno Bachir might also be given a seat on a new government body called the national economic and industry committee – a body whose creation is currently being considered by Jokowi to replace the National Economic Committee.

PAN's decision to support Jokowi was widely predicted following Jokowi's presence at the party's national congress in May, which resulted in the election of Zulkifli as party chairman.

Opposition political parties have been weakened over the past few months as a result of a prolonged internal conflict within the Golkar Party, the leading opposition party, as well as the lack of control over policies drafted by the government.

PAN's move to join the government was followed by Golkar, whose two conflicting camps have agreed to reconcile, suggesting that the party would support the Jokowi administration.

Another opposition party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which is currently holding a national meeting, has also expressed the intention to be "loyal" to the government.

Neither Golkar nor the PKS, however, have directly stated that they are leaving the opposition caucus. The parties have also denied suggestions that they expected ministerial posts in Jokowi's Cabinet.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/govt-plays-down-reshuffle-rumors.html

PKS will be loyal to Jokowi

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Sohibul Iman pledged that his party would be loyal to the administration of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, although it would continue to be critical of its policies.

Sohibul said in his speech to open a national party meeting in Depok, West Java, on Tuesday, that the party had no plans to plot the downfall of Jokowi.

"We're a loyal opposition. Our loyalty to the administration of Jokowi-JK [Jusuf Kalla] is part of our loyalty to the nation," Sohibul said. Sohibul was elected party chairman in August following a leadership shake up that did not involve any voting.

Japan-educated Sohibul replaced Anis Matta, while former social affairs minister Salim Segaf al-Jufri was chosen as the party's chief patron, replacing Hilmi Aminuddin – dubbed widely by political observers as the party's "godfather".

Many have predicted that the election of moderates such as Sohibul and Salim would make way for a compromise between the PKS and the ruling coalition.

The PKS garnered 7 percent of the vote in the 2014 legislative election, while in the 2009 election the Islamic-based political party secured slightly less at 6.79 percent.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/national-scene-pks-will-be-loyal-jokowi.html

Candidates seek spiritual boost at Soeharto's grave

Jakarta Post - November 2, 2015

Ganug Nugroho Adi and Indra Harsaputra, Surakarta/Surabaya – Several weeks ahead of the country's first ever simultaneous elections for regional heads, 16 candidates paid a visit to the grave of former president Soeharto in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, seeking a boost for their candidacy in the upcoming elections.

The candidates, from regions across the country, including Ogan Komering Ulu in South Sumatra, Bengkalis in Riau, Cianjur and Sukabumi in West Java, Purbalingga and Magelang in Central Java, Paser in East Kalimantan and Balikpapan in West Kalimantan, arrived at the Astana Giribangun cemetery complex in Matesih district at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.

An hour later, after performing an ashar prayer, the entourage proceeded to Astana Mangadeg, the graves of Mangkunegaran kings, located some 100 meters from Astana Giribangun.

Upon returning to Astana Giribangun, they gathered at the Cungkup Argosari hall where the graves of Soeharto, his wife Siti Hartinah, his parents-in- law and his elder sister-in-law are located. Led by a preacher, they recited verses from the Koran and prayed. Magelang mayoral candidate Moch Haryanto, who led the entourage, said he and other candidates had sought a moral boost by visiting the graves of Indonesia's second president.

"We come here to pray for the spirits of General Soeharto and his family. He was once our nation's leader and we can learn many good things from him," Haryanto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

"Hopefully if we are elected as regional heads, we will be able to implement the values taught by Pak Harto, who was pro-people, which brought prosperity to the people."

The debate on whether Soeharto, who died aged 86 in 2008, should be seen as a villain or a hero continues until today. While many human rights and political activists say Soeharto's 32-year rule was undemocratic, other people regard him as one of the country's greatest leaders, citing his ability to maintain political and economic stability throughout much of his leadership.

Ponorogo regent candidate Misranto said that apart from praying for Soeharto's spirit, the visit also aimed to show respect for what the former president had provided.

Purbalingga regent candidate Sugeng, meanwhile, said the visit had nothing to do with the candidates' political preferences as they had been nominated by different parties.

"We happened to have the same will. We want his [Soeharto's] struggles and teachings to be examples for us," said Sugeng, whose candidacy has been jointly endorsed by the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Hanura Party and the Democratic Party.

This year, Indonesia is planning to carry out 269 regional head elections simultaneously on Dec. 9. Since late last month, local election organizers have been coordinating open debates involving regional head candidates as part of the election process.

Meanwhile, in Surabaya, East Java, mayoral candidate Tri Rismaharini, who is seeking reelection, said in a recent debate that she had committed to continuing to develop the city by focusing on the improvement of human resources.

Risma, who was first elected mayor in 2010, rose to popularity after her success in transforming once-neglected Surabaya into a city with many high-quality public parks.

Risma's only rival, Rasiyo, has pledged to develop Surabaya starting from its suburban areas. He has criticized Risma for failing to control poverty and unemployment rates during her term in office.

"We see there are still gaps between people living in downtown and suburban areas. To deal with this, we consider it necessary to strengthen the economy of suburban communities through participatory approaches," Rasiyo said.

With 2.1 million registered voters, the Surabaya mayoral election will be the largest election at the municipal and regency levels this year.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/02/candidates-seek-spiritual-boost-soeharto-s-grave.html

Rival Golkar camps vow to support Jokowi administration together

Jakarta Globe - November 2, 2015

Jakarta – The feuding camps of the split Golkar Party have agreed to support the government of President Joko Widodo, Agung Laksono said on Sunday night after a conciliation meeting with his rival, Aburizal Bakrie.

"We, Pak Ical and I, have agreed to sincerely support the Jokowi administration," said Agung, refering to Aburizal by his nickname. He added that the party would speak out, however, when the people's interests were at stake.

The two camps met at the Golkar office in Slipi, West Jakarta. Hundreds of Golkar officials, as well as Vice President Jusuf Kalla – himself a former Golkar chairman – and Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Panjaitan, attended the meeting.

Kalla said at that the two camps had basically solved their dispute, and that they just had to work out the technical details of a formal reunification.

M. Misbakhun, a Golkar lawmaker, said on Sunday that he was confident the recent Supreme Court decision to recognize Aburizal as the party's legitimate chairman would bring the party back together.

Aburizal was re-elected as chairman at a party congress held in Bali in early December 2014. Days later, disgruntled party members held a rival congress in Ancol, North Jakarta, where they named Agung the chairman. The two camps have since taken their respective claims to various courts, winning a mix of judgments before the matter landed before the Supreme Court.

"If Golkar reunites, then God willing, the country will be safe," said Misbakhun, who has been supporting Aburizal's camp. Supreme Court's ruling could still be subject to a judicial review if either of the parties is unsatisfied. A judicial review constitutes the very final stage of appeal.

The split within the party, Indonesia's oldest, stems from discontent over Aburizal's failure to get anyone from the party into last year's presidential race, despite Golkar getting the second-highest number of votes in the legislative election.

The 2014 vote was the first in the country's history in which none of the presidential or vice presidential candidates was from Golkar.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/rival-golkar-camps-vow-support-govt-together/

Journalism & media freedom

Reporters covering activist's murder receive death threats

Jakarta Globe - November 8, 2015

Jakarta – Police are looking into claims of threats made against three television reporters covering the high-profile murder of an anti-mining activist in East Java.

Wawan Sugiarto of TVOne, Ahmad Arif Ulinuha of JTV and Abdul Rohman of Kompas TV reported getting the text messages at the same time on Thursday night from an unidentified number.

The messages warned that they could be killed if they continued to report on the fallout from the murder of Salim Kancil and his partner Tosan, who was injured in the attack in September by a mob in Lumajang district.

The reporters said they initially intended to report the messages to the local police, but received follow-up messages threatening that they would be intercepted on the way there.

"So we told the East Java provincial police about it, and now they're investigating," Wawan told Metro TV on Saturday.

"We've been reporting extensively on the [Salim Kancil] case, but we never expected we would be threatened like this," Abdul told Viva News. "We have asked the [East Java] police to protect us."

Salim and Tosan had been leading a series of protests against a sand mining operation at Lumajang's Watu Pecak Beach before they were attacked.

Police have arrested 18 people in connection with the attack, including the chief of village where the mining was taking place. Police have also launched an inquiry into three police officers believed to have been complicit in the attack.

The threatening messages are the latest in a series of attacks on the press in Indonesia. Also on Thursday, a reporter for TVOne covering the death of a motorcyclist who was shot dead by an Army sergeant in a road-rage incident in Bogor was himself the target of a gun attack. He escaped unhurt after an unknown assailant fired several shots at him as he sat in his car. Police are investigating the incident.

In Bali, police last month ordered organizers of the world-renowned Ubud Writers and Readers Festival to cancel a series of events centering on the 1965-66 anti-communist purge led by the military and which left up to two million people dead.

The police claimed they were not censoring the events, claiming the organizers had failed to specify the topics under discussion when applying for permits to hold the gatherings.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/reporters-covering-activists-murder-receive-death-threats/

2 British journalists walk free, to return home soon

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2015

Fadli, Batam – Two British journalists recently found guilty by a court in Riau Islands of visa violations were finally released from detention on Thursday and will soon leave Indonesia after clearing immigration procedures.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Batam District Court sentenced Neil Bonner, 31, and Rebecca Prosser, 30, to two months and 15 days in prison for violating the 2011 Immigration Law.

The two journalists were arrested by a Navy patrol in Batam in May for filming a documentary on piracy in the Malacca Strait. The journalists were working while staying in the country under tourist visas, and thus violated Indonesia's immigration laws. The court also ordered each of them to pay Rp 25 million (US$1,860) in fines.

Bonner and Prosser could finally breathe fresh air on Thursday after they were released from Batam Detention Center, where they had been detained for the past 72 days.

Yusron, head of the Batam Prosecutor's Office, told The Jakarta Post that the two journalists were eligible to walk free after prosecutors had decided to accept the Batam District Court's sentencing decision.

"They will be released after they complete all the administrative requirements and pay their fines," Yusron said.

The sentence was lighter than that which prosecutors had sought for. Prosecutors demanded that the defendants spend five months in prison and pay a Rp 50 million fine.

Separately, the journalists' lawyer, Indra Aria Raharja, said that his side had been informed of the prosecutor's decision to acquiesce to the court.

"We are now processing the administrative matters including paying the fines. Then they will be handed over to the Batam Immigration Office before they are sent back home," he said on Thursday.

He expressed the hope that all of the administrative matters could be finished by Friday so that both of his clients could be deported this week.

Bonner said earlier that he would keep plugging along in his profession despite his experience with Indonesian authorities.

"I will continue working as a journalist," Bonner said on the sidelines of Tuesday's hearing. He also said that he had always slept well while in detention and did not feel that he had been under any significant pressure.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/06/2-british-journalists-walk-free-return-home-soon.html

British filmmakers jailed in Indonesia over piracy documentary

Sydney Morning Herald - November 3, 2015

Jewel Topsfield – Two British filmmakers who were arrested for filming a documentary about piracy without a journalism visa have been sentenced to two months and 15 days jail.

Rebecca Prosser and Neil Bonner have been detained since May 29, when they were arrested by the Indonesian navy in waters off the island of Belakang Padang while filming a re-enactment of pirates attacking an oil tanker in the Malacca Strait for the National Geographic-funded documentary.

The pair will be released within the next two days. A fine of 25 million Rupiah ($AUD2500) was waived because they had already served more time in jail than their sentence.

Prosser and Bonner were sentenced on Tuesday. The court in Batam heard that mitigating factors included the fact they were credible international journalists, had asked forgiveness and had the support of the UK Parliament and British Embassy. Their acts had not caused Indonesia any harm or loss at the time of arrest.

However an aggravating factor was that the act showed a disregard for respect between the two countries.

The prosecution had requested five months' jail plus a fine of 50 million rupiah (AUD$5000) or another month in prison for violating immigration law. The offence carries a maximum five year jail term.

"This sentence request is shock therapy for foreigners filming illegally in Indonesia without a permit," prosecutor Bani Ginting said outside court last month. "I hope this trial will be published in local, national and international media and in social media."

Indonesian Navy commander Rear Admiral Taufiqurrahman reportedly said the reenactment was not accurate and could tarnish the image of the Malacca Strait, near Singapore, as a crime-prone area.

Prosser and Bonner's legal team argued the case was an administrative matter rather than a criminal one. Their lawyer, Aristo M.A. Pangaribuan, said the two filmmakers had applied for a journalism visa and were only in Indonesia for preliminary research.

"Criminal codes are for a last resort only – they shouldn't have been enforced," he said. "They should have been fined and deported from the beginning."

Reporters without Borders spokesman Benjamin Ismail said in September that it was unacceptable for journalists to be deprived of their freedom and loved ones for months over a bureaucratic irregularity.

"They were just doing their jobs as investigative reporters in what is a hotspot for maritime piracy in south-east Asia," he said.

The court heard the Indonesian navy confiscated filming equipment, four machetes, two balaclavas, and two small boats.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Indonesia had a history of using visa restrictions to obstruct journalists who sought to cover stories of international importance within its borders.

French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat were last year sentenced to two months and 15 days imprisonment in an Indonesian jail for reporting in the West Papua province while on a tourist visa.

The two reporters were caught by police in the highlands capital of Wamena on August 5, 2014 while filming a documentary for Franco-German TV station Arte on the West Papuan separatist movement – a politically sensitive issue in Indonesia.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/british-filmmakers-jailed-in-indonesia-over-piracy-documentary-20151103-gkpqsm.html

Environment & natural disasters

Inferno in Indonesia

Red Flag - November 8, 2015

James Plested – Across Indonesia, vast swathes of forest and peat land are burning, destroying the habitats of countless endangered species, poisoning the air and threatening the health of tens of millions of people.

The fires have been called the greatest environmental disaster of the 21st century.

By the end of October, more than 127,000 blazes had been detected, the main hotspots being on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Smoke has blanketed not only Indonesia, but Singapore, Malaysia and parts of the Philippines and Thailand.

The peat fires are responsible for a particularly dangerous cocktail of emissions. Peat is composed of partly decomposed plant material that builds up in wetland areas over thousands of years. When burnt, it releases much higher levels of carbon dioxide, methane and other toxic gases than do ordinary forest fires.

The current outbreak began in August. Over the subsequent two months, at least 19 people died and more than 500,000 sought medical help for respiratory illnesses.

The last time Indonesia suffered a fire crisis of this magnitude was in 1997. George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian, noted:

"After the last great conflagration... there was a missing cohort in Indonesia of 15,000 children under the age of three, attributed to air pollution. This, it seems, is worse. The surgical masks being distributed across the nation will do almost nothing to protect those living in a sunless smog. Members of parliament in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) have had to wear face masks during debates. The chamber is so foggy that they must have difficulty recognising one another."

In Singapore, note journalists Malcolm Farr and Charis Chang, people "have been keeping their children inside as much as possible for the past two months.

"They have abandoned outdoor fitness routines such as jogging and have become used to never seeing the sun through the immovable haze, which is so thick, cars parked on the street can't be... seen by residents in high-rise towers above."

In the long term, the impact will be felt globally. According to the World Resources Institute, for most of the last two months the daily emission of greenhouse gases from the fires has exceeded that of the entire US economy. The fires are, in part, a product of a rapidly warming world, and they will, in turn, contribute to further warming in decades to come.

The majority are deliberately lit as a cheap and easy way to clear the land for pulp wood and palm oil plantations. The carbon-rich peat land is highly sought after. Canals are constructed to drain the wetlands and allow the peat to dry out and burn.

The plantations are big business. Palm oil is an ingredient in up to 50 percent of packaged items commonly found in supermarkets and makes up 65 percent of vegetable oil on the global market. Indonesia is the world's largest palm oil producer. In 2014, it was the country's third biggest export, worth US$18.9 billion.

In the name of "development", governments in countries such as Indonesia have encouraged a shift away from more traditional local economies and created conditions in which monocultures producing for the global market become the only option for communities struggling to survive.

These desperate people in many cases light the fires, and they are the ones who will bear the brunt of the Indonesian government's efforts to appear to be taking a tough approach to the issue. But the root of the problem lies elsewhere.

Local farmers are linked to vast global supply chains dominated by giant corporations – companies like McDonalds, PepsiCo, Subway and Costco – whose windfall profits depend on their ability to source ingredients at the lowest possible price. The connections may be hard to trace. But the flow of profit tells the story.

The local farmers might secure enough to lift themselves out of abject poverty. But those higher up the chain reap the lion's share of the benefits. Significantly, this includes local and national government officials whose political careers often depend on their connections to the big-money interests that profit most from the continued expansion of the plantations.

The Indonesian inferno is a glimpse into a future of unbridled capitalism and runaway warming. It's not a pretty sight.

Source: https://redflag.org.au/article/inferno-indonesia

Illegally planted palm oil already growing on burnt land in Indonesia

The Guardian (Australia) - November 6, 2015

Kate Lamb – Freshly burned land in Indonesia has already been illegally planted with oil palm, new evidence suggests, following the loss of two million hectares of forest and peatland since July to fires.

Planted in charred earth, the oil palm saplings were identified near the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Sanctuary in central Kalimantan, by Greenpeace Indonesia. According to public maps, no oil palm concession has been granted in the area.

During a dry season exacerbated by El Niqo, thousands of fires have ripped through Indonesian forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan over recent months, sparking a region-wide haze crisis and releasing alarming levels of carbon emissions.

With half of the hotspots on carbon-rich peatland, over the past month carbon emissions from the fires have surpassed the average daily emissions of the entire US economy.

Predominately lit by smallholder farmers who use slash and burn techniques to clear the land – the fires are the fastest and cheapest way to clear land for new plantations.

In the wake of the destruction, environmentalists are calling on the forest areas to be fully restored and for the palm oil industry's role in the fires to be thoroughly examined.

Under the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge (IPOP) made in September 2014, major producers that operate in Indonesia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, commited to sustainable palm oil practices and zero-deforestation.

The signatories to IPOP – Wilmar, Asian Agri, Cargill, GAR and Musim Mas – account for 80% of the palm oil industry in Indonesia. To live up to their commitments, conservation scientist Eric Meijaard says these leading producers have to address the fire crisis in a tangible way.

"With these fires all the burn scars need to be mapped and any oil that is subsequently grown on these burnt lands should just stay out of the responsible market," Meijaard told the Guardian, "They have to somehow develop the tracing systems that allow them to confidently say that none of this came from lands that were burned in 2015."

But in the complicated web that forms the Indonesian palm oil sector, palm oil giants operate their own plantations and mills, but also source a sizeable amount of oil palm from independent smallholders, in some cases up to 40%.

The problem is that, with brokers and middlemen and an estimated 4 million smallholder farmers, fresh bunches of oil palm fruit might change hands several times before reaching the mill.

While on paper the IPOP commitments extend to third-party suppliers, including the smallholder farmers blamed for lighting the fires, in reality opaque supply chains mean palm oil producers don't always know who all of their suppliers are, nor what practices they are engaged in.

It makes for a complicated accountability trail, says Tomoyuki Uno, Asia manager of the UN Development Programme's green commodities programme.

"Palm oil might be coming from the national parks but as long as you don't know about it, or they are three or four different supply chains removed from you, you might not be implicated," he says. More official supply chains, he argued, will facilitate better protection of forests as well as better governance and productivity.

In the past week rains have helped to dampen the hotspots and lift the toxic haze, but the fires are an annual problem in Indonesia and this year they are among the worst on record.

In an email to the Guardian, a representative from the palm oil giant Wilmar said the company was strictly committed to a no burning policy, but cutting off smallholders who slash and burn was not the answer.

"Cutting off these smallholders from our supply chain may sound like an easy solution but it does not help address the fire and haze issue, and is not one that Wilmar encourages," they wrote, "Such a move may have a devastating impact on livelihoods of smallholders and may potentially even lead to more deforestation."

The Indonesian government has recently been pushing the same message, arguing that smallholders aren't yet ready to entirely live up to the to zero-deforestation pledges.

The government has targeted certifying 70% of palm oil producers under its ISPO standards (Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil) by 2020, but so far these efforts have not been focused on smallholders.

In a sector riddled with grey areas, traceability is just one problem but an issue that needs to be addressed to ensure greater accountability before the fires come around, says Greenpeace's Maitar.

"Of course they say it is complicated, it takes time, but you know, there is no time. They should move quickly, otherwise the time will pass again," he says, "The rainy season is coming and then everyone will forget about these fires again."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/06/illegally-planted-palm-oil-already-growing-on-burnt-land-in-indonesia

Regulation readied to restrict slash-and-burn practices

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The government plans to revise regulations related to the forestry sector in a bid to put an end to the annual forest fires that have put the lives of millions of people at risk.

The Environment and Forestry Ministry said on Tuesday that the government was considering including provisions in some laws that would put more emphasis on sustainable land clearing and management practices in addition to restricting slash-and-burn practices.

"We are looking for input from multiple parties before we issue a ministerial regulation replacing the law. This draft will fix or reconsider Article 69 [of Law No. 32/2009], which allows people to clear land by burning up to 2 hectares based on local practices," the ministry's secretary-general, Bambang Hendroyono, said during a coordinating meeting on forest fires with local government officials in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The stipulation has been abused by local farmers as well as big firms engaged in slash-and-burn practices.

In the planned revision, the government will forbid all slash-and-burn practices on peatlands even if those practices clock in under 2 hectares and have been practiced locally for decades.

"The point is to protect peatlands from any kind of slash-and-burn practice," Bambang said. "Even if the peatlands are located in secondary forests, not primary forests, they are still off-limits."

He said that all slash-and-burn practices would be banned during the dry season, both in peatland and non-peatland areas.

Furthermore, the government will also make it illegal for anyone to build canals to dry out the surface of peatland. Such a process tends to make peatland more combustible.

The planned ministerial regulation follows President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's instruction to revamp the country's forestry sector on the back of the annual forest fires, which reached catastrophic levels this year because of the El Niqo weather phenomenon.

"There has been a presidential instruction. We will use it as a role model [for the ministerial regulation]," Bambang said.

He said such a ministerial regulation was badly needed because the rainy season this year was predicted to last only until January 2016.

"Even though it's already raining now, we are racing against time again. There's a high chance that El Niqo will come again [next year]. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG], the dry season will come again in February next year, which means that we only have November, December and January [to prepare for the next dry season]," said Bambang.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, meanwhile, said the government had not decided whether there would be a direct stipulation in the new ministerial regulation banning local farmers from conducting slash-and-burn practices.

"It looks like [the restriction] is a done deal. But we don't know yet [what kind of regulations we will use]," she said on Tuesday, arguing that all parties wanted the slash-and-burn practices to be further restricted.

Besides that, Siti said that the government was also preparing technical guidelines for regional governments on how to implement sustainable land and forestry management and cultivation.

The document will include guidelines for damage recovery after land and forest fires, managing burned-up forest areas, identifying damage and managing peatland ecosystems. "The document will be ready later this month," Siti said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/regulation-readied-restrict-slash-and-burn-practices.html

Animals, humans in violent conflict in North Sumatra, Aceh

Jakarta Post - November 2, 2015

Apriadi Gunawan and Hotli Simanjuntak, Medan/Banda Aceh – Potential conflicts between animals and human beings have continued to emerge in some regions on Sumatra, mostly because of severe disturbances to the animals' original habitats.

In Besitang district, Langkat regency, North Sumatra, hundreds of families have been expressing anxiety after wild orangutans from the neighboring Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) have repeatedly invaded their neighborhoods in search of food.

Hasan Basri, 50, of village IX, Halaban subdistrict, said several families were forced to flee their homes and stay at relatives' houses because they feared being attacked by the wild orangutans. No fatalities have so far been reported from the incident. "But the people here are worried," Hasan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He said that the presence of orangutans in the human residential complexes was an old story. Yet, in the last three months the occurrences have become more frequent. He blamed the phenomenon on the serious damage done to the forests in the national park by illegal logging activities.

"Orangutans enter our villages for food because their habitats have been damaged by illegal loggers," Hasan said, adding that the animals damaged many of the people's rubber plantations and durian trees, eating the plants' young leaves.

To deal with the problem, he said, enraged people attacked the orangutans with air rifles and with bows and arrows.

A 50-year-old orangutan was recently found with 22 gunshot wounds all over its body. Volunteers attempted to save its life, but it later died. Orangutan Information Center (OIC) director Panut Hadisiswoyo said that since 2013 the center had found seven Sumatran orangutans from North Sumatra and Aceh in critical conditions because of gunshot and stab wounds. They all eventually died as the wounds were too serious to heal.

He said for the last three years the center also saved 79 orangutans isolated in people's fields and plantation areas. Of them, 69 percent were from Aceh and the remaining 31 percent were from North Sumatra, especially Langkat.

"To put an end to the conflict between orangutans and people, we urge all parties to stop deforestation in the Leuser ecosystem," Panut said.

Meanwhile in Sejahtera hamlet, Rimba Raya subdistrict, Pintu Rime Gayo district, Bener Meriah regency, Aceh, people continue to stay in evacuation centers to avoid being attacked by herds of elephants.

"We are still traumatized. We are afraid to go back to our village," Abdullah, one of the displaced residents, said on Sunday.

He said a herd of about 30 elephants had come to his village a few months before, killing a housewife and injuring her husband as they tried to escape. Their baby survived because the big animals did not hurt him.

"We just don't want to have such an incident reoccur. That's why we left our home," Abdullah said.

Bener Meriah regency secretary Imarissiska said the regency administration had been overwhelmed by the task of removing herds of elephants from residential areas as they kept coming back.

For a short-term solution, he said, the administration was cooperating with the provincial Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) to get rid of the elephants using trained elephants belonging to the center.

"Hopefully we will start doing this on Monday, herding the animals back to their habitat," Imarissiska said.

He said once the herd left, the administration would dig deep trenches to separate the villages from the herd and to prevent the elephants from coming back.

For a long-term solution, he said, the administration was planning to relocate the people to a new area. "This needs a huge amount of funds," said Imarissiska, adding that cooperation with other affected regencies could also be undertaken to help the program.

The population of Sumatran elephants has fallen in the last four years and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has raised the threat status of the species from "emergency" to "critical", one step below "extinction".

Based on World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Indonesia data, Indonesia currently has about 2,000 individual wild elephants.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/02/animals-humans-violent-conflict-north-sumatra-aceh.html

Activist blames former forestry minister for haze crisis

Jakarta Globe - November 1, 2015

Jakarta – A leading anti-haze activist has accused the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly of allowing corporations to burn forests and causing the haze crisis.

Zulkifli Hasan, former Forestry Minister from 2009 to 2014 under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, allegedly granted permission to various corporations to burn over 1.3 million hectares of forest areas to be used for plantations. The finding is based on ministerial data from 2010 to 2013.

"All of the permissions had been signed by Zulkifli Hasan who, at that period of time, was serving as the Forestry Minister in the [Second] United Indonesia Cabinet," Syahrul Fitra, an activist, said on Saturday, as quoted by tempo.co.

Syahrul, organizer of the #MelawanAsap (#FightHaze) campaign through the online petition platform change.org, has called on law enforcers to investigate and punish all officials allegedly responsible for the months- long disaster.

"Don't let this disaster continue repeating every year without anyone being responsible for it," he said, while also urging the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate possible graft related to the granting of permission.

Syahrul's online petition was launched on Friday and has so far attracted 6,355 supporters.

"When I was still at the office, I did not do it. If they want me [legally processed], I will face it," Zulkifli Hasan, also the National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman, said on Saturday.

Over 2 million hectares of forest area across Indonesia has been reduced to ash in the past five months, according to National Space and Aviation Agency (Lapan) data. The final figure is expected to grow.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/activist-blames-former-forestry-minister-haze-crisis/

Health & education

MK rejects petition for sex education on school curriculum

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Jakarta – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled on Wednesday that reproductive health education should not be explicitly included in the national curriculum.

In its verdict, the court rejected a petition filed by the Indonesian Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI), which had requested a review of Article 37, point 1 of Law No. 20/2003 on the national education system, which regulates sports and health (Penjaskes) instruction at schools.

The association had requested that the article specify reproductive health as a compulsory element within Penjaskes.

The court argued that reproductive health education could be integrated in several subjects at schools, such as sports, biology, religion and counseling. Justice Aswanto argued that students could also learn about it from seminars and extracurricular activities.

"There is no need to stipulate it specifically in the article," Aswanto said during the ruling session.

According to the association, the article is not in line with the Constitution's Article 28C, point 1 on citizens' right to education as well as articles 72 and 73 of Law No. 36/2009 on health, which stipulate the right of information and adequate education and the government's responsibility for providing educational facilities to this end.

The association argues that no curriculum could be considered adequate without reproductive health education as advocated in the Health Law and that facilities should be provided for that.

However, the court found that the education system law's Article 37 did not violate people's rights to education, because teachers and other parties would still be available to teach young people about reproductive health at various occasions.

PKBI chairman Sarsanto Wibisono Sarwono said after the ruling that reproductive health education was often provided through seminars and counseling, but the government needed a legal basis for such education to make it more socially acceptable. "Otherwise, parents and teachers will always consider it taboo," Sarsanto said.

He added that his association had proposed to the Education and Culture Ministry to implement reproductive health education in the national curriculum several times, but the effort always failed. "The government should see the benefits of reproductive health education for students," he said.

He cited a study on reproductive health education released by the University of Indonesia's Gender and Sexuality Research Center in 2013, which indicated that reproductive health education offered an 88.7 percent chance to prevent teenagers from premarital sex, a 94.5 percent chance to inform students about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis, gonorrhea or HIV/AIDS, and a 77.6 percent chance to enable students to control their sexual urges.

He went on to say that such education could also reduce child sexual abuse. The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) recently revealed that the rate of violence against children had risen, with 16,000 reports received from across the country in the past four years.

In 2014, the number of reported child abuse cases nationwide increased to 5,066 cases from 4,311 in the previous year. This year, the commission has recorded almost 2,000 cases from January to July. According to the data, around 50 percent of the cases this year involved sexual violence.

Clara Ajisuksmo, an educational psychologist from the Center for Societal Development Studies at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta, said reproductive health education was needed at schools to heighten awareness.

"It shouldn't be education about sex, but more about educating students that they are endowed with different genders and have different reproductive organs. They should know that the organs are important and must be taken care of and respected, and never abused.

She went on to say that teachers needed to inform their students about the proper treatment of their genitalia, such as warning that having casual sex carried a risk of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease. (foy)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/mk-rejects-petition-sex-education-school-curriculum.html

Government urged to make more progress on safe abortions

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2015

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Providing a conducive environment for the delivery of safe and legal abortions will prevent women from suffering complications from unsafe abortions, which are a major cause of maternal death in Indonesia, an activist has said.

Indonesia Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) executive director Chatarina Wahyurini said unsafe abortions had continued to take place in areas across the country despite the issuance of Government Regulation (PP) No. 61/2014 on reproductive health, which aimed to provide the people with greater access to reproductive care services, including safe abortions.

"With poor access to safe abortions, many women have continued to resort to unsafe procedures, which often lead to injury and death from pregnancy- related complications," Chatarina said. She was speaking during a recent journalist workshop on family planning and reproductive health held by the PKBI with support from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

Although PP 61 has improved women's reproductive health rights in Indonesia, there is still opposition to the regulation, which has been accused of having legalized abortion.

"People continue to deride PP 61, calling it 'PP abortion' although in fact, this PP regulates a broad range of reproductive health and rights issues, not merely safe abortions," Chatarina deplored.

Under PP 61, abortion is legal for women in specific circumstances, namely those who suffer from a life-threatening medical condition and for victims of rape. Still, pursuing a legal abortion involves tough procedures, including counseling.

Founded on Dec. 23, 1957, in response to Indonesia's maternal death rate, which was very high at that time, the PKBI has since developed as a NGO concerned with family planning and reproductive health issues. The PKBI now operates 36 clinics in 28 cities, providing sexual and reproductive health-care services.

The services available comprise reproductive health counseling and contraceptive care, HIV and other sexually transmitted disease prevention and control programs, pre- and postnatal treatment, obstetric services, sexual and other forms of gender-based violence control programs and safe abortions.

PKBI program director Fahmi Arizal has said around 70 percent of women who seek abortions do so due to unintended pregnancies. Hence, a key measure to avoid unsafe abortions was to provide greater access to sexual and reproductive health services to reduce unwanted pregnancies, he added.

In a rapidly changing society, Fahmi said, unwanted pregnancy cases among adolescents engaged in premarital and extramarital sexual activity had grown quickly. It would be better for sexually active young couples to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions by using contraception, he said.

"The problem is, the government is somewhat reluctant to give adolescents wider access to contraceptives and other reproductive health services as it is mandated by existing regulations that community health centers can provide those services only for productive-age married couples," said Fahmi.

"It's critical to give adolescents adequate access to reproductive care to protect them from unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions," he went on.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/01/govt-urged-make-more-progress-safe-abortions.html

Marriage & polygamy

End child marriage for healthy, prosperous lives: Activists

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2015

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Changing a traditional practice like child marriage may seem daunting, especially when such marriages are considered acceptable in a group or society. However, that is the aim of activists from Indonesian family planning and reproductive health civil groups.

Indonesia Planned Parenthood Association (PKBI) executive director Chatarina Wahyurini has taken on the challenge of eliminating the practice in Indonesia, a country with a relatively high prevalence of child marriage, where young girls may be offered for marriage to settle economic difficulties in their families.

"It is our goal to continue to build public awareness of the dangers of child marriage. We are striving to build common commitments with related parties to save our children from early marriages," Chatarina said at a recent journalists' workshop on family planning and reproductive health, held by the PKBI with support from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

The PKBI is part of the Indonesian Coalition to End Child Marriage (Koalisi 18+), a social movement that aims to stop child marriage and forced marriage of young people. In its latest move, Koalisi 18+ filed a judicial review against Law No. 1/1974 on marriage, specifically Article 7 (1), which sets the minimum age of marriage for females at 16.

In a hearing on June 18, the Constitutional Court rejected the review, saying there was no guarantee that increasing the minimum age of marriage to 18 years would reduce divorce cases, alleviate health problems or minimize other social problems affecting women. The court's rejection led to a public outcry.

"Early marriage leads to girls dropping out of school, impeding their hopes to live happier and more prosperous lives. Child marriage also has many effects on girls' reproductive health, in which they may suffer dangerous complications during pregnancy and childbirth," Chatarina said.

According to data from UNICEF Indonesia, one in six young people in Indonesia is married before the age of 18, totaling 340,000 every year. Meanwhile, 50,000 girls are married before they are 15 years old.

Chatarina said the practice would likely burden Indonesia's efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which target a decline in the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.

The activist said the goal would be difficult to achieve as Indonesia's maternal mortality rate currently stands at 359 per 100,000 live births.

"Could we reduce our maternal mortality rate to fewer than 70 per 100,000 live births? This goal is too ambitious, I think. Still, it is possible for us to achieve it if we all can move together," Chatarina said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/01/end-child-marriage-healthy-prosperous-lives-activists.html

Graft & corruption

Jokowi told to cleanse AGO, Law and Human Rights Ministry of politics

Jakarta Post - November 8, 2015

Jakarta – Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has demanded President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to remove politics from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry and prevent the two institutions from being filled by representatives of any political parties.

ICW's coordinator for corruption and politics division, Donal Fariz, said on Saturday that the general public could not accept that law enforcement institutions like the AGO and the ministry, which frequently deal with political parties, were led by politicians.

If the AGO was led by a politician, according to Donal, people would always link any policy it made with the interests of the leader's political party, or the interests of the ruling coalition.

In the upcoming simultaneous regional elections, he said, the prosecutor's office may need to arrest certain figures who happen to be opposition leaders.

"In such a situation, people will always see the AGO as a less credible institution, while the President will always be drawn into such a case," said Donal during a gathering to discuss President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's reshuffle plan in Jakarta.

In connection with the Law and Human Rights Ministry, there are many policies that could be considered as political decisions, Donal added.

He criticized Law and Human Rights Minister Yasona Hamonganan Laoly's policy of revising a previous minister's policy that loosened the requirements for convicts and detainees to get remissions and probation.

"Because of Yasona's ministerial decree on remissions and probation, two convicts who served only one-third of their respective sentences, have been allowed to become candidates for regional leader positions," said Donal, adding that one was a mayoral candidate in Manado, North Sumatra and the other a regent candidate in Boven Digoel, Papua.

Yasona was also criticized for his decisions on the internal conflicts in the United Development Party (PPP) and the Golkar Party that were in favor of politicians who supported the ruling coalition. The Constitutional Court just recently issued a ruling that was in favor of politicians who supported the opposition coalition. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/08/jokowi-told-cleanse-ago-law-and-human-rights-ministry-politics.html

Ganjar supports activist in defamation case

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2015

Semarang – Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has thrown his support behind antigraft activist Ronny Maryanto, who has been sued for defamation by House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon.

"Ronny should fight! He should report him [Fadli] back," Ganjar said on Wednesday.

Tempo.co reported earlier that Fadli, who is also the deputy chairman of Gerindra Party, had reported Ronny, the chairman of the Central Java Committee for Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism Investigation and Eradication (KP2KKN), to the police after the NGO had reported Fadli for alleged vote-buying in last year's presidential elections.

KP2KKN reported Fadli to the Semarang Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) for allegedly distributing Rp 50,000 (US$3.5) each to traders at Bulu Market in Semarang on July 2, along with stickers of presidential and vice presidential candidates Prabowo and Hatta Radjasa.

The Semarang prosecutor's office has submitted the dossier of defamation to the district court.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/06/island-focus-ganjar-supports-activist-defamation-case.html

Freedom of religion & worship

Local governments urged to respect rights, diversity

Jakarta Globe - November 5, 2015

Jakarta – Activists have called on local authorities across Indonesia to ensure that regional bylaws and regulations respect human rights and diversity, in the wake of the recent burning of a church by Muslim hard- liners in Aceh province.

Nurkhoiron, a member of the central government's National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said on Wednesday that decentralization had given local authorities greater power to run their jurisdictions, but that they were not using this newly vested power responsibly enough with regards to catering to the rights and freedoms of their constituents. "The power to govern is no longer centralized with the central government. Regional governments have more power and responsibility in running their areas, including in the human rights aspect," he said.

Nurkhoiron said Komnas HAM had in the past three years received an increasing number of complaints about alleged human rights violations encouraged or permitted through controversial local bylaws and regulations.

Zainal Abidin, from the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said it was important for regional governments to be able to address the human rights issues specific to their jurisdictions without the need for the central government to weigh in.

"Just take a look at the Aceh Singkil case," he said, referring to a district in the staunchly Muslim province of Aceh where hard-liners burned down a church last month and authorities demolished several others on the pretext that they lacked the necessary permits.

"If the Aceh Singkil district administration could have taken care of the problem properly, it would have been resolved much sooner," Zainal said.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/local-governments-urged-respect-rights-diversity/

Land & agrarian conflicts

Government to 'empower' nomadic tribes by grounding them on reservations

Jakarta Globe - November 5, 2015

Jakarta – The Indonesian government plans to move nomadic forest tribes into reservations as part of its solution for "empowering" communities threatened by massive loss of forests in southern Sumatra.

An estimated 200,000 people from various tribes that the government collectively brands "Anak Dalam" will be affected by the plan, laid out in a regulation signed by President Joko Widodo last year and which Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa is only acting on now.

The minister has allocated Rp 126 billion ($9.28 million) for the so-called Social Empowerment for Indigenous Communities program, much of it to settle the largely nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes onto reservations.

"The tribes' nomadic tradition has been disrupted by forest fires," Khofifah said at her office in Jakarta on Wednesday. "The forests in which they live have been converted into oil palm plantations, pushing them away. The forest fires have made their situation even worse. We have to do something [about it]."

The action that the minister calls for does not include conserving the ostensibly protected forests in which the indigenous groups live. In fact, the presidential regulation makes no mention of trying to maintain the groups' generations-old way of life, stating instead that they should be "integrated into the wider society."

Forest fires in Sumatra, Kalimantan and other parts of Indonesia this year have triggered the daily release of more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than the entire economic activity of the United States. More than half of the fires occurred on peat land, which is supposed to be off-limits to loggers and plantation companies.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/government-empower-nomadic-tribes-grounding-reservations/

Red tape blocks customary land

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Two years after a landmark ruling in 2013 by the Constitutional Court on the 1999 Forestry Law that invalidated the government's claim to customary forests, red tape continues to block indigenous peoples' access to their land.

The Association for Community and Ecology-Based Law Reform (HuMa) said on Wednesday that not a single customary forest had been declared by the government to be the property of the indigenous community following the landmark ruling, which should give hope to indigenous people whose rights had been denied for decades by the government in favor of large plantation and mining companies.

"If we're talking about an official customary forest in accordance to the ministerial regulation that has just been issued, then there's none because only the Environment and Forestry Ministry can declare an area a customary forest," HuMa advocate and campaign head Sisilia Nurmala Dewi said on Wednesday.

She attributed the lack of progress to Article 67 of the 1999 Forestry Law, which states that only regional governments can grant the recognition of customary forests to indigenous communities through local bylaws.

For a regency administration to issue a bylaw, it has to make sure that the indigenous people have been living in the area for a long time and that the customary land truly exists, among other things.

"Therefore, it's a bureaucratic nightmare," Sisilia said. "And there's also a lack of political will [among regional governments]."

Until now, the only customary land that has been recognized by a local government in a bylaw is located in Morowali, Central Sulawesi. However, the 20,000-hectare customary land was not recognized by the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Sisilia said.

"The director-general [of social and partnership forestry, Hadi Daryanto] himself said that the area was too vast [to be declared customary land], not to mention that the status is that of a public forest," she said.

The government plans to redistribute 12.7 million hectares of social forests from 2015 until 2019 to deal with rampant land disputes involving indigenous communities.

The ministry said that the government had 36.6 million hectares of forest that could potentially be handed over to indigenous people as social forests.

Sisilia argued that the government appeared to be more focused on declaring other types of social forests, such as village forests, because the government had more control over those kinds of forests.

"If an area is declared a customary forest, the Environment and Forestry Ministry will no longer be able to give recommendations to issue borrow-to-use permits," she said.

The government was scheduled to declare at least one customary forest in Jambi later this year, Sisilia said.

"It's located in Merangin regency, where Serampas people live. It's only because the local regent already declared it a customary forest," she said. "In this case, the decree could just be upgraded through another decree by the Environment and Forestry Ministry in order for the customary forest to be recognized."

Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, the director of tenurial and customary land conflict at the directorate-general, said that the government was working hard to provide recognition for indigenous people.

"Yes we are currently validating and verifying for customary land recognition in Merangin Regency and Kerinci Regency," she told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/red-tape-blocks-customary-land.html

Jakarta & urban life

Ahok ready to revise rule on public rallies

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said on Friday that he was ready to talk with human rights activists about the newly- issued gubernatorial regulation on public rallies, hinting that it could be revised.

However, Ahok said that even if the regulation was revised, it was unlikely that any demonstration would be allowed in front of the Presidential Palace.

"They still can't stage protests in front of the Presidential Palace, but if you have another place to propose, I am ready to revise the regulation," he continued.

On Oct. 28, Ahok issued Gubernatorial Regulation No. 228/2015 on the control of rallies in public spaces. The regulation stipulates that protesters are allowed to stage protests at three locations only: Parkir Timur Senayan at the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Alun-Alun Demokrasi (Democracy Plaza) located at the House of Representatives complex and Silang Selatan (Southern Cross) at the National Monument (Monas) park.

The regulation was criticized by activists and family members of victims of human rights abuse, who would engage in silent protest in front of the Presidential Palace every Thursday to demand the government resolve past cases of human rights abuse.

According to Ahok, the regulation was based on Law No. 9/1998 on the freedom of expression in public places. "The law itself says you cannot hold a rally in front of the Presidential Palace," he explained.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/07/greater-jakarta-ahok-ready-revise-rule-public-rallies.html

Ahok sets Jakarta minimum wage at Rp 3.1 million

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama has signed off on a city minimum wage of Rp 3.1 million (US$228.80) per month after the amount was approved by the city wage committee, which comprises city administrators, employers and employees from Jakarta.

"Yes I have signed it," said Ahok at City Hall on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com. The figure represents a 15 percent increase on this year's minimum wage of Rp 2.7 million.

The figure is higher than the projected basic cost-of-living for next year – Rp 2.98 million, based on a recent survey and calculations by the Jakarta wage committee – and 14.2 percent above the current basic cost-of-living of Rp 2.53 million.

The Jakarta minimum wage does not completely follow newly issued Government Regulation No. 78 on the annual increase of provincial minimum wages, which based increases purely on a given year's inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate. Instead, the city also considered the basic cost-of-living survey of 84 basic commodities and other daily needs of workers.

Ahok said he was ready to explain the increase to any party, particularly employers unhappy with his decision, but would not consider any proposal from employers that the implementation of the new minimum wage be delayed, the new wage becomes effective in January next year. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/ahok-sets-jakarta-minimum-wage-rp-31-million.html

Police back Jakarta's regulation on protests

Jakarta Post - November 3, 2015

Jakarta – The Jakarta city police have shown support for a new gubernatorial regulation that limits demonstrations in the capital city, signed recently by Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok"Tjahaja Purnama.

"We have to support the gubernatorial regulation. The regulation is to back up a law that is already in place," said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by tempo.co. He was referring to Law No. 9/1998 on freedom of expression in public places.

"Expressing one's aspirations is allowed as long as people do not violate the gubernatorial regulation, which is supported by all stakeholders," Iqbal added.

Under Gubernatorial Regulation No. 228/2015 on controlling the implementation of freedom of expression in public, demonstrations must be held in one of three locations: the east carpark at Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan; Alun Alun Demokrasi (Democracy Plaza) at the House complex; and Silang Selatan (Southern Cross) at the National Monument. All three areas are located in Central Jakarta.

The regulation also limits the timing of demonstrations to between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Responding to criticism from activists from NGOs, Governor Ahok stressed that the gubernatorial regulation did not violate any article in the country's Constitution. "I am only following the existing law. Who made the law? I was not even in politics at that time," he added.

Last Friday the police started to warn 12,000 workers demonstrating in front of the State Palace to disperse at 6 p.m. The police forcefully dispersed the protesters at about at 7 p.m., including with the use of a water cannon. (bbn).

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/03/police-back-jakarta-s-regulation-protests.html

Group mulls petitioning free speech rule

Jakarta Post - November 3, 2015

Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) may file a petition with the Constitutional Court against a recently issued gubernatorial regulation that restricts free speech in public spaces.

LBH Jakarta lawyer Maruli Tua Rajagukguk said on Monday that all citizens were protected by the law to convey their thoughts in public spaces and, therefore, issuing a regulation that contradicted this principle was an unconstitutional move.

"The Governor [Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama] has no constitutional authority to restrict people from conveying their thoughts in public spaces," he said on Monday at the organization's headquarters in Central Jakarta.

Ahok issued on Wednesday Gubernatorial Regulation No. 228/2015 on the control of free speech in public spaces.

Article 4 of the regulation stipulates that protestors are allowed to stage protests at only three venues: Parkir Timur Senayan at the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Alun Alun Demokrasi (Democracy Plaza) located at the House of Representatives complex and Silang Selatan (Southern Cross) at the National Monument (Monas) park. All three areas are located in Central Jakarta.

The venues listed in the regulation are rarely used as protest sites. Workers, students and residents usually stage protests in front of government offices such as those at City Hall and the State Palace.

Articles 5 and 6 of the regulation also state that protests should be conducted between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and that the noise level of the sound system should not exceed more than 60 decibels.

Maruli said that members of society should not have to follow the regulation because it went against the Constitution.

"Judicial review will be the last option. The struggle for the moment is disobeying the regulation," he said. Ahok said recently that he issued the regulation because he wanted protestors to behave in a more orderly fashion. "Demonstrations often cause traffic jams on main roads," he said.

He said that he understood all people should have the freedom to express their opinions but argued that they were not entitled to infringe upon the rights of others.

Meanwhile, a group of workers' alliances under the Committee of Action for Wages (KAU), which staged a rally on Friday against recently issued Government regulation No. 78/2015 on the minimum wage formula, is planning another strike on Nov. 3 in Serang, Bogor and Medan before organizing national strikes on Nov. 18 to 20.

The alliances reject the new wage calculation since it does not take into account the basic cost of living (KHL) and is only based on the current fiscal year's inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, which they said would decrease workers' purchasing power.

The new regulation is also considered to impede the role of wage committees and labor unions in determining wages as it is calculated based on a fix formula (inflation and GDP).(saf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/03/group-mulls-petitioning-free-speech-rule.html

Armed forces & defense

TNI pledges transparency in personnel trials

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Ina Parlina and Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) has promised that military tribunals trying personnel taken to court for civil crimes will be transparent and open to the public.

TNI Chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said on Wednesday that the military would allow the public to scrutinize the trials, especially if the cases being heard involved military personnel and civilians.

"I will issue an order stipulating that incidents involving the TNI and civilians will result in an open military tribunal that will allow the public to see it [the judicial process] for themselves," Gatot said at the State Palace on Wednesday.

There has been a renewed call for transparent tribunals following the arrest of a soldier, identified as Second Sgt. Yoyok Hadi, for allegedly shooting dead a man in Cibinong, West Java, last week after the victim's motorcycle hit his car.

Yoyok is currently being detained at the Bogor Military Police detention center while his case is being investigated.

Responding to the shooting incident, Gatot said Yoyok could face the additional punishment of being dismissed from the Army. "I never comment on sanctions, but I can assure you that there is the additional sanction of dismissal. While the legal sanctions will be determined in a trial and after the investigation has wrapped up," he said.

This is not the first time the TNI has pledged open tribunals for criminal cases involving its personnel.

In the trial of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) personnel, who were accused of murdering four detainees at a prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, in 2013 the TNI opened the proceedings to the public.

The Cibinong shooting caused outrage with many calling for the TNI to monitor the use of its weapons against civilians and an end to the culture of impunity.

"Military personnel enjoy their impunity and exclusive access to their own courts. They only receive light punishments for their mistakes and the trial process is not transparent," Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He urged the government to revise Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals to allow military personnel to be tried in civilian courts for civil crimes so that the victims' families could witness the process.

The planned amendment to the law, however, has been put on the backburner as the House of Representatives said that such a revision was not high on its priority list.

"We think the TNI has enough regulations and so far they've made good progress in imposing severe punishments on their personnel," Mahfudz Siddiq, the chairman of House Commission I overseeing foreign affairs and defense told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said it was unlikely the House would revise the Military Tribunal Law because lawmakers were preoccupied with discussing the reserve component bill and the revision of Law No. 34/2004 on the military.

"For me Law No. 31/1997 on military tribunals is enough. What is very important now, the military courts should try to be more transparent and accountable if the case relates to violence against civilians," Mahfud said.

Mahfudz said he was confident that the TNI would get tough on personnel arrested for committing civil crimes. He added that once the trial started, military prosecutors or judges at the tribunal could opt to use the Military Code (KUHPM) or the Criminal Code (KUHP). "This is about goodwill by the military institution," Mahfudz said.

Also making the news last week was the arrest of two military personnel, Lieut. Col. Wahid Wahyudi and Sgt. Maj. Safril Irawan who were alleged to have operated as drug dealers for nightclubs in Jakarta.

The two TNI personnel were arrested during a raid when the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) seized 1,000 ecstasy pills, an FN pistol, a replica firearm and a military bayonet. Wahid suffered a gunshot wound during the raid.

TNI spokesperson Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman said the TNI would impose severe punishments on personnel arrested for selling and using drugs. He said the punishment could range from administrative penalties to dismissal.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/tni-pledges-transparency-personnel-trials.html

Soldier should face civilian court: Human rights groups

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Human rights activists have called for an Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier who shot and killed a civilian on Tuesday to be tried in a civilian court and not a military court.

Hendardi, the chairman of human rights advocacy group the Setara Institute, said on Thursday that military courts are only for trying military law violations, not general crimes.

"A TNI [soldier] is just a human being when he conducts a general crime. Of course the perpetrator must be brought before a public court," he told thejakartapost.com.

A soldier in the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) shot dead an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver named Marsim in Cibinong, Bogor regency, on Tuesday. The soldier, Second Sgt. YH, shot Marsim after the latter's motorcycle grazed his car while overtaking. YH shot Marsim in the head after an argument in front of a gas station in Cibinong.

TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo has apologized and promised to try YH in an open military tribunal, to ensure transparency, and dismiss him from the military. Hendardi said that holding an open tribunal still did not show a strong commitment from the TNI to ensuring that general crimes committed by TNI personnel were solved in a fair manner.

"The main problem is not whether or not the trial is open, but that this is a violation of equality-before-the-law principles guaranteed by the constitution," he said.

Hendardi also called for the government and the House of Representatives to amend the 1997 law on military tribunals.

Wahyudi Djafar, a researcher with the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) said that violent acts by TNI personnel against civilians betrayed a strong [culture of] impunity for violence within the TNI.

He too called for reform of military tribunal laws. "This case could form a strong starting point for military tribunal reform and changes to the military education curriculum," Wahyudi said, supporting Hendardi's statements. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/soldier-should-face-civilian-court-human-rights-groups.html

Military member arrested for shooting 'ojek' driver

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2015

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – The military police have arrested a soldier, First Sgt. Yoyok Hadi, after he allegedly shot dead a motorcycle taxi (ojek) driver, Marsim "Japra" Sarmani in Bogor regency, West Java, on Tuesday.

According to Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Muhammad Sabrar Fadhilah, before the shooting, Hadi quarreled with Japra in front of several ojek drivers over his car, which had reportedly been grazed by the victim with his motorcycle.

Hadi demanded Japra apologize but the driver refused. Fadhillah further explained that, at the same time, Japra's friends joined in the quarrel, to defend Japra.

"Based on the investigation file, Hadi said he had fired a warning shot but he still felt threatened because Japra and his friends had intimidated him [Hadi] during the quarrel. Thus, he shot Japra. Through his forehead," Fadhillah said on Monday, adding that Japra died instantly.

Fadhillah went on to say that following this, Hadi, a member of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), made his escape from the other ojek drivers to Jagorawi toll road, where the police eventually arrested him.

Separately, Kostrad's Intelligence Battalion Commander Infantry Maj. Dani Eka confirmed Fadhillah's statement, and added that the police arrested Hadi when he canceled his plan to turn himself in to the Cibinong Military Police after he saw a crowd of upset civilians blocking his way.

Dani said that the police then handed over Hadi to the Cibinong Military Police where he continues to be held under arrest.

The commander explained that Hadi carried a gun because he was assigned to monitor a certain case involving two female informants, who were riding in the car. Thus, the military had given him permission to take a gun with him for three days. The car belonged to one of the informants, he said.

Dani explained that Hadi was often on assignments, handling "sensitive" cases like drug abuse and terrorism.

Dani said both he and other military representatives had met with Japra's family to apologize and to express their sympathy. They also donated money and food. The Army has also borne the cost of the funeral.

Dani said that the visit to the mourning family was a direct order from Kostrad commander Lt. Gen. Edy Rahmayadi, who was "disappointed and angry" about the incident.

Kostrad has also met with Tubagus Enungsutisna, the head of the Cibinong chapter of mass organization Banten Family Development Group (BPPKB), where Japra had been previously signed up as a member. BPPKB has been known to get involved in clashes with other mass organizations, such as the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR).

Tubagus said that the incident was an "unfortunate event" and that it was one that should not be unnecessarily prolonged. His organization had made sure there would be no revenge taken against the military.

Shortly after the shooting, he said, representatives from the organization met with Dani and have also been in communication with the victim's family. (agn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/military-member-arrested-shooting-ojek-driver.html

Police, TNI mend strained ties in joint education program

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – After holding separate training for almost 15 years, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police wrapped up a joint basic training and education program, which many expect to help create bonds between personnel from the two institutions.

Around 800 cadets from the TNI and police participated in a joint training session held at the Candradimuka Military Academy in Magelang, Central Java that began on Aug. 4 through which they received training on basic knowledge, lessons in behavior and physical exercise.

"The joint education program focused on unity, teamwork, solidarity and togetherness, with the goal of creating harmony between the TNI and the police," TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said in his speech to close the joint session in Magelang on Tuesday.

Gatot said that once they returned to their respective institutions, the cadets must continue communicating with each other.

National Police chief Gen. Badroddin Haiti, who was also present during the closing ceremony, said that the cadets should maintain the bonds created during the joint training session.

"You should leave bad behavior behind because it will not only harm yourselves but also to your institutions and families," Badroddin said.

Personnel from the TNI and Police have often engaged in clashes, prompting many to assume that the two institutions are engaged in a rivalry.

Among one of the most serious incidents was a clash in Batam in November 2014 that involved a dozen soldiers from an Army infantry unit rampaging through the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters. One soldier died in the incident, while a street vendor was injured.

The attack followed a clash between Brimob personnel and soldiers following an attempted police raid on a suspected illegal fuel-storage facility in Batam in September 2014. Four soldiers sustained gunshot wounds in the incident.

Both the military and police launched separate probes into the incident. The TNI imposed disciplinary sanctions by reassigning 100 soldiers involved in the Batam clash to the eastern part of Indonesia.

Media reports have framed the clashes as a conflict at the grass-roots level over disputed shares of extra income triggered by illegal security protection services the two forces have offered.

The latest incident occurred in September this year, when a TNI member identified as Second Pvt. Yuliadi was shot dead, allegedly by a police officer, during a brawl that erupted at a motorbike racing circuit in Pekkabata subdistrict, Polewali city, Polewali Mandar, West Sulawesi.

Leadership of the two institutions agreed in February to involve their personnel in a joint training program, which had been a practice under the New Order authoritarian regime.

Under the order of then president Soeharto, the military academy was responsible for training and educating military and police cadets.

Under the joint training program, cadets from the police and military undertook four months of joint training before attending separate classes.

Executive director of the Institute for Defense and Security Studies (IDSS) Mufti Makarim told The Jakarta Post that the joint training could not be a permanent solution to ease tensions between the two institutions.

"Police and TNI have different characteristics. It is strange if they have joint training," he said, adding TNI personnel were prepared for war, while members of the police force handled domestic security.

Instead of holding a joint training session, which was only ceremonial in nature, Mufti suggested that leaders from the two institutions discuss a concrete solution to the grass-root problems.

"The clashes between TNI and police personnel are due to the culture of impunity," he said. As long as TNI and the police did not hand down severe punishment for their personnel involved in illegal practices, clashes would continue in the future.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/police-tni-mend-strained-ties-joint-education-program.html

Kostrad soldier shoots man dead in Cibinong

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – A soldier reportedly shot a man dead in Cibinong, Bogor regency, after the victim's motorcycle bumped into his car.

Siliwangi Military Command spokesman Col. Robertson confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect, identified only as Second Sgt. YH, was a soldier in the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad). The dead man was Marsim, aka Japra, 40.

He said that the incident took place at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in front of Ciriung gas station in Cibinon when YH's car was grazed by Marsim's motorcycle. YH reportedly chased after Marsim, who refused to stop.

"The perpetrator [YH] pulled out his gun and shot the victim in the head, which caused his death," Robertson said as quoted by Antara state news agency. Marsim's body was taken to Kramat Jati Police Hospital and YH was taken into custody by the military police.

Military Commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo apologized for the shooting and promised that YH would be put on trial in an open court.

"I will send a telegram ordering that incidents involving military personnel officers and civilians have open trials," he said as reported by Antara.

Gatot said YH would be discharged from the military. "The legal sanctions will be determined after the investigation and trial. [But] we will discharge him, especially because as a soldier he used a gun to take a life," he said.

Gatot added that the military would evaluate the use of guns by military personnel. "Guns can only be used by personnel on duty and in operations," he said, adding that each personnel must relinquish their gun before going home. (rin)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/kostrad-soldier-shoots-man-dead-cibinong.html

Criminal justice & prison system

BNN chief envisions drug prison-island surrounded by crocodiles

Jakarta Globe - November 8, 2015

Jakarta – National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso will soon travel to North Sumatra in search of crocodiles to help guard a proposed prison-island facility for drug offenders.

Waseso has been calling on the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights – which oversees prisons across the country – to build a special penitentiary for drug offenders, saying that it should be in a remote island to stop drug dealers from communicating with the outside world.

The distribution of drugs is rampant inside Indonesian prisons and there are frequent reports about drug dealers continuing to control their operations from behind bars.

The Justice Ministry has not yet given the green light to Waseso's proposal but he has been busy working out outlandish details about his pet project.

"We will keep sending them food supplies everyday. But they have to survive on their own," he said on Sunday, as quoted by Tempo.co news portal. The island, he said, will be surrounded by crocodiles.

"We will place as many crocodiles as we can there. I will search for the most ferocious type of crocodile," he said. "You can't bribe crocodiles. You can't convince them to let inmates escape. I have informed the Justice Ministry about [the crocodile plan]."

Waseso said he would travel to Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday to visit a crocodile breeding center. "I will also travel to Papua and Sulawesi to see which crocodiles are fiercer," he continued.

Waseso also reiterated suggestions that drug dealers should be forced to consume all of their confiscated merchandise.

"Let them overdose by their own drugs," he said, adding that the BNN was looking for ways to implement the punishment, possibly by revising the current laws on narcotics, which lists the death penalty – usually carried out by firing squad – as a maximum sentence.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/bnn-chief-envisions-drug-prison-island-surrounded-crocodiles/

Foreign affairs & trade

Government denies hiring Las Vegas PR Firm to Clear Joko's US Visit

Jakarta Globe - November 8, 2015

Jakarta – The Indonesian government denied claims that it had employed the lobbying services of an Las Vegas-based consultancy firm to assist with President Joko Widodo's recent visit to the United States.

"Like other visits by the president, preparations for the US visit was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs in coordination with other ministries and government agencies, as well as the Indonesian embassy in Washington, the Indonesian Consulate General in San Francisco, the US Embassy in Jakarta, the business community and other stakeholders," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Saturday.

The ministry further insisted it has never employed lobbyists, but "understands [they] are a real part of the US political life and are frequently employed by stakeholders as well as other governments around the world to advanced their interests in the United States."

Joko conducted his first state visit to the United States last week to meet with US President Barrack Obama and a series of US executives, but ended the trip sooner than expected to attend to the worsening haze crisis in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Reasons behind the tour are now being put into question after a filing made to the US Department of Justice linked marketing and public relations firm R&R Partners to the Indonesian government through Singapore-based consultant company Pereira International.

Established by veteran journalist Derwin Pereira, Pereira International is a political consultancy focused on Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, with political entrepreneurs from both the private and public sectors as clients, according to the company's official website.

The filing registered on June 17 shows that Pereira International, allegedly representing the Republic of Indonesia, utilized the service of R&R Partners "[to] arrange and attend meetings with key policymakers and members of the Congress and the executive branch including the Department of State, attempt to secure opportunity to address joint session of Congress during President Widodo's visit to the US; and identify and work with influential individuals, media, public and private organizations and affiliates in the US to support efforts of President Widodo."

R&R Partners was supposedly paid in four installments between June and September, totaling the consultancy fees to $80,000, according to the filing, which was signed by Pereira as chief executive of Pereira International and R&R Partners president Sean Tonner.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/govt-denies-hiring-las-vegas-pr-firm-clear-jokos-us-visit/

Economy & investment

Incentives for special economic zones fail to impress

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

Prima Wirayani, Jakarta – The incentives to be given to some special economic zones (KEK) should be backed up by infrastructure upgrades; otherwise the policy would not work and miss the stated goals, analysts have said.

On Thursday, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution unveiled a number of incentives for eight special economic zones to spur economic activity in the regions.

Latif Adam, an economist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), was skeptical such incentives would do much to boost the economic zones.

"Looking at China, where KEKs significantly moved the industry forward, their zones are supported by three factors, which are infrastructure, good governance and human capital," he said over the phone on Friday.

The incentives announced on Thursday focus only on the governance aspect, he added. Latif also doubted that all related ministries had the same understanding in assessing businesses that were entitled to the incentives.

Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) executive director Enny Sri Hartati likewise said the government did not understand the main factor hampering the development of special economic zones, namely a lack of basic infrastructure, which deterred investors from opening businesses in the designated zones.

"Incentives will please investors, but what they need more to realize their investment is basic infrastructure, including power," she said.

The Sei Mangke economic zone in North Sumatra, she added, lacked proper access to the nearest port, Kuala Tanjung, and the port itself was too small for export and import activities.

Besides offering incentives for KEKs, the latest economic package also gives the green light for packaged drinking water companies to continue business after a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this year banned a private monopoly on the nation's water resources.

Amrta Institute for Water Literacy director Nila Ardhianie said Friday the policy sent mixed signals, as the government actually had been discussing new regulations to replace the annulled law. She expressed concern that the new policy would diverge from the court ruling.

"The ruling basically orders the government to limit private ownership in the water business and strengthen the role of state-owned and local administration-owned enterprises in the business," she said, adding that Currently, 76 percent of the packaged drinking water business in the country was run by foreign companies. Nila's office estimated that the business was worth Rp 61 trillion (US$4.49 billion) last year.

However, Danareksa chief economist Kahlil Rowter said the sixth economy package had the most concrete policy for developing KEKs. "Previously, for decades the government had only intentions but no concrete action," he said.

The incentives include income tax reduction ranging from 15 to 100 percent for five to 25 years, depending on the business's capital and local resources used.

Kahlil also recommended that the government choose locations that were preferred by investors, such as Batam. Bank Mandiri economist Andry Asmoro said the incentives should be followed by a more general revamping of the KEKs by the government. "We still need more stimuli to boost industries," he said.

Bank Danamon analyst Dian Ayu Yustina said the management of the stimuli had to be closely supervised by the government to be effective for the country.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/07/incentives-special-economic-zones-fail-impress.html

This year's budget deficit to widen on tax shortfall

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – The government is expecting a bigger budget deficit than previously forecast this year as tax revenues have fallen well below target.

According to Tax Office head Sigit Priadi Pramudito, the tax revenue shortfall will amount to Rp 160 trillion (US$11.81 billion) in 2015, higher than the previous estimate of Rp 150 trillion.

He attributed the expanding shortfall to a slowdown in the economy and the weaker rupiah that put pressure on imports and therefore squeezed value- added tax (PPN) from imports.

"There is also a shortfall in PPh [income tax] in the oil and gas sector. This year's target was deliberately set lower because we had predicted earlier that we would see a decline in the oil and gas sector," he said in a press conference.

Data from the Tax Office shows that as of Nov. 4, tax revenues, including oil and gas income tax, stood at Rp 774.48 trillion.

The figure is only 59.8 percent of the total target of Rp 1.29 quadrillion and is slightly lower (0.2 percent) than the same period in 2014.

The data also reveals that import PPN amounted to Rp 109.27 trillion, equal to 52.7 percent of the target and was down 12.6 percent from a year ago.

Meanwhile, oil and gas PPh reached Rp 43.76 trillion, making up 88.3 percent of this year's target, but down 41.3 percent from Nov. 4, 2014.

Sigit said the Tax Office would work on the asset revaluation program and other schemes to secure at least an additional Rp 300 trillion in tax income within the two remaining months.

The additional income will bring total tax revenues in 2015 to at least Rp 1.07 quadrillion, or equal to 83 percent of the expected target.

Sigit said the Tax Office had not set a specific target for the asset revaluation program, but claimed that several firms had expressed their intentions to apply for it.

Meanwhile, the deepening tax revenue shortfall will impact overall state revenues and the budget deficit outlook in 2015.

The government had initially set the deficit outlook at 1.95 percent – or Rp 222.5 trillion – of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, but revised it to 2.23 percent of GDP.

However, with the latest data from the Tax Office, the deficit is now expected to widen again.

Robert Pakpahan, director general at the Finance Ministry's financing and risk management office (DJPPR), said he had been assigned to look for financing to plug a deficit of "2.59 percent of the GDP".

At such a rate, the deficit is estimated to reach Rp 303 trillion by the end of the year, assuming that GDP stands at Rp 11.71 quadrillion, as stated in the 2015 revised state budget.

Robert said the DJPPR had begun seeking extra financing, including by securing multilateral loans from multiple institutions. The DJPPR, as reported before, has drawn up plans to raise an extra $5 billion to cover the deficit.

Separately, Bank Central Asia chief economist David Sumual said the latest deficit estimate was in line with his own forecast of 2.6 percent.

"The government can choose several options to prevent the deficit from deteriorating, including by putting several spending plans on hold and optimally implementing the asset revaluation program."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/07/this-year-s-budget-deficit-widen-tax-shortfall.html

Forestry sector experiences negative growth amid fires

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2015

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – Amid the persistent land and forest fires, the forestry and logging sectors experienced contraction in the third quarter.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded negative growth of -2.72 percent compared to last year's third quarter.

"Forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have reduced timber production of industrial forests in Riau and Kalimantan," BPS deputy head of balance and statistics analysis Kecuk Suharyanto told a press conference on Thursday.

Although the agency had yet to conduct a specific study on the impact of the fires on the country's gross domestic product (GDP), Suharyanto said that impacts could be seen in the agriculture sector's slowdown.

He added that the fishery subsector recorded 8.27 percent growth in the third quarter, owing to an increase in seaweed production. Overall, the agriculture sector grew 3.21 percent, lower than the same period last year, which stood at 3.63 percent. This sector alone contributed 14.57 percent to the total GDP.

Meanwhile, the trade sector suffered from a drop in vehicle sales. Imported goods reported negative growth as well at -7 percent.

In the mining and excavation sector, negative growth of -5.64 percent was recorded. "There has been a steep drop in the coal-mining sector from -3.12 percent in the third quarter of 2014 to -19.51 in this year's third quarter," he explained.

Suharyanto also said that the construction sector slightly grew by 6.82 percent on the significant increase of government capital spending. (kes)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/05/forestry-sector-experiences-negative-growth-amid-fires.html

Consumer optimism declines in Q3

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – A survey from global market researcher Nielsen shows that the Indonesian consumer confidence index has continued to decline, going down four points, to 116, in the third quarter of 2015. The index stood at 120 in the previous quarter and 123 in the first.

Nielsen Indonesia managing director Agus Nurudin said Indonesia's economic uncertainty, the weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar and increases in job layoffs were the main contributors to the decline in consumer confidence.

"It could be said that the country's economic condition has suffered from uncertainty over the last six months. The strengthening of the US dollar and massive layoffs have impacted our consumer confidence," said Agus in Jakarta on Wednesday.

According to the survey, Indonesia's economy remains consumers' top concern, with 46 percent of respondents listing it as such, 9 percent more than in the previous quarter. Apart from the economy, Indonesian consumers are also concerned about work-life balance, which was a top concern for 17 percent of those surveyed, and the welfare and happiness of parents, a top concern for 15 percent.

"The hot topic is currency, which has kept everyone on edge, wondering whether Indonesia's economy will get worse," he said. The rupiah, he mentioned as an example, fell to Rp 14.700 per US dollar in the July- September quarter.

Nielsen's consumer confidence index in the third quarter of 2015 – which measures consumer confidence, major concerns and spending intentions – showed that Indonesia's optimism regarding future employment continued to decline, down to 64 percent, from 68 percent in the second quarter and 75 percent in the first.

Optimism around future personal finances also dropped significantly, from 84 percent in this year's first quarter, to 80 percent in the second and 64 in the third.

"[The number of] Indonesian online consumers who believe that the state of their personal finances will improve to "good" or "excellent" over the next 12 months is also becoming fewer," Agus explained.

Consumers' outlook on spending, he continued, was also affected. In the third quarter Indonesia's spending-outlook index stood at 49, down from 53 in the previous quarter and 56 in the first.

"Most Indonesian online consumers are still holding back on purchasing new technology and new clothes to save money," Agus said.

Although suffering a consumer-confidence decline, Agus continued, Indonesia is still among the top ten most confident countries globally, at fourth position, along with three other Southeast Asia countries – the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

In the third quarter, global consumer confidence increased three index points to 99, the highest level since 2006. Agus noted that the confidence index had increased in 29 out of the 61 markets surveyed. "Economic improvement in the US and Europe drove this confidence," he said.

However, fears of a recession in Asia worsened by more than 9 percentage points in Hongkong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia. Meanwhile, the three countries with the highest fears of a recession are South Korea, with 89 percent concerned, Malaysia, with 89 percent also, and Taiwan, with 88 percent concerned.

"In Malaysia, a currency devaluation of at least 25 percent has potentially impacted on perceptions of the country's economic strength. Political stability is now [Malaysia's] second-highest concern, as recent high- profile demonstrations and political headlines dominate the media," Agus said.

Nielsen surveyed more than 30,000 people with internet access across 61 countries. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/consumer-optimism-declines-q3.html

Indonesia records 0.08% deflation in October: BPS

Jakarta Post - November 2, 2015

Ayomi Amindoni, Jakarta – The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday that Indonesia had recorded 0.08 percent deflation during the month of October due to a surplus of food supplies.

BPS head Suryamin said the country's deflation in October was higher than the previous month's 0.05 percent. He said staple foods contributed 1.06 percent to deflation in October.

With a surplus of supplies, the prices of food commodities such as eggs, chicken, vegetables and red and green chilies were left under-controlled.

"Hopefully, it will be under control within the next two months," said Suryamin in a press conference in Jakarta on Monday. According to BPS data, Indonesia saw 0.47 percent inflation in October 2014, and 0.09 percent inflation in October 2013.

Suryamin said that with such inflationary pressures in October this year, the calendar year inflation rate, for January-October, stood at 2.24 percent while year-on-year inflation stood at 6.83 percent and yearly inflation 5.02 percent. "Month to month core inflation is at 0.23 percent," he said.

Of 82 consumer-price-index (IHK) cities, 44 cities saw a deflation in October while the other 38 saw an inflation.

The highest deflation rate occurred in Tanjung Pandan, with 1.95 percent, and the lowest deflation was in Padang Sidempuan, with 0.01 percent. The highest inflation occurred in Manado, with 1.49 percent, and the lowest inflation, of 0.01 percent, was in Yogyakarta.

Based on BPS data, 14 cities in Sumatra experienced deflation, while 9 others suffered inflation. In Java, 14 cities experienced deflation and 12 inflation. Of the 33 IHK cities outside of Sumatra and Java, 16 experienced deflation and 17 inflation.

"Overall, price controls have been running pretty well, proven by the fact that deflation is appearing all around Indonesia," Suryamin said. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/02/indonesia-records-008-deflation-october-bps.html

Analysis & opinion

Setting a country alight: Indonesia's devastating forest fires are manmade

The Guardian (Australia) - November 7, 2015

Irhash Ahmady and Sam Cossar-Gilbert – We are witnessing the worst manmade environmental disaster since the BP gulf oil spill. Huge, out-of-control fires rage through the forests of Indonesia – and the source of many is the practice of deliberately burning the land to clear it for palm oil and paper products.

Thousands of fires have been lit to clear land simply because it is 75% cheaper than other methods. By burning down forests companies can get access to the land and can commence industrial pulp and palm oil plantations.

The blazes are occurring in the peatland forests of Kalimantan and Sumatra, which is a unique wetland ecosystem home to threatened species. Over the past three months, toxic haze from fires has harmed millions of people in Indonesia, and is believed to have been fatal for some. The crisis is so bad that Friends of the Earth Indonesia/WALHI is providing face masks, and health checkups, and evacuating vulnerable groups to safety.

A thick layer of smog has engulfed the country. Data released by Indonesia's meteorological, climatological and geophysics agency showed that the city of Palangkaraya has become one of the most polluted places on earth. Corporate greed is literally choking the people of Indonesia.

Friends of Earth Indonesia/WALHI and its five regional offices have been conducting investigations of companies suspected of involvement in the fires and triggering the smoke and haze problems in Indonesia. They overlaid the concession maps of the companies, and tracked the names of companies mentioned by the environment and forestry minister. Many of the land concessions of those companies are in the precious peatland area.

Already a number of company executives have been arrested for their suspected role in starting illegal forest fires, some of whom supply pulp products to the giant logging corporation Asian Pulp and Paper (APP).

The fires that have been started deliberately are part of a process which usually involves building canals to block water to the beautiful peatlands; thereby drying it out and enabling deliberately lit fires to burn. This drains the life out of these naturally-moist tropical forests, dries them out, and enables deliberately lit fires to burn. In time, companies and contractors will return to plant endless rows of palm oil and wood plantations in their place.

Many companies have adopted "zero burn" policy positions or other voluntary sustainability measures for their supply chains. APP says it has had a zero burning policy since 1996 and will stop using suppliers involved in burning land. But the current fires demonstrate that we cannot expect companies – and their financiers – to regulate themselves. It is necessary to have binding rules for business to stop these abusive practices wherever they may occur.

In Indonesia the general public and civil society is fighting back – mobilising in the streets, conducting scientific research and organising legal action against the companies believed to be most responsible for the fires, as well as against local and regional governments for neglecting to sufficiently tackle the issue.

The Indonesian government must act in a more structural and systematic way to address this issue, by reviewing all corporations' land concessions, arresting executives and dealing out large fines. A national moratorium on peat clearing must be installed to prevent further disasters with massive impacts on people and biodiversity.

However, this is not just a local or national concern. Forest fires are also one of the leading causes of global warming, and in the lead up to the Paris climate summit in December they will be centre stage. Bloomberg estimated that on 14 October carbon emissions from the fires alone reached 61 megatons, almost 97% of the country's total daily emissions.

The economic drivers of these fires are also global, with multinational companies and investment firms putting profit over people. For the palm oil and pulp products produced in the ashes of these deadly blazes will end up in the snack food and printing paper of western consumers.

In 2014, a Friends of the Earth Europe report highlighted the role that international banks and financial institutions play in funding the exploitation and deforestation of the palm oil industry.

So how can we ensure corporations are held responsible? Traditionally, international law focuses on the role and responsibilities of states, rather than corporations. In our globalised world, companies operate between different national jurisdictions and are often able to take advantage of this situation to escape accountability.

In July 2015, a historic UN meeting took place in Geneva, beginning a process to address this gap in international law and bring justice to victims of corporate crimes, like those in Indonesia.

We are working alongside the UN Human Rights Council, the Vatican and many diverse governments on a new UN human rights treaty, which aims to establish new and binding rules on transnational corporations.

It is difficult to grasp the immense size and impact of the ongoing environmental and human disaster in Indonesia. The fire and haze could cost Indonesia US$35bn, roughly 4% of Indonesia's gross national product. The neighbouring countries of Malaysia and Singapore are also experiencing poor visibility and school closures due to the acute health risks.

Friends of the Earth Indonesia/WALHI is helping to evacuate vulnerable groups, such as babies and infants, breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women and the elderly, to safety.

As forest fires continue to destroy lives and nature, we will continue to work tirelessly from the local to the international level to bring the responsible companies to justice, so that this kind of manmade disaster does not happen again.

[Irhash Ahmady is network manager at Friends of the Earth Indonesia/WALHI – and tweets from @newmosette. Sam Cossar-Gilbert is programme coordinator with Friends of the Earth International and tweets from @samcossar.]

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/nov/07/setting-a-country-alight-indonesias-devastating-forest-fires-are-manmade

Censorship in paradise

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2015

Faiza Mardzoeki, Jakarta – There is no doubt that Bali is a beautiful place. Lush green rice terraces, created through the hard work of Balinese farmers, bordered by dense coconut palms and frangipani trees.

Along the coast, this is supplemented by wonderful beaches and vast stretches of turquoise seas. Adding to the beauty, lays what Westerners see as a colorful and exotic religious and artistic life.

This has been the foundation for that which defines Bali today: It has become a place where millions of people from outside Bali, mostly from Australia and other like-minded countries, take their vacations.

Millions of holidaymakers go to Bali for leisure and relaxation, for minimal prices, much less than they would pay if they were to travel in their own country.

It is this context that defines much of what happens in Bali, especially happenings that involve foreign holidaymakers – including the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival.

The festival was initiated following the first Bali bomb in order to help revive tourism in Bali. And the initiative has, thus far, worked brilliantly, attracting hundreds of people from outside Indonesia every year to Ubud, helping raise the town's profile internationally.

I have twice been invited to speak in Ubud, both to present the filmed version of my play They Call Me Nyai Ontosoroh and to address a panel discussing women in literature. It was a very ambiguous experience.

My partner and I were accommodated in luxury hotels, surrounded by the stunning beauty of those rice fields created by thousands of impoverished farmers.

In and around the festival venues are scores of cafes and restaurants serving delicious Indonesian and international food. Cafes are designed to capture and perpetuate the ambience of Ubud, with beautiful views where possible.

As a holiday experience, it is pleasant. In addition to the food and the views, you can wander from one discussion to another, sometimes these events host famous and interesting writers.

Talks can be on light and diverting topics or serious and intense ones. If one has heard too much, there is opportunity to disappear to an alternative cafe to sit and chat with others who are also taking a break from event activities.

Over the last 10 years, festival organizers have succeeded in attracting high-profile writers, each presenting differences in political opinion, as well as non-political writers, to what has now transformed into an internationally famous festival.

Thus, it was very good news when the festival made the decision to host several sessions as a platform for discussing the controversial events that occurred between Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 1965 and the subsequential mass killings of alleged leftists.

In 2014, in Jakarta, I had presented Nyanyi Sunyi Kembang Genjer (The Silent Song of The Genjer Flowers) a play I had written about the sufferings and struggle of women who had been imprisoned, tortured and abused as part of that purge of the Left.

Promoting a humane public discussion of these events was very important to me. Indeed, many groups, individuals, lawyers, artists and activists have become increasingly active around these issues over the last few years, including survivors themselves.

This was due to climax this year, the 50th anniversary. Lawyers and activists will also launch the International Peoples Tribunal in The Hague, the Netherlands, in November.

Both part of the official program as well as at fringe events, the issue had also recently been taken up by the organizers of Frankfurt Book Fair, where Indonesia had been the featured country. A number of other events are planned.

To have the issue highlighted at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival would have been another positive development.

However, the program got caught in the contradictions of Bali's tourism existence and the ambiguities of the government's passivity.

Local police in Gianjar regency applied pressure on organizers to drop the sessions, placing the whole festival under threat of being banned, this year and in the future. Organizers caved in and withdrew all sessions with "65" in its title or blurb.

Such pressure should not have been a surprise as harassment of activities connected to discussion of 1965 had been regular over the past several years.

While the President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo government has not initiated any tightening of censorship, it has not sent any signals that it has approved a relaxation of censorship.

Subsequently, local authorities feel free to act in a repressive manner, especially when there is some local support for such repression.

Among the many people, including myself, who have worked hard to raise the issue of the mass killings and repression, there has been great disappointment at the festival's easy surrender on the issue.

Of course, we can understand one aspect of this failure to stand strong. Essentially, the festival is an event providing an interesting and relaxing leisure activity for holidaymakers – it was not designed to promote any specific political or cultural issue. It is defined by the holidaying character that has been developed in Ubud, one that can tempt us all.

That there might be productive discussions on serious issues is a positive side-effect. Even with the cancellation of the sessions, there were discussions of "65". Activists held side events in defiance of the police.

However, the repression and mass killings of 1965 remains the biggest issue of humanitarian concern and justice in Indonesian history.

Winning an open discussion of those events, especially in the face of the official state version of events that has been upheld to this day and in the face of hostility from some more conservative elements of state and society, has been, and still is, a matter that requires real campaigning and a very serious commitment.

When the festival decided to hold and promote sessions on 1965, they were duty bound to also adopt that seriousness and campaigning stance.

Yes, such a commitment would be in contradiction to the tourism context of the festival – but surely the organizers realized that from the outset? The tourism context has always been a source of tension. It has meant that the language of the festival has always been English, with the result that sessions on Indonesian literature in the local language are inevitably side-lined, despite efforts to achieve a better balance.

This tension seemed to be manifested again in the decision to cancel a discussion on the controversy surrounding the construction of a luxury villa complex, on reclaimed land, on the Bali coast.

No doubt the festival pumps money into the local economy and provides some livelihood but, as an intellectual and cultural event, there is also a responsibility, despite tourism, to take up issues of national and local importance.

This is part of contributing to local progress, even when this means seriously confronting censorship.

[The writer is an activist, playwright, theater producer and director in Indonesia.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/07/censorship-paradise.html

Waiting in the White House lobby

New Mandala - November 6, 2015

Michael Buehler – Why did a Singaporean consultant pay $80,000 to a Las Vegas PR company to lobby for the Indonesian government?

Indonesian President Joko Widodo's visit to the United States last week yielded mediocre benefits by most measures – trade, defense, bilateral friendship.

Now news has surfaced that Jakarta paid a Las Vegas lobbying firm to get Widodo access to Washington insiders, spending taxpayer money for work the Indonesian embassy could have done. The backroom relationships and lack of official coordination behind this lobbying contract might explain why the diplomatic mission was such a disappointment.

First, some context. On all sides, the response to Widodo's trip was lukewarm at best. At home, opposition forces immediately attacked Widodo for not diversifying Indonesia's foreign investment portfolio after it became clear that US$13 billion out of the $20 billion in pledged investments would flow to extractive industries, a sector on which Indonesia's economy is excessively dependent.

Widodo also took flak for his surprise announcement that Indonesia will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Political forces on the right attacked the statement as lacking "careful consideration" for Indonesia's national interests, while critics on the left were quick to point out joining the trade pact flies in the face of almost every protectionist policy Widodo has adopted in the past year.

The reception Widodo received in the US was equally tepid. Despite this marking the first official visit of an Indonesian president to the US in 10 years, President Obama granted Widodo a mere 80 minutes to discuss bilateral ties between the second and third largest democracies in the world. The results of the high-level meeting were meagre: three non-legally binding Memoranda of Understanding, and a Joint Statement on Comprehensive Defense Cooperation.

What accounts for such a disappointing outcome of the first official US- Indonesian talks on American soil in a decade? In preparatory meetings leading up to the visit, US diplomats had apparently struggled to identify Indonesia's demands, as no coherent and substantive foreign policy agenda was proposed. Instead, the Indonesian envoys allegedly obsessed over protocol.

The seemingly ill-conceived and poorly-executed visit reflects the Indonesian government's lack of coordination on a foreign policy agenda. At the heart of this foreign policy confusion is a deep rift between foreign minister Retno Marsudi and Luhut Panjaitan, Widodo's ambitious presidential chief of staff. While presidential visits to foreign countries clearly fall under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan traveled to the US in March to "prepare" Widodo's trip. Politicians close to Retno Marsudi quickly criticised Luhut Panjaitan in the Indonesian press.

It is against this backdrop that a mysterious payment to a lobbying company in Las Vegas raises new questions about turf wars in Widodo's government and about the president's ability to control his staff. A Services Agreement dated 8 June and filed with the US-Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) on 17 June shows that a Singaporean company called Pereira International PTE LTD contracted the services of Las Vegas-based R&R Partners, Inc.

Per the public document, R&R Partners sold its lobbying services for $80,000, to be paid in four installments between 15 June and 1 September. Concretely, R&R Partners agreed to be "retained as a consultant by the executive branch of the Indonesian government." The contract further lists the services provided by R&R partners:

"Arranging and attending meetings with key policymakers and members of Congress and the executive branch including the Department of State;"
"Attempt to secure opportunity to address joint sessions of Congress during Indonesian President Widodo's visit to the US;" and,
"Identify and work with influential individuals, media, public and private organisations and affiliates in the US to support efforts of President Widodo."

A consultant "will communicate the importance of the Republic of Indonesia to the United States focusing on the areas of security, commerce, and the economy," according to the agreement. The contract identifies the consultant as Morgan Baumgartner, R&R Partner's Executive Vice President and General Counsel. It is signed by Sean Tonner, President, on behalf of R&R Partners, and Derwin Pereira on behalf of Pereira International.

The short biographies on R&R Partner's website don't suggest the consultants have any knowledge of Indonesian politics or work experience in the country to help them "communicate the importance of the Republic of Indonesia to the United States." In fact, Baumgartner emphasises her expertise in the field of "gaming law," among others. Likewise, Tonner's biography only mentions past activities for a "Denver-based global consulting firm" and Houston-based Noble Energy, in addition to his "desert and jungle warfare training."

By contrast, Derwin Pereira, the Singaporean consultant who paid $80,000 to R&R Partners for the Indonesian government, has offered his services to Indonesia's rich and powerful for quite some time. After a bachelor's degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science in the early 1990s, he worked for the Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times in Indonesia during the fall of Suharto and became Indonesia Bureau Chief.

After a post in Washington for the Times, Pereira started his own consultancy, Pereira International. Today, he prides himself for "his ability to build contacts in the highest places" and his "deep access... [to the]... political and business elite in Jakarta [providing] him with exclusive access to vital information."

Besides lobbying, Pereira has ties to think tanks and academic outlets in the US. Pereira, who holds a master's from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, maintains close contact with his alma mater. He not only is an International Council Member at the Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, but funded the Derwin Pereira Graduate Fellowship to "support an Edward S. Mason Program student from Indonesia."

The program offers policy training to "leaders from developing, newly industrialized and transitional economy countries." Pereira also selected Indonesian fellows for the program through the Ancora Foundation, an outlet set up by Gita Wirjawan, Indonesia's trade minister under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. One of the first Indonesians who passed the "competitive selection process" for a place in the Mason Program was Agus Yudhoyono, the president's son. Pereira has also sponsored the Derwin Pereira Indonesia Initiative (DPII), a speaker series that has featured prominent Indonesian politicians at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, since 2012.

While Pereira has a track record of lobbying for Indonesian elites, the contract filed with the US justice department does not name anyone in the government who hired Pereira and R&R Partners. But Pereira has clear links with Luhut Panjaitan. He wrote several stories about the statesman while at The Straits Times in Indonesia and interviewed him in Singapore, where Luhut Panjaitan was ambassador from 1999-2000.

The website of Pereira International prominently features the same photograph of Luhut Panjaitan used on the website of Toba Sejahtra, a company active in the mining and plantation sector and owned by Luhut Panjaitan. This suggests that Pereira and Luhut Panjaitan know each other and have met previously.

There's no evidence Luhut Panjaitan instructed Pereira to pay R&R Partners $80,000 for its lobbying services, but the contract raises a few questions.

Who within Widodo's government ordered Pereira to make the payment? Was Indonesian taxpayer money used to hire a Las Vegas lobbying firm to deliver services that Indonesia's US embassy could have easily put together? Was this done in coordination with foreign affairs minister Retno Marsudi, or was this an attempt to bypass the ministry? If the latter, is Widodo in control of his government, or are there too many competing interests in the president's inner circle to devise a coherent foreign policy agenda?

It's unlikely Indonesians will receive answers to these questions and to the question of why their government bungled Widodo's visit to the US. Not only is the world of lobbyists and political elites extremely opaque, but as is well known, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

[Dr Michael Buehler teaches Southeast Asian politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His writings are available at www.michaelbuehler.asia.]

Source: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2015/11/06/waiting-in-the-white-house-lobby/

More powers for the TNI?

Tempo.co - November 4, 2015

Jakarta – The draft presidential regulation that would extend the powers of the Indonesian Military (TNI) is a dangerous step backwards. The document being discussed by the defense ministry and TNI headquarters clearly intends to restore the TNI's role in maintaining public order and security, which is now the job of the police.

If this proposal moves forward, it will be a betrayal of the reform movement. In 1998, the TNI's dual function as defender of the nation's sovereignty and holder of the authority to preserve order came to an end. Today, the military deals with threats to national sovereignty, while the police deal with disturbances and crimes in the civilian sphere.

It is highly regrettable that articles in the draft regulation to expand the authority of the TNI provide a legal basis for the TNI to be involved in non-military threats, such as operations to stop smuggling or to eradicate illegal drugs. Law No. 3/2002 on National Defense states that the TNI is the defense apparatus of the state. But articles 4, 5 and 6 in the draft presidential regulation proposing the TNI's new role, the military would no longer be simply the state's defense apparatus, it will also play a role in internal security.

The addition of the word "security" in the draft is vague and the meaning unclear. Most likely, the additional clause is intended to provide the TNI with the legitimacy to carry out additional non-police duties. It seeks to empower the military not just to deal with crimes such as smuggling or drug dealing, but also with managing demonstrations by students, laborers, farmers, just like in the past. During the New Order era, the TNI took part in resolving the Kedung Ombo Reservoir protests, the murder of labor activist Marsinah and the Badega Garut land case, using the 'rifle butt' approach.

The expansion of the military's role outside the combat arena would clearly be a step backward. Its functional role as the state's defense apparatus would be undermined, making it much less efficient than the armies of neighboring countries. The military's skills would be compromised by having to deal with the 'additional activities'.

Instead, the defense ministry should pay more attention to developing the professionalism of combat personnel and upgrading their equipment. The 'no day without training' program, in line with the slogan of Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu when he was Army chief of staff, should be a priority. The TNI could conduct training with friendly nations. Furthermore, military personnel need to study the 'wars of the future', which will no longer depend on human-based defense. The TNI's most important job is to realize the principle of si vis pacem, para bellum – to attain peace, be prepared for war.

Improvements to the professionalism of its personnel should be higher priority than, for example, the national defense program, recently launched by the defense ministry. Besides being open to interpretation as a militarization of civil society, the national defense program would reduce scarce available funds to fight poverty and unemployment or other social programs.

Surprisingly, how this anachronistic proposal went past all the usual hurdles to end up so effortlessly on President Joko Widodo's desk is a big question. Legally, the draft presidential regulation may be problematic because it contradicts Law No. 3/2002. Jokowi must not go ahead with this regulation to expand the TNI's authority. Indonesia must not go back to the era of Praetorian Rome, some 2,000 years back, when the army was the state's defense apparatus, its police force and ultimately, its political power.

Source: http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2015/11/04/080715947/More-Powers-for-the-TNI

Censorship in Ubud: Raising the red peril and the 'Streisand effect'

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2015

Julia Suryakusuma, Jakarta – Who doesn't know Barbra Streisand, the super talented singer, songwriter, actress, filmmaker and icon, one of the best- selling artists of all time, known for her songs like Hello Dolly, Send in the Clowns, The Way We Were and many others.

But did you know she also gave rise to the term "the Streisand effect"? In 2003 Streisand attempted to suppress photographs of her residence in Malibu, which inadvertently drew further public attention to it.

Since then, "the Streisand effect" refers to the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide something, remove or censor it, has the unintended effect of publicizing the phenomenon even more. In these days of the internet, something can easily go viral within a very short time.

Even before it was named "the Streisand effect", the phenomenon often occurred in Indonesia, especially during the New Order (1966-1998) when the censor-happy government routinely suppressed information and quashed dissent.

Recently the Streisand effect reappeared in Bali, at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), with the forced cancellation of sessions related to events that occurred in 1965.

Known as the G30S Movement, it was triggered by the kidnapping of seven Army officers by a unit of the presidential guard on the night of Sept. 30, 1965, an event that the military blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

This incident led to one of the biggest massacres since the Holocaust, resulting in the deaths of between 500,000 to 1 million people.

This year marks 50 years since 1965. At the recent Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF) held between Oct. 14-18, where Indonesia was guest of honor, 1965 was a prominent theme.

In some ways, this year's 12th UWRF was an echo of the Frankfurt fair. As an act of solidarity with Indonesia's theme in Frankfurt, the Ubud organizers adopted the same "17,000 islands of imagination" theme.

They also featured sessions on 1965: three panel discussions, a book launch, an art exhibition and a screening of Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary film The Look of Silence.

As the biggest literary festival in Southeast Asia, the UWRF had no difficulty bringing in more than 165 authors, artists and performers from some 30 countries this year.

Even after the New Order officially ended in 1998, there are still elements of the power elite who are unhappy with the way some Indonesians have commemorated the killings of 50 years ago last October.

A critical flaw of the Reform Movement in 1998 was that it retained many figures of the New Order, who are still alive and in power to today. The New Order's state version of the events of 1965 provided the rationale for their rule, and was the basis for their security and law-and-order approach.

Obviously a re-examination and questioning of these events – even today – threaten the status quo and the still deeply entrenched belief within the general public of the New Order version of 1965.

If the FBF was out of reach – and out of the jurisdiction of the Gianyar Police – Ubud, a well-known center for art and tourism in the regency of Gianyar, was not. They pressured the organizing committee to cancel events in the UWRF related to 1965.

There was no letter issued by the police instructing the festival organizers to cancel these events, therefore it's not surprising that the organizers were criticized for capitulating too quickly.

With the festival just about to kick off and under the threat of not being given a permit for the following year's festival, the organizers took the path of least resistance: they gave in to police pressure.

Witnessing the police slowly but surely dismantling the power of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the past few years, what chance does a literary festival have? Perhaps this was what the Ubud organizers thought, forgetting that they have access to lawyers who could possibly have sorted things out, as the police had no legal injunction anyway.

It's difficult to judge: it's simply a moral and political decision that the UWRF organizers had to make on the spot, as they felt too much was at stake.

Where does the Streisand effect come in? Not from "bringing in the clowns" (the police), or "the way we were" (how the remaining New Order people want to be).

I would say there are two ways the Streisand effect works. One is that by raising the red peril and the specter of communism, it brings the issue to the fore, exposing it more to public scrutiny.

But what is even more important, is the issue of censorship. Besides the sessions on 1965, the police also demanded that a session protesting land reclamation in Benoa Bay be cancelled. Clearly, what the authorities really want to do is to suppress public dissent in general.

After 17 years of the Reform Era, and a year of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's people politics in which they have slowly but steadily lost control, the remaining elements of the New Order as well as the power elite in general, are fighting tooth and nail to maintain their power and resorting to raising the specter of the red peril.

Freedom of expression is one of the bastions of democracy. The increasingly sharpened polarization between the pro-democracy forces and the anti- democracy forces in Indonesia today is being played out in many arenas.

The URWF was just one such arena. It should raise our awareness of the peril of New Order style censorship and the clamping down of freedom of expression in Indonesia, which we've fought so hard for.

[The writer is the author of Julia's Jihad.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/11/04/view-point-censorship-ubud-raising-red-peril-and-streisand-effect.html