Police grills two KPK investigators

Two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) answer police summons on Wednesday in relation to a criminal case, in which two KPK deputies have been implicated. KPK legal bureau head Khaidir Ramli told reporters that investigators Wisnu Baroto and Roni Santana have arrived at the National Police Headquarters in South Jakarta. KPK deputies Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto were naems suspects two weeks ago for an alleged abuse of power in issuing bans on corruption suspects Anggoro Widodo and Djoko S Chandra (who are now at large) and for lifting the travel ban on Joko. The police subsequently accused them of having received bribes from Anggoro to halt investigations into corruption cases implicating Anggoro's company, PT Masaro Radiokom. The police are summoning two other KPK deputies – Haryono Umar and M Jasin – on Thursday and two more investigators. Six national commission have criticized the police for criminalizing the KPK deputies, saying the action had indications of legal uncertainty and was a violation of human rights.

Race to Head Indonesia's Golkar Party Heats Up

Candidates for the Golkar Party chairmanship are scrambling to secure the support of regional leaders as the competition heats up ahead of the party’s national congress next week. Tommy Suharto, a convicted murdered who is a son of former dictator President Suharto, has reportedly been busy schmoozing regional delegations in Jakarta to share his vision for the party if he were elected chairman. “In one day, two to three delegations come to Tommy in Jakarta,” said Yusyafri Syafei, a close aide and campaign team member for the controversial high-flying businessman. Taking a different tack from the other candidates, who have been visiting the regions to gain support, Yusyafri said that Tommy refused to expose his strategy and only conducted closed-door meetings. Tommy, he said, had inherited a lot of clout from his father, who had dominated Golkar during his New Order regime, and did not need to seek more popularity by visiting the regions. “We’re using a stealth strategy. We don’t need to claim support we already have. The important thing is how the regions will choose Tommy in the party congress,” Yusyafri said, claiming the provincial and district leaders came to Tommy on their own initiative. “There is a soul connection between the district chairmen and Tommy because of his father,” he said. During the party congress, the candidates will need to get the support of the 33 provincial branch chairmen, 470 district branch chairmen and 10 Golkar organizational wings. Another young candidate, Yuddy Chrisnandi, visited West Kalimantan, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara over the weekend to meet with branch leaders. He said he stood out in the field of candidates because he took the initiative to contact the branches and was invited to meet with them. Separately, Surya Paloh visited Semarang in Central Java, Padang in West Sumatra and Palembang in South Sumatra over the weekend to promote his candidacy. Paloh officially received the support of 19 district branch chairmen in Padang, who declared their support for him on Sunday. Branch chairmen in Papua, South Sulawesi, Java and West Sumatra also announced their support for him during his visit to each of their provinces. Paloh, a media mogul, had previously declared that if he were elected party chairman, he would ensure the party’s independence and not join the next cabinet. In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Paloh met with the current Golkar chairman, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, although Kalla denied that the meeting meant he was offering support. Kalla said he wanted to be neutral and did not back any candidate. Paloh praised Kalla’s stance. “Kalla is a party chairman who can maintain party unity,” he said.

Indonesian Police Name 3 New Terror Suspects

The National Police on Friday identified three new terror suspects, including a woman who is five months pregnant. National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri named the suspects as Rahmat Puji Prabowo, a k a Bejo, Supono, a k a Kedu, and Putri Munawaroh. Bejo and Kedu were arrested in Pasar Gading, Solo, a day before the police killed suspected terror mastermind Noordin M Top on Sept. 17. Bambang said information from the suspects led the police to Noordin’s hideout in nearby Kepuhsari. Bejo is thought to have helped hide Noordin, while Kedu has been linked to the transport of explosives to a Bekasi house that was raided last month, leading to the deaths of two terror suspects. Putri was the wife of Hadi Susilo, a k a Adib, who rented the house in Kepuhsari where Noordin, who was wanted for a string of deadly bomb attacks over the past few years, was killed. Hadi also died in the raid, while Putri was shot in the leg and later flown to the National Police Hospital in East Jakarta, along with the bodies of the four terror suspects killed in the raid. “Munawaroh and her husband provided the house to hide [the terror suspects],” Bambang said. “Moreover, they were also involved in other activities, including preparing explosive materials. Their roles are clear.” Bambang also announced that the police would not allow the families of the four dead suspects to claim the bodies until Thursday. Family representatives are already in Jakarta to retrieve the remains. “We will have finished [the investigation] by Wednesday, but due to internal matters we will only let the families take the bodies on Thursday,” Bambang said, adding that the police would not comment on where the suspectsshould be buried. “It is the family’s right to decide where they will bury the bodies,” he said. “Our work is to arrest them. We will probably support [the families] by providing facilities such as cars.” Hadi’s family has said that they wanted to bury him in Solo. The families of the other suspects, Bagus Budi Pranoto, a k a Urwah, and Ario Sudarso, a k a Aji, have said they want to bury them in their hometowns in Kudus and Purbalingga, respectively. Protests have been held in all three locations against the planned burials. In another development on Friday, Bambang said the Malaysian police were prepared to repatriate Noordin’s body, which is still being held at the National Police Hospital in Jakarta. On Thursday, two Malaysian police representatives visited the hospital but did not offer any comments. Noordin’s family, including his wife and children, are likely to arrive in Jakarta on Saturday, state-run news agency Antara quoted a family spokesman as saying. Antara reported that the spokesman, Datuk Badaruddin Ismail, was still preparing all the documents needed to claim Noordin’s remains. Ismail said Noordin’s wife Siti Rahma, three of his three children and his brother Yahya would probably make the trip from the southern Malaysian state of Johor. Noordin is to be buried in the Pontian area of Johor Baharu, close to where his family and wife live. During his nine years in Indonesia, Noordin is known to have married at least two local women.

No Rest For The Faithful During Idul Fitri

While others celebrated Idul Fitri with family and friends, some Muslims spent the most important Islamic holiday working out on the streets or in hospitals, performing crucial tasks to make sure the public received basic services. Amanda Larasati, a 27-year-old nurse at Mitra International Hospital in East Jakarta, said she has been celebrating the first day of Idul Fitri with medical staff at the hospital for the past three years. “I have to serve the public and anyone can get sick at anytime. The patients who are hospitalized here also should be taken care of,” Larasati said. “Of course I miss the times when I was still able to spend the first day with my big family. But this is what I call consequence.” She said she could still celebrate with her Muslim co-workers at the hospital even though it was not as lively as celebrating it with the family. “We bring ketupat [rice cake], opor [chicken curry], rendang [beef cooked in coconut milk], and cookies from homes and we will eat together at the hospital,” she said. She also said it was nice to spend Idul Fitri, also known as Lebaran, at the hospital by serving the sick as it reminded her that God had blessed her with more. “When I look at the patients, I feel blessed and lucky because God has given me a good health. But I hope I do not have to work next Lebaran,” she said. Ali Syah, a traffic police in Matraman in Central Jakarta, also said it was his duty to serve the public regardless of the situation. “It is my duty to serve the public by maintaining the traffic security in the city every day, including in a big day like Idul Fitri,” Syah said, adding that he has been doing this for the past three years. He also said he wanted to celebrate it with his big family, but he did not have any choice. “I don’t have any choice. Thank God my family understands my job,” he said. “I prefer not to think too much of it [working on Idul Fitri]. I believe if I do my work well during Idul Fitri, God will reward me someday.” Rahmasari, a Transjakarta busway operator working on the Pulogadung-Dukuh Atas route, said this was her second year of not celebrating the Islamic holiday with her family. “My mother is always complaining but I tell her that everyone has different jobs with different responsibility and consequence,” Rahma said. “Besides, working on Idul Fitri is not as tiring as the other days.” She said she was sad over not celebrating the first day of Lebaran with her family last year. However, having witnessed that many of her Muslim friends at Transjakarta worked during a big day, she felt that she was not alone. “I know I am not alone and I can still share the Idul Fitri day with them [friends],” she said. “It is only the way how we celebrate it that is different. We are celebrating it by serving the passengers while most people by gathering in one of their family’s residence or visiting their neighbors door to door.”

Family Killed in Holiday Period’s Deadliest Collision

Vehicles such as this Toyota Kijang must vie for space
with large buses on Java’s roads during Idul Fitri,
often with tragic results

A family of six died on Thursday when their Suzuki Carry van hit an intercity bus on the dangerous Pantura highway in East Java, local police said. The bus driver’s assistant also died in what appears to be the worst accident reported so far during the Idul Fitri holiday period, said First Insp. M. Fakih, the head of the Tuban Police accident unit. The deadly collision occurred in Sukolilo, in Tuban’s Bancar subdistrict, when the Suzuki Carry reportedly veered to the right without warning. The driver of the Jaya Utama bus, Nasri, 24, was unable to avoid the van. Mashuri, 47, and his family were believed to be on their way home to Malang after holidaying at his parents’ house in Kudus, Central Java. He died in the accident, along with his wife, Yuliati, 39, and children, Fita Anggraini, 19, Venny Anggraini, 16, Abu Bakar, 9, and Nasya, 7. The bus driver was identified as, Paiman, 40. The dead, along with dozens of injured bus passengers, were taken to the general hospital in Tuban. Fakih said the police were still investigating the accident, but he added that it was believed that Mashuri — who was driving the Suzuki Carry van — was extremely tired at the time when the accident occurred. Fakih urged all drivers to pull over and rest if they felt sleepy. Traffic has been particularly heavy on the main roads of Java Island over the past week, because millions of city dwellers have been heading to their hometowns to spend time with their families in the regions. The roads on Java Island are expected to be busy over the next few days, with people returning to major cities as the holiday period comes to an end.

Indonesia’s Terror Burial Anger Boils Over

Solo. The suspected terrorists killed here last week continued to cause trouble on Thursday, with anger between groups of armed protesters over one of their burials nearly sparking a street battle. Bagus Budi Pranoto, a k a Urwah; Ario Sudarso, a k a Aji; and Susilo, a k a Adib, were shot dead along with Southeast Asia’s most wanted terrorist, Malaysian Noordin M Top, during a raid on Susilo’s rented house in Kepuhsari near Solo, on Sept. 17. Urwah’s family wants to bury him in their home village in Kudus, Central Java, but has this week faced strong opposition from locals there, while Aji’s family has also generated anger over their plan to bury him in his home village of Purbalingga, also in Central Java. Susilo’s family and neighbors have prepared for him to be buried at Solo’s Pracimoloyo public cemetery. Thursday’s stand-off came as a result of friction over posters criticizing Susilo’s burial. A group calling itself the Alliance of Solo Youth Organizations on Wednesday night put up scores of banners expressing their objections. Later that night they were pulled down by members of the Solo chapters of two radical Islamic groups — the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, chaired by hard-line Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Alliance supporters put up new posters on Thursday morning, and when the FPI and JAT members tried to pull them down again around noon, the rival groups swelled to about 800 people, mainly from the FPI and JAT. The stand-off occurred on Solo’s busy main thoroughfare, Jalan Slamet Riyadi, although armed officers from the police’s elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit dispersed the crowd before they clashed. Police arrested six FPI and four JAT members for possessing weapons including rocks, sticks, knives and chains, Solo Police Chief Sr. Comr. Joko Irwanto said. “If there is enough evidence to support the case, they will be charged with violating Article 170 of the Criminal Law on violence against people and property.” He said the alliance had a police permit to conduct a rally and put up the banners, so removing them was criminal. “Especially because they were caught red-handed with weapons that might cause injury to others,” he said. Alliance coordinator Kusumo Putro, said the posters, with slogans such as: “Solo United Against Terrorists,” reflected the community’s sentiments. “We don’t want the people of Solo, who are actually friendly and against terrorism, to become victims of terrorist propaganda,” he said. Khoirul Rus Suparjo, FPI chairman in Solo, said he regretted the arrests of the group’s members, especially because it allegedly involved police violence. “Even if they had to make the arrests, there was no need to beat them.” Sholeh Ibrahim, a JAT leader from Bashir’s Al Mukmin Islamic boarding school in nearby Ngruki, agreed, saying it had been a “peaceful rally.” Central Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said he could sympathize with the anger felt by residents. “Poor Solo. Its people are actually kind and friendly, but because of the terrorists, with the ring leader even killed here, the city’s image had been more or less besmirched,” he said. Meanwhile, in the suburb of Kagokan, where Susilo’s parents live, residents said they had prepared a grave at a local cemetery two kilometers away. “Even though [Susilo] turned out not to be a good citizen outside of his village, he remains remembered as a good citizen here,” said Katino, a neighborhood head. Meanwhile, Endro Sudarsono, a lawyer representing the families of Urwah, Aji and Susilo, said representatives would collect the bodies from Jakarta on Friday.

Indonesian island becomes centre of harsh Muslim law

Demonstration Pro The Full Sharia Law at Aceh - Indonesia

Full sharia law has been approved by politicians in Aceh, Indonesia, allowing Muslim adulterers to be stoned to death. Politicians in the staunchly Islamic province of Aceh passed the law which will allow punishments of up to 100 lashes for offences including rape, the consumption of alcohol, homosexuality and gambling. The bill was passed unanimously by all political parties in the Sumatran province, as a prevention to "moral degradation." One of the voices against the law, Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, a former rebel fighter of the separatist Free Aceh Movement, wanted a delay in the bill. Yusuf had said he would prefer only moderate sharia law, enforcing modest Muslim dress codes, mandatory prayers and the giving of alms to the poor. The law, which will be effective in 30 days, stipulates punishments of up to 100 lashes of the cane for an unmarried person who commits adultery, and death by stoning for a married person.

Balibo reflects new challenges for Indonesia's foreign policy team

The announcement by the Australian police that they will open an investigation into the Balibo incident is the issue of the week now. We remember the 1975 Balibo incident, which began the East Timor horror. As Soeharto's troops conducted a military operation in Balibo, five Western reporters were killed on the battleground. The Indonesian Army said they were caught in the crossfire, but others saw it as murder. Twenty-five years of human suffering followed, with casualties on all sides, including Indonesians. Much later, in 1998, the Indonesian people gained enough momentum to reject Soeharto for state crimes, including human rights abuses. Successive governments in Indonesia made peace as we supported Timor Leste. Balibo has just been made into a feature movie. Asked for comment, President Jose Ramos-Horta of Timor Leste said the movie reminded him of events he thought he had forgotten about. Ramos-Horta said the film should not be seen "as an indictment of today's Indonesia", which to his mind has changed dramatically since 1998 into "one of the most inspiring democracies". He adds that it is up to the Indonesian people to address our past mistakes. The way most of us see it, the mistake was allowing the Soeharto government to run a foreign policy that was not anchored in human rights and development. The foreign policy of the New Order was designed to maintain Soeharto's grip on his vision of order, mobilizing people who agreed with his vision. Because Soeharto was the master of patronage, it will never be clear just how many Indonesians agreed with his vision and how many were driven by self-interest for the largesse that came to Soeharto loyalists. My feeling is that many Indonesians did not share the Soeharto government's penchant for excessive use of power. It is just that not many are aware there is any other way to run a country. Now we have found a better way. The Balibo affair is beyond doubt a tragedy. But Indonesia is trying to deal with these tragedies - not just five foreign journalists killed, but dozens of activists kidnapped who are still missing, students murdered and hundreds of citizens raped and killed in the riots of May 1998. President Ramos-Horta is spot on in saying that Balibo is our problem and we have to deal with it. We need to make sure our state never commits heinous crimes again. Our attitudes toward human rights are the opposite of those of the 1975 government responsible for Balibo. The call to investigate the Balibo case would parallel a call for the investigation into the deaths of Indonesian fishermen in Darwin in 2002. They are both wounds that could reopen through lack of sensitivity. Australia needs to be more sensitive and knowledgeable of changes that have been achieved in Indonesia. We are our own harshest critics, because we are the people who rose against state violence. Balibo is only one of many cases. Because the public is either ignorant or confused about both Balibo and Darwin, the government has a role to play. The foreign policy team of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's new Cabinet should turn defense into offense. We should enlighten the public on sensitive issues and show the world that Indonesia cares. We should remind the world that we are on the same side of the issues on human rights. Every country has crimes against humanity in their history. It is not how you failed but how you recover. If there is to be an investigation into Balibo, it should be done jointly. We have been very successful in Australian-Indonesian police cooperation. The prestigious international magazine The Economist praised Indonesia in a headline: "Despite the apocalyptic visions of a decade ago, Indonesia is a huge success. But it should aim higher." The most visible expression of government will in international eyes is foreign policy. Foreign policy should not always defend domestic policy. Foreign policy should certainly support domestic policy; ideally they should be mutually supportive. We should address misconceptions in our public dialogue. Witness the infantile outburst of emotion against Malaysia, which is not justified by the facts. Witness the culpability of the public for political exploitation of the Bank Century case. At a broader but more serious level, witness the embarrassing emotion during the recent campaign against foreign debt, "neoliberal" economics and a slew of issues that are not understood by the people who rail against them. There is rampant xenophobia among our fellow citizens, based on the notion that the world is against us. It is not. Often the world appreciates us more than we appreciate ourselves. We should rise higher and adopt a receptive audience to world reaction. We need to promote an open stance toward the world, not just by diplomacy but by generating public support of our foreign policy. It will result in a positive view of the world that will give us a better economy, better education, better health, and most importantly, the dignity Indonesia deserves.

Bus operators see slump despite rosy prediction

Transport experts predicting a 15 percent increase in commuters during Idul Fitri may have jumped the gun, with ticket sellers overstocked just days from the festivities. "Usually, we start running out of seats a week before Lebaran *or Idul Fitri*," Ani, a 20-year-old ticket seller for the Lorena Karina service at Tanjung Priok, said Monday. "But this year, most people came to ask about ticket prices without purchasing any." As of Monday, she still had more than half her tickets left to sell. For this year's Idul Fitri, the company raised the Jakarta-Madura fare from Rp 170,000 (US$17) to Rp 380,000. Lorena Karina sells tickets for three 30-seat executive buses departing daily from Tanjung Priok for several cities in Madura, but following a slump in demand, the company has slashed services. Minister of Transportation Jusman Syafi'i Djamal earlier estimated that the number of travelers would increase by 15 percent this year, with the government claiming 27.25 million people were likely to head back to their hometowns. The Jakarta Transportation Agency estimated the number of travelers using land transportation in Jakarta alone would increase by 10 percent, up from 2.3 million last year. While bus companies have not been able to explain why bus ticket sales have declined, several firms have organized free transport to home villages and thousands have opted to return home by motorcycle, a far less costly though much more riskier form of transport. Those returning to Sumatra have cited severely damaged roads, discouraging interest in bus trips. Some ticket sellers at Pulo Gadung Bus Terminal in East Jakarta complained about lower sales, suggesting perhaps these predictions were too optimistic. A man said he had not sold a ticket in the last two days. "Lately, I have been fighting with my wife because I cannot give her money to buy new clothes for our children," said the man, who sells bus tickets for the Jakarta-Surabaya and Jakarta-Malang routes. Marpaung, who sells bus tickets for trips to Padang, Medan and Banda Aceh, said many of his regular customers complained the bus fares were too expensive and had decided to stay put this Idul Fitri. "The government predicted more people would use our services again, assuming there would be no political parties providing a bunch of free buses like last year," he said. "But many have chosen not to go home because they want to cut expenses during the economic crisis." Last year, several political parties provided hundreds of free buses to vacationers as a way to sway voters ahead of the legislative elections. Marpaung said he sold more than 500 bus tickets for all trips to Sumatra during the Idul Fitri holiday season last year, but this time round expected to sell no more than 300. Thousands of motorists have already begun flooding the major north-coast (Pantura) highway in West Java. A traffic-monitoring post in Indramayu, West Java, recorded more than 1,000 motorcycles zipping through the Indramayu-Cirebon road every hour Monday, three times the amount of cars passing through.

Indonesia: A Historical Glimpse

The first known hominid inhabitant of Indonesia was the so-called "Java Man", or Homo erectus, who lived here half a million years ago. Some 60,000 years ago, the ancestors of the present-day Papuans move eastward through these islands, eventually reaching New Guinea and Australia some 30-40,000 years ago. Much later, in about the fourth millennium B.C., they were followed by the ancestors of the modern-day Malays, Javanese and other Malayo-Polynesian groups who now make up the bulk of Indonesia's population. Trade contracts with India, China and the mainland of Southeast Asia brought outside cultural and religious influences to Indonesia. One of the first Indianized empires, known to us now as Sriwijaya, was located on the coast of Sumatra around the strategic straits of Malacca, serving as the hub of a trading network that reached to many parts of the archipelago more than a thousand years ago. On neighboring Java, large kingdoms of the interior of the island erected scores of exquisite of religious monuments, such as Borobudur, the largest Buddhist monument in the world. The last and most powerful of these early Hindu-Javanese kingdoms, the 14th century Majapahit Empire, once controlled and influenced much of what is now known as Indonesia, maintaining contacts with trading outposts as far away as the west coast of Papua New Guinea. Indian Muslim traders began spreading Islam in Indonesia in the eighth and ninth centuries. By the time Marco Polo visited North Sumatra at the end of the 13th century, the first Islamic states were already established there. Soon afterwards, rulers on Java's north coast adopted the new creed and conquered the Hindu-based Majapahit Empire in the Javanese hinterland. The faith gradually spread throughout archipelago, and Indonesia is today the world's largest Islamic nation. Indonesia's abundant spices first brought Portuguese merchants to the key trading port of Malacca in 1511. Prized for their flavor, spices such as cloves, nutmeg and mace were also believed to cure everything from the plague to venereal disease, and were literally worth their weight in gold. The Dutch eventually wrested control of the spice trade from Portuguese, and the tenacious Dutch East India Company (known by initials VOC) established a spice monopoly which lasted well into the 18th century. During the 19th century, the Dutch began sugar and coffee cultivation on Java, which was soon providing three-fourths of the world supply of coffee. By the turn of the 20th century, nationalist stirring, brought about by nearly three centuries of oppressive colonial rule, began to challenge the Dutch presence in Indonesia. A four-year guerilla war led by nationalists against the Dutch on Java after World War II, along with successful diplomatic maneuverings abroad, helped bring about independence. The Republic of Indonesia, officially proclaimed on August 17th, 1945, gained sovereignty four years later. During the first two decades of independence, the republic was dominated by the charismatic figure of Sukarno, one of the early nationalists who had been imprisoned by the Dutch. General (ret.) Soeharto eased Sukarno from power in 1967. Indonesia's economy was sustained throughout the 1970's, almost exclusively by oil export. The Asian financial crisis, which broke out in mid-1997, paralyzed the Indonesian economy with the rupiah losing 80% of its value against the US dollar at the peak of the turmoil. On May 21, 1998, Soeharto resigned after 32 years in power and was replaced by B.J. Habibie following bloody violence and riots. Indonesia held its first democratic election in October 1999, which put Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid in the role of president.

Indonesia: A Necklace of Equatorial Emeralds

Indonesia is often referred to as the world's largest archipelago, a name which aptly represents its 17,000 or so islands which span more than 5000 km (around 3,200 miles) eastward from Sabang in northern Sumatra to Merauke in Irian Jaya. If you superimpose a map of Indonesia over one of Europe, you will find that it stretches from Ireland to Iran; compared to the United States, it covers the area from California to Bermuda. There are eight major islands or island groups in this enormous chain. The largest landmasses consist of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes) and Irian Jaya (the western half of Papua New Guinea). The smaller islands fall into two main groups: the Molluccas to the northeast, and the lesser Sunda chain east of Bali. Bali is a unique island, which for a number of reasons can be put into a class of its own. Mountain lovers will find plenty to enjoy in Indonesia. A great volcano chain, the Bukit Barisan, runs the entire length of Sumatra. On the West Coast, the mountains fall abruptly to the sea, while to the east they ease gradually down to plains in a broad fringe of coastal mangroves. Vegetation-clad volcanoes also rise dramatically from the sea at Banda, Ternate and Makian. Many of the volcanoes are still active, constantly smouldering and occasionally erupting violently, though geological stations monitor the active ones constantly and give warning if they are unsafe to climb. Mount Merapi in Central Java is a favourite for climbers, despite being one of the most active on the archipelago. Mountain lakes are also abundant in dormant craters of many volcanoes, the most famous of these being lake Toba in the northern highlands of Sumatra. This mountain lake covers an area four times the size of Singapore. In Kalimantan, waterborne transportation moves cargo and passengers up and down the major rivers: Mahakam, Barito, Kahayan and Kapuas. The mountainous island of Flores is famous for its multi-coloured volcanic lakes, known as Keli Mutu. The three lakes are in a close group and range from dark red to turquoise. Located between two distinct bio-geographic groups - Asia and Australia - the flora and fauna of the archipelago is also quite idiosyncratic. Species found nowhere else on earth have flourished in certain areas, including the famous Komodo dragon on the island of the same name. Also in abundance are rare flowers, including exotic orchids, unusual insects, birds of paradise and numerous indigenous spices such as cloves, nutmeg cinnamon, mace and many more.

SBY Wants Indonesia's Anti-Corruption and Secrecy Bills Delayed

Bowing to public pressure, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged the House of Representatives to delay the passage of the state secrecy and Anti-Corruption Court bills. “Do not force it if there is still the feeling that some crucial problems have not been properly addressed,” Yudhoyno said on Wednesday, referring to the Anti-Corruption Court bill. The bill has been opposed by antigraft groups and activists, who see it as an attempt to undermine the country’s battle against corruption, including by stripping the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of its power to prosecute cases. Weighing in on the issue, the president said that “in the present transition period, I think both the KPK and the prosecutor’s office can be given the authority to conduct prosecutions.” The Supreme Court has ruled that a new law governing the Anti-Corruption Court, which has a 100 percent conviction rate, must be issued before Dec. 19 to provide it with a legal basis. Meanwhile, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said that during a meeting with Yudhoyono the previous day, the president had indicated, although not explicitly, that the state secrecy bill should not be passed during the current House’s term, which ends later this month. “The mechanism will have to be discussed with the House, whether the bill will be withdrawn or the outgoing legislators will hand it over to their successors,” Juwono said. What is important, the minister added, is that “the discourse of concerns and voices that are demanding that the passage not be done at the end of September be respected.” Juwono said the bill still needed to be revised, including refining ambiguous phrasing that left some articles open to multiple interpretations that could affect human rights and press freedoms. Yudhoyono, the minister said, had issued guidelines for the handling of the bill and asked that lines of communication be established with those who opposed the legislation. The president also instructed Juwono to start revising the bill to take into account transparency, accountability and respect for human rights and press freedom, while preserving articles related to national security. “Problems that are suppressed could erupt anytime if we cannot find a balance,” Juwono said. House Commission I, which oversees defense and information, later on Wednesday decided to halt deliberation of the bill, which had been ongoing since 2006, after the government decided to withdraw the proposal. All of the major party factions agreed to the decision.

Aceh’s New Bylaw Could Be Quashed in The Courts

The central government would ask the Supreme Court to overturn a controversial new bylaw in Aceh mandating that adulterers be stoned to death if it’s found to be against national laws or the Constitution, the minister for home affairs said on Wednesday. Mardiyanto told a press conference that his ministry and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights would examine the bylaw, endorsed on Monday by Aceh’s provincial legislature, and would request a judicial review if the bylaw was inappropriate. “I have heard that many people disagree with the law so [we] may propose a judicial review,” he told reporters. The minister said that while the Aceh Legislative Council passed the bylaw — called Qanun Jinayah — Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf’s government has said they do not support the law and they would not enforce its harsh punishments. The new bylaw also mandates that residents of Aceh could receive 100 lashes for engaging in sex out of wedlock, up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling. “Did the Governor approve? If not, then it is [a sign against] the Qanun,” he said, adding that the legislative council might consider revising the bylaw by addressing human rights concerns. Mardiyanto also noted that Aceh was still undergoing a rehabilitation period after a protracted 29-year civil war between separatist guerrillas and the Armed Forces, as well as the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 177,000 people in the province. “Investors are setting their eyes on Aceh, and if the Qanun law makes people uneasy, that’s counterproductive,” he said. He also said the central government needed a clear mechanism to decide what as legally permissible in Aceh, which had widespread regional autonomy but is still subject to Indonesian national law.

New Indonesian Tax Laws Make Shariah Lenders Happy but Worry Luxury Merchants

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a revised law on value added tax and luxury taxes aimed at helping the Islamic banking sector and lower-income Indonesians. Luxury goods sellers, however, fear the new law could see prices for their goods skyrocket. “Development in business transactions and the change in consumption patterns were the basis for the VAT law amendment,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told a House plenary meeting. The tax law revision, to take effect next April, would scrap double VAT taxation in Islamic financial market transactions and lower transfer costs of taxable assets in corporate mergers and acquisitions. VAT on basic foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, fruit, soybeans and meat would also be dropped to make them more affordable. Meanwhile, the ceiling for the luxury goods sales tax — traditionally for expensive items like high-end cars, jewelry or top-end apartments — would be set at 200 percent of the selling price, against 75 percent currently. The minimum rate remains unchanged at 10 percent. “The government is fully aware that these changes are required in order to create a better, more competitive economy over the long term, although in the short term this will lead to lower [tax] revenues,” Sri Mulyani said. A list of goods affected by the VAT and luxury taxes will be issued with the bill’s implementing regulations next week, but local reports are already speculating that high-end cars and upscale residences, including apartments, condominiums and townhouses, would be affected. Beny Witjaksono, the president director of PT Bank Mega Syariah, welcomed the tax law if it really scrapped double VAT taxations in Shariah trade financing. However, he told the Jakarta Globe that he believed Shariah lenders, accounting for a tiny fraction of the country’s lenders, would wait for the package details and signs of increasing demand before they raised lending. Mukiat Sutikno, the managing director of American company General Motors Autoworld Indonesia, expressed disappointment over the higher luxury tax ceiling. The country’s automotive sector, he said, is already struggling under the global recession as well as a new regulation allowing regional governments to charge an extra tax on car owners buying additional vehicles. Car sales were down 27 percent in the first eight months of this year from the same period last year. “I don’t know the details yet, but hopefully, cars with engine sizes below 3,000cc will not be classified as luxury goods. If this happens, we will have another dark time for the industry,” Mukiat said. Budi Dharmadi, the Industry Ministry’s director general for transportation, said vehicle sellers and producers should not be worried that VAT increases for cars would be excessive. “The 200 percent is just a range. For those below 1,500cc, the rate [adjustment] is still being calculated,” Bud said. “It won’t jump that high. Expensive cars sold by producers such as Mercedez-Benz that are above 3,000cc are currently taxed 75 percent. This will increase, but that rate is also still being calculated.”

Shots Fired in Solo Terror Raid

Police stand guard on the perimeter of a raid
in Solo early on Thursday morning.

Police and witnesses say shots have been fired during a raid by counterterrorism forces in Indonesia's Central Java. Police at the scene said the operation was carried out by an anti-terror unit. Witnesses said shots were heard for several hours as police cordoned off a house on the outskirts of the city of Solo, a stronghold for hardline Islamist groups. The shooting comes amid an investigation into suicide bombings on the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta in July. The attacks killed seven people and ended nearly four years without terrorist strikes in Indonesia.

Indonesia House Headed for Overtime

It looks like lawmakers will have to put in some extra hours after coming back from the holiday. More plenary sessions than initially planned may be in store if the House hopes to plow through at least 20 more bills before its term officially ends on Oct. 1. “The DPR [House of Representatives] will hold at least five more plenary sessions to meet our target,” Yasona Lauly, a legislator from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. The final plenary sessions were originally expected to take place today and on Tuesday, with the legislature taking a break for the Idul Fitri holiday and then returning on Oct. 1 for the inauguration of the new House members. But Yasona said they had yet to be informed of the final schedule for plenary sessions. According to Salastio, from the Indonesian Parliament Center, over the past five years the House has only managed to pass 176 out of a targeted 200 bills. But the legislature’s last-minute push to meet the target, he said, could be spurred by more than a desire to serve the public. “For every bill they pass, House members receive an allowance that varies according to their position,” Salastio said. In addition, he said, falling short of the legislative target could turn into a public relations disaster. “Failure to meet the target would damage the public’s trust in the DPR, especially since the legislative members have just received an increase in their legislative allowance. The allowance increased, but the work achievement decreased,” Salastio said. From 2004 to 2008, the heads of House committees received Rp 2 million ($200) for each bill passed into law. In 2008, the allowance was increased to Rp 5 million. Other committee members receive around Rp 3 million, up from Rp 1.5 million. “The DPR is going to work around the clock from September 28 to 30 to meet the target, to save them the embarrassment of failing to perform according to the system they themselves have made,” Salastio said. According to Yasona, the House’s priorities over the next two weeks include a health bill, which is expected to be passed today or on Tuesday, an archive bill and the controversial Anti-Corruption Court bill. “Even though the [Anti-Corruption Court bill] is still being discussed, the legislative members are determined to finish it before the end of the 2004-09 term,” he said. But another controversial measure, the state secrecy bill, might have to be tabled until the next legislative term because it is still under debate. Salastio, however, expressed doubt the bill on the antigraft court would be finished before the end of the current legislators’ term. “There is a power struggle over the corruption court bill.” One of the mostly hotly debated aspects of the bill surrounds how much power the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should be given. “When the KPK was founded, it was agreed that the body is authorized to conduct investigations, arrest and file charges, but the bill suggests that the KPK can only conduct investigations,” Salastio said. Using just the number of bills as a benchmark of legislative performance, the current House has actually surpassed the record of the previous chamber, which passed 175 pieces of legislation.

Indonesia vs Malaysia: Discovery To Produce Pendet Show To Calm Indonesia-Malaysia Tensions

Ni Ketut Arini teaches girls Pendet in Denpasar, Bali. She was a student of
Pendet creator I Wayan Rindi, who died in 1967

Discovery Channel will produce a 30-minute program on the pendet dance to try and alleviate tensions between Malaysia and Indonesia, Malaysia’s Star newspaper reported on Saturday. Discovery South-East Asia senior vice president and general manager Kevin Dickie said the programme would be aired on the channel throughout the Asia-Pacific. He said the network was deeply concerned by the latest developments in Jakarta and reiterated that the use of the pendet clip was a mistake and was in no way a malicious attempt to undermine Indonesia. “It was a human error by an independent producer that Discovery Network takes responsibility for,” he said in a statement. “We hope the current situation will ultimately lead to a broader debate and understanding of the richness of both Malaysian and Indonesian cultures,” he said. The Balinese pendet dance was featured in a 30-second promotional piece produced for Discovery Channel to promote the series "Enigmatic Malaysia." It led to uproar from Indonesians claiming that it was an attempt by Malaysia to steal the country’s cultural heritage.

Sabotage of KPK power 'systematic'

The entire deliberation process of the anticorruption court bill shows a "systematic" effort to end the war on graft by weakening the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), a lawmaker said. As of Wednesday, nine out of 10 factions at the House of Representatives were still lobbying the government to end the KPK's authority to prosecute. They want to limit such authority to those under the jurisdiction of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). The representative of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) on the working committee deliberating the bill called for “extraordinary efforts” to salvage the antigraft body and the corruption eradication movement from vested interests. “The move is part of a systematic attempt not only to kill the antigraft body but mainly to weaken the ongoing war on corruption that has been categorized as an extraordinary crime in the country,” Nasir Djamil told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. The PKS is the only faction now standing behind the government wanting to maintain the KPK’s prosecution mandate. Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said factions had put forward during lobbying time on Monday night an increasing number of proposals to give the prosecution authority back to the AGO. The noted lawyer said she personally shared the government’s wish to maintain the antigraft body’s prosecution and wire-tapping authority. Reliable sources at the committee said most factions were determined to revise the 2001 anticorruption law to give the prosecution mandate back to government prosecutors and take back the antigraft body’s wire-tapping authority. Previously, the House, which initially showed reluctance to deliberate the bill, bowed down to public pressure to put it back on the table. However the deliberation has raised criticism that these manoeuvres were designed to weaken the KPK. All factions and the government unanimously agreed to gradually decentralize the anticorruption court to 33 provinces and more than 450 regencies and municipalities, in effect hiding the body from public view. The committee and the government also agreed to give more seats to career judges despite the public’s distrust of the judiciary. A researcher for the Consortium for National Legal Reform (KRHN), Wahyudi Djafar, deemed the factions’ reasoning to take back KPK’s investigative and wire-tapping authority as illogical and groundless as the KPK has been considered effective in bringing corruptors to justice. “The factions' argument is that the authority to prosecute also belongs to the government prosecutors in other developed countries,” Wahyudi said. “But they forget that corruption in Indonesia has become an extraordinary crime and the antigraft body needs the authority to prosecute to effectively end corruption,” he said. Wahyudi also said the bill mandating the establishment of anticorruption courts in 33 provinces within one year was quite contentious, because it would be financially impossible for the government to do so.

PLN Eyes 30% Rate Hike for Electricity in Indonesia

The company will present lawmakers with
four different price-increase possibilities for 2010

With a reduced subsidy for electricity in the cards for next year, state power utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara wants to see power charges increased by 30 percent on average for household and industrial consumers, the company’s top executive said on Wednesday. However, the proposal was immediately condemned by senior business representatives, who said that any hike in charges would put the brakes on growth. “Price increases should be based on customer category and purchasing power,” Fahmi Mochtar, PLN’s president director, told reporters on the sidelines of a hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, adding that “the increases are needed to cover our production costs as the government has cut the subsidy allocation in next year’s budget.” The firm is proposing four price-hike scenarios for 2010, which will be presented to the House in the near future, Fahmi said. These consist of a 20 percent increase for household consumers with an installed supply of less than 900 watts in their homes, and a 37.5 percent increase for households with an installed supply of up to 6,600 watts. The charges for both categories of consumer are controlled by the government and are set at a range of Rp 172 to Rp 621 per kilowatt hours. Meanwhile, PLN says that a charge of Rp 1,380 per kwh is needed to cover costs. For consumers with an installed supply of more than 6,600 watts, PLN wants the government to reduce the amount of power that it subsidizes. Currently, the subsidies are given for consumption of up to 839 kwh per month. Under PLN’s proposal, this would be reduced to 524.5 kwh. For businesses and industries, whose power is unsubsidized, the state utility is proposing a 30 percent rise in charges. Late last month, the House budget commission approved an electricity subsidy of Rp 35.3 trillion ($3.56 billion) for 2010. Together with Rp 2.5 trillion left over from this year, this brings the total subsidy payable in 2010 to Rp 37.8 trillion. PLN has insisted that it needed about Rp 50 trillion to cover operating costs. The company says that an average increase of between 20 percent and 30 percent is needed to make up for the subsidy cut. A new Electricity Law passed by the House on Tuesday, which will come into effect at the end of next year, requires the approval of the central government or relevant local government, along with the House or local legislative assembly, for electricity price increases. The price-hike proposal immediately sparked protests from business representatives, with Bambang Soesatyo, the chairman of the fiscal and monetary committee of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), saying it would hurt growth. “We have objected to the proposal,” he told the Jakarta Globe by telephone, adding that it would increase production costs and hurt consumer purchasing power. “Now all the costs must be borne by the consumer? I was hoping they would seek another solution. Businesses are already struggling to survive at the present time.” PLN has been mired in red ink for years, mostly as a result of the fact that it has to supply electricity at below cost. Last year, it lost a record Rp 13.1 trillion, although the firm blamed much of this on the rupiah’s deep slide against the dollar in the second half of the year. Eric Alexander Sugandi, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta, said higher power prices would raise inflation next year, which could prompt the central bank to raise its key interest rate sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

Last-Minute Maneuvers as Indonesian Ministers Resign Ahead of Deadline

There was a flurry of activity on Tuesday ahead of a deadline for ministers to decide between Indonesia's House of Representatives and the cabinet, with three resignations and a fourth minister likely to follow them out the door. The law requires ministers elected to the House of Representatives to choose between the legislature and the cabinet, and the General Elections Commission (KPU) gave them until today to make up their minds. Taufik Effendy, the state minister for administrative reform, has submitted his resignation letter, State Secretary Hatta Rajasa said, adding that Jero Wacik, the minister of culture and tourism, has also said he will resign. “We only received a letter from Taufik but some [ministers] are planning on delivering them later,” Hatta said. “Jero Wacik just called to say he will deliver [his letter].” Both ministers are from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party. Lukman Edy, the state minister for the acceleration of development in underdeveloped regions, was quoted by state-run Antara news agency as saying that he had also submitted his resignation. Surya Dharma Ali, the state minister for small and medium enterprises from the United Development Party (PPP), is also planning to tender his resignation letter today, said Fernita Darwis, a PPP campaign team member. “He told me that he will resign near the deadline on Wednesday. So let's see tomorrow,” she said late on Tuesday. Two other ministers — Adhyaksa Dault, the state minister for youth and sport affairs from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Freddy Numberi, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister from the Democratic Party, have already officially withdrawn their candidacies for the House. KPU commissioner Endang Sulastri said Wednesday was the deadline for ministers to decide on their future, but that anyone who did choose to resign could remain in the cabinet until a new one was formed in October. Hatta also said ministers who resigned their government positions could still be appointed to the next cabinet, at Yudhoyono’s discretion. “If the president uses his prerogative right to ask the minister to hold a post in the second round of the United Indonesia Cabinet, then they will be notified,” he said. However, he said the president was still concentrating on formulating the agenda for his next administration and his first 100-day program, and that potential cabinet members would only be discussed in October.

Concerns Over ‘Steps Toward Islamic State’ in Indonesia

The nation is quietly being pushed closer toward an Islamic state, Christian politicians and religious groups warned on Sunday, pointing to attempts this month to push through a bill requiring halal product labeling. The legislation could be passed by the House of Representatives as soon as next week, despite opposition from the Christian-based Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and minority religious groups who say it is discriminatory. The House and central government are being accused of rushing discussion on the bill in the hope of endorsing it on Sept. 15. Critics claim the bill, like the Anti-Pornography Law passed almost a year ago, is a ploy by conservative Islamic groups to introduce elements of Shariah law within secular Indonesia. The House, they say, is being pressured to endorse the legislation before its term expires at the end of September. Hasrul Azwar, chairman of the House committee deliberating the bill, said on Sunday that he expected it to be completed within two weeks. “There is no pressure. The bill has been scheduled to be finished by the end of this month,” he said. The bill states that all packaged food, drinks, medicine and cosmetics produced and sold in Indonesia must be certified as halal or not by an independent body and then labeled accordingly. Hasrul said the central government wanted the classifying body formed under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, while several parties have demanded an independent body with representatives from the central government and the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI). “Those matters are still being debated. Even [yesterday] we worked on it,” he said. The PDS has said that determining what is halal — permissible under Islam — is a religious issue and shouldn’t be stipulated by the state. Some members of the business community said the labeling system would be expensive and that small businesses could suffer. Lawmaker Badriyah Fayumi of the Islamic-based National Awakening Party (PKB) said non-Muslim communities should not feel threatened by the bill. “The state is obliged to facilitate its citizens in practicing their [version of] Shariah. The halal matter is very much one of principle for Muslims,” she said. She said a halal law would provide a stronger legal basis to impose sanctions on companies that lied about the contents of their products. “The bill will stipulate sanctions if there is forgery or mixing halal and non-halal foods,” Badriyah said, adding that this could result in fines of up to Rp 4 million ($400). Husna Zahir, chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), said she was concerned that the issue of classifying products as halal had distracted attention from the real debate. “This ongoing problem must not divert the government’s focus from product safety, because what we need is an effective system capable of making sure that all products distributed in the markets are safe and halal to consume,” she said.

Bank Century: Will Indonesia's Top Officials Survive the Fallout?

Economic and political analysts said over the weekend that the Rp 6.7 trillion ($663.3 million) Bank Century bailout controversy would not generate enough political steam to put serious pressure on two of the country’s most senior officials — Vice President-elect Boediono, the former Bank Indonesia governor, and reform icon Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the finance minister and acting chief economics minister. “I don’t think the case is strong enough to have them removed from office. This Century fiasco has been hijacked by a number of political interest groups to attack their track records,” said Adrinof Chaniago, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia. “It is definitely the central bank’s mess if we look into the case closely. That means that Boediono is the one who is primarily responsible, but he won’t go down unless they find he did something illegal,” he said. “I think that some of the central bank’s management will be forced to step aside because of this, but Boediono will remain untouchable.” Poerbaya Yudi Sadewa, an economist at the state-owned Danareksa Institute think tank, said the market’s perceptions of Sri Mulyani and Boediono as reformers remained unchanged, despite the Century imbroglio. “It’s hard to blame them for what they did as the economic crisis was then at its height,” he said. “Century’s failure could have posed a big threat to our financial system, even though the bank’s problems were mainly caused by the bank’s owner.” He agreed with Adrinof that the fiasco would have little chance of seeing Sri Mulyani or Boediono kicked out of office, although he added that the findings of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) would have to be published before it became clear what really happened. “Silence on the part of both Boediono and Sri Mulyani is a good tactic to keep the markets calm,” he added. Lawmakers and pressure groups have ratcheted up criticism of the roles played by Boediono, who was BI governor when the bailout took place in November 2008, and Sri Mulyani, who was finance minister. It is alleged that huge amounts of taxpayer funds were spent to save big depositors with the bank, including one of the country’s biggest business families, the Sampoernas, state-owned tin miner PT Timah, and state pension fund PT Jamsostek. Natsir Mansyur, a lawmaker from the Golkar Party and a member of House Commission XI, which oversees the financial sector, urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sunday to suspend Sri Mulyani as finance minister and chairwoman of the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), arguing that she was ultimately responsible for the affair. Andi Rachmat, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the House was seeking a Supreme Court clarification as to whether the bailout was legal, although the government has repeatedly stated that it was entirely legal under the Indonesia Deposit Insurance Corporation Law. “We are going to seek the Supreme Court’s opinion on this,” he said. Meanwhile, Danang Widoyoko, the chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, insisted on Saturday that the bailout had primarily benefited large-scale depositors. “Big depositors withdrew Rp 5.6 trillion from the bank between December 2008 and July of this year,” Danang said. “They’re the ones who took advantage of the situation.” Iman Sugema, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), blamed the controversy on Bank Indonesia’s failure to take robust action, rather than endemic weaknesses in the supervisory system. “The bank had problems since 2003 but no firm action was taken by the regulators,” he said. “They claimed the bank was too important to fail, but this is only a small bank. Its assets only account for about 0.05 percent of all the assets in the banking system."

Critics Take Their Last Shots at Indonesian Film Censorship Plan

With less than a week to go before lawmakers endorse it, the controversial film bill is coming under a hail of media criticism in a last attempt to stop its passage. The press and broadcasting community on Friday joined the fray, calling for the bill not to be passed next week as scheduled, saying it was too authoritarian, would stifle creativity and could hurt democracy. “The proposed film bill is much worse than the current Law on Film. It allows for more interventions and controls on film activities and businesses,” said Kukuh Sanyoto, a coordinator of the community, or MPPI. The new bill, Kukuh told the House of Representatives, would curtail the freedom of filmmakers, reducing their ability to express their creativity, through its articles on censorship, its unclear classification of films, its permit requirement for film companies and its requirement that films be registered with the authorities. “This is government intervention going too far,” he said. He added that the bill also allowed for additional regulations through governmental or ministerial decrees, further boosting government intervention. Kukuh said the bill, a revision of the 1992 Law on Film that is scheduled for endorsement on Tuesday, was prepared without public participation, including from the film industry. Kukuh said that films should be placed on par with other media like newspapers and magazines, which are not obliged to seek permits to publish, and as a democracy, the country should do away with censorship bodies. “The public should be protected, but not with the brutality of a censorship body,” Kukuh said. Other prominent MPPI members joining the protest included Press Council deputy chairman Sabam Leo Batubara and Indonesian Media Law and Policy Center director Hinca IP Pandjaitan. Heri Akhmadi, the deputy chairman of House Commission X overseeing art and culture, said the commission had held public discussions in six cities and had taken on board input from many actors, producers and theater businesspeople. “We’ve tried to accommodate all sectors of the industry. We’ve tried to find the solution to opposing perspectives,” Heri said. “But we can’t just follow one voice. This is a political process.” He said the new censorship board to be set up under the revised law would be an independent body with members chosen by the public, and that instead of butchering films it would only classify them. Heri added that the registration of films was meant only to help the government gather data, from the types of movies being made to box office figures. Separately, several nongovernmental organizations urged lawmakers to include clauses banning cigarette advertising in films to protect children from being targeted by tobacco companies. Muhammad Joni, the deputy chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection, said at a news conference that the film bill did not protect children and teenagers from being exposed to cigarette advertising. Joni added that the film industry should be treated the same as broadcasters and the press.

Indonesia Postpones Broadband Project Once Again

Few people would expect to get both superfast and cheap Internet access everywhere across an archipelago as vast as Indonesia, but residents of the digitally remote eastern provinces are going to have to keep on waiting even for a rudimentary broadband service. Financial woes are forcing not only a reduction in the number of areas to be covered by a network of affordable, high-speed broadband, but also causing delays in its construction. The government on Friday said that almost 75 percent of the project’s funding had been slashed, and would yet again postpone it, this time until mid-October. Gatot S Dewabroto, spokesman for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology said the project needed to cut its previously planned budget of $700 million to $185 million after four of the seven members of the consortium involved pulled out. The project, if it materializes, will serve as the backbone for Indonesia’s telecommunication infrastructure and provide affordable, quality Internet access. The fiber-optic network would cover all eastern Indonesian provinces. About 11,202 kilometers of cable were originally planned to run underwater and below ground, but this figure will be reduced to just 4,458 kilometers. Seven Indonesian telecommunication operators agreed in July 2007 to collaborate on the 5-year Palapa Ring project that would bring the Internet to a vast region encompassing Sulawesi, Maluku, Papua and East and West Nusa Tenggara. Currently, only three of the consortium members and $150 million in investment remain.

Indonesia Quake: Relief Trickles into West Java

A house in Sindang Barang, Cianjur,
damaged by the 7.3-magnitude earthquake.
Thirty-seven people are still reported missing in Cianjur,
where rocks and boulders slid off a cliff and buried a dozen homes.

As the death toll from Wednesday’s powerful quake continued to climb, aid, as well as government officials and disaster tourists, began pouring in to the two worst-affected areas. Priyadi Kardono, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said the death toll had risen to 57 as of Thursday evening, including 21 in Cianjur, 10 in Garut, nine in Tasikmalaya and eight in Bandung — all districts in West Java. Rustam Pakaya, head of the Health Ministry’s Crisis Center, said the figures could still climb, as 37 were still missing in Cianjur, where rocks and boulders slid off a cliff and buried a dozen homes in the village of Cikangkareng in the southern part of the district. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited the village on Thursday and pledged Rp 5 billion ($495,000) to help West Java with emergency relief. Accompanied by his ministers and the first lady, the president walked the last two kilometers to the site. He said a brief prayer at the location where scores are still believed to have been buried in the landslide. The president also visited the tents sheltering the displaced, now vastly outnumbered by curious onlookers from surrounding areas, as well as journalists covering the disaster. A total of 5,368 people were now temporarily sheltered in various centers in West Java, mostly in Cianjur, while another 2,388 people were now living in tents in Cilacap, Central Java. Yudhoyono called on the displaced to remain at the shelters until the authorities gave the all-clear sign, as aftershocks continued to rattle the area. He also asked that the search and evacuation efforts be continued. As of Thursday afternoon, a joint effort by the National Search and Rescue Agency, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, the Indonesian Armed Forces and the police, assisted by two heavy machinery, had evacuated 20 victims. “The emergency response will have to continue. As we’re dealing with a pile of rocks, we need to see if the heavy machinery is still effective or not. If it is not effective, other solutions must be found,” Yudhoyono said. At the same location, Yusuf Effendy, deputy governor of West Java, said authorities would continue the search for the next two weeks. Relocation of the villagers would be conducted after all the victims were evacuated. Meanwhile, Social Welfare Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah visited Tasikmalaya, where the 7.3-magnitude quake hit hardest, destroying about 500 houses and leaving about 2,000 homeless. He delivered Rp 800 million in cash for local governments in the 10 affected districts in West Java, including Ciamis, Sumedang, Sukabumi and Purwakarta. “Those are just for the first day. We will keep them coming after we review their necessities,” said Adi Karyono, section head of alertness monitoring and natural disaster mitigation at the Social Affairs Ministry, adding the ministry would meet today to further assess needs in the province. The Social Affairs Ministry, Health Ministry and local governments have so far provided food, clothing, body bags, a portable power generator and medicines. The Indonesian Red Cross Society (PMI) has also sent hygiene kits, blankets and sarongs. Arifin Muhammad Hadi, PMI’s division head of disaster mitigation, said two ambulances with two doctors and three nurses were sent to Cianjur on Thursday to set up mobile clinics, while volunteers were assessing the damage and the casualties. Alma Lucyanti, head of the West Java Health Agency, said that an orthopedic team was in the affected areas to deal with bone fractures, the main type of injuries so far. Authorities in Sukabumi district pledged to provide financial assistance of the up to Rp 2 million for each of the 3,000 damaged house there. The United Nations, through its various agencies, began to work to provide relief for the quake victims on Thursday.

Prita Mulyasari Willing to Take 'Ultimate Oath' to Prove Innocence: Lawyer

Prita Mulyasari’s lawyer told the press on Thursday that his client was willing to do a sumpah pocong , an “ultimate oath” form of traditional ritual used in rural villages, to prove her innocence in her defamation trial. The statement came after one of the prosecutor’s witnesses, Ogyana Nandri, the customer service coordinator at Omni Hospital in Tangerang, Banten, told the court on Thursday that Prita was extremely rude to him when she spoke to hospital staff over the phone. Prita is being prosecuted for writing an e-mail complaining about her care at the medical facility. “Ogyana said that Prita called her a dog,” Pita’s lawyer Slamet Yuwono said, adding the testimony brought Prita to tears. “Prita told the judge that as a person of religion she would never speak so rudely and that she was willing to perform a sumpah pocong to prove it.” Slamet protested against the witness’s testimony because it was not recorded in the investigation report, but prosecutor Riyadi from the Tangerang Prosecutors’ Office told the court that Ogyana’s testimony would be analyzed juridically. A sumpah pocong is a traditional practice used in local investigations that have come to a dead end. The person alleged to have committed a crime is swathed in a white cloth used in Muslim burials, and then swears his or her innocence. Some local people believe that if the person lies, they will die. Prita’s defamation trial would recommence next Thursday when the prosecutors present two more witnesses — a doctor from Bintaro International Hospital who claimed to be one of the recipients of Prita’s email and a linguistics expert from the Ministry of National Education. Prita was jailed for three weeks earlier this year in connection with the defamation case. She was freed only after a public outcry on the Internet and in traditional media. Omni has expressed a willingness to drop the case, but the hospital and its former patient have been unable to agree on how to resolve the matter. The hospital has claimed that Prita’s e-mail, which was widely distributed on the Internet, damaged its doctors’ reputation and harmed its business. Critics say the case is an attempt to stifle free speech using the controversial the Electronic Transaction and Information Law, which was enacted in 2008. Bogor Police recently said they were investigating a girl, 18, for calling another girl a “dog” on the Facebook Web site.

Police Still On Trail of Century’s Millions

Red-faced National Police officials announced on Thursday they had only managed to recover a tiny fraction of the more than $19 million allegedly embezzled by former Bank Century major shareholder Robert Tantular, as concern grew the businessman could get off with a relatively light sentence. National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III on judicial affairs that assets amounting to Rp 1.19 billion ($118,000) had been seized so far. The money, he said, came from several local accounts linked to fraudulent letters of credit issued by Bank Century. Bambang conceded that the recovered amount was tiny considering the losses to the state, but added that investigations were still under way into assets believed to be held overseas. Police suspect that Tantular still has $19.25 million stashed abroad, including in Hong Kong and Britain. Police are also seeking Rp 11.6 trillion is assets belonging to two other major shareholders in the bank — Hasham Al Warraq Thalat and Rafat Ali Rijvi — some of which may have been stolen from Bank Century. A verdict in Tantular’s trial at the Central Jakarta District Court is expected soon, but prosecutors have only recommended a sentence of eight years and fines of Rp 50 billion, less than 1 percent of the Rp 6.7 trillion the government spent bailing out his bank. He could have faced up to 15 years in prison and Rp 200 billion in fines. “I wonder why he was charged with such a weak indictment. It would be easy for him to shake off a [guilty] verdict,” said Drajad Wibiwo, a member of the House’s banking commission. Emerson Yuntho, the deputy chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, slammed the prosecution’s recommendation as inadequate for the crime committed, especially as it had threatened the entire banking system. “With our corrupt court system and jails, we are worried that the verdict will not serve as an example to prevent similar cases from taking place,” he said.

Indonesia Quake: Java 'Always a Quake Risk'

Villagers stand near the ruins of their house in Tasikmalaya

Wednesday’s quake that left at least 33 people dead and more than 3,500 buildings damaged in West Java was a reminder that such powerful quakes are always a danger for the island and cannot be ignored, experts warned. “There is always the potential to be affected by huge quakes like the one today,” said Fauzi, the head of the Earthquake and Tsunami division at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), adding that the capital was at risk because, though not sitting on a fault line, it was relatively near the volatile tectonic fault zone off Java’s south coast. The quake, measured at 7.0 magnitude by the BMG, hit off the southern Java coast near the Tasikmalaya district at 2:55 p.m. and lasted for about a minute and a half, with the temblor felt across the island. Fauzi said that although the quake had been large enough to cause tsunamis, only small waves had occurred along the southern coast of West Java, including on the tourist beaches of Pangandaran, Pelabuhanratu, and Pameungpeuk. “There was a one-meter tsunami in Pameungpeuk,” Fauzi said, “the quake also triggered 10-centimeter and 15-centimeter waves in Pangandaran and Pelabuhanratu.” The head of the Pelabuhanratu Fishery Port, Arief Rahman, said 200 fishermen who were at sea when the quake hit were reportedly undisturbed. Fauzi said the quake, the result of tectonic pressure caused by the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates rubbing up against each other, was similar to a 6.1 magnitude temblor in West Sumatra in August, which shook the coast of Siberut and Mentawai islands. Jakarta, Fauzi said, would always be one of the cities on Java vulnerable to earthquakes. “The closest fault line near Jakarta is near Sukabumi,” he said, adding that the ocean off the southern Java coast was one of the most earthquake prone areas in the country along with the western coast of Sumatra. Earlier in the day, a magnitude-5.3 earthquake shook Mentawai islands but left no damage. Wednesday’s earthquake is the largest since the 7.2-magnitude temblor that shook southern Java in July 2006, triggering a deadly tsunami and killing 596 people and displacing 74,000. The death toll from Wednesday’s quake is expected to rise. At least 11 people were killed in Rawa Hideung, South Cianjur, after houses were buried in a landslide, while 4 were killed in nearby Tasikmalaya, 4 in Garut, 1 in Sukabumi, and 6 each in Bandung and Banjar. A man died of a heart attack in Jakarta because of the quake. Rustam Pakaya from the Health Ministry’s Crisis Center also said that some 40 others remained missing in Cianjur. The West Java disaster coordinating center said that at least 3,586 buildings had been damaged by the temblor, 2,895 of them severely. State electricity utility company PT PLN said five cities in West Java, including the provincial capital Bandung, suffered power disruptions. Murtaqi Syamsudin, PLN’s operations director for Java, Madura and Bali, said operations in a geothermal power plant in Salak, West Java, were disrupted, affecting power supplies in the Java and Bali areas. In the capital, tens of thousands of panicked Jakartans rushed out of high-rise buildings. Many headed home, jamming traffic in many of the city’s usual choke points, while others stayed on the streets until the situation had calmed.

Indonesia's Airlines Are Safe From Terrorists: Minister

The Minister of Transportation, Jusman Syafei Djamal, has guaranteed that Indonesian airlines are safe from terrorists. Jusman made the statement on Tuesday, following police findings that a terror suspect who is still at large had worked for the national airline Garuda Indonesia while planning a bigger act of terror than July’s twin bombings at two Jakarta hotels. Jusman told Metro TV that to make sure the airport area is safe from terrorists, the Ministry of Transportation had formed a joint operation with the military and the police to increase the airport’s security system. Supervision is applied to both the passengers and airlines crew. Tight security measures are also applied at the cargo area, he said.

Solution to Indonesia's High Sugar Prices Proves Sticky

Indonesia's government has thus far been unable to agree on how to respond to high sugar prices, which have soared at home and abroad, particularly during Ramadan when consumption of the commodity peaks. As a stop-gap measure, the government will allocate funds to increase domestic sugar production and revamp the nation’s sugar refineries, Bayu Krisnamurthi, deputy minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, said on Tuesday. “We’re planning to build two to three new state-run sugar factories, using funds from the 2010 state budget,” Bayu said. A single sugar factory typically costs between Rp 1.1 trillion ($109 million) and Rp 1.5 trillion and takes up to 18 months to build. “This year and next year we’re also going to focus on how to revamp old sugar factories,” Bayu said. “I don’t know what kind of support we are going to give. It could be in the form of stimulus funds, credit support or other options.” In response to the high price of sugar, the government will sell its excess supplies at lower prices, Bayu said, without elaborating. Little was said about the possibility of importing more sugar, as analysts had expected. Bayu said the government would only allow an increase in sugar imports if total annual domestic output fell to about 2.89 million tons. On Monday, Bayu said domestic output would reach between 2.6 million and 2.89 million tons this year. The Agriculture Ministry has estimated that consumption of white sugar could hit 2.7 million tons this year. On Friday, the government said it had started working with state-run and private companies to sell cheap sugar as part of a “market operation” to push down prices during Ramadan in 18 of the country’s 33 provinces. Trade officials said that sugar was sold for between Rp 7,000 and Rp 7,500 per kilogram, versus a market price of about Rp 10,700.

Painless Idul Fitri Travel in Indonesia? Government Promises It Will Be

Whether by road, rail, air, or water you really will get where you need to go for Idul Fitri this year — and as painlessly as possible. That’s the pledge from Indonesian officials, who insist all transportation systems are all being readied. The holiday marking Ramadan’s end traditionally sees millions of urbanites head out of the city to celebrate with family and friends. It is often a massive headache for those unable to get tickets or who get snarled up in traffic jams. Officials said on Tuesday that flights were being added, ships checked, road repairs hurried along and security beefed up for the annual exodus, also known as mudik. Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said about 16.3 million people were expected to travel in the two weeks surrounding the Idul Fitri holiday on Sept. 21-22. With millions relying on sea or river travel during the holiday and public anxiety heightened by two maritime accidents that killed at least 28 people last week, the ministry is conducting another audit to clamp down on unsafe passenger ships. Sunaryo, the ministry’s director general of sea transportation, said the audit, which began on Sunday, covered safety equipment, the condition of the vessels and staffing. He said it would focus on ships plying the country’s busiest routes — between Java and Sumatra, Bali and Madura, and Bali and Lombok. In July, the directorate general found that 36 out of 39 ships it randomly audited did not meet safety standards. Bobby Mamahit, secretary general of the sea transport directorate, said they were also preparing measures to prevent scalpers from hoarding tickets and selling them illegally. The measures include providing more ships and allowing them to carrying up to 30 percent more passengers than usual. However, he said the ministry would tightly monitor its offices and harbor administrators to prevent overcrowded boats from leaving. Separately, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said all road repairs and upgrades along the busy main route on the northern coast of Java, blamed for serious traffic congestion, would be halted well before Idul Fitri. “Ten days before Idul Fitri, all works will be stopped even if they aren’t finished,” Djoko said. “I guarantee that all the roads will function well.” Meanwhile, to accommodate the expected 15 percent increase in air passengers, four national airlines have been given the nod to add an extra 188 flights. Officers from Central Java’s Demak Police and state railway operator PT Kereta Api conducted an unannounced inspection of 10 kilometers of track along the Jakarta-to-Surabaya route. The Transportation Minister also said he had asked for assistance from security forces to police departure and arrival points. “It is now clear that there will be an increase in our security efforts at bus and train stations, aiming at building safer conditions for citizens during mudik ,” Jusman said. The National Police will deploy more than 98,000 personnel to safeguard travelers, said Commander Gen. Iman Haryatna, the National Police’s head of security. “The only difference with previous operations is that this year the operation will be directly headed by the National Police chief, not me,” Iman told the Jakarta Globe. The 17-day operation will start seven days before Idul Fitri. Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono has said 8,000 officers would be deployed in the capital. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has estimated that 2.2 million Jakartans would travel home, beginning as early as Sept. 16.