Saudi Arabia Block up the Name of Morality

RIYADH - The Saudi Arabian communications department official who authorities say that they have blocked up because of the popular social networking site that are not comfortable with conservative values that applied in the kingdom.
Official Parties Saudi Arabia Communications and Information Technology Commission blocked the site on Saturday (13/11). Will see a message that says 'error' if the users in the country trying to access Facebook. Similarly, as quoted by the Associated Press on Sunday (11/14/2010).

Muslim Group Backs Jakarta Plan to Deny Free Care for Smoking-Related Illness

Jakarta smokers may soon find themselves on their
own if their habit makes them sick

A Muslim group has weighed in to support Jakarta’s plan to withhold free medical care for smoking-related illnesses as part of efforts to curb tobacco consumption.

The chairman of the South Sumatra Ulema Council, KHM Sodikun, said on Tuesday that the policy would warn smokers that their habit had more risks than advantages.

But Amidhan, chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), said the smoking issue should not be linked to the health insurance plan for the poor.

“I haven’t heard South Sumatra’s Ulema Council’s suggestion but if it’s true, then it’s wrong,” Amidhan told.

“Pronouncing smoking as haram [sinful] is one thing, while the health security scheme for poor people is another thing. If we can help those infected with HIV/AIDS, why can’t we help the smokers?”

Muhammadiyah, the country’s second-largest Muslim organization, recently declared smoking sinful, but the MUI and Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest, have maintained it is undesirable but not forbidden.

The Jakarta government said in February that it would smoking-related cases would not be eligible for the Gakin health scheme, considering that smokers from poor families spent 22 percent of their income on cigarettes.

Dien Emawati, head of the city health agency, told it would start informing the public of the plan soon.

“We will promote it via posters and information provided at public health clinics,” she said, adding that they agency would hold a survey to identify Gakin card holders who smoked. They would be counseled on the dangers of smoking and the risk to their families’ future.

“In 2012 we will enforce the sanction. Smokers will not get health care for illnesses caused by smoking,” she said.

But Gakin beneficiaries would still be entitled to coverage for unrelated conditions.

“We don’t want to push it by force as this is actually an education for the head of families to be concerned about the health of themselves and their families.”

Governor Fauzi Bowo said the city could not justify paying the bills of people who ruined their health by smoking.

Fuad Baradja, head of the education unit of the Indonesian Smoking Control Foundation (LM3), said the move would make people reconsider their decision to light up.

“Smokers consciously endanger their own health and that of people around them and then ask the government to pay for them. It doesn’t make any sense," he said.

“We must ensure people are fully aware of the harsh consequences, like losing their health insurance coverage, if they keep on smoking.”

But he added that the policy must be applied flexibly.

“If someone has stopped smoking but his tobacco-related disease appears months or years later, the government should give free treatment,” Fuad said. “The most important thing is the person has quit smoking."

Catholic Youths Mar Easter Mass in Papua

Bearing a candle holder depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
a Catholic worshipper prays during a Mass to mark Easter Sunday
at St. Theresia Church in Cipanas, Bogor, West Java

As millions of Catholics in the country spent Saturday evening praying in churches to mark the night before Easter, youths marred the occasion in Papua by vandalizing the home of a man they said was disturbing the Mass.

Angered by the deafening sound of firecrackers, young worshipers at St. Fransiskus Asisi Koperapoka Church in Timika ran outside to investigate.

They found that firecrackers were being lit near the home of Kadir Sadipun, 65, who was busy preparing for a wedding.

The firecrackers had been set off by teenagers, but this did not stop the youths from stoning Kadir’s home and breaking his windows.

Kadir managed to flee, but a wedding tent set up outside his home was destroyed. The youths then returned to the church.

The priest leading the proceedings, Father Amandus Rahadat, said the congregation had heard the continuous sounds of firecrackers and he had seen the youths run from the church.

“I had asked them to remain calm and not react to the noise coming from outside,” Father Amandus said, adding that he had asked all churchgoers to keep the peace and respect one another, particularly during religious celebrations.

Police were seen guarding Kadir’s house after the attack.

Christian communities across Papua welcomed the dawning of Easter by lighting torches in their backyards.

The backyards in villages such as Bouw, Amroben, Swapodibo, Burokub and Mandala cast a festive flow to mark the special religious event.

“Churchgoers at 3 a.m. on Sunday held a dawn Easter parade carrying lit torches,” Father George Korwa said.

Easter Sunday marks the day Jesus Christ is believed to have risen from the dead, two days after his crucifixion, which is marked on Good Friday.

In Jakarta, celebrations were concentrated at the cathedral in Central Jakarta, the largest Catholic church in the city.

The cathedral celebrated five Masses on Sunday to accommodate the thousands of parishioners.

In the city of Ambon, incessant rain that started just after midnight did not stop worshippers from celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

Easter celebrations in the city began on Saturday evening.

Drenched churchgoers were forced indoors for their celebrations, which included a reenactment of the biblical story.

In Yogyakarta, thousands of Catholics attended celebrations on Saturday night at the Santo Antonius Church in Kotabaru.

In his sermon, Father Wisnu Murti told parishioners that the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ had saved mankind.

“All our sins and mistakes were wiped out with the crucifixion. We rise today with Jesus and begin our new lives, with hope that we should not sin,” Wisnu said.

Claims of Pig Blood in Cigarette Filters Coughs Up a Cloud of Controversy

Not only is smoking deadly, but new research alleges that pigs' blood
is used in the manufacture of filters of the kind used in Indonesian cigarettes

In a claim likely to cause consternation from Muslim smokers, a Dutch author has published a book that claims that pig blood is used to make cigarette filters.

Pig 05049, written by Christien Meindertsma, lists 185 different ways that pigs’ body parts can be used, including in the manufacture of sweets, shampoo, bread, beer and bullets.

Pig hemoglobin is, according to the book, used to filter harmful chemicals in cigarettes.

The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) called on authorities to investigate the claims. “If the claim is true then the National Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM), the Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Ulema Council’s Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM) should immediately conduct a sampling test,” Tulus Abadi, chairman of the YLKI, told the Jakarta Globe.

Tulus said that Indonesian cigarette producers were using imported filters because they are not produced locally.

If the claims are true, Tulus said, the government has a stronger case to take a stand against tobacco. “As the most populous Muslim country, we should be really careful, most smokers in Indonesia are Muslims. How would they feel if they found out that the cigarettes they smoke were made using pig hemoglobin?” he said.

MUI chairman Amidhan said that MUI would not comment on the matter and would not conduct any certification test unless there was a request from the cigarette industry or the importer.

“Smoking is offensive and for now that’s our stance. However this information should be regarded as a warning for smokers to be more aware,” he said.

Professor Simon Chapman from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney was quoted on the university’s Web site as saying, “many devout Islamic and Jewish smokers and some vegetarians would be horrified to think they were putting a filter in their mouth which contained a pig product.”

Indonesian Islamists in Bogor Disrupt Otherwise Peaceful Good Friday

While most Christians peacefully held Good Friday services across the country on Friday, at least 1,000 churchgoers in Pa­rung, Bogor, had to pray at a restaurant after protests by Muslim hard-liners.

A church member told that on Thursday night the congregation held a two-hour service to observe White Thursday under tents erected on the vacant plot of land in Parung where their John the Baptist church was being built.

Gabriel Michael Kia Telok said the Mass ended peacefully, with police helping to direct traffic around the church construction site. However, some two hours later, a group claiming to belong to the Parung Ulema Forum came and staged a protest rejecting the construction of the church in the area. Gabriel said the protesters claimed the church did not have the necessary construction permits.

The group also threatened to disband forcefully any religious activities held there.

The church originally applied to Bogor authorities for permission to build the church in 1990 but has still not received any response.

“Some 200 young people came to our makeshift chapel and asked us to stop our prayers, which actually were already done. We were terrified, but after they negotiated with our church leaders, the group agreed to move their protest to the Parung district office,” Gabriel said.

To ensure the safety of the congregation, the church leaders decided to move the Good Friday service to a building owned by the local education office, but a miscommunication forced them to move the venue again to a restaurant owned by a church member.

“It’s not the first time the group has staged a protest. Protests also occurred during Easter celebrations in 2008 and Christmas services in 2009,” Gabriel said.

News of the incident spread on microblogging and social networking Web sites, with many offering sympathy and condemning the intimidation. One Facebook user asked: “Is this a permanent incident, as Catholics are not allowed to pray inside their own churches in Bekasi?”

She was referring to an incident last year in which Muslim hard-liners attacked a church under construction in Bekasi. In addition to threats of violence, Indonesian minority religious groups say they face difficulties in obtaining the necessary permits to build places to worship.

According to the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, there were 139 cases of violation of the freedom to worship in Indonesia in 2009.

Indonesian Radicals ‘Raid’ Gay Conference

Led by the East Java chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), hardline groups descended on a Surabaya hotel on Friday, intimidating delegates who had planned to attend an international gay conference that was canceled after pressure from Islamic organizations.

“We found 130 people, including foreign participants from 13 countries, who were gathering in the hotel,” said a spokesman for the groups, Arukat Jaswadi, who is also chairman of the Center for Indonesian Community Studies. The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) also took part in the raid.

The radical Islamic groups also demanded that the management of the Oval Hotel ask the guests registered for the event to leave. “How can the hotel management guarantee us that those people are not having a conference in the hotel?” said Arukat.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) was scheduled to hold a conference in Surabaya from Friday to Sunday. The event, hosted by gay rights group Gaya Nusantara, had been expected to attract more than 150 activists.

A minor clash occurred during the raid as hotel guests resisted the checks by FPI members. Arukat said scuffles broke out because the ILGA members did not want to cooperate with them and “always argue with us.”

When the ILGA members planned to hold a news conference after the raid, the FPI members prevented them, leading to another skirmish.

“They are undermining us. It’s clear that we don’t want them to be here for the conference, now they want to hold a press conference,” Arukat said.

The groups said they would “keep an eye on the participants and make sure they leave the hotel on Friday afternoon.”

Rafael Dacosta, one of the event organizers, said there was no secret conference. “We canceled the event and the hotel guests are staying while waiting for their flights,” he said.

Rafael said there were only 30 conference participants staying in the hotel — not 130 as claimed by the hardline groups.

An agreement was reached later that participants from Indonesia would leave the hotel on Friday while foreign guests would stay until Sunday.

Separately, Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X rejected a suggestion that the event be moved to his city. “For me, we have an ethical problem in this case. If the Surabaya government rejects the conference, so does Yogyakarta,” he said.

NU Fatwa Declares Underage Girls Can Marry to Build Family Values

Taking Islamic law as its guide, leading Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama on Friday issued a fatwa declaring underage marriage acceptable as long as the purpose of the union was to build a happy family.

Cholil Nafis, secretary of the committee for religious issues for this past week’s 32nd NU congress, said the gathering had agreed that there should be no age restrictions on marriage because sacred Islamic verses or regulations had not stipulated a minimum age.

“They can get married at any age, even girls who haven’t started menstruating,” he said. “And they can have intimate relationships and intercourse, as long as they are able.”

Cholil said Islamic law only suggested that marriages would be better after a woman had her first period.

“As long as the objectives of the marriage are positive, it is allowed,” Cholil said. “Mind you, we don’t encourage people just to get married to fulfill their desires, no,” he added.

NU was aware that some groups might disagree, he said. While NU looked at the issue from a religious point of view, others might focus on different aspects, such as human rights.

“If people disagree with our fatwa, so be it. We never force people to follow what we say.”

Cholil said an NU report mentioned underage marriages in some regions, but added that they were mostly traditional engagements between families who wanted their offspring to marry.

Under such a marriage, the minors are wed under Islamic law as if they were adults, but live separately with their families until they are judged mature enough to assume adult responsibilities.

Friday’s edict drew immediate criticism from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), as well as the nation’s second-largest Islamic group, Muhammadiyah, and the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

“Girls need mental maturity to be responsible for their husband and children,” MUI chairman Amidhan. “Based on the 1974 Law on Marriage, girls can only get married after they are 16.”

Yunahar Ilyas, Muhammadiyah’s fatwa committee chairman, said NU should not issue edicts and recommendations based solely on an Islamic perspective.

“They are supposed to see this matter comprehensively. Menstruation is not a measurement of a girl’s maturity,” Yunahar said.

“She needs to be mentally and intellectually mature to be able to be a good mother and wife.”

Komnas Perempuan vice chairwoman Masruchah told the Globe that the edict violated the Law on Child Protection, which defines children as being younger than 18 years old.

Girls can begin to have their periods as early as the age of 9, but their reproductive system is still fragile and they are “not ready to be a sexually active person,” she said.

Anti-Porn Statute to Remain Law of the Land in Indonesia

A Manadonese girl dancing the Tumatenden
traditional dance of North Sulawesi in front of Constitutional Court
head Mahfud MD, right, and judge A Mukhtie Fadjar
in a hearing on the porn law in August

The Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled to maintain the controversial 2008 Anti-Pornography Law, but failed to put an end to a debate that has divided the nation for years.

“The postulations of the applicants have no legal base,” Mahfud MD, the chief of the Constitutional Court, said on Thursday in the 405-page ruling.

The decision comes more than a year after the court began hearing three judicial review requests filed by 47 applicants ranging from representatives of youth groups and churches to housewives, women’s activists and legal aid foundations.

In seeking a judicial review, the applicants argued that the law’s definition of pornography was vague, misleading and open to multiple interpretations.

The law defines pornography as “sexual material made by people in the forms of pictures, sketches, illustrations, photos, writings, voice, sounds, motion pictures, animation, cartoons, poems, conversations, body movements and other forms of communication through various mass media or public displays that can arouse sexual desires and/or violate public moral values.”

The applicants also contended that the law, which forbids the production, distribution or sale of anything that can be categorized as pornography and bans displays of nudity, intercourse or any other “pornographic” actions, was unconstitutional. The law stipulates sentences of up to 15 years in jail and fines of up to Rp 7.5 billion ($795,000).

Achmad Sodiki, one of the judges, said the law’s stated definition of pornography was clear.

“The first article of the Anti-Pornography Law is a definition that adheres to the aim when the law was drafted,” he said.

The court’s sole female judge, Maria Farida Indrati, gave a dissenting opinion, arguing that the law’s first article “opposes the people’s right to legal certainty according to the Constitution,” and “that the law could lead to public judgments among the people because of different definitions of the term pornography.”

Critics of the law were quick to slam the decision, with many saying they would ignore it.

One applicant, Tenny Assa, said the people of North Sulawesi would not implement the law. “It gives us more reason to free ourselves from Indonesia,” he added.

Critical voices could also be heard in Bali.

“Bali is the island of peace. We reject the evil of pornography, but the law cannot be applied to the variety of sociological conditions in Indonesia,” Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika said in Denpasar.

“If the law was effective, there would be no more television or Internet content that is close to the definition of pornography in the law. But we still can see it.”

Taufik Basari, a lawyer for the applicants, said they would seek a legislative review at the House of Representatives. “The court only tried to please a certain group, but it did not solve the problem,” Taufik said.

Constitutional expert Refly Harun said he believed the court had played it safe. “Because the public desire to see the law annulled is not really strong, the court did not dare to annul it.”

He said experience showed the strongest groups had the greatest influence on court rulings.

Ifdhal Kasim, head of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said: “The court should have seen this from a progressive point of view, to protect individuals in pursuing their rights.” He warned the law would especially hinder the rights of women and minority groups.

The law has already been used to jail at least eight people, mostly female erotic dancers.

Thirteen Years of Controversy: The History of Indonesia's Porn Debate
1997: The House of Representatives begins discussing a pornography and lewd acts bill

2003: A House special committee begins discussing the draft in earnest after popular dangdut singer Inul Daratista reveals her overtly sexual dance moves that are imitated by several singers attempting to mirror her success

2006: The first draft is issued in February, leading to several protests both for and against the law. The Utan Kayu community group issues the “ Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ” (“Unity in Diversity”) declaration, supported by arts and cultural figures, while the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) issues a religious edict declaring that the bill needs to be immediately passed into legislation

2007: “Lewd acts” is dropped from the title and it becomes the draft bill on anti-pornography

2008: On Oct. 30, eight parties in the House vote to pass the draft, although lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) walk out in protest

2009: From February to March, three diverse community groups file for a judicial review of the Anti-Pornography Law with the Constitutional Court

2010: On March 25, the judicial review is denied by the Constitutional Court 

Indonesian Islamists Vow That Gay Conference Will Not Proceed

Pressure from Islamic organizations has finally forced the organizers of the planned International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) conference in Surabaya to cancel the event.

“We have contacted the participants [and told them] that the congress is being cancelled,” said Tan Oey, one of the organizing committee of ILGA’s fourth Asian conference, which was to be held from today until Sunday.

As for foreign participants who had already arrived in Indonesia, the committee would receive them as guests, Tan said. The organizers had said that 100 participants from Asia were scheduled to attend the meeting.

He said that those participants already in the country would still hold discussions on the topics that had been slated for debate at the congress.

“We will just talk. It is not a congress,” Tan said.

The planned congress sparked widespread opposition from Islamic groups, especially in Surabaya, the capital of East Java, which is a strongholds for conservative religious groups.

In the latest protest against the event, the Surabaya chapter of the Indonesian Muslim Students’ Action Front (KAMMI) and the Islamic Student Union of Airlangga University in Surabaya rallied in front of the governor’s office.

“Surabaya is not a city of gays or lesbians. Reject the lesbian and gay conference in Surabaya or in any other city in Indonesia,” said Agus Kusdiyanto, the chairman of KAMMI Surabaya.

Agus said that homosexuality was not just a sexual disorder but a moral evil that must be eradicated.

He said KAMMI asked the authorities not to grant a permit for that event in Surabaya or in any other cities. The group also called on the government not to provide space for gay and lesbian organizations in Indonesia.

Twenty members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) of East Java, as well as the local chapters of Hizbut Tahrir and the Al-Irsyad Association, on Thursday went to the Mirama Mercure Hotel on Jalan Darmo Surabaya, where the meeting was due to be held, to ensure that it had been cancelled.

“We guarantee that the meeting has been cancelled,” said Windiarto, the general manager of the hotel.

Windiarto said that the hotel management always reminded its clients to first seek police permission before holding events.

He said that the downpayment for the booking of 10 rooms and the rental of the hotel’s Grand Ballroom would be refunded by the hotel.

Despite the assurances from the hotel and the cancellation announcement by the committee, the FPI said it remained concerned that the congress would be held somewhere else.

“We have spies. FPI has 2,000 members in East Java. We asked them to remain vigilant even though the event was canceled in Surabaya,” said Muhammad Dhofir, vice chairman of FPI in East Java.

Pre-Dawn Prayer Too Early? Indonesian Clerics Suggest Wiggle Room

After recently shocking many by issuing a religious edict banning smoking, the country’s second-largest Islamic organization has stirred a new controversy by saying it would discuss whether the predawn prayer time for Muslims was too early.

“The time for the predawn prayer in Indonesia is the earliest, compared to other countries,” Syamsul Anwar, the chair of the Muhammadiyah’s lawmaking council, said on Wednesday from Surabaya.

While there, he met with East Java Governor Sukarwo to inform him of the organization’s national meeting in Malang on April 1-4.

“If the morning prayer is a bit later, maybe more [Muslims] will perform the prayer,” Syamsul added.

He said the issue of the predawn prayer was one of the things Muhammadiyah’s central board was planning to take up at the meeting.

The morning prayer for Indonesian Muslims starts when the sun is 20 degrees under the horizon (the point when the sun starts rising), or about 4:45 a.m. in the western part of the country.

Syamsul said the time for the predawn prayer in Morocco starts when the sun is 18 degrees under the horizon, while in Egypt it is when the sun is 19.5 degrees under the horizon.

“Actually, the predawn prayer time here does not violate the rule as according to the Islamic law. It should be done between 20 degrees to zero degrees,” he said.

The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and the Religious Affairs Ministry were quick to brush aside the idea, saying the prayer times have been considered thoroughly.

“The predawn prayer time in Indonesia is correct,” said an MUI chairman, Ma’ruf Amin.

Nasaruddin Umar, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ Islamic directorate general, concurred, saying the prayer time had been determined after a thorough consideration involving all elements of Muslim society and experts, including astronomers.

Nahdlatul Ulama’s West Java chairman, Havidz Usman, took a more conciliatory approach to the question.

“We set the time based on the Koran, but we welcome a discussion should there be strong evidence that our predawn prayer time is not correct,” he said.

Yudhoyono Calls on NU to Return to Roots

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday joined the bandwagon in calling on Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation’s largest Muslim organization, to return to its roots and abandon the political ambitions that had proved so divisive.

“We hope that NU can get back to its noble khittah [roots],” Yudhoyono said during his speech to open NU’s 32nd national congress in the South Sulawesi capital. “Unto the shoulders of the ulema, we pin our hopes that the people and the nation can become a more dignified people and nation.”

He said the ulema, the body of Islamic scholars that forms the mainstay of the organization, should help guide the nation to become one of character, full of nobility and virtue, as well as competitiveness.

With some 40 million followers across the archipelago, NU remains an influential organization, especially in the country’s rural areas. But critics have said the group’s socio-religious objectives have recently been overshadowed by the political activities of its leaders.

Calls have been growing from both inside and outside the organization for it to move away from politics to better focus on its original grassroots spiritual, educational and social activities.

Lily Wahid, a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB) and sister of the late Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, a longtime NU leader and the country’s fourth president, said there were numerous examples of how the organization had pushed its leaders to enter the political arena.

She cited the current chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi, who was a vice presidential candidate in 2004, and former State Minister for Women’s Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawangsa, who ran in the East Java gubernatorial election in 2008.

Lily also said the organization had given its support to the doomed candidacy of the Golkar Party’s Jusuf Kalla in the 2009 presidential election.

One of the NU’s deputy chairmen, Masdar Farid Mas’udi, welcomed the president’s call, conceding that the organization’s leaders had in the past used NU’s grassroots support to push their political agenda.

“I think over the past 10 years, the political euphoria NU had because of its many followers created many temptations,” he said.

Masdar said NU needed a leader who could resist the lure of politics and stay away from more political organizations. “Yes, including the radical and extreme organizations,” he added. Hasyim, however, denied assertions the organization had strayed too far into the political realm.

“We have always held fast to our khittah,” he said. “But because there are many NU members, there are those who stay and hold on to the roots and some individuals who engage in activities here and there.”

The five-day day national congress at the Celebes Convention Center in Makassar has attracted thousands of delegates from across the country.

Organizers say up to 10,000 people are taking part, including some clerics from overseas.

Congress to Shape Future of Indonesia's Largest Muslim Organization

Islamic scholars from 50 countries are in Makassar
to attend the 32nd congress of the NU

The pervasive thick cloud of clove cigarette smoke, the motley collection of sarongs and the faces of candidates staring back from an abundance of campaign banners all herald the start of Nahdlatul Ulama’s national congress here today.

The country’s largest Muslim organization — comprising some 40 million members and supporters — has descended on the South Sulawesi capital to hold its 32nd congress, with the most important order of business being the election of a new chairman who will lead NU for the next five years.

More than 4,500 delegates from across the country are taking part in the congress at the Haji Sudiang Lodge, where men and women have been separated into different dorms. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to officially open the proceedings today.

Hafidz Usman, head of the NU congress committee, said the gathering, which closes on Sunday, would discuss a variety of topics, including how the group views wiretapping and the issue of online marriages.

“People from many provinces have joined us here, from Papua, Manado, Ternate, West and Central Kalimantan, and of course our fellows from Java have arrived as well,” Hafidz said on Monday.

There have been growing calls from within the organization for it to end its involvement in politics and focus on its original mission: to provide grassroots spiritual, educational and social guidance to Muslims across the country.

Hafidz said this year’s congress would be the first without the late Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who had led NU for 15 years before becoming the country’s fourth president.

“It was at the 1984 congress in Situbondo, East Java, when Gus Dur turned NU from a political force to a religious organization again,” he said. “But look at NU now — many people want to politicize it, use it. I hope this will not happen anymore.”

But any move away from politics, where obedience to Muslim clerics and scholars is de rigueur, will depend on the next leader.

Unlike past congresses, the battle for the NU chairmanship will be fierce this year, Hafidz said, pointing to the many colorful campaign banners plastered around the lodge.

Running for the coveted position are clerics, religious scholars and career politicians. They include senior NU executives Sholahuddin Wahid, Masdar F Mas’udi, Ahmad Bagja and Said Agil Siradj; former Golkar Party legislator Slamet Effendy Yusuf; National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker Ali Maschan Moesa; and liberal Muslim intellectual Ulil Abshar Abdallah.

Ulil said the incumbent chairman, Hasyim Muzadi, had not expressed interest in running for a third term, but was looking to head up the organization’s advisory board.

M Luthfi Abdul Hadi, a cleric from Malang, East Java, said that as at past congresses, smoking was an inescapable part of the proceedings. “I’ve quit smoking, but I understand why many still persist with the habit,” he said. “It’s because smoking somehow helps them think.”

“Our clerics, they are thinkers, they read many things — I think smoking helps them do that.”

Another congress trademark is the sarongs, the traditional dress of NU’s mainly rural followers.

Obama is Welcome in Indonesia, Say Leading Muslim Groups

US President Barack Obama must be welcomed as a guest during his much-anticipated state visit next week , say moderate Indonesian Islamic groups, including Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

“The Prophet himself also had diplomatic ties with adherents of other faiths,” said NU chief Hasyim Muzadi on Monday. He said Obama had shown good intentions in efforts to improve ties between the US and Islamic world.

But conservative Islamic organization Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia said on Tuesday that it rejected Obama’s visit, claiming it was aimed only at boosting America’s economic interests here.

HTI spokesman Muhamad Ismail Yusanto said the US enjoys Indonesia’s abundant natural resources, with many US oil and mining companies operating here. The fact that Obama lived here as a child did not warrant special treatment, he added.

On day two of his March 23-25 visit, Obama will deliver a rallying call to the Muslim world, his first since a historic speech in Cairo last year. “He’ll be able to speak to some of the progress that’s been made and that needs to be made on the issues that he spoke to in Cairo,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Teuku Faizasyah confirmed that Indonesia and the US would also sign a comprehensive partnership agreement during the visit. The accord, covering education, cultural exchanges, security ties, trade and investment, will be evaluated in a more structured way with “perspicuous aims and a time frame” through a ministerial forum, Teuku said. “Previously, programs were conducted based on priority in each sector.”

Obama’s visit was delayed by three days, and the White House has confirmed that he will not visit the schools he attended in Jakarta, or the houses he lived in.

Obama is the first US president in at least a decade to visit Southeast Asia for anything other than a regional summit, a move said to reflect an effort to strengthen ties with emerging nations.
Key parts of next week’s visit:

Tuesday Arrival in Jakarta. Press conference with President Yudhoyono, then a state dinner.

Wednesday Speech intended to build on his address in Cairo last year. Meetings with local business leaders.

Thursday To Bali. Presentation from civil society groups on democracy in Indonesia. Departure to Canberra. 

Militants in Aceh Are Jemaah Islamiyah, Say Indonesian Police

Anti terror police searching for Islamic militants in Aceh Besar

National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said on Tuesday that armed militants on the run in the remote mountains of Aceh are part of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist network.

Bambang said the militants, who have been the target of a bloody three-week police manhunt across the province, had been undergoing terrorist training in Jalin Jantho, Aceh Besar district, before their camp was raided on Feb. 22.

“They are all members of the regional Jemaah Islamiyah network, who are most wanted for their role in a string of bombings,” he said.

JI is a Southeast Asian network affiliated with Al Qaeda. The group is blamed for killing 202 people in Bali in 2002 and 12 others at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003.

A splinter JI group led by Noordin M Top, who was killed last year in a police raid in Central Java, is blamed for bombing the Australian Embassy in 2004, as well as last July’s twin bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta.

Authorities have said the Aceh militants were linked to alleged terrorists shot dead or captured last week in Tangerang. In the past three weeks, police have killed seven people and arrested 31 in operations in Aceh, Jakarta, Banten and West Java.

“We are still chasing the rest of the network’s members,” Bambang said.

He also dismissed earlier speculation that the militants in Aceh were former members of the defunct separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which signed a peace agreement with the central government in 2005.

“It’s purely Jemaah Islamiyah. The network is up to something in Aceh,” he said, without elaborating.

Ansyaad Mbai, head of the counterterrorism desk at the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Political and Security Affairs, was reported as saying last week that terrorists could be targeting the busy sea lanes in the Malacca Strait off Aceh’s southeast coast.

However, Ansyaad said JI was so fractured due to counter-terrorism efforts that any militant group could claim to carry its banner.

Bambang on Tuesday visited the Leupung Police station in remote Aceh Besar to honor local officers who shot dead two alleged JI terrorists on Friday and arrested eight others. In a speech, the National Police chief identified the two dead suspects as Encang Kurnia, 31, and Pura Sudirman, a k a Jaja, 40, both from Bandung.

He said they were JI members and had been on the most-wanted list of Densus 88, the National Police’s counter-terrorism squad.

He said Sudirman’s younger brother, Tono, another suspected terrorist still on the loose and most likely in Aceh, was involved in a planned attack on the motorcade of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year that was disrupted by police.

“He [Tono] is armed with an AK-47 and very dangerous,” he said.

Bambang reminded the public that the manhunt in Aceh was not over.

“There are still 14 remaining dangerous men [on the most-wanted list] walking free around us who are highly skilled,” Bambang said.

Obama's Catholic School Ready for Possible Visit

Students play at Santo Fransiskus Asisi elementary school
in Menteng Dalam, Jakarta

The Catholic school Barack Obama attended as a child in Jakarta is getting ready to receive a possible visit when the US president comes to Indonesia later this month. We do not know for sure if President Obama will visit this school, but we are prepared for the visit,” Maria Yohana of Santo Fransiskus Asisi Elementary School told Union of Catholic Asian News. “We will serve fried rice and rambutan, his favorite food." She said students had also prepared a number of performances, including a traditional Jakarta Betawi dance, the Balinese pendet, and Sundanese angklung music. Yohana said the school would also like to show Obama its new leadership laboratory, "whose vision is to produce future leaders based on love". Obama attended Santo Fransiskus Asisi from 1968 to 1970, before transferring to Menteng 01 elementary school. While the latter has a statue of the child then known as "Barry", Santo Fransiskus has set aside the desk and chair he used. “I want to shake hands and get his signature," said current student Stefanus Febrian, 10. "I also want to ask him about his favorite subject."

2012 Movie Has Caused A Storm In Indonesia

"2012 Movie Poster at Indonesian Cinema"

Hollywood's latest doomsday offering "2012" has caused a storm in Indonesia, with conservative clerics condemning it Thursday as a "provocation against Islam". Screenings have been sold out across the capital Jakarta following the film's success in North America, where it beat Disney's "A Christmas Carol" to top the box office honors last weekend. " It looks likely to repeat its success in Indonesia, the Southeast Asian archipelago with the world's biggest Muslim population, judging by the queues at cinemas in its opening days this week. But while most viewers said they had enjoyed the film's apocalyptic vision of life after December 21, 2012, when the fulfillment of a Mayan prophecy sees the Earth engulfed by catastrophe, senior clerics were deeply troubled. The country's top Islamic body, the National Council of Ulema (MUI), is divided over whether or not to issue a fatwa or religious edict against the film. One local branch has already done so, to little apparent effect. "The controversial things about the film are, first, in Islam doomsday should not be visualized or predicted, it's the secret of God," council chairman Amidhan told. "For the common people, the portrayal of doomsday in this film could distort their faith, that's what I'm worried about." He also complained that the film showed mosques being destroyed but not churches, despite sequences depicting the Vatican collapsing and Rio de Janeiro's monumental Christ the Redeemer statue crumbling to pieces. "The film shows that everything including Kaaba (Islam holiest shrine) and mosques were devastated except for churches. The film is a provocation against Islam," Amidhan said. "The Indonesian film censorship body should have cut part of the scene on the devastation of mosques or the Kaaba because it hurts the Muslim people." But few people who emerged from a packed matinee showing in Jakarta on Thursday shared the clerics' worries. "It's actually a beautiful film. The MUI branch is wrong about issuing a fatwa as the movie actually has increased my faith and not the other way around," insurance broker Ian Ramelan, 49, said. "I'm a Muslim, my faith in Allah is stronger after watching this flick," he added, urging the clerics to worry more about rampant corruption in Indonesia than about Hollywood's apocalyptic Christmas blockbuster. University student Rafi Gamal, 22, said he understood that some people might think the film controversial "because men were able to predict doomsday and thus played the role of God". "But then again it's just another natural disaster movie in which there are some survivors in the end. The end of the world means that there'll be no survivors," he said. Junior high school student Steven Benedictto, 14, said the film had a positive message.

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.”

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.

Government Endorses Efforts to Take Beggars Off Streets, Rehabilitate Them

The central government has thrown its support behind a religious organization’s moves to declare begging haram , or forbidden, a government official said on Tuesday. But Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said that although the government was backing the initiative, it was also supporting a plan to rehabilitate them once they’re taken off the streets. Taking note of the Indonesian Council of Ulema’s (MUI) action in Sumenup district, East Java, the government has expressed its willingness to help beggars find jobs and improve the quality of their lives. “We need to endorse moves like the MUI declaring begging haram and the Jakarta government cracking down,” Bakrie told reporters at the Bakrie School of Management at Kuningan. “Begging robs people of their dignity.” Makmur Sanusi, the director general of social services and rehabilitation at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said local administrations needed to work with the central government in coming up with a solution to the problem of begging. He told the Jakarta Globe that the central government has set up a pilot program in Bekasi, near Jakarta, which had taken about 20,000 beggars off the streets by teaching them skills to help them find employment. Makmur said most of the beggers who had gone through the program now had jobs, with some moving to other areas to seek better lives. Makmur said it was impossible to estimate the number of beggars in the country but in a big city, they could number in the tens of thousands. Some areas like Aceh, Bali, Makassar and Palembang already have regulations banning begging but need to publicize these rules better for the sake of public awareness. Makmur said beggars needed to be rounded up regularly. On Tuesday, at least 100 people, mostly homeless beggars, were apprehended during a three-day raid conducted by South Jakarta’s public-order officers. The raids were conducted along street intersections at TB Simatupang, Blok M, Kebayoran Lama, Pasar Minggu, Lebak Bulus and Kebayoran Baru and particularly targeted “part-time,” or seasonal, beggars who were not considered poor. Most of them were detected when they alighted from public utility vehicles at Cilandak on Tuesday. Jurnalis, the chief of South Jakarta’s public order office, said that the beggars failed to show their identity cards. “Most of the seasonal beggars come from West Java,” he said. “They are controlled by a syndicate that drops them off in Jakarta to beg,” Jurnalis said. South Jakarta Mayor Syahrul Effendi said on Tuesday that there was such a syndicate. “We have seen similar things around the Simprug area and Blok M,” he said. In Jakarta, many beggars are controlled by a syndicate to whom they have to give a cut as their “caretakers.” Syahrul said he had asked the supervisors of the public order officers, as well as the Sub-Agency for Mental Development and Social Welfare, to look into the culprits behind the begging syndicates, especially in South Jakarta.