Is It Govt's Way to Save Sri Mulyani from The Legal Process?

Jakarta,Indonesia (News Today) - A political observer from state Universty of Indonesia, Arbi Sanit, said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani’s resignation was the result of political engineering by the government to save her from the legal process over the Bank Century case.

"This is a form of political compromise between the government and its coalition members. The move was made mainly to accomodate the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) that do not like Sri Mulyani," he said here on Wednesday commenting on Mulyani’s appointment as a World Bank managing director.

Arbi said it was a solution to the political deadlock in Indonesia as a result of the Bank Century bailout case that he believed would not stop unless Mulyani resigned. He said the dislike of Golkar and PKS towards Mulyani was proven by their recent move to boycott Mulyani at the House of Representatives sessions.

However, he said it was the PDIP (Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle) and Hanura (People’s Conscience Party) that were consistent in the boycott while Golkar and PKS were not.

"To me, it is the result of a compromise at the expense of Sri Mulyani," he said.

According to him, this way all elite members would be safe. He said the decision to appoint her was certainly made without consideration to the people’s wish for the settlement of the Bank Century case and the accountability of those involved.

"This move is only for saving the political elite. The government has accomodated the wish of political parties. With Mulyani’s resignation the Bank Century case is over," he said.

Arbi Sanit also suspected the US government had also played a role with regard to Mulyani’s appointment to the World Bank through its embassy here.

"The US certainly had an interest in a stable Indonesia and it certainly has had a role with regard to Mulyani’s appointment because the US is one of the bank’s biggest contributors," he said.

A constitutional court observer, Irmanputra Sidin, meanwhile said he saw nothing wrong in Mulyani’s resignation. He said based on the constitution the President had the prerogative right to do anything including replacing a cabinet minister as well as engineering Mulyani’s resignation.

"The President has the prerogative right to appoint a minister or fire a minister. So it is not wrong even if his decision is an act of engineering for political reasons," he said.

He said Mulyani’s move was humane (rather than defending her position and being pummeled).

"I think in the current system, even an angel would be unwilling to take on the responsibility of managing the country and unless a change is made on the system that guarantees the rights and obligations of all people, this kind of situation will remain. President Yudhoyono must use the current momentum to put the country in order," he said.

The chairman of the ruling Democrat Party faction in the House of Representatives, Anas Urbaningrum, expressed regret over Mulyani’s resignation but he also appreciated it to cool down political conditions in the country.

"Her resignation is actually regrettable but it also needs to be appreciated as Mulyani thereby shows an upright and selfless attitude," he said.

Source : Kompas.com

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Uncertainties Left as Sri Mulyani Quits

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesian opposition politicians welcomed on Thursday Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati’s decision to quit, a sign the country faces a prolonged fight over reform seen as crucial to luring investment and spurring growth. While investors and reformers now face uncertainty over the pace of reform, some opposition politicians stepped up criticism of Indrawati, adding they hoped her fellow reformer, Vice President Boediono, was next in line to quit.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won a second five-year term last year on promises to continue the fight against corruption and drive economic growth. With the presence of reformers such as Indrawati in his cabinet, investors have poured money into Indonesian assets on expectations of strong economic growth and improved prospects of an investment grade credit rating for this G-20 member.

Stocks tumbled nearly 4 percent on Wednesday and continued to drop on Thursday, while the rupiah weakened to 9,225 per dollar on Thursday, from 9,030 on Wednesday following the announcement Indrawati would join the World Bank as a managing director. But economists said the sell-off was mainly a reflection of investor jitters over euro zone woes, rather than a reaction to Indrawati’s departure from the financial driving seat in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Indrawati, a respected economist and former IMF director who has pushed civil service reform and taken a tough stance on corruption, has made many enemies among Indonesia’s political and business elite during her time as finance minister. Her clean-up of the notoriously corrupt tax and customs offices has hit powerful vested interests ranging from the businessmen and law-enforcement officials who benefited from smuggling goods to tycoons who routinely evaded paying millions of dollars in taxes and duties.

Over the past 18 months, Indrawati and fellow reformer Vice President Boediono have come under attack from political opponents eager to unseat two of the most powerful drivers of change in Indonesia, in particular for their role in approving a bank bailout. Indrawati and Boediono, the former central bank governor, agreed to the bailout of a small lender, Bank Century, at the height of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis to stave off the risk of widespread panic in Indonesia’s financial markets.

Both faced months of questioning and highly politicised criticism and grandstanding by parliamentarians. The investigation failed to find any evidence of corruption by either, and President Yudhoyono publicly backed Indrawati and Boediono, but parliamentarians continue to attack both.

Fuad Bawazier, a senior member of the opposition Hanura Party, told local media he believed Indrawati’s departure is in line with the recommendations made by the Bank Century inquiry committee. “I hope Boediono is next,” he told Republika.

Akbar Faizal, another member of Hanura critical of Indrawati, told Reuters both Indrawati and Boediono had been “a big problem” for Indonesia because of the bailout. Separately, he told local media Indrawati should be banned from travelling overseas to take up her post at the World Bank because she still has a pending criminal case in the country.

Source : Kompas.com

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Jakarta governor must apologize over bloody Koja clash: MPR speaker

(News Terupdate) - People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Taufik Kiemas says that Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo must take full responsibility over the chaotic eviction of a tomb in Koja, North Jakarta.

"I believe the governor must apologize to the victims," Taufik told reporters at the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Thursday.

Taufik said that the eviction clash, which has taken two lives as of now, could have been prevented had the public order authorities taken a dialog approach rather than a violent one.

The eviction was on a cemetery, which is believed to be the resting place of Habib Hasan bin Muhammad al Haddad, also known locally as Mbah Priok, a religious leader who was born in 1727.

The local administration says that the cemetery uses a plot of land belonging to state port operator PT Pelindo II, which plans to construct a canal and a freight terminal using the plot of land.

Source : thejakartapost.com

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SBY says Koja violence avoidable

(News Terupdate) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono regretted a clash between local people and public order officers in Koja area, North Jakarta which he said could have been avoided.

“The incident should have been prevented and avoided,” Yudhoyono told a press conference at his office late on Wednesday night. He called for persuasion rather than use of force in dealing with such a sensitive case like eviction, which might be legitimate.

He said officers should thoroughly observe any development in the field before taking any measure. Although the measure is lawful, it must be delayed for some time if the condition is not favorable, he added.

The clash erupted as the public order officers attempted to evict a cemetery of Muslim figure known as Mbah Priok. The place is deemed as a historical site by local people.

The President also ordered the Jakarta administration to cover medical costs of those injured in the clash, which also claimed a life.

“I have just received information from the deputy governor a public order officer from West Jakarta died at the hospital,” Yudhoyono told a press conference at his office late on Wednesday night.

The President extended condolences to the family of the officer.

“An investigation into the cause of the clash can be conducted later. The more important is medical treatment for those injured,” he said.

Source : thejakartapost.com

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Construction of Sunda Strait bridge to start in 2012: Bappenas

INDONESIA, (News Terupdate) - Infrastructure Deputy at the office of the Minister of National Development Planning Deddy S. Priatna predicted the construction of the Sunday Strait bridge would likely start at the beginning of 2012.

“At the beginning of 2012, (the construction of the bridge) will start... and is expected to be completed in 2017 or 2018,” Deddy said after a coordination meeting at the office of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy in Jakarta Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

According to Deddy the construction of the Sunda Strait bridge required various preparations, including feasibility study and the bridge design. “The feasibility study requires at least 1.5 years to make and its design will be prepared until 2012,” he said.

He explained at a national team for the construction fo the Sunda Strait bridge has been established in line with the issuance of a presidential decree. “It will be followed up with the establishment of a working group under a decree from the coordinating minister for the economy. It will likely be published next week,” he added.

Source : thejakartapost.com

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Police shoot alleged terrorist dead in Aceh

Indonesia - Aceh, (News Terupdate) - Aceh Police have shot dead an alleged terrorist identified as Enal Tao alias Ridwan alias Haris (38) during a raid in Baruna Jaya, Aceh Besar.

Haris was believed to have been involved in a series of terror actions in Poso, Central Sulawesi, in the period between 2005 and 2006.

“He [Haris] was a fugitive from Poso terror actions. He was accused to have, among other crimes, mutilated three people,” the National Police’s Detachment 88 counter terrorism head, Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian, said Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Tito said that Haris was confronted with the police squad in the operation to arrest him. Detailed information on Haris’ raid would be disclosed later, he added.

Source : thejakartapost.com

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Akio Toyoda Will Skip Testifying Before U.S. Congress

Bloomberg, (News Terupdate) - Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda plans to skip testifying before the U.S. Congress about the company’s recalls, potentially heightening criticism of his handling of the carmaker’s crisis.
Toyoda, who will to travel to the U.S., hasn’t decided on his schedule for the visit, he told reporters in Tokyo today. Yoshimi Inaba, the company’s North America president, will attend the hearings in Washington D.C. later this month. Toyoda said he may consider attending if he is asked by Congress.

Toyoda, the 53-year-old grandson of the company’s founder, is struggling to repair the company’s image after recalling nearly 8 million vehicles. The company will put a brake override system on all future models and will fix the braking systems on as many as 80 percent of its best-selling Prius hybrid cars by the end of this month.
“It’s a questionable decision for Toyoda to avoid the hearings,” said Tatsuya Mizuno, director of Mizuno Credit Advisory in Tokyo. “His absence will likely have more of a negative effect on the company’s image than if he were to go.”
Toyoda was invited to a Feb. 24 hearing into the automaker’s handling of recalls by Representative Darrell Issa of California, the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel.

‘Won’t Settle’

“Unless Toyoda appears at the Congress, things won’t settle,” said Koji Endo, managing director at Advanced Research Japan Co., a Tokyo-based equity research firm. “Some lawmakers are requesting Toyoda’s appearance, so if he turns this down he will face criticism in the U.S.”
The U.S. is traditionally the automaker’s most profitable market. Toyota, which has lost over $31 billion in market value since a Jan. 21 accelerator-pedal recall, placed advertisements in Japanese newspapers today apologizing and promising to complete repairs as soon as possible.
“I haven’t been trying to hide from the press,” said Toyoda. “I’m sorry that my late appearance made the situation worse.”
The automaker set up a global quality committee, headed by Toyoda, and will appoint a chief quality officer at each of the company’s regions, Toyoda said. The new committee will have its first meeting on March 30, he said. The company will also appoint a third party to test its electronic throttle system.

‘Major Weakness’

Toyota’s slow reaction to the crisis shows “a major weakness,” Anil Valsan, global director of automotive research at Frost & Sullivan in London, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
Toyota was unchanged at 3,380 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo. The stock has declined 19 percent since Jan. 21. While Toyota stock may decline further, most of the company’s woes are “already factored in” to the share price, Valsan said.
Toyota said yesterday it plans to provide all the information requested by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, after the agency urged the company to provide documents showing whether recalls were carried out in a “timely manner” as required by law.

Falling Sales

Toyota said U.S. January sales slid 16 percent as a recall put some of its most-popular models off limits, while General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. reported increases that beat analysts’ estimates. The company said yesterday it’s cutting production at two U.S. factories to avoid a buildup of unsold cars.
The carmaker faces at least 49 lawsuits filed on behalf of customers in the U.S. and Canada seeking a range of damages in sudden-acceleration cases. It also faces at least 13 lawsuits brought by individuals claiming deaths or injuries.
The world’s largest carmaker has called back almost 8 million vehicles on five continents and 437,000 hybrids including the Prius, the top-selling vehicle in Japan. Toyoda’s first press conference came on Feb. 5 and he met the press again on Feb. 9 to announce fixes to the Prius.
“I think the company’s sales expanded faster than we were able to train personnel,” Toyoda said.
Toyota earlier this month said it plans to sell 7.18 million vehicles globally for the year ending in March, down 5 percent from a year ago.

‘Proper Report’

Toyoda must provide a “proper report” on the recalls in the U.S. to avoid damaging relations between the two countries, Japan’s Transport Minister Seiji Maehara told reporters on Feb. 9. Maehara met with U.S. Ambassador John Roos the next day to discuss the issue.
Delays in addressing vehicle problems have led to worldwide criticism of the company and Japan, Mizuho Fukushima, Japan’s Minister in charge of consumer affairs, has said.
In addition to recalls related to unintended acceleration and brake problems with the third-generation Prius, Toyota is recalling 8,000 Tacoma pickups and about 7,000 Camrys. U.S. safety officials are reviewing Toyota’s Corolla, the world’s best-selling car.
Toyota is reviewing the power steering of the Corolla and will recall it if defects are found, Executive Vice President Shinichi Sasaki told reporters today.
Toyota has been investigating reports that Prius owners driving at low speeds on bumpy or icy roads may experience moments when the car continues to coast for about a second after the brakes are applied, because of the anti-lock brake system. The carmaker said it received complaints about Prius brakes through dealers starting in the last few months of 2009.

Source : jakartaforum.blogspot.com

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EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS GENERATING BENEFIT FOR RI : OBSERVER

Jakarta, (News Terupdate) - Economic observer Aviliani said the debt crisis happening in several European countries would generate certain benefits for Indonesia.

"The European crisis triggered by the swelling of debts in Greece and several other countries will even have a good effect on us as capital will flow into Indonesia," she said after a seminar held by ANTARA here on Monday.

She said in the next two years investment will flow to Indonesia as investors will feel more comfortable investing here.

"So now is the time to push development of our market and direct the funds flow not only into the capital market which is still limited but also into the real sector," she said.

She said it was time for companies that wished to come into the market to immediately issue their securities be they bonds or stocks.

"Now is the right time for us because investors are seeking a secure and profitable place," she said.

She said Indonesia was still profitable because its interest rates are still quite high while the reference BI rate was still around 6.5 percent.

She said the flow of funds into the country would make the rupiah more stable and the country`s economy in general more easy to control.

Source : jakartaforum.blogspot.com

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Bosnia and Herzegovina invites RI investors

(News Terupdate) - Bosnia and Herzegovina seeks to attract Indonesia’s investors to invest in the country’s infrastructure, energy, agriculture and tourism in an effort to boost economic growth in the southeastern European state, says the envoy.

Tarik Bukvic, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ambassador to Indonesia, said its capital, Sarajevo, would
organize a “Sarajevo Business Forum” from 6-7 April where it expected 150 investors, including investors from Indonesia, to present at the event.

He said Jakarta and Sarajevo had sturdy bilateral relations in politics but it had not translated into vast economic opportunities for both countries. Bilateral trade stood at US$1.5 million in 2008.

“Lack of investment information and the distance barrier have hampered flow of investment from Indonesia to Bosnia and Herzegovina and vice versa,” he said.

He said 70 percent of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s railway track needed restructuring. The country also wanted to develop hydropower energy plants and a food processing industry to maximize its 1.5 million hectares of agricultural land.

Bukvic said Sarajevo offered many incentives to attract foreign investment such as tax exemption and property ownership for foreigners. He added Sarajevo also had a stable political and security condition and it offered skilled labor to support investment.

Political ties between Jakarta and Sarajevo has flourished as Indonesia is among the first countries to recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence from Serbia in 1992.

Indonesia built one of Sarajevo’s largest mosques, the Istiqlal Mosque, in 2001.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s population of 4 million consists of three main groups: The Bosniak, Bosnia Serb and Bosnia Croat with a Muslim majority.

Indonesia also placed peacekeeping troops in the country from 1992-1995 under UN leadership.

Bukvic said Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoyed macroeconomic stability marked by low inflation.

Economic growth has stood at 5 percent annually since 2000.

Bukvic said the bulk of the country’s industry was in mining and mining-related industries as the country had abundant deposits of lignite, iron ore and bauxite.

He said Indonesia’s investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina lagged behind Malaysia, which invested in real estate projects.

Its biggest investors are Austria, Germany, Croatia and Slovenia.

Bukvic said that Indonesian food company PT Indofood Sukses Makmur was looking to build a food processing plant in Sarajevo and would make it a base to distribute it across Europe.

Indonesia largely exports cacao, furniture, wheat and wheat products, wood and carpet to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and imports electrical products, machines and mechanical equipment from there. Indonesia has planned to open an embassy in Sarajevo this year.

Business forum information: http://sarajevobusinessforum.com.

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More efforts needed to reign in growing population

(News Terupdate) - The days of catchy family planning (KB) advertisements have long gone. One of the most memorable TV commercials from 1980s and 1990s was the KB “Ya ya ya” ad.

The commercial showed a woman turning down her partner each time he suggested having sex, but after using contraception she said: “Ya ya ya” with a wink.

That was under the New Order regime, when Soeharto still ruled Indonesia with an iron fist, deploying 35,000 family planning officers across the country and military forces to coerce the masses into using birth control.

These days, with decentralization, KB campaigns for a family of two children are less prominent. The remnants of the robust campaign however, are still evident. According to the National Family Planning Coordinator Board (BKKBN), Indonesia’s fertility rate remained at 2.6 between 2002 and 2007.

Indonesia’s population experienced a five-fold increase from 40.2 million in 1900 to 205.8 million in 2000.

Head of BKKBN Sugiri Syarief however said that for Indonesia to avoid over-population problems in the future, the fertility rate would have to come down further.

“That shows the KB program is stagnant. We need the fertility rate to go down to 2.1,” he said in his office recently.

“Our program is currently running, but has failed to reduce the country’s fertility rate,” he said.
Before 2002, he said the fertility rate had been continuously declining. In 1967-1970, the fertility rate was 5.6.

Jakarta has reached the target, with the city’s fertility rate standing at 2.1, down from 2.2 in 2002. The head of the Jakarta Family Planning and Women and Community Empowerment Body (BPMPKB), Tuty Mulyati, said the 2.1 fertility rate meant the average family in Jakarta had two children, with a few having more.

However, even with Jakarta having an ideal fertility rate, it still common to see large families in the streets.

Tending her soto (chicken soup) cart at Palmerah Market, Hamidah, 39, is still actively working despite being nine-month pregnant with her fourth child.

“I wanted four kids, so it would be two and two,” she says.

Hamidah says she has never met a family planning staff and decided to use contraception on her own. “I went to the midwife on my own will and asked for birth control, so there would be gaps between pregnancies.”

Her eldest, a 19-year-old, only just finished junior high school and is now selling coffee at the Bina Nusantara Campus in Rawabelong. “My second child is a girl, she’s 12, and the third one’s a boy, he’s six.”

She adds that many of her neighbors in Cipulir have four and even six children per family. “There are many children there,” she says.

She wants her daughter, now in elementary school, to go to university. “She’s quite smart that one. She always finishes first in class.”

Sugiri explained that a change of government, policies and priorities had transformed the family program planning nationwide.

After the reform era and regional autonomy in 2002, the infrastructure supporting the family planning program changed.

“The BKKBN used to be a top-down command and control organization [therefore was able to impose directives on regions]. Now each region has the authority to implement the family planning program.

What we [BKKBN] do now is advocacy so that regencies and cities carry out the KB programs,” Sugiri said.

Before the reform era, regencies and cities were given budgets for the family planning program. “Now cities and regencies allocate the amount of budget needed for the family planning program themselves,” he said.

Many regions have limited budgets for the family planning program, he said. The number of the field staff has also dropped from 35,000 before the reform era, to 19,000 in 2003.

In 2003, a year after regional autonomy was implemented, only 30 percent of the total regencies and cities in Indonesia had a body for family planning.

“Little has been achieved since,” he said.

Indonesia’s population grew by 1.7 percent between 1990 and 2000. “Our target now is 1.3 percent. But we won’t know [if we’ve reached that target] until we carry out the nationwide census in May,” he said.

A successful family planning program is crucial to address problems of poverty and maternal death plaguing the country. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Sugiri said, revamped the family program and prioritized it on the government’s agenda in 2007.

Sugiri likens this heavy task to building a structure from debris.

Yudhoyono released a decree in 2007 ordering cities and regencies to establish a family planning body.

“Family planning agencies started emerging. Now, 90 percent of regencies and cities have them,” Sugiri said. The number of field workers has shot up again, from 19,000 in 2003, to 24,000.

“It’s still not enough though,” Sugiri said. “We need 35,000 field workers, with one field worker for every two villages,” he said.

Head of University of Indonesia’s Demography Institute, Sonny Harry Harmadi, argued the government should show more political will. “They have revamped the program, but it isn’t enough,” he said.

He compared the current Cabinet to the New Order one. “We used to have a state minister for population. We don’t have that now and that shows the political will [of the government] is not as strong,” he said.

The small budget set aside for population control reflected the government’s lack of political will, Sonny added.

Sugiri concurred the government funding allocated to the program — Rp 1.7 trillion — was limited. “If we wanted the funding to match the level allocated in 80s and 90s, we would need Rp 3.5 to 4 trillion,”
he said.

A few years back, opposition from religion-based parties also hampered the implementation of the program. “There was some opposition back then. But not in this [presidential] term,” Sugiri said, adding that some public figures still supported polygamy and had many children.

He said the rate of unmet needs, or people wanting to join birth control programs who couldn’t because of limited access to contraception, had risen from 8.6 percent in 2002 to 9.1 percent in 2007.
“That means a lot of people actually want access to birth control. We need to improve our service to reach those people,” he said.

According to Sugiri, 61.4 percent of Indonesian couples of childbearing age have taken part in the family planning program. To curb Indonesia’s fertility rate to 2.1 by 2015, the number of Indonesia couples of childbearing age taking part in the family planning program must reach 68.7 percent.

“If we fulfill that need by giving people better access to contraception, we will reach our target. We don’t need to woo people, they are already aware of family planning.”

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Terrorist hunt: And there was one?

(News Terupdate) - A terrorism analyst says that Umar Patek, colleague and high-ranking peer of bombing expert Dulmatin, has returned home to Indonesia, but police have denied the claims.

The police said they believed that Umar was still in the Philippines.

Noor Huda Ismail, the director of the Institute for International Peace Building, said, “My analysis and information from my sources, show that Umar and Dulmatin entered Indonesia together about five months ago,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Both traveled from Mindanao in the southern part of the Philippines, said Noor.

Dulmatin, trained by al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was killed last week in a police raid at an Internet café in Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten. His two bodyguards were also shot dead in a separate raid on the same day.

Umar is believed to have the same rank as Dulmatin, who was allegedly the next in command to the late Noordin M. Top.

As the masterminds behind the 2002 Bali bombing, Dulmatin and Umar sought sanctuary with the Abu Sayyaf group in 2003, and survived intense manhunts by the Filipino security forces and the US military.

The Indonesian police should not only focus on Umar, but also on new operatives, said Noor. He said the rapid dynamics inside terrorist cells might have resulted in the birth of many new leaders.

“Almost all information about terrorism in Indonesia comes from the police, which does not always reflect the reality in the field,” said Noor.

However, National Police detective chief Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi, refuted Noor’s analysis.

“The latest information from intelligence says that Umar is still in the Philippines. We have not received any indication that he has entered Indonesia,” Ito said on the weekend.

The latest toll of the intense police search in Aceh arrived in Jakarta on Sunday. The bodies of two terror suspects, Encang Kurniawan and Pura Sudarma, arrived at Kramat Jati Police Hospital.

The two were shot dead on Friday during a 30-minute gunfight with the police near Leupung village in Aceh Besar, just outside the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

The police arrested eight other suspects in the raid.

Since Friday the police have since intensified the manhunt, conducting more raids in the southern and western borders of Aceh. Police suspect the terrorists are on the move from Aceh Besar toward Meulaboh in western Aceh or to Medan in North Sumatra.

The police have also distributed flyers containing photos and names of suspects on their wanted list.
The list includes: Abu Yusuf alias Mutaqin, Ubaid alias Adi alias Jakfar, Zaid alias Deni Suratmo alias Toriq, Tono alias Rahmad alias Bayu Seno, Pandu alias Abu Asma, Abu Rimba alias Munir alias, Abu Uteun, and Usman alias Gito.

Since Feb. 22, the police have arrested more than two dozen suspects and killed about 10 suspects. Acehnese leaders have claimed the suspects were not from Aceh.

One of the detained suspects from Aceh, Zainudin alias Joko Sulistyo, 32, was reportedly from Boyolali, Central Java.

His neighbors said he left home last month. They also said that Joko’s wife was the niece of convicted terrorist Amrozi, who was executed in 2008 for his involvement in the Bali bombings.

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Comments: Boycotting of budget hearings

March 10, p. 1

(News Terupdate) - Legislators at the House of Representatives are considering boycotting future hearings with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, claims one parliamentarian, in the latest fallout from the inquiry into the Bank Century bailout.
House budget committee chairman Hari Azhar Azis, from the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post Tuesday that some committee members had “lost faith” in Mulyani following the House’s adoption last week of a resolution that could lead to a criminal investigation into the finance minister as well as Vice President Boediono for engineering the November 2008 bailout.

Your comments:
Of course the PDI-P is behind this. They appear to be hunting her down till the end, supported by some adventurous House members. Their logic is purely political.
Hopefully, it will not get wider support. Legal measures are being taken, by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the
police and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO), so everybody has to calm down.
This republic has already been too noisy and not productive enough. Please, DPR members, make yourselves more useful, and accept whatever the result will be.
Desaputra
Jakarta
Boycott is a good word. It starts with “boy” meaning laki-laki in Indonesian. House members who plan to boycott the hearing with Sri Mulyani are not “boys”, in other words, they are not laki-laki. Sri Mulyani is going to the House to settle and serve the people’s interests, not her own. Similarly, House members should go to the parliament building to work and serve the people’s interests.
If Sri Mulyani is willing to do it while the parliament members are refusing to do their job then they should just go home, go to bed, and sweets dreams. Sri Mulyani is legally still Indonesia’s finance minister. She has a job to do. Let her do her job. Let her explain her plans.
If her plans are not feasible, unworkable, or will bring the people down to poverty and misery, meet her and tell her so, do not boycott the meeting. Show us your guts, not your butts! There are so many problems to be solved. Get to work, my honorable members of parliament.
Agus Satoto
Bekasi, West Java

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Rp 500 million Indonesian take-away

(News Terupdate) - Indonesian Princess Graj Devi Lelanyana Dewi has made it clear the proposed law demanding a deposit of half a billion rupiah or US$50,000 from expatriate men seeking to marry Indonesian women does not have her Royal assent.

She said recently in Jakarta “ If I was getting married now, I would do it abroad. The bill is a bit racist and a lot about money. It’s a silly idea.”

Nia Schumacher, the head of KPC-MWW/DM Jakarta, (Kommunitas Perkawinan Campur, Melati Worldwide) — an Italian-based global mixed marriage network, strongly objects to the proposed law too, stating that “Indonesian women are not considered capable of making their own decisions about their own future since the law assumes they do not have the maturity to protect themselves”.

Nia also feels “the law implies that Indonesian women may be regarded as a commodity that can generate funds for the government.”

Her husband Eckart criticizes the law as profoundly discriminatory in that it only applies to Muslims. “If I were a Muslim, I would consider changing my religion to avoid this law — there is always another way out. Also people can marry abroad. The law implies that Indonesia does not want foreigners here”.

Eckhart added that the law seemed to assume “foreign men are devils and Indonesian men are angels, and that all foreigners are bad guys unless proven good over the course of ten years”.

According to Nia, there are reportedly at least a thousand mixed marriages per year in Indonesia.

Her organization has joined a “merger group” to make a joint approach opposing this bill, bringing together a number of mixed-marriage communities including APAB (Aliansi Pelangi Antar Bangsa), KPC Melati melalui Tangan Ibu, Srikandi, and PerCa Indonesia (Masyarakat Perkawinan Campuran Indonesia).

Nia explained the mixed marriage organizations wanted to cover the key issues in opposition to this bill including the primacy of love as the key to successful relationships, the breach of human rights, issues on the collection and use of funds and the discriminatory nature of a law applying only to Muslim women and foreign men.

Sri Fardella, a leader of Srikandi - one of the organizations representing the mixed-marriage community in Indonesia, said “ I’m against it and Srikandi is against [the fact] that they are not seeing ahead, not seeing the broad picture…They should use other ways to protect women, not a marriage deposit.”

Sri also suggested the Indonesian Foreign Ministry should do more to help Indonesian women who had been let down by foreign partners to enforce protection mechanisms already available in other countries, such as maintenance payments.

Rulita Anggraini, chairperson of PerCa Indonesia, and Juliani W. Luthan, the organization’s head of program division, agreed something had to be done about nikah siri (unregistered or contract marriages) and nikah mut`ah. “We agree in PerCa Indonesia, that these two forms of marriage give absolutely no protection to women.”

Rulita and Juliani referred to the 1974 Indonesian Marriage Law. “There’s already a good existing law regulating marriage, which is perfectly clear for people who are planning to marry.” But they agreed there should be better enforcement of the protection provisions and said currently there was no enforcement of court decisions.

Rulita saw no justification for the Rp 500 million deposit, which effectively put a price upon a person. She argued marriage was a Holy institution whereby a couple in love and in the name of God undertook to raise a family, to be faithful to each other, to be responsible in raising their children and support each other and these noble purposes should not be reduced by the state to a financial transaction.

Rulita and Juliani said the proposed law was contrary to human rights on the freedom to choose a marriage partner unencumbered by such regulations.

“How do Indonesian women feel about the government acting on mixed marriages while not acting likewise to protect Indonesian women who marry Indonesian men?”

They also considered the draft law was contrary to Islamic beliefs that God identifies one’s soul-mate, prospects for prosperity and the age and time of ones death. Therefore, the fact that some Indonesian women are destined to marry foreign men, is part of their life journey.

They concluded, “We cannot accept the deposit idea. There’s no justification whatsoever from
the moral and legal, social point of view. What is the justification? What is the objective? What is the ultimate goal?”

But Dwi Rianta Soerbakti of the Hanura-Christian Party fraction in the Jakarta Provincial Legislative Assembly supports the bill and said it should apply to all religious groups and to Indonesian men wishing to marry foreign women.

He accepted most mixed marriages worked well, but argued the best way to end contract marriages was to impose the deposit on all mixed marriages. He referred to the contract marriage system in parts of Puncak and said this should be stopped.

In his personal view, “the deposit should be larger than US$50,000 so that the woman will have enough for the rest of her life”.

He did not agree the deposit should be related to the financial means of the foreign man or the couple. “ If the deposit is paid straight to the woman as in Egypt, then the expatriate can borrow from the bank and give it to her, or whatever.”

He accepted that some people would marry abroad if the law was introduced and not register in Indonesia and that they would lose rights because of this, including as to their children’s education and nationality.

Wanda Hamida from the National Mandate Party (PAN), also in the Jakarta provincial legislature (DPRD), concluded that “If you have no money, don’t get married in Indonesia”.

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Titus Leber: Exploring Borobudur through multimedia

(News Terupdate) - Titus Leber has lived most of his life away from home, Austria. His multimedia skills have taken him from Europe to America and temporarily secured him a place in the royal court of Thailand.

Now, the 59-year-old award-winning writer-director and multimedia creator has chosen Indonesia for his latest project, more precisely Borobudur.

When recalling his first visit to Magelang’s Borobudur Temple in 1991, Leber remembered being overwhelmed by the temple and the thousands of images from the stone panels. “I was overwhelmed but I had no idea what I was seeing,” he said in an affluent Jakarta restaurant.

“I walked to the top, took a few snapshots. I had the impression I’d seen something fantastic but didn’t have a clue, and didn’t understand what [at the time].”

In the late 1990s, Thailand’s royal family invited him to work on a project initiated by the King of Thailand’s mother. At first, he was reluctant to accept the offer. His first experience of Thailand had been a terrible one and he had promised himself he would never set foot there again. However, with the promise of a place in the royal palace, unlimited funds, the best technicians, and state-of-the-art equipment, Leber agreed to take on the project.

He ended up working for the royal family for four years and lived in Bangkok for more than 10.
He dedicated himself to another multimedia project about the life and the teaching of Buddha, titled What Did the Buddha Teach?, based on the mural paintings in the Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha).

While the temple in Bangkok amazed him, Borobudur, he said, was much older and richer. “The temple in Thailand is very young, only around 300 years old, while Borobudur is 1,200 years old,” he said.

The murals at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha describe Theravada Buddhism, while Borobudur’s stone panels include explanations of Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism.

“The logical consequence of the project in Thailand was to make the biggest Buddhist monument into an interactive project,” he said.

Collaborating with the manager of Borobudur Temple state-owned PT Taman Wisata Borobudur, Leber will produce Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and applications for computer, internet and mobile phones, as well as a TV-series about Borobudur. Several books on Borobudur are also awaiting publication.

“We will bring every single panel and single story [sculpted on it] alive in 3D,” he said.

Leber added he hoped to complete the first of a series on Borobudur by the end of the year. He also aims to make a multimedia encyclopedia of Borobudur, which he says would take several years to complete.

Borobudur Temple is in its third phase, according to Leber. “The first one is when it was built. Phase two was when the Dutch and the government of Indonesia rediscovered and reconstructed it during the last hundred years,” he said.

“And now it’s almost back to its original splendor,” he said.

However people around the world still don’t know much about Borobudur, he said.

“They know it’s a historical monument. Maybe they know it’s the biggest Buddhist building in the world. But very few realize how much is inside Borobudur,” he said.

“What fascinates me is that it has 1,400 panels, each one carrying a message,” he said.

“When you look at Borobudur’s ground plan, there are different interpretations. Some people say it looks like Mount Meru, the center of the Buddhist universe. Others say it looks like a mandala. But… you could also say it looks like a computer chip with lots of information in it,” he said.

Leber sees his role as translating the old images into new ones.

“Basically, the people who built the Borobudur over a thousand years ago did what we still do today.

They communicated with images. But their images were in stone. Our images are in pixels. So my role is to translate stone pictures to pixel images, through this new medium of multimedia, to bring the message Borobudur carries, the old messages of wisdom to a modern world in need,” he said.

Those messages are important to our modern world, Leber said. “We’re living in a world of so many extremes, while Buddha has always taught the middle way, the way of tolerance. The whole of Borobudur is about that. And that’s the message I want to bring to the world in every modern medium,” he said.

For Christian-born Leber, Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion.

“In terms of philosophy, I’m 100 percent a Buddhist. Because I think it has so many solutions, which preach tolerance.

“Buddha does not expect you to change your religion. It isn’t a problem if you’re a Muslim, or a Christian. You can be a Buddhist at the same time. It’s a philosophy,” he said.

Leber finds the idea of reincarnation very appealing. “I find a lot of evidence in my own life that I must have been here in previous life. So it makes a lot sense to me.”

Leber and his wife have been in Indonesia for eight months, currently staying at the governor’s villa near Borobudur. Every day, they wake up to the view of Borobudur and
Mt Merapi.

When a perfect light comes, he runs to the temple. “People think that stone is dead, but if you look at it, it changes its expression every second with the light,” he said.

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Dangdut singer Dewi prefers local men

JAKARTA, (News Terupdate) - Dangdut singer Dewi Persik, 24, says that she prefers dating local men over foreigners .

The twice-divorced star said that she was currently close with a local man, but refused hint his name.

“About me being close to an Indonesian, that’s true. But, who is it? I don’t want to say just yet,” she said.

“I like local products. Anyway, the President [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] says that we should not long for overseas products. We should be proud of local products. Dewi Persik supports local products because they’re nicer,” she said, speaking in the third person as quoted by okezone.com.

Former wife of dangdut singer Saiful Jamil and actor Aldiansyah Taher said that she continues to search for new love. “Fail again,

try again. We shouldn’t make life complicated. Why do you think Dewi Persik is more curvaceous? That’s because she doesn’t think about men anymore. Not like before, worrying about the divorce,” she said.

Amid protests over unregistered marriage, Dewi Persik threw her support behind the practice. She publicly revealed her then unregistered marriage to Aldiansyah, saying that she decided to make the move for the happiness of her lover.

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What exactly is this draft bill about?

(News Terupdate) - The draft law proposing a US$50,000 deposit to be imposed on expatriate men seeking to marry Indonesian Muslim women originated in the Ministry of Religious Affairs in about 2006.

The 2008 draft bill proposes to abolish not only contract marriages (nikah mut`ah) commonly misused to justify sexual relations with foreign and Indonesian clients, but also to terminate nikah siri, another form of religious marriage used to morally legitimize (but not legalize in civil law) a second, third or fourth Muslim marriage, commonly misused to avoid charges of adultery and sin in forms of marriage not in conformity with strict Islamic rules on polygamy.

The drafting of the law was influenced by an Egyptian law requiring a lower deposit directly payable to Egyptian women and not involving state management of funds.

The Egyptian law permitted 173 such marriages in 2007 in cases where the age difference between bride and groom was greater than 25 years, on condition that partners were screened to ensure a genuine marriage and a deposit of $8,000 was made in the wife´s name in the Egyptian National Bank.

This is different from the proposal of the Indonesian Religious Affairs Ministry that $50,000 dollars be handed over by foreign men wishing to marry Indonesian Muslim brides to be held by the state for 10 years, potentially generating more than $50 million per year.

Paragraph 142 (3) of the draft law is the key provision stipulating the $50,000 deposit, along with explanatory notes as to its administration, to be retained by the state for ten years in a sharia bank.

The conditions of repayment are not yet clear.

Andrew Sriro, practicing family lawyer in Jakarta and author of Sriro´s Desk Reference on Indonesian Law, 2009, described the proposed Rp 500 million deposit payment by expatriates wishing to marry Indonesian women as “an outlandish, xenophobic assault on personal freedom and human rights, which is designed to discriminate against Indonesian Muslim women.”

He continued, “The Indonesian constitution of 1945 guarantees equal freedoms and protection under the law for all Indonesian citizens and foreigners alike. This proposed law flagrantly violates this basic constitutional principle”.

“The result will be that mixed marriages would be consummated overseas, whilst couples will refrain from registering their marriages with the Indonesian civil registry and consequently Muslim women will be deprived of the benefits of their community property interests in 50 percent of marital assets as a result of their inability to prove their marriage valid before an Indonesian court.”

There was no reasonable basis to conclude that an Indonesian woman would be any more economically disadvantaged in the event of a divorce on the basis of her marriage to a foreign man as opposed to her marriage to an Indonesian man, he concluded.

“Every person has the right to acknowledgement of fair and equal treatment under the law, but this proposed law discriminates against Muslims. The Constitutional Court will surely strike this down”.

Mark Hanusz, director of Equinox Books, the biggest English-book publisher in Indonesia, and married to artist Anna J Coto, underlined the need to respect the law.

“I am a guest in Indonesia, not a citizen. I respect the laws of the country. If this is what the people
of Indonesia decide through their representatives in Parliament, then
I have to respect this and either comply with the law or leave the country.”

But what happens to the $50,000 deposit in the event of the death of one or both of the partners, divorce or resettlement in another country? Could the deposit requirement be enforced retrospectively on mixed marriage couples who married before the law was passed? Would the law be enforced upon long-stay or short-stay visitors?

The parliamentary process to amend the legal framework for marriage in Indonesia may have political and legal twists and turns just as in the Bank Century case, with complex realignments of liberals and conservatives, modernizers and traditionalists.

A contentious bill claiming religious justification — but from a secular civil ministry criticized by Muslim leaders for mismanagement of haj funds — may not provide a firm foundation for constructive change.

Rulita Anggraini, chairperson of PerCa Indonesia, an Indonesian mixed-marriage organization, recently said that if this debate is to focus on the protection of women, then the amendment and proper enforcement of protection measures in relation to the 1974 Marriage Act, applicable to all citizens and foreigners without discrimination in conformity with the Constitution, would provide a comprehensive basis for reform.

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Furniture exports see recovery as orders start rising

(News Terupdate) - Indonesian furniture exports have recorded a strong recovery during the past several months after a plunge of about 40 percent during the first half of last year as a result of the worldwide economic downturn, an executive of a furniture association has said.

Indonesian Furniture Entrepreneurs Association (Asmindo) chairman Ambar Tjahyono said in Jakarta on Thursday that Indonesian furniture has begun to regain its position in the global market on the back of economic recovery.

“Although, the global crisis had caused our exports drop about 40 percent in the first half of last year, our total exports only fell by 15 percent during 2009,” he said after the opening ceremony of the 3rd International Furniture & Craft Fair Indonesia hosted by Asmindo.

Ambar said the industry managed to halt the declining trend in exports last year partly because of reported higher sales in October, November and December — the high season months for international furniture sales

According to Ambar, furniture exports declined from US$2.65 billion in 2008 to $2.35 billion in 2009. In January, furniture exports began to recover, rising by about 16 percent year-on-year starting the same month last year, he added.

“Besides that, the reduced fall in sales was also a result of Asmindo’s activities promoting trade with other countries in the world,” Ambar said.

Ambar said the United States and European markets were still the industry’s two main export destinations this year, accounting for 35 percent and 30 percent of total exports, respectively.

He said he had promoted that all 32 European Union member states should open their markets during a meeting in the EU headquarters last September.

“As the world economy has begun to recover, I hope furniture exports will increase by 15 to 20 percent this year,” Ambar said.

He also said he was upbeat that Indonesian furniture exports would be able to fully recover this year thanks to the fact that overseas buyers had begun to increase their orders. Indonesia should learn from Vietnam whose exports rose by 40 percent in 2009 despite the financial crisis, Ambar said.

“I’m obsessed [to outperform] Vietnam , which can [book] a 40 percent increase in furniture exports,” he said.

He said Vietnam managed to score big sales because “its government’s regulations and commitment to developing domestic industries are clear, in addition to good promotion and good working performance”.

“Moreover, Chinese companies whose products were rejected by the US because of dumping allegations relocated to Vietnam and opened their businesses there to export [their products] to the US. They contributed to Vietnam’s success as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, the four-day fair — being held in the Jakarta International Expo compound, Central Jakarta – is aiming at transactions worth at least $250 million. This would be a 47 percent increase on transactions of about $170 million last year.

The fair expects more than 2,500 buyers from all around the world, compared to 1,721 buyers last year.

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Kaka’s face now on liquor bottles

JAKARTA, (News Terupdate) - An alcohol beverage producer in North Sulawesi reportedly used the picture and the name of vocalist of rock Band Slank, Kaka, on its liquor bottles, without the singer’s permission.

“He was never in any contract. And the worst part is there are photos and Kaka’s name on the flat-shaped liquor bottle,” Kaka’s legal representative Riri Purbasari said, as quoted by kapanlagi.com.

The 47-percent liquor, branded Cawan Mas, is only distributed in Manado.

“Many people complained, as they thought Kaka had endorsed the drink. Mostly Slankers called [to complain]. We are going to coordinate with Slank’s management,” she said, referring to the moniker for Slank’s fans.

Members of Slank, who admitted taking drugs for years, declared they were drug-free in 2001, after an expensive and intensive rehab treatment and now encourage fans to shun drugs.

Band members from Slank are renowned for taking a strong stance against corruption, especially through their lyrics, which have caused a few members of the House of Representatives to see red.

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Cut out the roots of terror, govt told

(News Terupdate) - Former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono says the government should move to stop inflamatory sermons or risk worsening extremism and terrorism.

“It’s a big mistake for the government to turn a deaf ear to the provocative sermons that preach hatred toward citizens of different religious faiths,” Hendropriyono told The Jakarta Post.

He said that stern action is justified because Indonesia has an anti-terror law that allows it.

He said that terrorism and fundamentalism is like a tree. “Terrorism is analogous to the stem and the leaves while the fundamentalism is the root, which should be removed.”

Otherwise, he added, terrorism would grow healthily on the strong base of fundamentalism.

Hendropriyono won notoriety with a raid on an Islamic fundamentalist group in 1989 when he headed the Lampung military command.

Meanwhile, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the country’s second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, said without the presence of such mainstream Islamic organizations as Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), even more Indonesian Muslims would be turning to terrorism.

“It is not true that NU’s and Muhammadiyah’s propagations have not reached the grassroots level. In fact we carry out propagations at mosques in towns and villages.

“As a result, the majority of Muslim communities are well guarded from terrorist ideology,” Din, who was in Frankfurt, told The Jakarta Post by SMS.

He added it was not easy to reach out to members of terrorist groups, as they usually avoided events run by organizations outside of their circles, such as NU and Muhammadiyah.

The role of large Muslim organizations such as Muhammadiyah and NU, which together claim to have over 60 million followers nationwide, has been questioned after the continuing terrorist threat.

To the surprise of many, terrorists are present amid the unsuspecting community.

NU deputy chairman Masdar Farid Mas’udi said this could be attributed to larger Muslim organizations rather than the ordinary people.

“Our organizational structure should also exist at the neighborhood level… We will discuss this issue, among others, in our upcoming congress from March 22-27,” Masdar told the Post.

Meanwhile, noted Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra said Islamic organizations should not be blamed for not noticing terrorist activities within their neighborhood.

He said the terror group’s activities in Pamulang, for example, would normally go unnoticed despite the area’s crowded neighborhood because the inhabitants are working people who leave home early in the morning and return at night, and generally don’t know each other well enough.

“Of course everyone should be responsible for what happens around them in one way or another, the government that should take the most responsibility,” Azyumardi said.

“Organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyah may be responsible to reach out to the grassroots level, including potential terrorism, but they’re not equipped to do so.

“It is the government’s duty to provide these resources,” he added.

Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) deputy chairman Amidhan said the police’s recent discovery of terrorist activities in Pamulang, Banten, and Aceh did not indicate the larger Muslim communities’ failure to monitor and curb such activities.

“There’s nothing unusual with one or two people being influenced by terrorist groups. The general public is not as keen as security officers in detecting terrorist activity,” Amidhan said.

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Clashes between students and police

(News Terupdate) - The thing I hate about protesters is their total lack of regard for trash that they leave behind.
What they are fighting for is all great, good and worth fighting for (and don’t get me wrong that some of them are great, but some are dumb). But they leave trash everywhere.
Fines should be imposed on protestors so they automatically pay to clean up after themselves.
David K
Jakarta

I believe we have a lot of ways to express our ideas and thoughts, and so do protesters. Violent protest is one such way.
Most protesters are university students, who are supposed to be educated people. It seems to me Indonesians still need to learn how to convey their messages without the violence.
On the other hand, the government should be more open to accommodate and listen to what they say.
Donna Mastuty
Jakarta

We can learn from the peaceful university student action of May 20, 1998, which I joined in Yogyakarta. It successfully created a significant change to the Indonesian political situation.
Violence is not the right way for students to behave.
Happy
Yogyakarta

The violent protest will stop if President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono steps down. He is the one and only target. And don’t forget, money talks.
Those with past bad records want to get rid of SBY. That’s all.
E Nurdin
Jakarta

It is simply because the government is very arrogant. If people protested in a polite manner, the government wouldn’t listen! They would treat our complaints as small disturbances.
I believe, to begin with the people were not motivated to protest violently, but as they were not heard, violence seemed to be the only way for them to be heard.
Diana
Jakarta

Who keeps on orchestrating student riots and demonstrators against the government?
Our country is dominated by lots of money, but the poor remain miserable.
The poorer they become the more they are susceptible to this kind of money. We should channel this kind of money to create more jobs, not demonstrations or riots.
Moeljono Adikoesoemo
Jakarta

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