LAKSAMANA.Net, August 8, 2004 11:53 PM
Review - Politics: Poll Points to SBY
Laksamana.Net - A survey by the International Federation for Electoral Studies (IFES)
conducted immediately after the July 5 first round presidential vote says Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono (commonly known as SBY) remains the preferred candidate for
the run-off on September 20.
Yudhoyono has the highest 'net favorability' rating with a net 79% of respondents
saying he was a suitable candidate for president. His running mate Jusuf Kalla has a
favorability rating of over 60%.
By comparison, while support for Megawati has increased by around 16% in the past
few months, her net favorability rating stands just above 50%, while running mate
Hashim Muzadi has a net rating of 48%.
The survey was conducted between July 7-14 in all 32 provinces, with a total of 1,250
respondents.
Death Before Dawn
A police firing squad on Thursday (5/8/04) executed Indian national Ayodhay Prasad
Chaubey, who had been found guilty of smuggling heroin into the country.
The execution in Medan, the provincial capital of North Sumatra, was the first death
sentence carried out in Indonesia since 2001.
Despite pleas for clemency by the Indian Embassy and London-based rights group
Amnesty International, who had complained his trial fell short of international
standards of fairness, Chaubey was shot dead at 0200 a.m. local time.
"Ayodhay was shot in the heart from a distance of 10 meters," state news agency
Antara quoted a senior policeman as saying. Chaubey was given an Islamic burial in
the city shortly after the execution, Antara said.
Ayodhay was arrested along with two Thai nationals in Medan in 1994 after airport
officials confiscated 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of heroin. All three were sentenced to
death in 1996. The two Thai nationals Saelow Prasert and Namsong Sirilak, a married
couple, remain on death row but may face the same fate as their fellow trafficker very
soon.
Attorney General's Office spokesman Kemas Yahya Rachman said Friday (6/8/04)
the two would be executed once the paperwork rejecting their final appeals for a
presidential pardon was processed.
"Once we receive (the copy of the presidential decree) we will look into it and once it
is decided that the decision cannot be changed, then we will execute them,"
Rachman said.
The Thais were among 11 people whose appeals were rejected by President
Megawati Sukarnoputri in June and July.
Court Acquits Officers
Elsewhere, other appellants were luckier. The appeals court overturned the
convictions of four Indonesian security officers, including the highest-ranking military
officer to face trial, implicated in a wave of violence that swept East Timor in 1999
when it voted in a UN-sponsored ballot to break from 24 years of Indonesian rule.
Court clerk Stephanus Agung Pramono said Friday (6/8/04) the court had also halved
the sentence of notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres, an ethnic East Timorese, for
his role in the bloodshed. Guterres was seen by witnesses in East Timor leading the
violence.
Twelve police and military officers have already been acquitted over the rampage by
vengeful troops and their militia proxies in which at least 1,400 were killed and much
of East Timor destroyed.
The only other person to be convicted by the tribunal was the territory's last governor
Abilio Jose Soares. Soares, who is also East Timorese, began serving a three-year
term in Jakarta last month.
The Jakarta human rights court convicted the four acquitted men --a major general,
two lieutenant colonels and a police commissioner -- in 2002 and 2003. They had
been allowed to remain out of jail pending their appeals.
Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, who was sentenced to three years in jail last year, was
commander of the region that included East Timor at the time of the violence and the
top general to be tried.
Damiri was the last of 18 people to be tried by the court, which has acquitted most
suspects and handed out lenient sentences to those convicted, drawing widespread
criticism from international and local human rights groups.
Prosecutors can still challenge the latest rulings by appealing to the Supreme Court.
Reaction from East Timor was muted. Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said
Indonesia's failure to punish any officials over the violence will cause "difficulties" for
Jakarta, he said.
But he reiterated his government's position of not supporting the establishment of a
UN tribunal to try those responsible for the bloodshed, which left 1,500 people dead,
Koran Tempo reported.
"(An international tribunal) would create problems in relations between Indonesia and
East Timor," Horta was quoted as telling the daily.
Born Amid Sorrow
The youth alliance of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- Indonesia's largest Muslim organization
-- on Tuesday (3/8/04) pledged its support for Megawati Sukarnoputri and Hasyim
Muzadi for the second round of the country's presidential election on Sept 20.
Megawati's running mate, Hasyim, is non-active chairman of the NU.
"In the duo, we see hope for the future of democratic values, based on the country's
characteristics," the alliance said in a written statement, read by NU member Chairul
Amril.
In the statement, the alliance said the duo could safeguard Indonesian democracy.
"This is based on the background of the two, who were born amid the people's
sorrow," Chairul explained.
New Faces Abound
After more than two month's of delay, the General Elections Commission (KPU) on
Tuesday (3/8/04) announced the final results of the April 5 legislative elections and
named the new legislators who will sit in the House of Representatives (DPR) and the
Regional Representatives Council (DPD) for the 2004-2009 term.
The decision confirmed last month's rulings by the Constitutional Court in a number of
electoral disputes.
Some 60% of the new legislators announced by the KPU are first timers and most of
these are from the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), who
won 56 and 45 seats respectively in the legislative elections.
The Commission will announce the composition of the provincial and local legislative
councils by September 30 at the latest after fully considering the rulings of the
Constitutional Court in the electoral disputes that came before it.
KPU chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsudin said 550 House and 128 DPD candidates
would be sworn in as members of the new bicameral legislature on October 1.
The KPU will forward the list of the new House and Regional Representatives Council
members to the State Secretary for the approval of the President, who is then
expected to issue a presidential decree sometime before Oct. 1 formally appointing
the new legislators.
Militant Suicide Squad Smashed
Six Muslim militants arrested last month were members of a suicide squad that was
awaiting attack orders from leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group, Ansyaad
Mbai, the chief anti-terror official at the security ministry told the Associated Press
Wednesday (4/8/04).
Police recovered letters in a house rented by the men in which they told their families
they intended to blow themselves up in attacks on unspecified targets, said Mbai.
The six suspects were arrested June 30 in a house in Sukoharjo in Central Java,
some 400 kilometers east of Jakarta. They are being detained in Bali.
"They were awaiting orders from their bosses, Azahari bin Husin and Noordin
Mohammed Top," Mbai said, in reference to two alleged leaders of JI who remain free.
"This shows that terrorism remains a threat in Indonesia."
Police have said the six also played a role in the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings
and the August 5, 2003, attack on the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta. Both attacks
were blamed on JI.
Another Militant on Trial
An Indonesian accused of using his two decades of experience as a Muslim militant
to run bomb-making workshops and plot terror attacks on Western interests went on
trial Thursday (5/8/04).
Prosecutors said Adi Suryana, a chemical engineering graduate who learned military
skills and worked as an instructor in Afghanistan between 1986 and 1993, led a
meeting in February 2003 to set up teams and prepare for attack.
The participants, all graduates of Afghan military training, were tasked with collecting
explosives, surveying targets and making bombs, they said.
"During the meeting the defendant stressed the importance of practicing the skills the
participants had learned," prosecutor Helmi Tadjuddin told the hearing at the South
Jakarta district court.
Suryana, who could face a life sentence if convicted, was also accused of giving
several bomb-making classes for the Afghan alumni in 2003.
Tadjuddin said Suryana had joined the al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
extremist group after returning to Indonesia from Afghanistan.
Defense Minister Recovering
Defense minister Matori Abdul Djalil is slowly recovering after suffering a stroke in
August 2002, according to Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati
Sukarnoputri, quoting doctors at the Army's Gatot Subroto Hospital.
Kiemas said Thursday (5/8/04) that Matori, who has been inactive from the Cabinet
since suffering the stroke, can now swim, but can still hardly speak after the stroke.
Separately the President herself on the same day visited former Indonesian Military
chief Gen. (ret) L.B. Murdani, who has been hospitalized for the past three weeks
after suffering a stroke.
US 'Meddling' in Election
A former State Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Bakin) official said Thursday (5/8/04)
he was almost certain that the US was meddling in Indonesia's direct presidential
election to ensure the next president will be a retired military man.
"The reason for the US preference for an Indonesian president with a military
background is their belief that only the military is capable of catering to their grand
global strategy, namely to combat terrorism. A civilian is deemed unable to take firm
actions against radical Islamic groups," former Bakin director Laurence Manulang
said.
According to Manullang, Megawati was seen to have failed to support the US mission
spelled out by the CIA. Only presidential candidates with military backgrounds were
regarded as capable of understanding the US grand global strategy.
If lawyers for former Gen. Wiranto are to be believed, meddling with the election may
have been going on much nearer home.
They demanded Monday (2/8/04) that Indonesia's highest court, the Constitutional
Court, award Wiranto, the Golkar Party candidate, one of the two spots in the
presidential election run-off next month, saying polling irregularities were to blame for
his poor showing in the first round of voting.
His lawyers said Wiranto, who finished third in the July 5 poll, should replace
second-place finisher incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the run-off
against leading vote winner Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Even if this astonishing repositioning were to take place at all, some evidence would
be needed.
In their lawsuit, Wiranto and running mate Solahuddin Wahid stated that they lost
5,434,660 votes in 26 provinces due to discrepancies in the vote count.
They asked the court to correct this, to show that they gained 31,721,448 votes rather
than the recorded 26,286,788.
Unfortunately Wiranto and his legal team had little more of substance to offer than
allegations that mistakes in the vote count caused him to lose support.
The answering aria from lawyers for the general election commission (KPU) was that
Wiranto's appeal was "bewildering" and peppered with inaccuracies. There were no
witness statements supporting the allegations.
Wiranto's lawyer Yan Junada Saputra asked the nine-judge panel to "declare the
election commission results invalid" and certify the defense's findings that Wiranto's
vote count was about 5 million higher than the election commission tally - enough to
beat Megawati.
KPU retorted with "we are bewildered that this election which has been so open and
had so many observers...can be disputed."
Constitutional Court President Jimly Asshidiqie has said that, if the evidence
submitted by Wiranto's camp is proven, the court could annul KPU Decision No
79/2004 on the election results.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said Monday (2/8/04) it will call
for a repeat of the first round of the presidential election if the Constitutional Court
upholds Wiranto's complaint.
"If the court upholds the complaint, there must be a repeat election, and we would
demand that the General Election Commission (KPU) be replaced," PDI-P board
member A.N. Batubara, said as the Constitutional Court began hearing Wiranto's
complaint.
Batubara said that if Wiranto won the lawsuit, it would have a huge impact on the
whole election.
By Wednesday Wiranto's lawyers had still not come up with convincing evidence of
their claims, prompting one of the judges to warn the lawyers not to make false
representations.
"If we were to strictly apply the law, we could actually throw the case out of court, but
we will give you another chance as we want to see whether your claims are true or
not," I Dewa Gde Palguna, a member of the three-judge panel, told the lawyers.
Wiranto's lawyers said that they did not have the documents setting out the results of
the presidential election as local election commissions (KPUD) had not given copies
to their counters across the country.
Neither could they show documents backing up their claims of irregularities in the
election results to the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu). Lawyer Albert
Sagala admitted that they did not have these documents either.
"This is a formal hearing. If you don't have any evidence, we will have to see if you
have been making false representations," Palguna warned. Making false
representations to a court is punishable with 16 months in prison.
The court finished examining the evidence on Thursday (5/8/04) and plans to hand
down its decision on Monday (9/8/04).
President Megawati Sukarnoputri was laid back about the issue, saying on
Wednesday (4/8/04) that she had no intention of intervening in the ongoing electoral
hearings in the Constitutional Court.
"The Constitutional Court has been given the power to resolve electoral disputes, I will
let the process run its course and will not interfere," Megawati was quoted as saying
by Islamic Students Association (HMI) chairman Hasanuddin.
A Wiranto 'victory' would lead to political uncertainty and could spark violence from
supporters of Megawati.
In any event the government is to deploy 220,000 police personnel and 35,000
soldiers to safeguard the second round of the country's first direct presidential
elections on September 20.
A similar number of police were deployed for the first round on July 5, which passed
peacefully although a small explosion at the KPU office on July 26 briefly delayed
announcement of the final results.
ADB Grant for KPK
The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday (3/8/04) it has
approved a technical assistance grant, worth $250,000, to help strengthen the new
anticorruption commission in Indonesia.
The ADB said the grant aims to prepare and equip the Corruption Eradication
Commission (KPK) to carry out its tasks.
The commission was established in December 2003 to prevent, investigate and
prosecute corruption cases.
The ADB said the grant would help promote cooperation with the police and public
prosecutors, design training for the commission's staff, and draw up an information
campaign on the agency's role.
Staffan Synnerstrom, from ADB's office in Jakarta, said anti-corruption efforts were
particularly important following the decentralization of most government sectors.
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