INFID, September 21, 2006
INFID's Short News Overview No. VII/21: September 8-21, 2006
Debt & Poverty
WB, IMF asked to review loans
The World Bank and IMF should review their financial aid to Indonesia to show a
serious commitment to fighting corruption and poverty; otherwise they must stop
making new loans to the country, say anti-globalization activists.
The International NGO on Indonesian Development (INFID) said a review was badly
needed because the majority of the foreign loan money was embezzled or used to
finance projects that infringed on human rights.
"If the World Bank and IMF are committed to the proposed internal reform, they have
to review all the credit given to Indonesia. They know their loans have been partly
misappropriated. They should come up with new mechanisms to ensure the money
reaches the people," INFID executive director Donatus K. Marut told a media
conference on Sep 20. He urged the United States to use its veto power to block fresh
credit to Indonesia and promote transparent investigations into irregularities in the use
of World Bank and International Monetary Fund money.
The United States has 15 percent of the votes in the IMF, allowing it to veto any
decision, while 45 sub-Saharan countries have only two members on the Fund's board
and 2.1 percent of the votes.
"To help Indonesia focus on poverty alleviation, the United States should take the
initiative to persuade other stakeholders in the two institutions to write off Indonesia's
foreign loans, which have reached US$135 billion," Marut said.
He said the two international institutions' commitment to carrying out internal reforms
was an "illusion" because changes to their decision-making processes had failed to
produce any significant progress.
Read more: http://www.infid.be/wb_review_loans.htm.
WB/IMF related articles:
'Antigraft strategy offers high rate of return': http://www.infid.be/wb_higher_rate.htm.
WB needs to wean itself off 'nanny' bank role: http://www.infid.be/wb_nanny.htm.
IMF secures reform policy, WB its antigraft strategy:
http://www.infid.be/wb_imf_secure.htm.
Protests and number of poor on the rise: http://www.infid.be/protest_poor.htm.
Protests of the peaceful kind: http://www.infid.be/wb_protest_peaceful.htm.
Finance minister sounds warning over World Bank graft plan:
http://www.infid.be/wb_plan_warning.htm.
'The poor, illiterate can hold the govt accountable':
http://www.infid.be/wb_accountable.htm.
Activists condemn IMF-WB policies: http://www.infid.be/wb_activists_condemn.htm.
Activists demand debt relief, external audit of IMF-World Bank:
http://www.infid.be/wb_demand_relief.htm.
IMF, WB also responsible for forest destruction in Indonesia:
http://www.infid.be/wb_forest_destruction.htm.
Global Transparency Initiative launches flagship Transparency Charter for International
Financial Institutions: Claiming Our Right to Know in Batam, Indonesia, at the civil
society parallel event to the World Bank/IMF annual meeting. To endorse the Charter:
http://www.ifitransparency.org/doc/charter_en.pdf.
Source: JP 21/09
Civilian Supremacy
Civilian court no place for TNI: Govt
The government balked on Sep 20 at a proposal to try military personnel in civilian
court for misdemeanors, even though legislators argue it is a vital part of reforming the
armed forces. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said soldiers constituted an
indispensable part of the country's defense system and that efforts to subject them to
civilian laws would compromise the integrity of that system.
"We fear that if soldiers are tried in civilian court, judges at the courts will not take into
account the interests of the military and the deployment of the country's defense
system, because the judges are not given training about military affairs," Juwono told
a hearing with the House special committee to amend the military tribunal law.
After a Sept. 6 hearing, Juwono said it would take up to three years to prepare for
civilian court trials of soldiers, but reiterated that Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel
would not be above the law. But he said that soldiers should be exempted from the
principle of equality before the law.
"Soldiers should be treated differently from civilians, as they only subscribe to Military
Court Procedures, the way civilians only subscribe to the Criminal Code Procedures."
To the chagrin of the special committee members, the government also rejected a
three-year grace period proposed by the special committee to facilitate the handover
of a military tribunal to a civilian court.
The government's refusal to put the military court under the civilian court system once
again deadlocked the protracted discussion of the amendment of the 1997 law on
military tribunal.
The amendment is in line with the 2000 decree issued by the People's Consultative
Assembly, which separated the police and the military. Under the decree, soldiers
must face trial in a military tribunal for violations of military regulations, and the civilian
court for offenses under the Criminal Code.
Special committee chairman Andreas Parrera of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI-P) reproved the government about no progress in the lengthy
deliberations. Permadi, also of the PDI-P faction, said the government lacked the
political will to subject the military to civilian rule.
"The Defense Ministry is allowed to draw up a list of thousands of infractions by
soldiers that could be subject to a military tribunal, but there are also hundreds of
offenses that could be heard in the civilian court."
Source: JP 21/09
TNI's arms purchase plan hanging in the balance
As the Indonesian Military (TNI) faces a two-week deadline to dispatch a
1,000-member peacekeeping force to Lebanon, its plan to buy 32 armored vehicles
from France remains up in the air. The House of Representatives demanded on Sep
12 that the arms be procured through a public bidding process rather than by direct
appointment.
All political factions at the House opposed direct appointment, saying it would result
in the government paying too much. Critics argued it would also violate the 2004 law
on the military and a 2004 presidential decree on arms procurement.
The controversy started when Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono disclosed that the
government had appointed a partner company to supply the French-made vehicles at
700,000 euros (US$890,000) each.
Speaking after the plenary session with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Djoko
Susilo, a legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the House might
reject the French-made vehicles because they were significantly more expensive than
alternatives available in Eastern Europe.
"Similar armored vehicles made in Ukraine and Russia cost only between 350,000
and 400,000 euros per unit," he said.
The plenary meeting presided over by Deputy House Speaker Soetardjo
Soerjogoeritno approved the government's plan to send the peacekeeping troops to
Lebanon. It also okayed a Rp 355 billion (US$39 million) budget to cover expenses,
including the purchase of the armored vehicles. Soetardjo said the budget could not
be disbursed without the House's approval. "And one of the conditions is that the
arms procurement should be tendered," he said. He warned of "political
consequences" if the government failed to meet the conditions set by the House.
Read more: http://www.infid.be/military_purchase_hanging.htm.
Related article:
TNI defends purchase of 32 armored vehicles:
http://www.infid.be/military_32vehicles.htm.
Source: JP 13/09
General News
Poso Three to be Executed
Three Christian militants awaiting execution for leading deadly attacks on Muslims six
years ago met with relatives and a priest for the last time on Sep 21 and called for
investigations into the sectarian violence to continue. The exact timing and location of
the executions have been kept secret, as is the custom in Indonesia, but family
members and lawyers said after meeting the trio that they would likely face a firing
squad before dawn Friday(Sep 22). Security forces braced for sectarian violence, with
thousands of police blocking roads leading to the prison where the inmates are being
held, standing on street corners and guarding nearby churches. The case against the
men has heightened tensions in the world's most populous Muslim nation and raised
questions about the role religion played in punishing those allegedly behind the
violence that swept Sulawesi province from 1998 to 2002, killing more than 1,000
people of both religions.
Pope Benedict XVI last month made an appeal for clemency in the case of Fabianus
Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Dominggus da Silva, 42, who were found guilty of
leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks in May 2000 _ including a
machete and gun assault on an Islamic school that killed 70 people seeking shelter
there.
The men told relatives and a priest during final prayers at their jail on Sep 21 that they
were innocent but ready to die. They said they hoped investigations into the clashes
would continue, noting that they had provided authorities with the names of 16
Christians who allegedly instigated some of the worst bloodshed. The government
says its probe is complete.
Related articles:
Muslims press for execution of three Christians on death-row:
http://www.infid.be/poso_press_execution.htm.
Amnesty expresses dismay over impending Indonesian executions:
http://www.infid.be/poso_amnesty_dismay.htm.
Poso three pray as execution deadline nears:
http://www.infid.be/poso_three_pray.htm.
Planned execution of Christians exposes Indonesia's religious divide:
http://www.infid.be/poso_religious_divide.htm.
Source: AP 21/09
SBY says probe into Munir murder still in progress
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has challenged law enforcement officers to
unravel the mystery surrounding the 2004 murder of human rights campaigner Munir.
"The legal process concerning Munir's murder has never been stopped and let me tell
you again that it's still ongoing," Yudhoyono told journalists at the Indonesian
embassy in Helsinki on Sep. 11.
Yudhoyono's statement came a day after the president of the European Commission,
Jose Manuel Barroso, asked him how the investigation of Munir's murder was
progressing. Yudhoyono assured Barroso that the probe continued.
Munir died of arsenic poisoning on a flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam on Sept. 7,
2004. A court found off-duty pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto guilty of putting the
arsenic in Munir's drink and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.
Activists have demanded that the authorities follow up on the court's finding that
Pollycarpus was only a part of a larger conspiracy. They alleged that officers in the
State Intelligence Agency (BIN) had ordered the murder. The agency has denied any
involvement.
On the second anniversary of Munir's death last week, his widow, Suciwati, joined
NGO activists in filing a Rp 13 billion (about US$1.4 million) lawsuit against national
flagship carrier Garuda, the airline on which Munir was murdered. The suit alleges lax
security on the airline's part put Munir in peril.
Yudhoyono said his administration stands behind its initial commitment to an
impartial and professional legal process to resolve the Munir case.
"Of course this requires strong commitment, intelligence and hard work among law
enforcers, from the police, attorneys and judges," he said, as quoted by Antara.
The President said National Police chief Gen. Sutanto has promised to keep probing
the Munir affair.
"I have the police chief's assurance that the investigation is ongoing. The police are
revitalizing the investigation team," he said.
Related articles:
Suciwati: "I Will Continue to Demand Accountability":
http://www.infid.be/munir_suciwati.htm.
500 NGO activists demand police complete Munir investigation:
http://www.infid.be/munir_500.htm.
Source: JP 13/09
Companies gear up to sue Lapindo, govts over mudflow
Companies affected by the mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, plan to sue the
central and local governments and Lapindo Brantas Inc. for causing them billions of
rupiah in losses. Eleven companies around the mudflow source and the Association of
Mining Companies claim they have not received financial assistance for relocation
purposes and compensation for the loss of their assets.
The association's East Java chapter secretary-general, Hudin Al-Sonny, said on Sep.
19 that officials committed "fatal mistakes" by making promises they could not keep.
"We're businesspeople who need certainty to conduct our business, not empty
promises. If they can't stop the mudflow, what about our businesses," he said.
The mudflow, sparked by an accident at the exploration site of Lapindo Brantas Inc.
on May 29 and still uncontrolled, has disrupted traffic on the main Surabaya-Gempol
turnpike. Mining companies who rely on the turnpike are suffering an estimated Rp 1
billion (US$108,695) in financial losses per day. Executive of watchmaker PT Catur
Putra Surya, Ritonga, said his company would file a lawsuit against the governments
and Lapindo if they did not immediately pay compensation for the loss of the
company's assets and to cover the factory's relocation.
He said the company requested Rp 48 billion compensation from Lapindo. The
amount covers its property and buildings, as well as damaged machinery. The
company estimates it suffered more than Rp 100 billion in financial losses due to the
halt in production for three months.
"I've met the local administration and Lapindo but got no response. This show that the
business sector in Indonesia is in a poor shape. The government only wants to collect
taxes."
The central government recently set up a team, led by Energy and Mineral Resources
Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, to deal with the disaster.
In its meeting on Sep. 18, the team was optimistic it would be able to stop the
mudflow and would continue work on constructing a relief well.
Related articles:
Mudflow Forces Indonesians to Camp on Highway:
http://www.infid.be/mudflow_highway.htm.
Feature - Indonesians look for miracle to save homes from mud:
http://www.infid.be/mudflow_miracle.htm.
Lapindo Violating Rights: Analysts: http://www.infid.be/mudflow_lapindo.htm.
Source: JP 20/09
Activists urge probe of minister for perjury
A coalition of antigraft watchdogs demanded on Sep. 19 that the Corruption
Eradication Commission (KPK) name Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid
Awaluddin as a suspect for his alleged involvement in a graft case at the nation's
electoral commission in 2004.
"There are no reasons for KPK to delay the probe into the graft case in which Hamid
has been implicated, since politically and legally nothing is stopping the anti-graft
body from questioning him," said Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch
(ICW). He was reading a joint statement from 65 anticorruption organizations across
the archipelago, including the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence, the Indonesian Human Rights Watch, the Indonesian Forum for Budget
Transparency (FITRA) and the Anticorruption Institute.
Hamid was reported to the police for alleged perjury by Daan Dimara, a former
colleague at the General Elections Commission (KPK), who was sentenced to four
years in prison on Sep. 15. Hamid testified in Daan's trial on July 25 that he did not
attend a meeting on June 14, 2004, to discuss inflating the price of ballot seals for the
2004 presidential election.
In Daan's verdict, the Anticorruption Court stated that Hamid attended and even
chaired the June 14 meeting. The court did not find Daan guilty of colluding with the
printing company to mark up the price of the seals for the presidential election, as
prosecutors had charged. The collusion allegedly cost the state Rp 3.5 billion (about
US$384,000).
Read more: http://www.infid.be/perjury.htm.
Source: JP 20/09
Government prepares labor regulations
Following its decision to drop the plan to revise the 2003 Labor Law, the government
says it will soon issue a regulation detailing termination procedures and severance
payments for workers to give them more job certainty. Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Erman Suparno said the regulation would also detail crucial issues on
outsourcing, contract-based workers and other contentious issues.
"The most important thing, is that the government regulation will not be contrary to the
(labor) law but we are seeking the best solution so as not to burden employers in its
implementation," Erman said in Bogor at the weekend.
The minister said the government would also revise the 1992 law on social security
programs to allow state-owned labor insurance company PT Jamsostek to provide a
termination scheme for dismissed workers.
"The government will discuss in details all these issues with other stakeholders,
mainly the labor unions and employers, before issuing the government regulation and
revising the social security program law in the House of Representatives," he said.
Earlier this year, the government dropped a plan to amend the labor law in line with
recommendations from five state universities that conducted an indepth study of the
legislation.
The study, ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, recommended cutting
workers' conditions, especially the large mandatory payouts to dismissed workers,
which employers said were too costly. The bill, which also gave employers more
freedom to outsource employees, was fiercely opposed by labor unions and later
dropped.
Read more: http://www.infid.be/labor_regulations.htm.
Source: JP 19/09
Illegal Wood Supplies 67-70% Of Indonesia Industries – NGOs
Between 67%-70% of the timber used by Indonesian industries is sourced from illegal
logging a rampant, illegal industry that costs the government around US$3.3 billion
annually in legal revenue it would otherwise have received, according to officials of
environmental groups.
Illegal logging continues unabated in the forests of the sprawling archipelagic nation,
unchecked by legislation imposed more than a year ago, as backing by high-ranking
military and state officials and an ineffective justice system foster impunity for the
illegal industry to operate unchecked, to the point of intimidating and murdering
anti-logging activists, the officials said.
Research by various non-governmental organizations on forestry concessions and
deliveries of timber to forest-product related industries indicates this logging is the
source of between 67%-70% of timber supplies to domestic wood, paper, pulp and
other industries, Dave Currey, director of the Europe-based Environmental
Investigation Agency, told reporters at a press briefing on Sep. 20, following a two-day
conference on violence against environmental activists dubbed "Violence In The
Forest." The agency conducts its Indonesian operations through its de facto local
subsidiary Telepak, a forestry conservation group.
While the government estimates that illegal logging alone costs the state roughly
IDR30 trillion (around US$3.2 billion) a year, overall deforestation from logging,
slash-and-burn farming techniques and other factors leading to environmental
degradation is responsible for around IDR50 trillion in state revenue losses annually,
said Yayat Afianto, a spokesman for Telepak.
Read more: http://www.infid.be/illegal_wood.htm.
Source: DJ 20/09
Aceh
Protestors Of Slow Tsunami Aid Clash With Police
Tsunami survivors demanding houses and jobs threw rocks at police in Aceh on Sep
20 during a protest outside the government agency tasked with rebuilding the
Indonesian province, a witness said. The fighting broke out after police used water
cannons on hundreds of protesters who had blockaded the agency's headquarters in
the provincial capital Banda Aceh since late Tuesday (Sep 19), an Associated Press
photographer said. One person was hit by a flying rock and at least one police car
was damaged, he said.
The 2004 tsunami killed or left missing at least 216,000 people in 11 Indian Ocean
nations, more than half of them in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island. The
task of housing the survivors is a massive one, and the tens of thousands still without
permanent homes have complained the process is too slow given the enormous
resources committed to the province. Protesters, many of whom still live in wooden
barracks, demanded the Aceh reconstruction agency speed up the building of homes
and businesses.
Mirza Keumala, a spokesman for the agency, promised to do everything possible to
speed up the process. But he also alleged that a local aid group called the "Barracks
Forum" had organized the rally, and was demanding that funds be directly transferred
to its own account, something he said the agency could not do.
Related article:
After the Tsunami, Waves of Corruption: http://www.infid.be/tsunami_corruption.htm.
Source: AP 20/09
Papua
Indonesia Deports Australian Journalists Found In Papua
Five Australian TV journalists were being deported from Indonesia on Sep. 14 after
traveling to restive Papua province on tourist visas, police and witnesses said.
Presenter Naomi Robson of the public affairs program "Today Tonight" and four
members of her film crew were escorted by immigration officials on board a
commercial flight from Papua to the capital, Jakarta, said Papua Police Chief Maj.
Gen Tommy Jacobus. From Jakarta they will be deported, he said.
"They admitted to being journalists who were intending to report on events here,"
Jacobus told reporters. "It is best if we deport them."
The Alliance of Independence Journalists (AJI) has criticized the deportation. AJI
chairman Heru Hendratmoko said in a statement that every nation had the right to
defend their interests but barring journalists from doing their jobs was against the
freedom of the press. AJI called on the government to ease the rules on foreign
journalists in Indonesia.
Read more:
Five Australian journalists arrested in Papua over visas:
http://www.infid.be/papua_aus_journalists.htm.
Papua related articles:
Papua: Bows, Arrows and a Tense Gold Mine:
http://www.infid.be/papua_bow_arrow.htm.
Scale of human rights abuses in Papua under dispute:
http://www.infid.be/papua_scale_abuse.htm.
Papuans protest testimony from FBI: http://www.infid.be/papua_protest_fbi.htm.
Riot Case Papuans 'Beaten by Police': http://www.infid.be/papua_riot_beaten.htm.
Source: AP 14/09, JP 18/09
Abbreviations
AFP Agence France-Presse
AP Associated Press
DJ Dow Jones
JP The Jakarta Post
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