Why We Can’t Afford to Not Care About Politics

Jakarta Globe – Bad leaders are elected by good citizens who don’t vote. Sixteen years after the reformation in 1998, political apathy remains a threat to Indonesia’s democracy. The number of non-voters is on the rise. In 2004, the number of absent voters was at 23.3 percent, during the 2009 presidential election it increased to 39 percent. When probed deeper, disenchantment with the government underlies the political apathy that prevails among the people. Yet, there are strong reasons why Indonesians need to be politically engaged despite all the reasons to think otherwise.

Some say politics is dirty, or that there isn’t much that we can change about this corrupt country. Such expressions of cynicism are not uncommon among Indonesians. Many who are idealistic have lost trust in the government. Understandably, because many who were once trusted and elected were found to be corrupt. It’s in the news all the time, so it is inevitable that some people have grown disenchanted.

However, there are reasons why we cannot abandon the political arena — why we cannot simply quit when things do not go our way.

Unlike a tyranny, democracy is the best means to facilitate change in a country, because everyone has a say. When things do not go according to our wish, we can change it. Precisely because change is within reach — as long as we have a democracy — we should not give in to political apathy.

It is a privilege to be a part of the democratic process. And that is why the moaning needs to stop. We the people have the means to bring about change in this country.

Indonesia is the most democratic country in Southeast Asia according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index in 2012. Indonesia ranks higher than Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam in terms of how democratic it is. This includes how free and fair national elections are, how secure voters are, and how much civil liberties are assured in the country.

Much blood was shed in the period of reformation and it has been an arduous journey for Indonesia to reach the point where it is now at. But all the achievements will be in vain if political apathy continues to hold sway. [Click here for full article…]

Arrest of Indonesia’s first woman governor a blow for coalition

Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah (C), wearing an KPK orange vest, walks as she is detained at the national anti-graft agency (KPK) office in Jakarta December 20, 2013.

Reuters – Indonesia’s first female governor, smiling broadly, looks down from billboards that line the pot-holed roads of Banten, the country’s fifth-most populous province that she has ruled for almost a decade.

Except she’s not actually there. Ratu Atut Chosiyah, 51, is in jail in the capital Jakarta, 90 km (55 miles) away, facing charges of bribery and extortion.

After years of support from national politicians, Islamic clerics and jawara – street gangsters reputed to have magical powers — Chosiyah’s empire is crumbling, the latest in a series of scandals weighing on Indonesia’s ruling coalition ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections.

Graft scandals have dramatically eroded for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party-led alliance in the country that has the world’s biggest population of Muslims and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

The scandals, accompanied by rising prices and a slowdown in growth, have opened up support for the main opposition PDI-P party of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who lost Indonesia’s first direct presidential poll to Yudhoyono in 2004. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia losing ground in drug war

Jakarta Post – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is again under fire for going soft on drug convicts following the decision to parole Schapelle Corby.

The Australian would have been eligible for parole after serving two-thirds of her original sentence, in 2017, if not for a five-year sentence reduction granted by Yudhoyono in 2012 and for 30 months of remissions she received over the years.

The announcement of the parole came about two weeks after convicted French drug trafficker Michael Loic Blanc was released after he was granted parole in November.

Anti-Narcotics National Movement (Granat) chairman Henry Yosodiningrat said Indonesia was sending the wrong message to drug traffickers with Corby’s release.

“This kind of policy should be reviewed to deter other smugglers from entering Indonesia,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency on Saturday.

Henry said the President should be more sensitive, as he had previously promised to take stern action against drug smugglers. “The President once said there would be no tolerance for drug crimes and there would be no clemency for perpetrators.”

In a speech for the 2006 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Jakarta, Yudhoyono said: “A lot of requests for clemency in drug-related crimes have been submitted to me, but I personally feel that I would prefer to ensure the safety of our younger generation rather than grant pardons to those who are destroying our nation’s future.”

However, in recent few years, Yudhoyono has granted clemency to drug smugglers, including those on death row. In 2012, the President faced a public outcry for commuting the death sentence of drug convict Deni Setia Maharwan to life imprisonment.

Deni, who was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2000 for carrying 3.5 kilograms of heroin and 3 kilograms of cocaine, was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in 2001.

Amid the controversy, Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin said the President had only approved sentence reductions for 19 drug convicts and had rejected clemency requests from 109 drug convicts between 2004 and 2011. [Click here for full article…]

India and Indonesia To Conduct Bilateral Naval Exercises

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Diplomat – Although defense cooperation between India and Indonesia isn’t quite as profound as some would like it to be, the two showed signs of deepening their naval cooperation earlier this week. Ind-Indo Corpat, a biannual joint coordinated patrol in international waters by both the Indian and Indonesian navies, might graduate to the scale of a joint exercise.

According to The Hindu, Indonesian submarine commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Amrin Rosihan noted that the India-Indonesia joint exercise would involve more vessels and “help develop interoperability and strengthen Navy-to-Navy ties.” Rosihan commands the Indonesian anti-submarine warfare ship KRI Sutantowhich was docked at Port Blair in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands as part of the MILAN-2014 multilateral exercise conducted by the Indian navy.

The Ind-Indo Corpat patrols are held every year in April and October and involve a “patrol of the seas against piracy, armed robbery, poaching, illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and human trafficking.”

India and Indonesia see eye-to-eye on a number of issues but their relationship remains undercapitalized. After years of cooperation within the Non-Alignment Movement, the relationship was transformed following Indonesian President Suharto’s resignation in 1998 and Indonesia’s subsequent transition to democracy. Following its democratic transition, Indonesia and India deepened their economic relationship. For India, approaching Indonesia was in line with its “Look-East” Policy that prioritized relations with East and Southeast Asian nations.

India and Indonesia have shared a strategic partnership since 2005, and have cooperated on security in the maritime domain for some time now. The two have patrolled the Strait of Malacca and India delivered aid to Indonesia’s Aceh region after the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. [Click here for full article…]

US$100,000 worth assistance to Indonesians displaced by Sinabung eruptions

Jakarta Post – US Ambassador Robert Blake has offered US$100,000 to support the Indonesian government’s disaster relief in response to the ongoing Mount Sinabung eruptions in North Sumatra.

The humanitarian relief items are provided by the US government to people residing in evacuation centers through the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

“I’m impressed by the strong spirit and resilience of communities around Mt.Sinabung,” Ambassador Blake said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Friday.

“The US is committed to working with the Indonesian government to help the people of Sinabung recover from this calamity and rebuild their lives, and to continue to help the government monitor volcanic activity to save lives,” he went on.

The US’ contribution of funds will allow the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to purchase, distribute and replenish critical supplies to those living in camps and deeply affected in the aftermath of the eruptions.

USAID’s Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), currently undertaken in partnership with the US Geological Survey, is providing on site and remote technical assistance and equipment to the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM) to strengthen volcano monitoring and response in the area.

The equipment creates a seismic monitoring network near Mt.Sinabung to detect volcano-related earthquakes – often precursors to eruptions – and is used by CVGHM to establish three seismic field stations and a base station near Mt.Sinabung. [Click here for full article…]

Aceh fully enforces sharia

(Antara/Ampelsa)

Jakarta Post – Without much fanfare, the Aceh provincial administration and legislative council have approved the Qanun Jinayat (behavior-governing bylaw) that obliges every Muslim and non-Muslim in Aceh to follow sharia, the Islamic legal code.

“The qanun does indeed oblige everyone in Aceh to follow sharia without exception,” councilor Abdulah Saleh, who was involved in the deliberation of the qanun in the council, confirmed on Thursday.

The Qanun Jinayat was approved by the legislative council on Dec. 13 and signed by Governor Zaini Abdullah. It was a revision of the controversial 2009 Qanun Jinayat that introduced the punishment of stoning to death.

Following outcry from human rights activists, the provincial administration under then governor Irwandi Yusuf refused to sign or implement the bylaw and it was deliberated again under the new administration.

Saleh said that the newly approved qanun stipulated that all violators of sharia would be tried under Islamic law regardless of their religion. Non-Muslim violators of the Criminal Code (KUHP) would be given the option to choose between a sharia court or a regular court, he explained.

“But, if the violation committed by a non-Muslim is not regulated in the KUHP then the violator will automatically be tried in a sharia court, without exception,” Saleh said.

Violations of sharia that are not mentioned in the KUHP include drinking liquor, khalwat (affectionate contact between an unmarried couple), and not wearing headscarf or wearing tight pants by women. [Click here for full article…]

Indonesia Considers Tax Breaks for Corporate Bond Investors

Bloomberg – Indonesia is considering tax breaks for investors in the nation’s corporate bonds and is also planning to make it easier for local companies to sell shares to the public, the Financial Services Authoritysaid.

The agency, known locally as the OJK, is in talks with the taxation department to introduce incentives for bondholders, Nurhaida, executive head of capital markets supervision, said in an interview in Jakarta today. The OJK also plans to issue a rule by the end of this year that will allow companies to submit one application for multiple public share offers, she said.

Indonesia’s corporate debt market is much smaller than other Southeast Asian nations, accounting for 2.2 percent of its gross domestic product in June, compared with 16.1 percent in Thailand and 43.3 percent in Malaysia, according to the Asian Development Bank. Sales fell to 57 trillion rupiah ($4.7 billion) last year, from a record 87 trillion rupiah in 2012, Nurhaida said. Indonesia currently charges 20 percent tax on returns on company debt.

“We are in talks with the taxation department on what incentives can be given to corporate bondholders to improve demand,” Nurhaida, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said at her office in central Jakarta. “This will then be followed by greater supply.”

The OJK recently succeeded in overturning a government rule to raise the tax on returns for funds investing in government notes to 15 percent, maintaining the levy at 5 percent through 2020, Nurhaida said. [Click here for full article…]

Exports, spending prop up economy

Jakarta Post – Government spending and exports became the main driver of gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year and managed to offset a decline in investment.

Despite volatility in the financial market, the economy expanded by 5.72 percent in the fourth quarter, higher than 5.62 percent posted a quarter earlier, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Wednesday.

Observers previously expected Indonesia to see further slowdown, as the consensus of economists, as well as the government, predicted that the economy might only grow by 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Expectations of a slowdown grew after Bank Indonesia (BI) performed bold monetary tightening to put the brakes on the too-fast economy. Last year, the central bank hiked its key interest rates by 175 basis points to 7.5 percent to push down the current-account deficit and inflation, both of which were on the rise and posed risks of overheating.

“This shows that Indonesia’s economic fundamentals are strong, as efforts to push down current-account deficit and inflation can be achieved with quite good economic growth,” BI Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo said on Wednesday.

The fourth quarter results took full-year 2013 economic growth to 5.78 percent, the second-highest among G20 economies after China, cementing the archipelago’s status among the world’s most resilient economies amid uncertainties in the external environment. [Click here for full article…]

Political, Social Turmoil Limit Indonesia’s Growth, Advisory Firm Says

Jakarta Globe – Despite being one of Asia’s most active economies, drawing investors from around the world into a developing consumer market, Indonesia continues to struggle with political and social tensions that threaten the country’s social and economic stability, a report says.

Indonesia is experiencing a few bumps in the road, according to Political Monitor, a political risk research and advisory firm. Although the country has demonstrated strong economic growth in recent years, its youth unemployment, government corruption, increasing ethnic and religious tensions, along with the emergence of a political power vacuum have put the nation in a challenging situation.

Indonesia’s economy rose by 5.3 percent last year, but the upturn was considered the nation’s slowest in the past four years.

Based on Asia Political Risk Index’s political monitor, Indonesia’s risk measurement relating to political and social turmoil scored 55 — a figure considered to be on the high side when compared to its neighbors Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, Thailand and China. The relative risk score chart is divided into five levels: low to moderate, high, very high and extreme.

Political Monitor partner Damian Karmelich determined the impact of these tensions was not merely seen in the macro environment, but the underlying political and social matters that posed damaging risks in the upcoming decade. [Click here for full article…]

Gerindra Includes Jokowi as Vice President Candidate

DKI Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo aka Jokowi (left) Head of Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto (middle) and Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama (right). (19/03). TEMPO/Amston Probel

Tempo.Co – The Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party Secretary General Ahmad Muzani, said that his party has selected a number of figures to be  paired with Prabowo Subianto as vice president candidate in the presidential election this year.

According to Muzani, 10 names have been included on the list, including Jakarta Governor Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, Coordinating MInister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa, West Java Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, Nahdlatul Ulama General Chairman Said Aqil Siradj, and two former Constitutional Court SUpreme Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie and Mahfud MD.

“We are considering the possibility of the names [to be paired with Prabowo], and conducting simulations internally,” said Muzani.

However, Muzani refused to comment on who will have the biggest chance to be Prabowo’s vice president candidate. He stated that the party is gathering the data and the information validity of the ten names.

“Therefore, we can make a decision accurately and appropriately,” Muzani said. [Click here for full article…]

Scholars, intellectuals endorse Prabowo’s bid

The Jakarta Globe – A group of university professors and intellectuals announced on Wednesday its collective endorsement of Gerindra Party presidential candidate and chief patron Prabowo Subianto, giving the retired army general another moral boost ahead of the upcoming presidential election. Former Bandung-based Padjadjaran University rector Yuyun Wirasasmita, who read the group’s endorsement during a gathering […]