Jakarta (pirates are we… in the post-civil society)

Photo via Pat Dollard

On subject of ‘pirates’…

From MIT Press:

The Enemy of All: Piracy and the Law of Nations

by Daniel Heller-Roazen

“The pirate is the original enemy of humankind. As Cicero famously remarked, there are certain enemies with whom one may negotiate and with whom, circumstances permitting, one may establish a truce. But there is also an enemy with whom treaties are in vain and war remains incessant. This is the pirate, considered by ancient jurists to be “the enemy of all.”

In this book, Daniel Heller-Roazen reconstructs the shifting place of the pirate in legal and political thought from the ancient to the medieval, modern, and contemporary periods, presenting the philosophical genealogy of a remarkable antagonist. Today, Heller-Roazen argues, the pirate furnishes the key to the contemporary paradigm of the universal foe. This is a legal and political person of exception, neither criminal nor enemy, who inhabits an extra-territorial region. Against such a foe, states may wage extraordinary battles, policing politics and justifying military measures in the name of welfare and security.

Heller-Roazen defines piracy by the conjunction of four conditions: a region beyond territorial jurisdiction; agents who may not be identified with an established state; the collapse of the distinction between criminal and political categories; and the transformation of the concept of war. The paradigm of piracy remains in force today. Whenever we hear of regions outside the rule of law in which acts of “indiscriminate aggression” have been committed “against humanity,” we must begin to recognize that these are acts of piracy. Often considered part of the distant past, the enemy of all is closer to us today than we may think. Indeed, he may never have been closer.”

from treehugger

Global Warming Could Create a Legion of ‘Climate Terrorists’
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York on 10.28.09
Business & Politics

Scientists predict that climate change will exacerbate many of the world’s continuing troubles–food shortages, poverty, lack of water, spread of infectious diseases, and so on. And many have already suggested that strained resources and migration caused by global warming could eventually lead to wars; maybe even a world war. But few have considered this national security concern: climate change could usher in a brand new generation of terrorists.

One man who has made such a consideration is Dr. Greg Austin. The provocative piece he wrote for New Europe called Climate Terrorists: They Will Come is especially foreboding. Austin notes that 40% of the world lives in tropical areas, where even incremental rises in temperatures can have disastrous effects.

Blueprint for Climate Terror

Developing nations comprise the vast majority of these tropical states, many of which have exploding populations, a growing youth bulge, and increasing problems with hunger and health. And while there was once optimism for these nations to develop rapidly, hopes are beginning to fade. From New Europe:

There has been however a hitherto unshakable faith among many in the idea of “progress’, especially the belief that economic growth and technological advance would ultimately reduce poverty and provide jobs for most of the expected population growth.

Climate change is a threat to this basic hope for progress.

The Rise of Climate Terrorism

Austin notes that there are already parts of the world where people live with temperatures as high as 48 Degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit!), such as the Sudan. If climate change causes the temperature to rise even a fraction of a degree, it could make such regions uninhabitable–forcing large groups of people to abandon their homes. This displacement, along with a lack of legal means to relocate, and a need to survive, could help foster piracy and terrorism. Austin explains:

About 40 per cent of the world’s population lives in tropical zones. The eruption of piracy and terrorism in tropical zones, places like Somalia and Indonesia, cannot be separated from emerging climate stress. The warming of concern for these zones is not the distant future but the recent past and immediate future. With more global warming, human communities in marginal areas like these will be forced to migrate, first in small numbers and then en masse.

Then, the strain on such communities, and resulting widespread desperation could spur a rise of ‘climate terrorism’.

It’s certainly a provocative speculation, and not too far-fetched. And it’s further reason that slowing climate change is in the best interest of national security policy–the concept of the ‘climate terrorist’ may be ill-defined, but it highlights the social turmoil that is certain to occur in areas where climate change causes resource scarcity and mass migration.”

Jakarta (if a tree falls in the forest…? vroom, vroom…)

This is Sumatra.

photo: DIMAS ARDIAN/GETTY from The Independent

Illegal logging responsible for loss of 10 million hectares in Indonesia

By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent

Monday, 26 October 2009 The Independent

“Lush tropical rainforest once covered almost all of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And just half a century ago, 80 per cent remained. But since then, rampant logging and burning has destroyed nearly half that cover, and made the country the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouses gases after the US and China.

Indonesia still has one-tenth of the world’s remaining rainforests, a treasure trove of rare plant and animal species, including critically endangered tigers, elephants and orang-utans. However, it is destroying its forests faster than any other country, according to the Guinness Book of Records, with an average two million hectares disappearing every year, double the annual loss in the 1980s.

It is that frenzied rate of deforestation that has propelled Indonesia, home to 237 million people, into its top-three spot in the global league table of climate change villains. According to a government report released last month, the destruction of forests and carbon-rich peatlands accounts for 80 per cent of the 2.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide emitted in the country annually.

The situation is partly a legacy of the 32-year rule of the dictator Suharto, during which Indonesia’s forests were regarded purely as a source of revenue to be exploited for economic gain. Suharto, who stepped down in 1998, handed out logging concessions covering more than half the total forest area, many of them to his relatives and political allies.

Although the current Indonesian government, under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is committed to reducing deforestation and CO2 emissions, not much has changed on the ground. Poor land management is compounded by lawlessness and corruption, and illegal logging is widespread. According to one official estimate, the latter is responsible for the loss of 10 million hectares of forest.

Legal logging, too, is conducted at unsustainable levels, thanks to soaring demand from a rapidly expanding pulp and paper industry, in a country struggling with high levels of poverty.

The recent government report forecast that carbon emissions, which have risen from 1.6 billion tons in 1990, will increase to 3.6 billion by 2030, a leap of 57 per cent from today’s level. The main reason is logging and clearing of forests for agriculture and industrial plantations, including oil palms. The government granted permission last year for two million hectares of peatland to be cleared for oil palms.

The rapid spread of oil palm plantations, particularly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, is threatening the orang-utan’s forest habitat and hastening its extinction, according to conservationists.

Clearing land releases into the atmosphere the carbon stored in trees and below ground, either during burning or when the timber decomposes. Forest fires – regarded as a cheap and easy way of clearing forest – are deliberately lit by farmers as well as timber and oil palm plantation owners, and occur regularly on Sumatra and Borneo during the dry season.

Indonesia supports the UN’s Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) initiative, welcoming the idea of being paid to conserve its forests. However, some observers question whether the carbon credits it would receive will be priced high enough to make the scheme worthwhile.

At present, Indonesia accounts for 8 per cent of global carbon emissions, although the archipelago represents barely 1 per cent of the world’s landmass. It still has the third largest tracts of tropical rainforest, after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite losing one-quarter of its forest cover between 1990 and 2005.”

And the vroom, vroom part…

from Bloomberg.com 10.26.09

Honda to Increase Motorcycle Capacity in Indonesia, Nikkei Says

By Fergus Maguire

“Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) — Honda Motor Co. plans to spend more than 10 billion yen to increase its annual production capacity for motorcycles and scooters in Indonesia by 20 percent to 3.6 million units, Nikkei English News said, without citing anyone.

The Japanese automaker’s joint venture with P.T. Astra International will build a facility with annual output capacity of 600,000 units at one of its three existing plants, the report said. The company aims to begin operations at the new facility in 2011, the report said. Last Updated: October 25, 2009 17:42 EDT”

Yes, it has been quite a weekend of blogging…

Jakarta (another bad idea from Malaysia)

Translation: This country needs many polygamy volunteers. Conflicts, natural disasters, poverty, and ‘old’ virgins are the serious problems afflicting our country’s women. Thus, this country needs volunteers for polygamous marriages to overcome this nationwide female problem.

photo: from Cycads

A bad idea which apparently is not a new bad idea at all.

‘Polygamy club’ draws criticism in Indonesia

from AP 10.24.2009

By ALI KOTARUMALOS (AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Plans to open branches of a Malaysian “Polygamy Club” in Indonesia have upset women’s groups and religious leaders in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, who say the search for multiple wives should be handled privately — not by a matchmaking service.

Under Islamic law, Muslim men are permitted four wives. The club claims a noble aim of helping single mothers, reformed prostitutes and women who feel they are past marrying age meet spouses. It also offers counseling to people facing problems in polygamous households.

The Malaysian owners say they want to “change people’s perception about polygamy, so that they will see it as a beautiful rather than abhorrent practice,” club chairwoman Hatijah Binti Am said as members from around 30 families attended a gathering in Bandung, west Java, for the opening of the first Indonesian branch last week.

Others will soon be added, including in the capital, Jakarta, said spokeswoman Rohaya Mohamad.

“Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country, so polygamy can be a way of life there too,” Rohaya said.

Polygamous relationships are believed to be gaining in popularity in secular Indonesia, but it’s impossible to say how many there are because the marriages are performed secretly at mosques and are not recorded by the state.

Indonesia’s 1974 Marriage Law permits a man to have a second wife if his first is an invalid, infertile or terminally ill. However, there is no way to monitor adherence to the rules.

Polygamists point out that the Prophet Muhammad is thought to have married about a dozen women in his lifetime, including widows in need of protection. But a prominent member of the influential Indonesian Ullema Council, a board of Muslim priests, described the launching of a formal club as a “provocative campaign.”

“Such a club is needless,” said Ma’ruf Amin. “It will draw (negative) reactions rather than solve problems” because the practice is generally opposed by women in the country of 235 million people.

Several prominent political and religious figures in Indonesia openly married second wives in recent years, sparking widespread public debate and calls to ban civil servants from polygamy. Analysts believe the number of men with multiple wives is increasing as this emerging democracy searches to balance modern governance and Islamic identity.

Amin said that although Islam allows polygamy, popularizing the practice could encourage multiple marriages in which the husbands fail to adhere to strict guidelines, including fair treatment of all wives and children and equal financial support.

Opposition has also come from women’s rights activists.

Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, director of the Institute for Indonesian Women’s Association for Justice does not oppose men having several spouses, but said the club should not advertise openly.

“If they did it privately, that would be fine,” she said, citing the acceptance of polygamy under Islam and by the Indonesian state according to specific requirements.

However, Yohanna, a member of the same women’s rights group, said the club effectively promotes abuse.

“While we are campaigning against domestic violence, which includes polygamy, there is a group campaigning that polygamy — which hurts other women — is a positive thing,” Yohanna told MetroTV.

Polygamy is also legal for Muslims in Malaysia but not widespread. The club was founded there in August and claims to have around 1,000 members — 700 of them women — many of them former members of a banned Islamic sect of Al-Arqam.

Malaysia’s Home Affairs Ministry was reportedly keeping a close eye on the club.

Hatijah, the club founder, is a wife of Ashaari Muhammad, the leader of the Al-Arqam sect that was outlawed in 1994 by the Malaysian government after the group’s teachings and beliefs were found to deviate from Islam. The group then claimed to have around 10,000 followers.

Ashaari was portrayed by the movement as messiah who had the authority to forgive the sins of Muslims. He has 38 children from four wives, eight of them with Hatijah. Twenty-three of the children are in polygamous marriages.

Indonesia’s more than 200 million Muslims practice a moderate form of the faith, but a small hardline fringe has successfully pushed for Islamic law of Shariah in more than a hundred municipalities across the nation, and the predominantly Muslim province of Aceh.”

Jakarta (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai)

Out in the provinces…

(just passing on the news for friends)

BERTANI ATAU MATI – TOLAK TAMBANG BESI

Saturday, October 24 2009 @ 12:50 AM CDT

Indonesia: Thousands of Kulon Progo Farmers Resist Corporate Evil, Fighting the Police

Friday, October 23 2009 @ 08:46 AM CDT

Contributed by: Anonymous

AsiaThis morning (Monday, 20th October 2009), around 2000 coastal farmers connected to PPLP (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai = Shoreline Farmers’ Association), took to the street in front of the office of the mayor of Kulon Progo, in the town of Wates. Twenty-eight trucks full of farmers, who wanted to convey their wholehearted rejection of the planned project to mine iron sands, arrived to demonstrate at the public consultation event. They were in the mood for action, just as they had already carried out many times before.A report of the latest action in a long struggle to prevent 20km of coastal sands in Kulon Progo, Yogjakarta, Java being mined for iron.

[For more background on the community of Kulon Progo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia and their resistance to the planned Iron Mine on their land see: http://jakarta.indymedia.org/newswire...ry_id=2243

For a video from the news media, see http://www.metrotvnews.com/index.php/...uka-Serius]

This morning (Monday, 20th October 2009), around 2000 coastal farmers connected to PPLP (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai = Shoreline Farmers’ Association), took to the street in front of the office of the mayor of Kulon Progo, in the town of Wates. Twenty-eight trucks full of farmers, who wanted to convey their wholehearted rejection of the planned project to mine iron sands, arrived to demonstrate at the public consultation event. They were in the mood for action, just as they had already carried out many times before.

Present at the public consultation were the mining company that instigated the project, PT. Jogja Magasa Iron (JMI) as well as government authorities, NGOs, village leaders and the public. Yet of the coastal inhabitants due to be affected by the project, at most 25 had been invited. What’s more, when they showed their invitations, several of them were refused entry to the meeting room. The committee claimed that their names did not appear in the guest book, despite the fact they held their invitations in their hands. There was a difficult conversation with the organising committee, because it was those people who were connected to PPLP that were being denied entry. Finally, only Supriyadi, the chair of PPLP, and a few others whose names were on the list managed to enter the glass building of the Kulon Progo Regency government.

Meanwhile outside the building, thousands of farmers were continuing with speeches, unfurling banners and placards, and performing a theatrical action about farmers fighting mining companies and bureaucrats in their suits and ties. The security was tight, with around 600 riot police deployed, along with a water cannon. It was possible to trick the police, and the people were able to penetrate the front line of cops and ended up against the second line. Those who had been up close to the front line managed to shift and then move out of the way the iron bars that formed the police barrier. They then swapped this barrier for one of their own in the shape of a banner which read “Coastal Inhabitants of Kulon Progo declare their resistance to iron sand mining and exploitation of the environment, until the last drop of our blood”.

Inside the building, Sutarman, the vice-chair of PPLP, interrupted the meeting which was being chaired by the vice-mayor of Kulon Progo, Mulyono. Sutarman read out the official statement of opinion from PPLP, in front of the General Director of PT. JMI, Philip Welten, the company’s commisioners: GKR Pembayun, GBPH Joyokkususmo, KPH Condrokusumoo, KPH Ariyo Seno, Lutfi Hayder, as well as the others who were attending the meeting. The statement of opinion which he brought made clear that “this iron sands mining project has the potential to destroy the social fabric of our communities, destroy the environment and the self-sufficient economy of the inhabitants. Therefore those who live in the coastal zone, as members of the PPLP (Paguyuban Petani Lahan Pantai) community, press the central government of Indonesia, Yogjakarta Province,and Kulon Progo Regency to swiftly cancel the plan to mine iron ore from Kulon Progo’s coastal fringe.”

Sutarman also said that the Kulon Progo Regency Government and PT. JMI should move to outside the building and meet directly with the people gathered there, in order to truly understand the aspirations of the community. However, after the statement had been read, Vice-Mayor Mulyono, as moderator of the public meeting declared “If anything happens that disrupts this event from proceeding in an orderly or secure fashion, we will hand over responsibility to the chief of police and his ranks. As such, when ladies or gentlemen arrive in an orderly fashion, with or without an invitation, we invite them to calmly follow the proceedings. However if they disrupt the progress of this meeting of course we will hand over full responsibility to the police chief of Kulon Progo”. This statement was judged to be too intimidating by Sutarman, and shortly afterwards 20 people connected to PPLP decided to leave the meeting. Supriyadi, the chair of PPLP made clear, “Our wish to enter and convey our aspirations has been blocked. The number of people affected inside is less than 20 percent. This event is not a public consultation forum, it is a forum to push through the environmental impact assessment of the iron ore mine.”

The action outside that was being blocked by the police had the firm desire that officials from JMI and the Kulon Progo government should meet the farmers. Sutarman returned to the meeting room to ask that the government and company would meet the people, but this request was catagorically denied by the government. While the masses waited they hear speeches and sung prayers. An example of one of the prayers can be roughly translated as follows “Shalatullah Shalaamullaah a’laa thaha rosullulliaah… it’s farmers that pay for the mayor, it’s farmers that pay for the local council, it’s farmers that pay for the police… careful you don’t want to end up dead”.

At around 11am the sun was already bright, the people were starting to get hot, and so they gathered together in one block. One participant was able to make a speech from the loudspeaker vehicle, stating “it seems our blood is redder than that of the investors. Because they don’t want to let loose their passions, while we are prepared to sacrifice ourselves for the sake of the environment”. A moment later the farmers spontaneously started to move in towards the police barricade. Farmers began the attack, wanting to get to the various officials inside the building involved with the mining project. Speeches gave way to direct action, as the power of their initiative pushed through the line of police barricades.

Pushing started between the farmers and the police. The police were forced to move backwards by the strength of the peasant’s action. This attack made the first line of police barricades retreat to behind the second, whose shields were taller. The police fought back by hitting the farmers from behind the first barricades which the farmers’ action was at that moment pressing up against. The farmers withheld the attack to the best of their abilities, totally unarmed. Many younger farmers fought back with their bare hands, punching and kicking back at the police that were fully equipped with armoured uniforms, batons and shields.

The sound of shots, like explosions, was swiftly heard and at the same time a spontaneous attack from farmers, throwing stones that they found by the railway line. The southernmost end of the field of battle was within reach of the railway. The constant and intense rain of stones could not be avoided. The police were fighting back, also using stones as well as shooting tear gas. Although the sound of three shots had already been heard, the farmers held strong, continuing to attack and defending the space they created, as the police retreated. According to Widodo, a field co-ordinator of PPLP, “Police shot the tear gas,aiming in front of me. The tear gas cannister was fired, and I only just managed to dodge it as it passed 50cm in front of my head”. Five separate explosions of tear gas being fired were heard. The farmers’ attack continued but then they chose to withdraw from the discomfort of the tear gas, gathering in the town square where their trucks were parked.

The water cannon let loose its load and managed to hit the protester’s loudspeaker vehicle. Although the mass of people was already some distance from the local government building, tear gas continued to be fired, reaching into the centre of the square where the people were gathered. A woman from Karang Wuni village who didn’t wish her name to be revealed said ”the police are trying to kill the farmers. Take a look, we are going to remember what happened today.”

Jakarta (radio programming NOTE!)

more here:

Published on Friday, October 9, 2009 by Inter Press Service

Four Degrees of Devastation

Jakarta (meet the new boss… same as the old boss)

photo: AFP

By way of introduction… a short book review.

from Amazon.com

“From the tragedy of 9/11 to the farce of the financial meltdown—but underlying both is the irrationality of global capitalism. In this bravura analysis of the current global crisis—following on from his bestselling Welcome to the Desert of the Real—Slavoj Zizek argues that the liberal idea of the “end of history,” declared by Francis Fukuyama during the 1990s, has had to die twice. After the collapse of the liberal-democratic political utopia, on the morning of 9/11, came the collapse of the economic utopia of global market capitalism at the end of 2008. Marx argued that history repeats itself—occuring first as tragedy, the second time as farce—and Zizek, following Herbert Marcuse, notes here that the repetition as farce can be even more terrifying than the original tragedy.

The financial meltdown signals that the fantasy of globalization is over and as millions are put out of work it has become impossible to ignore the irrationality of global capitalism. Just a few months before the crash, the world’s priorities seemed to be global warming, AIDS, and access to medicine, food and water—tasks labelled as urgent, but with any real action repeatedly postponed. Now, after the financial implosion, the urgent need to act seems to have become unconditional—with the result that undreamt of quantities of cash were immediately found and then poured into the financial sector without any regard for the old priorities. Do we need further proof, Zizek asks, that Capital is the Real of our lives: the Real whose demands are more absolute than even the most pressing problems of our natural and social world? .”

OK? So get out there and spend, spend, spend!

If you don’t need it buy it anyway.

from Bloomberg.com

Indonesian Stocks May Fall on Cabinet, Citigroup Says

By Berni Moestafa

Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — Indonesian stocks may enter a “correction” on selling by investors to secure gains from Asia’s third-best rally this year because of concern Cabinet appointees lack economic experience, a Citigroup Inc. unit said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono named two allies to key economics and energy ministry posts this week. The appointments may be seen as political pandering, compromising the government’s ability to drive growth, said Sunny Yoon, president director of PT Citigroup Securities Indonesia.

The Jakarta Composite index has risen 81 percent this year. Yudhoyono’s re-election in July raised optimism he will maintain policies that have helped the economy expand at the fastest pace since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He won the polls with 60.8 percent of the 121.5 million valid votes.

“There appears to be a disconnection, why would you produce a compromised Cabinet when you have a clear mandate?” Yoon said in a telephone interview in Jakarta yesterday. “The risk here for the market is that a lot of expectation has been built in for a more professional, technocratic type of Cabinet and it hasn’t happened.”

Global interest rates are set to rebound as inflation accelerates, adding a trigger for investors to “realize gains” in Indonesian stocks, Yoon said. Banking and cement shares are most likely to fall, he said.

Consolidate

The benchmark index may “consolidate” at around 2,300 to 2,400 by year-end, Yoon said. The measure climbed 1.1 percent to 2,459.44 at 3:05 p.m. local time, paring the drop this week to 2.3 percent, the most since Sept. 4.

State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, a member of the National Mandate Party allied to Yudhoyono, was named coordinating minister for economic affairs. Rajasa has “limited economic experience but it’s hoped he’ll be able to provide a political shield for economic ministers under him in the parliament,” said Fauzi Ichsan, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Jakarta.

Darwin Saleh, an economics lecturer and member of Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party, will become energy minister running Southeast Asia’s biggest oil and natural gas industry. He has “insufficient experience in that field,” said Umar Juoro, an economist at the Jakarta-based Center for Information and Development Studies.

No Knowledge

“If you don’t have the knowledge you can’t make decisions, consequently policies won’t work,” said Fadlul Imansyah, a fund manager at Jakarta-based PT PNM Investment Management, which overseas about $148 million in assets. That may hamper Yudhoyono’s efforts to accelerate infrastructure projects needed to boost economic growth, Imansyah said.

Other appointments by Yudhoyono are more likely to reassure investors. He retained Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Trade Minister Mari Pangestu. Sri Mulyani and Pangestu, along with Vice President Boediono, the former head of the central bank, are “most favored by the markets,” said Winang Budoyo, an economist at PT Bank CIMB Niaga.

The Democrat Party, which held 10 percent of parliament during Yudhoyono’s first term, almost tripled its share to 148 seats in April 9 legislative elections, making it the biggest party in the 560-strong body. Yudhoyono’s coalition controls 75 percent of parliament.

Assertive Presidency

“Those that had predicted a more assertive presidency in the second term could start toning down their expectations,” Bank Danamon’s Arman and Anton Gunawan wrote in a note yesterday. “We think the announcement of the Cabinet line-up would at most have a neutral impact for the markets.”

Next year, the Jakarta Composite may advance and exceed its January 2008 record of 2,830.26 points, Citigroup’s Yoon said. He recommends PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia, the nation’s biggest company by market value, as it’s trading at a discount to the market and will benefit from improving consumer demand in 2010.

Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the economy. The government expects growth to accelerate to 5.5 percent next year from an estimated 4.3 percent this year. Bank Indonesia has cut its benchmark interest rate nine times to a record low of 6.5 percent this year, helping Southeast Asia’s biggest economy to avoid recession.

Speculation that the central bank will increase interest rates has intensified with gains in inflation. Consumer prices rose 2.83 percent in September from a year earlier after gaining 2.75 percent in August. That was more than the 2.6 percent increase expected by economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Bank Indonesia, which kept rates unchanged for a second month on Oct. 5, is scheduled to hold its next policy meeting on Nov. 4.”

from AFP 10.22.09

Indonesia’s new govt targets 7% growth

By Stephen Coates (AFP) – 11 hours ago

JAKARTA — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday his new economic team is targeting seven percent growth by 2014, setting Southeast Asia’s biggest economy back on its pre-crisis trajectory.

On the first full day at the helm of his new cabinet, which was sworn in Thursday after July presidential polls, Yudhoyono also promised the resource-rich country’s wealth would be more evenly distributed.

“In the next five years we’ll be getting back on track. Our target is seven percent or more to improve the livelihoods of the people,” he said in an address to the inaugural session of the new cabinet.

Yudhoyono said his government had yet to work out the details of its plans but promised “development that is inclusive and just” to reduce poverty in the mainly Muslim archipelago of 234 million people.

The government has predicted growth of 4.0-4.5 percent this year, third only to China and India in the G20 club of rich and major developing countries. The economy grew 6.1 percent in 2008.

The local stock market has soared almost 80 percent in 2009, but about half the population continues to live on less than two dollars a day, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Yudhoyono said seven percent growth could have been reached this year but for the global downturn.

“Because of the economic storm, we’ve been set back,” the 60-year-old former general said.

Yudhoyono’s new coordinating minister for the economy, Hatta Rajasa, earlier said that while the government was aiming for seven percent growth by 2014, a longer-term eight percent target was “achievable”.

His comments reflect the view among many investors that Indonesia is poised to join the so-called BRIC nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — as one of the rapidly growing countries that could dominate the world economy by mid-century.

Yudhoyono was inaugurated Tuesday having won a landslide election victory in July, on promises to fight corruption and boost economic growth.

He has compiled a rainbow coalition of six parties controlling 423 out of 560 seats in parliament, but has come under fire for handing most seats to party-political figures rather than competent experts more likely to improve governance and fight corruption in the world’s third biggest democracy.

The choice of former transport minister Rajasa as economy minister raised some eyebrows, but the all-important posts of finance and trade stayed with incumbents seen as reliable technocrats.

Former International Monetary Fund senior executive Sri Mulyani Indrawati kept the finance portfolio, while Mari Pangestu stayed in charge of the trade ministry, where she has been a steady advocate of open markets.

Indonesia’s financial markets mostly welcomed Yudhoyono’s comments, with the rupiah ending the session higher at 9,435 to the dollar compared with its Thursday close of 9,540. Local stocks closed 1.43 percent in the black.

Standard and Poor’s ratings agency changed its outlook for Indonesia to positive from stable, raising hopes of a credit rating upgrade in 2010.

It said the brighter outlook was supported by an improving public-debt ratio and rising foreign reserves, which hit a record of 62.3 billion dollars on September 30, easing potential external liquidity concerns.

“Notably, these positive trends have not been derailed by the effects of the global financial market and economic turmoil of the past year,” agency credit analyst Agost Benard was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires.”

Jakarta (here’s looking at you)

photo: Subtopia

According to the wikipedia:

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the “sentiment of an invisible omniscience.”

Bentham himself described the Panopticon as “a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example.”

from: The Jakarta Post

Police launch state-of-the-art station at HI

Sat, 09/26/2009 12:05 PM | City

JAKARTA: National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri officiated a high-tech police post at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Central Jakarta, on Friday.

The eight-by-four-meter post is equipped with CCTV cameras, three online computers with digital maps, and a 29-inch touch screen LCD display, and is therefore claimed to be the city’s most sophisticated police post.

“The CCTV cameras and the computers are linked with the City Police’s traffic management center *TMC* system. Duty officers will be able to direct the traffic during the gridlock,” Bambang said.

Governor Fauzi Bowo and City Police Chief Insp.Gen. Wahyono attended the launch.

Bambang said similar posts would be built in Matraman and Pasar Rumput to tackle rampant brawls in those areas. – JP

—

Of course if this is not sufficient here comes PUNA…

—

from: FOCUS Information Agency

Indonesia plans to launch surveillance drone

“Jakarta. Indonesia plans to launch a drone plane called “Puna” next year to support national defence and monitor extremist activity, an official said Sunday.

“Puna, an unmanned small aircraft, can safely observe hard-to-reach areas. It has been tested and we’ll launch it next year,” said Surjatin Wiriadidjaja, deputy chairman of the government’s Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

“We equipped Puna with a camera and the military and the police can use it for surveillance,” he told AFP.

Wiriadidjaja said Puna could be used “to observe terrorist activities” and for other tasks such as monitoring forest fires.”

Forest Fires are one thing and terrorists quite another.

photo: Air-Attack.com

Above a  fully armed MQ-9 Reaper taxis down an Afghanistan runway.

It can easily, by its obvious appearance, handle any kind of brawl imaginable.

The problem is it can’t really distinguish a brawl from a boisterous wedding.

Hope you are not in the mandi if (or when) the “sentiment of an invisible omniscience” decides to pay a visit.

Jakarta (torching the rainforest)

Photo: Palm oil plantation. Stuart Franklin, National Geographic.

How the World Bank Let ‘Deal Making’ Torch the Rainforests

By LISA FRIEDMAN of ClimateWire

Published: August 19, 2009

The World Bank ignored its own environmental and social protection standards when it approved nearly $200 million in loan guarantees for palm oil production in Indonesia, a stinging internal audit has found.

The report, detailing five years of funding from the International Finance Corp. (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank, lambastes the agency for allowing commercial pressures to influence four separate loans aimed at developing the industry.

“The IFC was aware for more than 20 years that there were significant environmental and social issues and risks inherent in the oil palm sector in Indonesia,” auditors wrote. “Despite awareness of the significant issues facing it, IFC did not develop a strategy for engaging in the oil palm sector. In the absence of a tailored strategy, deal making prevailed.”

The report (pdf) from the office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman comes as Indonesia prepares to enter the carbon markets by protecting its tropical forests. Working in partnership with Australia, the Indonesian government currently is working to design a national carbon accounting system. Australia is building a satellite to monitor deforestation in the Southeast Asian country, according to new U.N. submissions.

Indonesia is home to the world’s second-largest reserves of natural forests and peat swamps, which naturally trap carbon dioxide — the main greenhouse gas that causes climate change. But rampant destruction of the forests to make way for palm oil plantations has caused giant releases of CO2 into the atmosphere, making Indonesia the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases on the planet.

The audit does not address climate change or how lending for palm oil — an ingredient in foods and a biofuel added to diesel for cars — fits into the World Bank’s new “strategic framework” for development and climate change. It also does not examine any of the specific charges or environmental accusations lodged against the firm to which the World Bank loaned money.

Rather, the report confines itself to whether the IFC abided by its own standards. On that front, the multilateral bank came up short.

IFC saw burning the trees as having ‘no impact’

Specifically, auditors said, when loaning to Wilmar International Ltd. and other firms between 2003 and 2008, the IFC did not check out concerns about the companies’ supply chain plantations. The Forest Peoples Programme, a U.K.-based nonprofit group that originally brought the complaint, charged that the companies illegally used fire to clear forestland, cleared primary forests, and seized lands belonging to indigenous people without due process.

The IFC, auditors noted, labeled the initial loan as a “category C” — a listing signifying that a project has little or no adverse environmental or social impacts, and which is typically given to financial intermediaries. But by failing to examine the subsidiaries that source the raw materials, IFC ignored issues like the absence of publicly available environmental impact assessments for the subsidiary companies.

“For each investment, commercial pressures were allowed to prevail,” auditors wrote. “Commercial pressures dominated.”

In a written response to auditors, the IFC acknowledged shortcomings in the review process. But the lender also defended investment in palm oil production as a way to alleviate poverty in Indonesia.

“IFC believes that production of palm oil, when carried out in an environmentally and socially sustainable fashion, can provide core support for a strong rural economy, providing employment and improved quality of life for millions of the rural poor in tropical areas,” it said.

Hunting for a ’sustainable’ strategy

The agency vowed to develop a new strategy to guide its future palm oil investments, to be completed in about three months, and to put “renewed emphasis” on assessing a company’s supply chain before lending.

Marcus Colchester, director of the Forest Peoples Programme, called that response “inadequate.”

In a letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick and the board, Colchester and leaders of other nonprofit groups called on the World Bank to freeze palm oil lending, charging that IFC suffers a “systemic problem whereby the pressure to lend and to support business interests overcomes prudence, due diligence and concern for social and environmental outcomes.”

They noted that the management response included no actions to address the problem of climate change being exacerbated by planting on peatlands and burning forests, and advised no discipline for staff that failed to comply with standards.

Barbara Bramble, a senior program adviser for international affairs at the National Wildlife Federation, said she believes the World Bank should help the Indonesian government at all levels change incentives for palm oil planting and refuse to invest in any company whose primary plantation is primary rainforest.

She, Colchester and even IMF officials widely agreed that there is in Indonesia an abundant amount of already degraded land that could be used for palm oil productuon. The challenge, Bramble said, is shifting national and local laws to encourage more sustainable production.

Meanwhile, the IFC indicated in a statement to E&E that the agency does not plan to give up palm oil investment anytime soon.

“IFC is aware of the environmental and social concerns associated with the palm oil sector in Indonesia. We also believe that the sector has considerable potential for job creation and economic growth,” agency officials wrote. “We believe it is imperative to promote sustainable practices in the sector that will benefit the poor and preserve biodiversity.”

Copyright 2009 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.

For more news on energy and the environment, visit www.climatewire.net.

Jakarta (the stoning of Miss Indonesia or The Beauty and the Beast)

I am not a great fan of beauty pageants but I do know beauty when I see it.

Here are two new stories which have just come across my Indonesia news story search.

Rather striking that they appear at the same time.

Still, I suppose (hope?) that Indonesia drags itself kicking and screaming toward some sort of modernity.

Here’s the point (in a strange sort of way):  Miss Sandioriva IS Miss Indonesia. She IS NOT Miss Aceh.

THE BEAUTY

from the BBC 10.12.09

Aceh outrage over Miss Indonesia

By Karishma Vaswani

BBC News, Jakarta

Qori Sandioriva crowned Miss Indonesia on 9 October 2009.

“Clerics in Indonesia’s conservative Muslim province of Aceh say they are outraged that an Acehnese woman has won the title of Miss Indonesia.

Qori Sandioriva, 18, won the Miss Indonesia title on Friday, beating 37 other contestants for the crown.

The clerics say that by failing to wear a veil during the competition she has betrayed her Acehnese roots and brought shame to the province.

Aceh has special autonomy in Indonesia and has implemented partial Sharia law.

It is the only province in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, that follows these laws.

Qori Sandioriva was born in Jakarta but has an Acehnese mother. Thanks to her mother’s connection to the province she was able to enter the competition as Miss Aceh.

But Islamic clerics in Aceh say she has misrepresented her region.

They say she should have worn a veil during the competition, in keeping with the traditions of her mother’s province.

Teung-ku Faisal Ali, the secretary general of Aceh’s Ulama Association, told the BBC that anyone who represents Aceh must uphold the province’s values.

He said Qori Sandioriva did not wear a veil during the competition and therefore did not represent the Acehnese people, who have strong Islamic faith and values.

When asked about not wearing a veil during the competition, Ms Sandiorova said she believed hair is beauty, and that she is proud of beauty.

The controversy is likely to return next year when she goes on to compete in the Miss Universe contest where she will have to don a swimsuit as part of the pageant.”

AND THE BEAST

(photo: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

New Indonesia stoning law is ‘torture’: rights group

(AFP) – 10.12.09

JAKARTA — A new law mandating death by stoning for adulterers in Indonesia’s deeply Islamic Aceh province advocates “torture” and should be overturned, US-based group Human Rights Watch said Monday.

“Stoning and flogging constitute torture in any circumstances,” Human Rights Watch Asia head Elaine Pearson said in a statement.

“Imposing these draconian punishments on private, consensual conduct means the government can dictate people’s intimate lives.”

The law — which also allows punishments of up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling — was passed unanimously last month by lawmakers in the staunchly Islamic region.

It has yet to be approved by the provincial governor and is opposed by the central government in Jakarta.

The law, based on local interpretations of Islamic or sharia law, is supposed to replace elements of Indonesia’s criminal code.

It allows the death penalty for a married person and 100 lashes for an unmarried person found guilty of adultery.

Human Rights Watch urged the central government and a new incoming local parliament in Aceh to overturn the law.

A foreign ministry spokesman, Teuku Faizasyah, told AFP the law would not come into effect without the approval of Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, who has stated his opposition to the law.

“Even if local government approves it, if the central government thinks it’s not in line with national law, the central government can ask it to overturn or annul the law,” he said,

“The central government wants to make it clear that the law and legislation at the provincial level should not in any way contradict the law and legislation promulgated at the national level.”

Aceh had previously adopted a milder form of sharia law in 2001 as part of an autonomy package from Jakarta aimed at quelling separatist sentiment.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia’s 234 million people are Muslim, but the country also has significant Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Confucian minorities. Most local Muslims practise a moderate form of the religion.”

Jakarta (INVASION POSTPONED! and other news)

Photo: TheStar online – Extra vigilant: Police personnel manning the Tebedu border post yesterday. – Bernama

Let it never be said that Indonesia is a nation which is lacking of interest.

You may now rest assured (at least for the time being) that the invasion of Malaysia has been postponed.  At least by a day…

From: TheStar online – Friday October 9, 2009

Indonesian group postpones ‘invasion’ of Malaysia by a day

“PETALING JAYA: Volunteer vigilante group from Indonesia Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) has postponed its “plans” to wage war with Malaysia by a day.

The group, which had conducted a “sweeping” for Malaysians recently in Menteng, Jakarta, originally planned to attack yesterday.

“They will enter through pathways that will be unexpected for Malaysian security,” he said, adding that they would not be deterred.

Mustar, however, did not give any reason why the “invasion” was postponed by a day.

The Thursday attack was to wreak vengeance on Malaysia for “stealing” their culture and abusing their maids. The group planned to attack with “primitive” weapons like bamboo spears, sticks and parangs.

In Putrajaya, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop said security forces, namely those guarding the coast, had been put on alert following threats of attacks by the Indonesians, adding that the Government took the threat seriously.

“We are on alert. Security personnel are ready and prepared to meet whatever threats that come our way,’’ he told reporters yesterday.

However, he said there were no reports of Indonesians entering the country with sharpened bamboo poles.

Police have also stepped up security at all entry points from West Kalimantan to Sarawak as a precaution.

Sarawak Police Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh said patrols by the General Opera­tions Force had been doubled, especially at the Tebedu and Serikin border posts, and several illegal trails at the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.

“So far, we have not received any report of moves by the group to enter Sarawak,” he told reporters after the Sarawak police contingent’s monthly assembly and Aidilfitri open house at its headquarters here.

Malaysian Consul in Pontianak M. Zairi M. Basri said the situation in Pontianak was calm and there were no signs of anti-Malaysia activities.

He said that based on surveillance yesterday at the Pontianak main bus terminal, which provides transportation services from Pontia­nak to Kuching, nothing unusual happened.

Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, its coordinator Mustar Nona Ventura said that around 1,300 volunteers, including 50 medical personnel, would be departing for Malaysia between today and Oct 22.”

–

And, of course, in other news the executions of ‘terrorists’ continues. I am still left with an uneasy feeling about all of this.

Specifically, why are these people not captured and brought to trial?

I think it would not be difficult to use careful surveillance and simply capture them at the store or in the mandi.

But no. It seems much more useful just to rub them out. I guess it must be a message to ‘others’.

However this makes it all quite reminiscent of the ‘petrus’ killings of Soeharto in Jakarta in the 1980s.

Just remember- if they can rub out the ‘terrorists’ this way the can rub you out this way as well.

Who needs ‘due process’?

From ABC News – 10.10.09

Police kill brothers linked to Jakarta bombs

By Jakarta correspondent Geoff Thompson

“Indonesian anti-terrorist forces say they have killed two brothers wanted over hotel bombings in Jakarta in July that left seven people dead.

The police say the two men, who were killed in a counter-terrorist raid on a boarding house in Jakarta yesterday, are linked to the dead terrorist leader, Noordin Mohammed Top.

Forensic tests are expected to confirm this on Monday.

Indonesia’s national police spokesman, Nanan Sukarna, says counter-terrorism police had no choice but to shoot dead two men they confronted at the house.

Syaifudin Zuhri or Jaelani is regarded by police as the chief recruiter of suicide bombers for the Al Qaeda-linked terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top, who was killed in a police raid last month.

Educated in Yemen, Jaelani is accused of recruiting the two so-called “bride grooms” who blew themselves up inside Jakarta’s Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels on July 17, killing seven people.

Jaelani’s brother, Mohammed Syahrir, once worked for the national airline, Garuda, and has been linked to the 2004 truck-bombing of the Australian embassy here.”