August 5, 2014 edition
REGRETTABLY, the Trans Sumatra Highway remains nothing more than a plan in the last days of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's presidency. There has been no directive to act as a legal umbrella for the construction of the 2,771-kilometer freeway, despite the plan having been included in the Yudhoyono administration's Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Economic Development.
Without this legal umbrella, the project to link Aceh with Lampung faces an uncertain future. The source of the funding is unclear, and the government has not managed to convince the House of Representatives (DPR) on the importance of developing this piece of infrastructure. The DPR has refused to authorize the disbursement of state funds for the project last year and this year.
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January 1, 1970 edition
IT is not difficult to explain the rise of a new phenomenon in Indonesia's electoral history, and that is the massive participation of volunteers during the recent presidential election.
First, president-elect Joko Widodo was the only candidate facing an opponent who represented a dark past: Prabowo Subianto, the former son-in-law of the late President Suharto, but who is better known for his dubious human rights record.
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January 1, 1970 edition
THE clumsy move by a few members of the House of Representatives (DPR) should not be a cause of concern to the management of state radio station Radio Republik Indonesia. This overreaction was nothing more than a final attempt at a show of force in the midst of attempts to understand the confusion of determining the way the political wind is blowing. In other words, this maneuver was an attempt to try their luck.
Using the excuse of lacking in common sense, the chair and vice-chair of DPR Commission I bragged that they would summon the RRI executive director to "demand an explanation". The public broadcaster was seen as being 'hasty' in organizing and broadcasting the results of a quick count that it carried out during the July 9 presidential election. According to some legislators, broadcasting the quick count adversely affected the neutrality of RRI. The question of funding was also raised as it involved the State Budget.
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July 15, 2014 edition
THE contest should have ended. According to the quick counts of seven credible survey groups, Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla won the presidential election by about 5 percent over their rivals Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa.
The provisional victory, which still needs to be verified by the General Elections Commission (KPU) on July 22, was enthusiastically welcomed. We should rejoice that one day after the election, the stock index went up by 73 percent, the highest since the campaign began. The rupiah exchange rate gained 52 points, the best throughout the election period.
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January 1, 1970 edition
With its mandate as the state auditor, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), should spearhead the fight against the misuse of state funds. In carrying out their duties, auditors should work like detectives: seek what is hidden, investigate what has not been revealed.
But this was not carried out when the BPK examined the 2013 financial report of the West Java provincial government. Instead of uncovering major abuses, the BPK issued a finding of 'proper without exception', the highest category of such an examination.
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July 1, 2014 edition
THERE has never been a presidential contest as boisterous and heated as this one. The two candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo, along with their running mates, Hatta Rajasa and Jusuf Kalla respectively, have divided the people into opposite camps: us and them.
This polarization has become more acute with the amplification on social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Path and Instagram have become the campaign media that know neither time nor place. Every second, every minute, 24 hours a day, netizens from all corners yell out their views: support, praise, criticism, slurs, insults and even character assassination. Information and disinformation fill the air. People may have already decided who to vote for, but their choices may not be based on common sense or accurate information.
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January 1, 1970 edition