August 26, 2014 edition
Sidelines
There in that former internment camp, I stepped into the yard of the old prison that the colonial government built for political prisoners in the 1920s: it was narrow, barbed wire on the walls, and with underground cells where the most difficult prisoners used to be locked up. Under the hot sun and in the stifling heat of Boven Digul, which in no way resembled a 'pretty village', how did those prisoners manage to survive?
I trembled, for a moment. Was my father once locked in this very prison? I could not imagine it. I never heard his story. He was exiled to this godforsaken place along with my mother having been imprisoned and held under house arrest after the 1927 rebellion. I was born nine years after they were sent back to Java. Father never got a chance to talk much to me about his past: he was executed by Dutch soldiers when I was only five. Mother was too busy bringing us up. What stuck from Digul in our family was something wordless: one of my older brothers was born in that place of exile.
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Interview
JOURNALISTS covering Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as Ahok, are aware that whatever he says can become headlines. No other public official has a way of saying things that make it eminently quotable.
But Ahok's direct and open way of talking is not to everyone's liking. He has made enemies, and he is bound to make many more following the Constitutional Court's verdict that rejected the appeal last week by also-rans Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa and reconfirmed the election of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as president and his running mate Jusuf Kalla as vice president. Automatically, this paves the way for Ahok to ascend to the capital city's top executive job.
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Word Watch
Jennifer Lindsay*
Over the past couple of months I have been translating a book that frequently refers to compass points. The words for the four cardinal points I do not have to think about (utara, north; selatan, south; timur, east; barat, west), nor tenggara for southeast because it is so familiar from Asia Tenggara for Southeast Asia, but the words barat daya, barat laut and timur laut for southwest, northwest and northeast, stump me every time. After all these years, they just don't stick.
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Arts
Held for the first time since friends of Saparinah Sadli founded the award to seek women leaders in the spirit of its namesake a decade ago, the event was held on July 16-17 at the Cemara 6 Gallery and Museum in Central Jakarta, graciously made available by its owner Toeti Heraty. It attracted more than 50 visitors, many of whom were friends of the organizers who had managed to navigate the horrendous traffic jams that prevented many others from coming to the show in those two days.
Following the spirit of balance that the award advocates for gender justice, the show included female and male artists, including Astari Rasjid, Dolorosa Sinaga, Iriantine Karnaya, Diah Yulianti, Laksmi Shitaresmi and Wara Anindiyah. There were also a younger generation of artists whose works are being influenced by new findings and materials of the time in which we live; these included Aditiya Novali, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Angki Purbandono, Agan Simatupang, Entang Wiharso and Willis Turner Henry. Also participating were Hermandari Kartowisastro, a late bloomer in photography, and Debra Yatim, better known as a journalist and activist. Other artists included the late Darmadji Satiman and Yayak Yatmaka.
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Science & Technology
Monsanto has been involved in Indonesia for more than 25 years, beginning in 1987 with the Roundup brand of agricultural herbicide. Our business has since expanded to include DEKALB hybrid corn varieties: DK77, DK979, DK85, DK95, DK888 and DK999, offering farmers with superior yield performance and served to more than 650,000 farmers across Indonesia," the company boasts on its website.
But it had looked suspicious when the highly praised seeds, 40 tons genetically modified Bollgard cotton seed, some 12 years ago arrived for the first time with a Russian Ilyusin transport plane in Makassar under the heavy guard of Indonesian military personnel. Reporters were asked to back off. "People should not worry about the negative impact of the crops," Monsanto's communications manager Tri Soekirman said. "There have been no complaints from the U.S., South Africa, China and Argentina (where genetically modified cotton has been grown)."
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Asean & Beyond
North Korean foreign minister Ri Su-yong made his debut on Asia's biggest diplomatic stage at Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw on August 10. Ri, 79, who was appointed in April, attended the 21st ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), followed by visits to four neighboring Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries: Vietnam, Laos, Singapore and Indonesia. Ri, a career diplomat with more than 40 years experience , was known as a 'minder' of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when he studied at the international school in Switzerland in the 1990s. After Kim rose to become the North Korean leader in December 2011, Ri served as ambassador to Switzerland. Later he was appointed as foreign minister after the power reshuffle, which saw the persecution of the National Defence Commission vice-chairman Jang Sung-taek, the number two man in the Kim Jong-il regime.
"It's Ri's first attendance at an international forum as foreign minister. So there's high media attention on the North and South Korean two new foreign ministers' meeting with diplomats from the region," BaekSeong-taek the South Korean ambassador to ASEAN told Tempo English two weeks ago. During the ARF meeting, Ri held talks with representatives from Japan, Malaysia, China, Mongolia, and Burma, but did not sit down with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se.
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Column
Dewi Anggraeni*
Indonesia, my native country, has just turned 69. As it happens every year, I became sentimental. I have now lived over half of my lifetime-happily-in Australia, frequently spending time in Indonesia. I still have, embedded in my psyche, attitudes I associate with living in Indonesia. For instance, I respect age seniority-though I must say as a sexagenarian there are increasingly fewer people senior to me nowadays-and a certain degree of chaos does not perturb me as much as it does my Australian relatives. A certain degree, I've had to emphasize, because the Indonesian version of queuing, or not queuing rather, drives me senseless. Interesting to see how a people usually so well-mannered and courteous turns instantly unscrupulous in front of a manned table, window or anything from where they have to obtain something.
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National
The meeting at the Golkar Party's office at the House of Representatives (DPR), held after lunch on Wednesday last week, was opened by Aziz Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of the Golkar Law Commission. In attendance were politicians from the six parties who supported Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, in the recent race for president. The meeting was to discuss the draft standing order of the DPR. Invitations were sent out from the cellphone of Setya Novanto, the chairman of Golkar's faction in the DPR, two days in advance.
After two hours, the meeting closed with an agreement that the draft standing order was to be taken to the DPR Consultative Board. "It's slated to be ratified in a plenary session on Tuesday next week," Hasrul Azwar, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Faction, told Tempo on Thursday last week. The standing order is derived from the Laws on MPR, DPR, DPD and DPRD (MD3), one of which regulates the election of the DPR speaker.
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Opinion
THE effort to replace Nur Pamudji, the CEO of state-owned electricity company PLN, at the end of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration is not a wise move. The dismissal proposed by State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan seems to be rather hasty.
In two months, president-elect Joko Widodo will be inaugurated to replace Yudhoyono. If Nur is seen as unsuitable to head the company, let the new government replace him. Jokowi should be given full authority to determine policy related to the Rp604 trillion company.
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Indicator
DURING President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration, gasoline prices have risen four times and dropped once. Changes in the policy have always drawn widespread criticism because the issue touches the heart of Indonesia's economy. Last time around, to compensate for raising the price of oil-based fuel (OBF), the government distributed a monthly Rp150,000 to every poor household.
Now the government has moved to trim the subsidy by decreasing consumption, because raising prices are feared to carry a risk of bringing about social unrest. Since the enactment of the policy in July, no Premium gasoline can be bought at gas stations on toll roads. In Central Jakarta, stations are forbidden to sell subsidized diesel fuel.
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Outreach
The habitats of elephants in the jungles of Sumatra continue to shrink as more and more land is converted for crop cultivation. It is the primary reason why elephants attack people and vice-versa. To mitigate injury to these pachyderms, Dr. Ali Rizqy Arashy, 30, Conservation Management Coordinator for WWF Indonesia has been heading teams of elephant 'rescuers'. Consisting of members of the jungle police, mahouts (elephant caretakers), the public and the Forestry Office in Riau and Lampung profinces, the team has managed to place GPS (satellite-based Global Positioning System) collars on groups of wild elephants. Tempo English reporter Amanda Siddharta interviewed him in Bogor, three weeks ago. Excerpts:
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Law
FOR THE Constitutional Court, the situation was unprecedented: here the justices were, pleading with a judicial review applicant to cancel his request.
"I was troubled as I read this request," justice Patrialis Akbar said at the hearing on July 16. "There has never been such a case."
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Economy
Through its subsidiary, Medco Tunisia Petroleum Limited, Medco Energi Internasional (MedcoEnergi) acquired Storm Ventures International, a Barbados company operating in Tunisia. MedcoEnergi spent US$127.7 million (Rp1.49 trillion) of its internal funds to obtain all of Storm's shares. "This transaction will add to our overseas assets portfolio and support the company's future growth," MedcoEnergi CEO Lukman Mahfoedz said after signing the acquisition agreement in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
Storm is a subsidiary of Chinook Energy, listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada. The purchase gives Medco control of eight oil and gas fields, which include four exploration blocks, two development blocks and two production blocks. Five of these reside on land while the others are situated offshore, and they all have a concession time of either 30 or 50 years. The acquisition floor price amounts to US$114 million, with the rest of the funds to be used as working capital.
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Cover Story
FOR almost a year, Hamdan Zoelva has only managed to sleep five hours a day. As the chief justice of the Constitutional Court he has had to bear the consequences of his predecessor Akil Mochtar's actions. Last year Akil was arrested, tried and sentenced to jail by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "Many people don't trust the Court anymore," said 52-year-old Hamdan.
Akil was guilty of accepting bribes from regional chief executives whose elections were in dispute. He was arrested in early October 2013, in the process of receiving money from Hambit Bintih, district chief of Gunung Emas. The case shook the Court. When Hamdan took over, public trust in the judiciary was at its lowest.
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Tempo Talks
Improving Connectivity, Boosting Cooperation
This year, Indonesia and India mark 75 years of diplomatic relations. However, the ties between the two nations have existed much longer, predating the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of India. These connections span social, cultural, religious, economic, and trade aspects. But do those close ties of the past have any bearing on the present relationship? Why is there no direct flight between the capitals of the two countries?
Indian Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor-Leste, Sandeep Chakravorty, shares his views on this matter at TEMPO TALKS.
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