November 18, 2014 edition
One thousand and three hundred pages worth of lawsuit dossiers were flown from Aceh to Jakarta in early October. The papers were carried by Muhammad Nur, director of the Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) of Aceh, and his peers Cut Mirna, Syafruddin and Muhammad Syahputra. On October 9, Muhammad Nur delivered documents relating to the lawsuit against Qanun (Bylaw) No.19/2013 on the Aceh spatial plan by to the secretariat of the Supreme Court. "Here's the duplicate," said Nur, showing a pile of documents as thick as a pillow to Tempo.
Walhi alleges that Aceh's new spatial plan violates a number of laws and enable harm to its environment and forests. The plan was greenlighted by the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) on December 27, 2013, and enacted on March 3. But Walhi said it conflicted with 11 other laws and several regional regulations. These include Law No.11/2006 on the Aceh Administration and Law No.26/2007 on the National Spatial Layout.
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January 1, 1970 edition
The chill blowing from the air conditioners failed to absorb the 'heat' of a discussion at the Riau governor's office on Friday two weeks ago. Representatives from six regency administrations and 15 plantation companies were tense as the results of an extraordinary audit into forest and land fire compliance were announced. "Nearly all those present showed dismal faces," Mas Achmad Santosa, the law enforcement monitoring deputy at the Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4), told Tempo last week.
The audit results painted an ugly picture of the performance of the companies and regencies. Fifteen companies whose land had caught fire early in the year got negative report cards, with the predicates 'disobedient' and 'very disobedient' written on them. Of the six regency administrations in Riau, four were deemed 'less obedient'. Only two regencies received positive marks: Bengkalis ('obedient') and Siak ('fairly obedient').
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January 1, 1970 edition
The findings of a joint investigation of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police Headquarter (Polri) on a bloody clash in Batam, the largest city in Riau Islands province, have been released. On Tuesday last week, spokesmen from the two security forces held a press conference at a neutral location: the office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.
Major General Fuad Basya, head of the TNI Information Center, said two soldiers had been moonlighting as security guards at a warehouse that was hoarding fuel and was raided by police. However, according to Fuad, the soldiers were not there on the orders of their superiors. "They didn't even know that the fuel in question was illegal," Fuad said during the press conference.
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January 1, 1970 edition
UNDER Andhi Nirwanto, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) special crimes division investigated some strange cases. Some seemed to include no actual corruption. Indosat Mega Media 2 (IM2) and Chevron Pacific Indonesia were two of these. With Chevron, Andhi's subordinates were blamed for ignoring the fact that the energy company had carried out a waste management technique known as bioremediationsomething that, the AGO contended, just did not happen.
Meanwhile, other cases in which corruption seemed more likely to have occurred ended with discontinuation of investigation (SP3) orders. One case implicated East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek. He was declared a suspect in the Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) divestment case in July 2010. Three years later the AGO issued an SP3 for Awang.
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January 1, 1970 edition
On Saturday early morning last week, it was deja vu in Aceh: just like in 2009, a plenary session attended by half of the members of the local parliament ratified the Qanun Jinayat. If signed by the governor, the qanun, or regional regulation, would become the basis for Acehnese criminal law. Five years earlier, then Governor Irwandi Yusuf had declined to sign the law.
Tengku Ramli Sulaiman, chair of the Aceh House of Representatives (DPRA) Commission G on Religious Affairs, said the latest Qanun Jinayat would apply to non-Muslims in Aceh "as long as jarimah(acts forbidden by Islam) are not governed by the KUHP (penal code)."
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September 23, 2014 edition
Hundreds of attorneys crowded around the Hotel Indonesia Roundabout fountain in Jakarta. Dressed in flowing black robes with white bands around their necks, they had not gathered for a trial. On Thursday morning two weeks ago, the leadership and members of the Indonesian Advocates Association (Peradi), who had come from around the country, were staging a protest. They are opposed to a draft law on advocates now being discussed at the House of Representatives (DPR).
Peradi has been strident in its rejection of the law. Their opposition began around two years ago, when they became aware that the law would be included in the 2012-2014 National Legislative Program. "We are happy with the current law. The proposal being discussed by the DPR will undermine the independence of advocates," Otto Hasibuan, chairman of Peradi's executive board, said on Friday last week.
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September 16, 2014 edition