December 23, 2014 edition

THE massacre of children by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Peshawar last week proves once again that fanaticism and radicalism always ends in cowardly and sacrilegious acts. In the vile attack, 132 schoolchildren and nine teachers were shot dead and 125 others were injured, including some members of the rescue units. The victims were mostly aged between 10 and 20 years of age.
Army Public Schools and Degree Colleges, the educational institutions run by the military, are in a rather vulnerable position. Most of the students are children of members of the military. Peshawar is the capital of Pakhtunkhwa province in the Khyber mountains, an area that has seen much violence in northwestern Pakistan, which borders Afghanistan. This area has long been suspected as the center of Tehreek-e-Taliban activities. According to victims who survived, the attackers spoke in a language they could not understand, implying the attack could involve militia groups found in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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More Opinion articles in other editions

December 16, 2014 edition

THE more corruption cases are exposed in the oil and gas sector reveals the chaotic situation the industry is in. The corruption case involving SKK Migas (oil and gas regulatory unit) chairman, Rudi Rubiandiniwhich has now involved othershas revealed new cases, among them those involving the Bangkalan DPRD (Regional House of Representatives) Speaker, Fuad Amin Imron in the fake Letter of Credit (L/C) case of Innovare Gas at the East Bontang block in East Kalimantan.
There is irony in this. Indonesia clearly needs additional oil production because fuel consumption keeps increasing. With production likely to become stagnant, the increasing consumption has prompted Indonesia to import crude oil and fuel in fantastic volumes. As a result, the oil and gas trade always shows a deficit. In 2013, the deficit on oil and gas reached US$12.63 million (Rp152 trillion). In the past 10 months alone, the cost has soared to Rp130 trillion.

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January 1, 1970 edition

ONE of the troubling outcomes of the recent Golkar Party Convention in Bali is not only the reelection of Aburizal Bakrie for the next five-year term, but the convention's recommendation to the Golkar Faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) that it reject Presidential Decree (Perpu) No.1/2014 on the Elections of Regional Executives. The decree was issued by former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono toward the end of his term, in order to 'salvage' the government's image.
Yudhoyono was the first president to be directly elected, twice consecutively in fact, but at the end of his termwhen he was still chairman of the Democrat Partythe House of Representatives (DPR) at a plenary session voted that regional and local elections should be carried out by indirect voting. Because of the sharp public reaction, Yudhoyono tried to return the regional and local elections back to direct elections through two presidential decrees. One is Presidential Decree 1/2004 on the rules and regulations on holding elections, and the second is to withdraw Law No. 22/2014 on the Elections of Governors, Regents and Mayors. The second decree is aimed at scuttling Law No. 23/2014 on the Elections of Provincial Leaders.

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January 1, 1970 edition

PRESIDENT Joko Widodo should not have sent out the letter to his ministers instructing them not to respond to the House of Representatives' (DPR) summons to appear at the legislature. Although the letter was classified as secretwhich was later declassified verbally by the president himselfthe instruction should nevertheless be questioned.
The letter signed by Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto dated November 4, 2014, was addressed to the cabinet ministers, the TNI chief commander, the National Police chief, all the military branches' chiefs of staff, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief and the acting attorney general. Stressing that the letter was restricted and not for general distribution, there was no indication on how long the instruction applied. "The [contents of] letter must be immediately implemented until further notice by the president," read the letter. This seems to have been the cancellation that Jokowi had conveyed last week.

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January 1, 1970 edition

THE call to fight the oil and gas syndicate has been launched once again, this time by the government of President Joko Widodo. This is good news, especially since Energy Minister Sudirman Said will be joined by the new chief of the Upstream Oil and Gas Business Task force (SKK Migas), Amien Sunaryadi and the newly appointed chairman of the Oil and Gas Management Reform Team, economist Faisal Basri. We have high hopes that this formidable trio will be able to stop, or at least minimize, the mafia's actions that have caused immense losses to the state. Amir and Faisal are known as fierce fighters of graft and corruption.
Battling corruption in a business as massive as oil and gas is unlikely to be achieved by one or two persons. SKK Migas, for example, handles the sale transactions of state oil and gas, to the tune of Rp300 trillion annually. This does not include the recovery costs of another Rp100 trillion. Such a profitable crime is sure to involve a strong network of people from different backgrounds. Unfortunately, we get the impression that this syndicate has been 'allowed' to remain mysterious and far from the reach of the law. So far, we have not seen genuine efforts on the part of the government to reveal, let alone to impede their activities.

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November 18, 2014 edition

THE prestige of President Joko Widodo, which soared at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Beijing, China must not be squandered. This moment should not end merely with memoranda of understanding between Indonesia and prospective investors, but must be followed up with concrete measures.
Jokowi was a star in Beijing. Heads of state and business figures all wanted to meet the former furniture entrepreneur. His speech was uploaded to YouTube, and was watched more than 210,000 times, more than the speech by US President Barack Obama. Speaking in simple English, Jokowi explained about Indonesia's plans for the next five years: construction of roads, ports, agricultural facilities and other infrastructure. At the end of his speech he urged international businesspeople to invest in Indonesia.

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November 11, 2014 edition

USING anonymous accountsconcealing their identities to cover their crimesthey take advantage when information comes like a flood, inundating social media sites. Using the microblogging site Twitter, they spread controversial stories to attract attention. Although these stories are often a mix of fact and fantasy, some followers actually believe them.
Twitter, which only allows postings of up to 140 characters, has significant power. Besides being a social network, it can be used for social movementsfor example when it was used to mobilize people to defend the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) when it fought the police in 2012. Information on Twitter is often referred to by the 'conventional' media.

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