July 14, 2015 edition

Angga Dwimas Sasongko received rather disturbing news at the end of last year. The organizers of the CinemAsia Film Festival 2015 in Amsterdam had disqualified his film, Cahaya dari Timur: Beta Maluku (Lights from the East: I Am Maluku). "Because [the film] had already been pirated and could be viewed on the Internet," said the Indonesian Film Producers Association board member last Monday.
At the time, he knew the festival committee was not just bluffing. Angga understood that almost all international festival organizers tightly screened films seeking to participate. These festival organizers would immediately reject films already illegally shown on the Internet. Before Angga heard the news that his film had been disqualified, he was already aware that The Raid by director Gareth Evans, for instance, had not been shown in several countries because the film had already been uploaded to free download sites. "This is an example of how cyberspace piracy is impacting the film industry," Angga said.

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More Law articles in other editions

July 10, 2015 edition

LAST Monday morning dozens of unknown people arrived together and began shouting in the grounds of the regent's office on Morotai Island in the North Maluku. They burnt old tires of various sizes in the compound, which had just been used for the office staff's morning roll call.

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July 7, 2015 edition

The residents of Temon Subdistrict can now breathe more easily after defeating Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X at the State Administrative Court [PTUN]. "We reject the construction [of an airport] on our land," Martono, coordinator of Paguyuban Wahana Tri Tunggal [the Trinity Community Forum], an organization formed by Temon locals, told us last Wednesday.

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June 23, 2015 edition

The man on the telephone confirmed that Thailand would defeat Indonesia in the semifinal of the SEA Games Singapore 2015. "If not 3-1, then 4-0 or 3-0," the Malay-accented man told Balbalan Sakti-not his real name-on Saturday two weeks ago. Balbalan had telephoned the man he knows as 'Das' several hours before the match between the two countries was set to start.

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June 16, 2015 edition

At the morgue at Denpasar's Sanglah General Hospital, an officer gazes at Hamidah, who is waiting to identify the body of her missing child. "Are you sure you're ready?" the officer asked her last Friday. She nods.
As he unzips the body bag, the face of a young girl comes into view. It is Angeline, Hamidah's daughter. "Who did this?" Hamidah wailed, bursting into tears. "They too must die."

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June 9, 2015 edition

Repeated phone calls at 2am one night in early August last year finally woke Alex Usman. The caller, a messenger acting on behalf of Fahmi Zulfikar, a member of the Jakarta City Council (DPRD), was waiting in front of Alex's house. The man, who identified himself as Erwin, asked Alex, now a suspect in a corruption case involving the supply of electricity storage units, to immediately go outside.

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June 2, 2015 edition

The weekend party at Venue in Kemang, South Jakarta, usually ends around 3:30 in the morning, when the music is shut off, and the house lights flicked on. Such was the case when Jopi Teguh Lasmana Peranginangin, an environmental and rights-based activist, and a group of his friends left the club Saturday two weeks ago.
"As we began walking out, some people started shouting 'Finished. Out, out!' at us," said Mario Franklin Kossim, Jopi's friend, on Tuesday last week.

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