September 8, 2015 edition
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Sidelines
Migrants
Sidelines
The police found a truck abandoned in a remote Austrian village on the side of the highway between Vienna and Budapest. There was a putrid smell. Soon it became clear why: seventy-one rotting bodies were inside the truck. Corpses of migrants. They died most probably of suffocation, lack of oxygen where they were hiding or had been hidden, full of fear and hope that they could make it across Austria.
Doom has become routine in the lives of those who no longer have a homelandthose who travel great distances to change their fate. Just a few days before the truck was found in the village of Parndorf, 40 people were found dead in the Mediterranean, piled up in a boat that had left the coast of Libya five hours earlier headed for Italy. They had been killed by petrol fumes in the cramped, overheated engine room.
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Interview
President Joko Widodo had good reasons to send Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, 52, to meet protesting labor union members last September 1. He is, after all, well-known for his negotiating skills. "Yes, that's my job. Anyway the President was having dinner with (an association of) minibus drivers," explained Pramono.
He was sworn in to his present position as minister in charge of cabinet affairs on August 12, replacing Andi Wijayanto. In addition to his main job, based on clear-cut regulations, the President has asked him to bridge relations between the Palace and political forces. "This is not just with coalition parties but also with the others," said Pramono, in a special interview with Tempo reporters Jobpie Sugiharto, Isma Savitri, Retno Sulistyowati and Sunudyantoro, at his office, last week.
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Horizons
Indah Morgan's visit to Indonesia last August was a busy one. She not only attended the Indonesian Diaspora Congress in Jakarta and a related event in Yogyakarta organized by the Javanese diaspora, she also traveled to Bandung in West Java, to Semarang in Central Java, to Banyuwangi in East Java, and to Lampung in Sumatra.
Despite the destination-filled itinerary, Indah was not on vacation. This former global coordinator of Immigration and Citizenship Taskforce of the Indonesian Diaspora Network met with former migrant workers, activists and even government officials, such as the regent of Banyuwangi. "I discussed with him the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community," said Indah, 49, at one of the side events of the Indonesian Diaspora Congress. "Indonesia sends skilled workers to other countries not just as workers, but also as envoys of tourism, culinary expertise, education, and culture. My dream is that the government will adopt more people-to-people diplomacy for Indonesia," said Indah.
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Arts
GALERI Salihara is currently displaying scientific objects and works of art related to Alfred Russel Wallace. Among the items are a test tube containing mosquito larvae, a two-channel television installation, white and gold glazed porcelain, and a piece of organic organdy applied with artificial butterflies. These art pieces are on display alongside scientific objects such as a stuffed bird of paradise and a roll of tiger skin. However, it is the photographs lining the curved wall of the gallery that give this exhibition, titled 125,660 Natural History Specimens its power.
At first glance, the photos appear to be wall paintings. Upon a closer look, viewers can see they are photographic depictions of items over a hundred years old. There are photos of bones in transparent tubes, one of a long-horned beetle, another of an orang utan skull on a glass shelf, as well as several of stuffed birds of myriad hues. This is a major project by photographer Fred Langford Edwards. Edwards, 69, brought over his photographic works from the UK and they are on exhibition till September 15, along with several scientific objects and works of art related to Wallace at the Salihara.
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Asean & Beyond
A photo of a young woman clad in a yellow T-shirt went viral on Monday two weeks ago. With her mouth slightly agape, eyes staring straight ahead, the fair-skinned girl had her T-shirt knotted above her belly button, exposing her midriff and a tattoo. The appeal was not so much that her outfit was revealing, but that it was the Bersih 4 uniform.
'Bersih 4' was the name given to a rally organized by Bersih 2.0, a coalition of 88 Malaysian nongovernmental organizations (NGO) founded in 2007 under the name Bersih (Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections). The yellow T-shirt with the words, 'Bersih 4', was the uniform distributed by Bersih 2.0 to supporters to wear at the rally held on August 29-30. The protests demanded electoral reforms and an end to Prime Minister Najib Razak's rule.
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Environment
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has begun work on an initiative to clean up Indonesia's land-use regime, which is wracked by the proliferation of illegal land use permits. To build support for the initiative, leaders of the commission met two weeks ago with the Home Affairs, the Environment and Forestry and the Agrarian and Spatial Planning ministers.
The four bodies agreed to set up a joint team to analyze the root causes of the illegal activity and issue recommendations for reining it in.
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Opinion
It would be dangerous for the public to misunderstand the dismissal of Police Crime Investigation Division Chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso. People might see him as a victim, as if he had been sidelined as a result of uncovering the hoarding of beef, the alleged corruption of Pertamina social funds or the Pelindo II crane case.
Waseso has claimed that all his actions were purely in the interest of law enforcement. This statement appears to be in accordance with Presidential Regulation No. 71/2015 in June. This regulation, which laid down the rules for the determination and storage of basic and important commodities, is too broad in scope, covering matters from the protection of production to the management of imports and exports. As a result, many of its provisions tend to be 'flexible', allowing them to be interpreted differently depending on the interests of the person using it. It seems this ambiguity has led the police to believe they had the authority to enforce the law in the real economic sector as well. For example in the case of stockpiling beef and rice, many of the police, who may have felt the 'call of duty', ended up being involved in the 'market' from top to bottom. When Waseso was fired, the public readily jumped to the conclusion that the president had fired a man who had done no wrong and who had simply been implementing a presidential regulation.
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Indicator
THE rivers in Jakarta are in a state of severe neglect. Since Jakarta city planning is a mess and the government suffers from corruption, residents are forced to build their homes along the filthy rivers. As a result, the rivers are becoming narrower and shallower, and are buckling under the load of garbage.
River dwellers understand that every rainy season the floods will come. The Jakarta government has built high-rise buildings for them to move into, thus making it possible pursue river clean-up and normalization. It was only during the governorship of current Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama that the relocation of these riverside inhabitants succeeded. Three weeks ago, Kampung Pulo residents were relocated to Jatinegara Barat high rises.
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Letters
Laws against smoking in public places throughout Jakarta and Depok are numerous and have been in place since 2005, all of four governors ago in the Jakarta vicinity.
Yet till today, the little angkot minivans that ply the small roads leading into residential areas are replete with smokers who light up with abandon. Some even share a friendly smoke with the driver of the said public vehicle. What is a non-smoking passenger to do? The city administration should enforce the ruling that enjoins all public transportation to put up stickers informing about the ban on smoking and the sanctions smoking carries (three days imprisonment and a fine of Rp1 million).
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Outreach
According to the Global Financial Inclusion Index, Indonesia's position falls below 20 percent, lower than Malaysia (66 percent) and Thailand (77 percent). To improve conditions, the government recently amendended Law No. 1/2013 on micro-financing agencies (LKM) to give the marginalized people more access to financial services. The Financial Services Authority (OJK) was then given the mandate to formalize more than 630,000 LKM all over Indonesia so that they can comply with existing regulations.
Mohamad Ihsanuddin, however, admitted that this was not easy. "We must promote it and educate civil servants in the regencies to supervise and monitor the LKM," he said. The OJK is given until January 2016, exactly one year after the law took effect, to ensure that those micro-financing agencies have the proper licenses to run their businesses, a very challenging task for an agency that was set up only three years ago. Ihsan spoke to Tempo English reporter Amanda Siddharta at his office last week.
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National
In the past two weeks, Teten Masduki was almost never absent from the side of President Joko Widodo. He accompanied Jokowi when he launched the 2 x 1,000 Megawatt power generator project in Batang, Central Java, two weeks ago. Two days later, Teten was with Jokowi to open the President's Cup football tournament in Bali.
In those two weeks, Jokowi never gave any sign he was about to appoint Teten as presidential chief of staff. Only after his swearing in did the President convey his hopes and expectations to Teten, who was once the executive chief of the Indonesian Corruption Watch. "Pak Jokowi wants this office to really become the President's backbone," Teten told Tempo reporters Yandhrie Arvian, Sunudyantoro, Jobpie Sugiharto and Ananda Theresia at Bina Graha, last week.
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Weekly Business
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
IMF Asks Jokowi to Improve the Exchange Rate
IMF Executive Director Christine Lagarde has advised Indonesia to strengthen its fiscal policy, bolster its foreign exchange reserves, and better manage the exchange rate. She delivered the recommendations to President Joko Widodo in a meeting last Wednesday. She also praised the government's policy of reducing fuel subsidies and dedicating a larger portion of the state budget to infrastructure development.
IMF Asks Jokowi to Improve the Exchange Rate
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Economy
Reports of a plan by Medco Energy International to acquire the assets of Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indotama (TPPI) spread fast. But the following report on TPPI's intention to save the moribund refinery in East Java has been vetted by some groups in the government who are suspicious that the Panigoro family-owned company was doing the transaction on behalf of the old owner, and that is Honggo Wendratno. Honggo intends to come back through a scheme proposed by Medco.
Medco CEO Hilmi Panigoro recently straightened out some misinformation to Tempo, who met him two weeks ago at his office. "I must quickly respond to questions because news has begun to spread which I fear are wrong."
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Cover Story
ComR. Gen. Anang Iskandar was shocked by the hundreds of text messages he had received on his cellular phone on last Thursday night. The head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) had just landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after traveling for nearly 10 hours from the Fiji Islands.
Everyone had the same question: was the news of his appointment to replace Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso as the head of the National Police's Criminal Investigation Unit true? "And I thought Saud Usman was going to be the next head of the Criminal Investigation Unit as I read in the news when transiting through Hong Kong," Anang said in his office last Friday.
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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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