November 10, 2015 edition
Since Indonesia gained its independence seven decades ago, one seemingly unsolvable problem has been rice, the national staple that has become, over the years, both an economic as well as a political commodity. Governments come and go, but inevitably all of them have had to face, at one time or another, the challenges of efficiently managing the supply and demand of rice.
It is fair to say that issues concerning rice or the price of rice, to be exactcan make or break a government. According to the Central Board of Statistics (PBS), the price of rice this year has increased by 12 percent, and a World Bank study estimates that every 10 percent increase in the price of rice adds 1.1 percent to those falling below the poverty line. The results of this latter study lead us to the conclusion that the successes of the poverty reduction program could be wiped out simply by an increase in the rice price. In other words, the government's target of reducing the poverty rate from 11 percent in 2014 to 9.5-10.5 percent in 2015 could turn out to be a vain hope.
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More Opinion articles in other editions
November 3, 2015 edition
There has been no evidence that money has passed into the hands of the leader of NasDem Party, a member of the ruling coalition. But the testimony of North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho and former Nasdem Secretary-General Patrice Rio Capella chargess that Surya knew about the bribery. Surya's message to Patrice about being 'careful' shows his blessing or secret approval of the transaction.
The story began with the arrest in July of three judges from the North Sumatra State Administrative Court, by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Nabbed along with them was the court clerk nd an advocate from the law firm O.C. Kaligis & Associates. The judges were caught red-handed accepting a bribe from Mohammad Yagari Bhastara, aka Gerry, an attorney. The bribe was paid so the judges would favor Gatot, who had filed a lawsuit against the Attorney-General's Office (AGO) for questioning him over the social assistance program in his province.
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October 27, 2015 edition
The banning of Lentera, a student magazine, by the Salatiga Satya Wancana Christian University authorities was an overreaction. This type of ban should not happen at a university, which should uphold academic liberty and freedom of expression.
The university leaders said that they had banned the edition of Lentera published at the beginning of October because the editorial team had not consulted them beforehand on the contents of the magazine with the cover story titled 'the Red City of Salatiga'. In addition to sounding contrived, this reminds us of the 'censorship tradition' common during the New Order regime. Furthermore, the university authorities only asked for the magazine to be withdrawn after meeting with the mayor, the police and military officials in Salatiga, Central Java.
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October 20, 2015 edition
The vandalism and burning of the Indonesian Huria Christian (HKI) churches in Aceh should shame our country's leaders. As the administrators of the state, they have once again failed to preserve interfaith harmony. And this is not the first time.
The violence broke out last Tuesday. A group of people came to the Deleng Langan HKI Church at Gunung Meriah, Aceh Singkil. After vandalizing and burning the building, they moved on to the Pakpak Dairi Protestant Church in Dangguru, 10 kilometers away. But the church was being protected by the security forces. Violence broke out, resulting in a person being killed. Around 4,000 inhabitants of Singkil fled across the provincial border seeking safety in Central Tapanuli.
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October 13, 2015 edition
The battle being waged by former tax director general Hadi Poernomo can pose a serious threat to our attempts at eradicating corruption. He has already reduced the authority of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators through a pre-trial hearing over a corruption case at Bank Central Asia. Hadi won, and his status as a suspect was revoked.
Now he has taken the finance ministry's inspector general to the State Administrative Court (PTUN) over the same case. By initiating lawsuits left and right, Hadi's games are becoming somewhat inane. His son, Aryadi Jaya, has also reported Hadi Rudjito to the police for making a false statement. Rudjito was the inspector general at the time of the investigation. The police issued an investigation order document on July 3.
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October 6, 2015 edition
The government's pride should not get in the way of importing rice if we really need to do so. There must be no fear of being accused of failing to achieve the self-sufficiency target. Forget self-sufficiency for a while, the fact is that we are still unable to prevent shortages of our main staple food. So, there's no other way but to import rice, if it's necessary. Importing would not mean being against local farmers. The interest of the public, particularly those in the lower rungs, those who are vulnerable to the rise in the prices of basic needs, must be made a priority.
The price hike resulting from the rice shortage has been really felt in the past few months. Since mid-year, the price of (medium) rice has inched up from Rp9,000 per kilogram to Rp10,000 last week. The drought in a number of areas caused by El Nino has made the situation worse, thus hiking the price of rice last month.
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September 29, 2015 edition