December 22, 2015 edition

IN Aceh, lashings are given for almost all transgressions by the general public. The unemployed who like to play dominoes, if unlucky enough to be caught gambling, can end up getting the cane. Public lashings also go to couples caught in the act.
It is, however, a different story for perpetrators of severe crimes such as corruption. Since the Islamic sharia law came into effect in Aceh, not a single provincial regulation, or qanun, required corruptors to be caned. The backs of people abusing state funds seem to be spared from caning.

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More Law articles in other editions

December 15, 2015 edition

The bill entitled Tindak Pidana Penyelenggara Peradilan (Criminal Offense in Court Affairs) circulated among limited circles of the House of Representatives (DPR) legislation board members. "Not everybody received (the document)," said United Development Party (PPP) politician Arsul Sani Tuesday last week. Arsul is one of the DPR members who got hold of the draft.
Arsul received the document from another faction member who lobbied him to support the inclusion of the draft bill in the 2016 National Legislation Program Priorities. Arsul said a number of judges also lobbied other members of the legislation board. "I rejected their request," said Arsul.

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December 1, 2015 edition

Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama repeatedly excused himself to go to the bathroom, his way of keeping his temper in check during a grueling, hours-long interrogation by the Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) investigation team.
The BPK had questions regarding the Jakarta government's 2014 purchase of land for the Sumber Waras Hospital in West Jakarta. "Whenever I started to get angry, I chose to go to the toilet rather than create another problem," Ahok said on Thursday last week.

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November 17, 2015 edition

Demand that the government accept responsibility for the 1965 atrocities is being revived. "They burned my body with cigarettes," Tintin Rahayu told the courtroom at Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, the Netherlands, before pausing to compose herself. "In the interrogation room, I was beaten, and at camp in the military headquarters in Cebongan, (Sleman, Yogyakarta), I was trampled on." As Tintin began to sob, the courtroom fell silent.
Tintin was one of many witnesses to testify at the International Peoples' Tribunal 1965 in the Netherlands last week. Organizers said the event aimed to expose the gross human rights violations that occurred following the events of September 30, 1965, as well as highlight the implications for victims of violence.

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November 10, 2015 edition

THE seven-page circular was supposed to be an affirmation of the procedure for handling hate speech cases already regulated under existing laws. But the reaction to the document signed by National Police Chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti on October 8 has since been telling a different story.
Until last week, a number of academics, rights activists as well as freedom of expression advocates continued to question Circular No. SE/6/X/2015. "I didn't expect there could be such a response," said Badrodin on Thursday last week.

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November 3, 2015 edition

One clause sticks out among the hundreds of others in the draft presidential regulation on the organizational structure of the Indonesian National Military (TNI). Only after scrutinizing the draft did a defense commission member of the House of Representatives (DPR), Tubagus Hasanuddin, see it. "There seems to be a new twist in the law," Hasanuddin said on Thursday last week.
The clause is at the end of Article 7 of the draft regulation. Comprising three paragraphs, the article contains sentences and punctuation marks that essentially duplicate Article 7 of Law No. 34/2004 on the TNI. "It's an opening for the military to go beyond its principal duties without supervision," Hasanuddin added.

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October 27, 2015 edition

Renaldi Bandaso did not talk long with the four men he was there to meet at Baji Pamai restaurant in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, last week. Arriving empty-handed, Renadli, a personal assistant to House of Representatives (DPR) member Dewie Yasin Limpo, left the restaurant carrying a white plastic bag.
As Renaldi exited, he was met by several Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officers. Neither he nor the four men had time to make an escape.

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