December 29, 2015 edition
Chuck Suryosumpeno will find it hard to forget the Attorney-General Office's (AGO) memo he received on December 4, 2015. The memo, accusing him of bypassing his superiors and disregarding his obligations as state prosecutor, was delivered that evening to his Maluku AGO office by courier. As a result of the memo, Chuck lost his job as the province's chief state prosecutor.
The issue was how he handled Hendra Rahardja's assets in 2011 and 2012, when Chuck headed the Task Force for the Disposal of Misappropriated and Other Confiscated Goods. Hendra's assets consisted of three properties located in Jatinegara, East Jakarta; Puri Kembangan, West Jakarta; and in Bogor, West Java. "A week later, I was accused of misappropriating them," Chuck told Tempo two weeks ago.
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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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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