September 20, 2016 edition

President Joko Widodo should have the courage to impose a moratorium on the death penalty. With our legal system in chaos, there is a high probability that the wrong people can be victimized.
The case of Zulfiqar Ali is an example of the dangers of the death penalty. The Pakistani citizen was almost executed by firing squad on July 29 along with narcotics boss Freddy Budiman and his associates. But Zulfiqar was neither a courier nor a drug dealer. In 2004, he was arrested merely because he was a friend of Gurdip Singh and bought a Jakarta-Surabaya plane ticket. The official statement from Patrialis Akbar, the justice and human rights minister during the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, that Zulfiqar was innocent, counted for nothing.

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More Opinion articles in other editions

September 13, 2016 edition

The state must not show any sign of weakness in addressing land and forest arsonists. There must be better coordination among the authorities.

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September 6, 2016 edition

The government has issued a new regulation for the implementation of the tax amnesty program. It should focus on major tax evaders as its prime target.

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August 30, 2016 edition

No one can blame prospective Indonesian haj pilgrims who tried to reach Mecca via the Philippines. There may have been fraud, and for those responsible, the law must take its course. But these operators were simply trying to make use of an opportunity unavailable in their own country. Rather than wait for years to make the haj, they found a way in a neighboring country.
There is no choice but to join the lengthening waiting list because the number of people wanting to make the pilgrimage increases every year. Their chance of actually leaving is limited by the capacity of the Holy Land to take in pilgrims. Every year, only around two million people can undertake this great act of worship. Saudi Arabia, which is responsible for managing the haj to the Holy Land, gives Indonesia an allocation of 200,000 pilgrims.

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August 23, 2016 edition

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August 9, 2016 edition

The change in policy is erratic. At the end of last year, Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman banned the import of offal, arguing that it was animal feedunfit for human consumption. Now, in an about-face, he is allowing imports of offal because it is a public necessity.
In another odd move, the agriculture ministry said that offal was being imported to help reduce the price of beef. This, too, has not happened. The price of beef is still around Rp120,000 per kilogram. The problem is that offallungs, liver and heartis clearly different from other cuts of beef, so importing it has no effect on the domestic price of beef.

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August 2, 2016 edition

Telecommunications network sharing is being hampered by the fear of competition. Regulations should disallow monopolies.

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