February 14, 2017 edition
The plan of Constitutional Court Chief Justice Arief Hidayat, 61, to take some days off in his hometown of Semarang three weeks ago, was not to be. When he landed at Ahmad Yani Airport that Thursday morning, he was all set to go teach at the 17 Agustus 1945 University in the city. But a telephone call from Jakarta made him turn around and fly right back to Jakarta. But not before a journalist gave him the shock of his life, when he was asked to comment on a news report that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) had arrested one of his judges.
That evening, back in Jakarta, Arief received confirmation that Patrialis Akbar, one of the Constitutional Court judges, had indeed been arrested. The charge against Patrialis was bribery involving a judicial review of Law No. 41/2014 on Livestock and Animal Health. Patrialis, who was justice and human rights minister from 2009 to 2011, was also accused of leaking the results of the judicial review, to Basuki Hariman, a beef trader who is suspected of bribing the judge. "Here we go again, another blunder," said Arief. This is the second time Arief has gone through such an incident. The first case involved Akil Mochtar, his predecessor, who was accused of accepting a bribe over a dispute on the results of the regional chief executives' elections in 2013.
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February 7, 2017 edition
January 31, 2017 edition
When he was still the inspector-general at the Ministry of Finance three months ago, Kiagus Ahmad Badaruddin, 59, was angered by a report on a sum of Rp3 billion that had been deposited into his wife's account. It shook him, particularly since he was being considered for the position of chairman of the Center for Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis (PPATK).
That report spread to the Presidential Palace and to the finance ministry. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, who recommended Badaruddin to be PPATK chief, took a deeper look at the report. "She asked me what the money was all about," recounted Badaraddin, or Badar as he is familiarly known.
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January 24, 2017 edition
In the past few months, the nation has been besieged by cases linked to religion. They range from blasphemy, which tend to emerge intermittently, to banning the public worship of certain faiths and the celebration of religious holy days, which led to the rejection of Tengku Zulkarnain, deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI), when he attempted to arrive at Sintang, West Kalimantan, two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, as the influence of hardline mass groups like the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) grows stronger, moderate Islamic organizations like the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, seem to be distancing themselves from the government. Understandably, the public wonders whether the religious affairs minister is doing his job.
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January 10, 2017 edition
January 3, 2017 edition
December 27, 2016 edition