October 16, 2007 edition

Large banks are competing to enter the Shari’a banking business. However, the growth of assets is still low.

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More Cover Story articles in other editions

October 9, 2007 edition

They wanted to find a path to God. They discovered new methods to guide their students to a deeper understanding of Islam. Solihin Bunyamin Ahmad and Taufiqul Hakim, for instance, followed in the footsteps of Iqra’—a very popular method to learn how to read the Qur’an in Arabic. Solihin came up with a fast way of translating the Qur’an. Meanwhile, Taufiqul made easy the studies of boarding school students, who have always had years of difficulty understanding Arab texts without the vowel marks. Now they can do it in just six months thanks to his Amtsilati method.
Time marches on. They live in an era with advances that are determined by the market. They realize that they generated a lot of interest, and their findings also had a business dimension. Consequently, they must pay millions of rupiah to take part in Abu Sangkan’s “concentration in prayer” training. Even those on the path seeking approaches to God are raking in untold amounts of money from the religious community.
Do they fall into the category of those selling God’s verses? Here is Tempo’s report.

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October 2, 2007 edition

FOR the past 42 years he has been remembered with feelings of hatred, yet with astonishment. Dipa Nusantara Aidit was only 31 years old when he led the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He only needed a year or two to make the PKI one of the top four political parties in Indonesia. The PKI claimed 3.5 million supporters at that time, which would have made it the largest communist party in the world after the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Aidit dreamed of a revolution, envisioning a classless Indonesian society. However, he was undone by the cataclysmic events of 1965. After that, he became a myth. Just like the events of the September 30 Movement, known in Indonesia as the G30S, the stories about him are filled with myths and tales. Who was the real Aidit?

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September 25, 2007 edition

THE United Nations and the World Bank named Suharto as the world’s top corruptor. This announcement was based on data from Transparency International, a world body which tracks down illicit funds.
The two world bodies have also established the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative, under which they are going to assist the Indonesian government in tracking down Suharto’s wealth, regardless of its location.
The success of this program depends on the political will of the Indonesian government. However, there is one fact which may dishearten us: at home, investigation into the Suharto criminal case has been stopped. Of the 10 corrupt individuals named by the UN, Suharto is the only one who has not been declared guilty by his own government.

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September 18, 2007 edition

The Indonesian Supreme Court decided in favor of Suharto in his lawsuit against Time magazine. The weekly news publication has also been ordered to publish an apology in a number of media and pay the former Indonesian President the sum of Rp1 trillion in compensation.
Time was found guilty on two counts. Accordingly, an illustration in the magazine depicting Suharto hugging a large house constituted defamation, because the house reportedly did not belong to him. Time’s report citing a transfer of US$9 billion of Suharto’s money from a bank in Switzerland to an account in Austria could not be proven.
This verdict over creativity and journalism clearly spells a death knell for freedom of the press. But to Suharto (and his Cendana family) who currently faces the prosecutor’s civil legal case over his wealth, the Supreme Court decision must come as a welcome relief.

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September 11, 2007 edition

PRESIDENT Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono formed the Illegal Logging Response Team in the Province of Riau. Over the past eight months, the police have carried out a war against illegal loggers in this province, famous for its sailboats. Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban, who is said to be close to a number of timber dealers there, accused the police of overstepping their authority: clamping down on businesspeople licensed to operate in the forestry business, and threatening the viability of the paper and pulp industry.
The forest in Riau is already bare. At least 3 million hectares—out of some 5 million hectares—of forest area in this province is now treeless. In addition to charging about 250 people as suspects, the police have also confiscated a “mountain of timber” or about 1 million cubic meters in the Gaung River, Indragiri Hilir. A number of giant paper factories are suspected of involvement in the operations of a deforestation “mafia,” causing the state to lose trillions of rupiah. The following is Tempo’s report from a forest in Riau.

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September 4, 2007 edition

SUSPICIONS of bribery by Bank Indonesia of a number of members of the House of Representatives (DPR) have been heard for some time. In 2003, an outlay of the bank’s Rp31.5 billion was discovered to have ended up in the DPR, in order to safeguard the bank’s interests. An audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) uncovered the method and the cover-up.
A Tempo source explained how BI’s money to the DPR was part of a project to improve the bank’s image. The reputation of the central bank had been tarnished after a number of its top officials went on trial for corruption charges linked to the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) program.
The project to improve the bank’s image involved legal experts, DPR members and the media. BI fully defended their officials charged with corruption, spending a total of Rp100 billion on the project. How was it all carried out? The following is the result of Tempo’s investigation.

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