October 23, 2007 edition
The news from neighboring Malaysia has not been pleasant of late. A border dispute caused both sides to put their battleships on alert, followed by a furor over a cultural heritage. Today, migrant workers are causing political tension between our two ethnically similar societies. And why are Malaysian militia members targeting Indonesians visiting their country?
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More Cover Story articles in other editions
October 16, 2007 edition
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