November 13, 2007 edition
Former Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi was named a suspect in the case involving the sale of two large tankers owned by Pertamina. Prosecutors do not yet know the exact amount of state losses incurred by the sale of the two vessels. Laksamana is adamant that President Megawati, his former boss at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle who appointed him SOEs Minister, approved the tanker sale, a transaction which is said to exhibit signs of corruption, collusion and nepotism.
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More Cover Story articles in other editions
November 6, 2007 edition
Religious life in Indonesia never seems to be immune from civil unrest. After the attack on the Ahmadiyyah sect last year, a mob recently burnt down the home of the founder of the Al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah sect. The followers of Ahmad Moshaddeq, a Betawi or native Jakartan, who claims to be a prophet, are on the run. The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) condemns the sect as deviant. Is it true they can be convicted for their religious beliefs? What makes these new sects so appealing that youths become their followers?
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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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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