Month: April 2011

Mysterious Case of Amnesia Has Police, Family Baffled

The Jakarta Globe

Lian Febriani, 26, vanishes without a trace on Thursday. Her family are at their wit’s end because the Transportation Ministry employee usually returns to the family home in Central Jakarta after work every day.


A day later, a woman wearing a full veil arrives at the At-Ta’awun Mosque in Cisarua, Bogor. She says her name is Maryam but cannot remember where she lives.

She has no identification on her but is carrying two Islamic-themed books under her arm. She tells the mosque’s caretakers she has no recollection of a past.

On Saturday, police officers contacted by the mosque question the woman and eventually ask her to write down a sequence of numbers familiar to her, hoping for a telephone number they can call.

After an intense 10 minutes of thinking, she comes up with a sequence. It is the number of Lian’s husband, Teguh.

Teguh informs the police that he knows nobody called Maryam, but says that his wife has been missing for two days.

Ever since that phone call, police in Bogor and Jakarta have been attempting to piece together the mystery of how Lian lost her memory and turned up in Cisarua with the name Maryam.

Cisarua Police Chief Adj. Comr. Iwan Wahyudi said on Monday that Lian did not recognize her husband or her in-laws when they came to see her but she remembered her baby.

She is now with her immediate family, who are trying to help her regain her memory.

Iwan said the police were looking into all possibilities and were searching the region for anyone who may have seen Lian.

“There are too many questions unanswered. It’s a puzzle,” he said. “The case is now in the hands of the Jakarta Police.”

He said that when he and his officers arrived at the At-Ta’awun on Saturday to question her, she appeared “empty.”

“She remembered nothing. She was attempting to remember but she couldn’t,” he added.

Separately, Edi Irawan, a security guard at At-Ta’awun, said the caretakers had tried their best to find out who the mysterious woman was after she walked into the mosque at about 4 p.m. on Friday and did not seem to want to leave.

“About an hour before she came to this mosque, there were five fully veiled women who got out of a car and prayed here,” Edi said. “After prayers, they looked as if they were searching for someone. They left a bit later. Not long after, Maryam came.”

Lian’s father, Lili Hambali, said on Monday that even though Lian was still unable to identify some of her family members, they were all happy that she was finally home.

He said Lian had been checked by a doctor and was found to be in good health aside from the amnesia. “ There was not a wound or mark on her body,” he added.

While the family did find the circumstances behind what happened to Lian odd, Lili said she was safe and sound now and that was what counted.

“Currently, we’re trying to focus on treating her and bringing back her memory,” he said.

“However, we are also trying to avoid bringing back memories of what happened to her when she disappeared.”

Indonesia Plans Boat Mission for Workers Stuck in Saudi

The Jakarta Globe

The government will send a ship to ferry home the nearly 3,000 remaining Indonesian workers who mostly have overstayed their visas in Saudi Arabia, an official said on Friday.


Roostiawati, head of foreign cooperation at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said it would bring home 2,927 migrant workers, the last batch to be repatriated by the state.

Earlier, the government had arranged flights back to Indonesia for more than 2,000 workers who had overstayed their visas or who were found to have worked in Saudi illegally. Some had misused their hajj permits.

Out of work and with no means to return to their homeland, thousands of these workers have been living under the Kandara Bridge in Jeddah.

Roostiawati said the Labobar, a 3,245-capacity vessel, would set sail on Sunday to pick up the workers in Jeddah. It is expected to return to Jakarta in 25 days.

The Labobar is scheduled to leave Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok harbor on Sunday at 3p.m. and is expected back in the same port on around May 2 or 3.

She said the ship would be manned by a crew of 161 people, including medical staff.

Roostiawati said the government opted to charter a ship because it was “the most efficient way.”

“With the ship, we can pick them all up at once, and we can [process their immigration documents] on the ship. Therefore, they can go directly to their hometown once they arrive in Jakarta,” she said.

“For sure, we are going to provide them with meals three times a day and also [health care],” the ministry official added.

Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said on Friday that the government would be “not be selective in repatriating Indonesian workers living under the bridge in Jeddah.”

The minister said they would be brought home regardless of their offenses.

Many of the Indonesians in Jeddah had legally entered Saudi Arabia as migrant workers, but they later ran into problems with their employers.

Others arrived there with a hajj visa, issued for minor pilgrimages to Mecca, but illegally sought work in the country. They account for 30 percent of overstaying workers, the ministry said.

“We will also repatriate the people who went to Jeddah with a hajj visa,” Muhaimin said. “All the travel expenses will be paid by the government.”

He said his office and other concerned institutions would improve the placement of migrant workers abroad, especially in the Middle East.

Wimar Gone But Metro Does Not Pull Talk Show Over Tweet

The Jakarta Globe

Television news station Metro TV says the English-language show “Talk Indonesia” will remain on the air, after a co-host alleged it was being dropped over a critical tweet he had posted.


The show aired on Saturday as usual — but without Wimar Witoelar, a former presidential spokesperson for Gus Dur who appears to have been dropped from the show without a formal announcement.

The broadcaster previously said the show, hosted by former CNN anchor Dalton Tanonaka, actress Rahayu Saraswati and formerly Wimar, would be axed as part of a revamp of the station’s weekend lineup.

On Friday, however, Metro TV news director Tomi Suryopratomo said an evaluation had been completed and the decision had been made to keep “Talk Indonesia” on the air.

“This is the nature of television as a media,” Tomi said on Friday.

“We have to evaluate our program lineup. It’s not something unusual for the media, even CNN conducts reviews of its programs.”

Tomi had previously denied a claim by Wimar that the station was considering scrapping the show because of a Twitter message that Wimar wrote criticizing what he perceived as Metro TV’s skewed coverage of the Libya conflict.

Wimar claimed the station misconstrued the criticism — which questioned why Metro TV’s editorial team was supportive of Muammar el-Qaddafi following the air strikes by Western forces, when previously he had been considered a “bandit” — as being targeted at station owner Surya Paloh.

On Friday, Wimar welcomed Metro TV’s decision to retain the show.

“I never insulted Surya Paloh in my Twitter posts. You can audit them if you want, there’s nothing in my statements that insults him,” he said.

“There’s someone at Metro TV who doesn’t want me there, so they claimed that I insulted Suryo Paloh in my tweet.

“Instead of making false accusations like that, they could have just told me nicely they no longer wanted me to be part of the team. I’d have no objections to that.”

He added he had laughed when he found out “it was Surya Paloh’s request to keep airing ‘Talk Indonesia’ out of respect for the audience.”

However, Tomi said the show was not one of the station’s more popular programs.

“ ‘Talk Indonesia’ is one program that doesn’t generate high ratings because it’s a very segmented program,” he said.

“However, it was the programming department’s decision to evaluate and develop the program, including choosing who would be the guests on the program.”

“Talk Indonesia” has tackled hot news topics each week in English since being launched in November 2010.

Tomi previously said Metro TV was aiming to present more leisurely and less serious programs on the weekends.

Foreign Spouses Granted More Residency Rights

The Jakarta Globe

Amid cheers, elation and applause, the House of Representatives passed a new immigration law on Thursday that introduced sweeping changes for foreign spouses and children of mixed marriages.


Fahri Hamzah, deputy chairman of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, spoke of a “breakthrough” as the gavel was banged passing the bill.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso called the new law “monumental,” while Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said the law was aimed at taking good care of citizens’ foreign spouses and children.

“We want to give protection to Indonesian citizens and their foreign relatives,” Patrialis said. “They are the children of Indonesia. Their [foreign] wives and husbands are part of our big family.”

The law, among other things, grants permanent residency to foreigners married to Indonesians and to their children, and allows foreign spouses to work in the country without sponsorship.

Patrialis said the law would officially become effective when ratified by the president — “30 days at the latest.”

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari told the Jakarta Globe that the law did not address issues such as property ownership related to foreign spouses. These, she said, will be dealt with in the upcoming revision of the Agrarian Law.

“But this is not a small gain. People no longer need to extend their Kitas every year and could still stay here after a divorce, provided they have been married for at least 10 years. It’s more humane,” she said, referring to the current limited stay permit that has to be renewed annually.

Isabelle Mace Panggabean, 31, said she couldn’t believe the law had finally been passed. Half-French, Isabelle has been married to an Indonesian for five years and the couple have one child.

“I was afraid that this law would never get passed,” she said. “There are too many bills, and the immigration bill seemed to get less attention.”

She said that in the past, she had been forced to go through the complicated process of annual Kitas renewal and regretted she was not allowed to work.

“What if my husband falls ill? Then I need [a job] to take care of our child,” she said.

Juliani Wistarina Luthan, who has been married to a Japanese for 15 years, thanked both the government and the House for passing the “reformist” law. She said she was happy her husband would no longer need to extend his Kitas.

Julie Mace, a representative of the International Rainbow Alliance and the Indonesian Mixed Marriage Society, said she would wait for the implementation phase of the law before passing judgement. She expressed hope that related institutions such as the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration would strictly abide by the law, especially when it came to the rights of foreign spouses to work.

Mace also said the groups she represented would in the short term monitor the government’s steps in implementing the law.

“We will keep focusing on the government motions in producing the ministerial decrees and government regulations because the new law will not work effectively without those,” Mace said, adding that the relevant decrees and regulations should be issued within a year.

“In the long term, we want to increase awareness of this law across the country, so that all state officials know and understand there is a new immigration law,” she said. It will be very important to have these stakeholders involved, she added, because only then will the new policies be implemented smoothly.

Additional reporting by Elisabeth Oktofani

In Duri Pulo Schools, Space for Libraries Is More of a Problem than Finding Books

The Jakarta Globe
In Duri Pulo Schools, Space for Libraries Is More of a Problem than Finding Books

A school library is a luxury. Just ask the students and teachers of 10 state elementary schools in Duri Pulo in Central Jakarta.   

Situated on Jalan Setia Kawan III in Central Jakarta, these 10 schools — from SDN 1 Duri Pulo to SDN 10 Duri Pulo — are built within a single complex. Each school has 240 students, but not one of them has a proper, separate structure for a library.  

The problem? Lack of space and funding. In fact, space is so limited and funding so scarce that two of the schools — SDN 6 Duri Pulo and SDN 10 Duri Pulo — already have been forced to let classes share classrooms.  

Hetdina Tobing, a teacher at SDN 4 Duri Pulo, told the Jakarta Globe that all the school could manage was to empty out one classroom and use a portion of it as a makeshift library, with the remainder serving as the teacher’s lounge.  

This, Hetdina said, is being done by each of the schools in the cramped complex. 

“We had to sacrifice one classroom for this makeshift library. Therefore, first- and second-grade students now have to take shifts studying in one classroom — first grade in the morning and second grade in the afternoon,” Hetdina said.  

SDN 4 Duri Pulo has a collection of more than 1,000 books located in a 16 square meter room on the second floor of the SDN Duri Pulo school complex. 

Nurul Amri, the librarian at SDN 4 Duri Pulo, said other than purchasing books itself every year, the schools often receives book donations from companies, foreign embassies and nongovernmental organizations. 

As the book collection keeps  growing, Nurul said he hopes to someday place them in a proper library building. 

“I hope the students get a new library, butI know it’s impossible as we do not have space for it,” he said. 

“Even though ours is only a makeshift library, so many students come and visit during recess. They can’t visit every day because the library is so small that we are unable to accommodate many students. We give them a schedule so they can visit twice a week.”  

“Most of the students are interested in books with colorful pictures, such as science encyclopedias,” Nurul added. 

“Even if we do not have a proper library, it would be very good if we could get science comic books to add to our collection and stimulate our students.”  

The Kompas daily recently reported that Ministry of Education data shows at least 55 percent of elementary schools nationwide do not have libraries.  

Alan Mulyana, a fifth-grader at SDN 3 Duri Pulo, believes that reading can help him expand his knowledge. 

“My teacher told me books are a window to the world,” he said. 

“That’s why I love to read them.” 

“Despite the fact the book is purchased with the school operational aid from the central government, we also often get book donation from other parties, including novels, encyclopedias, books on Indonesian history book or Indonesian folklore. But again, problem is space and funding,” Nurul Amri said.  

Ahmadiyah Decree Triggers Violence: Amnesty Int’l

The Jakarta Globe

Amnesty International called on the government on Wednesday to revoke the decree that bans Ahmadiyah members from proselytizing, saying the regulation was one of the primary causes for an increase in religious violence in the country.


Saman Zia-Zarifi, director of the Asia-Pacific program at the Amnesty International, said the time had come for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to get serious about tackling religious violence in the country.

“I had an open and frank discussion with the National Police chief, Nahdlatul Ulama, Muhammadiyah and church groups in Indonesia,” Saman said. “We urge Indonesia to fulfill its obligation to protect its citizens, regardless of their religious beliefs, in line with the Indonesian Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“The 2008 joint ministerial decree needs to be revoked. The country should not intervene in people’s religious choices.”

The police, Saman added, needed to publicly reiterate their commitment to protecting the rights of all Indonesians, regardless of their religious beliefs.

“The Indonesian police must ensure the trials of those who commit violence in the name of religion are free from intimidation toward victims, witnesses and their lawyers,” he said.

Last month, the Religious Affairs Ministry held a national dialog on the minority Islamic sect, where the 2008 joint ministerial decree featured in discussions.

The Indonesia Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) declined to attend the event. They complained they had too little time to prepare and only received four seats at the conference.

The results of the dialog are expected to be used by the government to decide on the fate of the sect and the controversial 2008 decree.

Meanwhile, a regional leader of one of the groups accused of leading attacks on Ahmadiyah followers, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), said he did not condone violence against the group.

“Ahmadis are human beings. They have families,” Bambang Teddy, head of the FPI in Yogyakarta, said on Tuesday. “The way to diminish the influence of Ahmadiyah is not with violence.”

However, Bambang said, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono was running out of time to issue a decree banning the activities of Ahmadiyah in the province. As a special region, Bambang said, the sultan should be able to make a decision independent of the central government.

If the sultan did not respond soon, he said, the local branches of the FPI would coordinate with FPI headquarters, led by Habib Rizieq, who has previously advocated violence against the sect.

“I’m worried that a war could break out against Ahmadiah in Yogya. I don’t want Yogya to be unsafe,” Bambang said.

VP to Lead Monitoring Of  Funds For Schools

The Jakarta Globe
VP to Lead Monitoring Of  Funds For Schools

A committee will be set up to supervise the use and much-delayed distribution of school operational funds, the government said on Tuesday. 

Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, said there was a need to ensure that the School Operational Aid (BOS) was being effectively spent by district and municipal administrations nationwide. 

“Every year the BOS funding increases, therefore there’s a need to form an education committee, led by the vice president, to monitor the BOS distribution so that it can be used effectively,” he said. 

The government has allocated Rp 248.9 trillion ($28.6 billion) for the BOS this year, which will be paid out in four quarterly installments to 497 districts and cities by the central government. The regional administrations are then responsible for distributing the money to schools in their areas. 

However, National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said 78 district and municipal administrations had to date still not released the first batch of funding, distributed at the start of the year, to schools. 

“Although the process to distribute the school funding has been slow, the government will still distribute the second batch of the BOS to the regional administrations as scheduled, including to the 78 districts and cities that have not distributed the funding to schools,” he said. 

“We have also warned the regional administrations not to be late in distributing this second batch. Hopefully the distribution [from the central government to the regions] will be finished by mid-April.” 

Nuh said the delinquent regional administrations would face sanctions for their failure to distribute the first batch of funding. 

“My ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Finance Ministry are currently discussing the financial sanctions that will be imposed on the offending administrations,” he said. 

“The size of the sanctions will depend on how long they withheld the funding after the March 15 deadline.” 

Nuh said geographic obstacles were not appropriate excuses for the tardiness. 

“In terms of geography, the schools and the administration offices are usually not located too far apart,” he said.

Show’s End Not Down To Tweet: Metro TV

The Jakarta Globe

Private television broadcaster Metro TV denied on Wednesday allegations that it had dropped a popular weekend talk show because of the critical tweets made by one of its hosts.


Metro TV news director Tomi Suryopratomo denied the “Talk Indonesia” show was dropped because of Wimar Witoelar’s criticism of the broadcaster’s Libya coverage via micro-blogging site Twitter

Wimar, a former presidential spokesman, hosted the show along with former CNN anchor Dalton Tanonaka and actress Rahayu Saraswati.

“It’s not true that we have dropped Talk Indonesia over Wimar’s statement on Twitter,” Tomi told the Jakarta Globe.

“‘Talk Indonesia’ is a weekend program, and we are conducting a review of our weekend programming because we have not reviewed it since Metro TV first started,” Tomi said.

A similar review had already been carried out on the television station’s weekday programs, he continued.

Tomi said Metro TV was aiming to present more leisurely and less serious programs for the weekends.

“We present serious programs to our audience every day. Therefore, we want to reorganize our morning to midnight programs with edutainment programs for the weekend,” he said.

He also said Wimar “is a guest on the Talk Indonesia show, so he can be replaced anytime.”

Wimar told the Jakarta Globe the problem began when he sent a Twitter message commenting on the station’s “Editorial Pagi” program.

“I said that what they said on the ‘Editorial Pagi’ show was different from what their field reporter in Libya, Andini Effendi, reported,” Wimar said.

“I said at that time, ‘How come “Editorial Pagi” is one-sided? Why is Qaddafi, who had been considered a bandit for 41 years, suddenly regarded as a hero after the air strikes? Why is the United States being blamed?’”

He said a meeting of the television station’s management found the tweet insulting to Metro TV’s owner, Surya Paloh, even though his name was never mentioned in the tweets.

Metro TV later asked him to send a tweet apologizing to the broadcaster, he said.

“There is no contract or payment for me for doing this show. OK, they gave me money for gasoline, but it’s not much. I did the show because I liked doing it and I’m a friend of Dalton. This is a laid-back show and we talk about thing,” he said.

“Talk Indonesia” had tackled hot news topics each week in English since November 2010.

Tax on Imported Films Joined by New Levy on Digital Movies From Overseas

The Jakarta Globe

Camelia Pasandaran & Elisabeth Oktofani

The long-running saga that swept blockbuster Hollywood movies off Indonesian screens took a new twist on Tuesday as the government announced it would impose a new tax on certain imported films.

Under the new proposal, the tax will only be applicable to movies imported in digital format and as such cannot be calculated based on footage, according to Syamsul Lussa, director of films at the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

“We’re living in the digital era but our tax policy is still based on the length of film reels,” he said.

“So we’re going to establish a tax scheme for digital films that will be calculated based on the running time. So for any foreign films entering Indonesia in digital format, the customs officials and importers will not be confused about how to calculate the tax.”

However, most of the movies imported to Indonesia are on film, not digital. The latter format is most commonly used for certain three-dimensional movies.

The current tax policy led to members of the Motion Picture Association deciding to halt exports of films to Indonesia.

At the heart of the issue is the calculation of the customs value of imported films, which was previously based on the physical length of each film reel, with each meter valued at 43 cents. But the government sought tax royalties up front under a 2006 customs law that stipulates that royalties should be included in the import tax.

Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said he had agreed with the finance minister on the taxation method for digital films, but had not yet decided on how to calculate it.

“It needs to be reported to the president first, because tax issues are under the authority of the president to decide,” he said.

He added that the single tax meant that motion picture importers would only be required to pay once at the customs office.

“There will be no more tax afterward or in the middle [of the movie’s run],” Jero added.

He said the new tax policy would help to protect the local film industry, which is also expected to benefit from a tax break.

Of the around 600 screens at all theaters in Indonesia, only 100 are used for local movies, the minister said, adding that he hoped to increase that number to 200 by 2014.

Southern Central Java Quake Panic

Uncategorized
Southern Central Java Quake Panic

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake rocked the southern coast of Central Java in the early hours of Monday causing widespread panic but no reported damage, officials said.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the quake, centered some 10 kilometers under the ocean floor 293 kilometers southwest of Cilacap, hit at 3:06 a.m.

A tsunami warning was issued, but was lifted about one hour later.

“It has caused panic among the local residents, who were trying to save themselves by running to the nearest higher place,” National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.  

Images broadcast on television stations such as SCTV showed people in the port town of Cilacap pouring out of their homes and congregating in streets, as well as crowding into and around the city’s bus station, which is located on high ground.

According to Agence France-Presse, when the quake struck, residents fled inland to higher ground by vehicle and on foot.

“They were all panicking and shouting ‘quake, quake,’ ” an AFP reporter noted.

State new agency Antara reported that thousands of residents of surrounding Cilacap district, which suffered 147 deaths in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami, also panicked and fled to safety.

“The minute I knew it was an earthquake, I immediately left the house. The more so as the television showed a message that it carried a tsunami risk,” said Kaem, 43, who fled with his wife and three children to higher ground from Bunto village.

BNPB spokesman Sutopo said the temblor was also felt in the neighboring West Java districts of Tasikmalaya, Garut, Ciamis, Sukabumi and Cianjur, but that there were no reports of damage or deaths.

“But as there were no aftershocks following the magnitude 7.1 earthquake, residents then returned to their houses,” he said.

Meanwhile, Doddy Ruswandi, the deputy for emergency operations at the BNPB, said that there had been one death.

“The one death was actually not directly caused by the earthquake, but because he had suffered from a heart attack.”

At least 60 earthquakes of a magnitude higher than 5.0 have struck Indonesia so far this year.