Month: July 2011

Wedding Party for 4,541 Couples: Is It a Record?

The Jakarta Globe

Wedding Party for 4,541 Couples: Is It a Record?


More than 4,500 poor couples will celebrate their vows next week in what is being touted as the world’s largest mass wedding reception.

A religious organization and some entrepreneurs have been organizing free weddings for 4,541 poor couples from the Greater Jakarta area every day for the past three months and now plan to gather them all for a reception on Tuesday.

Hana Vandayani, chairwoman for the Pondok Kasih Foundation, said on Wednesday that the free weddings had been organized to help poor couples obtain the proper documents for their marriage.

“It is very sad to know that many members of our society are unable to obtain marriage certificates due to their economic circumstances,” Hana said.

“A marriage certificate is really important because it is needed to get basic social and administration rights both for themselves and also their future children, including documents such as birth certificates and ID cards and also having a clear citizenship status.”

She also said that by having a marriage certificate, the married couples could also have access to social benefits such as education, health, jobs and other public services.

“The weddings had to be done gradually because it is not possible to do them all at once,” Hana said.

However, she said that the 4,541 happy couples will all gather at the Istora indoor sports stadium in Senayan on Tuesday to celebrate their wedding en masse.

Sofia Koswara, the CEO for the new B Channel television station, said the interfaith mass wedding was held to show that Indonesia is a religiously tolerant country.

“After 9/11, and some terror attacks in Indonesia, we really want to show the world that Indonesian Muslims are different. Indonesian Muslims are open minded and tolerant,” Sofia said.

She said that with the married couples coming from the various major religions recognized by the state — Islam, Catholicism, Christian Protestants, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism — the organizers wanted to show that despite being the world’s largest Muslim-populated nation, the different faiths were able to live together in peace.

“Hopefully, it can be an inspiration to other countries to implement similar things,” Sofia said.

However, Sofia said they have not been able to organize interfaith marriages because the law forbids such arrangements unless they are done with the agreement of a court of justice.

The wedding reception will be held at 10 a.m. and will be attended by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, the organizers said.

Prita Avoids Jail But Is Still Angry Over Criminal Tag

The Jakarta Globe
Prita Avoids Jail But Is Still Angry Over Criminal Tag

Prita Mulyasari was given a suspended six-month sentence on Monday that allows the mother of three to avoid jail in a controversial libel case.

The Supreme Court found Prita guilty of libeling Tangerang’s Omni International Hospital for an e-mail she sent to friends complaining about its service. But the suspended sentence means Prita avoids jail in a three-year legal saga that has outraged many in the country. 

Supreme Court Justice Salman Luthan was quoted by Antara news agency as saying that if Prita stayed out of trouble for the next year, the six-month sentence wouldn’t be imposed.

Salman was the lone dissenting voice in the court’s guilty verdict, arguing that Prita’s e-mail was valid as it was connected to her treatment by the hospital.

“That’s why it does not qualify as libel,” he said.

Prita’s lawyer, Slamet Yuwono, said that although Prita had received only a  suspended sentence, they would challenge the guilty verdict.

“We cannot accept the Supreme Court ruling and we will file for a judicial review as soon as we receive the official copy of the verdict from the Tangerang District Court,” he said.

“Hopefully, we can get the copy within 14 working days or even sooner.”

The lawyer said that despite the suspended sentence, Prita still had to carry around the stigma of being a  convicted criminal, which he said was unfair for his client.

Speaking in Bali, the minister for women’s empowerment, Linda Gumelar, offered her support for Prita. 

The minister said the guilty verdict was “regrettable” because the e-mail in question was meant as constructive criticism for the hospital.

“I hope that law enforcement officials will … deliver a just verdict that champions the vulnerable,” she said on Monday. “We don’t want Prita to have to carry around the label of criminal in the eyes of her children and family.”

Gumelar said any criticism of public  or private services should be welcomed and that Prita did not deserve her conviction.

She stressed, however, that the government should not interfere in the case, even if some officials disagreed with the court’s decision.

The verdict was met with some public anger. One supporter denounced the ruling on news radio station El Shinta, and called  for a boycott of Omni.

“So the court says the law must be upheld. I say don’t stop with Prita. I’m calling on my friends and all listeners to never visit Omni for treatment, and the hospital can sue me and the court can convict me,” the caller said, without giving his name.

“Under the standard set by the Prita case, my penalty for violating the ITE [Electronic Transactions and Information Law] is even heavier,” he said.

Elisabeth Oktofani & Made Arya Kencana

Footing the Bill: Jakarta Jaywalkers Face Rp 250,000 fines

The Jakarta Globe

For the next two weeks, pedestrians in Jakarta may face a hefty fine for jaywalking in the city streets as part of a new operation the Jakarta Metro Police and traffic comptroller kick-started on Monday. 


Police said that “Operasi Patuh Jaya,” which rigidly enforces street regulations and bylaws on all motorized vehicles and pedestrians, will run until July 24. Walkers must use designated sections of the streets for walking — zebra crossings, sidewalks and crossing bridges — or they face fines up to Rp 250,000 ($29). 

Udar Pristono, head of the Jakarta Transportation Office, said the city had already enacted several bylaws regulating pedestrians but admitted that they are rarely enforced. 

“Through this operation, we want to teach pedestrians to cross the street at designated areas,” he said at the city hall.  “Jaywalking is dangerous and endangers not only the walkers but also motorists who, in theory, are driving according to the rules and regulations.” 

Pristono said that 300 officials from the office will assist police in monitoring pedestrians on major streets.  

“Our focus is to prevent jaywalking in the first place,” he said. “If the pedestrians refuse to comply, then strict sanctions will be imposed.” Mia Amalia, a 37-year-old writer, said the government needs to improve facilities for pedestrians before imposing such regulations. 

“Basically, I will support the government action to fine whoever violates the law, but the government really must improve the facilities before urging us to use them,” she said. 

Nidya Gustianingsih also expressed similar concerns. 

“As we all can see, the pedestrian facilities are very poorly maintained,” the 29-year-old housewife said. “The bridge is rusty and it makes me worry every time I have to use it. I often think to myself, what if the bridge collapses and I fall down?  

“There are many pickpockets [on pedestrian bridges]. Instead of disciplining us, the government needs to provide us proper facilities and security.” 

Separately, Sr. Comr. Royke Lumowa, the Jakarta Police’s traffic chief, said the operation aims to deter people from violating traffic regulations and bylaws.  

More than 4,000 officers from Jakarta police headquarters and five precincts will enforce the operation with emphasis on preventative measures and verbal warnings to traffic violators.

Meanwhile, some Jakarta residents no longer have to take alternate routes to Jalan Satrio in Kuningan. The access from Jalan Sudirman, which has been closed for three months, was reopened by the Jakarta Public Works Office on Monday. Satrio, a heavily-trafficked road even by Jakarta’s standards, is cleared for use now that drilling for the Kampung Melayu-Tanah Abang flyover has been completed. 

“Thankfully, we have completed our target for three drilling jobs,” Novizal, vice director of the Jakarta Public Works Office, said on Sunday. 

“Tomorrow at approximately six in the morning, the street will be open again.” 

He added that the Public Works Office was putting the finishing touches on and cleaning up the drilling locations. New road traffic signs have also been installed. 

“All the heavier objects have been moved. Possibly by one in the morning, the street will be all cleaned up,” he said. 

Northbound access to Satrio from Jalan Rasuna Said will still be blocked, however. Novizal said work on that stretch of road was about 60 percent complete, and that it would reopen on July 21.  

The Kampung Melayu-Tanah Abang and Antasari-Blok M flyovers are part of a city government plan to ease congestion on Jakarta’s crammed roadways. They are slated for completion in 2012.

Visiting Lasama Reveals Timor Presidential Bid

The Jakarta Globe

Visiting Lasama Reveals Timor Presidential Bid

Visiting president of East Timor’s National Parliament, Fernando de Araujo has confirmed his intention to run in 2012 presidential race in his country.  


“I am going to participate in East Timor’s democracy by running as a presidential candidate in the 2012 presidential election in March,” De Araujo, who is also known as Lasama told the Jakarta Globe  during a brief stopover in Jakarta on Saturday. 

In the 2007 presidential election, Lasama took third place with 19.18 percent of the vote. He later pledged the votes he had received to eventual winner Jose Ramos-Horta.  

This time, he said, he already had support from the Democratic Party, which he chairs. “This decision was made because I want to participate in the country’s development,” he said. 

Lasama, who was jailed for six years in the 1990s while East Timor was still part of Indonesia, said there was no need to look back and be bitter about the past. 

He said it was important that ties between the two neighbors improve. 

“Although 12 years ago we used to be part of Indonesia, we do not have to look to the past. We look forward to the future. The improvement of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and East Timor is really needed, especially in the economic, education and national defense fields,” he said. 

He said there were about 6,000 Timorese currently studying in Indonesia because East Timor was not yet able to provide them with a good education system.  

“We are currently establishing the curriculum. I have to admit that the establishment of the curriculum is still deadlocked because we still lack a standardized language,” he said. 

Tetun, an official language, is an oral language and has no standardized written form.  Lasama said East Timor still relied on outside assistance. 

“As a new country, East Timor still needs UN assistance, at least until the next presidential election because there is some administration revamping which needs to be done.” 

However, he said the new country had already come a long way. 

“East Timor has produced some regulations such as the criminal code, and we have ratified some international conventions, which many countries have not yet done,” he said. 

In the Timorese presidential elections, if no candidate initially receives an outright majority, a second round of elections will be held pitting the two leading candidates against one another a few weeks after the first round. 

Incumbent Ramos-Horta has indicated he may not stand for re-election, but a final decision has not yet been made. 

Another likely candidate is Fretilin’s Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres.

Prita Prosecutor ‘Just Doing My Duty’

The Jakarta Globe

Riyadi, the prosecutor who argued the case against Prita, said on Sunday that neither personal motive nor hard feelings led him to take the case and that he was just doing his job. 


“It needs to be understood that I filed an appeal against her because I follow legal procedures and that there was no other motivation,” said Riyadi, who also handled the infamous ox-tail theft case against an elderly maid in Tangerang. 

He declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling until his office received the official copy. His boss, Chaerul Amir, said he had learned about the ruling on the court’s Web site last week and was prepared to support the sentence if it included imprisonment. 

In November 2009, when he was arguing in the Tangerang court for Prita to receive a six-month jail sentence, Riyadi said the case had become very complicated because of the thousands of people voicing opposition in a Facebook page. 

“We are handling a very difficult case because of the strong public opinion that the defendant is not guilty, regardless of the fact that the trial has not yet concluded,” he said at the time. 

“But justice must not bow to pressure just because the defendant has support from so many Facebookers or whatever.” 

Nearly 400,000 people joined a Facebook support group for Prita after her plight was reported in local and national media in 2009. 

Prita has maintained her innocence, saying that as a patient, she should have the right to make a complaint about bad treatment at the hospital. 

Supporters outraged over the result of the appeal have criticized prosecutors for bringing the Electronic Transaction and Information Law (ITE) into the case without consulting the police. ITE carries stiffer penalties for defamation — six years in jail — than the Criminal Code. 

The Tangerang prosecutor’s office has also come under scrutiny after it was revealed that the hospital involved in the suit, Omni International Hospital, had offered free medical checkups to its officials. 

Prominent Jakarta lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis suggested that the recommended sentence in the Supreme Court’s ruling be delayed until the case review by Prita was decided. 

Under the Criminal Code Procedures, a case review should not delay the imprisonment, but Todung insisted the circumstances of the Tangerang mother’s case were extraordinary. 

“Prita is using the technology that others also use to get and share information, and she must not be stopped from using it,” Todung said. “I really regret that she was found guilty because of it. It would be better if the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling were delayed until after the case review.”

Facing Prison, Prita Has Just One Question: Why Me?

The Jakarta Globe

angerang mother Prita Mulyasari, facing jail time after the Supreme Court found her guilty of libel, said she did not understand why law enforcers were so eager to go after the vulnerable while taking a soft stance on high-profile graft cases. 

“My case is just one of many small cases that prosecutors have eagerly pursued. I really find it odd that our law-enforcement officials prefer to handle small cases rather than big corruption cases,” the 34-year-old said in an interview with the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. 

“Why are things so backward in the Indonesian legal system?” 

A notice on the Supreme Court’s Web site said that Prita had been found guilty of libel under the 2008 Electronic Transactions and Information (ITE) Law for e-mails she sent to friends in which she complained about the service at Tangerang’s Omni International Hospital. 

Her protracted legal battle began when the upscale hospital reported her to police for defamation and filed a separate civil case in the middle of 2008. 

The mother of three pointed to another case in Tangerang in which an elderly maid was detained on trivial charges of stealing plates and ox tail from her employer. The maid was eventually acquitted after the trial sparked a public outcry. 

Regarding her case, Prita said the ITE Law remained contentious and had never been adequately explained.

“I don’t thing the ITE Law has ever been properly explained to people. People need to be aware that they can be charged under this law for sending private e-mails,” she said. “I had heard of the ITE Law but I didn’t understand the details of it.” 

Prita said that during her trial, even the judges and the prosecutors didn’t fully understand the law, “let alone ordinary people like me.” 

But the thing that confuses her most is just why she was such a major target for prosecutors, who doggedly pursued her case for more than two years, even after the Tangerang District Court had acquitted her of the criminal charges and the Supreme Court had cleared her in the civil suit. 

“I’m wondering if the prosecutors used their hearts when prosecuting my case, which inflicted no losses on the state whatsoever,” she said. 

“Why didn’t they just stop there when I won this case? Why did they file an appeal against my acquittal?” 

The libel case became a public issue in early 2009 when Prita was detained for three weeks despite concerns that her second child still needed to breast-feed and allegations that prosecutors had accepted bribes from the hospital. 

In that election year, many prominent figures, including former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and top officials from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, visited Prita in jail to show support. 

“I was so glad that so many people were supporting me at that time, including some prominent public figures,” Prita said. “But I just hope that their support was not merely to get sympathy ahead of the presidential election in July 2009. I hope that they really meant it and were really sincere about it.” 

Now, with a third child who is just a year old, Prita faces imprisonment again and is expected to learn the length of her sentence at a hearing today.

Sidewalk Church Protest Remains Civil Despite Odds

The Jakarta Globe

A protest in Bogor that had been expected to turn violent remained civil on Sunday as a group of people in the mostly Muslim community voiced opposition to the Yasmin church congregation holding services on a sidewalk outside of its sealed-off church. 


Global rights group Amnesty International earlier reported that the congregation had received threats from the local community that if the services did not stop by Sunday, “anarchy” would erupt. 

“In the last couple of weeks, the religious hard-line groups haven’t showed up to protest against us using the sidewalks to hold a Sunday service,” church spokesman Bona Sigalingging said. “However, there was a group of people present, even the head of my community.” 

The group did not threaten them, he said. 

“This group did not come up with intimidating banners or shouting sectarian words,” he said. “They even sang some national songs as they asked us to move somewhere else because sidewalks were not a place for worship.” 

The city government had earlier asked the congregation to move to an alternative location, the Harmoni Yasmin building, instead of using the sidewalk to avoid clashing with protesters. 

Bona said his congregation has no plans to move the service to the Harmoni Yasmin building or anywhere else. 

“They are saying the sidewalk is not a place for worship, but neither is the Harmoni Yasmin building,” he said. “We just want our church reopened.” 

The Bogor administration revoked the church’s building permit, alleging that the congregation had falsified signatures to obtain it. The Supreme Court has ordered the church reopened, but the city has refused to comply. 

“Basically, this [disturbance] is the result of the Bogor mayor ignoring the Supreme Court ruling,” Bona said. 

“If they want us to leave the pavement, let’s unite and urge the Bogor mayor to reopen the Yasmin church. It’s as simple as that.” 

Bona said police officers were deployed to secure the area and prevent clashes. 

“We really appreciate how serious the police have been about ensuring security for us while we were doing the Sunday service in recent weeks,” Bona said. 

On Friday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on attacks against minorities such as Christians and Ahmadiyah in Indonesia, shining a spotlight the violent persecution of minorities in the c ountry. 

The resolution expressed “grave concern at the incidents of violence against religious minorities, particularly Ahmadi Muslims, Christians, Baha’i and Buddhists” and called on the Indonesian authorities to repeal or revise local bylaws governing heresy. 

In June, a delegation from Christian Solidarity Worldwide returned from a three-week visit to Indonesia with first-hand evidence of increasing violence against religious minorities, particularly Christians and the Ahmadiya Muslim community, the group said in a statement. 

CSW visited churches in Bekasi and Bandung that had been forced to close, and it met with pastors who faced increasing harassment, threats an d attacks

Hey Fans, Fancy Harry Potter And the Flight to Singapore?

The Jakarta Globe

Hey Fans, Fancy Harry Potter And the Flight to Singapore?


As London fans bade farewell to the world’s most famous boy wizard at the premiere of the final Harry Potter movie on Friday and worldwide audiences queued for tickets, film-starved Indonesian fans were busy organizing trips to Singapore.


“I followed Harry Potter from the first movie until ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,’ and I always watched the films several times in the theater,” Shafiq, a coordinator for the 6,000-strong Indo Harry Potter online community, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.


He said there was no way he wouldn’t watch the eighth and final film of what is arguably the most successful Hollywood franchise on the big screen as well.


And so he and a number of other members of the fan club, ditching original plans for a costume premiere party complete with wands and black robes, will travel to Singapore next week in time for the Thursday premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” in the city-state.


Warner Bros., the producer of the blockbuster series, is one of six major Hollywood studios under the Motion Picture Association of America whose films have not been screened in Indonesia since Feb. 17, when a dispute with the Indonesian government prompted a foreign-film boycott.


The Finance Ministry has announced a new tax scheme meant to resolve the dispute and head off the drastic slump in ticket sales since the Hollywood film boycott started, but it has maintained a ban on two major film importers — Camila and Satrya — until Rp 22 billion ($2.6 million) in back taxes and interest was paid.


The importers, both under the 21 Cineplex group, have been responsible for bringing in MPAA films. Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik has said the problem now is the MPAA only wants to deal with importers with which it is familiar.


A sign of hope was the recent granting of a license to a new importer, Omega Film, which Jero said was also under the 21 Cineplex group. Group spokesman Noorca Massardi has consistently declined to comment throughout the entire negotiations.


But as it seems a resolution to the long-running problem won’t come in time for Harry Potter’s Indonesian fans to formally bid the series farewell, fans like Shafiq are not taking any chances.


“Watching it once isn’t enough for me, I need to watch it at least three times,” he said, adding that he would wear his Indo Harry Potter T-Shirt in Singapore. “And I also plan to watch another movie there that cannot be seen in Indonesia.” 

Activists Cry Foul at ‘Lenient’ Prosecutors in Ahmadiyah Trial

The Jakarta Globe

Rights activists expressed outrage on Thursday over the light jail terms sought for suspects in the deadly attack on Ahmadiyah followers in Banten in February, saying such leniency would not deter future violence.


“There is a lack of seriousness from law-enforcement officials in handling sectarian clashes, and this could pose a danger to national unity,” said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the deputy chairman of the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy.

His remarks came shortly after prosecutors at the Serang District Court in Banten recommended sentences of between five and seven months for 12 defendants accused of having a role in the Feb. 6 attack in Cikeusik subdistrict. Three followers of Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect, were killed in the attack and five more were seriously injured.

“The seven-month demand is really weak,” Bonar said. “This was because the prosecutors saw the case as a spontaneous incident instead of a systematic attack.

“More than that, pressure from outside groups during the trial was also a factor in the weak sentencing demand. The state failed to provide adequate protection for prosecutors and judges during the trial.”

He was referring to the defendants’ vocal supporters who have crowded the courtroom throughout the trial.
Bonar said trials involving sectarian clashes needed the same high level of security provided for terrorism cases.

The prosecution was also criticized by activists for failing to charge the defendants with incitement of hatred, which carries a heavier maximum punishment.

“The prosecutors didn’t prepare the sentencing demand based on the evidence and the magnitude of the crime,” said Haris Azhar, the executive director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

“They should have seen this as a very serious case because [the attack] occurred because of hatred spread by certain groups of people,” he said.

“It is clear to see that there is a lack of courage and ability on the part of the prosecutors to bring the hatred issue to trial, while [inciting hatred] is a very serious and important issue.”

The defendants have been charged with crimes ranging from provoking violence to assault. Still, the lesser of the charges, provocation, allows punishment of up to six years in jail.

Meanwhile, prosecutors have said the sentencing recommendation was light because the group of 25 Ahmadis involved in the incident was believed to have played a part in provoking the attack.

Prosecutors said the evidence showed members of the banned sect not only provoked the riot, but also filmed it and distributed the videos.

Sentences of seven months were sought for 10 defendants, while sentences of five and six months were sought for two others during the marathon hearings in Serang, the capital of Banten.

Rp 823b DPD Building Plans Draw Suspicion of Corruption

The Jakarta Globe

Rp 823b DPD Building Plans Draw Suspicion of Corruption

Anticorruption watchdogs accused the Regional Representative Council of budgeting Rp 517.2 billion ($60.5 million) more than necessary for their planned regional offices on Thursday.

The council, also known as the DPD, is in the process of building 33 four-story regional offices across several provinces at a total cost of Rp 823 billion, a sum that was approved in the 2010 state budget.

However, Firdaus Ilyas, Indonesia Corruption Watch’s budget coordinator, said the DPD had requested exorbitantly large office rooms for its members, leading to the project’s high price tag.

“According to our calculations, the DPD office building only needs a 1,799.55 square meter space, while they requested an area as large as 2,747.25 square meters,” Firdaus said.

“Each representative does not need a 100 square meter office [as was allocated], but only 16 square meters.”

The smaller space, he said, would drastically reduce the total cost of construction to Rp 305.57 billion, or an average of Rp 9.3 billion per building.

“Based on our calculations, DPD DKI Jakarta, for example, would only need Rp 9.8 billion,” Firdaus said.

ICW researcher Apung Widadi said the glaring markup should be a signal to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate whether there is corruption behind the DPD’s building plan.

House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie has slammed the project as exorbitant, noting it had a higher cost per square meter of development than a planned office tower built in Jakarta for legislators, which the legislature was forced to shelve following a massive outcry over the Rp 1.13 trillion price tag.

DPD representatives could not be reached for comment on Thursday, but DPD secretary general Siti Nurbaya has said that the plan to construct the new buildings is based on recommendations made by the Ministry of Public Works, and a markup would therefore be impossible.

The DPD is ready to be monitored by the KPK, DPD deputy speaker La Ode Ida said.