The Jakarta Globe

Different Backgrounds of Targets Leave Activists Guessing Over Bomber’s Motive

The Jakarta Globe

Pluralism and human rights activists have said that political rather than religious issues could turn out to be the main motive behind Tuesday’s bomb scares in Jakarta.


In a discussion on Wednesday, they said there was little evidence pointing to the involvement of hard-line or terrorist groups.

On Tuesday, package bombs were sent to the co-founder of the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL), Ulil Abshar Abdalla; Gories Mere, a former key officer at the National Police’s counterterrorism unit, Densus 88; and the chairman of the Pemuda Pancasila (Pancasila Youth) organization, Yapto Suryosumarno.

Representatives from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Human Rights Working Group, the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), the rights group Imparsial and The Wahid Institute, which promotes tolerance, attended the discussion.

“I doubt that the three terrorist attacks on Tuesday had a religious motivation,” said Usman Hamid, from Kontras.

“In the past couple of years, instead of an activist defending minority rights, Ulil has been known as a politician. Therefore, his position in politics can be one of the reasons,” he said.

Ulil is currently a member of the central leadership board of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party. He is known for promoting pluralism through JIL.

“If this was because of the Ahmadiyah issue only, why weren’t other moderate Islamic figures such as Yenny Wahid or other pluralism activists targeted?” Usman asked.

Ahmadiyah, the minority Islamic sect, has been targeted recently by hard-liners demanding it be disbanded because of its religious views.

Usman also pointed out that Gories and Yapto come from different backgrounds.

While the police have been targeted by terrorists in the past, Yapto is not particularly known for his public message of peace and pluralism. Pemuda Pancasila used to be a youth wing of the Golkar Party that was mobilized for campaigning and security.

“I doubt [the bombs] were from a hard-line Islamic group,” Usman said. “The hard-line Islamic groups have become so confident in their own method of attacking people by mobilizing the masses. And lately they have been supported by the government such as through the gubernatorial regulations banning Ahmadiyah activities.”

Dawam Raharjo, from JIL, said it was unclear whether those responsible for the bombs were trying to threaten pluralism activists or trying to send a message to the president.

The three package bombs sent on Tuesday were disguised as books. The first one, sent to Ulil in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, aroused suspicion and was reported to the police.

However, police officers attempting to defuse the bomb accidentally detonated it, causing one officer to lose his hand.

The second package was addressed to Gories at his office at the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in Cawang, also in East Jakarta.

The bomb was not opened and was safely defuse, the head of the Jakarta Police’s bomb squad, Sr. Comr. Wahyu Widodo, told the Jakarta Globe.

A third package bomb was sent to Yapto on Tuesday night and was later defused by the police bomb squad. 

West Jakarta’s Water-Logged Residents Have Had Enough

The Jakarta Globe

Kampung Apung, or Floating Village, in West Jakarta’s Kapuk subdistrict wasn’t always out on the water.


“When the factories began operating in the area in the 1980s, we got flooded almost constantly,” said Ira, a 67-year-old resident who has lived in the area for 46 years. “Year after year the water never fully receded, so in the 1990s we decided to build our houses on stilts.”

Kampung Apung is the name given to the RW 01 community unit, home to 118 families in the Kapuk Poglar urban ward.

A clogged storm drain that should have channeled excess water out to the Angke River, combined with dramatic land subsidence caused by the mushrooming of factories and unfettered extraction of groundwater, turned it into a rainwater catchment basin.

When major floods hit Jakarta in 2007, the area was swamped by up to four meters of water. Most of the homes, meanwhile, had only been built two meters above the normal water line.

So Ira and the other residents were forced to build new homes on top of their old ones.

“The community unit chief had the residential pathways elevated and then paved in concrete,” she said. “He also lined the paths with potted plants. Before the path was done, we were trapped in our houses. We rarely came out.”

Tourist Attraction?


The area also used to have a 100-square meter public cemetery and a funeral home. Since the 2007 flood, the home has been abandoned and part of the cemetery has become a swamp.

Risan H. Mustar, the Kapuk Poglar urban ward deputy chief, says the local authorities are trying to find a long-term solution to the state of constant flooding at Kampung Apung.

“We’ve approached different offices to help us, including the tourism office, which proposed making the area a tourist attraction,” he said.

The West Jakarta mayor’s office proposed relocating the residents and building subsidized housing in the area for low-income families.

“The problem is, the residents own the land and they are reluctant to move,” Risan said.

“Especially when the state could only buy their land at the taxable value [NJOP], which is lower than the market value.”

The urban ward head said they are turning several of the abandoned homes, all of them submerged, into catfish farms.
“We provided people with the fish spawn and tools required to run the farms,” Risan said.

“We also provided them training to promote awareness about water-related diseases such as dengue fever, skin rashes and others, and we encouraged them to apply for the transmigration program if they wanted.”

Drownings


Since 2008, the residents have also enjoyed a floating library and schoolhouse, donated by companies and nongovernmental organizations, where children can learn English, use computers and get help with their homework.

However, Syahril Hermansyah, 28, who travels to Kampung Apung from Pedongkelan in West Jakarta to teach the children, hopes to see the swamp drained because it is a health hazard.

“There have been two cases of children drowning,” he said. “This place isn’t safe for children. There should be more fences and warning signs around.”

For Mutiah, 42, who has lived in Kampung Apung for more than 20 years, the swamp holds no charm as a floating village.

“My four-year-old son drowned two weeks ago when he fell into the water,” she said. “I don’t want the same thing to happen to other people.”

She also supports the idea of draining the area, saying she cannot afford to build a new house on top of her current one if the water rises again.

“Draining this swamp would be a much better idea than giving us a floating village that doesn’t really float,” Mutiah said.

Local Hazards


Lina Novianti, 30, who has lived in the area all her life, says the filthy water becomes a serious problem when it rises and floods their homes during sustained heavy rains.

“The flooding is usually because of plastic waste clogging up the water channel,” she said. “We try to clean the area every week, but somehow the plastic waste keeps on coming.”

Lina says she has heard about the proposal to turn the floating village into a tourism attraction, but says what the residents urgently need is for the basin to be drained.

“What we really want is to live on dry land,” she said. “Besides the plastic waste and the constant flooding, there are other problems, like snakes, which are everywhere.”

Aini, 60, another long-time resident of Kampung Apung, said she hoped the government would do something about the water before residents are forced out of their homes by another major flood.

“Instead of turning this place into a floating village, it would be better if they filled in the swamp with earth so we can continue to live here without having to worry about building new homes on top of our current ones after the next major flood hits,” she says.

Heavy flooding tends to occur about every five years in Jakarta. The next large deluge is expected in 2012.

Jail Demand for Ahmadi Accused in Knife Attack

The Jakarta Globe

Bogor. Prosecutors on Monday demanded a nine-month jail term for defendant Ahmad Nuryamin, an Ahmadi accused of wounding a 15-year-old boy last October.


Nuryamin in previous trial hearings told the Cibinong District Court that he had panicked and accidentally stabbed Rendy Apriansyah.

Rendy was believed to have been part of a mob of some 200 people who on Oct. 1 burned and looted homes, schools and a mosque in Cisalada village, home to about 600 followers of the Ahmadiyah.

Prosecutor Nuraeni Aco told the district court that Nuryami was guilty of violating the 2002 Child Protection Law. “We believe that our sentence demand is appropriate. The mitigating factors include the fact that Nuryamin has never been convicted of any crime and he admitted to this crime,” Nuraeni told the hearing presided by Judge Eddy Wisono.

Nuraeni added that the defendant needed to pay Rp 60 million in fines or spend a further three months in jail.

The 35-year-old Nuryamin had previously argued that as a farmer, he carried a knife every day and that the victim had bumped into him in the confusion and darkness during the attack by a mob of mainstream Muslims on Cisalada. He said his knife had still been in its sheath at the time of the alleged attack. The trial was adjourned till Mar. 21.

The sentence demand comes a day after the Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia, or JAI, accused police and military officers in West Java of coercing Ahmadiyah members to renounce their faith, through intimidation and bribery.

Safwan Adnan, head of the West Java branch of the JAI, had said that on Friday, 40 police and military officers from Bandung, accompanied by members of the West Java branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), arrived at Ahmadiyah’s Mubarak Mosque in Bandung.

“They said they wanted to lead the Friday prayers,” Safwan said.

“They were showing off, trying to prove that they had managed to convert followers of Ahmadiyah,” he added.

The Ahmadis had rebuked the group.

On Monday, human rights organizations, including the Human Rights Working Group and the Legal Aid Foundation, called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration to investigate whether the Indonesian Military (TNI) were forcing Ahmadis to convert into Islam.

Danamon Assures Clients in Wake of Rp 3b Theft

The Jakarta Globe

Bank Danamon Indonesia sought to calm its clients on Sunday after a bank teller allegedly stole Rp 3 billion ($342,000) from deposits at an undisclosed branch.


Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya, the head of public affairs at Bank Danamon, said on Sunday that no customer of the bank would suffer losses as a result of the fraud, allegedly conducted by a single employee of the bank.
“Our banking affairs will continue as usual. The money embezzled will not affect a single one of our customers,” she said. “Our internal control system detected the discrepancy, which we believe occurred at the hands of one of our tellers.
“We decided to file the case with the South Jakarta Police,” she continued. “We will not tolerate such behavior from any of our employees. That is why we reported the case immediately to the police.”
Adj. Sr. Comr. Arismunandar, chief of the financial crimes unit at the Jakarta Police Special Crimes Directorate, identified the suspect as 41-year-old RN.
RN, according to Arismunandar, was a head teller at one of the bank’s branches and had been with Danamon since 1995.
She is accused of pilfering money from 2008 until she was caught early this year, he added.
“She did it on an on-and-off basis,” he said.
“When customers hand over their money to be deposited into their accounts, the money would normally go directly into the bank’s safe. She pilfered small amounts each time.”
Arismunandar added that the woman eventually accumulated nearly Rp 3 billion, comprising Rp 1.9 billion and $110,000.
He said the theft was only spotted during a change in leadership at the branch concerned, when the branch’s books were examined.
“When the bank conducted an audit of the cashflow books, they found that some money that should have been sent to the headquarters was missing,” he said.
After the new branch manager questioned the teller, she was handed over to police.
“We arrested her on March 9,” Arismunandar said. “We have been interrogating her since.”
Aside from the Bank Danamon case, the Special Crimes Directorate is handling six other multibillion-rupiah financial crimes, all of which were filed with the police since the beginning of this year.
The six separate financial crimes involve at least 21 suspects, including employees with at least three other Indonesian banks.
Arismunandar said police were still questioning suspects linked to an accounts officer at Bank Internasional Indonesia who was arrested recently over a suspected Rp 3.6 billion fraud.
He added that his office was also investigating people responsible for duping customers with bogus investment schemes.
Investigations are underway in the case of a woman who lost Rp 800 million after putting her money into a fraudulent investment company.
Police plan to charge the owner of the company with fraud, embezzlement and money laundering, Arismunandar said.

Police, Military ‘Intimidate’ Bogor Ahmadis to Convert

The Jakarta Globe

Police and military officers in West Java have coerced Ahmadiyah members into renounce their faith through bribery and intimidation, two groups said on Sunday.


Firdaus Mubarik, a spokesman for the Indonesia Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said he had received reports from Ahmadis across West Java that police and military officers had been visiting their homes, asking them to sign sworn statements renouncing their faith.

The allegation comes on the same day that a group of 40 demonstrators broke into an Ahmadiyah mosque in Cipeuyeum, West Java, and burned the group’s religious books.

“Police were there. The mob did not destroy the mosque or clash with the Ahmadis,” said Asep Isamudin, head of the JAI in Cianjur district.

“They burned the books and the Korans because they believe Ahmadiyah is in violation of the joint ministerial decree and the recently issued gubernatorial decree banning the activities of the sect in West Java,” he said.

Firdaus said at least seven Ahmadis previously residing in the village of Leuwisadeng, located some six kilometers from Ciaruteun Udik, the scene of an attack on Friday that damaged houses owned by Ahmadis, had relocated to Bogor.

“They were intimidated into signing a statement,” he said. “They feared for their lives.

“The village administration head also informed them that if they insisted on remaining Ahmadis, it would be difficult for them to get their ID cards processed, and to get their children an education.

“The Ahmadi villagers were also offered up to Rp 150,000 [$14)] to renounce their beliefs.”

Safwan Adnan, head of the West Java branch of the JAI, said that similar tactics were occurring in Majalengka and Tasikmalaya, both in the province.

He said that on Friday, 40 police and military officers from Bandung, accompanied by members of the West Java branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), arrived at Ahmadiyah’s Mubarak Mosque in Bandung.

“They said they wanted to lead the Friday prayers,” he said. The Ahmadis, he added, rebuked the group.

“They were showing off, trying to prove that they had managed to convert followers of Ahmadiyah,” he said.

Muhammad Isnur, from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation, said that Ahmadis in Ciareteun and Leuwisadeng were rounded up on Saturday.

“They were briefed by the Bogor Police, officers from the regional military command and the village’s ulema, among others, on the contents of the new gubernatorial decree,” he said.

Even though the decree itself is unconstitutional, he said, the Ahmadis were advised to obey.

“The Ahmadis can move out if they don’t feel safe,” he said. “The preaching at mosques has gotten worse — there are calls to kill, attack and hang the Ahmadis.”

Bogor Police Chief Dadang Rahardja said “the good news” is that seven of the Ahmadi villagers who were attacked on Friday “will declare themselves Muslim, and they decided this by their own will.”

He denied that police officers had intimidated Ahmadis. “It was only socialization. We will not force them because faith is about human rights.”

Bogor Mob Attacks Ahmadi Homes After Noon Prayers

The Jakarta Globe

Bogor. Members of the beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect came under attack again on Friday when a mob vandalized four of their homes, prompting warnings by rights groups that the persecution of the group was worsening.


The attack on the houses in Ciaruteun Udik village, Cibungbulang subdistrict, took place after Friday noon prayers.

Bogor Police Chief Sr. Comr. Dadang Rahardjo said the incident occurred when a group of seven Ahmadis, two of them women, were conducting noon prayers at the home of an Ahmadi elder, Dayat.

He said other residents grew suspicious of the activity and, soon after noon prayers at the mosque, began gathering outside the house and hurling rocks at it.

“There were about 50 to 75 people, presumably locals,” Dadang said. “They destroyed parts of the roofs and windows of four houses.” He added no one was injured in the incident and police deployed 160 personnel to restore order. However, no arrests were made.

Dadang refused to call the incident an attack, insisting it was merely a case of “rock throwing.”

“There was no attack, it was just some villagers throwing stones at the houses of Ahmadiyah followers,” he said. “Not so many Ahmadis lived there, maybe around 10 people,” he added.

However, Firdaus Mubarik, an Ahmadiyah activist, said he had received a report that the local mosque had issued a call for residents to “damage the Ahmadis.”

“And it wasn’t limited to throwing rocks at the houses,” he said. “Some people reported they were chased by the attackers.”

Firdaus said the Ahmadiyah mosque in Ciaruteun Udik had previously been destroyed by locals in 2005, forcing the members of the minority Islamic sect to worship at home. “The houses of Ahmadis that are located near the main road are also often pelted with rocks,” he said.

Ciaruteun Udik is located two kilometers from Cisalada village in Ciampea subdistrict, where the homes and mosque of a community of 600 Ahmadis were attacked last October.

Ismail Hasani, a researcher from the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy, said it was regrettable the police had refused to recognize the attack as yet another incident of persecution against Ahmadiyah.

“Rock throwing is an attack and should not be ignored,” he said. “During the Cisalada incident, the police also called it a clash.” He said the Ciaruteun Udik incident was a consequence of the anti-Ahmadiyah bylaws implemented in West Java.

“We fear this is going to get worse,” he said.

Nurkholis Hidayat, executive director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), also lambasted the attack.

“People will interpret such bylaws as a prohibition of any Ahmadiyah activity,” he said.

“This is an invitation to attack the Ahmadis, whatever they do.”

Last week an unidentified group of people exhumed the body of an Ahmadi in Bandung and left it abandoned in the graveyard shortly after his burial.

West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan this month announced he had issued a decree banning the activities of the sect in the province, following a similar move by the authorities in East Java to ban Ahmadiyah from openly displaying its attributes or spreading its faith.

Photographers Pay Kids to Swim in Pluit Dam’s Filth

The Jakarta Globe

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but for poor children willing to swim in North Jakarta’s polluted Pluit Dam, it’s actually worth money.


Almost daily, children from the area say, photojournalists and other professionals show up at the garbage-choked body of water and offer small sums of cash to entice the kids to create a moment for the camera.

For many of the children, it’s an offer they can’t refuse. Coming from the densely populated squatter slums that hug the edges of the dam, a few thousand rupiah in exchange for a few minutes’ immersion can mean a meal for the day.

“During the afternoons, people turn up with their cameras,” said Deny Saputra, a 15-year-old from the adjacent Penjaringan neighborhood. “These are professionals. They offer us money to swim. The more money they give us, the longer we stay in the water and show them what we can do in the water.”

The Pluit Dam is North Jakarta’s biggest polder, a massive 80-hectare pit of land reclaimed from the sea and blocked off with dikes to alleviate flooding. But over time it has become choked with garbage dumped by residents, turning it in a brackish pool.

Deny, who has not attended school in two years, said jumping into the stagnant water for pictures was far from enjoyable.

“I actually do not like the waters,” he said. “They cause me to itch and rashes turn up on my body. I am happy with the money I get, but sometimes I get unlucky. I have to use the money to buy cream to get rid of the rashes and the itch.”

Jahe, 15, says he earns more money from swimming in the dam than from picking garbage.

“It’s a game. It’s a bubble bath. I know the water is not sanitary at all, but then we get money for this. The [photographers] give each of us Rp 5,000 [50 cents], so we will of course swim for them. This is so much easier than collecting garbage.”

While many boys will only enter the dam’s waters today for the promise of easy cash, some residents remember when the pool was more inviting.

“There was a time when this dam contained clean water,” said Najaruddin, a longtime resident of the area. “No itching or rashes would come if you swam in it. But through the years it turned black and foul, full of garbage. This is why when the children swim, they go down slowly because of the weight the water is carrying.

“I think those kids who swim in these dams for money do not have parents who can watch them. And they swim because of photographers.”

Sukamto, a fried rice vendor, said he forbade his 13-year-old son from swimming in the dam. “I do not understand why these kids would take such a risk. It is so dangerous,” he said.

Jerry Adiguna, chairman of the Indonesian Photojournalist Association (PFI), said that photographers were always on the hunt for a picturesque moment, but that manipulating subjects or possibly putting them in harm’s way went against the PFI’s code of conduct.

“To engineer a situation for the taking of a photograph should not be done by photojournalists. What is captured is fake,” Jerry said.

“This also encourages kids to indulge in bad habits. Kids will believe that people with the camera will always be around to pay them to do dangerous things such as jumping and swimming in the dirty dam.”

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said the phenomenon was an example of blatant exploitation of poor children that must be ended immediately.

“This actually is not the only example of dangerous child exploitation which is done by adults. Officers or guards or anybody manning the banks of the dam should warn either the adult or the child that nobody is supposed to swim in that dam. It risks both life and health.”

KPK’s Hands Tied on Police, AGO Graft

The Jakarta Globe

Although the nation’s antigraft agency has arrested more corruption suspects in 2010 than in the previous year, it has been unable or unwilling to pursue cases involving police or prosecutors, a graft watchdog said on Monday.


The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has shown a “significant” improvement in 2010 over the previous year, arresting 69 suspects and handling 23 cases that caused state losses totaling Rp 619.13 billion ($70.5 million), Indonesia Corruption Watch said.

In 2009, the KPK arrested 42 suspects linked to 23 cases estimated to have cost the state Rp 420 billion, according to the ICW.

The corruption watchdog lauded the higher 2010 totals as evidence that the KPK was aggressively pursuing allegations of graft at all levels of government.

“In term of the quality, the KPK has improved their performance because instead of just handling corruption cases in the central government they have also handled corruption at the regional level.” ICW researcher Tama Satrya Langkun said.

However, the ICW pointed out that the KPK’s record when it came to investigating members of the National Police or the Attorney General’s Office was lacking.

“Other than still having 10 unsolved corruption cases, including the Bank Century bailout case during 2010, the KPK has not been able to handle corruption cases involving officers of the National Police or prosecutors,” Tama said.

Tackling such cases, he said, was urgent “so it can help accelerate the reform at the law enforcement level.”

Tama himself was hospitalized last year after being beaten by unknown assailants. The attack is believed by many to have been in retaliation for his investigation into the suspiciously large bank accounts of high-ranking National Police officers.

ICW deputy coordinator Adnan Topan Husodo conjectured that the KPK was reluctant to pursue law enforcement officials due to the likelihood of bad blood building between the agencies — the antigraft body often works with the National Police and the AGO on its cases.

Adnan said the KPK was already drawing heat from the House of Representatives after alleging 51 former and sitting lawmakers were linked to the Miranda Goeltom bribery scandal.

“Although the KPK has improved their performance by arresting members of the House and former state officials who committed corruption, they have to be careful with the possibility of the backlash from the House of Representatives,” Adnan warned.

He said the House could potentially hobble the KPK by cutting its funding or reducing its authority.

“Therefore, the KPK has to keep improving their performance so that they will not lose the public trust in their handling of corruption cases. It they do, some actors will try to use the opportunity to destroy the KPK for their own purpose, including House members.”

He pointed to the ongoing conflict between House Commission III and the KPK involving KPK deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah. The two men were named suspects in late 2009 in an extortion case widely believed to have been fabricated.

In January, they were barred from appearing at House hearings just days after 19 lawmakers were arrested in connection with the Miranda bribery scandal, leading some critics to allege the ban was politically motivated.

The case against the KPK officials has been dropped, but lawmakers have continued to object to their presence at hearings.

Interfaith Leaders Deliver Corruption Complaints to KPK

The Jakarta Globe

After accusing the government of spreading lies at the beginning of the year, the same group of religious leaders on Friday urged the nation’s antigraft body to investigate a growing number of corruption and abuse of power complaints they had received from the public.


The interfaith group delivered details of those complaints to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and also demanded the antigraft body continue to pursue all leads stemming from the case of former taxman Gayus Tambunan.

Gayus was jailed for seven years earlier this year on a graft charge.

Salahuddin “Gus Solah” Wahid, an Islamic leader from Nahdlatul Ulama, told reporters on Friday that while the Gayus case should still be a top priority for the KPK, the commission needed to focus on corruption and extortion by civil servants at the provincial and district level.

“We have received 88 complaints from the public from 13 districts and 26 percent of them are corruption cases,” Salahuddin said. “[There are also] extortion cases involving civil servant applicants.

“Other than urging the KPK to investigate Gayus’s corruption case, we also urge the KPK to investigate corruption at the provincial level, which might appear as small cases of corruption.”

He said some candidates for civil service jobs were allegedly asked to pay bribes to officials in order to have their applications processed.

Effendi Gozali, another member of the interfaith group, called on the KPK to investigate the 149 companies named by Gayus as alleged tax offenders.

Effendi was one of 25 members of the interfaith group to appear at the KPK on Friday, along with Salahuddin, NU deputy chairman Masdar Farid Mashudi and noted Muslim pluralist Ahmad Syafii Maarif.

On Sunday, political analysts said the increasing numbers of people channeling their complaints through religious leaders was a sign of distrust in the government, the legislature and law enforcement agencies.

“Society has lost its trust in the formal institutions such as the legislature and the National Police, which actually should side with the public,” said Ari Dwipayana, a political science professor at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University.

“Therefore, nowadays, religious leaders have been taking an important role in society and this should be a warning for the government to improve its performance,” he said.

KPK chairman Busyro Muqqodas confirmed to reporters after the Friday meeting that the religious leaders delivered allegations of corruption in 13 districts. He declined to elaborate on the details.

“The visit from the religious leaders to report the allegations on corruption cases which harm society shows that the public trusts us to handle corruption cases in the country,” Busyro said.

He also called for the House of Representatives to proceed cautiously during its current revision of the 2002 law on the KPK so as not to weaken the commission’s ability to fight corruption.

“I hope the politicians see that the civil society has fully supported the KPK on handling corruption cases,” he said

Cinema Official Decries Lack of Clarity Over Taxes

The Jakarta Globe


Less than a week away from a deadline for film importers to make good on two years’ worth of unpaid royalties, a top cinema official complained the government had not been clear with its regulations.

The customs office has said three importers that had not paid Rp 31 billion ($3.5 million) in royalties over the past two years could be barred from importing films if they didn’t pay or file an objection with the tax court by Saturday.

But Djonny Syafruddin, the chairman of the Indonesian Cinema Companies Association, said about 30 foreign-film importers he had spoken to claimed they had paid the necessary taxes.

“The government has not been transparent with regard to customs regulations,” he said. “The government needs to explain regulations in detail, instead of giving importers a surprise.”

The customs value of imported films was previously based on the physical length of the film roll, with each meter valued at 43 cents. The government now wants to tax royalties up front because a 2006 customs law stipulates that royalties should be included in the import-tax calculation.

The new tax is behind the Motion Picture Association’s recent move to stop the export of films to Indonesia.

Djonny said his organization would back government efforts to support the domestic film industry. “If the government wants to charge a zero percent tax on filmmaking equipment that is fine too,” he said, referring to one of the suggested tactics.

“But it has to be understood that domestic films have not been able to meet cinema needs across the country,” he added. “Therefore, foreign films are needed to keep cinemas alive.”

Djonny said Indonesian cinemas only had about two months of foreign film stock in reserve.

On Feb. 20, Jero Wacik, the culture and tourism minister, said the new tax arrangement for local and imported films would be finalized within two weeks.

Syamsul Lussa, the director of film at the ministry, said on Sunday that the tax scheme was still being discussed.

“We do not have a final result for the tax scheme,” Syamsul said. “It will be announced on National Film Day on March 30.”