Yudhoyono ‘Regrets’ Fatal Attack on Ahmadiyah

The Jakarta Globe

As an attack on an Ahmadiyah community in Banten that left three dead was met with widespread condemnation, a spokesman on Sunday quoted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as merely “regretting” the incident.


Some 1,500 residents attacked 25 Ahmadiyah members who had refused to leave the house of a local group leader in Umbulan village, in the Cikeusik subdistrict of Pandeglang, at around 10 a.m. on Sunday, National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said.
Three members of the minority Muslim group were killed and six others injured in the attack.

“The president regrets that there were victims during the incident,” said Julian Aldrin Pasha, a spokesman for Yudhoyono. “Steps should be taken against those who violated the law.”

Julian said Yudhoyono had ordered Timur and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali to go to Umbulan and also to explain the incident to the public.

“The government condemns whoever is behind violence against any Indonesian citizen,” said Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

Djoko promised a thorough investigation into the incident.

But he also called on the Ahmadiyah community to “respect the joint [ministerial] agreement signed in 2008,” referring to a decree banning the sect from worshiping in public and spreading its beliefs.

Condemnation of the attack came from political parties, social organizations and rights groups, including the House of Representatives faction of the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Ansor youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic organization in the country, the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace and the Wahid Institute.

The Wahid Institute said in a statement that it “strongly condemns” the attack, and that “this incident once again showed how security personnel failed to protect citizens.”

It called on Yudhoyono to take action. “Do not say in speeches that Indonesia protects religious freedom and then, when there are violations of religious freedom, stay silent and pretend like nothing happened,” it said.

The PKB House faction also “strongly condemned” the violence in a statement and lashed out at the assailants as “immoral human rights violators who acted contrary to the peaceful principle of Islamic teachings.”

It demanded that the attackers be arrested.

Setara urged the central government to take serious action following the attack. It also blamed the violence against the Ahmadiyah community on an edict issued by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and on Suryadaharma, who has repeatedly voiced his desire to see the sect banned.

“The state should be firm, not weak, and not let any group or civilian militia disturb and disrupt the calm and peace,” Ansor chairman Nusron Wahid was quoted by Kompas online as saying.

Timur said the violence occurred as police were trying to get 25 people who had holed up in Ahmadiyah leader Ismail Suparman’s house to leave.

“We arrived and asked them to vacate the house but they refused. At the same time, some 1,500 villagers showed up and then the incident occurred,” he said. “I assure you that we shall really investigate this case.”

Malingping General Hospital told the Globe that all the victims had been stabbed and beaten by blunt objects.

Student’s Dreams Crushed After Thrown From Train

The Jakarta Globe

Ardi Rizki Yozho had just turned 17 and thought that his dreams were coming true. He loved trains and was proud to be the only student in his entire school to have secured an internship with state railway operator Kereta Api.


But today, Ardi lies in a hospital bed, his right leg amputated below the knee.

A week after turning 17 last month, he was thrown out of a moving freight train by a couple of cellphone thieves. His leg was crushed and beyond saving.

As fate would have it, Ardi had boarded the freight train even though he had bought a ticket for the passenger train to Bekasi, where he lives and studies.

“For some reason, I decided to board the freight train because it had arrived earlier than the KRL [electric train] heading to Bekasi,” Ardi said from his bed at Sumber Waras Hospital in West Jakarta.

A student of an automotive vocational senior high school in Bekasi, Ardi explained that he had been interning at KA for just a week in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, when the incident occurred on Jan. 25.

“One of my dreams was to become a train mechanic. To enhance my knowledge of trains, I had even joined a community of rail lovers here — the Komunitas Edan Sepur Indonesia,” he said, adding that he had also suffered serious injuries to his head as well as his left ankle.

Nevertheless, Ardi said he had accepted his fate and, following his recovery, hoped that KA would allow him to complete his internship. “Although I have lost my right leg, I still want to work as a mechanic at KA and I want to finish my internship at KA Tanah Abang,” he said.

“This has been my dream job since I was a little boy. But I don’t know whether or not I can really do it at this point.”

Ardi said that on the day of the incident, he ran into three other people hitching a ride aboard the freight train. “I was listening to music on my cellphone,” he said. “One of them asked me for a lighter. I lent it to him.

“The other two passengers suddenly approached me and told me to hand over my cellphone. I just ignored them, but they didn’t like that.”

Ardi said the next thing he knew he was being punched and kicked to the point that he blacked out. He doesn’t remember what happened after that.

“When I came around, I found that I was in the hospital. And that my leg was gone,” he said.

Zuhro Arsad, Ardi’s 56-year-old mother, has been at her son’s bedside since he was brought to the hospital by residents who found him unconscious near the rail line in Pasar Ikan, North Jakarta. The residents also contacted Zuhro.

“No police helped my son at that point. It was local residents who took the initiative to bring my injured son to a nearby hospital in North Jakarta with the help of a truck driver,” Zuhro said. “They had taken him to Atma Jaya Hospital in Pluit. It was the nearest one.”

She said that doctors had immediately operated on Ardi’s head injuries and tried to save his leg, but the next day the leg had to be amputated.

She said she was terrified about telling her son about his leg. “The doctor told me it was better that Ardi find out himself as it would be better for him psychologically. So, I didn’t say a word until he found out by himself,” she said.

Zuhro, who, like Ardi’s father, is a retiree, said that for now all the hospital bills were being covered by state health insurance, or Askes, which covers treatment only in state-run hospitals. However, there was still medication that they needed to pay for out of their own pockets.

“While Ardi was in the emergency room, we spent more than Rp 50 million [$5,500]. Although some of the expenses are paid for by Askes, we still need to pay some of the medication expenses by ourselves, which costs about Rp 1 million a day,” Zuhro said. “We will make an effort to pay all the medical expenses because all we want is to see Ardi get better. We will also find a way to send him to university.”

KA spokesman Mateta Rizalulhaq said he could not yet confirm the incident, but explained that if Ardi had been on the freight train illegally, state-owned insurance company Jasa Raharja would not cover his medical bills.

“If Ardi was a KRL passenger, then he could make a claim to Jasa Raharja,” Mateta said. “However, if he was an illegal passenger [on the freight train], then it will be difficult to make an insurance claim.”

Meanwhile, Egief Del Haris, a member of Komunitas Edan Sepur Indonesia, said he regretted Ardi’s decision to hitch a ride on the freight train, although he understood that passenger trains to Bekasi were not very regular.

“Actually, we really want to help Ardi in this case but, unfortunately, he didn’t take a KRL even though he bought the ticket,” he said, adding that the group, which has more than 2,000 members across the country, actively discouraged riding illegally on freight trains.

“We just hope that a similar accident will not happen to anyone else,” he said.

“It is just not right to take a freight train.”

Texting Defendant Sparks Courtroom Etiquette Debate

The Jakarta Globe

Bogor. Legal experts on Thursday had mixed reactions to the failure of a courtroom and its judges to take any action against a criminal defendant seen texting as well as reading text messages during the course of his trial.


Aldi Afriansyah, one of three defendants standing trial for destruction of property and inciting violence during an October riot in Bogor, was seen checking his mobile phone and texting on a number of occasions during the course of Wednesday’s trial.

At one point during the hearing at the Cibinong District Court, Aldi stuffed his cellphone, which had been on a vibrate mode, into his trouser pocket, before pulling it out again and reading a text message.

Aldi, along with 18-year-old Dede Novi and 17-year-old Akbar Ramanda, is accused of being part of a mob that burned down houses, schools and a mosque at the Bogor village on Oct. 1, home to 600 members of the Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect.

Criminologist Adrianus Meilala from the University of Indonesia said that if judges, prosecutors and lawyers did not respect correct courtroom procedures practiced by a majority of courts worldwide, one could not expect criminal defendants to be any different.

“Using a mobile phone during an ongoing trial hearing is forbidden. But unfortunately, this is very common in Indonesia. In this trial, a defendant was witnessed being preoccupied by his cellphone while a witness was giving testimony. In other courtrooms across the country, you can find judges, prosecutors and lawyers busy with their phones during trial hearings,” Adrianus said.

“It is clear that people here have lost respect for the Indonesian courtroom. It is very different with courts in other countries such as Australia or the United States, where courtroom procedures are highly respected. No cellular phones. No cameras. No talking [among courtroom audiences] during an ongoing trial.”

Criminologist Mohammad Irvan Olii, however, offered a different opinion. He said that as long as the use of the cellular phone during ongoing trial hearings did not produce sounds or had its ring tone switched off, using the cellular phone was allowed.

“As long as the phone doesn’t disrupt trial proceedings, it’s not a problem” Irvan said.

Besides, he said, the use of cellular phones had not been regulated in the Criminal Code Procedures.

“If the [sitting] position of the defendant is not directly facing the panel of judges, which means that he or she is not testifying at that point, the use of a cellular phone is fine,” he said.

Legal expert Andi Asrun said he had expected the presiding judge to issue warnings to everyone inside the courtroom to close their cellular phones, pointing out judges too were not allowed to use their cellular phones during an ongoing trial.

“The presiding judge should have warned the defendant because his conduct violates courtroom discipline,” Andi said.

After three unheeded warnings, Andi said, the defendant could be charged.

“He could even end up with a higher sentence for interfering with the trial hearing.”

He said courtroom visitors are also often a problem.

“They are sometimes supporters of the defendants and cause a ruckus. They should follow the hearing in order.”

Following Wednesday’s hearing, as the case has been in at least two previous hearings, a throng of anti-Ahmadiyah protesters called out and attempted to block the safe exit of witnesses to the attack.

IMF Sounds the Alarm on Inflation

The Jakarta Globe

Accelerating rises in Asian consumer prices, especially the soaring costs of energy and food, may require central banks to raise interest rates further to limit the risk of overheating in their economies, the International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday.


Inflows of capital to the region are helping to drive prices even higher, the IMF’s managing director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said in Singapore, warning that this could lead to social upheavals.

“In Asia, recent rate actions were the right decision — though more may be needed,” he said.

Policy makers in some countries may consider the short-term use of capital controls to aid financial stability, Strauss-Kahn said.
“In some cases, going back to capital controls may be of temporary use. But they should not be a substitute for necessary macroeconomic and macro-prudential policies,” he said.

Indonesia saw annual inflation hit a 21-month high of 7.02 percent in January, topping both market forecasts and missing the central bank’s end-2011 target range of 4 percent to 6 percent by a mile.

Core inflation slowed, however, sliding from 4.26 percent in December to 4.18 percent in January.

Indonesia’s central bank has been the only one in the region not to have adjusted its benchmark interest rate, which has stayed at 6.5 percent since August 2009 as Bank Indonesia has been trying both to avoid another wave of “hot money” capital flows and to support economic growth, expected this year to reach 6.4 percent.

It has said it will not raise interest rates unless core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy prices, approaches 5 percent.

But that is now beginning to be undermined by the rising cost of food, raw materials and supply shocks caused by erratic weather. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said rising food prices were the biggest drivers of inflationary pressure, with rice and chili peppers the primary culprits.

Inflation acceleration is also taking place in South Korea, with consumer-price gains breaching the central bank’s 4 percent ceiling in January, and to a lesser extent in Thailand. Elsewhere in Asia, India is seeing its manufacturing keep expanding while input prices are rising in China, separate reports showed on Tuesday.

Accelerating consumer-price gains prompted South Korea, Thailand and India to increase rates last month. China’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate twice since October and pushed banks’ reserve requirements to the highest in more than two decades to drain away cash that could stoke inflation.

The IMF last month raised its forecast for global economic growth this year, predicting an expansion of 4.4 percent. While a faster-than-expected second half of 2010 helped put the world on a stronger foothold this year, the IMF warned that risks to its predictions remain “elevated.”

“Looking more closely, we see a worrying development: the pre-crisis pattern of global imbalances is re-emerging,” Strauss-Kahn said on Tuesday.

Oil traded near the highest in more than two years in New York and Brent crude topped $100 a barrel after a seventh day of unrest in Egypt raised concern supplies may be disrupted.


State oil and gas company Pertamina on Tuesday increased the price of its unsubsidized fuel from Rp 7,850 per liter to Rp 8,050 (87 cents to 89 cents), raising worries that higher world oil prices may further push fuel prices up. Pertamina adjusts the price of its unsubsidized Pertamax fuel twice a month.


Tulus Abadi, managing director of the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI), said the price of Pertamax rising by 2.5 percent was not as worrying as the government’s plan to ban private cars from using subsidized Premium fuel, starting in April for Jakarta and the rest of the country later in the year. That could push drivers’ fuel bills up nearly 100 percent as they would have to buy the almost twice as costly Pertamax.


“It will be so much better if the government increases the price of Premium, as banning people from using subsidized fuel would have a domino effect and would be more dangerous [for inflation],” he said.

With additional reporting by Elisabeth Oktofani

Bicycle Bomb Attack ‘Blown Out of Proportion,’ Lawyer Says

The Jakarta Globe

A man who allegedly attempted to detonate a bicycle bomb at a police station in nearby Bekasi could face the death penalty on terrorism charges brought against him on Tuesday.


In the opening trial at the East Jakarta District Court, the prosecutor accused defendant Ahmad Abdul Rabani of having tried to kill himself, along with Adj. Comr. Hendry Azhari and Second Brig. Sugianto, with his bicycle bomb in September.

He was planning to detonate the bomb at a police post near Sumber Artha Market in Kalimalang, Bekasi, where the two policemen were stationed. However, the bomb went off early.

Ahmad, a drifter who moved from one mosque to another since coming to Jakarta from Aceh in April, suffered serious injuries to his face, neck and torso from the blast and broke his right arm and leg.

Trimo, the prosecutor, told reporters after the hearing presided over by Judge Jailili Sairin that Ahmad had put other people’s lives in danger and spread terror by detonating the bicycle bomb.

He was charged with violating Article 6 of the 2003 Terror Law, as the fact that he “made a low-explosive bomb” had led to “safety concerns among people in the area.”

Although there were no other victims in the blast, Trimo said Ahmad could still face the death penalty because he committed an act of terrorism against officers of the law.

In the indictment read out in court, Trimo said Ahmad held a grudge against the police after reading a number of news reports about police officers arresting Muslim terror suspects.

“It built up anger inside him and as a result he wanted to take revenge,” the indictment said.

With Rp 150,000 ($17), Ahmad went to buy ingredients to make a bomb and spent five days looking for a place where police officers were present in order to blow himself up there, Trimo said.

“His motive [for the bombing attempt] was to take revenge on police officers,” he stressed.

Two suicide notes were found after the explosion.

One read: “This bomb is for all you kafir [infidels]! We will come chasing after you even if you run up to the clouds. Your death is certain. The mujahideen are still alive in Indonesia!”

Trimo cited a doctor who had examined Ahmad, Henny Riana, as saying the defendant was suffering from mental health problems, causing depression. Ahmad had lost his family in the tsunami that struck Aceh in 2004.

The doctor, however, said the defendant could still be held responsible for his deeds.

Ahmad’s lawyer, Kisworo, from the White Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Putih), said he plans to question the use of the East Jakarta District Court for the trial of an alleged crime committed in Bekasi.

He will also study the indictment thoroughly, he added.

“The indictment seems to blow things out of proportion. Therefore, we need to take a look a t it again,” he added.

For security reasons, Ahmad was escorted by 40 police officers to and from the court.

Judge Jailili adjourned the trial until next Tuesday.

Banning Prostitution Not the Way to Reduce AIDS in Indonesia, Minister Says

The Jakarta Globe

Regional governments need to support a scheme to centralize prostitution in order to better monitor it and push down the number of HIV/AIDS infections in the country, the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, Agung Laksono, said on Monday.


“Some regional governments have pushed through regulations that shut down some of the red-light districts in their districts,” Agung said.

“That is counterproductive because prostitution will only go underground where there are no health guidelines for either the prostitutes or their customers.”

Limiting prostitution to one clearly delineated area would not only help control and monitor the activities but also provide the appropriate health guidance and services, he said.

Nafsiah Mboi, the secretary general of the National AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA), called on regional governments to reassess their regulations on prostitution.

“The idea of shutting down red-light districts is actually very dangerous because there is no control over reproductive health, no condom distribution and also no regular health checks,” Nafsiah said.

She said that the banning of prostitution only pushed it out of sight, with places like ports — of which there are more than 2,000 in Java and Sumatra — and bus terminals becoming centers for the illicit trade.

Gamawan Fauzi, the minister of home affairs, said poverty was the driving force behind prostitution and the rising number of HIV/AIDS case.

Agung called on all political parties and civilian organizations not to politicize the issue of centralizing prostitution or distributing free condoms because they were main keys to combating the spread of the HIV virus in the country.

Unfortunately, he said, there were many who did not support these methods, saying they were “not in accordance with cultural and religious values.”

The official number of people with HIV/AIDS in the country as of December 2010 was 79,979 in 32 provinces, 24,131 of which had full-blown AIDS, Ministry of Health data showed.

The data also showed that the main cause of transmission was unsafe sexual activity among heterosexuals at 52.7 percent, followed by drug injection at 38 percent and homosexual encounters at 3 percent.

Agung said prevention was the only option as there was no cure for the disease.

“Giving away free condoms to those who engage in high-risk sexual activities will help reduce the number of HIV/AIDS cases, as will providing sex education to people in 15 to 24 age bracket,” the minister said.

Agung also honored 10 governors, including Jakarta’s Fauzi Bowo, for their commitment to combating the spread of the disease. The other governors were from Riau Islands, Riau, Bangka-Belitung, Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara.

“I hope this award will prompt all provincial leaders to produce the same efforts as those 10 governors,” Agung said, adding the award was based on three criteria — leadership, concern for the HIV/AIDS population and support for the regional AIDS Eradication Commissions.

Analysts Warn KPK of Political Backlash

The Jakarta Globe

Last week’s arrests of more than a dozen politicians on bribery charges could earn the antigraft body the ire of major political forces, analysts said on Sunday.


The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested 19 current and former lawmakers on Friday for their alleged involvement in a Rp 24 billion ($2.7 million) bribery scandal centered on the appointment of Miranda Goeltom as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor.

Those detained were among the 26 suspects named last September in the 2004 bribery scandal that has already seen four former lawmakers jailed.

Ari Dwipayana, a political science professor at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University, said the KPK’s decision to arrest the 19 suspects would have major political repercussions. “The KPK’s move will lead to a political counterattack,” he said. “Not only against the KPK itself, but also against the ruling [Democratic] Party.”

All of those arrested on Friday came from three parties, including the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP), both members of the ruling coalition. The third was the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP-P).

Ari said he expected any blowback against the KPK to come from the House of Representatives. “It could come in the form of pressure on the KPK through House Commission III [overseeing legal affairs] or even by slashing the [KPK’s] funding,” he said.

“There’s also the possibility of the KPK Law being amended [to curtail the antigraft body’s powers],” he added.

Ari said being dragged into politics would be dangerous for the KPK, which is still trying to regain public trust following a difficult period in which two of its deputy commissioners found themselves in a legal morass over questionable bribery charges.

He said the parties implicated in the BI bribery case, particularly Golkar and the PDI-P, could “ignite a political attack” in the House against the ruling government.

There were several ways this could come about, he said.

First, the PDI-P could push for a special inquiry into the so-called tax mafia. This would have the potential of highlighting the failure of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force to tackle the alleged institutional graft inside the tax office, as indicated by the saga of former taxman Gayus Tambunan.

Second, Golkar could revive its bid to invoke the right of lawmakers to express an opinion on the Bank Century bailout scandal, which could ultimately lead to impeachment proceedings against Vice President Boediono, who was the central bank governor at the time of the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion bailout.

Emerson Yunto, vice coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), agreed it was conceivable that the House would try to hit back at the KPK.

“They could [strike back] through the various policies under their authority relating to the KPK, including the selection of its chairman, the allocation of funds or the appointment of leaders,” he said. “It’s possible because not all lawmakers like the KPK or what it does. Some of them feel the KPK is stepping on their toes, so they’ll do anything to undermine its powers. …”

Emerson said he hoped the KPK leaders were prepared for the potential hostility facing the commission in the House.

“We can only hope that the KPK will continue to work on its campaign to root out corruption in the country,” he said.

He called on all parties in the House to put aside their hostilities toward the commission and back its efforts to unravel the Bank Indonesia bribery scandal.

“The KPK did the right thing by detaining the politicians,” he said. “However, it should not just focus on those who allegedly received the bribes, but also on those who paid them.”

While Miranda has been questioned several times by the KPK about the case, she has not been named a suspect.

Nunun Nurbaeti Daradjatun, who is alleged to have funneled the money to lawmakers, has ignored several KPK summonses. She is reportedly in Singapore, where her lawyer claims she is being treated for an illness that causes acute memory loss.

Penalties for Health Professionals Who Do Not Provide Cheap Drugs to the Sick

The Jakarta Globe

Doctors failing to prescribe generic drugs to their patients may soon face fines, a government minister said on Saturday.


Agung Laksono, the coordinating minister for people’s welfare, said all government health facilities and employees must prescribe and make available generic drugs for their patients.

Generic drugs are more affordable than brand-name medications but are just as effective.

“The only reason brand-name drugs cost more than generic ones is because of production costs, especially costs relating to research, promotion and packaging,” he said.

“The use of generic drugs helps patients to get a discount when they need expensive treatment,” he added.

Agung said a 2010 Health Ministry regulation, which has yet to be widely enforced, made it mandatory for state health facilities to use generic drugs unless none were available.

“The regional governments will monitor the usage of generic drugs,” he added.

He said that doctors or pharmacists at state facilities found not prescribing or providing generics drugs would be issued up to three verbal warnings before being slapped with an administrative fine.

Prijo Sidipratomo, the chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI), said on Sunday that he feared the regulation would not be 100 percent effective in promoting the use of generic drugs and reducing treatment costs for patients.

The association supports the idea of issuing an administrative fine to doctors who fail to prescribe generic drugs to their patients, he said.

However, “If the public hospital does not have the generic version of the drug, the doctor should still be able to prescribe the brand-name medication to the patient.”

Prijo said the best solution to control and promote the use of generic drugs was to improve distribution management and implement universal public health care as soon as possible.

The planned public health insurance scheme would only cover medication listed by the insurance company. Therefore it would be easier to monitor which doctors did not prescribe generic drugs, he said.

Prijo said that Indonesia has around 100,000 doctors spread across the nation. Most are concentrated in Java and resource-rich provinces such as Riau and East Kalimantan.

Prijo said that with universal public health insurance doctors working in state health institutions would receive the same income “whether they worked in remote or rich areas.”

Unfortunately, he said, the government was lagging in implementation of the scheme. The bill on social security, also known as BPJS, is still being deliberated at the House of Representatives.

Rally Rages Outside Bogor Court Trial on Ahmadiyah Village Attack

The Jakarta Globe

Bogor. Over 1,000 Muslim hard-liners surrounded a district court in Bogor on Wednesday, demanding the immediate release of three youths standing trial for an attack on an Ahmadiyah community last year.


Dede Novi, 18, Aldi Afriansyah, 23, and Akbar Ramanda, 17, are accused of destroying property and inciting violence during an October riot in Cisalada village, according to indictment documents.

The three were said to be part of a mob that burned down houses, schools and a mosque at the Bogor village, home to 600 members of the Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect deemed deviant by mainstream Muslims for their different beliefs on the Prophet Muhammad.

The crowds that came out in support of the defendants on Wednesday, however, slammed these accusations.

Though police had barred them from entering the courtroom, the protesters reportedly “became incensed” when the defendants’ lawyer told them about a witness who said Dede had set the At-Taufiq Mosque and an Ahmadiyah Koran on fire.

Ari Saputra, a resident in Cisalada, testified on Wednesday that Dede could have thrown a Molotov cocktail at the mosque.

“I cannot be sure that he really was the one who threw the Molotov cocktail, but I saw that he was part of the group,” Ari told the court, led by Judge Astriwati.

Dede, however, denied throwing the fire bomb, but admitted at the hearing that he was part of the group which set the village mosque on fire.

A second witness, Mubarik Ahmad, a Cisalada resident and an Ahmadi, said he saw the three defendants break into and torch the mosque.

“I saw them. They were among hundreds who came to our village that night and attacked. They were brutal,” Mubarik said. “They threw stones at the mosque, broke its windows and set it on fire. Others came on motorbikes and made noises with their horns.

“They burned and destroyed so much property in our village,” he added. “That evening, our only concern was how to stay alive.”

After being informed of Mubarik’s statements, the angry crowds outside the courtroom began to yell out that the witness was a liar.

Protesters also tried to attack Mubarik as he left the courtroom under tight police guard.

Amid Wednesday’s unrest, hundreds of security personnel were deployed to Cisalada and the Cibinong District Court, where the trial was held.

The three defendants are accused of violating the Criminal Code, particularly Article 406 on the destruction of property and Article 170 on assault.

Article 406 carries a maximum sentence of two years and eight months in jail, while Article 170 carries a punishment of up to five years and six months.

Agus Sulaiman, one of the protesters, said the people of Bogor would “never accept the presence of the Ahmadiyah.”

“What is worse is that they built an Ahmadiyah information center in our village,” said Agus, a resident of Ciampea subdistrict.

“If they don’t stop this, we will stop them. We will burn their properties,” he said. “They call themselves followers of Islam. This is what we cannot accept.”

Agus said many conservative Muslims in the area detested the sect for believing that Ahmadiyah founder Mirza Gulam Ahmad was the last prophet.

This runs counter to mainstream Islamic beliefs which reserve that distinction for the Prophet Muhammad.

Fishers’ Empty Nets a Indonesia Disaster: Activists

The Jakarta Globe

Environmental activists on Tuesday called on the Indonesian government to declare the inability of fishing families nationwide to earn a living because of months of bad weather a national disaster.


“The national disaster status is crucial because it would smoothen the coordination process between the central government and the regional government for the distribution of relief aid,” said Riza Damanik, the secretary general of the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara).

Raising the current social disaster status to national disaster would allow the state to provide more relief assistance to the affected fishermen.

“The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG] has said the bad weather will last at least until April,” Riza said.

Earlier, the Social Affairs Ministry had said that to help nearly 474,000 fishermen — and their families — whose livelihoods have been affected, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister, Fadel Muhammad, had asked district heads and governors to dip into rice reserves and funds from the Social Affairs Ministry.

Salim Segaf Al Jufri, the social affairs minister, said his ministry had already distributed about Rp 540 billion ($60 million) in development funds to regional governments to help the fishermen and their families.

However, environmental watchdogs say this isn’t enough, arguing that the government first has to get its numbers right.

Selamet Daryoni, the director of urban environment at the Indonesian Green Institute, questioned the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries’ data on the number of fishermen.

“The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, for instance, has only listed 3,084 fishermen in the Thousand Islands and Muara Angke [in Jakarta],” Slamet said. But he added there were other fishing villages in Jakarta, with more than 6,000 fishermen in places such as Marunda, Muara Baru, Kali Baru, Cilincing, Muara Tawar and Kamal Muara.

“If more than 6,000 fishermen living only 20 kilometers from the Presidential Palace are ignored by the government, what about the other fishermen in other parts of Indonesia?” he said.

The government’s mistakes in this regard, Slamet suggested, should not be tolerated. Oversights could have disastrous effects on the lives of thousands of citizens, he said.

Riza concurred, adding that many more fishing families were suffering than the government suggested. He said the actual number of fishermen across the country who had been unable to catch fish in the past months was far larger than what the state had estimated.

He said that at least 550,000 fishermen in 53 districts and municipalities across the archipelago had been affected by freakish weather conditions.

“At the moment the government only provides 13,721 tons of rice every two weeks,” he said, adding that more was needed.

Riza also said inaccurate data would influence the kind and amount of aid the government would provide.

“The government needs to do a lot more to help out more than 550,000 fishermen and women during bad weather conditions,” said Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko, the coordinator of the Alliance for Prosperous Villages.

Dedy Ramanta, the national secretary of the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen’s Association (KNTI), criticized the government for only reacting to deteriorating conditions and not preparing a long-term strategy to deal with the effects of climate change, especially for fishermen whose livelihood options are limited.

“The government needs to implement an insurance program and also give capital assistance so they can build small businesses,” he added.

Tiharom, 35, a traditional fisherman from Marunda in North Jakarta, said that in order to feed his family, he was now making sandals and doormats from garment industry waste.

He said that as a fisherman he could earn up to Rp 80,000 in one outing, enough to feed his family of six.

“However, now that the bad weather has really stopped me from going out to sea, I am trying to build a small business by turning garment waste into strong ropes and then producing sandals and doormats,” he said.

However, supply of materials and marketing posed serious problems, he added.

“I am not sure if this job will go anywhere or whether it will just keep me busy during the bad weather,” he said.