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INFID Related Issues Poverty and Unemployment in
Indonesia According to the most recent
survey of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the number of poor people
in Indonesia dropped to 37,7 Mio. in 2002 including a large share of urban
poor of 13,2 Mio. In 1999 the total figure was as high as 48 Mio. This most
recent finding differs from the figures given by the Committee for Poverty
Eradication (PKP) that mentions 37.1 Mio (i.e. 18.95% of the total
population). BPS’s criteria for poverty include an input of 2100 calories/day
and the satisfaction of basic needs such as housing and clothes. The figure of unemployed
Indonesians rose from 4.3 Mio in 1996 to 8 Mio in 2001 according to BPS. In
addition, the number of people working less than 35 hours/week totalled to 28
Mio in 2001. Source: Antara 4/9 IMF on Debt Ratio The most recent estimation of the
IMF expects Indonesia’s public debt drop to 75 percent of the GDP compared to
90 percent in the preceding year. Minister of Finance Boediono present
himself confident that Indonesia could reach a sustainable level her
indebtedness by 2005, considering the facts that economic growth was at 4
percent, that inflation was hovering around 9 percent in 2001 and that the
Rupiah strengthened significantly. These factors resulted in a growth of the
GDP of 13 percent, he said Moreover the IMF declared that
Indonesia was on track with its one-digit inflation. According to the Central
Statistics Office year-on-year inflation, however, rose to 10.06 percent,
from 10.05 percent in the preceding month. The head of the office expected
the inflationary pressure to remain high for the rest of the year, due to
rising domestic demands on occasion of the forthcoming Ramadan and Christmas
holidays. She expects the level of inflation could reach 8 to 8.5 percent,
however the expected rise of fuel and electricity prices could push the
inflation rate beyond the 10 percent margin. Sources: Reuters 3/9 General News Akbar Tandjung Convicted to Three
Years in Jail The incumbent Speaker of the
Parliament (DPR) and chairman of the GOLKAR party Akbar Tandjung has been
convicted to three years in jail for graft and corruption Rp.40 bill. of
Bulog funds. Under Indonesian law these charges carry a maximum sentence of
twenty years, while the prosecutor had demanded only four years. The judges
found Akbar "guilty in a convincing way of not only causing losses to
the state, but suffering to the poor." Immediately after the verdict,
Akbar declared to still feel to be not guilty and that he would appeal. The
co-defendants Dadang Sukandar and Winfried Simatupang were both convicted to
18 month jail. The trial failed to uncover the background of the corruption
and to detect the whereabouts of the missing money, which is generally
thought to have been misused to finance the GOLKAR election campaign in 1999.
Akbar always maintained that two Islamic charities had received the money. The reaction among party
politicians, anti-corruption activists and legal experts is mixed. Many among
the members of parliament from various parties pleaded for Akbar’s
resignation from his position of the Speaker of the House and go as far as
demanding a vote on non-confidence. Anti-corruption activists and legal
observers criticised the sentence as to lenient and the fact that the convict
was not immediately arrested and sent to jail. Since Akbar is going to appeal
he will be a free man as long as the lawsuit lasts and is most likely to stay
in office both as speaker and party chairman. Only very few observers
consider this verdict to be a signal of Megawati’s will to crack down on
corruption, while other think that the clique of corrupt judges just wants to
remove the stain of corruptibility from their public image. For the time
being the sentence and the resulting status quo will be profitable for all
parties involved. Akbar is free and in a position to lead the GOLKAR party
into the next election campaign. Megawati can claim that she did not
interfere in the legal process and that independent judges issued a valid
verdict. The judges can claim that their have not been corrupted. Syahril Sabirin’s Conviction
Overturned But this verdict is certainly no
signal that the Indonesian system is improving its track-record regarding the
battle against corruption. In a recent decision the Supreme Court overturned
the graft conviction of the – still – incumbent governor of the Central Bank
(Bank Indonesia) Syahril Sabirin. In March Sabirin was convicted for misusing
bank funds of US $ 80 million and sentenced to three years of jail and an
additional fine of Rp. 15 million. Both sentences were dropped. The Bank Bali
scandal, in which Sabirin figured prominently, thus remains, un-prosecuted. All
observers agree that this judgement by the Supreme Court is a serious blow
against any effort for legal reform and battling corruption, even though the
Attorney General’s office declared to appeal against this ruling. Sources ST 31/8, SCMP 31/8, JP
5/9, ST 5/9, FT 5/9 Press Freedom under Threat A new Media Bill, expected to be
endorsed by the Parliament later this month, will severely restrict
independent reporting and the broadcasting of foreign news in Indonesia. The
key articles of the bill, intended to replace the Press Bill of 1997, contain
some serious limitations of journalistic liberty: An Indonesian Broadcasting
Commission (KPI) will be set up to supervise activities of all broadcasting
companies. An official of this KPI will be deployed in each company. All TV
films and advertisements will have to undergo government censorship. Foreign investment in media
companies may not exceed 20 percent of the total investment. Moreover, the
share of foreign reports will be limited to 40 percent and must not include
news and political features. At least 60 percent of the broadcasting have to
be domestic programs. Another stipulation requires
nation-wide companies such as RCTI and SCTV to thoroughly restructure,
because all national TV stations have to become local stations. Therefore then
10 leading companies have to set up local companies with local partners to
broadcast a localised program. The licences for frequencies will be limited
to a ten years period and can be renewed only upon recommendation of the KPI.
Representatives of broadcasting
companies and media observers sharply criticised the new bill as
contradictory to the original intentions of the draft proposed by the
Indonesian Society of Press and Broadcasting (MPPI) and of granting to much
power to the government and the KPI to interfere in the activities of the
media. Sources: ST 31/8, JP 5/9 U.S. Naval Docking Facility in
Bitung The Mayor of Bitung in North
Sulawesi, Milton Kansil, and the U.S. consultant Vincent A. Lacelly signed an
agreement for the construction of a dockyard for men of war in that town. Bitung
is located on the north-eastern tip of the peninsula of North Sulawesi, some
400 km south of the Philippine island of Mindanao, where the U. S.
established one of the theatres of their "war on terrorism". The
project is estimated to cost Rp. 3 trill. and is planned to be operational by
2005. The construction will create 2.500 temporary jobs for local workers and
250 Americans. Sources: JP 1/9 End of Tourist Visa? The Director General of
Immigration proposed the abolition of visa-free facilities (permit on entry)
currently granted to citizens of 48 countries, including many European states
and the US. According to this proposal, starting in 2003 this facility should
only be granted to the ASEAN member states and those countries that grant a
visa-free entry to their country to Indonesian citizens including e.g.
Tanzania, Turkey, Malta, Fiji etc. The reasons for this proposal is the
frequent misuse of the visa-free entry by drug traffickers and illegal
workers, according to a spokesperson. The new law is currently still under
negotiation with the relevant ministries. However, the plans already provoked
sharp criticism from the tourist sector. One of its representatives said, a
sharp decline of arrivals would be the result threatening travel agents,
hotels and small enterprises. She suggested instead to maintain the visa-free
entry, but to reduce the length of stay from 60 to 30 days, while the average
stay of foreign tourists is only 10 to 12 days. Source: JP 31/8 Regional News Papua Two American citizen and one
Indonesian citizen were killed in an armed attack on convoy of PT Freeport on
their journey midway from Timika to Tembagapura on Aug. 31. Another eleven
persons were – partly severely – injured and flown to hospitals in Australia
and Jakarta. It is thought that a group of fifteen armed persons equipped
with automatic M16 and SS 1 rifles ambushed the convoy and killed the persons
who were staff at the company’s school at Tembagapura. This kind of weapons
is standard equipment of the Indonesian security forces. Immediately after the incident
speculations were abundant as to who was behind this attack. The Army Chief
of Staff Ryamizard Ryacudu quickly blamed the bloody attack on Telly Kwalik,
an OPM leader. Other military sources pointed at a former OPM member Titus
Murib who kidnapped two Belgian filmmakers earlier this year. The Head of the
National Police, Da’i Bachtiar, however, declared that the police could not
substantiate any suspicion in any particular direct. On the other side serious doubts
about the statements of the military spokespersons both in Jakarta and in
Jayapura have been voiced by diplomats and human rights activists. The human
rights group ELS-HAM declared that they received a statement from Telly
Kwalik denying any involvement or even prior knowledge of this event. Diplomatic
sources in Jakarta pointed out that the Papua leadership had made serious
commitments to non-violence during the past years. If OPM or any Papua group
should be involved in this attack, it would be the first time during the
forty years of Papua resistance that foreigners became the direct target of a
fatal attack. Many observers point at the fact
that neither OPM and nor any other group in Papua working for autonomy or
independence and the protection of human rights would gain from this violent
incident. The winner of the newly created tense situation is the military
since it provides a pretext for a harsh crack down on the Papuans and for
stronger pressure on Freeport to continue the payments to the locally
deployed soldiers around Tembagapura and other Freeport locations in Papua. Sources: JP 1/9, AFP 1/9, AP 31/9,
ABC transcript 3/9, Kabar Irian Digest 3/9, See also "What is happening At Freeport?"
at http://www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=19&news_id=3614 Reports The most recent report of the UN
Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Indonesia is
now available at www.reliefnet.int. It features regional (Aceh, Maluk,
West Timor, Central Sulawesi, Papua) and topical news (natural disasters). Abbreviation AFP Agence France-Presse Stichting TitanE |
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