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INFID News SNO Questionnaire We realise that many of SNO’s subscribers
are on vacation or duty tour which prevent them from responding to the
questionnaire. We received many "out of office" auto-reply and thus
received less already filled-in questionnaire. Therefore we extend the
deadline until the second week of August. The questionnaire can be downloaded
from http://www.infid.be. INFID Conference Reminder: The XIII INFID
Conference will take place in Yogyakarta, 29 September – 1 October 2002.
Information on the conference and registration are available at: http://www.infid.be/conference/. INFID Annual Lobby 2002 The INFID lobby team has arrived
in Europe. It has held meetings in London and is meeting various parties in
the continental Europe. The team is visiting Brussels (5-9 July), The Hague
(9-10 July) and Bonn (11-12 July) before leaving for Tokyo on July 13. The
INFID position paper and background papers are available at http://www.infid.be/lobby2002.html. INFID Related Issues Legal Reform Data from the Investment
Co-ordinating Board (BKPM) showed that foreign direct investment (FDI)
approvals for the first five months of the year has fallen by almost 60 percent
over the same period in 2001. As for domestic investment, the data also
showed a drop in approvals during the January to May period from Rp12.7
trillion in 2001 to Rp9.4 trillion this year . BKPM chairman Theo F. Toemion
attributed the sharp decline to accumulated problems lingering in the
country, but he also admitted that legal uncertainty had played a significant
part in diminishing foreign investor confidence. Theo was referring to the
controversial verdict by the Commercial Court declaring bankrupt the local
unit of Canada’s Manulife Financial Corp., PT Asuransi Jiwa Manulife
Indonesia (AJMI). Meanwhile, observers say that the
Indonesian government has lost almost all the 400 lawsuits brought against
corporate debtors in the past three years because dishonest judges and
prosecutors have scuttled the cases. The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
(IBRA) initiated more than 400 lawsuits on conglomerates and has lost more
than 80 percent of them. IBRA’s new chief Syafruddin Temanggung has been taking
tougher line on debt recovery but observers are still concerned that the
powerful and wealthy could easily buy off judges and prosecutors. Several
advocates for legal reform estimate 80-90% of judges are dirty and often
solicit bribes. Sources: JP28/06, ST 01/07 General News Military budget The lack of reasonable salary is
an invitation for crime, says TNI Commander Endriartono Sutarto. On June 24
Sutarto appealed for a boost in the military budget before Commission I of
the parliament, saying it was aimed at increasing soldiers’ social welfare
rather than purchasing military equipment. He said the military was facing
the situation where they have to choose between troops’ social welfare or
arms procurements. The Indonesian government has also asked legislators to
approve "emergency" funds of more than 111 million dollars to help
the military and police operate in conflict areas like Aceh. Indonesia has some 297,000 active
military members with 400,000 in reserve. The government spends its defence
funds based on the number of personnel in each of the armed forces. With
230,000 members, the Army is the beneficiary of this policy. The Air Force
has 27,000 members and the Navy 40,000. Analysts say that if the TNI’s only
job was to deal with external threat, the government should have built up the
air force and navy instead. MPR decree No. VII/2000 states that domestic
security affairs are at the hand of the National Police. On July 3, Air Force Chief of
Staff Marshal Chappy Hakim revealed that only 93 of the force's total 222
aircraft were operational and of the 16 air defence radar stations, only 11
were operational. On July 1, the Navy Chief of Staff, Adm. Bernard Kent
Sondakh disclosed that of the Navy's warships that were capable of sailing,
none were combat capable due to a lack of ammunition. Sources: LN 27/06, JP 29/06, 04/07,
AFP 29/06 PDI Perjuangan On June 28 the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) announced its rejection of a
proposal to form a committee of inquiry (Pansus) into the Rp40 billion
financial scandal allegedly involving House Speaker and Golkar Chairperson
Akbar Tandjung. Noted political observers accused the party and its
chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri of betraying the people who have put their
trust in her commitment to fight corruption. Muslim scholars Nurcholish
Madjid said the decision to drop the proposal would not only offend the
public but also lead to what he described as "public impunity", a
condition where the public could not punish guilty people. Political analyst
Arief Budiman agreed with Madjid and suspected a political deal between PDI
Perjuangan and Golkar as behind the decision. About 500 demonstrators knocked
down the gates of the parliament protesting the decision. Indonesian police
fired water cannon in return. Sources: JP 29/06, 01/07, Reuters
01/07 People’s representatives Members of parliament (MP) do not
think it is important to be on time in meetings. Actually they think it is
not necessary to attend meetings at all. In a plenary session on July 3, 373
honourable MPs of 491 were absence. Of the 118 attending the meeting, less
than 100 were physically following the meeting. The rest left after signing
the attendance list, or teased each other outside the meeting room. The
meeting was supposed to start at 9 a.m., but only 50 MPs were there at the
time. The House regulation states that meetings can only presume with minimal
246 participants. Source: KCM 04/07 Regional News Aceh Indonesia’s military accused the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM), especially the group led by Ishak Daud, as the
responsible party behind the kidnapping of nine of 11 crew from a boat
chartered by PT ExxonMobil Indonesia. Daud said the rebels had nothing to do
with it. "The entire length of the coast in East Aceh is being tightly
guarded by TNI troops, so how can we have done this?" Daud said. Daud
accused the military itself of staging the kidnapping to give it a pretext
for massive search operations. The local military said troops had been
deployed in the hunt for the kidnappers. The Aceh police chief, Inspector
General Yusuf Manggabarani, said a toal of 9,000 soldiers and police would
help in the hunt. President Megawati Sukarnoputri on
July 3 instructed the regional military commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf to
sternly punish GAM, blaming it for disturbing public order. Sources: AFP 02/07, JP 02/07, 03/07 Abbreviations AFP Agence France Presse Stichting TitanE |