INDONESIA A NEWS

An extraordinary letter apparently written last week by Muhammad Nazaruddin, the former fugitive and onetime treasurer of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, is shaking the country’s politics to the core ahead of 2014 national elections.  The increasingly murky Nazaruddin affair does not augur well for international investors who may have hoped that the country’s rising economic prowess would result in an equally rational political and governmental environment. The letter was made public by OC Kaligis, Nazaruddin’s lawyer, saying in effect that Nazaruddin would shut up about crimes committed by the Democrats if Yudhoyono would guarantee his family’s safety, leading to the obvious if unproven conclusion that the party’s leaders are culpable in as-yet-undisclosed offenses.  Analysts say it smacks of a cover-up that could wreck the part y. Founded in 2001, the Democrat Party came into power in the 2004 national elections, almost solely on Yudhoyono’...

MUHAMMAD Nazaruddin, the former Democratic Party treasurer who is implicated in a bribery case, fled to Singapore on Monday, Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said. 'We have banned (Nazaruddin from fleeing overseas) from May 24, but on May 23 he went to Singapore on Garuda (Airlines),' Mr Patrialis said, as quoted by tempointeraktif. com. The Immigration office received a request from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to ban Nazaruddin from traveling overseas on Tuesday at 6pm. Mr Patrialis said that he did not know if Nazaruddin had returned. Nazaruddin is implicated in an alleged bribery case centering on the construction of a SEA Games athletes' dormitory in Palembang, South Sumatera. The KPK has named Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry secretary Wafid Muharram, businesswoman Rosalinda Manurung and a top executive of PT Duta Graha Indah Muhammad El Idris as suspects.

INDONESIA'S independent anti-corruption watchdog will not launch a probe into allegations in US diplomatic cables that the country's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was implicated in corruption. The stance of the Corruption Eradication Commission was backed by the country's leading anti-graft non-government organisation, Indonesia Corruption Watch. The developments came as protesters held a demonstration at the US embassy, tearing up copies of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald demanding an apology. Another group called the Association of Advocates for People launched a legal action in a Central Jakarta court against the US government and both papers. They are seeking damages of $US1 billion. The cables, revealed in The Age after being obtained from WikiLeaks, detailed allegations that Dr Yudhoyono had spied on political rivals, quashed a corruption probe and received money from businessman Tomy Winata via a middleman. The President has denied the allegations a...

THE Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has sent officials to Singapore to bring for questioning a suspected go between in a high-profile bribery case that has implicated dozens of former and current legislators.   Commission chairman Busyro Muqoddas said that in the past month the antigraft body had been searching for Nunun Nurbaeti, who is accused of distributing traveller's checks to several legislators in return for their support for Miranda S. Goeltom during the 2004 election of a Bank Indonesia deputy governor.   'The search is still underway. We have approached her family to inform us on her whereabouts, ' Mr Busyro was quoted as saying by Antara after delivering a lecture at the Bandung Institute of Technology on Wednesday.   Nunun is believed to be a key witness who can reveal the names of bribe payers in the Bank Indonesia bribery case, which politicians said was politically charged. Nunun, a socialite and friend of Miranda, is the wife of former national...

As several revolts shook recently big part of Arab world, as Hosni Mubarak stepped down and the leaders of Bahrain and Libya could not think about anything better than to order bloody crack down against their own people, the world (read Western governments, media and academia) were watching with increasing doze of discomfort. Protests seem to be engulfing almost all countries in the region from Morocco and Tunis to Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.   Staunch ally of the West - Saudis - feel suddenly 'vulnerable' , even 'encircled'. No wonder - millions of the poor from all over the region are now marching and fighting for social justice or for justice in general. And there is hardly a place in the world with more striking inequalities than in this kingdom based on Wahabi conservative Islam, historically close ally of British imperialism. As is well known, Saudi Arabia is bathing in oil - that dark liquid which is both blessing and curse - enriching elites while helping ...

International media have recently cited Indonesia experience as example for Egypt. Not Iran Islamic Revolution, but post-Soeharto transition is viewed as model. The argument, favoring the secular and moderate forces, is based on the fear that the small but vocal Islamic Brotherhood would hijack the transition. Others, however, compare Egypt revolution to the post-Berlin Wall wave that brought democracy to Eastern Europe in the 1990s. Is post-Soeharto transition the right model? Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak exit has been inevitable. Any delay would have risked a dangerous situation, not least for he himself. Dictators' demise characteristically goes along the course that presses them to rely on both strategic and day to day situation until they see no other option than exit - as happened to Ferdinand Marcos, Soeharto and others - until, perhaps, they risk Romania's Ceacescu's fatal fate.   In the case of Soeharto, let's recall, he was well aware of the growing ...

THE appearance of Indonesia's most notorious corrupt tax official, Gayus Tambunan, in an ill-fitting wig at a Bali tennis tournament has illustrated, in absurd relief, the entrenched culture of graft in the country. Mr Gayus is a mid-level tax official who, despite a modest monthly salary of $1400, amassed a $3.2 million fortune. He came to national fame when he was mysteriously acquitted of corruption charges in March. It later emerged that he had paid the judges, prosecutors and police huge sums to get the charge reduced to a minor embezzlement offence, which was then dismissed. Mr Gayus was promptly arrested, along with, curiously, the man who alerted the public to the affair, senior police officer Susno Duadji. Mr Susno was pinged for another alleged corrupt deal involving a fish farm, although it was widely viewed as payback for his whistleblowing. But, not deterred with twice being caught making corrupt payments, or the fact he is one of the most high-profile...

Indonesia's notoriously corrupt National Police are back in hot water after a former tax official supposedly under lock and key while awaiting trial for corruption and bribery charges was photographed by a sharp-eyed Jakarta Globe photographer at a Bali tennis match. The publication of the Globe's photos of Gayus Tambunan, wearing a wig and eyeglasses, led to nearly a week of denials that Tambunan, a mid-ranking official who is accused of paying billions of rupiah in bribes to judges, prosecutors and police, had ever been out of his prison cell. Adj. Cmdr Ketut Budiman said in a text message to reporters: "Where do these rumors come from? Gayus is still inside his cell and I have confirmed this with the security unit. This allegation is totally groundless."   Another official said Tambunan was "in the custody of the district court and any leave by the defendant must first be approved by prosecutors. " Tambunan's lawyer said it couldn't have been...

AS NEWS spread of the shock departure of Indonesia's reform icon and finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, this week, one senior markets trader in Jakarta gave an almost despairing view of the country's prospects of overcoming its entrenched culture of corruption. ''It's just a massive task,'' he said. ''It like brain surgery. No, it's more difficult. It's like you have to alter Indonesia's DNA.'' The assessment was a touch uncharitable. In everyday interactions, Indonesians are almost unfailingly honest and gracious. The problem arises when they join the country's institutions that are beset with corruption. From the legislature to the judiciary, and the Tax, Customs and Immigration departments - graft and bribes are common. Those wanting to work in these places will often have to pay up to get an entry level position and then spend the rest of their careers trying to recoup their investment, sometimes outlaying ...

These days taxi driver Rusdi often earns little more than 50,000 rupiah (US$5.50) for driving a 17-hour shift through Jakarta's congested traffic. The increased cost of petrol is stealing a large chunk of his income. The Indonesian government decided in May to raise fuel prices by 30 percent, forcing Rusdi to spend significantly more on petrol, but the taxi company for which he works has neither increased fares nor reduced his daily fee to drive the taxi. "My company doesn't care about our problems," he told IRIN. "Now we're the ones who have to subsidise fuel for the company." The additional charges for petrol, plus the costs of repairs and the daily cab rental fee, are forcing taxi drivers like Rusdi to work longer and longer hours. When the government raised fuel prices, the move sparked protests throughout the country where millions of poor people were already hit by rising food prices. An increase in fuel costs means higher prices of essential commo...

INDONESIAN politics was in uproar yesterday after a parliamentary vote on the controversial Bank Century bailout revealed almost all support had ebbed from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition. After a marathon sitting, the house declared by 325 votes to 212 on Wednesday night that last year's 6.7 trillion rupiah (about $800 million) bailout was illegal. Dr Yudhoyono's Democrat Party and the uninfluential National Mandate Party of former "reformasi" hero Amien Rais had been the only ones pushing a resolution backing the bank rescue deal. However, despite wild fisticuffs on the floor of the house preceding the decision, and a sense of gloom pervading analysts' views of it yesterday, there were also warnings that the development was "entirely meaningless" ."This has no legal import whatsoever, and is simply an argument that the people in the (parliament) are having with themselves," said Australian academic and Indonesia law ...

More than likely, fear pervades the palace these days. Fear that the president's political opponents are planning a serious attack. Fear that the media are intent on malicious rumor-mongering about unproven allegations that a US$700 million bailout of failed Bank Century last November was used to finance the president's political party. Fear that stern action against the police and attorney general's office over the mess involving what appear to be fraudulent charges against officers of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will not solve the problem but exacerbate it. Such fear can result in paralysis that reinforces a public perception that either the president is incompetent or has some hidden motive for stalling. One manifestation of fear is also anger. Palace insiders say that Yudhoyono has become more emotional and thin-skinned than usual as the intertwined scandals dominate the news. If true, he is building a wall between himself and those who might talk straig...

The conviction on corruption charges of a close relative to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has significantly bolstered his graft-fighting credentials just weeks before presidential polls set for July 8. Former Bank of Indonesia governor Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son, was convicted and sentenced in mid-June to four-and-a-half years in prison on embezzlement charges. Some political analysts believe the timing of the conviction could be decisive for the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket, which was already leading comfortably in most preliminary opinion polls. Those perceptions will have been strengthened by the conviction on Tuesday of ex-West Java governor Danny Setiwan on "collective corruption" charges, and the sentencing of a former supplier for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, Erry Fuad, to over two years in prison for embezzling funds. Corruption issues have featured prominently in Yudhoyono's presidential race against former president M...

Indonesia - A country not known for its transparent practices in business, politics and many other areas, Indonesia is pressing ahead in its long-running anticorruption drive by opening up cashier-free "honesty cafes" across the archipelago. During a break at a high school here one recent morning, Selica Erlindi, 15, a 10th grader who wants to be a pediatrician, picked a drink and a bag of spicy cassava chips from the local honesty cafe's shelves. Then, in keeping with the cafe's goal of nurturing probity among its customers and society at large, she deposited, on the honor system, the equivalent of 60 cents inside a clear plastic box. "This motivates us to be honest," Selica said. "Especially since there is a lot of cheating in class, at least we're learning to be honest with money. I think it's also important for society because corruption is a big problem in Indonesia."As part of a national campaign led by the attorney general's offi...