[Kabar-indonesia] Indo News - 1/30/06 (Part 1 of 2)

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- Nobel Nomination for President Yudhoyono to Benefit Indonesia
- Police Chief Urged to Completely Settle Munir Case
- Indonesia wins one in war on corruption
- Indonesia to Ban Local Stations From Relaying Live Foreign Newscasts
- Noordin claims to be leader of new terror group
- Bali bomb suspects admit JI membership
- Imparsial questions investigation of rights violations in Aceh
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Antara
Jan 30 16:03
Nobel Nomination for President Yudhoyono to Benefit Indonesia

Samarinda, East Kalimantan - (Antara News) - The Nobel Peace Prize
nomination for the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by a
senior member of the US Congress, Robert Wexler, politically would give
advantage to Indonesia as it might also be a "snow ball" for all governors
at home to be more actively in maintaining peace in their respective
province.

"Internationally, it (the nomination) will be beneficial, as we are used
to be known for our bad image," a political observer, Prof Saroso
Hamongpranoto said on Monday.

He added the nomination might motivate high-ranking officials in conflict
areas to increase efforts to bring peace in their regions.

"Let's say, Poso, Ambon, Papua and Aceh. These governors might be
motivated to be more active in bringing back peace in their regions, and
later all regents and mayors will also do the same thing," he added.

On possible hidden agenda behind the nomination, he said, it was too
exaggerating.

"We should be honest to ourselves. For decades, only during the Yudhoyono
administration that several serious problems could be settled, including
the Aceh case," he said.

In a press statement made available on Sunday, the US congressman said
President Yudhoyono during his one-year leadership had been able to make
dramatic changes in the country.

He has also been able to end the Aceh conflict by the signing of
memorandum of understanding with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki,
Finland, last August 2005, ending almost 30-year of conflict that had
killed hundreds of innocent people.

On his letter to the Nobel Committee, Wexler also mentioned that President
Yudhoyono has managed to keep the politic and economy in the country
remained stable despite bird flu threat and a series of natural
catastrophes, including the tragic tsunami in December 2004.
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Antara
Jan 30 21:19
Police Chief Urged to Completely Settle Munir Case

Jakarta (Antara News) - Legislators called on Police Chief Gen. Sutanto
here on Monday to thoroughly investigate and settle the murder case of
human right activist Munir.

"Police must settle this case completely and unlock the scapegoats behind
the murder," Mutammimul Ula of the House s Commission III, which deals
with security and human rights, told a working meeting with the Police
Chief.

He said that police should investigate all parties who were indicated
being involved in the murder.

Mutammimul said one of the parties, who were suspected, was former deputy
of the State Intelligence Body (BIN) Muhdi Purwo Prandjono.

On the occasion, legislator Lukman Hakim of the House s Commission III,
who hailed from the United Development Party Faction (FPPP) questioned
police indolence in handling the Munir case and in arresting the scapegoat
of the murder.

He said police were slower in handling the Munir case then in
investigating terrorist case in Indonesia.

"Police can work fast when they handle terrorists," he said.

Noted human right activist Munir died aboard of a plane during a flight
from Singapore to the Netherlands sometime ago. He was apparently poisoned
on the plane.
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Asia Times Online
January 30, 2006
Indonesia wins one in war on corruption
By Bill Guerin

Jakarta - Indonesia has scored a major victory in the war on corruption
after the return to the country of a crooked banker who fled before being
sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail.

The US turned over fugitive David Nusa Wijaya to Indonesia on January 17
after he was located in Los Angeles four days earlier. The two countries
do not have an extradition treaty. However, national police chief General
Sutanto, who was hand-picked last year by the president, said Wijaya had
been given two choices by the police.

"The first was for him to go through the legal process in the US and then
be deported, while the second was to voluntarily undergo the legal process
in Indonesia," he said.

Wijaya, a 44-year-old ethnic Chinese wanted for embezzling about US$139
million, chose the latter, Sutanto said. This could suggest Wijaya
believes that given time, he will find a way to escape justice yet again.
However, he may find it much more difficult this time. President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono is talking tough on seeing such criminals brought to
justice.

"I don't want any extortion, backroom deals or anything by the law
enforcement people here that would create a more difficult situation for
the judiciary," Yudhoyono warned, when commenting on the joint operation
by Indonesian police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation that
resulted in Wijaya's capture in San Francisco.

Significantly, US assistance came less than a week after Washington
praised Jakarta's arrest of suspects in the 2002 murders of two American
teachers in the province of Papua. The case was the main hurdle to
restoring military ties between the two countries.

Once again, as with the Papua arrests, public statements confirm the
strong relationship developing between Jakarta and Washington. "I am
grateful to the friendly country that helped him [Wijaya] be brought to
justice," Yudhoyono said.

The US Embassy in Jakarta said in a statement: "The US government
understands that returning fugitives and stolen assets from abroad in
corruption cases is a top law-enforcement priority in Indonesia and looks
forward to cooperating with Indonesia in other cases in the future."

Wijaya had been on the run since 2004, a few weeks before Indonesia's
Supreme Court increased an earlier sentence to eight years for
embezzlement in a scam linked to one of the biggest and nastiest wholesale
fraud cases ever, the misuse of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI)
in 1997-98.

In a related development, the owner of liquidated Bank Bira, Atang Latief
alias Lau Tjin Ho, returned to Indonesia on Friday to face trial over
alleged embezzlement of Rp325 billion (US$34.7 million) in BLBI.

He arrived in Jakarta from Singapore and was immediately rushed to a
hospital for an undisclosed illness, according to Antara news agency.
Sutanto said a ban on Latief going abroad abroad was issued in 2000 but
later revoked by the immigration office.

"He went abroad because he felt he was being treated unfairly," Sutanto
said. "We will try to conduct an objective legal process and assure him
that his rights will be respected."

Of Rp325 billion Latief is accused of taking from the BLBI fund, Rp155
billion has been returned to the state. "Latief has taken responsibility
for the remaining Rp170 billion and, most importantly, he has returned
home," Sutanto said. Latief's assets in Indonesia have been transferred
out of his name since he left the country.

Commander Benny Mamoto, head of the Transnational Crimes Division, said
Indonesia's "improved image" among the international community had helped
the recapture of fugitives. "We successfully convinced the US government
about the recent improvements to our law-enforcement system, so that they
were willing to surrender Wijaya to us."

The US is the first foreign country to give explicit assistance to
Jakarta's hunt for fugitive criminals. It is almost certain to result in
breaking the deadlock in negotiations with Singapore over an extradition
agreement, an essential element in Indonesia's crusade against corruption.
Wijaya initially fled to Singapore before moving on to the United States.

Out of harm's way?
Indonesia has extradition agreements only with Hong Kong, Australia,
Thailand and the Philippines. Singapore has resisted such arrangements,
although Jakarta has tried to negotiate a pact since 1973 and often
demands that the tiny island-state cease harboring criminals and their
ill-gotten gains.

Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh only last week accused Singapore of
delaying a pact planned in December by insisting that it be inked this
year as part of a Defense Cooperation Agreement between the two neighbors.
Saleh, hand-picked by Yudhoyono, pledged last year to reopen an
investigation into the BLBI crimes and go after fugitives abroad.

Singapore's economy depends to some extent on Indonesian cash, and
Indonesians are among the biggest buyers of private real estate there.
Jakarta has alleged that Indonesians have transferred illegal funds to
Singapore, which has strict bank-secrecy laws and claims to have enough
safeguards to prevent the country from becoming a haven for laundered
funds.

Nonetheless, many Indonesians alleged to have committed crimes at home
live freely in Singapore, and some have become citizens of the tiny but
wealthy republic, which is a regional financial center.

Many of those on the run are living in Singapore and "if we don't have an
extradition agreement, it's very difficult to catch corruptors", Saleh
told a Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club lunch.

Mother of all heists
Wijaya, the former head of Bank Umum Servitia, had been convicted of
involvement in a case tied to the infamous misuse of BLBI funding. A total
of about Rp140 trillion ($13.5 billion) in liquidity support, equal to
more than half of the 1998-99 state budget, was dished out as a lifeline
to 48 of the country's ailing banks during the 1997-99 Asian financial
crisis to help them cope with mass runs against them.

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), in a report commissioned by the House of
Representatives, found that Rp138 trillion of the BLBI funds had been
channeled by improper procedures and then misused by the recipient banks,
mostly owned by cronies and relatives of former president Suharto.

Instead of diligently managing the funds to guarantee depositors' savings,
bankers used much of the money for currency speculation, loans to
affiliated business groups, and repayment of subordinated loans,
securities transactions and even office costs.

Though the verdict against Wijaya was based on Bank Servitia receiving
BLBI funding totaling Rp1.29 trillion, he used the funds for the interests
of his own business group through Bank Sembada Arta Nugraha, another bank
that he owned.

The horrendous abuse of funds was blamed firmly on weak supervision by the
central Bank Indonesia (BI). At first the government refused to cover the
BLBI losses, which threatened to bankrupt BI. In November 2000 the Finance
Ministry and BI reached an agreement, under which the central bank would
only have to cover Rp24 trillion, while the government's Indonesian Bank
Restructuring Agency (IBRA) would be responsible for the remainder.

Indonesians are still paying for the crimes of the errant bankers. The
government raised funds for the BLBI using bonds for which it had to
allocate trillions of rupiah every year to repay principal and interest.
To finance the bonds, spending on subsidies and development programs was
slashed under an austerity drive that hit the poor hard. Thousands of jobs
were lost in the suspended or closed down banks.

Classic example
A brief look at Wijaya's case serves to show just how easily things went
wrong when the long arm of the law was, inadvertently or deliberately,
caught napping.

Although Indonesian law allows courts to order any defendant at any time
to be detained to prevent him or her from absconding, many of the corrupt
managed to flee prior to verdicts in their cases as they were not taken
into custody while on trial or awaiting decisions on their appeals. By the
time the courts had handed down a final verdict, they had absconded to
escape imprisonment. Another common tactic is to plead illness. And
instead of insisting on speedy prosecutions, officials continue to grant
delays to court dates and issue permits for medical treatments abroad.

Prosecutors can do nothing to prevent them from fleeing as only the courts
have the power to order detention of defendants during the trial process.
Meantime, officials use paper chases to give them time to leave the
country, despite pending jail terms.

The attorney general's office blamed bureaucratic snags for the late
delivery of documents that normally get forwarded "a day or two" after a
judgment is rendered. According to the law, prosecutors can only execute a
verdict when they receive an "official" copy of the order from the issuing
court. In Wijaya's case they got it only a year after the case closed. The
Supreme Court was blamed for an administrative snafu that contributed to
Wijaya's escape, as the court verdict, handed down on July 23, 2003, was
received by prosecutors on July 28, 2004, long after Wijaya had fled.

Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence Basrief Arief leads a special
team set up to hunt down 13 of the country's most wanted fugitives. Many
of Indonesia's top white-collar criminals are still at large but Arief's
official "most wanted" list is now down to 12 names with Widaya's capture.
Not all of them are wanted for BLBI crimes.

Still on the loose (among many others)
Sjamsul Nursalim, former president commissioner of Bank BDNI, is one of
the most notorious of the country's bad debtors. He lives in grand style
in Singapore, which is hardly surprising considering his Rp37 trillion
gift from BLBI through his bank makes him the second-largest recipient of
BLBI after Bank Central Asia.

Samadikun Hartono is another BLBI fugitive and a former president director
of Bank Modern, another bank that was closed. He was found guilty of
embezzling Rp169 billion and sentenced to four years in jail; there have
been no public reports of his whereabouts.

Bambang Sutrisno and Andrian Ariawan are also BLBI fugitives - they were
vice president and president director, respectively, of the closed Bank
Surya. Both were accused of embezzling Rp1.5 trillion and sentenced to
life imprisonment. Both reportedly live in Singapore.

Sudjiono Timan, former president director of state-owned venture-capital
investment company PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia, disappeared when
prosecutors tried to arrest him at his home after he was sentenced to 15
years in jail. He was involved in a Rp1.1 trillion corruption case
involving the channeling of state funds to Suharto's cronies. He is also
thought to be in Singapore.

Set up in 1993 to facilitate national development and cooperation with
foreign investors, BPUI ended up with debts of almost $1 billion and was
owed hundreds of millions in outstanding loans by corruption-linked
tycoons.
-- Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000,
has been in Indonesia for 20 years, mostly in journalism and editorial
positions. He has been published by the BBC on East Timor and specializes
in business/economic and political analysis related to Indonesia. He can
be reached at softsell at prima.net.id.
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VOA News
Indonesia to Ban Local Stations From Relaying Live Foreign Newscasts
30 January 2006

Indonesia's communications minister says local broadcasters will soon be
banned from airing live news provided by foreign broadcasters, such as the
Voice of America and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Communications and information minister Sofyan Djalil said Monday the ban
will take effect February 5 when new media regulations are implemented.

Under the regulations, foreign news and music broadcasts must be edited
locally. Indonesian officials say that will ensure that the content meets
community standards.

It remains unclear what the standards will be, but last week, Sofyan told
a VOA correspondent the rules may be ambiguous.

The new regulations were approved in November, but after an outcry by
media companies and lawmakers, the government and parliament postponed
implementing them.

Discussions continue in parliament, but it is unclear how long the talks
will go on, or what effect they may have on the media regulations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Latest News
Noordin claims to be leader of new terror group
1/30/2006 2:17:10 PM
Jakarta (AP)

A Malaysian wanted for his alleged role in terror attacks in Indonesia is
now claiming to head a new Southeast Asian Islamic militant organization,
Indonesia's police chief said Monday.

The suspect, Noordin M. Top, is widely considered a key leader in Jemaah
Islamiyah, a militant network believed to be fighting for an Islamic state
stretching across much of Southeast Asia. Its roots go back to the 1980s.

But analysts have speculated that Noordin and his followers have been
operating outside Jemaah Islamiyah's command structure in recent years,
due to a rift within the network over attacks that kill innocent Muslims.

Indonesia's police chief, Gen. Sutanto, told lawmakers Monday that Noordin
was claiming to be the head of the "Tanzim Qaedat-al Jihad" or
"Organization for the Basis of Jihad" for Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and
the Philippines.

Sutanto said the claim came in a message from Noordin in which he claimed
responsibility for last year's restaurant bombings on Indonesia's Bali
island.

Noordin is accused of a leading role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which
killed 202 people - mostly foreign tourists - and in 2003-04 attacks that
left more than 20 dead in the capital, Jakarta.
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Courier Mail
Bali bomb suspects admit JI membership
>From correspondents in Jakarta, Indonesia
31jan06

Two Indonesian men suspected of being involved in restaurant bombings on
Bali island last October have confessed to being members of the
al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant network, police said overnight.

Central Java police chief Dodi Sumantyawan also said that police had
arrested a would-be suicide bomber who is an associate of Malaysian
Noordin Top, believed to be a senior member of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) and at
large in Indonesia.

"Two (men) have confessed being members of JI," Mr Sumantyawan said.

He said they were among eight people police arrested under anti-terrorism
laws this month in relation to October's suicide bombings, which killed 20
people.

Six people have now been declared as suspects in the 2005 blast. Bali was
also hit by bombings of nightclubs in 2002 which killed 202 people,
including 88 Australians.
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Aceh Kita
January 12, 2006
Imparsial questions investigation of rights violations in Aceh
Tedi Hikmah, Jakarta

The non-government organisation Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial)
has again raised questions about the investigation of gross human rights
violations that have taken place in Aceh. How can it be that since the
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Indonesian government and
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) there has been absolutely no efforts to solve
the cases of human rights violations that have occurred in Aceh. As a
result Imparsial believes that a peace process not accompanied with the
government's obligation to arrests past human rights violators will create
a deep-seated grief that could become the seed for revenge for the
Acehnese people, especially for the families of victims.

"The process of upholding human rights in Aceh should not be implemented
half-heartedly. Efforts to solve cases of human rights violation should
not only be on cases [that took place] after the agreement was signed, but
also on past cases", explained Imparsial's operational director Rusdi
Marpaung at the Imparsial offices on Jalan Diponegoro No 9 in Central
Jakarta on Wednesday January 11.

According to Marpaung, although the discussions on and the implementation
of the MoU have proceeded relatively smoothly, in the context of upholding
human rights in Aceh however, the MoU has totally failed to elaborate in
detail either the investigation or resolution of gross human rights
violations that have taken place in Aceh.

Marpaung added the failure to elaborate on uncovering past gross human
rights violations in the MoU would strengthen the culture of impunity in
Indonesia. A number of points in the MoU on the question of human rights
he said, tend to priorities political compromises and negotiations without
the involvement of civil society. "This has given birth to half-hearted
political concessions between the two parties without looking at the need
for social justice for the victims", he explained.

As reported by Aceh Kita, the Coalition of Aceh Human Rights
Non-Government Organisations (Koalisi NGO HAM Aceh) recorded 311 cases of
human rights violations in Aceh over 2005. This figure is a dramatic
decline compared with 2004 where there were as many as 779 cases. The
coalition said however, that throughout 2005 there was not a single case
that was resolved by law enforcement institutions. This is despite the
fact that the opportunities to solve cases of human rights violations are
wide open, now that the two warring parties are a peace.

The general chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) Megawati Sukarnoputri meanwhile, has again drawn attention to the
issue of the MoU between the Indonesian government and GAM. According to
Megawati, what was done by the government of President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono did irreparable damage to the sovereignty of the Unitary State
of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). This is because one of the conditions
set out in the MoU is that all government policies on Aceh must obtain
prior agreement from the Aceh legislative and executive.

“I have long called for peace and to end violence in Aceh. But not by
irreparably damaging the sovereignty of NKRI. What if other regions demand
the same rights”, shouted Megawati in a political speech on the 33rd
anniversary of the PDI-P at the Proclamation Monument in Jakarta on
Wednesday January 11.

In order to address this, Megawati will instruct her cadre in the House of
Representatives (DPR) to monitor and pay close attention to the Draft Law
on a Government for Aceh that is currently being discussed by the DPR. She
hopes that her party will refuse to agree with strategic articles that are
in conflict with the concept of NKRI, because this relates to issues of
ideology and the history of the Indonesian nation.

The party with the symbol of the bull has opposed the MoU from the first
when the government cleared the way for the peace process in Aceh. PDI-P
cadre in the DPR have even presented an interpolation against Yudhoyono
and Vice President Jusuf Kalla in relation to the MoU that was signed in
Helsinki on August 15 last year. The PDI-P based this on the MoU having
the meaning that the government endorses GAM [as a legitimate
organisation] and the separation of Aceh from NKRI.

When serving as president, Megawati put into effect a state of martial law
in Aceh on May 19, 2003. The implementation of martial law was inseparable
from political consideration created by Yudhoyono – who at the time was
the coordinating minister for politics and security – after the peace
process known as the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement failed. The
deadlock in the talks also resulted in the Megawati government arresting
and jailing five GAM negotiators that were to attend the Joint Meeting in
Tokyo. [dzie]
-- [Translated by James Balowski.]
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