IBRAHIM ISA'S -- SELECTED INDONESIAN NEWS AND VIEWS, Tuesday, 18.04.07 -------------------------------------------------------
POLICE VOW TO RESOLVE HUMANRIGHT ACTIVIST MUNIR MURDER IPDN STUDENT DIED OF BLOWS . . . GOVT ACCUSED OF BEING 'PRO-TYCOON' POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAM OVERSTRECHED -------------------------------------------------------- POLICE VOW TO RESOLVE HUMANRIGHT ACTIVIST MUNIR MURDER M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta The National Police reaffirmed on Tuesday their commitment to solving the murder of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib.National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto said that investigators were currently collecting evidence and questioning numerous witnesses to build a strong case, including a man who claimed to have seen Munir drinking with Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto at Singapore airport. Pollycarpus is the only person ever to have been convicted in the murder of Munir, although the verdict was later thrown out by the Supreme Court. "We don't want this case to just go away... so we are trying our best to collect all the evidence," Sutanto told reporters after attending the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center at the State Palace. Sutanto said that if needed the police would question former chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono. "Questioning him, however, has to be based on solid evidence and not just assumption, as this would be easy to rebut during a court proceeding," Sutanto said. Hendropriyono and another BIN officer, Muchdi P.R., who have long been implicated in the murder of Munir, have said that they are ready for the police investigation if it is conducted professionally. Current BIN chief Syamsir Siregar said the police had the complete authority to investigate all witnesses and suspects in the case, including officials from the intelligence agency. Sutanto also said that the police were still collecting information from former Garuda Indonesia president director Indra Setyawan and Rohainil Aini, the secretary to the chief pilot. The two Garuda officials were arrested late last week after being named suspects in the case for issuing the letter that was used by primary suspect Pollycarpus to board the Garuda aircraft that was to take Munir to Amsterdam. Sutanto also said that the police would question all the witnesses, including a mysterious person known as Raymond "Ongen" Latuihamalo, who is believed to have seen Munir having a drink with Pollycarpus at a cafe in Singapore's Changi Airport. While it was previously believed that the arsenic that Munir was poisoned with was administered on board the flight from Jakarta to Singapore, it is now thought that he was given it while at the airport. Garuda defense lawyer M. Assegaf said Tuesday that his client, Pollycarpus, did not know the new witness. "Polly does not know Ongen, he never even met him," Assegaf was quoted by Antara as saying. Assegaf said that the likelihood of Pollycarpus meeting Munir in Changi was small given the security protocol at the international airport. "Once he disembarked from the aircraft, he went straight to the hotel just like the other Garuda crew. Transit passengers would have been directed to a waiting room and to return to the aircraft he would have needed a card," Assegaf said. ---------------- POLICE SAY IPDN STUDENT DIED OF BLOWS . . Yuli Tri Suwarni and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Sumedang, Yogyakarta The investigation into the death of Institute of Public Administration (IPDN) student Cliff Muntu has revealed that he likely died from blows to his chest. A reconstruction of the crime, which started at 10 p.m. on Monday at the institute's campus in Jatinagor, Sumedang regency, and took three and a half hours, involved the seven senior students alleged to be responsible for the attack, which took place on April 2. Hikmat Faisal, Frans Albert Youkou, Ahmad Ari Pendi Harahap, Muhamad Amrullah, Fendy Notobuo, A Bustanil and Jaka Anugrah Putra, all of whom have been dismissed from IPDN, explained the assault to police. The police said that there were 48 parts to the reconstruction. "We're ready to deliver the (files of the seven) to the prosecutor's office on Wednesday," Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Syamsul Bahri said Tuesday. Sumedang Police crime and detective unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Hotben Gultom said Cliff had died after being hit in the chest. The reconstruction showed that the seven students accompanied Cliff's body to al-Islam Hospital. West Java Police are still investigating the possible involvement of several lecturers and supervisors in the assault. The investigation has found that the institute's dean of political science, Lexie Giroth, was ordered by the institute's management to handle Cliff's remains and inform his family in Manado, North Sulawesi, of his death. Lexie said he did not order Iyend Sopandi, an official at the Bandung Health Office, to inject Cliff's corpse with formaldehyde or fake a death certificate. "I was just ordered by the rector (I Nyoman Sumaryadi) to take care of Cliff's remains. I'm not a murderer," Lexie said Monday, referring to the institute's former rector, who has been replaced with Yohannes Kalo, an official from the Home Ministry. Meanwhile, the team appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to evaluate the institute's education system arrived on Monday afternoon. The team, led by Ryaas Rasyid, will stay until Wednesday. In Yogyakarta, Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo welcomed the evaluation process, saying that IPDN should follow the national education law. He said that only education facilities under the police and military were not covered by the law. "The team should conduct a thorough evaluation by referring to the law. In performing their duties, the institute's members should provide assistance to help the team's work," Bambang said on Tuesday. Yudhoyono ordered last Monday the end of all activities that encouraged violence on campus. The President has also instructed the institute not to accept new enrollments in 2007 and has announced the transfer of the institute's management from the Home Ministry to the Education Ministry. In a related development, Sandra Rahman, who was convicted in the death of IPDN sophomore Wahyu Hidayat in 2003, turned himself in to the Sumedang Prosecutor's Office on Monday. Sandra, who earlier served as an adjutant to West Java provincial administration secretary Lex Laksamana, was dismissed from his job on April 16. "We received a letter which rejected his appeal from the Sumedang Prosecutor's Office on Saturday, so he was immediately dismissed," Lex said. Nine other convicts in the case have been detained since Friday, although the Supreme Court rejected their appeal in September 2005 while a copy of the decision was received in August 2006. ------------------------------------ GOVET ACCUSED OF BEING 'PRO-TYCOON Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta "Chaebols" in South Korea, "conglomerates" in Indonesia. Different terms for similar business empires that once helped create miraculous economic growth -- at least until the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis exposed the dubious practices engaged in by some tycoons. According to a group calling itself Professionals for Civil Society, while South Korea has managed to impose better corporate governance and antigraft measures on its chaebols, Indonesia appears to be taking things easier, allowing so-called "black conglomerates" to rise to prominence in the business world once again. The group criticized the government's pardoning of delinquent bank tycoons, whom it said had inflicted trillions of rupiah in losses on the taxpayer during the crisis. More recently, it claimed the government's handling of what has come to be known as the "Lapindo mudflow" disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, was designed to protect well-connected business groups implicated in the disaster, rather than prioritizing the relief of the victims. "We are not antibusiness, but we are against a `corporatocracy' being allowed to ruin the economy," said Ismed Hasan Putro, the group's chairman. "The unscrupulous behavior of these tycoons is a habit that will be very difficult to change." Regarding the pardoning of indebted bank tycoons, economist and legislator Dradjad H. Wibowo questioned why they had never been prosecuted, while three former central bank directors had recently been detained and were being prosecuted for defrauding the state. "This is rather strange, given that the directors of the central bank, which was then not as independent as it is now, were just carrying out what had been decided on by the Cabinet," he said, while urging the government to reconsider their cases. During the financial crisis, the government under then-President Suharto initially paid out Rp 144.5 trillion (US$15 billion) -- which later rose to Rp 450 trillion -- to bail out a number of banks that had been brought to their knees by reckless intergroup lending. Many of the bank owners were business tycoons known to be close to the powerholders at the time. The state only managed to recover some 20 percent of the public funds that were handed over to the banks, with the remainder being allegedly embezzled by the borrowers, or secured against assets that turned out to be worth far less than the debts. Many of the borrowers were given indemnities against prosecution by the government despite the fact that their debts were never fully repaid. The government is currently discussing with the House of Representatives the resolution of similar cases involving eight remaining borrowers, with the debts in question ranging from Rp 2 trillion to 9 trillion. Some of the tycoons have reemerged to take back their businesses, despite public outrage, said Ismed. Among these were Anthony Salim, who was recently seen attending an event with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Regarding the Lapindo case, Dradjad questioned why the government was going to pay out Rp 2.5 trillion from the national budget, rather than handing the tab to Lapindo Brantas, the oil company widely pilloried as being responsible for the mudflow disaster. The government money will be used to relocate infrastructure in the area, rather than to compensate the victims. "All of this appears to benefit certain companies, rather than the people. There might even be a political agenda behind it," he said, without elaborating. Lapindo Brantas is partly owned by the Bakrie Group, which is connected to Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie. ------------------------------ POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAM OVERSTRECHED ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Bondowoso The central government has missed thousands of villages in need across the country despite a three-year commitment to eradicated poverty nationally. Despite a Rp 250 million (US$27,173), three-year-long program commencing in 2005, hundreds of villages in East Java particularly are still suffering desperate circumstances. The national government's budget was supposed to stretch across 14,000 villages, but the first two years saw 14,634 villages included in the project, with a further 2,000 to be reached this year. Data from the State Ministry for National Development Planning shows 3,668 of 8,477 villages across East Java in 2006 still severely disadvantaged. Sampang and Bangkalan regencies on Madura Island in 2006 had 255 and 180 villages respectively facing disadvantaged circumstances, with Malang showing 154 villages and Bondowoso with 146. Leprak village in Kelabang district, Bondowoso regency, is just one village whose 3,000 residents are crying out for help. Located 24 kilometers from the regency's capital, Bondowoso, Leprak's houses sit on dirt floors and are made mostly from bamboo. The town has electricity but there is no public transportation and no phone lines. Residents take their baths and do their laundry in the small river in the middle of town, said the deputy head of Leprak, Fatkhur. There is one elementary school, no high school and the only mosque in town is inaccessible because the bridge linking the mosque to town was swept away in a 2006 flash flood. If high school-aged children want to continue their schooling, they have to either leave town or take up long-distance education. And while phone lines were going to be installed last year, Leprak's distance from Bondowoso led authorities to fear the phone lines would be stolen. Edy Sudarsono from Bondowoso's Social Services Office said Leprak village was trapped in its present sate of poverty because of its remote location and because the land surrounding the village was suitable only to plant corn, rice or hard-wood trees such as teak. Farming is the only way of life in Leprak, said Fatkhur. Each family owns a block of land where they can grown corn and rice -- but corn farmers rely on one harvest only so their yield must be enough for 12 months. "These issues make it difficult for Leprak to move forward, but the residents are not against development," said Sudarsono. Ironically, the poverty-stricken village sits on top of 50 hectares of the valuable and rare stone known as batu bintang, which is used to make jewelry. Data from the Bondowoso regency administration shows the gemstone deposit sits just 12 meters underground and would be able to produce 50 tons a day for approximately 50 years. * * *
