Papua's rural poor await govt initiative

JAYAPURA, Papua: The governor of Papua, fresh off a tour of remote villages, said past development efforts have failed to lift the majority of rural Papuans out of poverty.

Governor Barnabas Suebu, who visited villages in Supiori, Biak Numfor and Waropen regencies during his two-week tour, said more than 80 percent of people in rural areas were living in absolute poverty.

He said the impression he received during his visits to the villages was that most of the people were unable to fend for themselves, resulting in local administrations being overwhelmed by aid requests.

Suebu said the standard of education in rural areas was far below that in urban areas.

Many schools have just one or two teachers, which means the quality of education and the attention students receive is lacking.

He said there were cases of students graduating high school and moving on to Cenderwasih University, but still being unable to write.

Health and nutrition are also major concerns in more remote areas of the province.

"That's why we need a program that directly involves people in the villages in order to improve their standard of living," said Suebu.

He said considering Papua's natural wealth, which the governor likened to a "sleeping giant", it was incomprehensible that so many residents were living in poverty.

"The people are sleeping on mountains full of gold and when they die they are buried in earth filled with gold, but they have never benefit from it. Why is this? What has gone wrong? We must answer these questions."

The provincial administration is making efforts to address this problem through its Rural Development Strategic Plan, or Respek.

It will allocate funds from its annual budget for the program, which is designed to bring development to previously untouched areas.

Suebu said development must begin in rural areas for a prosperous Papua.

He said part of the program is dedicated to tracking true conditions in rural areas, which will help the administration pinpoint needs and problems, and address them more effectively.

The provincial administration will provide each village with Rp 100 million (approximately US$11,100) this year.

During his tour of villages, Suebu said the money should not just be divided among residents, but used to fund village-level development programs.



Source : www.thejakartapost.com

PPATK demands investigative powers

Feeling toothless in its efforts to enforce the anti-money laundering law, the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK) is demanding greater authority to investigate allegations of money laundering and freeze any accounts linked with the crime.

"All this time we have only been able to provide raw materials in the form of intelligence reports on allegations of money laundering to the police. The next steps depend solely on the action of law enforcers," PPATK director for law and regulation affairs Iktut Sudiharsa said Monday.

Both he and Teten Masduki of Indonesian Corruption Watch said legal proceedings for money laundering cases are often lengthy. "And by the time law enforcers come into the process of checking the alleged bank accounts, the money has gone," Sudiharsa said.

The extending of PPATK's authority to include freezing accounts, tapping communication channels and blocking access to alleged assets is among the points in a draft amendment of the 2003 Money Laundering Law currently under deliberation in the legislature.

"At the very least, with the extended authority to investigate we can cook up the raw material of our analysis before they are needed by the police," Sudiharsa said.

"The center is not yet functioning as expected because it can only act as a kind of intelligence unit, which provides analyses for the police," Teten said, adding that PPATK's analyses are regarded only as preliminary investigation results and not as evidence.

"The police, therefore, cannot determine any suspect before they reinvestigate the report," he said, adding that the authority to freeze alleged accounts would be useful for preventing perpetrators from eliminating evidence.

According to Sudiharsa, by the end of May, PPATK had filed 480 analysis reports with the police from the 740 suspicious transaction reports submitted to the center.

"However, we are not able to learn how many of the analysis reports we've sent have been filed into cases by the police," he said.

"All I know is that the courts have made verdicts on eight cases."

However, because the term "money laundering" is still new to many judges, he said, most cases are tried as corruption cases.

The center has also raised the need to extend its range of informants to include three sectors: financial service firms such as banks, insurance and security firms; professionals such as accountants and lawyers; and providers of services and goods such as real estate firms, automobile dealers, jewelers and auction houses.

"The amendment of the law will oblige those sectors to report transactions to the PPATK," Sudiharsa said, adding that those who failed to report could face a two-year jail term or a Rp 500 million fine.

"The informants are protected by the law, yet they could be prosecuted if law enforcers discover they are trying to hide information or cooperating with the perpetrator of money laundering," he said.

According to Sudiharsa, the amendment of the money laundering law should have taken place by September in light of the up-coming Mutual Evaluation Review in October by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force. The global money-laundering watchdog removed Indonesia from its list of non-cooperative countries in February last year.



Source : www.thejakartapost.com

Stricter tobacco laws a must: YLKI

A prominent consumer group is pressuring the government to issue stricter regulations to protect children and passive smokers from the negative effects of cigarettes.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said Monday it would file a class action suit against the government if it failed to formulate stricter tobacco regulations that deal especially with protecting children from cigarettes.

"If the government does nothing to tighten regulations on tobacco by the end of the year, then YLKI will file a class action suit against it. Children, who have been overlooked, need more substantial protection," YLKI coordinator Tulus Abadi told a media conference.

"The government is reluctant to implement a comprehensive regulation. They focus on the economic factors rather than the health factors of tobacco consumption," he said.

He added that cigarette advertising still pervades prime-time local television shows watched by millions of children, making them the target market.

"Cigarette producers want to get them hooked to cigarettes at an early age so they would be more loyal to their brand."

According to 2004 data collected by the foundation, which is also supported by the National Commission on Child Protection, 78 percent of smokers tried their first cigarette before reaching the age of 19. There has also been an increase in children aged between five and nine who try smoking from 0.35 percent in 2001 to 1.65 percent in 2004.

The consumer group is demanding that the government tighten its tobacco-related laws by ratifying the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which was the first international treaty to control tobacco consumption.

The FCTC obliges governments to suppress the promotion of cigarettes, as far as their constitutions permit, and ensure that at least 30 percent of tobacco packaging is allocated for health warnings.

Tulus said the treaty, which has been ratified by big tobacco-producing countries such as India, Brazil and China, provides a win-win solution for stakeholders in terms of not irreparably damaging the social, economic and labor aspects of the tobacco industry.

Deputy chairman of the Indonesian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, said that although Indonesia was late in ratifying the treaty, it could still join through an "accession" procedure as per international law.

"Indonesia has been humiliated by its own history, as it has better laws for animal health protection than for humans'. This country, therefore, needs to have a better tobacco law as soon as possible," Pohan said.

Meanwhile, a recent survey by the Coalition for a Healthy Indonesia found that passive smokers are often marginalized because of their permissiveness toward smokers.

"From our survey of 100 respondents, only 25 percent of smokers said they would put out their cigarettes after being asked by their mates not to smoke nearby," the coalition's program assistant, Iskandar Soesman, said.

He said passive smokers are yet to stand up for their right to clean air.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com

Imparsial pushes military time for military crime

Members of the House of Representatives are currently deliberating the bill on Military Tribunal but are at odds with a well-known human rights organization over whether soldiers convicted of crimes should serve time in civilian prisons.

"The soldiers have been convicted of felonies and sentenced to more than five years," Chief of the special committee for the Military Court Bill Andreas Pareira told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"They will not be able to serve the armed forces and so should be discharged to serve their time in civilian prisons," he said.

"But if they are sentenced to one year or less ... they could stay in a military prison."

But he said usually a felony would mean a longer prison term.

"We also have to think about rehabilitation counseling for them."

Andreas said previous discussions between the House and the government had determined counseling was required for soldiers serving time in prison.

"The counseling issue is a technical matter and we haven't discussed it much."

Advocacy coordinator for non-government human rights monitor Imparsial Donny Ardyanto said if a soldier was tried in a civilian court and convicted under civilian law, he should serve time in a civilian prison.

"However, if it is a military crime, it should be processed in a military court and the soldier should serve time in a military prison."

After a soldier had left a prison, there should be a review mechanism to determine whether or not he would be able to rejoin the military, Donny said.

"For example, if it was a petty crime with a short serving time, such as stealing a chicken, it might be better to just demote him and cut his salary, before allowing him back to the military."

He suggested a military honor council would act as an internal watchdog under the military chief and could make rulings on such matters.

"But we don't want the body to handle criminal actions. It would only rule on behavioral problems."

Imparsial also highlighted several things the bill had yet to cover, including a convict's rights in military courts.

Donny said they should be enabled to contact their lawyers, get access to health care or doctors and should be tried in an open court.


Source : www.thejakartapost.com

Western-style democracy not suitable for Indonesia: VP

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has reiterated his wariness toward the application of Western-style democracy in Indonesia.

Speaking before a visiting delegation from the Netherlands-based Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) on Monday, Kalla said the application of Western democracy in Indonesia would create injustice and inequality.

"Western-style democracy, such as that in Europe or the United States, can't just easily be applied here. It has to be made suitable to the conditions and culture of Indonesia," Kalla was quoted as saying by Golkar Party Central Board member Rully Chairul Azwar.

Kalla also said that democracy should not be seen as an end in itself but as a means to achieve prosperity, and that democracy in Indonesia was more advanced than the form applied in the Netherlands.

The NIMD delegation was led by the institute's chairman, former Dutch prime minister Ben Bot.

Also present at the meeting were Indonesian Community for Democracy (KID) chairman Ignas Kleden, KID secretary Daniel Sparingga and Golkar Party secretary general Budi Harsono.

With funding from NIMD, KID recently facilitated the establishment of a forum called the Indonesian Political Parties Dialog Community to promote democratic values in the country.

After the meeting, Bot was quoted by Antara as saying that NIMD's presence in Indonesia is not aimed at strengthening the party system, as this depends on the will of political parties themselves.

He said his organization aimed to encourage the public to take part in the application of democratic principles.

Kalla has repeatedly stated that the application of democracy in Indonesia has been too excessive and has hampered the country's economic growth.

He said the excess of democracy in the country has materialized in street rallies and riotous House of Representatives sessions.

The Vice President's latest comments echo those of former dictator Soeharto and former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who said that Eastern societies have their own versions of democracy which uphold harmony and consensus.

These so-called "Asian values" withered away following the 1998 Asian economic crisis that led to the downfall of a selection of authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com