Lawmakers the butt of the joke in the tobacco war

Outgoing legislators may well be remembered for their crude sense of humor, but their last legacy, losing a contentious provision on tobacco from the health bill they endorsed, absolutely deserves not only a good laugh, but also a criminal investigation.

Over the past week, people have been amused, curious and outraged at the same time about the missing key "tobacco provision", which has become a subject of heated debate during the deliberations in which the interests of many stakeholders were involved.

It was a good thing that some former members of the special legislative committee in charge of deliberating the much-anticipated bill realized that one of the three paragraphs in chapter 113 of the finalized bill was conspicuously missing, while the bundle had already been submitted to the state secretariat for President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono to sign into law.

The media detailed the sophistication of the omitted paragraph. The original three paragraphs in chapter 113 were reduced to two, in such a way that only people who were directly involved in the deliberations would be able to spot the funny mistake.

The lawmakers vividly remember the disputed provision was there when the bill was endorsed by the House plenary meeting and they share the suspicion the paragraph was deliberately omitted.

The lost provision singles out tobacco as an addictive and dangerous substance the use of which will be more tightly regulated under the law. This was a key issue that had survived bitter debates during deliberations of the bill because it would have wide-ranging ramifications on the multi-billion dollar tobacco business.

Advocates hoped the provision would account for a stronger legal basis for the government to better protect citizens from the danger of cigarettes and to reign in the tobacco industry. But critics, notably the tobacco industry, have always sought lenient laws that will not harm their business.

The omitted paragraph states, "The addictive substances ... include: Tobacco, derivative products containing solid, liquid and gaseous tobacco, which are addictive in nature and the use of which can cause health hazards to oneself and/or others".

After a storm of protests, the House assured the disappearance was all unintentional and that the "tobacco provision" has been put back in the draft bill that the President will sign into law.

Missing provisions have never happened before. Well, at least there has never been one that has caused such a national uproar as this one.

The scandalous incident has prompted speculations about collusion between some individual lawmakers or House employees and cigarette companies who had been unsuccessful at having the provision dropped from the bill.

But Umar Wahid, a deputy chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill swore the incident resulted from an honest misunderstanding on the part of the House's secretariat employees, who assumed that after all those fierce debates, the proposition had been dropped.

"The missing paragraph has been restored," Umar told Koran Tempo daily, which also reported that PT HM Sampoerna, Indonesia's largest cigarette maker, claimed it knew nothing about the disputed provision.

The suspicion is only well-founded because it has become a public secret that cigarette makers, who are among the country's biggest taxpayers, had been lobbying hard to ensure the new law would not harm their extremely lucrative businesses.

The commodity is heavily taxed and accounts for 95 percent of Indonesia's excise revenues.

The World Health Organization says that Indonesians spend on average 2.5 times more on tobacco than on education, and 3.2 times more on tobacco than on health. It estimates that 58.3 percent of men and 2.9 percent of Indonesian women smoke.

Indonesia consumes 1,122 cigarettes per person each year, according to the International Resource Center, with the number of female smokers rising especially among professionals in urban areas, where the habit is considered trendy.

Although its citizens are among the world's worst addicts and various measures have been taken to control smoking, Indonesia is yet to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

Once ratifying the convention, the signatory is bound to implement scientifically proven measures to reduce tobacco consumption.

The government has taken some measures to minimize tobacco consumption by, for example, imposing hefty taxes on tobacco products, regulating cigarette advertisements in the media and in some instances banning smoking in public places with a varying degree of success.

Although the House and the State Secretariat have assured that the missing provision has been recovered and reinstated, the laughing public will have to continue applying pressure for a criminal investigation into the scandal.




http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/16/lawmakers-butt-joke-tobacco-war.html

Miyabi`s visit canceled following controversy

Maxima Pictures as the sponsor of Maria Ozawa or better known as Miyabi, has finally bowed to public protests and decided not to let the Japanese adult film star come to Indonesia.

The decision was made following a meeting between the producer and director of the film to be titled "Menculik Miyabi" or "Kidnapping Miyabi" with Interim Culture and Tourism Minister Mohammad Nuh at the minister`s office on Tuesday (Oct. 13). In the meeting, Minister Nuh gave a directive to cancel the planned visit of the Japanese porn film star to Indonesia.

Mohammad Nuh, who is concurrently the communication and information minister, said in a press release made available to Antara`s East Java bureau office that he had asked Odi Mulya Hidayat from Maxima Pictures as the sponsor of Miyabi`s planned visit to heed the directive to cancel Miyabi`s planned visit which had triggered a public controversy in the country.

At the meeting, Maxima Pictures had agreed to do as directed by the minister in order to avoid a growing controversy in the community, so that it will not increase the problem, the release said.

Hidayat said, as quoted in the release, that his side had to cancel Miyabi`s presence and postpone the process of Miyabi film "Kidnapping Miyabi" due to the strong protests against the movie.

Nuh appreciated the Maxima Picture`s preparedness to cancel Miyabi`s visit , because this nation did not want to be busy with issues that really can be solved in a good way.

Miyabi, who is actually hardly known by the Indonesian public before, was born in Hokkaido, Japan on January 8, 1986. She has blood mix of Japanese mother and French-Canadian father. This pretty girl is a model and actress playing in a number of adult videos.

She was earlier scheduled to arrive in Jakarta on Wednesday (Oct. 14) and would stay for a week for a shooting of "Kidnapping Miyabi" to be produced by Maxima Pictures.

It was the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) which first staged a protest in front of the production house`s office in Jakarta last Oct. 9, 2009, against the planned presence of Miyabi in Indonesia. And later, similar protests were held especially by Muslim organizations in several regions.

On October 10, around 300 Muslims students under the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization, in Kudus, Central Java province, staged a demonstration to reject Miyabi`s planned visit to Indonesia by torching a few pieces of women`s underwear.

"Reject Miyabi, Save the Younger Generation from Pornography," Syakuri, one of the coordinators of the rally, shouted.

Another a protest rally was staged in Kudus on October 12, by Muslim university student of STAIN. In the rally, some protesters burned women`s underwear.

"By inviting Miyabi to play in a film in Indonesia, it means help promote pornography in this country," Anas Marzuki, a protester, said.

Miyabi is a symbol of pornography and "Kidnapping Miyabi" might become a virus which would infect the younger generation and make them familiar with porn films, he said.

In Gorontalo, northern Sulawesi, a number of residents also expressed their objection to the planned visit of Miyabi. Kusno (45) and Wati Ibrahim, for instance, complained about TV news on Miyabi as the electronic media also showed briefly parts of her erotic scenes.

"Although Miyabi would not come to Gorontalo, she could have a bad influence through her appearance on domestic TV news showing parts of her erotic scenes," Kusno said.

Chairman of the Gorontalo chapter of NU Maryam Pago has expressed her opposition to the planned visit of Miyabi.

"Miyabi`s visit will just trigger an uproar in the public and could harm the Indonesian children`s mentality because she is known as a porn film star," Maryam said.

NU Executive Board Chairman Hasyim Muzadi in Jambi (Sumatra) recently openly rejected the planned visit of Miyabi as he described it as no benefit for the nation.

Chairperson of the Jambi branch office of NU Abdul Kadir Husein also shared Muzadi`s view.

However, there was a group of some young people called "Fans Club" in Pekalongan, Central Java, which demonstrated support for Miyabi`s visit to Indonesia. They considered the banning of Miyabi to Indonesia was a human rights violation and a discriminative act.

Following the controversy, in fact, Miyabi has suddenly become famous in Indonesia. Public demand for her VCDs and DVDs has increased drastically.

The Jakarta Police on Wednesday launched a crackdown on producers and distributors of pirated pornography and other CDs, VCDs and DVDs.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Chrysnanda Dwi Laksana said that five suspects were arrested at five different locations: Jelambar Fajar, Penjaringan and Jalan Ancol Selatan in North Jakarta; Jalan Latumenten, Jalan Lada and Jalan Pinangsia, Taman Sari in West Jakarta; and Jalan Kemayoran Barat in Central Jakarta.

Laksana said that the police had seized five duplicators, 64,828 VCDs and DVDs, most of them pornographic, 3,400 recordable DVDs, 101 film master copies, four sets of stamps, a personal computer, a printer and a L300 minibus.

"The suspects will be charged with violating Article 72, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the 2002 Law on Copyrights, Article 40 of the 1992 Law on Film, and Article 282 of the Criminal Code on crimes against decency," he said.

Communications Minister Muhammad Nuh earlier said that Miyabi`s planned visit was legally not prohibited, but it could cause a controversy because it was against the nation`s morality. He suggested the production house should consider public sentiments and think about replacing Miyabi with a `less controversial actress.`
And some Muslim scholars believed that the presence of Miyabi in an Indonesian film would indirectly `legalize` pornography in this country.



http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1255611459/miyabis-visit-canceled-following-controversy

Sundanese culture introduced to foreign youths

Sundanese culture was presented to a number of international youth conference delegates 2009 during their visit here, a youth and sports affairs offical said.

Angklung is one of the traditional arts of music shown to the youth delegates, head of the city Education, Youth and Sports affairs office Aim Halim Hermana said here on Saturday.

A total of 150 young people from several countries in Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Australia visited Bogor on Thursday as part of their activities in the International Youth Conference 2009 which was held in Banten province three days ago.

The international youths visited Bogor in a company of Deputy Assistant of Youth Resource Development and International Relationships of the Youth and Sports affairs ministry, Adiyati Nurdin.

"They generally appreciate the Angklung music," Nurdin said.

Meanwhile, head of the city Education, Youth and Sports affairs office, Aim Halim Hermana said that Sundanese culture has become the dominant culture in the West Java city of Bogor.

Daniel one of the youth delegates from Spain appreciated the Sundanese traditional culture, adding that while in Spain there is arts like the angklung, but not as beautiful as the "angklung" performed to entertain them.

While Park Hyein, a South Korean youth admitted that he loved visiting Bogor and its local culture. "Although it is my first time to Bogor, but I like it," he said.

Deputy Assistant of Youth Resource Development and International Relationships of the Youth and Sports affairs ministry, Adiyati Nurdin said that Indonesia has many places of interests apart from Bali and Yogyakarta. (*)


http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1254599182/sundanese-culture-introduced-to-foreign-youths

RI`s budget deficit reaches Rp33 trillion

Indonesia`s budget deficit in the year ended on September 30 reached Rp33.23 trillion, accounting for 25.40 percent of the government-set target of Rp129.8 trillion for the year.

"The budget deficit until September 30, 2009 was Rp33.23 trillion," Director General of Treasury Affairs at the Finance Ministry Herry Purnomo said on Tuesday.

To offset the deficit, the government had issued rupiah-denominated state bonds worth a total of Rp85.55 trillion or 86.19 percent of the targeted Rp99.26 trillion for this year, he said in his opening address to an investor gathering at the ministry.

Commenting on the government`s plan to auction state sharia bonds (SBSN), he said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had set the number of bidders to take part in the auction scheduled for October 13.

"The finance minister has appointed bidders consisting of financial institutions, banks, and securities companies. They can all become bidders, provided they have secured approval," he said.

The plan to auction state sharia bonds consisting of series IFR0003 and IFR0004 had obtained a fatwa (edict) from the National Sharia Council.

The bonds to be issued under a sales and lease back agreement will be payable in 6 years and 11 years respectively.

Herry said the state budget needed support to finance its deficit and therefore, the government would keep encouraging the market for state sharia bonds.

"I think the auctioning method in the issuance of sukuk (sharia bonds) will be more efficient and can encourage transparency and development in the secondary market," he said.(*)



http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1254834802/ris-budget-deficit-reaches-rp33-trillion

Letter: Protect right of minority religions

I would like to respond to a comment made by Chairul Bahri in the United States (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 29) on an article about a proposal to review a blasphemy law. There has been good progress on certain freedom issues, though it still needs further improvement, especially on several non-mainstream religious denominations that exist in Indonesia.

Take for example the Jehovah's Witnesses. The official activity of this Christian group was unjustifiably frozen from 1976 to 2001 "out of courtesy" of the pressure from "more mainstream" groups in Indonesia. This fact was sorely pathetic, despite their persistent defending of their own religious rights, against some fundamental Muslim elements that actually weren't pleased about the presence of many churches in this country.

My role as an observer has taken my specific attention to particular groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses, because their normal existence in a country becomes an indicator of how well human rights are protected there.

The Indonesian people in general may think that the religious society that created the blasphemy law only comes from a certain group of Muslim clerics, but similar action was also followed by the surprisingly Christian churches here. I have to state that the Jehovah's Witnesses can do their activities legally in this country, so they are legal.

Even after the ban on the Jehovah's Witnesses was lifted in 2001, many groups are still developing uneasy feelings and bad intentions about putting the ban back, though this is denied by the highest Christian authorities in Indonesia. The group still experiences significant pressure against building projects for their own places of worship.

In the city of Tangerang, for example, they still find difficulties registering their place of worship. One of the barriers was during the registration process, when many local churches there sent letters of opposition to the Tangerang administration to deny the Jehovah's Witnesses an official permit to establish their "Kingdom Hall", adding to the "usual" opposition from the Muslim society, which already had uneasy feelings about Christianity in general. It really has disturbed the basic right of any religious group to worship legally and peacefully.

I wonder if the other churches realize they also face opposition in building their own places of worship. This fact becomes a fun and pathetic situation where eventually the minority fights against the passive minority just based on doctrinal differences. I myself am not a Jehovah's Witness.

You may wonder why I have paid greater attention to that. It is because their worshipers number almost 50,000. I believe it is so unreasonable to hold back the rights of that huge number of people. The number of people from the Church of Latter Day Saints and Baha'i faith are insignificant compared to the others, and the fact is there has never been an official, legal ban against them from the Indonesian government.

We surely look forward to the even treatment of all religious activities in this country without disruption. It is a very sad situation when churches in Indonesia still oppose basic human rights and valid law, though they don't do it apparently.

John Evans
Jakarta



http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/05/letter-protect-right-minority-religions.html

Indonesia's miraculous 'free' democracy

Modern miracles do happen. Ten years ago, as the Asian financial crisis savaged Indonesia's economy, many experts predicted that the country would become unstable, if not splinter. Instead, Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic country, has emerged as a beacon of freedom and democracy for the Muslim world. What happened? And why hasn't the world taken note?

The story is as complex as Indonesia itself. One leading expert on Indonesia, Benedict Anderson, roots Indonesia's nature in its core Javanese culture, particularly the wayang religious tradition. According to Anderson, "In contrast to the great religions of the Near East, the religion of wayang has no prophet, no message, no Bible, no Redeemer."

The endless variety and sharp individuality of its dramatis personae indicate that wayang reflects the variegation of human life as it is felt by the Javanese." In short, Javanese culture helps Indonesia handle the many diverse voices that a new democracy throws up.

There is also a strong Indonesian tradition of resolving disagreements through musyawarah dan mufakat (consultation and consensus). Of course, this tradition has not always prevented violence, most notoriously in the killings that followed the 1966 coup against President Sukarno. And 10 years ago, during the financial crisis, violent anti-Chinese riots erupted again, causing many Chinese to flee the country.

Today, however, many of those Chinese have returned. In a remarkable development, Chinese language and culture, which had been suppressed for decades, is allowed free expression. By contrast, imagine Turkey, a more advanced member state of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, allowing free expression of Kurdish language and culture.

Indonesia's record looks even more remarkable when compared to the United States. Americans explain their country's democratic backsliding by pointing to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But Indonesia was attacked, too, with the bombing in Bali coming little more than a year later on Oct. 12, 2002. Despite this, Indonesia has consolidated its democracy. In 2005, Freedom House declared that Indonesia had moved from "partly free" to "free."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono deserves great credit for this remarkable success. Under his leadership, the long-standing and painful Aceh conflict was peacefully resolved. Some credit the 2004 tsunami, which killed hundreds of thousands of Acehnese, for this breakthrough. But Sri Lanka was hit equally hard by the tsunami and the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict has worsened.

Today, the biggest threat to Indonesia's democracy comes from America, even though most Americans want Indonesia's democracy to succeed. With modern technology, Indonesian Muslims clearly see the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and America's silence when Israeli aircraft bombed Lebanon in July 2006.

Many senior Americans were puzzled that Turkey, a long-standing NATO ally and a secular state, refused to allow American forces to use Turkey as a base to invade Iraq. If relatively secular Turkish society could be swept by a surge of anti-American sentiment, so, too, can Indonesia society.

Indeed, a major struggle is under way between those who want Indonesia to become more fundamentalist and those who want to preserve the traditionally open and tolerant nature of Javanese culture. Curiously, while many Americans and Europeans want moderate Muslim voices to succeed in Indonesia (and Southeast Asia), they often undermine moderates with policies that are perceived as anti-Islamic.

America's stance on military aid to Indonesia is but one example. For several years, some members of the U.S. Senate have maintained a punitive policy toward Indonesia by cutting off military assistance and curtailing Indonesian military training in the U.S. These punitive policies are self-defeating.

In recent years, the Indonesian military has provided a model for other Third World military forces on how to accept a transition to a full democracy. There are no threats of a coup d'etat, and senior generals, such as Yudhoyono, who studied in American military colleges, returned to Indonesia as convinced democrats.

It is a tragedy that ignorance of how much Indonesia has changed is being allowed to endanger its democratic development — and its role as a beacon of freedom and hope in the Islamic world. It is to be hoped that Barack Obama, should he win America's presidency, will recall the tolerant Indonesia where he grew up, and shape policies toward it accordingly.
Kishore Mahbubani is dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. His most recent book is "The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East." © 2008 Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)


search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20080922a1.html

Golkar n money

Money, money, money. It is indeed shameful and disgusting money seems to be the only factor in determining who will win the Golkar Party chairmanship in Pekanbaru, Riau, this week. Media reports about alleged vote buying have raised many doubts about the credibility of the party leaders. When leaders are elected because of their wealth, and not because of their capability, it is hard to believe they can achieve quality results.

We heard little about comprehensive programs from the candidates — business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie and media baron Surya Paloh are so far the strongest contenders — on what politicians will do to restore the party’s past supremacy in local and national elections.

We wished they could provide detailed programs to the party stakeholders, but we could only gain information about the mighty power of their wealth. It is true that both Aburizal and Surya boasted Golkar would win more votes in local elections and in the 2014 legislative and presidential elections, but they apparently also know congress participants are more interested in how they
can get the highest financial and political benefits from the congress.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla easily won the Golkar leadership in 2004, several weeks after he and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were sworn in as the country’s new leaders. He defeated then incumbent chairman Akbar Tandjung, because he reportedly poured in huge money to attract Golkar leaders.

When Golkar received fewer-than-expected votes in the April legislative elections, Kalla was largely blamed for the failure.

Soeharto established Golkar as his political machine when he came to power in the 1960s. It was the only major political party around during his tenure, although there were also two smaller parties.

After his fall in 1998, Golkar votes decreased in the 1999 elections. It only secured 120 seats in the House of Representatives that year, 128 seats in 2004 and just 107 seats in 2009.

Soeharto’s youngest son, “Tommy” Soeharto, is also trying his luck in this congress. He has also promised lucrative incentives if he wins the race.

However there is little hope for Tommy to regain family control over the party.

Hopefully the candidates will present their clear and achievable vision and mission to participants of the Golkar congress, which will run from Monday until Thursday.

And we hope the 492 regional and 33 provincial chapters, and Golkar’s 10 wing organizations, which have voting rights in the congress, use a moral conscience — and not their greed for money and power — to elect the party’s new chairman.

As long as money is the most dominant factor in determining the winner of the Golkar leadership race,
there is little hope people can gain more trust in the party. But the behavior of Golkar leaders perhaps also reflects the behavior of our leaders in general. How can we expect democracy to flourish in our country when vote buying remains rampant?



http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/10/06/all-about-money.html