Indonesia 'dog doctor' rescues canines from pandemic peril

Yahoo – AFP, Haeril HALIM, July 11, 2020

Indonesian doctor Susana Somali started confronting butchers after seeing a
video of a pregnant dog about to be slaughtered (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Indonesian doctor Susana Somali and her staff cut tightly-bound plastic ropes off dozens of whimpering dogs rescued from the butcher's block after being sold or abandoned during the coronavirus pandemic.

Somali's sprawling Jakarta complex, home to about 1,400 canines, has become a refuge for at-risk animals as cash-strapped owners sell them into the Southeast Asian nation's controversial dog meat trade.

Mostly acting on tip-offs, Somali and her team hit the streets looking for stray dogs and butcher shops where more and more doomed animals are spending their last days howling in cramped cages.

Somali -- who juggles a day job testing COVID-19 samples at a local hospital -- started the shelter in an upscale Jakarta neighbourhood more than a decade ago.

Back then, she rescued one or two dogs from a butcher each week. But that number has soared to as many as 20 in recent months as strays are snatched off the streets for their meat.

The 55-year-old mother of two negotiates with often unfriendly butchers, sometimes paying them cash or supplying other meat to secure the animals' release.

"The real battle isn't rescuing them from butchers, although that is always scary. The challenge is taking care of these dogs during the pandemic," Somali said.

'Tears in her eyes'

Somali and about 30 staff at Pejaten Animal Shelter are struggling to care for a huge number of animals as donations plunge in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The money is crucial to help cover upwards of $29,000 in monthly expenses, including employee salaries and the daily cost of half a tonne of meat for the animals.

Somali's sprawling Jakarta rescue complex is home to about 1,400 dogs 

(AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Myriad breeds, including huskies, pit bulls, and German shepherds, roam the 5,000 square metre (54,000 square foot) shelter, which Somali started in 2009.

She started confronting butchers after seeing a video of a pregnant dog about to be slaughtered.

"Someone posted images of this crying dog on social media and I saw the tears in her eyes," she said.

"That's when I became aware of the butchers."

Somali and her team rescued dozens of puppies bound for a local Korean eatery this month, but they don't always make it in time.

"I tried to reach the area but was told that the dog had already been (killed)," she said of one recent dash to a butcher's shop.

"It was a minute too late."

Animal welfare groups estimate as many as one million dogs are killed annually across Indonesia, with more than 100 restaurants in Jakarta alone serving their meat, according to government figures.

Dog is often a culinary speciality among Indonesia's non-Muslim minority groups.

The animals are considered unclean in Islam and rarely kept as pets in Muslim-majority countries.

Somali and her team rescued dozens of puppies bound for a local Korean

eatery this month (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Indonesia is relatively relaxed by comparison, but working at the shelter can still be tricky for Muslim volunteers like Ria Rosalina.

"Many people have asked me why I take care of dogs but also wear hijab," she said, referring to the religious head-covering worn by many Indonesian women.

"But I don't care. I just tell them that dogs were created by God, just like humans."

Snatched and killed

The plight of Indonesia's dogs isn't limited to the megacity capital.

Animal welfare organisation Four Paws has warned that thousands of strays in Bali were at risk of starving or being snatched by dog meat traders, as a plunge in tourism hammers the holiday island.

It is also a growing problem in other parts of Southeast Asia as traders prey on owners facing hard economic times, said Katherine Polak, a veterinarian with Four Paws.

"Animals are at a very heightened risk," she said.

"Some low-income people might be tempted to sell their pets."

For years, activists have called on the government to halt Indonesia's dog meat market -- a goal shared by Somali.

"Ending the dog meat trade may sound like a dream but everything starts from a dream," the shelter owner said.

"I'll always keep fighting."

Landmark case says Aboriginal Australians cannot be deported

Yahoo – AFP, Holly ROBERTSON, February 11, 2020

Australia's highest court says immigration law does not apply to Aboriginal
Australians (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Aboriginal Australians are exempt from immigration law, the country's top court ruled Tuesday, in a historic decision that found indigenous people born overseas cannot be deported.

Australia had been trying to deport two men -- Papua New Guinea citizen Daniel Love and New Zealand citizen Brendan Thoms -- under laws that allow a convicted criminal's visa to be cancelled on character grounds.

Both men identify as Aboriginal Australians, each has one indigenous parent, and they have lived in the country since they were small children.

Love, who served time for assault, and Thoms, who had been jailed for domestic violence, have been battling in the courts to stay in Australia, arguing that they may be "non-citizens" but they are also not "aliens".

The High Court ruled in a decision that split the judges 4-3 that Aboriginal Australians "are not within the reach" of constitutional provisions relating to foreign citizens.

Indigenous people have inhabited the vast continent for more than 60,000 years, while the modern nation's constitution only came into force in 1901.

Thoms -- who was already recognised as a traditional land owner -- was accepted by the court as Aboriginal.

But the judges could not agree on whether Love was under a three-part test that considers biological descent, self-identification and community recognition.

Lawyer Claire Gibbs, who represented the men, hailed the decision as "significant for Aboriginal Australians".

"This case isn't about citizenship, it's about who belongs here, who is an Australian national and who is a part of the Australian community," she told reporters in Canberra.

"The High Court has found Aboriginal Australians are protected from deportation. They can no longer be removed from the country that they know and the country that they have a very close connection with."

The case marked the first time an Australian court has considered whether the government has the power to deport indigenous people.

But it also touched on the contentious question of how Aboriginality is defined in the law.

Gibbs said she was "confident" that they would eventually be able to prove Love's status as he was "accepted by his community as Aboriginal" and had "biological proof" that he was a descendant of the First Australians.

Lawyers will now pursue compensation claims on behalf of both men, who Gibbs said had suffered "severe embarrassment" and been "subject to ridicule" as a result of being Aboriginal men held in immigration detention.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge described it as a "significant judgement" that has "implications for our migration programs".

"On the face of it, it has created a new category of persons; neither an Australian citizen under the Australian Citizenship Act, nor a non-citizen," he said in a statement.

The government was reviewing the decision and its implications, Tudge said.

Thoms was freed from immigration detention following the ruling, while Love had been released back in September 2018.

Indonesian court sentences French drug smuggler to death

Yahoo – AFP, May 20, 2019

Felix Dorfin was arrested in September carrying a suitcase filled with about three
kilograms of drugs, including ecstasy and amphetamines (AFP Photo/ARSYAD ALI)

An Indonesian court sentenced Frenchman Felix Dorfin to death for drug smuggling on Monday, in a shock verdict after prosecutors asked for a 20-year jail term.

Dorfin, 35, was arrested in September carrying a suitcase filled with about three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of drugs including ecstasy and amphetamines at the airport in Lombok, a holiday island next to Bali where foreigners are routinely arrested on drugs charges.

Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws -- including death by firing squad for some drug traffickers and it has executed foreigners in the past.

While prosecutors had not asked for the death penalty, Indonesian courts have been known to go beyond their demands.

"After finding Felix Dorfin legally and convincingly guilty of importing narcotics ... (he) is sentenced to the death penalty," presiding judge Isnurul Syamsul Arif told the court.

He cited Dorfin's involvement in an international drug syndicate and the amount of drugs in his possession as aggravating factors.

"The defendant's actions could potentially do damage to the younger generation," Arif added.

The Frenchman made headlines in January when he escaped from a police detention centre and spent nearly two weeks on the run before he was captured.

A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape from jail in exchange for money.

It was not clear if the jailbreak played any role in Monday's stiffer-than-expected sentence.

Dorfin, who is from Bethune in northern France, sat impassively through much of the hearing in front of three judges, as a translator scribbled notes beside him.

He said little as he walked past reporters to a holding cell after the sentencing.

"Dorfin was shocked," the Frenchman's lawyer Deny Nur Indra told AFP.

"He didn't expect this at all because prosecutors only asked for 20 years."

The lawyer said he would appeal against the sentence, describing his client as a "victim" who did not know the exact contents of what he was carrying.

"If he had known, he wouldn't have brought it here," Indra added.

In 2015, Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran -- the accused ringleaders of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling gang -- were executed by firing squad in Indonesia.

The case sparked diplomatic outrage and a call to abolish the death penalty.

The Bali Nine gang's only female member was released from jail last year, while some others remain in prison.

A number of foreigners in Indonesia are on death row including cocaine-smuggling British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford and Serge Atlaoui, a Frenchman who has been on death row since 2007.

Last year, eight Taiwanese drug smugglers were sentenced to death by an Indonesian court after being caught with around a tonne of crystal methamphetamine.

Indonesia foils illegal Facebook sale of komodo dragons

Yahoo – AFP, March 27, 2019

Indonesia, home to the komodo dragon, has for years been a key source and
transit point for animal trafficking (AFP Photo/Juni Kriswanto)

Indonesian authorities said Wednesday they had seized five komodo dragons and dozens of other animals being sold on Facebook, as the country battles to clamp down on the illegal wildlife trade.

The vast Southeast Asian archipelago nation's dense tropical rainforests boast some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world and it has for years been a key source and transit point for animal trafficking.

Five smugglers, identified only by their initials, were arrested in Semarang and Surabaya on Java island for allegedly trafficking the komodos -- the world's biggest lizard -- along with bearcats, cockatoos and cassowary birds.

"The suspect VS sold the komodos online through Facebook," East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said in a statement.

The dragons, which can only be found in their natural habitat on a cluster of islands in eastern Indonesia, were sold for between 15 and 20 million rupiah ($1,000-$1,400), Mangera said.

In a separate case, three other people were arrested in East Java over the alleged online sale of otters, leopard cats and pangolin, Mangera said.

If convicted, the smugglers could face up to five years in prison and a 100-million-rupiah fine.

The haul of komodo dragons comes just a day after authorities seized more than 5,000 endangered pig-nosed turtles from smugglers in Indonesia's easternmost province Papua.

The pig-nosed turtle -- which has a distinctive snout-like nose and webbed feet -- is only found in Australia and New Guinea, an island shared between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and is protected under Indonesian conservation laws.

Indonesia's illegal trade in wildlife along with habitat loss has driven numerous endangered species, from the Sumatran elephant to the orangutan, to the brink of extinction.

Authorities in Bali, a popular holiday island, last week arrested a Russian tourist who attempted to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of Indonesia in his suitcase to keep as a pet.

Indonesian woman jailed for complaining about mosque noise

Yahoo – AFP, 21 August 2018

Loudspeakers used to call the faithful to prayer are pictured atop a tower at a
Jakarta mosque: a woman in Medan has landed in jail for complaining about the noise

A woman in Muslim-majority Indonesia was sentenced to 18 months in jail Tuesday for complaining about the volume of a mosque's call to prayer -- the latest conviction under a controversial blasphemy law.

Meiliana, 44, an ethnic Chinese Buddhist, was found guilty of insulting Islam for asking her neighbourhood mosque to lower its sound system because it was too loud and "hurt" her ears.

There are some 800,000 mosques across the archipelago, with the five-times-a-day call to prayer heard everywhere in the biggest cities and smallest towns.

Tuesday's verdict will likely fuel fears that Indonesia's moderate brand of Islam is coming under threat from increasingly influential radicals.

The court in the city of Medan on Sumatra island said the woman's comments two years ago triggered riots that saw angry Muslim mobs ransack Buddhist temples.

Some ethnic Chinese in the area fled in fear.

The defendant's lawyer said his client would appeal the decision while Amnesty International urged a higher court to quash the sentence.

"This ludicrous decision is a flagrant violation of freedom of expression," said its Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid in a statement.

"Sentencing someone to 18 months in prison for something so trivial is a stark illustration of the increasingly arbitrary and repressive application of the blasphemy law in the country."

Indonesia, which has the world's biggest Muslim population, is officially pluralist with six major religions recognised, including Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism. Freedom of expression is supposed to be guaranteed by law.

But criticising religion -- particularly Islam, which is followed by nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 260 million citizens -- can land offenders in jail.

Rights groups have long campaigned against the nation's blasphemy laws, which they say are frequently misused to target minorities.

Last year Jakarta's former governor -- the city's first Christian leader of Chinese descent -- was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla made a plea in 2015 for places of worship to turn down the volume slightly to placate nearby residents.

Indonesia, Netherlands to Boost Cooperation on Rule of Law, Security

Jakarta Globe, Sheany, January 15, 2018

Indonesia and the Netherlands will discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral
cooperation on the rule of law and security during a meeting in Jakarta this week
 involving key representatives of the two countries, the Dutch Embassy said on
Monday (15/01). (Antara Photo/Rosa Panggabean) 

Jakarta. Indonesia and the Netherlands will discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation on the rule of law and security during a meeting in Jakarta this week involving key representatives of the two countries, the Dutch Embassy said on Monday (15/01).

Indonesia and the Netherlands have over several years forged cooperation in these fields in various ways, including capacity building for new judges, joint research, technical training and exchanges, according to a statement issued by the embassy.

The meeting, titled 2018 Indonesia-Netherlands Rule of Law and Security Update, will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

It seeks to highlight what the two countries have achieved together, but also identify ways "to further strengthen and develop mutual collaboration for the years to come."

National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, Supreme Court Chief Justice Hatta Ali and Maarten Feteris, president of the Dutch Supreme Court, will participate in the meeting, which will also be attended by representatives from government, academia, civil society and independent state institutions in both countries.

According to Hatta, collaboration between Indonesia and the Netherlands is both important and strategic, especially since their legal systems share common roots. In addition, an equal partnership will also be necessary to improve the quality and effectiveness of Indonesia's judicial system.

Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch for more than 300 years and the country therefore has the same legal system, with some laws dating back to the colonial era.

Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly spoke about possible Indonesia-Netherlands 

cooperation in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals during the 

2018 Indonesia-Netherlands Rule of Law and Security Update in Jakarta 

on Wednesday (17/01). (Antara Photo/Rivan Awal Lingga)

Related Articles:

Indonesia-Netherlands Rule of Law and Security Update Focuses on Access to Justice, Inclusivity, Online Hate Speech

Fire Destroys 60 Percent of Jakarta's Maritime Museum

Firefighters tried to rescue priceless collections from Jakarta’s Maritime 

Museum that was engulfed in flames on Tuesday (16/01). (Photo courtesy of 

Maritime Affairs Coordinating Ministry

Constitutional Court Rejects Bid to Criminalize Extramarital Sex

Jakarta Globe, Sheany, December 15, 2017

The Constitutional Court on Thursday (14/12) rejected a petition by a conservative
 group to make extramarital and same-sex relationships illegal. (Antara Photo/
Rosa Panggabean)

Jakarta. The Constitutional Court on Thursday (14/12) rejected a petition by a conservative group to make extramarital and same-sex relationships illegal.

The court said the petition was legally baseless.

In May, a group of academics, some of them members of conservative group Family Love Alliance (AILA), filed a petition requesting the court to impose criminal penalties of up to five years in prison for all sex outside marriage.

Five of nine judges voted to dismiss the petition, arguing that new offenses should be introduced to the criminal code by lawmakers, not the Constitutional Court.

"Just because a law is considered incomplete or no longer in line with social norms does not mean it contradicts the Constitution," Judge Saldi Isra said.

Beside Saldi, the judges who rejected the petition are Maria Farida Indrawati, Manahan Sitompul, I Gede Palguna and Suhartoyo.

According to the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat), the petition was an attempt to deteriorate Indonesia's human rights protection agenda. In a tweet it expressed hope that the court will not bow to group pressure.

Philippine church bells ring in drug war protest

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2017

Philippine police have reported killing more than 3,800 people to fulfil President
Rodrigo Duterte's vow to rid the country of narcotics (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Church bells rang across the mainly Catholic Philippines late Thursday as bishops rallied opposition to the "reign of terror" that has left thousands dead in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

Police have reported killing more than 3,800 people to fulfil Duterte's vow to rid the country of narcotics, with the 15-month crackdown triggering wider violence that has seen thousands of other people found dead in unexplained circumstances.

An elderly church sexton tugged on a rope to ring a 171-year-old bell atop the San Roque cathedral, its slow, deep peals sweeping over the vast slums of northern Manila around the 211-year-old church.

"Many of the drug killings had taken place in this diocese," Ryan Rezo, another church employee, told AFP.

Church leaders said bells around the country would simultaneously ring for five minutes from 8:00 pm (1200 GMT) to honour the dead and remind the living that the bloodshed must stop. The ritual will continue for 40 nights.

"We cannot allow the destruction of lives to become normal. We cannot govern the nation by killing," Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle said in a pastoral letter last week launching the campaign.

The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, followed up this week with an even stronger pastoral letter.

'Reign of terror'

"For the sake of the children and the poor, stop their systematic murders and spreading reign of terror," Villegas wrote.

Duterte won last year's presidential elections on a brutal law-and-order platform in which he promised an unprecedented campaign to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.

Duterte has made the drug war the top priority of his administration, and has regularly encouraged more bloodshed with comments such as describing himself as "happy to slaughter" three million addicts.

Nevertheless, the president and his aides reject allegations they are overseeing a crime against humanity.

They say police are killing only in self-defence, and the thousands of other unexplained murders could be due to drug gangs fighting each other.

Many Filipinos looking for quick solutions to crime continue to support Duterte, according to polls, and he enjoys majority backing in both houses of Congress.

But the Church has emerged as the leader of a growing opposition in recent months.

The killings of three teenagers, two of them at the hands of police in the northern Manila district of Caloocan on consecutive nights last month, sparked rare street protests against the crackdown.

Caloocan Bishop Pablo David said earlier Thursday he was giving refuge to two witnesses to the killing of one of the three slain boys.

"If you are a relative of a victim of extrajudicial killing or a witness to the extrajudicial killing of a particular victim, now is the time to come out," he told reporters.

Church officials say the tolling of bells for the dead originated from the Crusades, when Christian nations of Europe sent military expeditions to reclaim holy places in the Middle East.

The Catholic Church, to which eight in 10 Filipinos belong, has a history of influencing politics in the Philippines and helped lead the "People Power" revolution that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.

Duterte has repeatedly praised Marcos as a "hero", and made speeches seeking to discredit the Church.

Philippine church bells to toll as Catholic bishops oppose President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war https://t.co/r7pCEije3y pic.twitter.com/9MED60B0eM

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 14, 2017

Jakarta's Christian governor jailed for two years for blasphemy

Yahoo – AFP, May 9, 2017

Jakarta's Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (bottom L), is convicted of
blasphemy and sentneced to two eyars in prison, May 9, 2017 (AFP Photo/
Bay ISMOYO)

Jakarta (AFP) - Jakarta's Christian governor was jailed for two years Tuesday after being found guilty of committing blasphemy, capping a saga seen as a test of religious tolerance in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto told the Jakarta court that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama was "convincingly guilty of committing blasphemy and is sentenced to two years in prison".

He ordered Purnama, known by his nickname Ahok, to be detained. Purnama said: "We will file an appeal." Islamic hardliners outside the court cheered as news of verdict emerged and shouted "God is greatest".

Purnama was hauled into court last year to face trial for allegedly insulting Islam while campaigning for re-election in a case critics said was politically motivated.

The trial came after a series of major protests against the capital's leader that drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets.

His once unassailable opinion poll lead shrank amid the controversy and he lost the race to lead Jakarta last month to a Muslim challenger, a result that fuelled fears of Indonesia's moderate brand of Islam coming under threat from increasingly influential radicals.

AFP graphic profile of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jakarta's Christian governor jailed for two years for blasphemy pic.twitter.com/wOsRDJ9Edv

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 9, 2017

Show of Support for #Ahok https://t.co/QlBaADOg2j pic.twitter.com/u9xvkg1sBY

— The Jakarta Globe (@thejakartaglobe) May 10, 2017

Duterte executions plan is barbaric: Philippine critics

Yahoo – AFP, December 19, 2016

A Manila crime scene where two alleged drug dealers were gunned down by
unidentified men in October

Philippine Catholic leaders and rights groups on Monday condemned as "barbaric" President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to restore the death penalty and execute "five or six" criminals daily.

Duterte, 71, has made reviving the death penalty in the mainly Catholic nation his top legislative priority as part of a brutal war on crime that has killed 5,300 people.

"There was death penalty before but nothing happened. Return that to me and I would do it every day: five or six (criminals). That's for real," Duterte said Saturday.

An official at the influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said the Church "totally opposed" Duterte's plan.

"The Philippines will be viewed as very barbaric," Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary at its public affairs office, told AFP.

"It's going to make the Philippines the capital of death penalty in the world."

The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006 following fierce opposition to the penalty from the Catholic Church, the religion of 80 percent of Filipinos.

Before assuming office in June, Duterte vowed to introduce executions by hanging, saying he did not want to waste bullets and believed snapping the spinal cord was more humane than a firing squad.

Duterte said he viewed the death penalty not as a means to deter crime but for retribution.

Rodrigo Duterte shows images of allegedly criminal Philippine politicians at

a meeting with the Filipino community in Singapore on December 16, 2016

His allies in the House of Representatives quickly pushed for the bill and said they would vote on it by January.

The United Nations' human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a letter to the Philippine congress this month that reviving the death penalty would violate the country's international obligations.

But on Saturday Duterte insisted executions were necessary to fight the drug scourge which he said was "destroying" the nation.

While his aides dismiss his incendiary statements as hyperbole, rights advocates said Duterte's remarks were alarming.

"Setting a quota for executions is just too much. One death is too much because we are talking about lives," Amnesty International Philippines vice chairman Romeo Cabarde told AFP.

Catholic leaders and rights defenders have instead urged the government to reform a slow and corrupt justice system which they said was likely to send innocent people to death row.

Secillano said bishops planned to dissuade lawmakers from voting for the death penalty and would attend congressional debates next month.

Fear of killings

Duterte's crime war has drawn international criticism from the United States and United Nations over concerns about alleged extrajudicial killings and a breakdown in the rule of law.

Duterte won May elections in a landslide on a promise to eradicate drugs in society -- a mandate he often cited to defend his controversial campaign.

Catholic nuns oppose extra-judicial killings at a Human Rights Day rally

in Manila on December 10, 2016

A survey by Social Weather Stations released Monday showed while a majority backed Duterte's drug war, 78 percent of Filipinos were worried that they or someone in their family would be a victim of extrajudicial killings.

The survey also showed 71 percent said it was "very important" that police keep drug suspects they arrested alive.

Police have repeatedly said they only shot at criminals who fought back but the nation's rights agency has questioned this argument and has begun investigating cases.

On Monday, Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa apologised for police killings of criminal suspects but insisted these were done in self-defence.

"Lord, I hope you forgive us even if the ones we kill are bad people," Dela Rosa said during the police's Christmas party.

"If the life of a policeman will be lost just to preserve the life of a criminal, that's a great injustice."

Dela Rosa added Duterte gave police hefty bonuses for leading the crime war.

Related Articles:

Death penalty may be on the way out in US: report

The days of capital punishment may be numbered in the United States, according to a report from @DPInfoCtr https://t.co/xVmiV1VTDj pic.twitter.com/P6WgjYnSqy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 21, 2016

Verdict for Leuser Ecosystem to Fall on Nov. 8

Jakarta Globe, Ratri M. Siniwi, November 04, 2016

The Mount Leuser National Park. (Photo courtesy of World Conservation Society)

Jakarta. The fate of the Leuser Ecosystem will be revealed on Tuesday (08/11) with judges set to deliver their verdict in a case launched by Aceh citizens.

The lawsuit was filed on Jan. 21 by Acehnese community leaders against the Minister of Home Affairs, the Aceh Governor and the Aceh local government for excluding the Leuser Ecosystem from the Aceh Spatial Plan 2013-2033.

By excluding the Leuser Ecosystem, the Aceh local government will open arms to more mining, logging and palm oil plantations, dismissing the ecosystem’s National Strategic Area status and its Unesco World Heritage Site status for Mount Leuser National Park.

“The Leuser Ecosystem is a legacy from my parents, and if I don’t take care of it, it’s like I’m betraying my next generation,” Aman Jarum, a plaintiff in the suit and a member of the Aceh Citizen Lawsuit Movement (GeRAM), said on Thursday (03/11).

As the ecosystem is the province’s water catchment area, it plays an essential role as the water source for millions of people in Sumatra. Due to the hard impacts of climate change, losing water source would mean a gamble on the future of livelihoods around the world.

“Climate change is going to turn water into gold; [water is] going to be more valuable,” said former environment minister Emil Salam.

As the expert witness for GeRAM, he said in court that destroying the area will also mean destroying the homes of Sumatra’s endemic wildlife.

“Leuser is one of the 25 ecosystems in the world with a unique biodiversity and serves as home for 7,500 Sumatran orangutans, 700 Sumatran elephants and 250 Sumatran tigers,” said Emil.

According to Friends of the Earth Indonesia (WALHI), there are 53 companies benefiting from the Leuser Ecosystem.

Most are palm oil plantations, followed by timber, and pulp and paper companies.

“We are not just putting Leuser at stake, but also other ecosystems in Indonesia — what would happen to them?” the former minister stated.

Missing Munir Murder Case Files Have Become Political Issue: Yudhoyono

Jakarta Globe, Edo Karensa & Carlos KY Paath, October 25, 2016

Former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addressing the media at his
 house in Cikeas, Bogor district, West Java, on on Tuesday (25/10). (Antara Photo/
Yulius Satria Wijaya)

Jakarta. Former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the missing files from the investigation into the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib has turned into political issue against him, but that he will take responsibility for the matter.

Yudhoyono, who served as president from 2004 to 2014, was pressured to take responsibility for the files, which are believed to have been lost during his last year in office.

Munir died on board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam in September 2004, nearly a month before Yudhoyono was inaugurated as president.

"The legal issue has turned into politics. But I am no newbie to politics in this country; this is something normal," Yudhoyono said during a press conference at his residence in Cikeas, Bogor district, West Java, on Tuesday (25/10).

"My responsibility is to provide an explanation in a proper and relevant context to a matter that has captured the public attention, in particular human rights activists, who have certain interests in the Munir case," Yudhoyono said.

The former president, who is also leader of the Democratic Party, said he was responsible for follow-ups on the murder investigation, which was conducted by the National Police, with the assistance of an independent fact-finding team.

Sudi Silalahi, a former cabinet secretary during the Yudhoyono era, said in the press conference that the previous administration had done everything possible to support the investigation, including to allow the National Police's criminal investigative unit (Bareskrim) to probe any government officials in the country and abroad.

He added that Yudhoyono never, at any point, ordered the investigation or law enforcement efforts regarding the murder case to be halted.

"In response to the fact-finding team's recommendations that indicated possible involvement by [former intelligence chief] A.M. Hendropriyono, the questioning of witnesses and convicts revealed no links to him," Sudi said.

Although the investigation failed to provide satisfying results, Sudi said the probe had been conducted properly and in accordance with the law and that Yudhoyono had no authority at the time to intervene.

Also present at the press conference was former top spook Syamsir Siregar and former leader of the fact-finding team Marsudi Hanafi.

In response to Yudhoyono's statement, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar deplored the fact that this explanation had not been given to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo during the transition in October 2014.

"Sudi Silalahi blamed legal issues as the reason for the Munir murder case not having been finalized yet. The statement is a strong signal that the current administration should not stand idle to let the case be forgotten and not to do something with it," Haris said in a statement.

There are strong indications of the possible involvement of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), which was headed by Hendropriyono at the time, Haris said.

"To open the fact-finding team's files on the Munir murder case will be a large and serious task. But this is important to prove that the state is making progress on law enforcement and human rights in Indonesia," Haris added.

He expressed appreciation for Yudhoyono clearly stating that the case files are not missing, as dossiers had also been submitted to national archives.

Related Article:

Jokowi Allows Legal Process on Missing Documents of Munir’s Case