Police Arrest 2 on Labor Day

The Jakarta Post, 1 May 2010

Central Jakarta police arrested two people during a mass rally to commemorate the International Labor Day outside the State Palace on Saturday. The police chief, Sr. Comr. Hamidin, said one of the demonstrators was apprehended for allegedly provoking others to commit violence, while the other was arrested for attacking a police officer.

“We will release them if we do not find any criminal motive behind their act,” Hamidin was quoted by kompas.com. Hamidin viewed the rally was organized peacefully in general, although he said security personnel had to use a water canon to calm the protesters following the arrest of a labor activist.

Police Use Water Cannons to Disperse Labor Day Protesters

The Jakarta Globe, 1 May 2010

Violence erupted in Central Jakarta on Saturday as thousands of workers marched on the Presidential Palace to mark Labor Day. Reports said that police responded with water cannons as elements of the demonstrators – marching to demand better pay and social security for workers – pushed against barricades and threw rocks and other objects.

Protesters from the Allied Congress for Indonesian Workers’ Union and Confederation for Indonesian Prosperous Workers' Union allegedly threw wooden planks and shoes at the police barricade, despite the attentions of the water cannon.

Detik.com reported that the riot began when police arrested two protesters for allegedly provoking the demonstrators to creep closer to the palace.

Thousands in Anti-graft Rally

STRAITS Times, 9 December 2009

THOUSANDS of Indonesians rallied on Wednesday in several major cities to mark international anti-graft day, urging the government to seriously investigate a controversial bank bailout scandal.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under mounting pressure as lawmakers probe allegations of corruption linked to a contentious US$700 million government bailout for the failed local institution Bank Century last year.

He has strongly denied accusations that some of the money was channeled into his campaign for re-election in July, which he won with 60 per cent of the vote on the back of a promise to stamp out corruption.

In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, up to 5,000 students and anti-graft activists flocked to a road in the city centre, calling on the government to probe the bank bailout.

Protesters carried banners and posters reading 'Investigate Bank Century case to save state money' and 'SBY is incapable of ruling this country", a reference to the president's nickname. In Jakarta, more than a thousand protesters marched to the state palace with banners urging the president to act, with one banner claiming '90 per cent of law enforcers here are rotten'.

Yudhoyono appealed late on Tuesday for people to demonstrate peacefully, saying his government was serious about tackling graft. He previously expressed his fears that unnamed forces could hijack the rally to topple him. Organisers of the anti-graft rally said the president was paranoid and called on him to join them rather than demonising a popular movement.

Source: STRAITS Times

Activist Dies During Anti-corruption March

ANTARA news, 9 December 2009

Chairman of the National Corruption Eradication Movement (GNPK) for Pemalang, Andi Faralay (31), died during a long march to observe world anti-corruption day here on Wednesday.

Chief of the GNPK Education Center, M Basri Busi Utomo, said Andi who died during a march towards the Hotel Indonesia (HI) Traffic Circle in Central Jakarta, possibly suffered from exhaustion.

"On the way to the HI Traffic Circle during the long march, Andi suddenly collapsed and fell unconscious. Moments later, he died," Utomo said.

He said GNPK activists had just finished a three-day national working meeting on eradication of corruption in Central Java. "We just finished it today and spent the night at the RedTop hotel," he said.

Utomo said he had immediately contacted Andi`s family. "We will take his body to Pemalang today," he added.

In the meantime, deputy chief of Metro Jakarta Police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Firli denied that Andi had died because he fell when he was conducting an oration.

"When he was marching towards the HI traffic circle, the victim suddenly collapsed and died in the street," he said.

The body of the victim was taken to Budi Kemuliaan Hospital in Central Jakarta.

Source: ANTARA news

Indonesian President Fears Plot Amid Protests

channelnewsasia.com, 7 December 2009

Indonesia's top brass met Monday to discuss a supposed threat to the country after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that unnamed forces were planning to use an anti-graft rally to topple him.

The heads of the armed forces, the police and the intelligence agency were called to the security ministry to examine the alleged threat to the government surrounding the anti-corruption march scheduled on Wednesday, officials said.

The meeting came after Yudhoyono cryptically told a gathering of his Democratic party on Sunday that the rally was a front for a "hidden political scenario".

"I've prayed in the middle of the night with my wife and family to find out what is going on behind this slander and character assassination," he said.

"My common sense says that such political behaviour will at least in the short term shake, discredit or if possible topple SBY," he added, using his nickname to refer to himself in the third person.

Yudhoyono is under mounting pressure over corruption allegations that have besieged the administration since his landslide election victory in July on the back of promises of good governance and economic growth.

The softly-spoken ex-general has been slow to discipline the officials involved and has seemed out of touch with public anger over the endless stream of corruption scandals.

His taciturn exterior was shaken when he angrily rejected suspicions that money from a 6.7-trillion-rupiah (710-million-dollar) government bailout for a failed bank found its way into his campaign coffers.

Yudhoyono's latest claims of a secret plot to oust him from power -- he made similar comments after a terror attack in July -- have been dismissed as "paranoid" by his critics.

Anti-graft activists have also blasted suggestions that their rally is anything but a popular movement against rampant corruption. They called on Yudhoyono to stand by them rather than portray them as threats to the nation.

Coordinating Minister of Political, Security and Legal Affairs Djoko Suyanto said Yudhoyono was an astute judge of threats to his power.

"He's always on alert over things like that. A gathering involving mass people is usually easily used by freeloaders," Suyanto told reporters after the security meeting.

"What the president wanted to say is that don't let them disrupt the aim of the rally."

He did not explain who the "freeloaders" might be.

Source: channelnewsasia.com

Thousands Join Anti-corruption Rally in Indonesia

channelnewsasia.com, 9 December 2009

Thousands of Indonesians rallied on Wednesday in several major cities to mark international anti-graft day, urging the government to seriously investigate a controversial bank bailout scandal.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is under mounting pressure as lawmakers probe allegations of corruption linked to a contentious 700-million-dollar government bailout for the failed local institution Bank Century last year.

He has strongly denied accusations that some of the money was channelled into his campaign for re-election in July, which he won with 60 per cent of the vote on the back of a promise to stamp out corruption.

In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, up to 5,000 students and anti-graft activists flocked to a road in the city centre, calling on the government to probe the bank bailout.

Protesters carried banners and posters reading "Investigate Bank Century case to save state money" and "SBY is incapable of ruling this country", a reference to the president's nickname.

In Jakarta, more than a thousand protesters marched to the state palace with banners urging the president to act, with one banner claiming "90 per cent of law enforcers here are rotten".

Yudhoyono appealed late Tuesday for people to demonstrate peacefully, saying his government was serious about tackling graft. He previously expressed his fears that unnamed forces could hijack the rally to topple him.

Organisers of the anti-graft rally said the president was paranoid and called on him to join them rather than demonise a popular movement.

Source: channelnewsasia.com

PDI-P: Yudhoyono Shouldn't Stir Panic

The Jakarta Post, 8 December 2009

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction chairman at the House of Representatives, Tjahyo Kumolo, said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should not have publicly revealed any intelligence data he acquired about the Dec. 9 movement, stirring panic among the public.

"The president receives data from the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) on a daily basis. The data must be held confidentially and cannot be publicly revealed.

“BIN people understand that it is important to keep secret data secret to avoid public panic. However, for some reason, the president decided to be the public relation of the intelligence," he told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"The president's statement about intelligence data on the Dec. 9 movement, will only make the movement grow bigger and bigger," he added.

Yudhoyono recently said that he had received sufficient data about a possible political movement to topple him using rallies, planned to be held on Dec. 9 to celebrate the world anti-corruption day.

Anti-corruption activists have expressed their regret over the president's statement, saying that he might have overreacted and panicked himself.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Thousands Urge Sharia Law to Stem Indonesia Graft

jaknews.com, 7 December 2009

Thousands of hardine Muslim protesters staged rallies in Indonesia on Sunday (6/12) urging the government to apply Islamic law as the only way to tackle widespread corruption.

Members of Hizbut Tahrir demonstrated in several cities including the capital Jakarta, venting anger at a 700-million-dollar bank bailout at the center of a corruption scandal that has put high-level officials under fire.

In Jakarta, thousands of protesters took to the streets with their families and children, carrying banners condemning the capitalist system as the root of corruption.

"The Bank Century scandal proves the failure of capitalism system," read one big banner. "By adopting sharia under Islamic caliphate, Indonesia is free from corruption," said another.

Lawmakers are probing allegations of corruption linked to the bailout last year of Bank Century after the country's top auditor found strong indications of "violations."

"The capitalist system has ruined our economy. That's the source of all problems in our country," Hizbut Tahrir spokesman Muhammad Ismail Yusanto declared at the rally.

Hundreds of members of the group also rallied last week on World AIDS Day to demand the implementation of sharia law to prevent the spread of HIV rather than condom use.

Nearly 90 percent of Indonesia's 234 million people are Muslim and most practice a moderate form of the religion

Source: jaknews.com

President Orders Securing Anti-corruption Day Observance

ANTARA News, 6 December 2009

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered security officers to prevent a physical clash during the World Anti-Corruption Day observance on December 9, 2009. Addressing the Third National Leadership Meeting of the Democratic Party (PD) here on Sunday, the president said he had information there would be movements with political motives during the observance of World Anti-Corruption Day on December 9.

He called on security personnel to be provoked so easily by the masses in maintaining security during massive rallies that might take place on the occasion of the anti-corruption day commemoration.

"I call on security officers to prevent clashes, especially physical clashes," Yudhoyono, who is the chief patron of the Democratic Party said.

Based on information he had, the president expressed hope that no one would be victimized or be made a political martyr aimed at provoking public reaction during the anti-corruption day commemoration.

"I have that information so that I would call on security personnel not to be provoked. There should be no victim or someone who is to be turned a martyr. There are a lot of intrigues and intelligence games of the past mode which is actually no longer suitable with the characteristics of the present democratic life," he said.

He expressed his hope that criticism and protests to be launched during the anti-corruption observance would remain to reflect a good democratic and political life, no matter how big the number of rallies it would be and how harsh the protests they would deliver.

"We want all this because all of us are willing to develop a respectable democracy," the president said.

Therefore, Yudhoyono asked that security officers would be serious in maintaining law and order during the World Anti-Corruption Day observance. They should also protect and secure all demonstrators, he said.

Source: ANTARA News

Students in South Sulawesi Burn Pictures of Yudhoyono, Boediono and Sri Mulyani

The Jakarta Globe, 3 December 2009

Students from Hasanuddin University in Makassar, South Sulawesi, took to the streets on Thursday, burning images of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to demand a thorough investigation into the Bank Century bailout.

The rally was monitored by police but the students were not stopped from burning pictures of Yudhoyono, Boediono and Sri Mulyani. The students demanded Yudhoyono and Boediono step down and Sri Mulyani to be arrested.

“Rp 6.7 billion would mean a lot if it were allocated for free education. Thousands of poor children in the country will be able to go to school,” said a demonstrator.

Besides Hasanuddin University students, scores of students from Paulus Indonesia Christian University also held a rally in Makassar to demand the government to show more commitment to investigating the Bank Century scandal.

Source: The Jakarta Globe

Demonstrations in Hotel Indonesia Roundabout is Illegal

Berita Jakarta, 1 December 2009

Hotel Indonesia roundabout with its Welcome Statue and fountain is the icon of Jakarta. Unluckily, the place is often to be used as demonstrations for several groups because the place is very strategic.

The development of Hotel Indonesia roundabout was aimed to welcome Asian Games IV contingent in 1962 and made as interesting tourism place not only local but also foreign people. That is why the Jakarta City Administration will re-function the location to beautify the city as the capital city.

Any of demonstrations, protest, or show with or without stage in Hotel Indonesia roundabout is forbidden.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said the citizen should not hold any demonstrations or protest act in Hotel Indonesia roundabout. The city administration is preventing the location surrounding from damage and dirty after demonstrations act.

In order to maintain the city asset, Bowo instructed to demolish tent and stage built in launching the air quality monitoring station on Sunday (11/29). “I instruct the committee to demolish the stage because Hotel Indonesia roundabout is not place for party,” Bowo added.

Similar restriction should be also given to citizens who will hold demonstration there. Hotel Indonesia roundabout is not private place but public area which is built for society welfare. Bowo added since Sunday (11/29) Hotel Indonesia roundabout is forbidden for private-excessive which harming the public. City administration will support if the location is used as sport center or car free day program.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Vice Governor Prijanto stated the only way to make the area clean, the society must obey the city administration regulation in form of act and bylaw, or another. The regulation has managed the society well, but why sometimes the societies are ignoring the regulation much.

“Please use another location for holding the action, not Hotel Indonesia roundabout,” Prijanto stated.

Source : beritajakarta