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Nilai Situs Kami @ SearchIndonesia |
Private Blog from the Gray Area.
Berita Abu Abu is only a place for me to enter any interesting news unregullary for my own interest. So don't expect this blog will be updated frequently.
This is a private collection of news, gossip, smart articles on Indonesia, and thanks to the living legend Joyo Indonesia News for your precious mailing list.
I use this blog to collect the news for my private uses only.
27 Juli 1996: Dari Tragedi ke Seremoni
(Media Indonesia Editorial)
KASUS 27 Juli sudah enam tahun berlalu. Kasus penyerbuan yang dikenal sebagai Sabtu Kelabu itu bagi warga PDIP telah berubah dalam banyak wujud persepsi. Untuk sebagian, terutama di kalangan elite partai, Sabtu Kelabu kini tidak lebih dari sekadar seremoni.
Tetapi, untuk sebagian yang lain, terutama para korban yang masih memiliki kenangan dan pengalaman pahit, 27 Juli adalah tragedi yang patut dikenang. Mereka menabur bunga, berorasi di tengah malam sambil disaksikan para elite partai yang datang untuk menikmati sebuah pertunjukan.
Tragedi 27 Juli telah mengalami degradasi dalam banyak sisi setelah enam tahun berlalu. Kasus itu hanya menjadi kenangan yang semakin memudar bagi para kader partai yang mengalami sendiri penyerbuan. Mereka yang dulu menjadi korban kekerasan fisik dan kekerasan hukum, karena banyak di antara mereka menjadi terhukum, kini adalah orang-orang yang semakin tersingkirkan dalam upaya pencarian keadilan. Mereka menangis dan berpelukan dalam ketidakberdayaan.
Peristiwa 27 Juli 1996 itu sekarang bergerak ke arah kompromi dan bargaining di antara elite. Ada komersialisasi yang belakangan terungkap. Sejumlah kader PDIP berkompromi dengan para korban untuk mengubur penderitaan dengan uang yang disebut islah.
Ada juga gerak bargaining secara institusional. PDIP sebagai partai berbulat tekad melalui Presiden Megawati Soekarnoputri untuk bergandeng tangan dengan Sutiyoso sebagai mitra strategis menghadapi Pemilihan Umum 2004. Padahal, Sutiyoso, kini Gubernur DKI Jakarta, adalah salah satu tokoh yang bertanggung jawab terhadap peristiwa 27 Juli 1996 selaku Pangdam Jaya ketika itu.
Itulah realisme di Indonesia. Hampir di semua sektor kehidupan terjadi kemerosotan akhlak. Tragedi bisa dengan cepat berubah menjadi pertunjukan. Sejarah bisa dengan gampang dilupakan, bahkan dimanipulasi menjadi ajang persekongkolan.
Tragedi yang menelan nyawa bisa diselewengkan menjadi proyek atas nama kemanusiaan. Kasus uang islah Rp1,6 miliar yang akhirnya ditutup sendiri oleh petinggi PDIP adalah contoh paling gamblang. Para korban secara diam-diam mengorbankan penderitaan mereka demi ganti rugi.
Peristiwa-peristiwa kemanusiaan dan bersejarah selalu kehilangan ideologi penderitaan maupun kemenangan. Penderitaan adalah pengalaman sesaat yang bisa berubah atau diubah menjadi bargaining komersial. Kemenangan adalah kegemilangan yang bisa tenggelam karena ketidakmampuan komersialisasi.
Kita adalah bangsa yang beringatan pendek walaupun bersumbu pendek. Kita adalah bangsa yang pemarah, tetapi cepat melupakan hal-hal fundamental. Itulah jawaban mengapa bangsa ini tidak pernah memiliki kebanggaan atas sejarah perjuangan. Sejarah tentang penderitaan maupun sejarah tentang kegemilangan.
Hipokrisi kita semakin lengkap karena kekuasaan dan hukum yang sangat korup. Tragedi 27 Juli kini tidak lebih dari sekadar seremoni untuk memuaskan selera tontonan petinggi PDIP sendiri. Para korban yang menangis di depan sorotan kamera televisi perlahan-lahan berubah menjadi tangis reguler dan seremonial pula. Dan, tangis mereka adalah tangis yang menghibur kehausan tontotan kita semua.
Ini adalah cermin dari selera manipulasi dan komersialisasi yang melanda bangsa ini dari atas sampai bawah. Kasus 27 Juli terancam jadi dark number, sedangkan kasus Manulife bisa tuntas kurang dari satu bulan. more
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Indonesian diplomats have committed 8,194 parking violations in New York City and must pay US$ 944,871 in fines
(Daily News (New York) via Joyo)
July 25, 2002
CITY IN WORLD WAR TOW
Diplo parking ticket scofflaws face crackdown
By JOANNE WASSERMAN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
The number of unpaid summonses and dollar amounts outstanding for the top 10 countries with parking violations issued to diplomatic, consular and staff vehicles from 1997 through 2002, as of June 20:
COUNTRY VIOLATIONS AMOUNT DUE
EGYPT 18,147 $1,907,375
KUWAIT 11,044 $1,255,634
NIGERIA 10,624 $1,200,670
INDONESIA 8,194 $944,871
MOROCCO 5,805 $634,886
BRAZIL 5,339 $583,967
GREECE 5,183 $562,631
PAKISTAN 4,863 $536,137
CHINA 4,807 $516,504
MALAYSIA 4,290 $476,754
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Judges jail Tommy Suharto for 15 years for murder
(AFP)
An Indonesian court jailed Tommy Suharto, youngest son of the former dictator, for 15 years for ordering the contract killing of a judge and for weapons possession.
"The panel of judges declare that Hutomo (Tommy) Mandala Putra has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the crimes," said chief judge Amiruddin Zakaria at the end of one of the most dramatic trials in Indonesian legal history.
Tommy, who was absent from court due to what was described as a diarrhoea attack, was convicted of ordering the drive-by shooting of judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who in September 2000 had ordered him jailed for 18 months for a corrupt land deal. more
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Direktur Korupsi Politik ICW Ditemukan Meninggal
(Detik)
Maut memang tak bisa ditebak kapan bakal datang. Juga tak mengenal usia dan jabatan. Irfan Muktiono (25) ditemukan meninggal dunia di kamar kosnya, Kamis (25/7/2002). Irfan adalah Direktur Departemen Korupsi Politik Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW). Apakah kematiannya terkait dengan kasus-kasus besar yang tengah diinvestigasinya?
Kalangan LSM dan keluarga besar ICW pun gempar. Berdatanganlah mereka ke rumah kos Irfan. Hingga pukul 23.40 WIB, suasana pondokan Irfan pun masih ramai oleh teman-teman LSM dan ICW. Bos ICW Teten Masduki yang tengah berada di luar kota pun buru-buru kembali ke Jakarta untuk melayat Irfan.
Irfan masuk ICW pada 2001. Dia adalah alumnus UGM Fakultas Pertanian dan pernah menjadi Pemimpin Umum Majalah Mahasiswa UGM Balairung. Begitu masuk ICW, Irfan masuk menjadi anggota Divisi Investigasi. Karena prestasinya menanjak, dia lantas dipromosikan sebagai Direktur Divisi Korupsi Politik ICW. Irfan saat ini tengah menangani penyelidikan sejumlah kasus besar, misalnya Buloggate dan Sjamsul Nursalim. more
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Looming Threat
(FEER)
Declining investment and slowing growth stoke unemployment--and the risk of social unrest
FIVE YEARS AFTER the Asian financial crisis began to batter Indonesia, optimists can cite anecdotal evidence to contend that the country is close to getting onto a higher growth track. Some cement factories are running at 80% capacity, close to what they had been in early 1997. Car sales are nearly back to pre-crisis levels and shopping malls are busy. Jakarta's traffic jams, while still not as bad as five years ago, are back.
But the key statistic tells a different, and sobering, story. Indonesia isn't close to the 7%-plus growth it enjoyed in the years before its derailment by economic and political crisis. (The economy shrank nearly 14% in 1998, the year President Suharto was forced from power.) There was 3.3% growth in 2001, and it's likely to again fall short of 4% this year. Even if the wobbly world and regional environments improve markedly, there are strong doubts Indonesia can get growth back to at least 6% for years to come.
+While new lending by banks remains anaemic and conglomerates remain mired in unsolved debts, some small and medium-sized businesses have expanded. But such investments "are all small," says economist Hadi Soesastro of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "There's no signal that significant new investment is coming in." Thee of LIPI says the gains of small businesses are encouraging, "but you can't get them to act as the engine of growth. They only keep the economy from collapsing totally. Whether Indonesia likes it or not," he says, "we have to have foreign direct investment." more
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Why Did We Fail?
(FEER)
"There is something wrong with the Indonesian elite and its feudalistic tendencies," says Abdulgani. "It's not just Javanese feudalism, it's also Acehnese feudalism and Sulawesi feudalism. The upper classes in these structures were only looking for tribute."
As Tahija points out, this attitude has crept into all areas of Indonesia's society: "There has been a serious erosion of values at all levels," he says. "What is right, what is wrong--it's all mixed up. It is difficult these days for young people to find a good role model. There is also huge scepticism over being able to do business in a straightforward way."
+ Sastrosatomo also backs the need for change in the legal structure "You can't do anything properly unless you have security and a legal system," he says. "Now, that's almost impossible. If senior government officials issue an instruction, they consider it done. But down there, at the bottom, it often isn't." Still, he says he doesn't despair. Nor, for that matter, do his fellow octogenarians. Says Soemardjan: "Indonesia won't fall apart--it just can't stand upright now. It's a drunken man." more
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APAKAH INDONESIA SEJELEK LAPORAN UNDP?
(Radio Belanda)
Indonesia dalam laporan pembangunan sumber daya manusia UNDP menempati peringkat 110 dari 173 negara. Sedangkan di ASEAN sendiri duduk di posisi tujuh dari 10 negara. Laporan itu menyangkut masalah kemiskinan, demokratisasi dan korupsi. Untuk pemerintahan yang bersih Indonesia hanya mendapatkan nilai satu koma sembilan dari nilai tertinggi sepuluh. Nizar Suhendra, direktur operasional LSM Masyarakat Transparansi Indonesia tidak sepenuhnya setuju dengan laporan itu. Namun ia mengakui Indonesia memang memiliki pemerintah yang tidak bersih.
Nizar Suhendra [NS]: Pertama dari proses demokratisasi di Indonesia
yang dinilai mengalami perbaikan, salah satu indikasinya adalah
pemilu tahun 1999. Kami menilai bahwa iya, secara prosedur atau
proses demokrasi pemilu 99 merupakan tonggak bersenjarah dari proses
demokratisasi di Indonesia. Dinilai oleh banyak pihak pelaksanaannya
cukup baik secara prosedural.
Tapi kalau kita lebih jauh lagi menilai secara substansi sebenarnya
proses pemilu yang lalu pun harus dibenahi di berbagai sisi. Misalkan
proses keperwakilan yang harus dibuat lebih penuh dibandingkan
terdahulu yang kita hanya memilih gambar, kaum pendatang. Harus ada
lebih perbaikan di mana konstituan memilih individu secara langsung.
Kemudian kalau dilihat peran TNI yang dikatakan masih cukup kuat di
bidang politik, kami menilainya bahwa Indonesia saat ini, artinya
seluruh elemen bangsa di Indonesia masih pada tahap belajar. Proses
demokratisasi ibarat sebuah pendulu.
Mengenai keterlibatan TNI yang masih kuat saat ini kita hendaknya
menilainya jangan hanya pada potret saat ini. Tapi kita juga harus
mengacu kepada konsensus yang sudah kita tetapkan bahwa 2009 yang
akan datang peran TNI akan dikembalikan kepada peran sesungguhnya.
Dia akan kembali kepada barak. Artinya kita lihat saja prosesnya dan
kita jaga prosesnya agar konsensus ini bisa disepakati oleh semua
pihak termasuk dalam hal ini TNI.
Radio Nederland [RN]: Hambatan yang juga berpengaruh besar terhadap
proses demokratisasi di Indonesia yang disebutkan oleh UNDP adalah
korupsi yang begitu meluas. Bagaimana menurut pendapat Bapak tentang
korupsi di Indonesia ini? Seberapa besar akan mempengaruhi proses
demokratisasi?
NS: Kami dari MTI, Masyarakat Transparan Indonesia yang memang fokus
dan sangat konsen terhadap upaya pemberantasan korupsi masih menilai
bahwa pemerintahan saat ini belum memiliki kesungguhan dalam hal
penegakan good government atau dalam upaya pemberantasan korupsi.
Sebagai contoh misalkan rencana dibentuknya komisi independen anti
korupsi yang seharusnya berdasarkan undang-undang 31 itu lahir
setahun yang lalu, Agustus 2001. Tapi sampai saat ini ternyata
rancangan undang-undangnya baru dalam proses pembahasan. Artinya ini
sebuah keterlambatan yang teramat sangat, lebih dari 11 bulan. Tidak
salah akhirnya kalau publik berspekulasi bahwa tidak ada keinginan
kuat baik di pemerintah maupun di parlemen dalam menangani
upaya-upaya pemberantasan korupsi.
Kami sepakat bahwa korupsi menjadi alat ukur utama bagi proses
demokratisasi. Ketika praktek korupsi masih merajalela akan sulit
buat kita menegakkan demokrasi. Jadi mestinya ini menjadi prioritas
utama gitu.
RN: Kalau tadi masalah TNI dan Polri Bapak masih memiliki harapan itu
sebuah proses, tapi korupsi sejauh mana Bapak optimis tentang
pemberantasan korupsi di Indonesia?
NS: Titik krusialnya adalah kalau misalkan pemerintah dan parlemen
mampu melahirkan sebuah komisi independen anti-korupsi yang sesuai
dengan harapan publik, di mana memiliki kewenangan yang cukup dan
integritasnya, kemudian juga memiliki pendanaan yang memadai, kami
berfikir kita akan menghadapi masa depan yang lebih baik. Tapi kalau
pemerintah, parlemen gagal melahirkan komisi yang independen, komisi
yang memiliki kewenangan luas dalam pemberantasan korupsi, mungkin
masa-masa mendatang kita akan sangat sulit dalam pemberantasan
korupsi.
RN: Secara global saja dari apa yang kita bicarakan, bagaimana kesan
Bapak tentang laporan UNDP ini?
NS: Sulit kiranya menilai Indonesia pada potret hanya saat ini saja.
Mestinya penilaian yang dilakukan oleh UNDP melihat proses yang
tengah terjadi. Artinya banyak konsensus-konsensus yang sudah
dibentuk dan disepakati seperti misalkan peran TNI yang 2009 akan
kembali ke barak. Itu mesti dilihat dalam kerangka proses, bukan
potret saat ini. Nah, itu yang mungkin perlu juga disajikan oleh UNDP
dalam menilai Indonesia.
Demikian Nizar Suhendra, direktur operasional LSM Masyarakat Transparansi Indonesia.
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UN expert attacks Indonesia legal system
(BBC)
A United Nations human rights expert has described Indonesia's legal system as one of the worst he has seen.
The UN special rapporteur on judicial independence, Datak Param Cumaraswamy, told the BBC that the entire administration of justice in Indonesia - including the judiciary, the legal profession and the police - needed urgent reform to counter the public perception of widespread corruption.
Speaking during a fact-finding mission at the invitation of the Indonesian government, Mr Cumaraswamy said that he believed the political elite appreciated the problem and wanted to address it, but progress was slow.
An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman said that some progress had been made, including the setting up of a human rights court. original source
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Drought Reports in Indonesia False: Minister
(Asia Pulse)
Indonesian Agriculture Minister Bungaran Saragih said the reports of drought in Indonesia have been deliberately blown out of proportion for the business interests of traders of food commodities.
Fears of severe drought have been reported widely over the past two weeks in the country, describing potential food shortages.
"The issue is the result of an international conspiracy seeking to increase imports of food commodities into Indonesia," Saragih said after speaking at the 45th Congress of the International Association of Agriculture Students in Bogor Thursday.
Reports about the El Nino weather phenomenon are merely false, he said. Even now rain still continued to fall in several areas in the countries, he added.
An observer said the issue of severe drought could be raised by rice importers for business interests, as they will gain from large imports of rice. more
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Megawati betrayal may split PDIP
(Green Left Weekly)
President Megawati Sukarnoputri's support within her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) is falling as she increasingly associates with the political figures from the era of the Suharto dictatorship.
Almost every day in Jakarta's mass circulation tabloids, which are read by the urban masses, PDIP dissidents criticise Megawati for her support for retired general Sutiyoso's candidacy for governor of Jakarta. Sutiyoso was the military commander of Jakarta at the time of the bloody 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
The 1996 attack followed the refusal of pro-Megawati PDI members to surrender the building to a new leadership backed by the Suharto dictatorship. Many Megawati supporters were killed and injured. While the attackers posed as PDI members, it is widely accepted that the assault was organised with the support of the military. Sutiyoso is held responsible by many PDIP supporters for the deaths that resulted.
Sutiyoso, who is just finishing his first term as governor, has also been under constant criticism for the policies he has implemented. Thousands of Trishaw drivers have protested against being driven out of more and more sections of Jakarta. He was also criticised for his administration's inadequate response to devastating floods in Jakarta earlier this year.
Sutiyoso has been accused of building a mansion on the slope of a mountain in contravention of municipal regulations, which were issued to protect the natural water channels that carry water away from Jakarta. Many similar mansions on the mountains that surround the city were torn down after the floods when it was revealed that their construction was a cause of the disaster.
Megawati's decision to support Sutiyoso has been condemned by some PDIP members of parliament, as well as several groups based in the PDIP rank-and-file. more
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Public Knowledge Corner
Analysis: Megawati fails to cut corruption
By Sukino Harisumarto
(UPI via Joyo)
President Megawati Sukarnoputri's first year in leading the world's fourth-most-populous nation has failed to stop corruption, and reforms aimed at bringing democracy have stalled.
On July 23, 2001, Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's creator and founding father Sukarno, rose to power from the ceremonial role of vice president, after the country's highest law-making body or the upper house, fired nearly blind and erratic Abdurrahman Wahid from the presidency for incompetence and alleged corruption.
One year later, Megawati, who has been described as a cross between a Third World populist demagogue and middle-class housewife, has done little. Instead of continuing with reforms to strengthen democracy and pushing the military into barracks, she has allowed the military to regain influence on politics.
"While her predecessor (Wahid) brought the powerful military under civilian control, now Megawati reinstated the role of the military in politics," said a political scientist, Arbi Sanit.
Analysts criticized Megawati -- once a popular opposition leader -- as having developed authoritarian and aloof traits during this past year as the nation's leader, saying she was emulating former dictator Suharto in the way she treated democracy.
...Other critics say Megawati had no "political concept," lacking concern over the country's future but able to make deals "on how to survive politically."
Economists within her administration have said Megawati has basically stuck to an economic reform agenda and re-established good ties with international financial institutions for the sake of the country's economic recovery.
The rupiah has risen by 13 percent against the dollar in the past year, inflation has fallen to around 11 percent and the stock market has risen 40 percent since November.
However, foreign direct investment has dropped by almost 60 percent in the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year. Economists blamed the country's notoriously corrupt and poor legal system.
Even though the Supreme Court eventually overturned the verdict by the lower court, declaring the local Canadian-giant insurance firm Manulife Financial Corp. bankrupt, the case angered the Toronto government and caused worldwide impact, prompting foreign investors to lose confidence in Indonesia's judicial system and practices.
Many people were having second thoughts about Megawati's commitment to political reforms and to combat corruption and collusion, said Afan Gaffar, a political scientist at Gajah Mada University of Yogyakarta.
"I think most Indonesian leaders have a predisposition to become authoritarian, including Megawati," Gaffar said.
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