Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

Having to rely on Wikileaks for info must be galling for 'proper' journalists, much as relying on 'proper' journalists can be galling for bloggers such as I.

We all knew that the first election for the Jakarta governorship was rigged, but not necessarily how. So we must thank the Jakarta Globe for reporting on a cable, dated April 25, 2007, sent from the American Embassy.

“Despite the intense press coverage of the election and its national importance, the Jakarta elites have rigged the game.”

The cable said a number of sources, including a member of the Golkar Party central board named Dadan Irawan, told the embassy that former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso was supporting Fauzi financially because Fauzi would “reward this loyalty by blocking any efforts to investigate Sutiyoso’s murky business dealings after he departs office.”

Fauzi, it said, was also expected to allow Sutiyoso to continue the money-making opportunities he had enjoyed as governor.

"Our contacts tell us that Vice Governor Fauzi purchased the support of three of the four largest political parties in Jakarta for at least Rp 5 billion apiece [$555,000],” the cable says, referring to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Golkar, and the Democratic Party.

So, what were the "money-making opportunities he had enjoyed"?

There is very little to be gleaned from Google or other sources regarding Sutiyoso's companies, but we can all conjecture about how he enriched himself.

To have been governor in the first place, as appointed by President Megashopper, he must have had sufficient financial resources. As a former Lieutenant-General, for 23 years a member of the notorious Kopassus, alleged to have been involved with human rights abuses during Indonesia's military occupation of East Timor, he will no doubt have added to his pension through involvement in the army's business empire. And it must not be forgotten that he was Jakarta's military commanderduring the mayhem of May '98.

As a former Jakarta governor, Sutiyoso takes great pride in having launched the Transjakarta Busway system. It's operators, different bus companies, regularly complain about being under-resourced. He may well complain that Fauzi Bowo could have done better but the real blame may be laid at Sutiyoso's door for not thinking through the project by, for example, ensuring a sufficient number of refuelling stations for the LPG powered buses.

A couple of years ago, the Buddha Bar was a highly controversial issue. In March 2009, Fauzi Bowo said that the city administration had bought the historic building, formerly the Central Jakarta Immigration Office, for Rp.30 billion ($2.51 million) in 2001, and poured an additional Rp.6.1 billion into restoring it in 2005 – when the city was led by former Governor Sutiyoso.

And who ended up using the building? Why, none other than Renny Sutiyoso, the daughter of Sutiyoso, and her pal Puan Maharani, the daughter of former president Megawati, .

Naturally, there were calls for an investigation by the Corruption Eradication Commission, but, not unexpectedly, nothing seems to have happened on that score

Back in 2000, as Governor of Jakarta, Sutiyoso was de facto on the board of six companies owned by the city administration: tap water company PDAM Jaya, slaughter company PD Dharma Jaya, property company PD Pembangunan Sarana Jaya, market operator PD Pasar Jaya, waste water company PD PAL Jaya and hotel operator PD Wisata Niaga Jaya. He was expected to resign from them, as well as the 21 jointly owned companies of which jhe was chief commissioner "to improve their performances."

The head of the city economic office Dameria Saragih told reporters that the governor would initially resign from four of the companies, namely PT Bumi Grafika Jaya, PT Food Station Cipinang, PT Pembangunan Jaya and PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol.

Two years later, councillors were surprised when they discovered that Sutiyoso was still a commissioner at city-owned PD Pasar Jaya, which operates dozens of markets and shopping centers.

So, this is my conjecture.

As for Fauzi Bowo's opponent in the rigged election, Adang Daradjatun, a former deputy chief of the National Police, one of the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia, reportedly paid the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) between Rp.15 billion and Rp.25 billion for its support.

One may ponder whether Nunun Nurbaeti, his now missing wife, lent him more than a hand.

She probably also helped him become a PKS legislator in the DPR where one may assume he's grafting away.

A Jakartass reader in California, pb, wrote to me thus: Saw your blog. Very interesting stuff. I was deported from Indonesia some years ago (under Suharto). Inspired me to write a novel, just out.
Here’s the website, if you’re interested.

Of course I was – Jakartass has “very interesting stuff”? Nicest thing anyone ever wrote to me since … erm … the day before.

A look at the website told me that Philip Babcock is a writer, academic economist, and entrepreneur. He holds a B.A. from Princeton and a PhD in economics from UC San Diego–separated by 20 years. In between, he worked as a free-lance writer of film and episodic television. He founded an engineering software company. He lived in Indonesia, managing his company there before being deported and blacklisted. Currently, he is an economics professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Eyes of God is his first novel.

I look forward to reading it because a Conradian thriller set in Indonesia ticks three of my favourite fiction genre boxes, and if they also tickle your fancy, then you can order it now from Amazon.

However, it is Philip’s deportation which has sparked this post; he was not the first and even in the absence of Suharto he won’t be the last expat victim of injustice here.

Leaving aside drug offenders, such as Michelle Leslie who was imprisoned for three months in 2005 for possesion of two ectasy pills at a party whilst allegedly in the company of Anindra Bakrie, son of the infamous Aburizal, the reasons can be put into just a few categories, with greed a prominent feature of most cases.

Marital separations can be nasty affairs in most countries but until new immigration laws were enacted earlier this year they were heavily biased against expat spouses.

The regulation relevant to this post states that if a couple divorces after 10 years of marriage, the foreigner can continue living in the country. The assumption is that the foreigner will have previously obtained permanent resident status, possibly through his/her spouse. Other changes are expected to be made to property laws, which for the moment still appear to prevent expats owning property, such as land or cars, although if you wanted one, high end and high up apartments can be bought on limited-term leases.

Until the bureaucrats have worked out how to implement the new law to their financial advantage, which may be difficult as the provision of various documents are supposed to be ‘free’, then long-term expats must rely on anecdotal evidence and the experience of several victims to determine whether things will really improve.

I first learnt of the bias against expats during a Xmas party in 1988 at the appropriately named Pasar Santa where I met A. He’d married, bought a house with his foreign savings, his wife divorced him and took the lot. I was still single at the time and all I could do was sympathise with him.

It was around this time that I met J. at what was euphemistically called his ‘brass handshake’ farewell party.  J. had built up a very successful English language school only for his wife to be seduced by B. The company certainly thrived under B’s stewardship and employed nigh on 100 native speaker teachers until krismon, the Asian Economic Meltdown, in 1997/8, since when it has followed the franchise route.

Possibly the worst marital meltdown was D’s. A New Zealander, he was a well-regarded director of studies at a couple of language schools and a near neighbour of mine until he moved to a nice house with a large garden in Pasar Minggu. When his domestic bliss was shattered, it literally drove his family apart. His wife had a boyfriend in the police and told him that D had said bad things about Indonesia. Maybe D had or maybe D hadn’t, but this was in the Suharto era and just because we were paranoid usually meant that we had good reason to be. D fled the country with two of his four children and, to my knowledge, hasn’t returned since. However, if he does, he can admire the tallest tree in my front yard which started life as one of his pot plants.

The other major reason for quitting Indonesia, or even being blacklisted as in the case of Philip Babcock, is the breakdown of a business relationship.

Twenty years ago, when I first saw Kuta in Lombok, rather than the one in Bali, it was not a typical tropical paradise; most places to stay were basic with a view of sand dunes rather than beaches to sunbathe on or surf from. However, as with many places in Indonesia, it had ‘potential’, so much so that I know of several expats who, with a local business partner, invested in land there.

One who did was S. With the interest of Korean investors pending, he was looking forward to early retirement. However, although he thought that having notarised documents sealed his business arrangement, he’s lost it all thanks to the connivance of the justice mafia and is now back in Australia working as a builder decorator in a mining complex.

An even more horrific tale is that of Barry Grossman.

“This is a very sad case of serious irregularity in legal process that has not only destroyed a thriving business and many livelihoods, but also torn a devoted father from his wife and young daughter. This is not good for anyone, least of all the people of Indonesia,” says Mr. Frank Richardson of Open Trial. “The Indonesian and Australian authorities, as well as Interpol, need to urgently look into this.”

Frank established Open Trial following his own marital separation and the ‘loss’ of his business, the Jakarta (International) Montesorri School.

To OpenTrial, the rule of law is the bedrock of sustainable economic, social and political development. Human rights to the majority in the world are not even an aspiration, let alone a reality. Most legal systems in the developing world are dysfunctional through being riddled with violence and corruption. Conscientious lawyers may make a difference in individual cases of injustice; but their efforts are often a drop in the lawless ocean. which some four billion people have the misfortune to inhabit.

OpenTrial works to change this – pragmatically, by taking into account existing dynamics and harnessing those that can bring about change for the better. OpenTrial is an organisation born directly out of suffering, squalid injustice and the retarding consequences of venality and corruption in a developing-world legal system. Thus, OpenTrial, though aiming high, has its feet firmly planted on the ground in order to make a real difference.

I continue my own fight for justice, hoping that the Supreme Court will take firm action to ensure that their ruling in my favour is finalised, preferably with sanctions for contempt of court.

As Bumble said in Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, the law is an ass. Be that as it may, if we don’t live by the law, then anarchy reigns and, as with the new expat spouse marriage law, through lobbying they can be changed so that all are equal before the law.

Indonesia is not alone in having a ‘justice mafia’ and thankfully Frank is not alone in fighting for a clean and transparent justice system.

Support us all.

At five in the morning some years ago, on a day's visa run to Singapore, I was checking in for an 'early bird' flight at Soekarno-Hatta airport when I was asked to step into a little room by an immigration official. He said that my papers weren't in order. I convinced him that they were because… well he couldn't prove otherwise.

As there was still plenty of time before my flight, we settled down for a 'friendly' chat. I asked him about the rules and regulations he was 'obeying' and could I have a copy, but he told me that I couldn't. So I then asked him if he could tell me where they were available, but he told me that he couldn't, and I'd have to find out for myself.

I didn't ask him if he'd read Catch-22, but he did ask me if I could bring him back a present.

"Ah, but wait a minute," he said, "as you won't be returning until this evening, could you give me my present now?"

So, I handed over a bank note from my empty-ish wallet, thankful that my day's expenses, which included the fee for the euphemistic 'express' service at the Indonesian embassy in Singapore, was tucked away the money belt under my shirt.

I'm relating this because of a headline in yesterday's Jakarta Post: KPK seeks authority to probe foreign bribe payers.

Yes, I'm guilty, your honour. Mind you, I doubt that there is a single foreigner here who isn't.

An International Conference on Foreign Bribery in International Business Transactions has just been held in Bali. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has let it be known that they are after bigger fry than thee or me.

Foreign bribery distorts competitive markets by undermining a level playing field in international business, often putting small, home-grown companies at a disadvantage.

As I'm not involved in "international business", I'm in the clear. Come to think of it, so are international businessmen because although Indonesia ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2006, it has failed to adopt it into law.

KPK chairman Busyro Muqoddas said at a press conference that the KPK currently had no authority to probe … foreign actors, which hampered Indonesia’s fight against corruption as the business sector, like political parties, had transformed into a “corruption machine”.

He added that such efforts also need commitment from many stakeholders, including the House of Representatives. Given that legislators from virtually all political parties have been indicted and convicted by the KPK, one nay legitimately doubt that the KPK will get the authority they seek any time soon.

Thankfully, other countries have the authority to prosecute registered 'home' firms which pay bribes in order to win contracts.

Gary Johnson from the FBI’s International Cooperation Unit told reporters during the conference that some firms listed in the US and operating in Indonesia had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the United States (FCPA).

One such firm is Monsanto, the huge agri-business, which paid $373,990 in bribes to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in order to secure a transgenic cotton project in South Sulawesi. The company was also fined $1.5 million by US exchange authorities for bribing 140 Indonesian officials.

This development was strongly resisted by the NGO Coalition for Biosafety and Food Safety who launched a court case against the Indonesian government and PT Monagro Kimia, a local Monsanto subsidiary. The case was lost, but that was no surprise; the judicial mafia still operates. Farmers also demonstrated because the cotton succumbed to drought and pest infestations.

(I've written at length about the ties between Indonesia's embedded Suhartoist business and political folk to the hybrid seed industry, including Monsanto, here.)

Of course, Indonesia is not the only country with embedded elites ripping off the citizenry.

To quote the KPK page about the conference: Foreign bribery distorts competitive markets by undermining a level playing field in international business, often putting small, home-grown companies at a disadvantage. Every year, millions of dollars are squandered on bribes paid to public officials in exchange for business advantages. The result: roads vital for economic development are not built, bridges collapse, hospitals and schools are inadequately funded and supplied, and citizens lose confidence in their government, as bribe-paying companies or individuals undermine the integrity of the public service in the receiving-end country.

India, the world's largest democracy, is an interesting case study in that regard because, just as here in Indonesia, the much lauded economic growth is increasing the divide between the rich and the poor.

"80% of corruption and bribery is orchestrated by 20% of corrupt companies. These companies use corruption as a business strategy to get competitive advantage and exceptional return on their investments (bribe). They finance elections, orchestrate appointment of pliable ministers, ensure bureaucrats beholden to them get powerful positions and exercise control over much of the media."
fr. India Times

Indians are fighting back, with websites allowing individuals to admit anonymously that they paid a bribe, and who the recipient of their largesse was.

Without political will, in all echelons of governance, it is up to the rakyat to fight back, perhaps by paying bribes in currency such as this.

I wish I'd had it at the airport.

The release of “explosive” Wikileaks cables leaked to the Australian newspaper, The Age, regarding the use of his presidential prerogative and the levers of state power merely confirm what we already knew or suspected.

I blogged about one particular link between Taufik Kiemas (the husband of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri), Tomy Winata, the then Vice-president Jusuf Kalla.and SBY three years ago

Is it really so surprising that anyone who reached their exalted positions through the patronage of Suharto should carry on their practices?

The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, himself a Suharto-era former general. has not fostered a culture of accountability. In 2006, when Mr Suharto seemed to be on his deathbed, it dropped criminal proceedings against him. It then instigated a civil prosecution. But neither Mr Suharto nor any of his family has faced trial for corruption (though his son, Tommy, was jailed on a murder charge). Nor has there been a determined attempt to bring to justice those army officers who oversaw atrocities in East Timor and Irian Jaya (now known as Papua) after Mr Suharto fell, let alone those who committed them while he was still in power.

Back in 2006, an official at the Presidential Palace said, “President Susilo knows well that there are a number of senior functionaries who are taking advantage of their positions so as to advance the interests of certain beneficiaries. The President is determined to take steps to prevent this.”

However, that his wife has allegedly assumed the power behind the throne role once adopted by Madame Tien Suharto is scarcely surprising.

Harmony and balance are mainstays of Javanese life. Mrs Tien also provided these in the New Order. She was known for her involvement – as founder, patron, or head – of many social organisations and charitable foundations. This served the purpose of giving a balance – albeit merely pseudo – to the heavily economistic development strategy of the New Order regime, as well as to the business activities of her children. True that Indonesian development … raised living standards, but it … also widened the gap between rich and poor.

In spite of the expected denials from all who have been named in the leaks, their disclosure ensres a fascinating few months ahead for all of us concerned with iIndonesia’s transition into a true democracy representing the interests of its citizens, residents and other parties.

Yesterday, whilst awaiting an appointment at the Jakarta Eye Centre with my opthalmologist for a post-op check up ~ which went well and thanks for asking ~ I mused about an article in the Guardian I'd read earlier.

Writing in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Thornhill and his colleagues explain that children under five devote much of their energy to brain development. When the body has to fight infections, it may have to sacrifice brain development, they say.

Thornhill's group used three published surveys of global IQ scores and compared them with data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on how badly infectious diseases affect different countries. The list included common infections, such as malaria, tetanus and tuberculosis (TB).

The scientists found that the level of infectious disease in a country was closely linked to the average national IQ.

This would appear to be common sense, but as Richard Lynn, professor of psychology at Ulster University, and co-author of the book, IQ and the Wealth of Nations (pub. 2002), points out, disease and IQ is a two-way relationship, with low national IQs being partly responsible for widespread infectious diseases.

Anyone wishing to delve into the statistics of Lynn's work can check here. If the UK has a mean IQ of 100, Indonesia is at 89. However, the Indonesian stats come from just one survey conducted among Bandung school children in 1959.

IQ tests are not an indication of 'intelligence', which I take to be the polar opposite of stupidity, and enough can be found online to demonstrate that !Q tests have an inbuilt, generally 'western', cultural bias which do not and cannot measure the theoretical 'intelligences' propounded by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983, and I wrote about here.

Suggesting that Indonesians are stupid has been proved to be a stupid thing to do. Not so long ago, in April, an Indian foreman at a shipyard in Batam, the island near Singapore, did just that and got severely beaten up by some of the workers who then, 5,000 of them, ran amuck. (This word, now in English, is derived from the same Malaysian word used in Indonesian – amok.)

My definition of 'stupidity' is a conscious act with unfortunate, even disasterous, results due to a lack of forethought about possible consequences.

In the spotlight today are the police who, in spite of their 'intelligence' successes in capturing loads of terrorist suspects, seem to have little regard for the public perception of their daily behaviour.

Firstly, they do not demonstrate that they have embraced reformasi, the drive for transparency and accountability which are evidence of a democratic nation.

The law on mass organisations has an article which states that the government may freeze a mass organization’s administration if it is found to have disrupted safety and/or public order. Yet the police stand by whilst the thugs of Front Pembela Islam (FPI) attack bars and churches, disrupt licensed meetings of gays and transexuals, and, just last week, parliamentarians and constituents discussing free health care.

The list goes on.
(Search this blog for 'FPI')

And now they are talking of a 'War Over Christianization'.

Mur­hali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of FPI, claimed that a certain Christian foundation had been relentlessly baptizing groups of people in the city, which has seen a number of religious conflicts in recent months.

“The last one was on Wednesday. A number of buses were seen dropping off people, some wearing jilbabs, at a house in Kemang Pratama district in Bekasi. When our people interrogated the security guard, he said they came from Jakarta and were there to be baptized.” he said.

However, Bekasi Police Chief Sr. Comr Imam Sugianto denied there had been a mass baptism. “All of them were students and they all went there for a swim,” he said.

If true, then I'm justified in saying that the FPI thugs are stupid.

And the police?

There can be few citizens or residents who have not given the police 'cigarette money' at some time to avoid further unpleasantness, which may include torture.

Victims usually do not know where to report abuses and are vulnerable to further abuse if they make a complaint directly to the police.

But it's not so much the lower echelons who are in the news now as the police generals. Questions are being aired as to how six top officers – Inspector General Mathius Salempang, Inspector General Sylvanus Yulian Wenas, Inspector General Budi Gunawan, Inspector General Badrodin Haiti, Inspector General Bambang Suparno, and whistleblower of the tax scam Commissioner General Susno Duadji – can amass from Rp.22 billion to as much as Rp.95 billion) on a salary of Rp.15 million a month (c.$1,600).

This is the lead story in this week's Tempo magazine. Strangely, all of the 30,000 print run was bought up in the early hours by "a group of mystery men" before it could be distributed. Tempo reprinted the issue, and are presumanbly happy with their increased circulation.

What is even stranger is not that the police are upset with the story, but the cover.

The problem with the cover is that it shows a police general with three piggy banks on leashes which could be an allusion to the business interests who buy favours. Mind you, having piggy banks with the police on a leash would seem more apt.

However, it's the pigs which have – erm – unleashed the police anger, so much so that they are talking up a possible lawsuit against Tempo.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang claimed he had received many complaints about the magazine’s cover.

He said, “Imagine, we have 406,000 officers nationwide, and they and probably their relatives, too, are offended because it compares the police to the animal.”

To disrespect police in the UK who are apparently disrespecting citizens is to call them 'pigs', but here the word has deeper, Islamic, connotations. However, apart from the fact that the cartoon doesn't compare the police to pigs, Gen, Antonanng doesn't seem to be that well-educated.

As Tempo magazine chief editor Wahyu Muryadi said, “The piggy banks represent bank accounts, the edition’s theme. Why pig? In Indonesian, a pot for saving money is traditionally called celengan, which means piggy bank. It derives from the word celeng, which means pig."

I wonder what Gen. Antonand has made of the reprint of the magazine which now sports this cover.

Police in a poke?

Pig in a poke is an English idiom which refers to a confidence trick originating in the 15th/16th centuries, when meat was scarce but cats were not and were put inside the 'poke'. 
('Poke', originally meant bag or sack. 'Pocket' is the current form of the word.)

The Indonesian equivalent expression is kucing dalam karung (cat in a sack).

Make of this farce what you will, but my answer to my title is a resounding 'yes'.

In February, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered Indonesia's ambassadors to attract more foreign investment in order to create jobs and prosperity. US$200 billion a year is needed. Almost in the same metaphorical breath, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa declared that Indonesia would continue to spearhead the upholding of human rights. It is not clear whether a connection was being made; but human rights are, of course, very much dependent on the rule of law, just as the ability to attract foreign investment is.

Sadly, despite Mr. Marty Natalegawa's expression of good intent, Indonesia's justice system is viewed as the worst in Asia, such that the endemic corruption and violence within it extensively undermine the rule of law. The U.N. and Amnesty International report, for instance, that detainees are routinely tortured for confessions, that sexual favours are extracted from female suspects, and bribes are regularly demanded by venally corrupt judges, prosecutors and police. The deleterious consequences of this undermining of the rule of law are all too evident in Indonesia: injustice, human rights abuse, conflict, and distorted scarce resource allocation manifested by poverty, unemployment, disaffection, extremism and environmental destruction.

A British man, Frank Richardson, who set up much-needed quality schools in Indonesia over some ten years, and his family experienced some of these deleterious consequences first hand. A combination of fabricated evidence and corrupt legal system officials, meant many of his human rights were violated, resulting in his freedom, schools, home, children, savings and even his personal possessions being taken from him, leaving him bereft and destitute.

Once deported by those intent on hindering his quest for justice, undaunted, he drew on the legal training he underwent in London as a young man, and made a study of Indonesia's dysfunctional legal system and its endemic corruption, with the aim of finding ways to combat the pervasive bribery. He also looked at the changing dynamics brought about by modern technology and the movement of investment around the world. The upshot is OpenTrial, which is working to harness the growing trans-jurisdictional and extra-territorial dimension that derives from the advent of the internet and extra-territorial anti-corruption legislation.

Frank saw, because of its ability to safely expose legal processes in copious detail, the tremendous potential the internet offers to transform dysfunctional justice systems through advancing transparency and accountability that are prerequisites to justice. It was evident that the internet could also be used to assist capacity building and the strengthening of justice system competence through online supervision and training.

Indeed, the right to information written into Indonesia's constitution and the Freedom of Public Information Act 2007 (UU Kebebasan Informasi Public, also known as UU KIP) which recently came into effect, are complementary to OpenTrial's aims. OpenTrial is working to produce a Content Management System website which it will populate, using Indonesia's right to information law, with legal system data and archives in order to facilitate far greater transparency, accountability and competency that will act to significantly counter not only legal system corruption, but violence too.

Frank also recognised that the extra-territorial legislation of developed countries has a great potential to spread the rule of law to developing countries and, in so doing, bring about improved living conditions for millions. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials came into effect in 1999, and is important because its signatories account for most of the world’s exports and foreign investment. Parties to the convention are obliged to adopt legislation making it a crime to bribe foreign public officials, whether directly or through intermediaries, and establish corporate liability for foreign bribery.

Signatories to the convention include all 30 OECD countries – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States – and seven non-OECD countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Estonia, Slovenia and South Africa. With the addition of Israel in March of last year, there are now 38 signatories to the convention.

Many of these countries are, of course, important to Indonesia as investors and trading partners; but, because of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials, their companies will increasingly have problems operating in Indonesia if corruption, and particularly legal system corruption, is not effectively combated. OpenTrial, with the help of partners in Indonesia, will be monitoring the activities of such businesses and, where necessary, will report to prosecutors in their home countries any indication that anti-foreign bribery legislation is being transgressed.

Thus, if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is to attract the US$200 billion investment a year that he needs, he must first tackle legal system corruption. The setting up of the special task force to combat judicial corruption, known in Indonesian as the Satgas Pemberantasan Mafia Hukum (Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force), and National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri's order to his regional police chiefs to eradicate so-called 'mafia' practices in their offices, are certainly steps in the right direction, albeit not enough.

OpenTrial, with its insight, imagination and vision to harness the changing dynamics of the modern world in the interests of justice, is likely to prove to be the better bet.

Visit: OpenTrial.net.

I'm not going to pepper this post with links, but refer you to the Jakarta Post and Jakarta Globe if you wish to delve further into these few, of many, examples of judicial arrogance here in Indonesia.

A scavenger has been detained since March 1st charged with possession of 1.5kg of marijuana. Prosecutors say they aren't ready to present the case because none of the police officers who were witnesses in case had arrested him, signed testimonies or presented dossiers.

The parents of twins born prematurely in 2008 who suffered eye damage, one being totally blind, from being kept in incubators too long by doctors at Omni Hospital (and luxury spa-hotel) have asked the police to reopen their case. The police internal affairs division is investigating 12 officers accused of conducting a biased investigation. Only Omni doctors were originally questioned and no independent expert witnesses were called before the police dropped the case.

Sidoarjo mudflow refugees have visited the Human Rights Commission because they are still awaiting the payout of compensation mandated by a presidential decree.

An erstwhile colleague and I are still awaiting payout of salary compensation, visa and medical costs and other legal entitlements from Ukrida Penabur International as awarded on appeal by the Supreme Court last May.

(If we have to open a civil case against them, we have documentary evidence of non-payment of tax, employment of tourists and other abuses of immigration laws and intimidation and circumstantial evidence of corruption.)

Frank Richardson has been fighting the abuse of his civil rights for a longer period than me.

The article I commissioned from him is here. If you wish to add to the list of miscarriages of justice here in Indonesia, please leave a comment here and/or write to him directly.