Golkar to mention 20 names in Century case

The Golkar Party will mention 20 names they deem the most responsible for the controversial Bank Century bailout.

"These people are from Bank Indonesia, the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS), and Bank Century," Bambang Soesatyo, a Golkar member of the House of Representatives’ inquiry committee on the Bank Century case, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Bambang added his party had concluded that the bailout was riddled with graft, crime, banking fraud and money laundering practices.

The bailout is considered controversial as it ballooned to ten times its original estimate, to Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million).

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and former Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, now vice president, authorized the bailout in November 2008 during a joint meeting known as the KSSK meeting.

Drug smuggler arrested at Jakarta airport

Customs office at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta announced Tuesday that they had arrested an Indian national for allegedly smuggling seven kilograms of ketamine into the country.

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, the Customs office chief of investigations, said Tuesday that the suspect, identified as Najamudeen Kamaludeen, had been arrested on arrival on a Singapore Airline flight on Monday afternoon.

X-ray scanning found that the suspect had hidden the drug under 10 wooden picture frames and six leather bags.

Earlier this month, customs officer at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, arrested a 35-year-old Indian national for allegedly carrying 9.8 kilogram of ketamine inside a water heater.

Ketamine is an anesthetic used for animals and humans, but its psychedelic side effects make it a popular recreational drug.

Editorial: Mud-slinging matches

The wealth of public officials is in the spotlight. Recently it was the former director general of taxation who is now chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Hadi Poernomo.

According to a government assessment in 2008, most of Hadi’s fortune (Rp 26.58 billion) came from donations, Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) reported last week.

This is a shocking revelation because unless we have a bunch of extremely generous donors among us, even a top civil servant cannot accumulate such huge wealth.

Credit is due to the anti-graft agency since the revelation is in line with the government’s agenda to curb corruption.

The fight against graft suffered aa relapse late last year when the National Police and Attorney General’s Office (AGO) were found to have colluded to undermine the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). These authorities are two of the most important law enforcing bodies in Indonesia.

Where else can we place our hopes when these judicial institutions have apparently drifted so far from their missions, as businessman Anggodo Widjojo demonstrated with his telephone conversations that were broadcast live on television?

The spotlight on Hadi is a twist in irony, since the BPK is one of the agencies assisting the House inquiry committee to find irregularities behind the controversial Rp 6.76 trillion Bank Century bailout.

The 2-month inquiry, broadcast live on national television, was initially expected to target Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono, the two top officials responsible for the bailout decision, when the latter was the governor of Bank Indonesia.

Hadi was one of the director generals removed by Sri Mulyani under her 2006 reform program.

This is a classic case where the “pot is calling the kettle black”.

Hadi is the latest person under the spotlight, on the sidelines of the inquiry.

Earlier, legislators from two of the most vocal parties in the bailout were charged with corruption.

Emir Moies of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was reported to have made several suspicious transactions with Bank Century. While admitting that he had made several transactions with the bank, Emir insisted that none were illegal.

Inquiry chairman Idrus Marham of the Golkar Party was also reported to the National Police by the Association of Village Unit Cooperatives (Inkud) for suspected graft in the procurement of transportation for 60,000 tons of rice from the customs office in 2003.

Mud-slinging between opposing political groups continues with demands to question House’s Golkar Party chairman Setya Novanto who is reportedly responsible for the procurement.

Following Soeharto’s fall in 1998, new laws were issued obliging public officials to declare their wealth.

However, four presidents after Soeharto, it seems easy for public officials to get around these laws
with impunity. The arrogance of power that was nurtured under Soeharto seems to be too strong to overcome. Following closely is the preservation (if not escalation) of corruption.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who just entered his second term in office, has his hands full in working to make his battle cry from his election campaign into a reality. But Yudhoyono needs to be more resolute to curb this social ill. Otherwise, he will not live up to his words.

RI Ambassador to Qatar, NU figure Rozy Munir dies at 67

Indonesian Ambassador to Qatar Rozy Munir, a leading figure in the country’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), and a former minister during Abdurrahman Wahid’s administration, died Monday morning aged 67.

“Father died at 7:50 a.m.,” his son, Avianto Muhtadi, was quoted as saying by Antara state news agency on Monday.

Munir, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer a month ago, was treated at Pelni Hospital in Jakarta for about three weeks.

His remains will be flown to Mojokerto, East Java, for burial.

A graduate from the University of Hawaii and a lecturer in economics at the University of Indonesia, Munir was appointed investment and state-owned enterprises minister by then president Wahid, his superior at NU. He was also a member of the National Censorship Agency.

Munir was known among NU members as the man behind the success of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars (ICIS) in 2004 and 2006, according to the organization on its website, NU Online. The conferences, initiated by NU, were attended by Muslim scholars from more than 100 countries.

Former women’s empowerment minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa, also a prominent figure from NU, hailed the late Munir as a great teacher.

“Pak Rozy’s hobby was to look for young people to be taught managerial skills,” she was quoted as saying by vivanews.com.

“Over the last five years Pak Rozy sent more than 300 students from pesantren to learn about administration in the United Kingdom,” she added.

Munir, born on April 16, 1943, was the head of NU’s foreign affairs division before being appointed ambassador to Qatar by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2007.

He is survived by his wife, Mufida Munir, his three sons, Avianto Muhtadi, Benny Saaf and Citra Fitri, and three grandchildren.

A number of NU figures such as Salahuddin Wahid, Abbas Muin, Bina Suhendra, Nasihin Hasan
and Cholil Nafis were seen visiting Pelni Hospital.

Letters: Consequences of the power cuts

The government and senior officials of state-owned oil and gas company PLN don’t appear to appreciate the actual tragic consequences of the numerous power cuts that happen here in North Sumatra and many parts of Indonesia. I’m sure most people consider the frequent unexpected power cuts are just an inconvenience. However, the power cuts can cause far more serious events, which I mention below.

People have died or have been severely injured as a result of power cuts — yes, people have died! It doesn’t take much to realize how this can happen and there are many possible causes. During power cuts, traffic lights do not work so, of course, there will have been more road accidents.

During nighttime power cuts, there is no street lighting, so again more road accidents, involving all types of vehicles and pedestrians, especially so when it is raining.

People tend to be more tired as a result of power cuts, whether daytime or at night, due to
the disturbance of their routine, so they are less able to concentrate and this can lead to more accidents. Hospitals are unable to run normally; when there are unexpected cuts, it can cause disruption in operating rooms and severely injured patients may have to wait longer for emergency treatment. How many people have died or been badly burned as a result of fires caused by candles, oil lamps or small generators, which have had to been used during power cuts?

There’s the problem of extra pollution caused by the many small generators being used by businesses and households. It’s not only the engine exhaust fumes, but there’s also the problem of noise pollution, especially at night when neighbors are disturbed by the sound of nearby generators.

However, there is one group of people who have certainly benefited from the many power cuts – burglars and thieves! For them, the frequent night blackouts have made it much easier for them to enter homes or to rob individuals on the streets. Therefore, the crime rate will have risen, and so too the number of deaths and injuries caused by such criminal activities.

Solving the power issue in Indonesia is a major problem as it is generally accepted that most public sector organizations in this country are rife with corruption and are often managed by unprofessional and self-interested individuals. It is also accepted that in public sector organizations, jobs at all levels are “bought” by the highest bidder and so the best-qualified applicants are often not even considered. Consequently, such organizations are mismanaged by unqualified individuals whose main aim in life is to profit from their “investment”, as it certainly won’t come from their salaries, which are often quite low.

If the power situation was taken as a serious matter by the government and truly solved, I’m sure that there would be more foreign investment in Indonesia.

Letters: Lion Air service

On Feb. 12, my family and I were at Terminal 2 of Soekarno Hatta International Airport.
We planned to take a Lion Air flight to Palembang.

The flight was scheduled to leave at 5:05 p.m. We arrived at the check in counter at 4:30, and were told that they had closed at this time. We were then directed to get assistance at counter 12, where we joined a queue. The person behind the counter was very busy, all the while looking down while people queued in line waiting for help. We were almost completely ignored.

Finally I got her attention and quickly asked for help in order to try to get on the flight or the next one.

The response was abrupt, and gave me the feeling that she didn’t have the time to even find out what I needed. She took my tickets and quickly said to come back at 7 p.m.

I said to her “If I am going to get on the 7:30 o’clock flight, it will be too late. She didn’t answer, but just told me to come back at 7. We came back to counter no. 12 at 6:30 p.m. and I stood there in front of the same person. She was still looking busy, ignoring me.

By this time it was 7.05 p.m. Finally she said we had to pay an additional amount for new tickets. We rushed to the ticket counter etc, but by the time we got through customs the plane had taken off already. We didn’t make it to Palembang that night, but had our money refunded minus a certain percentage and arrived home in Kemang at around 10 p.m.

Our experience with Lion Air’s customer service was a nightmare. Normally, the motto of
many businesses is “customer is king”, but the way we were treated it seemed like the Lion Air motto is “customer is beggar”.

Wings Air to expand network in western Indonesia

Regional airline Wings Air aims to expand its network in western Indonesia after opening new routes in the central and eastern part of the country recently.

“We will open new short routes in western Indonesia to lead the market in the next two year,” Wings Air director of general affairs Edward Sirait said Friday as reported by Antara news agency.

He said this would be made possible with the delivery by 2011 of 15 Franco-Italian ATR 72-500 twin turboprops out of a total order of 30 new aircraft.

Currently Wings Air operates one ATR 72-500 in western Indonesia with two others being
operated in the eastern and central parts of the country.

Wings Air also operates 2 Bombardier Dash 8 aircraft and 5 Boeing MD-80 aircraft.

The airline, a fully owned subsidiary of privately run Lion Air, started to serve the route linking Bandung in West Java with Yogyakarta on Friday, it said in a press statement issued Saturday.

During the opening ceremony at the Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, Wings Air also launched another route linking Yogyakarta with Surabaya in East Java.

Two other routes, linking Surabaya with Semarang in Central Java and Denpasar in Bali, were
also launched although these two routes started operation on Thursday.

Wings Air flight IW 1811 leaves Adisutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta at 12:05 P.M. and arrives in Husein Sastranegara Airport at 1:05 P.M. The aircraft returns to Yogyakarta as flight IW 1812 departing at 1:30 P.M. and arriving at 2:30 P.M.

The Bandung-Yogyakarta route has a one-way airfare of Rp 290,000 (US$31.16), said Wings Air director of general affairs Edward Sirait.

He said starting Saturday the aircraft with a capacity of 72 passengers would have a daily route of Semarang-Surabaya-Denpasar-Surabaya-Yogyakarta-Bandung-Yogyakarta-Surabaya- Denpasar-Surabaya-Semarang.

Edward was confident that the use of the Bandung-Yogyakarta sector would grow significantly.

“Both cities are known not only as business cities but also student cities and destinations for culinary tourism,” Edward told Antara news agency.

As for new routes, Edward said the airlines planned to link Bali with Labuan Bajo and Maumere in East Nusa Tenggara and Bima in West Nusa Tenggara.

Wings Air also plans to link the North Sumatra provincial capital of Medan with Sibolga, in North Sumatra, and Lhokseumawe in Aceh.

Other new routes would include linking Medan with the secondary town of Gunungsitoli and Nias as well as Meulaboh in Aceh, and the Padang-Bengkulu route.