The Perspective: Lamudi Global on Shifting Indonesia’s Real Estate Sector Online (Part 4 of 5)
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The Perspective: Lamudi Global on Shifting Indonesia’s Real Estate Sector Online (Part 5 of 5)
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Verdict on French Death Row Convict Expected in 2 Weeks
Jakarta. A judge in Jakarta said on Wednesday that a court will decide in two weeks whether to proceed with a last-ditch appeal by a French death row inmate who is challenging President Joko Widodo’s refusal to grant him clemency.
Convicted drug trafficker Serge Atlaoui was due to face the firing squad with other convicts last month but was granted a last-minute reprieve to allow for the completion of his legal appeals.
France’s foreign minister has warned Indonesia it would face repercussions if it goes ahead with the execution.
The Jakarta administrative court would hold another hearing on the case next Wednesday, with a verdict expected on May 28, said Judge Ujang Abdullah.
The Attorney General’s Office has said Atlaoui’s current legal challenge would be his last appeal.
Atlaoui was sentenced to death for his involvement in an ecstasy factory in Jakarta that was capable of producing 100 kilograms of the illegal pills per week.
Joko has rejected pleas for clemency from various foreign nationals who are among a group of around 60 drug convicts scheduled for execution. Fourteen have been executed so far this year.
Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year lull.
Reuters
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Jakarta Students March in Memory of 1998 Trisakti Student Shootings
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SBY: Democratic Party Will Support Jokowi Administration
Surabaya. The Democratic Party wants to play an active role to help the administration of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla succeed, chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the official opening of his party’s congress on Tuesday.
As part of this effort, Yudhoyono, who was succeeded by Joko last year, said the party was dedicated to making sure all of its regional-level executives — governors, district heads and mayors — fully support the central government.
The Democratic Party itself will also back any government initiatives that it considers to be good for the Indonesian people and it will make itself heard in case the government presents plans that it deems unjust, he added.
“This is part of the devotion and the responsibility of the Democratic Party in its support of the government,” the nation’s sixth president said. “The Democratic Party believes that the government can overcome any challenge that this nation is facing.”
Yudhoyono also said that the party would like to position itself as a balancing force.
“We’re neither part of the Awesome Indonesia Coalition [KIH], nor of the Red-White Coalition [KMP],” he said. “The Democratic Party is ready to be part of the solution.”
President’s point of view
Present at the opening of the congress, Joko called on the party to not forget its task: to prioritize the people’s aspirations.
“Political parties shouldn’t be too busy with themselves, without paying attention to the people’s mandate,” the president said in his opening speech.
Joko added that parties should not become stepping stones for those looking to fill strategic positions in government.
“To become an institution that is solid, sturdy, trusted and trustworthy — that is the challenge for political parties in the reform era,” the president said. “Every political party has to become a house of dialogue that can accommodate all the aspirations of its cadres. A house of hope that can accommodate the aspirations of the people.”
Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of Joko’s own Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was unable to attend the conference, with a party spokesman explaining that her schedule didn’t allow for a trip to the capital of East Java.
Megawati has long had a strained relationship with Yudhoyono, who was a key minister during her presidency but then ran against her for the top job — and won.
Yudhoyono was selected by acclamation on Tuesday to lead the party for another five years. He had been the only candidate.
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Motorcycle Gunmen Kill 41 in Pakistan Bus Attack
Karachi. Gunmen on motorcycles killed at least 41 people in an attack on a bus in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi on Wednesday, police said, in the latest violence directed against religious minorities this year.
Television channels carried pictures of a pink bus covered in bullet holes and lines of waiting ambulances.
“There were six attackers. They boarded the bus and carried out the shooting,” Police Superintendent Najib Khan told Reuters.
He said all the passengers were from the Ismaili community, a minority Muslim sect in majority-Sunni Pakistan.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but Taliban splinter groups have bombed several mosques belonging to religious minorities this year.
In March, suicide bombings outside two churches in Lahore killed 14 people and wounded nearly 80. Days later, a bomb after Friday prayers wounded 12 people outside a minority Bohra mosque in Karachi.
In February, 20 people were killed in an attack on a Shiite mosque in the northeastern city of Peshawar, and 60 were killed in a January attack on a Shiite mosque in the southern province of Sindh.
Reuters
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Land Rights Protest Turns Violent in Medan
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Commentary: Indonesia Is Not Alone in This World
When officials and Islamic organizations in Indonesia commented on the Charlie Hebdo massacre Paris earlier this year, hardly anyone only criticized the terrorists — any Indonesian statement on the issue seemed to be incomplete without at least also condemning the cartoonists for their profane caricatures. Many Indonesians agree that there should be global standards for the ethics of satire. Muhammadiyah, the nation’s second-largest Islamic organization, even urged the United Nations, through the Indonesian government, to develop a code of conduct for these kinds of cases. The right to not be insulted by caricatures clearly is seen by many here as a universal human right.
Then the ‘Bali Nine’ executions came along and many of the very same people had the opposite reaction: instead of defending universal ethics such as the right to life, they emphasized national sovereignty and the particular ethical norms in this country. Indonesia, in their point of view, should not be swayed by human rights considerations in the case of capital punishment, nor should it negotiate with other countries. The death penalty is perceived as an expression of national sovereignty. National sovereignty here means the sovereignty of Indonesian laws over international human rights.
Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, fought for political sovereignty, economic self-sufficiency and cultural independence. Those are still ideals cherished by the entire political spectrum in this country, from the extreme right to the extreme left. But as a part of a global community, Indonesia has plenty to gain from the exchange of ideas and from international cooperation. Many are not aware that this is already the case: the Bali Nine gang would never have been caught if not for the help of Australian authorities.
When Indonesian officials and civil organizations call for the universal recognition of the dignity of faith, for the sake of consistency they also should listen to those in favor of universal human rights. Any universal value is not recognized a priori by all cultures, but recognition requires a process of negotiation and exchange of ideas and arguments.
Apart from the right to life, the importance of mercy is also acknowledged in almost every culture, so why should it not play a more important role in Indonesia’s legal system?
What led many Australians to protest against the execution of the two Australian inmates on death row — who on April 29 were shot dead along with five other foreigners and one Indonesian — were reports from Bali’s Kerobokan prison that showed the men regretted their crimes were engaged in rehabilitation activities. Australians saw desperate relatives begging for mercy, making it is almost impossible for many to not feel any empathy — regardless of one’s stand on the crimes for which the men were convicted.
Some Indonesians have confused this empathy with Australian support for drug trafficking. But we must not forget that the war against drugs is not just being waged by Indonesia. It is almost universally acknowledged that many drugs are dangerous and that their sale and consumption should be prevented. Here, Indonesia also has a lot to gain from working together with other countries.
Interestingly, the Indonesian government delayed the executions until after the Asian-African Conference. While the sovereignty of each country was highlighted at the conference, just as in the public discourse in Indonesia — which saw other countries’ attempts to protect their citizens from being executed as threats against national sovereignty — the spirit of the first AAC in 1955 was a lot more cosmopolitan.
The first principle in the 1955 declaration on the promotion of world peace and cooperation demanded respect for fundamental human rights and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, including of course the right to life. By executing foreign citizens just days after the commemoration of this important conference, international cooperation was sacrificed on the altar nationalism by Indonesia’s present-day elite. Instead of implementing reforms in the law enforcement system to create an effective tool to fight drug production and trafficking, eight men were killed to make a political point.
The international community is not an archipelago of isolated islands, even if some nationalists in Indonesia or elsewhere might see it that way. But fighting for universal rights is much more difficult than appealing to particular cultural values.
Why not embrace the right to life and mercy as universal values? Australia and European countries can learn from those values, too. Showing mercy for refugees who are seeking a better life in Australia or in the European Union is necessary if governments there want to advocate for mercy convincingly. Like it or not, we are a global community and our common values should trump nationalist considerations.
Ririn Sefsani is working with the Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) and was a voluntary supporter of Joko Widodo’s election campaign. Timo Duile is a lecturer in the department of Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Bonn, Germany.
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Garuda and LOT Polish Airlines Agree on New Jakarta-Warsaw Flight Route
Jakarta. Garuda Indonesia and LOT Polish Airlines, flag carriers of Indonesia and Poland respectively, have agreed to open a new route connecting Jakarta and Warsaw.
Garuda Indonesia President Director M. Arif Wibowo said opening a new route to Poland will help Garuda better connect with Eastern and Central Europe. Garuda currently flies to London in the United Kingdom and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
“Poland, like Indonesia, is a destination with potentials,” Arif said on Tuesday, as quoted by state-owned news agency Antara. “That’s why Garuda is ready to sign a Special Priority Agreement with LOT Polish Airlines.”
Sebastian Mikosz, chief executive officer of LOT Polish Airlines, welcomed the plan, adding the agreement was a first step towards better cooperation.
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