From My Point of View

The last couple of months was like a long nightmare for many Indonesians. The year started with a gloomy note because of the crash of Indonesian Air Asia plane on its way from Surabaya to Singapore in the middle of December, killing everyone on board. Then other bad news followed, the President suddenly nominated a police general everyone knows as a corrupt and politically connected man, to be the new National Police Chief. Everyone was shocked. How could he make a blunder like this? Not just it was unthinkable a few months ago, when we were swooned by his charismatic low profile persona, but a blunder at this scale would have been detected if the media scrutinized him enough. But the media did not see it coming, so who made him do it? All kind of speculation wildly swirled around: how could he be so wrong in picking his nominee for one of the most powerful position in the country? Lots of questions were asked, lots of pondering and reflective action were taken, and almost all end u...

The victory of Joko Widodo or Jokowi, as many Indonesian affectionately call him, in Indonesia's 2014 presidential election truly is the watershed moment for this great archipelagic nation. Now, many people expect that the next five years will be a period where genuine democracy will be practiced and safeguarded, past human rights violation will be brought to court --at least push toward the court-- and discrimination based on religion and ethnicity will soon be punishable, especially in the case of Syiah and Ahmadiyyah followers. In the economy front, people now is hoping for a more bold move to end the fuel subsidy, narrowing the inequality level between the wealthy and the poor and more emphasize on creative industries, steping away from our dependency toward oil and gas industries. Can all be realized by Jokowi's administration? Few have doubts or question the intention of the new president. Almost everyone agree that Jokowi has his policies' priorities in the right...

Pemilihan Presiden akan berlangsung pada 9 Juli 2014 mendatang. Artinya masih enam bulan lagi. Di benak banyak orang sudah mulai ada bayangan siapa sosok yang akan mereka pilih di bilik suara nanti. Tapi semuanya masih bisa berubah, karena untuk dicalonkan, para kandidat yang sekarang digadang-gadang, harus direstui partai politik. Artinya, Jokowi yang sering disebut-sebut sebagai calon RI-1 belum tentu dicalonkan PDIP. Anies Baswedan yang kerap dibicarakan sebagai calon pengganti SBY, belum tentu dicalonkan Partai Demokrat --seperti juga Dahlan Iskan, atau Gita Wirjawan. Mahfud Md masih harus bersaing dengan beberapa kandidat lain --seperti Rhoma Irama-- di PKB. Di PDIP, Jokowi harus lulus seleksi internal yang dipimpin Megawati. Sementara di Demokrat, Anies, Dahlan dan Gita harus berjuang agar mereka dipilih rakyat lewat konvensi. Di PKB, Mahfud masih bersafari keliling Indonesia agar popularitasnya bisa mendongkrak suara partainya. Hanya calon presiden yang juga orang pa...

YUYUN Wahyuningrum akhirnya keluar dari ruang tunggu Ballroom Napalai, Hotel Dusit Thani, Hua Hin, Thailand. Yuyun-aktivis hak asasi manusia, kini manajer program di Forum Asia-seharusnya menjadi wakil Indonesia dalam forum dialog dengan sepuluh pemimpin negara anggota ASEAN, Jumat pekan lalu. Bersama wakil masyarakat sipil dari Malaysia dan Thailand, Yuyun memboikot pertemuan itu. Mereka memprotes sikap pemerintah Filipina, Singapura, Burma, Kamboja, dan Laos. Departemen Luar Negeri kelima negara ASEAN itu berkeras menunjuk sendiri wakil lembaga swadaya masyarakat yang datang ke pertemuan. "Para pemimpin itu mengingkari sendiri isi Piagam ASEAN," kata Yuyun kepada Tempo pekan lalu. Piagam ASEAN, semacam konstitusi yang menjadi dasar lembaga multilateral ini, menegaskan pentingnya partisipasi masyarakat sipil dalam mekanisme ASEAN. "Tanpa partisipasi publik yang murni dari bawah, ASEAN hanya akan jadi arisan para elite, yang terancam kehilangan relevansinya," katany...

PROPOSAL itu datang dari Eropa. Sang pembawa: Presiden Prancis Nicolas Sarkozy. Inilah presiden yang, menurut The Economist, "Hobi menghadiri konferensi tingkat tinggi." Ia membawa usul tentang arsitektur sistem finansial global baru untuk menyelamatkan dunia dari krisis global. "Kami minta Asia mendukung," ujar Sarkozy, Jumat pekan lalu. Di depan Sarkozy duduk lebih dari 20 pemimpin Asia, dengan tuan rumah Cina. Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono juga hadir. Selain itu, wakil dari Eropa yang tampak di Balai Agung Rakyat, Beijing, tersebut antara lain Perdana Menteri Spanyol Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero, Perdana Menteri Finlandia Tarja Halonen, plus Presiden Komisi Uni Eropa Jose Manuel Barosso. "Ini demi masa depan generasi mendatang," ucap Barosso. Sepenting apakah Konferensi Tingkat Tinggi Asia-Eropa ke-7 yang diselenggarakan pada Jumat-Sabtu pekan lalu sehingga Eropa perlu meminta dukungan Asia? Bukankah forum yang biasa disebut Asia-Europe Meeting (As...

Jakarta Ditunjuk Jadi Sekretariat Komisi HAM ASEAN Minggu, 25 Oktober 2009 | 12:04 WIB TEMPO Interaktif, Hua Hin - Indonesia dipastikan akan menjadi tempat sekretariat Komisi Hak Asasi Manusia ASEAN, yang baru saja diresmikan pada KTT ASEAN akhir pekan ini. “Kantornya menempel pada Sekretariat Asean di Jakarta,” kata Direktur Jenderal Departemen Luar Negeri untuk urusan ASEAN, Djauhari Oratmangun, kepada pers di sela KTT ASEAN, kemarin (24/10). Sebelumnya, pemerintah Filipina juga menawarkan agar kantor Komisi HAM ASEAN berlokasi di Manila. Namun usulan tersebut tidak disetujui. KTT ASEAN menyepakati US$ 200 ribu (Rp 1,88 miliar) sebagai dana awal Komisi itu. “Sepuluh negara ASEAN membagi rata anggaran ini, jadi setiap negara menyediakan US$ 20 ribu (Rp 188,4 juta),” kata Djauhari. Komisi HAM ASEAN kemarin menyelesaikan rapat pertamanya di Hotel JW Mariott, Hua Hin. Dalam rapat itu, disepakati bahwa komisi akan bertemu tiga kali dalam setahun. “Pertemuan berikutnya akan diadakan Desem...

Sudah banyak yang ditulis orang soal video seks Ariel-Luna-Cut Tari, dan orang-orang pun, saya kira, mulai merasa jenuh membicarakannya. Ketiga selebritis ini sudah diperiksa di Mabes Polri, dan penyebar video ini pun kabarnya sudah ditangkap polisi. Yang menjadi keprihatinan banyak orang adalah reaksi sebagian orang menanggapi video seks itu. "Para pelaku dalam video itu, Ariel-Luna-Tari, merusak moral masyarakat. Mereka harus dihukum," demikian komentar mereka. Tak akan jadi berita kalau tetangga sebelah rumah atau ketua RT yang berkomentar begitu. Tapi ini adalah tokoh-tokoh publik, macam Menkominfo Tifatul Sembiring dan Ketua MK Moh. Mahfud Md. Mereka punya power untuk melakukan sesuatu, merilis regulasi dan membentuk sistem nilai. Dan benar saja. Menteri Tifatul langsung mendapat angin untuk membahas lagi Rancangan Peraturan Menteri soal konten multimedia. Padahal sebelumnya RPM Konten ini sudah mental setelah ditolak sana sini. Ketua MK, Mahfud, dalam sebuah wawancara d...

Seharusnya catatan ini dibuat lebih awal, karena rombongan 18 orang anggota AJI yang mengikuti kursus ‘using new media to promote freedom of the press’ sudah kembali ke Indonesia, sejak dua pekan lalu. Namun, berhubung kesibukan di kantor dan rutinitas pekerjaan kami masing-masing, langsung menyergap sesampainya kami di kota-kota asal kami, catatan ini pun jadi tertunda. Catatan ini saya anggap penting sebagai bentuk ‘pertanggungjawaban’ kami kepada khalayak anggota AJI –wabil khusus AJI Jakarta, namun juga AJI di kota-kota lain—yang benderanya kami wakili dalam perjalanan tiga pekan kami di Eropa. Selain itu, catatan ini juga merupakan tahap pertama upaya diseminasi dari hasil training kami itu. Sekadar mengingatkan, kursus singkat hasil kerjasama AJI Jakarta, Neso (lembaga penyedia beasiswa Belanda) dan Radio Nederland Training Center ini adalah hasil dari negosiasi panjang kami sejak pertengahan 2009 lalu. Idenya berawal dari keprihatinan kami mendengar dan menyaksikan bagaimana k...

NEWSPAPERS http://korantempo.com/korantempo/koran/2008/10/24/headline/krn.20081024.145879.id.html ASIA-EUROPE MEETING Yudhoyono Usulkan Dana Siaga Indeks bursa di Asia kemarin jeblok lagi. BEIJING --Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono kemarin meminta organisasi regional menyiapkan sistem pinjaman siaga. Dalam sistem ini, katanya, dana bisa digunakan negara-negara yang membutuhkan dalam situasi darurat. Menurut Yudhoyono, organisasi regional--seperti ASEAN, ASEAN+3, ataupun Asia-Europe Meeting--perlu bekerja sama menyiapkan mekanisme dana pinjaman siaga itu. "Semua organisasi menyiapkan pinjaman siaga ini di bawah pimpinan Bank Dunia," kata Yudhoyono saat berpidato pada Forum Bisnis Asia-Europe Meeting di Beijing kemarin. Presiden juga mengusulkan mekanisme pengumpulan sumber keuangan mandiri yang dikelola negara-negara anggota ASEAN+3. Tiga negara tambahan dalam ASEAN adalah Cina, Korea Selatan, dan Jepang. Untuk mengurangi dampak krisis di Asia, menurut Yudhoyono, setiap negar...

I was invited to speak in a discussion about Lapindo mudflow victims, a couple of weeks ago. It was held in Goethe Haus, Menteng, Central Jakarta. My colleague, Heru Margianto, the editor of Kompas.com was also invited to speak, along with Alif Nurlambang, former 68H Radio journalist and a victim of the mudflow, flew all the way from Sidoarjo, East Java. The main topic was how media portray Lapindo mudflow case, three years after. I was given a chance to speak after the guy from Sidoarjo. He lambasted media for being ignorance of their plight and misery. The first thing I said was that I felt like a defendant in that forum. Everybody was there to grill and question the media role, and I felt like I was put under a spotlight. However, I then said that this is a good thing. "Press freedom, media freedom, is your freedom, the public freedom," I said. Forum like this should be held more often, so that the public can say what they think about press reporting, and complaint about t...

This question haunted me since several weeks ago: how far do we, journalist, are responsible for things happening around us? It all begin last September. The Alliance of Independent Journalist (AJI) Jakarta, where I sit as the chairman since last February, was asked to host a discussion to commemorate the fifth year anniversary of Munir's murder. As everybody probably well aware, this prominent human rights campaigner was poisoned to death on a Garuda flight to Amsterdam, September 7th five year ago. Many journalists attended the discussion. We watched a documentary made by a friend of mine, former RCTI producer, Dhandy Dwi Laksono, and felt closer to Cak Munir. The film was great, it explained why we need to keep asking the question: who was behind this murder and keep pushing the police and attorney general to prosecute the mastermind. However, the thing that disturbed me came during the discussion. Although it was not openly spoken during the Q and A session, I sense that many h...

Its two days after the presidential election. The official result is not declared yet, but all quick counts shows the same result: the incumbent won. What does this mean to Indonesia? First of all, I think its an indication that Indonesia is eager to part with its dark past. All candidates that has a relation with the authoritarian regime a decade ago are lost. The winner is generally perceived as clean and untainted with Soeharto's sins. Secondly, this result means Indonesians wants to continue this path: to become a secular democracy, consistently eradicating corruption, and build stronger economy through sound, smart and carefull pro market finance policies. Indonesia wants to be open to the global world, assert its influence and retain itself as a succesful mixture of Islam and democracy, an example of how clash of civilization should not and will not ever occured. Off course, there are many existing problems that need to be addressed. beaucracy reform that is still far from fi...

Its almost two months before the presidential election, next July 8, and it is almost certain, we will have a three-horse race between SBY, JK and Megawati. All the polls suggest that SBY will win the race easily, but many still sees there's a possibility that a surprise may occured somehow. One of the source of surprise is the emergence of Prabowo Subianto. A former three stars general, a former son in law of the late President Soeharto, and a convicted mastermind behind the student kidnappings in 1998. He is known to have great ambition to ascend to power and is willing to work hard and do everything needed to make sure he gets what he wants. Is he the hope Indonesian is waiting, or the threat that will squash everything this country has so far gained in the last 10 years? Time will tell.

Tuesday April 14, 2009 By KARIM RASLAN Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stands poised to lead Indonesia to the forefront of global players alongside Brazil, China and India. THE global financial crisis is spawning – and exacerbating – an equivalent set of political shocks. Over the next year or two there will be winners and there will be losers both globally and regionally, and the recent G20 meeting in London was as much about determining which nations would emerge on the right side of history. For us in South-East Asia, with our trade-dependant economies, the impact has been near disastrous. Moreover, nations such as Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, with their rigid and inflexible political systems, are suffering an added whiplash as their respective peoples’ question the wisdom of age-old social contracts. At the same time, the economic slowdown has laid bare deep-rooted divisions of class, race and geography that haunt our societies. That this should be happening to ...

I wrote several months ago, that most people in Indonesia do not look forward enthusiastically toward the election, next July. I assumed that the reason for this widespread apathy is the old faces'candidates offered to the public. Most of the contestants competing in this election are from old times, with old promises. People --understandably-- are tired. But then, as the campaign geared up to its final days, I sense a different mood amongst the people. People are starting to pay attention. Gossips spread around the corner, about this candidate and that candidate. On my way to work, people on the train, in foodstalls just across the station, on buses, anywhere, started to compare their judgment about what our future will be, if this candidate or that candidate, win the election. More and more people start to register themselves as voters. In the last legislative election, many people were not eligible to vote because they failed to register themselves in advance at the village/sub-...

Riyadi Suparno , The Jakarta Post , Paris | Fri, 03/20/2009 1:10 PM | Headlines After sinking deep during the financial crisis, Indonesia has now entered the club of the world's fastest growing economies, but it needs further economic reforms and liberalization to gain more from international trade. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in its latest report "Globalization and Emerging Economies" released in Geneva on Thursday, includes Indonesia among the world's best performing large developing economies. Indonesia now sits alongside Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, in a group the OECD calls BRIICS. "The inclusion of Indonesia into BRIICS is a recognition of the importance and size of the country, the situation relative to OECD member countries, and the desire of OECD countries to engage in it more closely," Douglas Lippoldt, acting head of the Development Division at the Trade and Agricultural Directorate of...