http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com Indonesia Shares Stocks and Market Investment News Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:56:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/from-hiding-indonesian-defends-free-expression/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/from-hiding-indonesian-defends-free-expression/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:38:00 +0000 admin
The men’s magazine, which began publication in 2006, was relatively tame, and conspicuously free of nudity. But faced with violent protests by hard-line Muslim groups, it soon folded, while Mr. Arnada fended off a succession of criminal charges.

Things had gone quiet until late last month, with the surprise announcement that the Supreme Court, in an unpublicized verdict last year, had found him guilty of indecency.

Rather than turn himself in by a Monday deadline, Mr. Arnada went underground, setting off the latest stage of Indonesia’s ongoing debate between defenders of free speech and conservative activists seeking to reshape a diverse Indonesia into a stricter, Islamic-flavored moral mold.

“This isn’t about threats against me or Playboy Indonesia, this is about press freedom in Indonesia,” Mr. Arnada said by telephone. “If this is allowed to happen, there will be more violations against the press, the criminalization of the press.”

“When I brought the brand to Indonesia, I proclaimed that I was not going to produce a porn magazine,” he said.

Indeed, by the standards of Indonesia’s often racy press, there was nothing remarkable about Playboy Indonesia, with its modestly attired models and general-interest articles.

But as a brand bearing all the hallmarks of Western decadence, it soon raised the ire of groups like the Islamic Defenders’ Front, or F.P.I., a hard-line organization frequently blamed, but rarely punished, for violent attacks on secularists and minority religions.

Protests led by the F.P.I., including one attempt to ransack Playboy’s Jakarta offices, forced the magazine to relocate to the Hindu-majority island of Bali. After 10 issues, the magazine closed, in mid-2007.

The fact that the authorities even deigned to bring charges against Mr. Arnada was seen by many as proof of capitulation by the government in the face of Indonesia’s minority hard-line fringe.

Mr. Arnada’s legal victories, first in a district court and then in Jakarta’s High Court, were met by liberals with relief.

And then, from out of the depths of Indonesia’s opaque justice system, came Mr. Arnada’s conviction — something both sides say they never expected.

With Mr. Arnada now on the run, and his passport blocked, lawyers and the Indonesian Press Council are attempting to get prosecutors to rescind his detention order while they appeal to the Supreme Court to review its decision to find him guilty, said his lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis.

Bagir Manan, the chairman of the Press Council, said he had written a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asking him to intervene to stop Mr. Arnada’s detention.

But whether Mr. Yudhoyono will intervene remains to be seen. Although he is seen as a liberal figure, he has been criticized for frequently placating hard-line groups intent on implementing conservative measures, including elements of Shariah in some regions.

Mr. Yudhoyono supported a wide-ranging 2008 anti-pornography law promoted by Islamic parties that has been criticized as a threat to free expression and Indonesia’s non-Muslim minorities.

Mr. Yudhoyono’s information minister, Tifatul Sembiring, who is from a conservative Islam-based party in the president’s coalition, last month introduced a controversial online pornography filter over the objections of service providers and free speech advocates.

His government has also been criticized for failing to rein in the F.P.I. and its allies.

The group has been blamed for a series of violent protests and forced closures of Christian churches this year as well as a campaign against the minority Islamic sect Ahmadiyah, which was declared “deviant” by a government decree in 2008. Mr. Yudhoyono has so far stayed silent after his religious affairs minister, Suryadharma Ali, said last month that Ahmadiyah should be disbanded.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/from-hiding-indonesian-defends-free-expression/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/miss-indonesias-broken-english-sparks-online-ridicule/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/miss-indonesias-broken-english-sparks-online-ridicule/#comments Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:58:00 +0000 admin
The video, posted on August 15, had been viewed more than 23,000 times and garnered hundreds of comments.

It has also been circulated on the social networking site Facebook and drawn many comments with the majority critical of her attempts to speak English.

During the video, the interviewer asked her what was the best advice she could give to a man.

"I think when you down the women can make you up, and I think the women can be said that "I have advice for you" if you way up, you have to be nice with people, include women, so when you down, women can be nice with you,” Qory answered nervously.

Her answer invited many reactions from YouTube users. A user by the name of Nanieshimasu said that Qory's poor performance has “once again shown that Indonesia has failed to select a qualified candidate for Miss Universe.”

"Language is one of the most important factors, therefore you shouldn't force yourself to speak English. Don't let language barriers bury your true potential. It's not perfect but i believe it would be better to use a translator," Nanieshimasu wrote.

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The video, posted on August 15, had been viewed more than 23,000 times and garnered hundreds of comments.

It has also been circulated on the social networking site Facebook and drawn many comments with the majority critical of her attempts to speak English.

During the video, the interviewer asked her what was the best advice she could give to a man.

"I think when you down the women can make you up, and I think the women can be said that "I have advice for you" if you way up, you have to be nice with people, include women, so when you down, women can be nice with you,” Qory answered nervously.

Her answer invited many reactions from YouTube users. A user by the name of Nanieshimasu said that Qory's poor performance has “once again shown that Indonesia has failed to select a qualified candidate for Miss Universe.”

"Language is one of the most important factors, therefore you shouldn't force yourself to speak English. Don't let language barriers bury your true potential. It's not perfect but i believe it would be better to use a translator," Nanieshimasu wrote.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/miss-indonesias-broken-english-sparks-online-ridicule/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/tv-reporter-killed-during-group-clash-in-maluku/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/tv-reporter-killed-during-group-clash-in-maluku/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:44:00 +0000 admin
“He suffered from hack wounds on his neck and his back,” Arief told kompas.com.

Arief said that Ridwan got trapped between the groups during the clash. He explained that Ridwan was a newly recruited contributor.

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“He suffered from hack wounds on his neck and his back,” Arief told kompas.com.

Arief said that Ridwan got trapped between the groups during the clash. He explained that Ridwan was a newly recruited contributor.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/tv-reporter-killed-during-group-clash-in-maluku/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/unpad-lecturer-turns-down-award-from-president/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/unpad-lecturer-turns-down-award-from-president/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:17:00 +0000 admin
“I'm disappointed by the very weak stance on the part of the President,” the criminology lecturer said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Friday.

Yesmil was scheduled to get the award for his dedication as a civil servant and lecturer for 26 years on Aug. 17 in conjunction with the commemoration of Indonesia's independence day together with the 40 other lecturers at the university's campus in Bandung.

However, Yesmil decided to turn down the award after he heard about the arrest of the Indonesian officers by the Malaysian authorities after they captured Malaysian fishermen for illegally fishing in the Indonesian territory.

“What was done by the Malaysian government was humiliating, but our President did nothing,” Yesmil said. If problem of demarcation and dignity is not settled in an elegant way, Indonesia will be considered as a nation without any sovereignty, he said.

Yesmil was getting more disappointed to see that the three officers was freed in exchange for the release of the Malaysian fish thieves.

“Sovereignty is a kind of a fixed price and not negotiable,” he said. That was why he preferred to join a ceremony with artists and cultural observers at Indonesia Menggugat Building in Bandung rather than receiving the award from the government.

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“I'm disappointed by the very weak stance on the part of the President,” the criminology lecturer said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Friday.

Yesmil was scheduled to get the award for his dedication as a civil servant and lecturer for 26 years on Aug. 17 in conjunction with the commemoration of Indonesia's independence day together with the 40 other lecturers at the university's campus in Bandung.

However, Yesmil decided to turn down the award after he heard about the arrest of the Indonesian officers by the Malaysian authorities after they captured Malaysian fishermen for illegally fishing in the Indonesian territory.

“What was done by the Malaysian government was humiliating, but our President did nothing,” Yesmil said. If problem of demarcation and dignity is not settled in an elegant way, Indonesia will be considered as a nation without any sovereignty, he said.

Yesmil was getting more disappointed to see that the three officers was freed in exchange for the release of the Malaysian fish thieves.

“Sovereignty is a kind of a fixed price and not negotiable,” he said. That was why he preferred to join a ceremony with artists and cultural observers at Indonesia Menggugat Building in Bandung rather than receiving the award from the government.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/unpad-lecturer-turns-down-award-from-president/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sby-calls-for-religious-tolerance/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sby-calls-for-religious-tolerance/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:22:00 +0000 admin
“To build a democratic and fair life, I want to underline the importance of maintaining and strengthening our brotherhood, harmony and tolerance as a nation,” he said.

“In everyday life, we still find cases that don’t reflect the harmony, tolerance and mutual respect... related to religion, ethnicity, tribe and regions. We must not ignore such a situation,” he added.

“We want every citizen to live their lives in a serene and peaceful manner and accordance with his rights.” Indonesia’s constitution explicitly guarantees freedom of religion and the country of some 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslim, has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights

But in recent months, it has been plagued by rising violence by Islamic hardliners who have launched attacks on mosques belonging to minority sects and Christian churches. Hundreds of Indonesians, mostly Christians, held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday urging Yudhoyono to stop the attacks and guarantee religious freedom.

Indonesian rights group the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace in July said there were 28 cases of religious freedom violations from January to July, up from 17 for the whole of 2008 and 18 in 2009.

The violations — mostly by radical Muslim groups — included forced closure of churches and attacks such as torching and damaging churches, it said. Human Rights Watch early this month said Indonesia is letting radical Islamists trample the constitutional rights of minorities, leading to inter-communal violence.

It called on Yudhoyono to repeal laws that it says have given extremists from the dominant religious group the legal space to launch violent attacks on people of other faiths and sects.

]]>
“To build a democratic and fair life, I want to underline the importance of maintaining and strengthening our brotherhood, harmony and tolerance as a nation,” he said.

“In everyday life, we still find cases that don’t reflect the harmony, tolerance and mutual respect... related to religion, ethnicity, tribe and regions. We must not ignore such a situation,” he added.

“We want every citizen to live their lives in a serene and peaceful manner and accordance with his rights.” Indonesia’s constitution explicitly guarantees freedom of religion and the country of some 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslim, has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights

But in recent months, it has been plagued by rising violence by Islamic hardliners who have launched attacks on mosques belonging to minority sects and Christian churches. Hundreds of Indonesians, mostly Christians, held a prayer vigil in Jakarta on Sunday urging Yudhoyono to stop the attacks and guarantee religious freedom.

Indonesian rights group the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace in July said there were 28 cases of religious freedom violations from January to July, up from 17 for the whole of 2008 and 18 in 2009.

The violations — mostly by radical Muslim groups — included forced closure of churches and attacks such as torching and damaging churches, it said. Human Rights Watch early this month said Indonesia is letting radical Islamists trample the constitutional rights of minorities, leading to inter-communal violence.

It called on Yudhoyono to repeal laws that it says have given extremists from the dominant religious group the legal space to launch violent attacks on people of other faiths and sects.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sby-calls-for-religious-tolerance/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/religious-minorities-in-indonesia-push-back/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/religious-minorities-in-indonesia-push-back/#comments Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:19:00 +0000 admin
But members of the sect, who differ from other Muslims about whether Muhammad was the "final" monotheist prophet, have so far refused to buck under.

"We're tired of being harassed and attacked," said Yati Hidayat, a 48-year-old Ahmadiyah member. "We have the right to pray just like any other religious community. If anyone tries to stop us, we're ready to fight."

Recent attacks have largely been led by the Islamic Defenders Front, or the FPI, which is pushing for the implementation of Islamic-based laws in regions across the nation.

They are known for smashing bars, attacking transvestites and going after those considered blasphemous with bamboo clubs and stones. Perpetrators are rarely punished or even questioned by police.

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But members of the sect, who differ from other Muslims about whether Muhammad was the "final" monotheist prophet, have so far refused to buck under.

"We're tired of being harassed and attacked," said Yati Hidayat, a 48-year-old Ahmadiyah member. "We have the right to pray just like any other religious community. If anyone tries to stop us, we're ready to fight."

Recent attacks have largely been led by the Islamic Defenders Front, or the FPI, which is pushing for the implementation of Islamic-based laws in regions across the nation.

They are known for smashing bars, attacking transvestites and going after those considered blasphemous with bamboo clubs and stones. Perpetrators are rarely punished or even questioned by police.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/religious-minorities-in-indonesia-push-back/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/public-told-not-to-give-money-to-beggars/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/public-told-not-to-give-money-to-beggars/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:39:00 +0000 admin
“[We] expect people in Jakarta who happen to be on streets to avoid giving money to the beggars,” agency head Effendi Anas told a news conference on Thursday.

He said the public could donate money for the poor through places of worship, neighborhood unit or charity organizations.

“But never pour money on to the streets,” he added.

Jakarta has always a sharp increase in the number of beggars during Ramadan, many of them coming from various regions across West Java and Central Java.

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“[We] expect people in Jakarta who happen to be on streets to avoid giving money to the beggars,” agency head Effendi Anas told a news conference on Thursday.

He said the public could donate money for the poor through places of worship, neighborhood unit or charity organizations.

“But never pour money on to the streets,” he added.

Jakarta has always a sharp increase in the number of beggars during Ramadan, many of them coming from various regions across West Java and Central Java.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/public-told-not-to-give-money-to-beggars/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/man-prostitutes-wife-to-pay-political-campaign-loans/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/man-prostitutes-wife-to-pay-political-campaign-loans/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:25:00 +0000 admin
Haerul Asri, 38, made an unsuccessful attempt in 2009 to win election to the West Sulawesi Legislative Council (DPRD) representing Polewali Mandar (Polman) district in 2009.

The case opened in the Polman District Court on Tuesday, Metro TV reported.

He is charged with forcing his wife, Nad, to have sex with his friends for between Rp 300,000 ($34) and Rp 500,000 and is facing up to 15 years in jail.

Haerul told the court that he needed to pay outstanding debts from his political campaign.

Speaking to a local newspaper, Nad said she ran away from her husband in April and moved in with her family in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

She alleged that Haerul beat her every time she refused his order to have sex with “clients.”

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Haerul Asri, 38, made an unsuccessful attempt in 2009 to win election to the West Sulawesi Legislative Council (DPRD) representing Polewali Mandar (Polman) district in 2009.

The case opened in the Polman District Court on Tuesday, Metro TV reported.

He is charged with forcing his wife, Nad, to have sex with his friends for between Rp 300,000 ($34) and Rp 500,000 and is facing up to 15 years in jail.

Haerul told the court that he needed to pay outstanding debts from his political campaign.

Speaking to a local newspaper, Nad said she ran away from her husband in April and moved in with her family in Samarinda, East Kalimantan.

She alleged that Haerul beat her every time she refused his order to have sex with “clients.”

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/man-prostitutes-wife-to-pay-political-campaign-loans/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/indonesia-finds-banning-pornography-is-difficult/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/indonesia-finds-banning-pornography-is-difficult/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 02:19:00 +0000 admin
Last month, the country’s information minister, Tifatul Sembiring, said that local service providers would have to start blocking online pornography by the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts Aug. 11. That deadline is fast approaching, and Mr. Riyadi says he still has no idea how he is going to put a filter in place.

“It’s really a hard thing to do in technical terms,” he said. “For me, it’s almost an impossible task.”

Mr. Sembiring has won plaudits for pledging to curb online pornography in this Muslim-majority democracy of 240 million people, and for following regional peers like China, Thailand and Singapore into the fraught world of Internet screening. But the problem, Mr. Riyadi says, is that the minister’s plan is really no plan at all.

No official decree has been issued, no list of banned sites has been published and no details have surfaced on who will pay for monitoring and screening of Web sites. The minister has, however, threatened the roughly 230 Internet service providers in Indonesia with closure if they fail to block pornographic sites for the country’s 40 million Internet users.

Mr. Riyadi, laughing with exasperation, said service providers might be able to scrape together a block of “famous pornographic Web sites” in the coming weeks — roughly 10 percent of such content. Service providers might be able to block 50 percent of online pornography in the months ahead, he said, if they were lucky.

The filter would begin with pornography and would later be expanded to other undesirable sites. Since the keyword list has already been in use for government departments, he said, “I think after one month, our frequency of updating will be low.”

But for Mr. Riyadi, of the I.S.P. association, the plan is simply unworkable. Blocking sites by keywords might be feasible for small networks, but it is a tricky task for larger ones, he said.

Service providers would have to collectively spend as much as 500 billion rupiah, or $56 million, to install proxy, or intermediate, servers to house the filters, he said.

Mr. Riyadi added that the proxy servers might not even work, and that if they did, it could slow the access to overseas Web sites by 20 percent to 30 percent, he said.

Mr. Riyadi said the way forward would be for the government to put together a list of blocked addresses, a laborious process that would involve tens of millions of restricted pages.


For Hasan Yahya, a business consultant and blogger, the screening plan threatens both free speech and Indonesia’s Internet industry.

Although there are hundreds of service providers in the country, the majority of people are clients of Telkom, the state-linked giant, and a handful of other, private operators.

Making service providers assume the burden of screening will squeeze smaller operators hard, Mr. Yahya said.

Mr. Sembiring “is a Taliban copying what he thinks he knows from China,” Mr. Yahya said. “It’s hardly the example that we want to copy for this young and fragile democracy.”

Besides, Mr. Yahya said, the plan is so vague and technically unfeasible that it will probably not even work. Unlike China or Singapore, Indonesia, with its roughly 17,000 islands, has no centralized Web infrastructure and has several links to networks overseas.

]]>
Last month, the country’s information minister, Tifatul Sembiring, said that local service providers would have to start blocking online pornography by the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts Aug. 11. That deadline is fast approaching, and Mr. Riyadi says he still has no idea how he is going to put a filter in place.

“It’s really a hard thing to do in technical terms,” he said. “For me, it’s almost an impossible task.”

Mr. Sembiring has won plaudits for pledging to curb online pornography in this Muslim-majority democracy of 240 million people, and for following regional peers like China, Thailand and Singapore into the fraught world of Internet screening. But the problem, Mr. Riyadi says, is that the minister’s plan is really no plan at all.

No official decree has been issued, no list of banned sites has been published and no details have surfaced on who will pay for monitoring and screening of Web sites. The minister has, however, threatened the roughly 230 Internet service providers in Indonesia with closure if they fail to block pornographic sites for the country’s 40 million Internet users.

Mr. Riyadi, laughing with exasperation, said service providers might be able to scrape together a block of “famous pornographic Web sites” in the coming weeks — roughly 10 percent of such content. Service providers might be able to block 50 percent of online pornography in the months ahead, he said, if they were lucky.

The filter would begin with pornography and would later be expanded to other undesirable sites. Since the keyword list has already been in use for government departments, he said, “I think after one month, our frequency of updating will be low.”

But for Mr. Riyadi, of the I.S.P. association, the plan is simply unworkable. Blocking sites by keywords might be feasible for small networks, but it is a tricky task for larger ones, he said.

Service providers would have to collectively spend as much as 500 billion rupiah, or $56 million, to install proxy, or intermediate, servers to house the filters, he said.

Mr. Riyadi added that the proxy servers might not even work, and that if they did, it could slow the access to overseas Web sites by 20 percent to 30 percent, he said.

Mr. Riyadi said the way forward would be for the government to put together a list of blocked addresses, a laborious process that would involve tens of millions of restricted pages.


For Hasan Yahya, a business consultant and blogger, the screening plan threatens both free speech and Indonesia’s Internet industry.

Although there are hundreds of service providers in the country, the majority of people are clients of Telkom, the state-linked giant, and a handful of other, private operators.

Making service providers assume the burden of screening will squeeze smaller operators hard, Mr. Yahya said.

Mr. Sembiring “is a Taliban copying what he thinks he knows from China,” Mr. Yahya said. “It’s hardly the example that we want to copy for this young and fragile democracy.”

Besides, Mr. Yahya said, the plan is so vague and technically unfeasible that it will probably not even work. Unlike China or Singapore, Indonesia, with its roughly 17,000 islands, has no centralized Web infrastructure and has several links to networks overseas.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/indonesia-finds-banning-pornography-is-difficult/feed/ 0 http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sinta-and-jojos-%e2%80%9ckeong-racun%e2%80%9d-a-certified-youtube-hit/ http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sinta-and-jojos-%e2%80%9ckeong-racun%e2%80%9d-a-certified-youtube-hit/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:43:00 +0000 admin
It has also consistently become the No. 1 trending topic on microblogging site Twitter for the past three days. The teenagers, Sinta and Jovita “Jojo” Adityasari, are both 19 years old. In an interview with TV station RCTI, Jojo said that she and Sinta never expected their video to be such a big hit. “Sinta and I have been best friends since senior high school.

Last month, we heard of the dangdut song “Keong Racun” from a friend. We downloaded the song. We like it because the lyrics are funny,” Jojo said.

“We taped us lip-synching at the living room of my parents' house. We had originally meant to upload the video on Facebook, but the file size was too big,” Jojo added.

One of their friends suggested that they upload it on YouTube. “Keong Racun” was written by Buy Akur, a songwriter and musician from Bandung.

The song was originally sung by a local singer named Lisa. It only become popular, however, after Sinta and Jojo uploaded their version on YouTube. The song is about a sleazy man who shamelessly asks a girl he just met out on a date.

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It has also consistently become the No. 1 trending topic on microblogging site Twitter for the past three days. The teenagers, Sinta and Jovita “Jojo” Adityasari, are both 19 years old. In an interview with TV station RCTI, Jojo said that she and Sinta never expected their video to be such a big hit. “Sinta and I have been best friends since senior high school.

Last month, we heard of the dangdut song “Keong Racun” from a friend. We downloaded the song. We like it because the lyrics are funny,” Jojo said.

“We taped us lip-synching at the living room of my parents' house. We had originally meant to upload the video on Facebook, but the file size was too big,” Jojo added.

One of their friends suggested that they upload it on YouTube. “Keong Racun” was written by Buy Akur, a songwriter and musician from Bandung.

The song was originally sung by a local singer named Lisa. It only become popular, however, after Sinta and Jojo uploaded their version on YouTube. The song is about a sleazy man who shamelessly asks a girl he just met out on a date.

]]> http://www.indonesianstockmarket.com/idx/sinta-and-jojos-%e2%80%9ckeong-racun%e2%80%9d-a-certified-youtube-hit/feed/ 0