There are so many people in Indonesian who love credit cards.
According to news report, there are 14.3 million credit cards holders among our country's 240 million population.
This is obvious because credit cards provide possibility for people to live conveniently i.e. it provide them the chance to buy things by credit.
The bad thing about credit card is that it drove many of its holders into very consumptive people, it makes them buy things they want even though their financial position is weak.
I know some people whose monthly salary only enable them to pay the minimum payment limit i.e. 10% of the total credit card expenditures, therefore they facing trouble settling the credit and interest.
The most sadistic case happened last year when a holder of credit card issued by Citibank was beaten to death by debt collectors at the major U.S bank's Jakarta office.
In order to prevent credit card crisis, the Central Bank i.e. Bank Indonesia, issued regulation No. 14/2/PBI/2012 regarding Credit Card Transaction Procedures, among others as follows :
1) Minimum age of a holder is 21 (currently 17) years old.
2) Minimum salary of a holder is Rp 3 Million, maximum credit limit is 3 times the amount of salary.
3) Those who have salary below Rp 10 Million may only have two credit cards
4) Those who have salary above Rp 10 Million may get higher credit limit from the bank
The new regulation will become effective on 1 January 2013, with a two years transition period for banks to adjust their existing regulation with the said new regulation.
I hope that this new regulation would prevent any credit card crisis in the future.
Showing posts with label Bank Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bank Indonesia. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Sanctions on Citibank Indonesia
Today I received an e-mail from Citibank Indonesia explaining about the sanctions that the Indonesian banking regulator i.e. Bank Indonesia, has imposed on said bank for violations of internal bank regulations and risk management as well as weaknesses in its internal control and operating procedures.
In connection with the two ongoing scandals, one surrounding suspicions of embezzlement by its former Senior Manager and the other involving the death of a credit card customer, Citibank promised that it will it do its best to follow all the laws and regulations in Indonesia, like it has done for so many years.
Earlier I read on The Jakarta Globe that the sanctions were a two-year freeze on new credit card customers for Citibank Indonesia, a ban on acquiring new priority banking customers for one year and a one-year moratorium on opening new branch offices.
I hope that the above sanctions would not stop the Investigations that are now being carried out by the Police on the possibility of Money Laundering and the Murder cases by officials of Citibank Indonesia.
In connection with the two ongoing scandals, one surrounding suspicions of embezzlement by its former Senior Manager and the other involving the death of a credit card customer, Citibank promised that it will it do its best to follow all the laws and regulations in Indonesia, like it has done for so many years.
Earlier I read on The Jakarta Globe that the sanctions were a two-year freeze on new credit card customers for Citibank Indonesia, a ban on acquiring new priority banking customers for one year and a one-year moratorium on opening new branch offices.
I hope that the above sanctions would not stop the Investigations that are now being carried out by the Police on the possibility of Money Laundering and the Murder cases by officials of Citibank Indonesia.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Crisis in Egypt is a "wake-up" Call for Indonesia
Egypt is a transcontinental country, mainly located in North Africa partly in South West Asia, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Islamic world.
The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.
Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.
Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.
Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.
Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.
I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.
So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.
The country has a population of 79 million people living in a land area of 1,050,000 KM2, and is famous for its ancient civilization with famous monuments like the Pyramid complex and the Sphinx.
Egypt is not a strange country for Indonesia. Our former President Soekarno and Egyptian President Nasser together with Indian President Nehru and Yugoslavian President Tito founded the Non-Allign Movement in 1961. Many Indonesian scholars studied at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.
Besides, both countries shared similar modern history i.e. they have been governed by pro-American authoritarian regimes lead by ex military men, Indonesia by former President Soeharto from 1966 until 1998, and Egypt by President Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until now.
Further, both countries share the same problems, i.e. the majority of people living in poverty, plagued by never ending injustice, corruption and abuse of power, all of which have lead to people's demand for social, political and economical changes in Indonesia on May 1998, and in Egypt starting 25 January 2011.
Like the former Soeharto regime who made efforts to silence opposition and protests, the Mubarak regime tried to silence protests by shutting down the internet network, mobile telecommunications, impose curfew, and used force causing the death of around 100 people.
I hope that the situation in Egypt would remind every leaders in Indonesia, starting from the President down to Kampung chiefs, and members of the central and regional House of Representatives that they are holding powers because people have trusted them to hold them for a limited time. Such power will be taken away from them if people do not trust them anymore.
So if those leaders still want to hold their power, they should do their very best to eradicate Poverty, Injustice, Corruption, Abuse of Power, and develop the country merely based on the people's interests, and not the interests of their own or their family or friends or groups or political party.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
3 Killed at a Court in Jakarta
This bloody clash was an escalation of clash between both gangs at the same Court last week, in a trial of two men accused of killing two men of rival gang at the Blowfish Nightclub in Jakarta on 24 April 2010.
After that trial, both suspects were attacked by the rival gang, although they were guarded by the Police.
According to the news media, there were hundreds of members of the feuding gangs using firearms, knives and machetes, compared to the Police who were only equipped with shields and rubber sticks.
Beside three dead, twelve men were also wounded in the clash, including three Police officers.
The Police plan to change the venue for next sessions trial of the Case, so as to prevent similar incident.
Considering that both gangs have already clashed one week before, I felt that the bloody clash should not have happened if the Police have taken much better precautionary actions to prevent it.
Especially that earlier in the morning the same Court has tried the very high profile case of former Chief of Detectives of the national Police Cmnr. Gen. Susno Duaji.
Detailed media reports can be found below :
- Kasus Blowfish (Kompas)
- Three Killed in South Jakarta Blowfish Trial Brawl : Police (The Jakarta Globe)
- Ampera clash unpredictable: City Police (The Jakarta Post)
Photo : Compliment of Kompas.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Indonesian & Australian central banks scandal
The Coruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will start inquiry on allegation that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has given US$ 1.3 million in Bribe to senior officers of Bank Indonesia (BI) to win a note printing tender in 1999.
The Jakarta Globe (below) quoted KPK Deputy Chief M. Yassin as saying that this inquiry is based on an undisclosed public complaint received on 25 May.
Considering that this case was disclosed by an Australian newspaper The Age 11 years after the bribery took place, I wonder whether there are any other unknown foul play between said central banks of both countries. Hmmmm .... I'll keep my fingers crossed.
The Jakarta Globe (below) quoted KPK Deputy Chief M. Yassin as saying that this inquiry is based on an undisclosed public complaint received on 25 May.
Considering that this case was disclosed by an Australian newspaper The Age 11 years after the bribery took place, I wonder whether there are any other unknown foul play between said central banks of both countries. Hmmmm .... I'll keep my fingers crossed.
KPK Begins Inquiry Into Bank Indonesia Australian Bribery Case
Armed with a public complaint, the Corruption Eradication Commission announced it would initiate an investigation into allegations that senior central bank officials had received $1.3 million in bribes over a banknote-printing tender with an Australian company in 1999.
Deputy Chairman Muhammad Jasin said on Friday that the complaint officially enabled the antigraft agency, also known as the KPK, to conduct the probe.
“Regarding allegations of bribery at Bank Indonesia, the KPK received a report that was registered at the KPK Directorate of Public Complaints on May 25,” Jasin said. “The report is now being examined by the public complaints team as we gather additional information.”
Jasin added that the commission would not disclose who filed the complaint or the contents of the report.
“We are also discussing the possibilities of collaborating with our Australian counterparts on the matter,” Jasin said.
The case surfaced after Melbourne-based newspaper The Age reported on Tuesday that two senior BI officials, identified only as Mr. S and Mr. M, had allegedly received bribes from Indonesian businessman Radius Christanto.
Radius reportedly paid $1.3 million in bribes to award the $50 million contracts to print 500 million Rp 100,000 banknotes to two Australian firms he was representing — Securency International and Note Printing Australia.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that the case was under the agency’s jurisdiction. “As long as it involves public officials and there had been a misappropriation of state funds, the KPK will investigate.”
Muhammad Assegaf, lawyer of former Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin, confirmed that the alleged bribery occurred during his client’s tenure. “However Syahril was not aware of the bribery because he was not involved in the technical aspect of the procurement or tender process,” Assegaf said.
The central bank also pledged to conduct an internal investigation into the matter. Deputy Governor Budi Rochadi said four former BI officials directly linked to the tender had been questioned but refused to disclose names.
“The officials involved in the procurement had mostly retired but some are still active. We will question everyone from the staffers to the directorial levels,” he said, as quoted by state-run Antara news agency.
The Age reported that a confidential fax, sent from Christanto to the two firms on July 1, 1999, explicitly referred to large bribes to Bank Indonesia.
The paper added that Christanto’s correspondencewith the Australian firms also revealed collusion among BI officials, Christanto and the firms’ executives to mark up the bids for the rupiah contract.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the holding company of both firms said it took the matter “very seriously” and condemned corrupt behavior of any kind, but could not comment further given the ongoing Australian Federal Police investigation.
In a separate statement, Securency said it had referred the bribery allegations to Australian police after it became aware of them a year ago.
Deputy Chairman Muhammad Jasin said on Friday that the complaint officially enabled the antigraft agency, also known as the KPK, to conduct the probe.
“Regarding allegations of bribery at Bank Indonesia, the KPK received a report that was registered at the KPK Directorate of Public Complaints on May 25,” Jasin said. “The report is now being examined by the public complaints team as we gather additional information.”
Jasin added that the commission would not disclose who filed the complaint or the contents of the report.
“We are also discussing the possibilities of collaborating with our Australian counterparts on the matter,” Jasin said.
The case surfaced after Melbourne-based newspaper The Age reported on Tuesday that two senior BI officials, identified only as Mr. S and Mr. M, had allegedly received bribes from Indonesian businessman Radius Christanto.
Radius reportedly paid $1.3 million in bribes to award the $50 million contracts to print 500 million Rp 100,000 banknotes to two Australian firms he was representing — Securency International and Note Printing Australia.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that the case was under the agency’s jurisdiction. “As long as it involves public officials and there had been a misappropriation of state funds, the KPK will investigate.”
Muhammad Assegaf, lawyer of former Bank Indonesia Governor Syahril Sabirin, confirmed that the alleged bribery occurred during his client’s tenure. “However Syahril was not aware of the bribery because he was not involved in the technical aspect of the procurement or tender process,” Assegaf said.
The central bank also pledged to conduct an internal investigation into the matter. Deputy Governor Budi Rochadi said four former BI officials directly linked to the tender had been questioned but refused to disclose names.
“The officials involved in the procurement had mostly retired but some are still active. We will question everyone from the staffers to the directorial levels,” he said, as quoted by state-run Antara news agency.
The Age reported that a confidential fax, sent from Christanto to the two firms on July 1, 1999, explicitly referred to large bribes to Bank Indonesia.
The paper added that Christanto’s correspondencewith the Australian firms also revealed collusion among BI officials, Christanto and the firms’ executives to mark up the bids for the rupiah contract.
The Reserve Bank of Australia, the holding company of both firms said it took the matter “very seriously” and condemned corrupt behavior of any kind, but could not comment further given the ongoing Australian Federal Police investigation.
In a separate statement, Securency said it had referred the bribery allegations to Australian police after it became aware of them a year ago.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Bribery in Bank Indonesia
Since Indonesia became a democratic country in 1998, almost everything that ever happened here are freely reported by the media.
So many corruption cases and foul play in the management of the country have been exposed, the latest being the mysterious flow of 6.7 Trillion Rupiah to bailout of Bank Century, and the Trillion Rupiah Tax fraud.
While the above cases are still being investigated by the law enforcement agencies, yesterday The Jakarta Post (below) reported that officials of the central bank i.e. Bank Indonesia, have received US$ 1.3 million bribes from a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia for helping the latter in winning a contract in 1999.
Considering that this is a very serious allegations, I hope that the law enforcement agencies in both countries would check whether or not the news report is true.
Former BI officials took bribes from RBA: Reports
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 05/26/2010 10:13 AM | National
Former Bank Indonesia officials received US$1.3 million in bribes from Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) subsidiaries to help the latter win a contract and manipulate future tenders in 1999, a newspaper reported.
Melbourne’s The Age cited confidential faxes from a Jakarta businessman to executives at Securency International and Note Printing Australia (NPA) referring to “our friends” and “unofficial payments" and “commissions”. One fax, dated July 1, 1999, specifically stipulates the paying of S1.3 million to two Bank Indonesia officials.
According to The Age, Radius Christianto, who represented the RBA firms Securency and NPA in Indonesia between 1999 and 2006, was to be paid US3.65 million for his services.
In his faxes, Christianto refers to “Mr. S” and “Mr. M”, which the newspaper believes were senior Bank Indonesia officials who played key roles in awarding the RBA firms the contract for printing 500 million Rp 100,000 banknotes.
The revelation of this possible corruption came when a former Securency employee said recently that he was asked to pay bribes and procure prostitutes for foreign central bank officials.
Currently, the Australian Federal Police are investigating Securency for paying more than $A20 million in bribes through middlemen to win currency printing contracts in Vietnam, Nigeria and Malaysia between 2003 and 2006.
Christanto’s correspondence also revealed collusion between Bank Indonesia officials, Christanto and RBA banknote executives to mark up the Securency and NPA bid for the rupiah banknote contract by 20 percent with an agreement that it would then be reduced to a 10 per cent mark-up.
Bank Indonesia said it would allow the law enforcers to investigate the alleged bribery. “Let the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] and the Attorney General’s Office conduct an investigation,” he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
“The KPK has not received any official report on the case,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said Tuesday. He added that the commission had only just learned of the allegation from Jakarta journalists, so had not had the opportunity to discuss a possible investigation.
“We will process any information on possible corruption as long as it involves state officials,” Johan said.
“The KPK does not work retroactively, therefore we can’t process any case that occurred before August 1999,” Johan said, adding that the KPK was regulated by the 1999 Corruption Eradication Law, which came into effect in August that year.
The law defines corruption as well as the process for its eradication.
“The KPK also refers to the Criminal Code, which stipulates that a person cannot be charged or tried for any crime occurring before the issuance of any law covering such crimes,” Johan said.
“However, we can investigate these allegations if the case has consequences occurring after 1999.”
It is possible that someone might come forward with information on the case because of the media coverage,” he said, emphasizing that ”we except anonymous reports”. (ipa)
So many corruption cases and foul play in the management of the country have been exposed, the latest being the mysterious flow of 6.7 Trillion Rupiah to bailout of Bank Century, and the Trillion Rupiah Tax fraud.
While the above cases are still being investigated by the law enforcement agencies, yesterday The Jakarta Post (below) reported that officials of the central bank i.e. Bank Indonesia, have received US$ 1.3 million bribes from a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia for helping the latter in winning a contract in 1999.
Considering that this is a very serious allegations, I hope that the law enforcement agencies in both countries would check whether or not the news report is true.
Former BI officials took bribes from RBA: Reports
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 05/26/2010 10:13 AM | National
Former Bank Indonesia officials received US$1.3 million in bribes from Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) subsidiaries to help the latter win a contract and manipulate future tenders in 1999, a newspaper reported.
Melbourne’s The Age cited confidential faxes from a Jakarta businessman to executives at Securency International and Note Printing Australia (NPA) referring to “our friends” and “unofficial payments" and “commissions”. One fax, dated July 1, 1999, specifically stipulates the paying of S1.3 million to two Bank Indonesia officials.
According to The Age, Radius Christianto, who represented the RBA firms Securency and NPA in Indonesia between 1999 and 2006, was to be paid US3.65 million for his services.
In his faxes, Christianto refers to “Mr. S” and “Mr. M”, which the newspaper believes were senior Bank Indonesia officials who played key roles in awarding the RBA firms the contract for printing 500 million Rp 100,000 banknotes.
The revelation of this possible corruption came when a former Securency employee said recently that he was asked to pay bribes and procure prostitutes for foreign central bank officials.
Currently, the Australian Federal Police are investigating Securency for paying more than $A20 million in bribes through middlemen to win currency printing contracts in Vietnam, Nigeria and Malaysia between 2003 and 2006.
Christanto’s correspondence also revealed collusion between Bank Indonesia officials, Christanto and RBA banknote executives to mark up the Securency and NPA bid for the rupiah banknote contract by 20 percent with an agreement that it would then be reduced to a 10 per cent mark-up.
Bank Indonesia said it would allow the law enforcers to investigate the alleged bribery. “Let the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] and the Attorney General’s Office conduct an investigation,” he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
“The KPK has not received any official report on the case,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said Tuesday. He added that the commission had only just learned of the allegation from Jakarta journalists, so had not had the opportunity to discuss a possible investigation.
“We will process any information on possible corruption as long as it involves state officials,” Johan said.
“The KPK does not work retroactively, therefore we can’t process any case that occurred before August 1999,” Johan said, adding that the KPK was regulated by the 1999 Corruption Eradication Law, which came into effect in August that year.
The law defines corruption as well as the process for its eradication.
“The KPK also refers to the Criminal Code, which stipulates that a person cannot be charged or tried for any crime occurring before the issuance of any law covering such crimes,” Johan said.
“However, we can investigate these allegations if the case has consequences occurring after 1999.”
It is possible that someone might come forward with information on the case because of the media coverage,” he said, emphasizing that ”we except anonymous reports”. (ipa)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Legalized Deforestration
One of the reason why the process of Deforestation in Indonesia is going on very rapidly is because the government has been inconsistent in making policy.
For example, in 2005 the Minister of Forestry issued a decree that allocated 3,742,120 Hectare of land in North Sumatera specially for Forest Area.
However, when a new Minister of Forestry was appointed on 21 October 2009, Kompas reported that one of the agenda during his first 100 days in office is to revise 564,200 Hectare of that Forest Area into Non Forest Area.
Considering that our forest area is getting more and more smaller every year, I hope that the government would be more consistent in making forestry policies, and avoid changing forest regulations.
For example, in 2005 the Minister of Forestry issued a decree that allocated 3,742,120 Hectare of land in North Sumatera specially for Forest Area.
However, when a new Minister of Forestry was appointed on 21 October 2009, Kompas reported that one of the agenda during his first 100 days in office is to revise 564,200 Hectare of that Forest Area into Non Forest Area.
Considering that our forest area is getting more and more smaller every year, I hope that the government would be more consistent in making forestry policies, and avoid changing forest regulations.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
MUI & 2012
The movie 2012 is a story about Doomsday based on the ancient Mayan calendar that the world will end on 21 December 2012.In Indonesia, the movie becomes very popular after branches of the Indonesian Muslim Clerics Council (MUI) in Malang-East Java and Solo-Central Java accused that the movie is against Islamic concept of Doomsday, and threatened to issue edict to ban the movie.
However, this opinion was not shared by the Chairman of National MUI Amidhan who said that he personally doesn't mind with the movie as long as it is not linked with Doomsday which can only be decided by God.
For detailed information regarding the movie 2012, please click here, here, here, here and here.
Although MUI's edict is not part of our national legal system, therefore cannot be legally enforced, however considering that MUI is the highest official Muslim organization in Indonesia, such edict would be quite influential, therefore might cause confusion in society.
Considering the fact that Muslims in Indonesia are now smart enough to tell the difference between good and bad, I hope that in the future, MUI's Edict would focus on matters that directly effects Muslims as majority in Indonesia, for example Edict against Corruption (Fatwa Haram).
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Chief of the Constitutional Court
Last Tuesday, the Constitutional Court (MK) held a public session of the Judicial Review on the Corruption Eradication (KPK) Law No. 30/2002 Article 32 requested by suspended KPK Vice Chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah.The session was very special because MK disclosed a six hours recording of phone conversation between those who were involved in the alleged conspiracy to criminalize the KPK.
After the session, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) ordered anyone whose names were mentioned in the said recording to step down from their official positions. As a result, Chief of Police Investigation Agency Com. Gen. Duadji & Vice Attorney General A.H Ritonga have stepped down from their offices.
The disclosure of above recording can only be carried out because of the persistent decision of MK's Chief Prof. Dr. Mahfud MD. and full support of all Constitutional Judges to preserve justice.
Considering the above, many people have been very grateful at Dr. Mahfud MD. This morning, I read an article about him on Kompas Newspaper in which he emphasized that MK will enforce Justice as a combination of written Law and Common Sense. Here is his brief biodata :
Professor Dr. H. Mohammad Mahfud Mahfuddin, SH.,SU., born in Sampang, Madura, East Java, 13 May 1957, married to Zaizatun Nihayati, SH. with three children.
He became Chief of the Constitutional Court on 1 May 2008. Before that he was the Minister of Defense (2000-2001), Minister of Law (2001), member of House of Representative (DPR) from the Nation Awakening Party (PKB). On top of that, he still teach at the Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) Yogjakarta.
Considering the above and the fact that most of Indonesia's current leaders are getting very old, I believe that Prof. Dr. Mahfud MD.(52) can be considered as one of the potential top leaders in the future.
Photo: Coutesy of Wikipedia.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Indonesia & Australia
A few days ago Indonesian Navy has captured a boat packed with 260 people from war torn Srilanka heading to Australia to seek political assylum.
Later on, it was revealed that the Indonesian Navy took the action based on the instruction of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY), who was doing a favour for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruud.
Rudd said he phoned President SBY after receiving intelligence reports about the boat passing through the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra islands.
For detailed media reports on the above, please click here, here, here, here and here.
I hope that the above help PLUS Indonesia's efforts to eliminate anti-western terrorists would assure the Australian government and its people that Indonesia is a friendly country that is willing to help its neighbor. I also hope that we can also rely on them to help return Indonesian fugetives who have been hiding in Australia.
Later on, it was revealed that the Indonesian Navy took the action based on the instruction of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY), who was doing a favour for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Ruud.Rudd said he phoned President SBY after receiving intelligence reports about the boat passing through the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra islands.
For detailed media reports on the above, please click here, here, here, here and here.
I hope that the above help PLUS Indonesia's efforts to eliminate anti-western terrorists would assure the Australian government and its people that Indonesia is a friendly country that is willing to help its neighbor. I also hope that we can also rely on them to help return Indonesian fugetives who have been hiding in Australia.
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Armed Forces Day
Before the democratic reform took place in Indonesia on May 1998, I always have mixed feelings on the armed forces.
On the one hand, I was aware that Indonesia needs a strong armed forces to protect and defend sovereignty from any attacks by foreign or domestic enemies. And the fact shows that since our independence the armed forces has played leading role in driving away enemy attacks.
On the other hand, I am very sick and tired of the dominant roles of the military officials in almost every thing that goes on in Indonesia, in which they were used as a tool by the authoritarian regime at that time to maintain power.
10 years after the reform, the armed forces’ role in civilian life has decreased significantly, and civilians played most of the major roles in society.
However, the demilitarization process has gone too far, for example drastic cuts in budget has unable the armed forces to maintain their equipments causing frequent air crashes killing many well and expensively trained officers.
Today, 5 October, the armed forces celebrate its 64th anniversary, and I hope that the government, the parliament and every one in Indonesia would realize that we need a strong armed forces to protect and defend our country and people, therefore obviously we should treat them properly and provide them with what they need so that they can do their job properly.
LONG LIVE THE INDONESIAN ARMED FORCES!
On the one hand, I was aware that Indonesia needs a strong armed forces to protect and defend sovereignty from any attacks by foreign or domestic enemies. And the fact shows that since our independence the armed forces has played leading role in driving away enemy attacks.
On the other hand, I am very sick and tired of the dominant roles of the military officials in almost every thing that goes on in Indonesia, in which they were used as a tool by the authoritarian regime at that time to maintain power.
10 years after the reform, the armed forces’ role in civilian life has decreased significantly, and civilians played most of the major roles in society.
However, the demilitarization process has gone too far, for example drastic cuts in budget has unable the armed forces to maintain their equipments causing frequent air crashes killing many well and expensively trained officers.
Today, 5 October, the armed forces celebrate its 64th anniversary, and I hope that the government, the parliament and every one in Indonesia would realize that we need a strong armed forces to protect and defend our country and people, therefore obviously we should treat them properly and provide them with what they need so that they can do their job properly.
LONG LIVE THE INDONESIAN ARMED FORCES!
Friday, September 4, 2009
What's wrong with Bank Century?
On November 2008 the Indonesian government took over Bank Century, a private bank jointly owned by Indonesian and Pakistani shareholders, which has suffered a loss of Rp. 7.3 Trillion.
According to Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, the decision was made because at that time the national economy was not stable and the bank was too big to fail that its collapse would have great impact on Indonesia's entire banking system.
Due to this condition, the People's Representative Council (DPR) permitted the government to inject Rp 1.3 Trillion to the bank.
However, by the end of the first half of 2009, the government-run Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS) had injected into the bank a total of Rp 6.76 trillion ($669 million) to shore up liquidity and pay off liabilities, therefore almost 4 times than the amount agreed by the DPR.
As a result, in the first half of 2009 Bank Century was able to have a net profit of Rp 140 billion during the period.
The DPR was very surprised with the very large increase in the amount of money injected to the bank, so its members requested the State Audit Agency (BPK) to conduct special audit on the bank.
This case is extremely interesting because the flow of taxpayer's money was done not long before the Parliamentary election (April) and Presidential election (July), but the news about it was widely exposed afterwards.
Further, the state authority that supervise banking, Bank Indonesia, at that time was headed by Boediono, the running mate of Presidential candidate i.e. incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono.
Furthermore, the foreign major shareholders are not available for questioning because they have runaway.
Due to which facts, many people have requested the government to give transparent explanation, some even suspected political motives behind the flow of money, especially after Vice President Jusuf Kalla described the flow of money would implicate many important people in this country. And the Commission for Eradication of Corruption(KPK) has been urged to investigate the case.
For details on the above, please click here, here, here, here, here and here.
It is very sad that the non transparent flow of large amount of tax payers' money could take place at a time when Indonesia's economic and financial conditions are not good. I hope that the case would be revealed to the public as soon as possible and anyone involved should be responsible.
Photo: Courtesy of Detik.
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