Domestic Workers' Blues

Most households in Indonesian cities have one or more Domestic Workers to clean and even guard the house, wash and iron clothes, take care of their children, cook, etc.

The Domestic Workers, a.k.a Pembantu or Servants, would wake up at dawn before their Employers awaken, and sleep after their Employers have their dinner, or even slept.

Many of the said Employers treated their Domestic Workers unkindly, they would scold them when they are wrong and say nothing when they do good things.

Efforts have been made to protect the Domestic Workers but do not seemed to be fruitful. For example,  the Provincial government of Jakarta has issued some by-laws to protect Domestic Workers, but news reports about bad and inhumane treatments still exists. 

The central government has prepared a bill for Protection of Domestic Workers, but unfortunately the House of Representatives (DPR) postponed discussion for unclear reason. 

In order to provide a " bird's eye view " on the sufferings of some of those Domestic Workers, I have quoted an article of The Star (below).

After a grueling, 18-hour day, 15-year-old Kaminah domestic worker would rest her head on a bag filled with blood-stained clothes, sleeping on cold ceramic tiles outside the bathroom.

The blood was her own, from the beatings inflicted by her employer on a daily basis.

“[Whenever I got a beating] I would always think of my family,” Kaminah told The Jakarta Post. “Late at night, before going to sleep, I would think about my father and mother and feel very sad. I miss my parents a lot.”

UNICEF estimates that more 100,000 Indonesian women and children are trafficked annually within the country and abroad, with about one in three being under the age of 18.

Pressured by families or lured with promises of work, an alarming number of girls and women find themselves in conditions of virtual slavery, both within Indonesia and abroad.

A recently released report by the U.S. State department on human trafficking lists Indonesia as a Tier-2 country for trafficking, for not fully complying with standards set by the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

“There is a particularly big problem with Indonesian women being trafficked as domestic workers, ending up basically enslaved in conditions in the Middle East, Malaysia, and to a lesser extent countries like Singapore,” says Elaine Pearson, Deputy Director of the Asia Division for Human Rights Watch.

“Part of the problem is that there is not effective oversight of recruitment agencies in Indonesia.”

But for some, the root of the problem lies not with the agencies, but with rampant poverty.

“I really wanted to finish school but we didn’t have enough money to pay for tuition,” another girl, Kiya, told The Jakarta Post. “So I decided to work as a domestic worker and help my family.”

Electricity Hike

On Tuesday, the House of Representative (DPR) has approved the plan of state owned electricity company PLN to hike electricity rate by up to 18% starting 1 July 2010.

According to the Minister of Minings and Energy Darwin Saleh, PLN would not free 31 million households using less than 450 VA from paying electricity, as earlier proposed by its Director, but will exempt them and others using between 450 VA and 900 VA from the hike.

Around 5,9 million other households will pay up to 18% more, commercial customers between 12 to 18% more, industry 6 to 15% more and government offices 15 to 18% more.

The plan received various reactions from inside and outside of the DPR. The member of the ruling coalition Justice Welfare Party (PKS) and opposition Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDIP) rejected, while the Indonesian Consumers Association (YLKI) agreed.

However, what really bothers me is that the news media do not seem to be very interested in this electricity hike, which can be seen from the fact that the number of news reports/articles about this is lower than reports/ articles about the Sex Video Scandal.

This is very sad, considering that the hike would surely effect the economy and the life of the people which are currently not in good condition.

Related media reports :
- Poorest Indonesians Spared Pain from Power Price Hike
- Govt not likely to support Free Electricity for the Poor.

Electricity for the Poor and for the Rich

Last Saturday, President Director of the State Electricity Company (PLN) i.e. Dahlan Iskan, proposed the government and the House of Representative (DPR) to free poor people from paying electicity, and increase electric tariff for rich people.

Considering that PLN has been unable to supply suficient electric power to its 40 million consumers in recent years, this proposal has received mixed reactions from members of DPR.

Please find below an article about this that I quoted from The Jakarta Globe.

A proposal to provide free electricity for the poor and hike rates for the rich has received mixed reactions from the House of Representatives.

‘Free Electricity for Poor’ Plan Gets Mixed Reviews 

A proposal by a state enterprise executive to make electricity free for tens of millions of poorer Indonesians and hike power rates for the rich has received mixed reactions from lawmakers.

Dahlan Iskan, president director of state-owned power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara, on Saturday urged the government and the House of Representatives to free users with an hourly average of less than 450 watts from having to pay the basic electricity tariff, or TDL.

Dahlan said the bulk of this group were the country’s poorest people, and made up half of PLN’s 40 million subscribers. As subscriptions usually mean a household, the move would potentially help 20 million families.

Dahlan said it should come before the TDL is raised by a planned average of 10 percent in July. If the government is really out to help the poor, he said, “the best thing to do would be not to charge the poor for their electricity usage.”

Only Golkar aired support for the proposal, with its faction secretary, Ade Komarudin, saying subsidies should not be given to those undeserving.

“But there must be a rigid scheme, that this is only for the poor,” he said, using the occasion to defend Golkar’s widely criticized proposal to give each lawmaker Rp 15 billion ($1.6 million) to develop his or her constituency as another pro-people move.

Sutan Batugana, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party sitting on Commission VII that deals with energy affairs, aired opposition to the scheme.

“Some think everything that is free is good, but I don’t agree,” he said. “I asked Dahlan Iskan already, why would you say all this when PLN still owes Rp 25 trillion to state oil and gas firm Pertamina? Don’t teach people to be lazy.”

Commission VII deputy chairman Effendi Simbolon, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the company should carefully study the financial consequences of the policy in detail before officially proposing it to the legislative.

“It was an unofficial statement, but if he [Dahlan Iskan] is serious, he needs to do his homework and submit a proposal to the commission,” Effendi said.

He said the scheme would be unfair to the country’s working class as they would end up having to pay more for electricity. “We shouldn’t teach the nation to hate people with money.”

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) secretary general Anis Matta said it had yet to decide its stance, but was leaning toward disagreeing with the idea. “Rich people are also paying a higher burden of taxes. I think this needs to be studied a lot more before we decide anything.”

M Romahurmuziy from the United Development Party (PPP) said PLN should have discussed how a plan like this might work with the Energy Ministry before making it public, and throwing ideas around that don’t make good economic and social sense would only disappoint people.

Dahlan said that if large consumers of electricity, or those using above 1,000 watts per hour, were to pay prices based on actual production costs for a year, it would add an extra Rp 28 trillion to PLN’s annual revenues.

Dahlan also vowed to make PLN a more transparent state-owned enterprise and to figure out ways to make the entire agency less bureaucratic.

“I have proposed the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] to have direct access to our procurement procedures, and the State Audit Agency [BPK] direct access to our finances.”

Anas Urbaningrum, a new Hope for Indonesia

Yesterday evening, the congress of the ruling Democrat Party (PD) has elected Anas Urbaningrum (40), currently the chief of the party's faction in the House of Representative (DPR) as Chairman of the party.

This is a big surprise considering that the two other candidates have better advantages i.e. Marzuki Alie (54) is the the Speaker of the DPR, and Andi Malarangeng (47) is the Minister of State for Youth and Sports  supported by the son of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) i.e. Eddy Baskoro.

Moreover, Anas did not use the mass media for campaign, while his rivals, especially Andi Malarangeng, have used them very intensively.

Brief information about Anas ::
Anas was born in Blitar, East Java, 15 January 1969. He studied Political science at the Airlangga University, Surabaya-East Java, and Gajah Mada University (Post graduate) in Jogyakarta, active in student movements as Chairman of the Islamic Students Association (HMI) from 1997 to 1999. Married with four children. He was a member of the General Election Commission from 2001 until 2005, afterward he join the party's leadership and became member of DPR in 2009.

Considering that PD is the party of President SBY, therefore leads the coalition government, and has the largest number of seats in the DPR,  the victory of Anas is not only important for his party but also for Indonesia that badly needs fresh young leaders to replace old politicians who are currently running the country.

Bank Century for Lapindo Deal

Sri Mulyani's decision to resign from her job as Minister of Finance have made certain people very happy.

For Sri Mulyani, it means that she'll be able to take a prestigious position as Managing Director of the World Bank, and get away from politicians at the Parliament (DPR) who have been blaming her for the mysterious  6,7 Trillion Rupiah Bank Century Bailout.

For President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) and his Democrat Party, it means that it will calm down the protests in DPR against the Bank Century case, therefore regaining supports from political parties that formed the coalition government.

For SBY's political ally i.e. the Golkar Party, it means that no one will bother the businesses of its Chairman i.e. Aburizal Bakrie, especially PT Lapindo that has been responsible for the disastrous never ending flow of Hot Mud at Sidoardjo, East Java.
Golkar was very happy that they supported the creation of a Joint Secretariat for the Coalition and Bakrie became its Chief Executive Officer only two days after Sri Mulyani's resignation.

Considering that the Coalition Government also includes two political parties i.e. PKS and PPP, that supported DPR's Inquiry on the Bank Century case, I hope that the above political deal would not stop the investigation of the Bank Century case by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), and the fact finding efforts on the Lapindo Mud Flow.

Related articles :
- The Jakarta Post : World Bank appoints Sri Mulyani managing director
- Kompas : Life in Indonesia after Sri Mulyani moves to WB
- The Jakarta Globe : Reshuffle Hands Bakrie Leading Coalition Post

Who will benefit from Sri Mulyani's resignation?

Yesterday, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani (47) resigned from her cabinet post to accept a job as Managing Director of the World Bank starting 1 June 2010.
Later that day, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) proudly announced that he has accepted Sri Mulyani's resignation so that she can take the prestigious international position.

This is a dramatic development of the Bank Century bailout case, in which the Parliament has blamed Sri Mulyani and Vice President Boediono responsible for the flow of 6.7 trillion Rupiah state money to save the bank.

Sri Mulyani's resignation has made most people in Indonesia aware that all the mambo jambo made by politicians in the Parliament (DPR) were only political maneuvers based on their own selfish motives.

In this regards, I would like to quote an article in The Jakarta Post  (below) about who will benefit from Sri Mulyani's resignation :

1. Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie. Mulyani said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in mid
    January, she believed her past actions had offended Aburizal.
2. Former tax chief Hadi Purnomo (now chairman of the Supreme Audit Agency). Hadi remains an influential
    figure at the tax office with numerous disciples despite being sacked by Mulyani in mid 2006. Hadi was
    reportedly furious over his dismissal.
3. Smugglers. A business group close with the police and military may have financed street rallies against 
    Mulyani after its illicit businesses were interrupted by Mulyani’s reform program.
4. Islamic parties (PKS, PAN, PPP).  Several lawmakers were reportedly resented  Mulyani’s refusal to
    contribute to the recent general election.
5. Mining companies: because of tax problems related to unpaid value-added tax.
6. Companies linked to SBY’s inner-circle: Several companies have been netted by Mulyani in tax dodging
    cases.

With Sri Mulyani's departure, Indonesia and the Indonesian people loose a very brave non particant leader who is a reformist, a seer of vision, and miner of truth, incomparable to all those politicians at the DPR who have been fooling around with her in the last 8 months.

Last but not least I would like to wish that Sri Mulyani will be successful with her new job, and I hope that she would want to return to Indonesia before the next national elections in 2014 so that Indonesia can have a much better hope for the future.

Sri Mulyani, the Finance Minister

The Special Committee of the Parliament (DPR) has been inquiring officials allegedly involved in the flow of tax payers' money amounting to Rp 6.7 Trillion for bailing out Bank Century.

The officials include current Vice President, and former governor of Bank Indonesia (central bank) Boediono, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla and current Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani.

Compared to the others, Sri Mulyani's appearance is much better, she answered questions calmly, to the point and often smiling. Here is an article about her in Kompas.

Sri Mulyani, Two Thumbs up yet Rebuked

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — The inquiry committee investigating Century Bank is satisfied with Sri Mulyani's answers, however one of her remarks later provoked sharp criticism. Sri Mulyani, also called Mbak Ani, who is the former chief of the Committee for Financial Sector Stability, had her hearing before the committee, Wednesday, House of Rep. building, Jakarta.

"Although there's still much difference in diametral view, I appreciate Sri Mulyani. She was outspoken with good articulation," said inquiry member Hendrawan Supratikno from PDI-P fraction, for example he also mentioned the time when Sri Mulyani answered about the legal premise of the Coordinating Committee's existence.

Another inquiry committee member from PDI-P, Ganjar Pranowo, even said that Sri Mulyani, the finance minister, had been more prepared to face the inquiry committee compared to the former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor, Boediono, who is now VP.

"No answer was misdirecting. Overall, our colleagues aren't too tense. She didn't answer like Boediono or the others from BI."

Bailout benefitted the people?

However, when Sri Mulyani mentioned during her hearing that the Century Bank bailout disbursement, worth Rp. 6.7 trillion, benefitted the people, inquiry committee member Gayus Lumbuun from PDI-P fraction immediately criticized her.

"The Rp. 6.7 trillion bailout benefitted only a few. Ironically the money came from the people," declared Gayus, Wednesday.

Furthermore, Gayus continued, the indicators used to support Sri Mulyani's statement were the value of rupiah, the capital market, and BI's interest rate. "Is this empiric reality or just imagination? Didn't you read the suicide news because somebody didn't believe in the saving refund?"

Gayus added that Sri Mulyani's statement was very disturbing. Especially if considering the amount of money that has been disbursed. Unfortunately, Sri Mulyani didn't rise to answer this statement.

Ruhut Sitompul

Meetings of the Special Committee of the People's Representative Council (DPR) for inquiry of the mysterious  flow of Rp. 6.7 Trillion money to Bank Century is getting indecent every day.

Last night, several TV stations show the committee's latest meeting in which there was a disgusting argument between the Vice Chairman of Committee i.e. Gayus Lumbuun, and a member of the governing Democrat Party i.e. Ruhut Sitompul who called Gayus: Bangsat! a very harsh Indonesian word which is impolite to translate in English.

For detailed media reports on the above, please click here, here, here.

Although Ruhut as a lawyer and member of President SBY's political party may always defend his boss and party, however as representative of the people who is paid by tax paying people, he should always behave according to the decent ethics and customs of the people of Indonesia, especially now that people's trust on the DPR is quite low.

Photo:  Courtesy of Kompas.

Perppu for KPK

In spite of protests by anti-corruption activists, on 23 September, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) issued the Government Regulation in liue of Law (Perppu) which enabled him to appoint three leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) without approval from the Parliament (DPR).

Based on the Indonesian Constitution Article 22, the President may issue a Perppu in times of emergency and asked for DPR's approval afterwards. In this case, the Perppu by-passed the procedure stipulated by the KPK Law No. 30/2002.
Further, SBY has formed a Team of Five to select candidate KPK leaders who will be appointed by SBY in 7 days. The Team consists of the Coordinating Minister for Politics Law & Security: Widodo AS; the Minister of Law: Andi Matalatta, former KPK Chairman Taufikkurahman Ruki, Senior Lawyers Adnan Buyung Nasution and Todung Mulya Lubis.

In reaction to the issuance of the Perppu, former Constitional Court Chaiman Jimly Assiediqi said in TV interview that the Perppu is legitimate therefore should be implemented accordingly.

For details on the above, please read here, here, here, and here.

Although I share the opinion of those against the Perppu who feared that it might make KPK a subordinate of the President, however considering that the Team of Five consists of highly respected people in Indonesia, therefore I hope that the choosen KPK leaders would be able to work independently as their predecessors. And if the DPR do not agree with the Perppu, they can always cancel it.

Photo: Courtesy of Kompas.

The Outgoing DPR

The members of the national parliament (DPR) are racing against time as their five years office term is about to end on October. Maybe that's why they are so eager to end it that they wanted to pass as much law bills as possible.

But the strange thing is that only less than one third of the 550 members of DPR attended the plenary sessions, while the others were absent for unknown reason.

Last week, less than 100 members attended the plenary session that passed the Environment Management & Protection and the Film bills.
Last Monday, only 180 members attended the session that passed four bills into laws i.e Anti-Narcotics, Health, Haj and Immigration bills.
And on Wednesday similar number of members attended the plenary session that passed the Value Added Tax & Sales Tax bill into law.
But unfortunately, the DPR has not been so eager to finalize discussion with the government about the amendment of the Corruption Crime bill that they have to pospone the discussion to a later date. So is the discussion about the Secrecy bill.

Many critics said that those bills were not prepared properly therefore the quality of the laws are questionable. Due to which fact, when they become laws, most most likely the would be subject to Judicial Review.
They criticized the Anti-Narcotics bill which classify Drug Users as crimminals that should be punnished, while according to doctors drug addiction is a curable disease.
They critisized the Health bill which only stipulate the maximum but no minimum punnishment for Hospitals and their doctors who were proved to have caused injury to a patient.
The Haj bill is merely to comply with the regulation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that Haj pilgrims should have special passport.
The Immigration bill includes measures to curb illegal immigration, terrorism, money laundering and people trafficking, and makes “fake marriages” to obtain Indonesian citizenship a crime.
While the Tax bill changed the Value Added Tax from a fixed 10% to 5 into 15%.

For details on the above, please click here, here, here and here.

Considering the above facts, I hope that they are not as bad as described by the critics, in this case I will have to keep my fingers crossed!


Photo : Courtesy of DPR

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.

After the Elections

On 25 July, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) & former Central Bank Governor Boediono have officially been announced by the General Election Commission (KPU) as the President elect/Vice President elect for 2009-2014.

If everything goes fine, they will both be inducted as President & Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on 20 October 2009.

However, the current political developments in Indonesia shows that the road ahead might not be smooth for both of them. Here are the obstacles that they might face:

1) Rival candidate President/Vice President: Megawati/Prabowo & Jusuf Kalla/Wiranto are very unsatisfied with the result of Presidential election on 8 July, and they have filed complaints with the Constitutional Court (MK). There are several grounds for complaints, but the significant one being irregularities in the Permanent Voters Lists (DPT). In this case, MK Chief Mahfud MD has stated that if there is evidence massive foul play, a new election can be held.
2) Last week the Supreme Court (MA) passed a judicial review which cancelled KPU regulation regarding distribution of seats in the national Parliament (DPR), as a result more than 60 seats will be shifted from six smaller parties: PKS, PKB, PAN, PPP, Gerindra and Hanura, to 3 major parties: Democrat Party, Golkar and PDI-P.

For details on the above (in bahasa Indonesia), please click here, here, here and here.

Considering the above mentioned facts, I felt that all irregularities during the elections should be settled immediately by MK, in which case all parties involved should be willing to accept whatever decision that will be made.
Regarding MA's Judicial Review, all parties including KPU and the political parties should seat together and work things out based on the best interest of our country, therefore they should shed away their individual ego.