Nazaruddin is Not a Hero

One thing I like about today's celebration of Independence Day is that most of the mass media are not reporting about the Nazaruddin case for the time being.

This is good for me because I am beginning to be bored at the behaviors of politicians who tried to build public opinion as if Nazaruddin is a  hero and the law enforcement agency, especially the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is evil.

While actually KPK has named Nazaruddin as Suspect in corruption cases including the misuse of fund for development of athlete building in Palembang, South Sumatera, who ran away to other countries, and was caught by the Interpol in Columbia. who later on hand him over to our law enforcement agencies.

First there was the lawyer OC Kaligis who was very angry because he failed to get asylum for Nazaruddin in Colombia therefore he should be returned to Indonesia. Besides, O.C Kaligis was also angry because he was not allowed to accompany Nazaruddin during the flight from Colombia to Jakarta.

I can understand why he is angry because as a lawyer he has been paid to do his very best to defend his client, but to advise him to take asylum in Colombia (and evade Indonesian laws) ?
However, I agree that Nazaruddin should be accompanied by a lawyer during the 38 hours flight.

Then there was the members of the House of Representatives who forcefully entered the Mobile Brigade Headquarters where Nazaruddin is detained.even though not during visiting hours.
Due his his status a member of the House of Representatives has not been revoked, other member may visit him, but should honor the regulation at the place of detention.

Then there was those politicians who demand that Nazaruddin should be protected by the Witness and Victim Protection Institution, which is unreasonable because Nazaruddin is neither a Witness nor a Victim, but a Suspect. 

Considering the above, I hope that KPK would always treat Nazaruddin according to the laws and regulations.

Communist and Heroes Cemetery

(Ret) Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Heru Atmodjo has been declared as an Independence Fighter by the Indonesian government, so when he died last January, he was buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

However, on 27 March his grave was silently removed to another cemetery.

MetroTV quoted the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Admiral Agus Suhartono as saying that the grave was removed because Heru Atmodjo was not eligible to be buried at the Heroes Cemetery. However  he refused to explain what was the reason for the removal..

The most possible reason was because some people in Surabaya, East Java, have alleged that he was part of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) therefore they demanded the removal.
 
According to VivaNews, Heru Atmodjo was the Assistant Director of the Air Force Intelligence Agency when the PKI rebelled on 30 September 1965, and he was accused of participating in the rebellion.
Because of this reason, the Military Extraordinary Tribunal (Mahmilub) has sentenced him to life in jail but later on they reduced it to 15 years in jail.

One of those who accused Heru Atmodjo a Communist was Prof.Dr. Coen Holtzappel, a researcher at the Leiden University, Netherlands, who said that the 1965 Communist Rebellion was an intelligence operation carried out by the Air Force Intelligence headed by Heru Atmodjo.

The grave removal was protested by a member of the House of Representatives who said that it was illegal because Heru Atmodjo has been declared a Hero, therefore eligible to be buried at the Heroes Cemetery.

This incident makes me wonder whether or not the authorities would remove the grave of other Heroes who were alleged of Corruption.

Ruhut Sued for Calling People Communist

Prior to the commemoration of the national Heroes Day on 10 November 2010, some people have proposed that the government grant a National Hero Award to the late former President Soeharto.

Many people protested against this proposal saying that Soeharto did not deserve the award because of the abuse of power when he was in power from 1966 to 1998 that caused very big difficulties to the country.

In reaction to that protest Ruhut Sitompul, lawyer and member of the House of Representatives from the Democrat Party, alleged that people who do not agree with the said proposal are children of the former members of the Indonesian Communist Party.

Due this allegation, Ruhut was sued by four persons who do not agree with the proposal i.e. Judilherry  Justam, Chris Siner Key Timu, Muhammad Chonzin Amirulla and Stefanus Asat Gusma, have submitted a lawsuit against Ruhut with the District Court of Central Jakarta last Tuesday.

The said Plaintiffs claimed that Ruhut has committed an Illegal Action against them when he made the above mentioned allegation.

The submission of  said lawsuit shows that the image of the Indonesian Communist Party is very ugly in Indonesia, therefore people would be very angry if they are called members of said party.  

Sources (in Bahasa Indonesia) :
-   Ruhut Sitompul Digugat Terkait Pernyataan PKI (Hukum Online)
-   Soeharto Tak Dapat Gelar Pahlawan Nasional (Suara Pembaruan)
-   Gelar Pahlawan Nasional Bagi Soeharto Berisiko Tinggi (Okezone) 

Photo: Courtesy of Kompas.

National Heroes Day 2010

Today, Indonesia commemorates the bloody fighting in Surabaya, East Java, on 10 November 1945, between local patriots and the British military forces who came to help the Dutch re-conquer the country.

Actually the fighting also took place in other parts of Indonesia a.o in Bandung, West Java,  but the one in Surabaya was the fiercest one that killed so many people.

I hope that today's commemoration would remind Indonesians that the country exists because there were patriotic men and women who sacrificed their blood, sweat and tears to defend the country's independence.

Photo : Courtesy of Terselubung.

Efforts to Rehabilitate Soeharto's Name

On 21 May 1998, the Indonesian people forced the late President Soeharto to step down from 32-years of authoritarian rule.

Since then, efforts have been made to investigate Soeharto's involvement in the killing of hundreds of thousand of alleged Communists between 1966 and 1968.

Efforts have also been made to bring him and his family to trial for several allegations of corruptions, disappearance of political opponents, and other bad things that happened during his rule.

However, until Soeharto died at the age of 86 around two and a half years ago, none of those allegations were proven, thus all those efforts were fruitless.

A few days ago, Soeharto's children and supporters commemorate the One Thousand Days of his death, and they have proposed the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono to declare Soeharto as National Hero during the commemoration of the National Heroes Day on 10 November.

This proposal is supported by Suharto's children and followers, who claimed that Suharto has stabilized the country which enabled development, for which he was named the Father of Development.
Meanwhile, former victims of Soeharto's authoritarian rule and pro-democracy activists opposed the idea.

If Soeharto is named as National Hero, his name would surely be rehabilitated. This would benefit the Golkar Party as the heir to Soeharto's political legacy, especially that its chairman Aburizal Bakrie is a possible candidate in the 2014 presidential election.

For details, please read the following articles 
-   Indonesia Debates Possibility of Honor for Suharto (The New York Times)
-   Family Leads 10,000 Visitors in Suharto Day of Honor (The Jakarta Globe)
-   Soeharto (Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia)

Photo : Courtesy of The Jakarta Post