Online Trading of Wildlife Parts

Nowadays people can buy and sell all kinds of goods through online websites such as Amazon.

Unfortunately not all of the traded goods are legal, some are illegal, for example parts of endangered wildlife.

According to the Canadian Press, the Police and Forestry officials have arrested a man in his art shop in North Jakarta on 9 February for allegedly using the internet to sell hundreds of illegal wildlife parts, including Ivory, Tiger skin and teeth of the world's smallest bear.

Monster and Critics quoted a Forestry official as saying that the man may possibly be part of an international illegal wildlife trafficking ring, and if found guilty he could face a maximum of 10 years prison sentence.

I hope that the authorities would do their best efforts to prevent the sales-purchase of illegal wildlife parts among others by making sure that this man would be prosecuted, tried and punished so that other would not follow his illegal actions.

Photo :  Courtesy of ExpertNews.

Online Porn Sites and Rapes

One of the reasons for the issuance of the Pornography Law was because some politicians alleged that Online Porn Sites have increased the numbers of Sex Crimes including Rapes in Indonesia.

And based on the same reason, the Minister of Communication and Information Tifatul Sembiring has decided to block Online Porn Sites.

In this regards, I would like to share an article on Viva News written by Ari A. Perdana, an Indonesian Post Graduate student at the University of Melbourne, about two studies in the United States showing that the number of Rapes has decreased after the Internet, including Porn Sites, come to existence.

The two studies, by Anthony D'Amato of the Northwestern Law School titled "Porn Up, Porn Down", and by Ted Kendall of the Economic Dept of the Clemson University titled: "Pornography, Rape and the Internet" show that the number of Rapes in the U.S has decreased between early '90s and after the existence of Online Porn Sites.
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Kendall quoted a survey showing that in 1993 there were 1.6 Rape case in every one thousand people, compared to 0.4 Rape case in every one thousand people after the arrival of online Porn Sites in 2004.

Both studies show that existence of Online Porn Sites does not necessarily mean that there will be an increase in Rape cases. Therefore, in my opinion blocking of those sites would only be effective if followed by law enforcement not just on online Porn sites but also offline Porn materials like DVDs  which has long been declared illegal but not difficult to find.

Yusril and the Attorney General

On 24 June, the Attorney General Office (AGO) has named Former Minister of Law and Human Rights (1999-2004) Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Hartono Tanusoedibyo the owner of PT. SRD, as Suspects in the alleged corruption case at the Department of Law and Human Rights.

The AGO alleged that Yusril had appointed, without tender process, PT. SRD to develop and administer
the Department's Legal Entity Administrative System (Sisminbakum) i.e. an online system for processing applications pertaining to the setting up and processing of Legal Entity. It was said that due to this fact the state has suffered financial losses amounting to Rp 420 Billion.


Earlier, the President Director of SRD Yohanes Woworuntu and 3 former Director Generals of the General Legal Administration i.e. Romli Atmasasmita, Syamsuddin Sinaga and Zulkarnain Yunus have been sentenced by the courts.  

On 1 July, Yusril came to the AGO, but he refused to be investigated because he claimed the the position of the present Attorney General Hendarman Supanji is ilegal. He said that Hendarman is part of the first Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) that ended on 20 October 2009, after which Hendarman was not among those who were sworn in as Cabinet members. Due to this fact, the AGO's decision to name him as Suspect is also illegal.
Yusril also stated that the decision to name him as a Suspect is part of the government's efforts to divert people's attention from the Rp 6.7 Trillion Bank Century Bailout case.

On 6 July, Yusril requested the Constitutional Court to conduct a Judicial Review on Hendarman's legitimacy as Attorney General.

On 12 July, Yusril finally agreed to be questioned for four hours by the AGO. During a talk-show on TV-One that evening, featuring Yusril and several lawyers, it was revealed that the appointment of SRD was actually a business based on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) method in 2000, whereby SRD provide everything needed for the online system and operate it for 10 years. The profit is to be shared 90% for SRD and 10% for the Cooperative of the Dept. Law and Human Rights.  

Considering the above, I hope that the above case(s) would be processed thoroughly.

Sources for this post :
-  Yusril Ihza Mahendra's Website  
-  About Yusril Ihza Mahendra (Wikipedia)
-  Yusril dan Hartono TanoeTerancam Pasal Pidana Seumur Hidup (Detik)
-  Yusril : Hendarman Jaksa Agung tidak Sah (Tempo)
-  Kejaksaan Agung Bantah Hendarman Tidak Sah (Tempo)
-  Kisah Sisminbakum Nan Ruwet (BeritaSatu)
-  Siang ini Yusril Ajukan Judicial Review Status Hendarman (TribunNews)
-  Yusril : Sisminbakum Pengalihan Isu
-  Kasus Sisminbakum, 4 jam diperiksa, Yusril belum ditahan (Harian SIB)
-  Kasus Sisminbakum Belum Tutup Buku (Tempo)
-  Yohanes Woworuntu Bawa Kasus Sisminbakum ke KY (Kontan)

Filtering the Internet

The recent controversy over sex video allegedly starred by celebrities i.e Ariel, singer of  pop band Peterpan, his girl friend model/presenter i.e. Luna Maya, and model/presenter/actress Cut Tari has re-inspired the government to regulate the use of the internet.

 
Last Thursday, the Minister of Communication and Information Technology Tifatul Sembiring told news reporters that he plan to draft of new decree in consultation with members of the House of Representatives (DPR) after his earlier draft was canceled due to widespread protests.

Further, President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) has stated that Indonesia should protect itself against the Internet. 

I am not really sure whether such decree would be effective to prevent Indonesians from downloading and/or uploading pornography from the internet considering the internet is almost a border-less territory.

Related news report :
- Indonesia needs Internet Blacklist to stop Porn : Tifatul

- Indonesia must Resist Internet 'Frenzy' : President
- SBY : We must act on webs threat

Internet Censor

The Minister of Information & Communications Tifatul Sembiring has prepared a Draft of Government Regulation regarding the Content of Multimedia.

This draft shall forbid the distribution, transmission and access to Pornography, Indecency, Gambling, Humiliation & sensitive issues pertaining to Ethnics, Religion and Racial through the internet.

Besides, there will be a Multimedia Content Team of 30 people, 15 from society 15 from government, which shall determine the legality of a content, for which purpose it shall analyze internet contents and make sure that they are "safe". 

In reaction to the above draft of regulation, online activists in Facebook, Twitter and Kaskus have launched campaigns to fight against the draft.

Considering the above, I hope that the Minister would reconsider said draft of regulation, and even if it should be issued it would not limit freedom of expression that is done in a decent and legal manner.

Source : Courtesy of Yahoo/Viva.

Freedom of Expression

Since the so called Reformasi came to Indonesia on 20 May 1998, people have been giving top priority to the freedom of expression.   

As a result, every day news media like TV stations, newspapers, magazines reported, online and offline, have been reporting about things that happened in our society that should be improved such  as Injustice, Corruption, etc. 

Unfortunately, said media also spread information which is sensitive and inappropriate for some people, especially underage children, such as sexual assaults, people being beaten, stabbed or even murdered for slight misunderstandings, and other horrifying stories.  

Especially that all TV stations are showing Sinetrons (soap opera) which I personally think not worth watching like horror stories, extra marital affairs, full of lots of rude behaviors and harsh words.

Moreover, the internet provides all kinds of writings and pictures, including Pornography and Violence, which may not be suitable for some people especially under aged children.

Personally, I strongly believe that freedom of expression should be protected. But, as a member of society I want to live in a peaceful & harmonious environment, therefore I strongly believe that freedom of expression should be carried out responsibly and accountably, otherwise it would cause disharmony in society.

Considering the above and cancellation of the draft of the Minister of Information & Communication regarding Multimedia Content, I hope that as Bloggers we always respect other people’s rights, and aware the effect that our words and actions might bring to our society. That way, our Indonesia would be a much better place to live.

Image : Courtesy of Pink Floyd.

Tips for Online Survival

The Internet has created citizens journalists who are free to voice anything they want at any time and at any place around the world.

This has caused some companies to face public image crisis because they have not responded correctly to what are said in E-mails, Blogs, Social Media e.g Facebook and Twitter. One of them is the Omni International Hospital in Tangerang, whose image is now very bad after it sued and caused ex patient Prita to be jailed for 3 weeks, just because she sent e-mails to her friends about the hospital’s bad services.

In this regards, I have read an article by Penny C. Sansevieri in Bernstein Crisis Management newsletter, which offers tips about how to survive an online attack, as follows:

1. We must realize that we have no control over what happens: Accept the fact that things which attract Twitters or Blogs will get out of control very quickly. Deal with it - start with where the noise is; for example if the crisis is limited to Twitter, then our strategy should focus on the Twitterers involved. If we respond to them directly, we’re on the way to solving the problem. The longer we worry about the flurry, the longer it'll take us to find a strategy.
2. Make sure about Accuracy: with everyone being a reporter, remember that sources and the like don't matter - at least not initially - in the Twitterverse.
3. Monitor the Internet: always know what's going on out there. It could be something as simple as one blogger posting information on you that isn't 100% accurate, they like accuracy as much as we do so in a friendly way, set the record straight. Set them to our name, our business, book - whatever brand or brands we have that should be monitored.
4. Be quick to fix this: don't wait and watch as our message go out of control, jump on this quickly and correct it before it turns into a wildfire of tweets and blog comments. Our silence will be filled by others all too eager to step in and offer their own answers, even if their information is incorrect.
5. Be sincere: we all screw up, be sincere and genuine. We don't want a bunch of people we don't know out there being our spokesperson. If we don’t speak up, someone else will do it for us (and review #4).
6. Words are key, so is honesty: if someone is attacking us and we are really at the center of this mess, remember that now is not the time to try and come up with some politically correct answer. Be clear in our message and do whatever we have to do to fix this.
7. Relationships: Building relationships within our area of expertise will help us manage our reputation if there is an attack. Get to know the people who specialize in our industry and let them know who we are by networking with them and being helpful. When it comes to reputation management, it's much easier to go back to the friends we already have than try and build these relationships when there's trouble.

Considering the above, it is important for us to keep track of who is writing about us, reviewing our product/book, and featuring our articles, By doing so, we will have a chance to network and we will have opportunity to return to an existing relationship and fix a problem in times of trouble.


Image:DreamsTime

The Webby Awards

Every year the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a group of 550 member that includes Internet Innovator Vinton Cerf, founder of Huffington Post Arianna Huffington, creator of “Simpsons” Matt Groening and Media Conglomerate Harvey Weinstein, present the Webby Awards to honor excellence in Web sites in more than 100 categories.

According to Legal Blog Watch, this year the organization will present the 13th Webby Awards. For this purpose, last week they have announced the nominees, including five sites in the Law Category, as follows:
1)Get Legal
2)Immigration Advocates Network
3)JURIST
4)WomensLaw.org
5)Workplace Fairness

The interesting thing is that through its People’s Voice Awards, the Web community at large is allowed to participate in the voting.

I hope that one of these days, Indonesian blogger(s) would be eligible to be selected as a nominee for the Webby Awards.

Internet to recruit Drug Traffickers

The internet has grown so fast and bring benefits to mankind, especially after the blog was created around ten years ago. But unfortunately, some people have used the internet to commit crimes.

According to news media reports, for the last two years, international illegal drug syndicate has used the internet, especially social networking media like Facebook, to recruit young girls in Malaysia & Singapore to work as illegal drug traffickers.
Detik reported today that such efforts have been very successful to recruit young Singaporean women that in only four months, 12 of them were arrested for trafficking illegal drugs to England, Japan and Australia.
On December 2007, the Malaysian Bar quotted news media reports about the arrest of 32 Malaysian women between the age of 20 and 40 years old trafficking illegal drugs during that year.

It is very sad to know that the internet has been used as a media to recruit young women as illegal drug traffickers.