I always thought that people in the United States, especially academicians, are tolerant to differences in opinions, including on matters related to sex, because Freedom of Speech is protected by the country's constitution.
That’s why I was surprised when I read an article in Legal Blog Watch about Kristen Juras, a Law Professor at the Montana University, who tried to shut down a Sex Column in the university’s students newspaper The Kaimin. As a reason, she said that the column, Bess Sex Column, contain inappropriate material for students and reflects poorly on the university. She said that it affects her reputation as a member of the faculty. However, she said that it is not the column's subject that offended her, rather it is because she thought that the Columnist Bess Davis is not qualified to write about Sex. If it has been written by a Sex Expert she would not have objected.
She tried to persuade the management of the newspaper to terminate the column, but failed. Then she plan to take the matter to higher levels at the university. If that also fail, she would go to the legislature.
Thankfully her views is not shared by others who thinks that the Sex Column is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S Constitution regarding Freedom of Speech.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Open Election Campaign
On Monday, 16 March, 2,200 members of 38 political parties gathered at Kemayoran Convention Hall, Jakarta, to begin the open campaign for General Election on 9 April, during which party leaders pledged to conduct campaigns peacefully.
In spite of this fact, the General Election Commission (KPU) has still no clear agenda for the open campaign, therefore causing confusion among the political parties.
According to The Jakarta Post, actually KPU has announced last Friday that four political parties may conduct open campaign on the same day. But due to protest from contestants KPU will revise the schedule. For which purpose it will meet political parties on Wednesday to talk about revision of schedule that will allow each party to conduct two open rallies in every province.
Meanwhile, The Jakarta Globe reported that President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono has warned state officials contesting as candidates in the election not to abuse their power during the campaign period.
Further, Kompas reported that during the gathering on Monday, some political parties have involved children. This is a clear violation of the General Election Law No. 10/2008 Article 84 Paragraph 2 that forbids involvement people, who are ineligible to vote during the campaign. Punishment for violations will be up to 12 months imprisonment and fine of up to Rp 60 million.
Although past experience shows that pledge made by political party leaders did not guarantee a peaceful campaign, especially now that the schedule is still unclear, however, I still have high hopes that this time all the parties concerned would avoid any possibility of conflicts among them.
In spite of this fact, the General Election Commission (KPU) has still no clear agenda for the open campaign, therefore causing confusion among the political parties.
According to The Jakarta Post, actually KPU has announced last Friday that four political parties may conduct open campaign on the same day. But due to protest from contestants KPU will revise the schedule. For which purpose it will meet political parties on Wednesday to talk about revision of schedule that will allow each party to conduct two open rallies in every province.
Meanwhile, The Jakarta Globe reported that President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono has warned state officials contesting as candidates in the election not to abuse their power during the campaign period.
Further, Kompas reported that during the gathering on Monday, some political parties have involved children. This is a clear violation of the General Election Law No. 10/2008 Article 84 Paragraph 2 that forbids involvement people, who are ineligible to vote during the campaign. Punishment for violations will be up to 12 months imprisonment and fine of up to Rp 60 million.
Although past experience shows that pledge made by political party leaders did not guarantee a peaceful campaign, especially now that the schedule is still unclear, however, I still have high hopes that this time all the parties concerned would avoid any possibility of conflicts among them.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Jupe's controversial marriage
Since the last few weeks, our news media have been reporting about popular Indonesian Dangdut Singer Julia Perez (a.k.a Jupe) every day. Whereby they reported about many of her activities like her giving Condoms to her fans, her sensual appearance and who she's sleeping with now.
The latest news was about her troubled relationship with her French husband Damian Perez whom she married seven years ago in France.
Okezone/T.Tresnadi reported that she has met Artist/Lawyer Gusti Randa to seek legal advice about Divorce, but was explained that she cannot Divorce in Indonesia because her marriage in France was not recognized in Indonesia.
Gusti Randa elabotated that according to our Marriage Law No. 1/1974 Article 56 Paragraphs 1 & 2, a marriage among Indonesians, or Indonesian & foreigner, that is conducted outside Indonesia should be registered with the Indonesian Embassy or Consulate in the country where the marriage took place. After the couple return to Indonesia, they should register it with the local Marriage Registrar within a period of one year.
Considering this fact, Gusti said that if Jupe and her husband want to divorce, they should do it in France.
Although there is no divorce yet, the news media has reported that they are now leading separate love lifes. i.e. Jupe with Soccerplayer Gaston Castano, and Damien with a Malaysian model Aisya.
But inspite of her wish to divorce, the interesting fact is that she plan to keep the name PEREZ with her no matter what, as she told reporters. She argued that it is that name that has made her popular as an artist for the last three years.
This news, as any other news regarding celebrities, is interesting especially when we do not have anything to do during weekends.
The latest news was about her troubled relationship with her French husband Damian Perez whom she married seven years ago in France.
Okezone/T.Tresnadi reported that she has met Artist/Lawyer Gusti Randa to seek legal advice about Divorce, but was explained that she cannot Divorce in Indonesia because her marriage in France was not recognized in Indonesia.
Gusti Randa elabotated that according to our Marriage Law No. 1/1974 Article 56 Paragraphs 1 & 2, a marriage among Indonesians, or Indonesian & foreigner, that is conducted outside Indonesia should be registered with the Indonesian Embassy or Consulate in the country where the marriage took place. After the couple return to Indonesia, they should register it with the local Marriage Registrar within a period of one year.
Considering this fact, Gusti said that if Jupe and her husband want to divorce, they should do it in France.
Although there is no divorce yet, the news media has reported that they are now leading separate love lifes. i.e. Jupe with Soccerplayer Gaston Castano, and Damien with a Malaysian model Aisya.
But inspite of her wish to divorce, the interesting fact is that she plan to keep the name PEREZ with her no matter what, as she told reporters. She argued that it is that name that has made her popular as an artist for the last three years.
This news, as any other news regarding celebrities, is interesting especially when we do not have anything to do during weekends.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Controversial Buddha Bar
On Thursday, 5 March, dozens of Buddhist students raided the Buddha Bar in Jakarta‘s elite area of Menteng, and forced the management of the French franchise bar to shut it down.
According to The Jakarta Post, those students belong to the Indonesian Buddhist Association (AMB). They protest the use of Buddha as the name of the bar and the use of Buddhist effigies as decoration of the bar where alcohol drinks are sold and people could get drunk there. According to a representative of AMB Widodo, the Jakarta government has sent a letter to the Principal of the Buddha Bar in France i.e. George V Hotels & Restaurant chain, to protest against the use of Buddha as name of their bar. And the management of the Buddha Bar, run by Renny Sutiyoso, daughter of former Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso, has also requested its Principal for change of the bar's name.
Further, The Jakarta Globe reported that the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has suspected irregularities in the use of a historic building as a venue for the Buddha bar. According ICW's Agus Suryanto the building, built in 1913, has been categorized in 1983 as a historic building. And according to the Cultural Preservation Law No 5 Year 1992, a historic building cannot be used merely for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals.
Meanwhile, Kompas has quoted the Speaker of Jakarta Regional Parliament (DPRD) Ade Surapriyatna as saying that he will talk to Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo about closing of the bar immediately. This opinion was supported by several members of the DPRD, who said that the use of the historic building is contradictory to the regulation.
The above students' action brings mixed feelings for me, on the one hand I was surprised that a students association representing Buddha, which I always thought peaceful, would take a violent action i.e. raiding and closing down the bar. But on the other hand I can understand how offended those students were by the usage of their religion as a name & effigies for a bar.
According to The Jakarta Post, those students belong to the Indonesian Buddhist Association (AMB). They protest the use of Buddha as the name of the bar and the use of Buddhist effigies as decoration of the bar where alcohol drinks are sold and people could get drunk there. According to a representative of AMB Widodo, the Jakarta government has sent a letter to the Principal of the Buddha Bar in France i.e. George V Hotels & Restaurant chain, to protest against the use of Buddha as name of their bar. And the management of the Buddha Bar, run by Renny Sutiyoso, daughter of former Governor of Jakarta Sutiyoso, has also requested its Principal for change of the bar's name.
Further, The Jakarta Globe reported that the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has suspected irregularities in the use of a historic building as a venue for the Buddha bar. According ICW's Agus Suryanto the building, built in 1913, has been categorized in 1983 as a historic building. And according to the Cultural Preservation Law No 5 Year 1992, a historic building cannot be used merely for the benefit of an individual or group of individuals.
Meanwhile, Kompas has quoted the Speaker of Jakarta Regional Parliament (DPRD) Ade Surapriyatna as saying that he will talk to Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo about closing of the bar immediately. This opinion was supported by several members of the DPRD, who said that the use of the historic building is contradictory to the regulation.
The above students' action brings mixed feelings for me, on the one hand I was surprised that a students association representing Buddha, which I always thought peaceful, would take a violent action i.e. raiding and closing down the bar. But on the other hand I can understand how offended those students were by the usage of their religion as a name & effigies for a bar.
The Mistery behind David's death
10 days have passed since the news media reported that David Hartanto Widjaja (21), an Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) Singapore, committed suicide after stabbing an Associate Professor.
But until now, the case is still a mystery because 5 days after the tragedy, a Chinese national working on an NTU project i.e. Zhou Zheng(24), was found hanged on the campus. This that the fact that he and David shared the same laboratory have led to speculations about possible connections between the two suicide cases.
Beside that, there has been growing doubts in the blogosphere on the reliability of the reports made by the Singapore based news media.
Sgpolitics.net wrote that Today, Channel News Asia, Asia One and the Strait Times have misrepresented critical information in their stories which led to distortion of the truth about David's death. Here is his elaboration:
Edwin i.e David's friend and some other Indonesian students on the night of the incident had spoken to David’s parents who told him that they had seen the body and found no wounds on David’s wrists. This means that media reports about the wrist wounds were untrue.
Edwin also quoted the parents as saying that there is a slash wound on the neck
David's brother, William, said that the Police told him that there is no wrist wound and also told him not to trust the news media.
NTU's official press release said that David had fallen off the building, but Channel News Asia reported that he jumped off the building!
OMY reported that David had attempted two suicides, but no concrete facts mentioned.
The Straits Times reported vividly about how the struggle took place based on
testimonies of friends of Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, including what
happened in the professor’s room, how David had stabbed him in the back, and the struggle that followed. But names of those witnesses were not mentioned.
According to Tempo, an alumni of NTU i.e. Margaretta, Indonesian, wrote in her blog that NTU students who are not Singapore citizens are forced to work extra hard to upheld NTU's image, e.g by creating patentable invention, etc.
Considering the above, The Jakarta Post reported that the Indonesian government, through its Foreign Department Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah, has requested the Singapore authorities to speed up their investigation on David's death.
I hope that the Singapore authorities would pay serious attention on this matter and the Singapore news media would seriously review their reports on what actually happened to David Hartanto Widjaja, so that justice shall prevail.
But until now, the case is still a mystery because 5 days after the tragedy, a Chinese national working on an NTU project i.e. Zhou Zheng(24), was found hanged on the campus. This that the fact that he and David shared the same laboratory have led to speculations about possible connections between the two suicide cases.
Beside that, there has been growing doubts in the blogosphere on the reliability of the reports made by the Singapore based news media.
Sgpolitics.net wrote that Today, Channel News Asia, Asia One and the Strait Times have misrepresented critical information in their stories which led to distortion of the truth about David's death. Here is his elaboration:
Edwin i.e David's friend and some other Indonesian students on the night of the incident had spoken to David’s parents who told him that they had seen the body and found no wounds on David’s wrists. This means that media reports about the wrist wounds were untrue.
Edwin also quoted the parents as saying that there is a slash wound on the neck
David's brother, William, said that the Police told him that there is no wrist wound and also told him not to trust the news media.
NTU's official press release said that David had fallen off the building, but Channel News Asia reported that he jumped off the building!
OMY reported that David had attempted two suicides, but no concrete facts mentioned.
The Straits Times reported vividly about how the struggle took place based on
testimonies of friends of Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, including what
happened in the professor’s room, how David had stabbed him in the back, and the struggle that followed. But names of those witnesses were not mentioned.
According to Tempo, an alumni of NTU i.e. Margaretta, Indonesian, wrote in her blog that NTU students who are not Singapore citizens are forced to work extra hard to upheld NTU's image, e.g by creating patentable invention, etc.
Considering the above, The Jakarta Post reported that the Indonesian government, through its Foreign Department Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah, has requested the Singapore authorities to speed up their investigation on David's death.
I hope that the Singapore authorities would pay serious attention on this matter and the Singapore news media would seriously review their reports on what actually happened to David Hartanto Widjaja, so that justice shall prevail.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, March 9, 2009
David Hartanto Widjaja
On 2 March 2009, David Hartanto Widjaja (21), an Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technical University (NTU) in Singapore, has committed suicide after stabbing his Professior i.e Chan Kap Luk (45).
According to the Strait Times, David stabbed the Professor several times with a knife during a routine discussion to help students. Afterwards, he slits his own wrist with the knive and jumped down. The tragic incident took place one month after NTU revoked the ASEAN Scholarship David has received since 2005 which pays for his tuition fees at NTU and annual stipend of S$ 5,800.00. In this regards, Detik has quotted an official of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore as saying that the stabbing of the Professor was a mistake, because he has nothing to do with the issuance of the scholarship.
Meanwhile, words have been spreading in the blogosphere that David's family and close friend have doubt on the Singapore official announcement.
According to Singapore News Alternative, David's family felt awkwardness in the case that they suspect the Singapore government has something to hide. Further, David's close friend Edwin mentioned in his blog Mista Bird about some awkwardness in this case that made him and David's family suspected that the truth has been hidden.
It is understandable if David's family and his friend have their own version about the tragic incident. However, if they cannot present evidence that can prove that they are right, then the official version will remain valid.
According to the Strait Times, David stabbed the Professor several times with a knife during a routine discussion to help students. Afterwards, he slits his own wrist with the knive and jumped down. The tragic incident took place one month after NTU revoked the ASEAN Scholarship David has received since 2005 which pays for his tuition fees at NTU and annual stipend of S$ 5,800.00. In this regards, Detik has quotted an official of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore as saying that the stabbing of the Professor was a mistake, because he has nothing to do with the issuance of the scholarship.
Meanwhile, words have been spreading in the blogosphere that David's family and close friend have doubt on the Singapore official announcement.
According to Singapore News Alternative, David's family felt awkwardness in the case that they suspect the Singapore government has something to hide. Further, David's close friend Edwin mentioned in his blog Mista Bird about some awkwardness in this case that made him and David's family suspected that the truth has been hidden.
It is understandable if David's family and his friend have their own version about the tragic incident. However, if they cannot present evidence that can prove that they are right, then the official version will remain valid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)