Rape is Rape

Whenever a female is raped people tend to ask questions which imply that she was asking for it.

They would ask what kind of dress she was wearing when she was raped, whether or not she was drinking alcohol and/or dancing erotically at that time, etc.

According to Change, the F.B.I in the United States omits hundreds of thousands of Rape from its Uniform Crime Report (UCR) each year, this is because it has been using an 80 years-old definition of Rape : " the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. "

This excludes rapes involving forced anal sex and/or oral sex, vaginal or anal fisting, rape with an object (even if serious injuries result), rapes of men and transgender people and other injurious and degrading sexual assaults.

The emphasis on "forcible" rape also means that the rape or assault of women with physical or mental disabilities and those who were unconscious or under the influence of drugs and alcohol are often excluded.

The FBI's 2007 UCR listed 91,874 "forcibly rapes" but some estimates suggests that the actual number may be 24 times higher.  

I hope that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world, including in Indonesia, would use the general definition of Rape.

Who must be responsible for the death of asylum-seekers ?

Since Iraq and Afghanistan were invaded by the United States and its allies several years ago, their people have been facing never ending problems forcing many of them to seek asylum in other countries..

One of the destination for the asylum-seekers is Australia, a country with a land area of more than three times the size of Indonesia yet with a population of less than one tenth of Indonesia.

Unfortunately, in spite of its full support for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the government of Australia has been very reluctant to receive those asylum-seekers. This has caused some tragic accidents..

According to The Australian, there were at least five asylum seekers' boats sailing from Indonesia to Australia that were missing since 2008.

And last week, a boat carrying 90 asylum-seekers from Iran, Iraq and Kurdistan crash landed on the rocks of Christmas Island,  Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was quoted by ABC as saying that the number of dead people could hit 50.

Considering the above, I wonder who should be responsible for those tragic accidents and deaths :
1)  The asylum seekers themselves ? who insisted on going to Australia although they know they were not wanted there. Or
2)  The Indonesian government ? who have let those people sail to Australia although they know that they were not wanted there. Or
3)  The Australian government ? who always refused to receive them and always drove them away.

Photo :  Courtesy of ABC.

WikiLeaks and Julian Assange

One of today's hottest topics is the WikiLeaks, an international non profit organization that published 251,287 cables of the U.S Embassy, including 3,059 from Jakarta, to the international public since 28 November 2010

The cables revealed classified information like U.S military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in Bagdad, Iraq, including two Reuters news staffs. For that, the US government and its allies wanted to arrest WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange.  

Last Tuesday, the British Police arrested Assange in London for allegations of raping two Swedish women as charged by the Interpol based on the request of the Police in Sweden.

However, until this present moment the U.S or its allies has still not been able to charge him or WikiLeaks for leaking the cables.

Cables transmitted by an embassy of a foreign country is a classified material, therefore said country would do its very best to safeguard it. If there is any leak, it should either be done by someone inside the embassy or someone who received it at the foreign affairs ministry of said country.

Although there is a possibility that WikiLeaks intercepted the said cable transmission, but I think this is almost impossible.

In my opinion leaking such classified material to unauthorized parties like WikiLeaks is an act of Crime, and publishing such material as done by WikiLeaks should be an accessory to Crime.

Considering the above, I wonder why the U.S and its alllies only focussed on Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and not on those inside the U.S Embassies and/or State Department in Washington.

Sources :
-  Wikileaks (Swiss) Website
-  WikiLeaks (Wikipedia)
-  Menlu dan Menkominfo Kumpulkan Data WikiLeaks .. (Detik)
-  WikiLeaks Indonesia (Newoes)
-  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested (The Jakarta Post)
-  Assange charges center on two women, sex (MSNBC) 

Image : Courtesy of WikiLeaks

U.S Kretek Cigarette Ban

On September 2009, the United States of America issued the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act that prohibits the sales of all kinds of flavored cigarettes including Indonesia's Kretek cigarettes in the U.S, except menthol cigarettes.

Indonesia thought that this law violated regulations of theWorld Trade Organization (WTO), because it excemps menthol cigarettes which is actually flavored cigarettes like Kretek. Therefore Indonesia has brought this matter to WTO's dispute settlement body.

Please find some details below that I have quoted from an article in Kompas.

I hope that the WTO would make a fair decision on this matter.

Indonesia Urged US to Scrap Its "Kretek" Cigarette Ban

Jumat, 2 Juli 2010 | 10:08 WIB

 

AP/Steve Helber.

In this photo made May 18, 2009, flavored cigarettes are on display at a tobacco store in Richmond, Va. Kretek International Inc. , the nations top distributor of clove cigarettes, is offering fans a new way to get their fix after the spice-flavored cigarettes are banned later this year cigars. 

 

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Indonesia has urged the United States to lift its ban on aromatic cigarette imports that would cause Jakarta to cut its ’kretek’ (clove-flavored) cigarette exports to that country and reduce its foreign exchange earning.

"Indonesia’s foreign exchange income from kretek cigarette exports is expected to drop significantly this year due to the imposition of the ban," Frans Rupang, director for prosecution and prevention of the Directorate General of Customs, said.
   
The United States has imposed the ban since September 2009 based on its law that prohibits the entry into the country of aromatic tobacco, yet both nations are still negotiating the matter. According to US Ambassador to Indonesia Cameron R Hume, Indonesia and the US are still negotiating the US ban on Indonesia’s kretek cigarette exports to the United States.

Speaking on the sidelines of the US Independence Day anniversary which falls on July 4, in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday evening, Cameron R Hume said that Indonesia was of the view that the ban violated the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s regulations. Therefore, the United States and Indonesia were discussing the matter but the envoy said he could predict what would come out of the negotiation process.

"Let’s wait," he said.

However, if the United States remains to impose the ban, Indonesia’s cigarette exports and income from this sector would decline significantly. Frans Rupang said that in 2009 cigarette exports contributed 6.451 million dollars to the state.  Indonesia’s kretek cigarette exports to the United States in 2008 totaled 298.932 million pieces worth US$6.662 million and in 2009 they stood at 267.308 million pieces worth US$6.451 million.

Since the imposition of the ban,  there was practically no Indonesia’s kretek exports to the United States this year.  Rupang said that the contribution to the state of the country’s kretek cigarette exports to the United States was the biggest one compared to that exported to other countries. Therefore, the ban reduced Indonesia’s income from kretek exports significantly, he said.

According to the Ministry of Trade, exports of various kinds of cigarettes to the US in 2007 reached US$11,165,432 and dropped to US$9,703,991 in 2008 and US$8,338,419 in 2009.  The realization of exports of the product from January to March 2010 reached US$2,531,317 higher than in the same period last year that was recorded at US$2,531,989.

During the period however no exports of cigarette tobacco that include clove cigarettes were done. This happened following the implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act as of September 2009. The law prohibits sale of all kinds of flavored cigarettes including clove cigarettes in the US except menthol cigarettes.

The Indonesian government has asked the WTO to solve its dispute over the ban of its kretek exports to the United States. Washington has banned the commodity’s imports based on its health law which also prohibited the importation of other aromatic cigarettes in an effort to prevent youths from being addicted.
   
Indonesia has previously taken the ban to Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO with regard to the imposition of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. The Indonesian government considers the law running against the WTO regulation because it exempts menthol cigarettes while menthol and clove cigarettes are like products according to Article 2.1 of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade or TBT Agreement.

Around 99 percent of clove cigarettes sold in the US are imported from Indonesia while all menthol cigarettes are produced in the US and because of that, according to the Indonesian government, the US implicitly bans imports of clove cigarettes.
The government considers the ban discriminative. As a member of the WTO,  the US must have carried out its international obligation as mentioned in the TBT Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade or GATT of 1994.

The director general of international trade cooperation of the ministry of trade, Gusmardi Bustami, said the move to take the matter to the WTO dispute settlement body was the last resort. He said the government has already expressed its opposition to the regulation while it was still being discussed at the US Congress.
   
Indonesia, he said, has also conveyed its complaint in various bilateral forums at senior official and ministerial levels for more than four years but it had come to no avail.
   
"This is about principles. There has been discrimination," Gusmardi said.
   
In the DSB WTO meeting on June 22, 2010 in Geneva, the Indonesian delegation conveyed reasons and legal basis for the need to form a panel to deal with the problem.

He said Indonesia had asked the panel to investigate the violation by the US against Article III of the GATT of 1994 and the use of Article XX of GATT 1994 without providing scientific evidence and meeting the provisions in a number of articles in the TBT and Sanitary and Phythosanitary Act (SPS).

In the meeting the US delegation expressed disappointment over the Indonesian move.  The US has asked Indonesia to reconsider its request for the establishment of a panel to investigate the case.
   
Gusmardi said the rejection by the US was common, had often happened in a DSB meeting because the US as a disputed party has a right to block the move on the first occasion in line with the WTO’s provision on Dispute Settlement Understanding.

Barack Obama & Indonesia

After the Cold War between Communist and Free countries ended in the late ‘80s, the Soviet Union has split into several independent countries, and the United States of America becomes the most powerful country on earth. As a result, the U.S President became the most powerful man on earth and people would pay attention to what he say.
(Photo: Courtesy of UPI)

That’s what happened when U.S President Barack Obama delivered a speech at the Cairo University in Egypt, last Thursday. Obama was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying that Indonesia as the world’s largest Moslem country is a good example of religious tolerance which he saw first hand as a child in Indonesia, where Christians worshipped freely in an overwhelmingly Moslem country. He also highlighted Indonesia's successful promotion of gender equality, whereby its Moslem majority has elected a woman to lead.

According to Radio Australia, Obama’s speech drew mixed responses in Indonesia, i.e a country that has confidently emerged from its own struggles with authoritarianism, and to a lesser extent, extremism. Many people felt that his message was directed more towards the Arab world than Indonesia.

Further, U.P.I quoted some analysts as saying that Indonesia may be a key to help President Obama reach his goal of a new start with the Muslim world.

President Obama's above speech, as well as the previous speech of US Secretary State Hillary Clinton, show that the US government consider relationship with Indonesia as very important. I hope that this good sign would inspire our government & people to work much harder and make better efforts to develop our country.