Australia banned export of Live Cattle to Indonesia

On May 30 2011, Australian ABC television broadcast footage from Indonesian slaughterhouses that showed live cattle being whipped and left to die after their throats were cut.

This has sparked very strong protests from animal lovers in Australia who demand that their government stop the export of live cattle to Indonesia.

In order to calm down the protests, on 31 May the Australian government banned 12 abattoirs in Indonesia from slaughtering Australian live cattle.

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But the protests never stop, so the Australian government on Tuesday totally banned export of US$ 330 Million/a year worth of live cattle to Indonesia.

Live Australian cattle account for up to 40 percent of Indonesia's beef consumption, while Indonesia buys 60% of Australia's live cattle export worth US$ 330 Million per year.

About 770 slaughterhouses operate in Indonesia and only five use the stun-gun method, according to the animal welfare group Animals Australia, which filmed the footage.

I believe that Australia's ban on live cattle export is some sort of a blessing in disguise, in the sense that it could make us consume local cattle meat, and/or eat more chicken and/or goat and/or fishes/sea food.

Indonesia & Singapore Extradition Treaty

I thought that Singapore would never want to sign an extradition treaty with Indonesia because it has enjoyed receiving lots of money brought by bad guys who ran away from Indonesia.

That's why I was very surprised when The Jakarta Globe reported that Indonesia and Singapore have already signed an Extradition Treaty and a Defense Cooperation Agreement on 27 April 2007 in Bali, witnessed by President SBY and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

A diplomat at the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta was quoted as saying that his country remains fully committed to the treaty and agreement and look forward to their ratifications by Indonesia.

The Indonesian House of Representatives refused to ratify the extradition treaty and defense agreement because of a clause that would allow Singapore to conduct military exercises in the island of Sumatra. 

Considering the above, I could understand the House of Representatives' refusal to ratify the Extradition Treaty. One thing that I could not understand is why our government agreed to give Singapore military training facility on our country's soil without any consultation with the House of Representatives ?

Advertising or Terrorizing?

I was very surprised this morning when I read a post on the blog of  Unspun (http://theunspunblog.com) titled: "Coffins delivered to your doorstep: effective viral campaign or bad taste?".

Unspun said that he received a coffin, measuring about a meter in length, delivered by an ambulance to his office. The person delivering it said that there would be an event on June 9th. The coffin was painted brown with the word R.I.P above. Below it was Unspun's name and address. Inside were some flower petals and a rose, with a label attached that read on one side: “You are number: #4444″ and on the other side “www.restinpeacesoon.com.”  But the when he visited the site he found “under construction sign.”

The senders have also been active on Twitter with the handle @restinpeacesoon. They sent Unspun a message “Death is the surest calculation that can be made”
 
Later in the afternoon various TV stations reported that similar coffins were delivered to several mass media like Okezone, Detik.com, Kompas.com, The Jakarta Post, RCTI, SCTV, ANTV etc. And the person behind those coffins delivery was Sumardi MA the boss of Buzz & Co. an advertisement company. The coffins were part of his strategy to launch his book : " Rest In Peace Advertising : The World of Mouth Advertising. "

The Police has raided the office of Buzz & Co, and questioned Sumardi for delivering those coffins.

Considering that Coffin is a symbol of death for normal people and only used when people died, therefore the delivery of those coffins without mentioning the sender's clear identity would surely shock or even scare the recipients.. The impact would be very fatal if the recipient has heart problems.

Photo: Courtesy of Unspun.

The Currency Law

On  31 May 2011, the House of Representatives has enacted the Currency Law.

According to Hukum Online, this Law's Article 21 (1) stipulated that business transactions carried out within the territory of the Republic of Indonesia should use the Rupiah currency. And Article 33 stipulated that violation of this Law would be a Crime that can be punished with a maximum fine of Rp 200 Million, or one year imprisonment.

However, Article 21(2) stipulated that the obligation to use Rupiah does not apply to transactions within the framework of the implementation of state budget revenues and expenditures, receipts or grants from or to foreign countries; international trade transactions; deposits in banks in the form of foreign exchange, or transactions international payments.

Some Lawyers have protested against this new Law, saying that the Lawyer profession has a trans-border scope of activities therefore it is very likely they would use foreign currency. 

According to Infobanknews  this Law will be valid starting 17 August 2014.

Considering that we still have more than two years before the new Law becomes valid, any businesses that used foreign currencies, including Lawyers etc, should prepare adapting themselves with this new Law. 

World Environment Day 2011

Banner : Courtesy of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

Protection of Indonesian Workers in Malaysia

Last Monday, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar and Malaysian Human Resource Minister Dr. Shubramaniam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the protection of Indonesians Workers in Malaysia.

This MoU, which is an amendment of an MoU in 2006, would end a two-year freeze on Indonesian maids coming to work in Malaysia.

Antara reported that the MoU will provide the workers with one day off every week, passport shall be kept by the worker and workers' salary, and the creation of a Joint Task Force that would deal with issues raised by employers and their employees.

Meanwhile, Malay Mail reported that the Malaysian Human Resources Ministry has assured that the MoU would enable Malaysians to pay only RM 4,511 fees to hire a maid.

However, a survey on 10 maid employment agencies in Malaysia showed that prospective employers would have to pay between RM 6,000 and RM 9,000 in fees to secure the services of a maid.

One maid employment agency said that it usually charged a RM 6,000 fee to start the application process. The prospective employer would then need to pay at least another RM 3,000 for other variables to bring the maid into the country.

Another agency explained that the RM 6,000 initial fee was fixed by its Indonesian counterpart, and the additional RM 3,000 for the levy, medical examinations and visa processing and “a small profit for our agency".

Currently, most Indonesian maids received an average monthly salary of RM 400. Indonesia had proposed the salary be raised to RM 800 a month but the Malaysian government had not agreed to it, insisting it be governed by market forces.

The joint task force that will be set up, among others, will look at salary issues based on demand and supply principles.

The Malaysian Association of Foreign Maid Agencies questioned the stipulatedfee of getting a maid from Indonesian agents, saying that the cost was unrealistic, especially to agents in Indonesia, as it had yet to be seen whether Indonesian agents are willing to send maids if they do not agree with the fee stated in the MoU.

I hope that our government would be very strict in allowing workers who will be send to work in Maid and make sure that they would be given enough time to learn and practice all the things that they will be doing there. Any maid supplying agencies that cannot fulfil their obligations should be banned.

Happy Birthday Pancasila

During a meeting of the Committee for the Preparation of Independence of Indonesia (BPUPKI).on 1 June 1945, the leader of independence movement Soekarno delivered a speech titled " The Birth of Pancasila ".

Soekarno proposed the state of Indonesia to adopt Pancasila as a political philosophy. Pancasila consists of two Sanskrit words i.e Panca: five, Sila: Principles, comprising of :
1)  Belief in One God
2)  A Just and Civilized Humanity
3)  Indonesian Unity
4)  Democracy
5)  Social Justice

During the authoritarian governments of former President Soekarno (1945-1966), and former President Soeharto (1966-1988) Pancasila was strictly adopted as a doctrine. Social, Political, Economical activities must solely be based on Pancasila.

After Soeharto stepped down on 21 May 1998, Indonesia became a liberal democratic country, and freedom of speech and human rights became very important factors in the country.

As a result, the government and law enforcement agencies tend to be very careful, sometimes hesitate in enforcing laws and regulations. This together with Poverty, Injustice and Corruption have made some people lost their faith on Pancasila and choose other ideology as basis for their activities. Some political parties and non government organizations choose religion as their sole ideology so as to get people's support and votes. Inter-faith conflicts broke in many regions.

The worst thing was that many of them became extremely fanatic that they were willing kill many people by exploding themselves in order to get what they want.

Considering that the five principles of Pancasila are suitable for Indonesia and not contradictory to religion, politics, cultures, etc. I hope that from now on, each and every one of us in Indonesia, would accept Pancasila as the country's main ideology.

For which purpose the government and its law enforcement agencies should enforce the laws and regulations based on the concepts of supremacy of law, presumption of innocence, equality before the law.

Source:
Wikipedia.