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.

MUI Refused to Issue a Fatwa against NII

The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) refused to issue a Fatwa (Edict) that declare the Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement as Haram (forbidden).

Gatra quoted MUI Chairman KH Amidhan as saying that MUI shall not issue such Fatwa because radical movement is already prohibited by the laws in Indonesia, therefore such Fatwa is not necessary.

Amidhan said that a Fatwa is issued for things which are still not clear (forbidden or not), whereas radical movement is clearly against the Law and Religion.
 

Atika Shubert of CNN

Something's wrong with my home's cable TV this evening, it can only show CNN program.

Because of this I have to watch the wedding ceremony of Great Britain's Prince William and Catherine Middleton, which was really good. Their wedding dresses, wedding vows, and balcony double kisses.

CNN has a team of to report the event, the one that I noticed most was Atika Shubert. It was the first time that I saw her reporting again after she reported the Tsunami that devastated the Province of Aceh in late 2004.

The reason why I was interested in Atika because she has an Indonesian name.

According to CNN's website, Atika has been stationed at CNN's bureau in London since 2008. She is responsible for covering general news in the U.K and other regional assignments.

She joined CNN in 2000 and covered news from the Jakarta Bureau. She was one of the first CNN correspondents to report live from Aceh, Indonesia on the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 that killed more than 200,000 in Aceh alone. Her reports from the devastated region helped earn CNN the prestigious Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia Award in 2005.

In 2004 Atika moved to CNN's Tokyo bureau and then Jerusalem, Israel, in 2006.

According to Wikipedia, prior to working for CNN, Atika was a correspondent for The Washington Post and The New Zealand Herald in Indonesia as she speaks both English and Indonesian fluently. She is a graduate of the Class of 1991 of Jakarta International School. She is an Economics graduate of Tufts University in Massachusetts,.U.S.A.

Please Protect Us

Yesterday, President SBY called on Indonesians not to rely on the Police and asked us to help fight extremism.

The Jakarta Globe quoted the President as saying that Indonesia is now facing a continuous and serious threat in terrorism and in horizontal violence.

Horizontal violence, a term often used in reference to student bullying, refers to abuse or aggression by individuals on their peers around them. 

I hope that the President has instructed the intelligence networks, especially the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to improve their performance in monitoring and detecting any kinds of activities that might pose a threat to our national security, such as the so called Indonesian Islamic State (NII) movement, those who spread Book Bombs, those who plan any kinds of violence, and other acts of crimes.

Moreover, I also hope that the President has instructed the Police to improve their performance in serving and protecting the society.

The Promise to Reduce 26% CO2 by 2020

During the summit meeting of the leaders of the world's G20 countries in 2009, President SBY promised that Indonesia shall voluntarily reduce 26% Carbon Emission by the year 2020.

He went on to say that Indonesia can even reduce Carbon Emission up to 41% if it is assisted by other countries.

In this connection, on 26 May 2010, Indonesia and Norway concluded an agreement in which Indonesia promised to stop cutting forest trees (forest moratorium) for two years and Norway will invest a total of  US$ 1 Billion in forest conservation projects in Indonesia.

But promise is promise, until this now President SBY has still not yet issued a Presidential Decree regarding the 2 years forest moratorium.

Kompas quoted a government official as saying that Indonesia does not need to prioritize the target of reducing carbon dioxide by 26 percent in 2020 as Indonesia does not belong to a group of countries required to reduce their Carbon Emissions.

Considering that President SBY has already made promises to foreign countries that Indonesia shall reduce Carbon Emission, I hope that the government would be very serious in keeping the said promises.

Terrorist at the Jakarta Lawyers Club

TVOne's Jakarta Lawyers Club talk show last night surprised me when the host Karni Ilyas invited Ali Imron, one of the terrorists who was responsible for the suicide bombing in Bali.now serving life time prison sentence, to speak via teleconference.

Although Ali Imron spoke through a television set, however it gave him as a prison convict, a very rare chance to talk an audience of millions of TVOne's viewers.

Claiming that he is still a terrorist, Ali Imron said that the recent Book Bomb terror and plan to bomb the Gas pipeline in Serpong on Good Friday were carried out by new generation of terrorists, and the 200 Kilograms of explosive they used were only materials for Fire Crackers, thus its destructive potential is very much lower compared to that of a TNT bomb.

He suggested anyone who wish to fight terrorists should meet and talk to him first if they want to succeed because as a terrorist he is the best person to seek advice for fighting terrorists.

The talk show was attended by the Chief of State Anti Terrorists Agency Asyaad Mbai, Chairman of NU, Chairman of the Indonesian Church Council Nathan Setiabudi, former Chairman of Muhammadiyah Safei Maarif, former leader of the Jamaah Islamiya Nasir Abbas, and many lawyers.

Considering that Ali Imron still proudly claim that he is a terrorist, I hope that our security agencies would be much more careful next time before they allow him to appear and talk in public.We do not want him to control activities of other terrorists from jail, the same way that jailed drug dealers control their retailers outside.

Citibank, Malinda, Money Laundering

Inong Malinda Dee (47), former Senior Manager of Citibank Indonesia who handled customers with a minimum account of Rp 500 Million, has been named by the Police as a suspect in the embezzlement of Rp 17 Billion of the bank's customers' money.

Republika quoted her lawyer Indra Sahnun Lubis as saying that Malinda has admitted about the customer's money laundering. He also said that Malinda's ex bosses in the bank knew about this practice since 10 years ago.  

Asian News Network reported that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) has launched an investigation of the Money Laundering allegations on 18 April 2011 and found indications that the customers include Police Generals, local administration leaders and their families. 

However, the Police has repeatedly denied that any of its officers had Citibank accounts.

PPATK's investigation would determine if Citibank exercised due diligence in opening accounts for “politically exposed” customers, such as public officials who might be more likely to engage in money laundering. 

The Jakarta Globe reported that  the Police has alleged Malinda of laundering at least Rp 2 Billion through PT. Sarwahita Global Management, a company that she partially owned.
Due to this allegation, Air Vice Marshall Rio Mendung, a Commissioner of PT Sarwahita, was removed from his position as Deputy Chairman of the National Defence Institute (Lemhanas).

I hope that investigations by the Police and PPATK would reveal the truth about this case.