PKS: Corruption & Polygamy

Yesterday, the largest Islam based party the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has announced Anis Matta (44) as its new President to replace Luthfi Hasan Iskaq.

Luthfi was named a Suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last Wednesday in a bribery case centering on the government's procurement of imported meat (details here).

This is the second time that a PKS politician implicated in Corruption case after Misbakhun who was found guilty by the courts in 2010 for his involvement in the fake Letter of Credit (LC) of the troubled Bank Century but released after the Supreme Court accepted his request for Judicial Review (details here and here).

In his first speech as PKS President, Anis Matta stated his suspicion that the allegation against Luthfi was part of a grand conspiracy against the party. I think this is a "wild statement" considering that KPK is still conducting investigations on the case. It could be some sort of a "boomerang" if later on the court find him guilty. The best thing for PKS would be to cooperate with KPK in the investigation of this case.

One interesting thing about Anis Matta, formerly the party's Secretary General, is the fact that he is still young compared to chairmen of most political parties, and he has two wives, the second one being a Hungarian lady.

Beside Anis Matta, other PKS leaders also lead the polygamous life style, including its former president Tifatul Sembiring (currently Minister of Communication & Information) who has two wives, its Deputy Treasurer General Didin Aminuddin who has three wives, and its member of Parliament Zulkifliemansyah  who has two wives (details here).

Hmmmm ....... I wonder whether PKS is planing to make Indonesia a Polygamous country ?

Logo :  Courtesy of Wikipedia

The First Family's Tax Reports

President Soesilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) has frequently stated about the need for people to fulfill their tax obligations, and about the importance of transparency regarding the wealth of government/state officials.

That's why I was very surprised when The Jakarta Post reported about some discrepancies in the annual Tax Reports filed by him and his sons i.e. Major Agus Harimurti (Agus) and Edhie Baskoro (Ibas) for the year 2011 (below).

The paper wrote that the President's tax report mentioned that he earned Rp 1,37 Billion as President in addition to Rp 107 Million in income from Royalties. That year, SBY opened bank accounts worth 4.98 Billion and US$ 589.188 but there's no specific details for these funds.

Agus mentioned that his annual income as an Army officer is Rp 70,2 million, and he has 4 savings accounts at four different banks totaling Rp 1.63 Billion, but he did not give information about his or his wife's additional income. The total tax he paid amounts to Rp 2.7 Million.

Whereas Ibas mentioned that as a member of the People's Representative Council he earned Rp 183 Million. He also mentioned an investment in PT Yastra Capital worth Rp 900 Million, saving account of Rp 1,59 Billion, and cash money of Rp 1,57 Billion. However, he did not mention other sources of income like dividend, share etc.  The tax he paid : Rp 20 Million. Whereas his tax report in 2010 mentioned that his assets worth Rp 6 Billion including a car  Audi Q5 SUV worth Rp 1,16 Billion.

The Jakarta Post reported that President SBY has asked the Finance Ministry's Directorate General of Taxation to publicly address the above mentioned discrepancy allegations. 

In this connection, the Director General of Taxation Fuad Rahmany clarified that the President and his sons have met the required taxation administration procedures and have complied with the existing law and regulations. He said that there is no way that the President's family failed to properly fill in their tax report. Because they have a special team that thoroughly calculates their tax obligations to ensure accuracy.

The Moments of Love

Many people believe that the month of February is a month of Love, perhaps this is because on the 14th of this month there is the Valentine's Day celebrated by millions of people all over the world as the day of Love.

In my humble opinion, every day is the moment of Love whereby we show our feelings and acts of love to our love ones, we do not have to wait for the 14th day of February or any other days of the year to show our Love.

Let us pray and hope that everybody would want to show their love for each other as often as possible so that the world could be a much better place for us to live.

The Dirty Judges

The concept of Rule of Law is adopted by most democratic countries of the world, emphasizing on the upholding on of the following basic principles :
-  Supremacy of Law
-  Equality before the Law
-  Human Rights protection

As a consequence, Judges of the Courts of Law must consists of high quality people who uphold the above principles and morality so that they can make wise and fair decisions/verdicts.

Considering the above, I was very upset when I read on the news media that in the first three months of 2012 (January - March) , 28 Judges have been punished by the Supreme Court. And this number is growing bigger as time goes by, the latest one being the Head of South Sumatera High Court M. Daming Sunusi who thinks that Rape is an act of fun enjoyed by the Rapist and the Victim.

What make me more upset is the opinion of former Chief of the Constitutional Court Jimly Assiddiquie that Daming should not be severely punished because what said was just a slip of the tongue not intentionally.
Hmmm ..... as the Head of a High Court with 24 years experience as Judge, Daming has no right to talk that way about Rape to anybody especially to members of the People's Consultative Council.

We can only hope that the Supreme Court would do its best to make sure that the Judges are doing their job properly so that Indonesia would be a lot much better place to live in.

Picture :  Courtesy of Bestuff.

The Arrest of 17 Celebrities

They are all well known presenter, actor, actress, and singer in Indonesia.

As such, they own lots of money, wear expensive dress/shirt/pants, ride fancy cars, live in beautiful houses and have easy access to many important people and facilities.

Ordinary citizens like me and most of the 240 million people in Indonesia would envy them and ask :  " What more would you ask for? "

That's the question I asked my self when 17 famous people including presenter Raffi Ahmad, member of Jakarta Parliament Wanda Hamidah, Actor Irwansyah, Actress Zaskia Sungkar and 13 others, were arrested by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) last Sunday around 5 a.m, for possession of 14 Ecstasy pills and 2 Marijuana joints (please read here).

BNN Director Benny Mamamoto was quoted by The Jakarta Globe as saying that his detectives arrested all 17 of them at Raffi's house in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta. This arrest was done after three months of investigation.

BNN is still waiting for the overall results of tests on Urine and Hair of all 17 which started last Sunday. But a source at the agency said that initial result of the urine test shows negative, and nor still waiting for hair test (for details please read here).

I hope that the BNN would conduct a thorough investigation on this case not merely on the 17 of them but also the suppliers of Ecstasy pills and Marijuana.

No flood today

On 17 January rain falls very heavily and continuously inundating some important parts of the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta.

Many parts of the city's downtown area like the Presidential Palace, the HI Roundabout & Fountain, were inundated that President SBY's meeting with Argentinian President Mme. was postpone for a few hours.

Due to this fact, the Governor of Jakarta Joko Widodo has announced Jakarta under state of emergency for ten days until 27 January 2013 which is today. One factor that influenced Jokowi in making such decision was the weather forecast made by the Meteorology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG)  that the rain will fall heavily and continuously and shall reach the highest level on 27 January 2013.

Thank God when I woke up this morning the sun was shining very bright and it goes on the whole day until dusk.

I pray to God so that Jakarta shall not be inundated again like last week.

Photo: Courtesy of PlazaMSN

Fake Facebook Girlfriends

Just because you are a lonely man in real life doesn't mean that you have to be lonely in your virtual life anymore.

ABC reported that a Brazilian website, NamoroFake.com.br, will be happy to create a Fake Facebook Girlfriend profile for you that includes comments & all-important "relationship status" change for thirty days at the price of  US$ 39.00. Or, if you are in a tight budget it can create for you a Fake ex-Girlfriend for only US$ 19.00.

The website said that there are some possible reasons why a man wants to have a Fake Girlfriend :

1) He wants to be popular with the women and increase his self esteem

2) He wants to make jealous his ex-girlfriend by showing that he has someone new

In order to increase the ranks of the Fake Girlfriend, the website invites women to send their profiles with a 50% profit sharing incentives.

Currently the website doesn't have any Fake Facebook Boyfriends for women, but they plan to create them in the future.

For further information about Fake Facebook Girlfriend, please read here and here.  

Picture : Courtesy of ABC