Hary Tanoe buys Trump's mansion | Prabowo goes to court | Assassination schemes | Indonesia Intelligencer (June 8 - 14)
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Business
Ramadan-fueled inflation: Indonesia’s Consumer Price Index in May rose 3.32 percent from a year earlier — the highest since April 2018 — on the back of Ramadan holiday spending. Prices for food and transportation, in particular, propped up the inflation rate last month.
Money for better metropolises: Indonesia has received a US$49.6 million loan from the World Bank to finance the government’s plan to improve city planning and optimize the effects of urbanization. The loan is expected to benefit 12.5 million people in 13 cities, improving the quality of transportation, housing and more in those urban areas.
Air ‘Asing’
President Joko Widodo’s proposal to allow foreign airlines to operate domestic routes in Indonesia may not take off after all, with a senior aviation official saying that no foreign airline has expressed interest due to strict regulations.
The proposal aims to bring down ticket prices, which have been on the rise in recent months, making them unaffordable for many Indonesians. Analysts believe that a lack of domestic competition between the two largest airline groups, Garuda and Lion, have been the main factor in driving up ticket prices.
Discounted rides still apply
Indonesia’s Transport Ministry this week said that it may ban discounted rides on ride-hailing services as early as next month in order to make the industry more sustainable and prevent a duopoly by the two established players, Indonesia’s Go-Jek and Singapore’s Grab.
The plan was later scrapped after the ministry admitted it has no jurisdiction over regulating ride discounts. Such a regulation would need to be passed by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU), who have yet to indicate that they have any plans to limit ride discounts.
Go-AI: Go-Jek has acquired Indian artificial intelligence recruitment platform AirCTO, which will build AI systems to accelerate the hiring of high-quality talent for the Indonesian ride-hailing service and its superapp. Go-Jek has also opened a second engineering and product development center in India, with plans to expand the number of workers there to 500 by the year’s end.
B30 on the road:
Indonesia has begun testing bio-diesel with a 30% bio-content, known as B30, in cars and trucks this week, with the vehicles expected to cover up to 50,000 kilometers for the next four months using nothing but the fuel.
Indonesia is pushing to increase domestic consumption of palm oil to offset slowing global demand, and it’s planning to make it mandatory for all biodiesel to have 30% bio-content from next year onwards, up from 20% now.
Recommended reads
Even unicorns in Indonesia face talent shortfalls (The Jakarta Post)
When Bima Tjahja was appointed associate vice president of data at the Bukalapak e-marketplace in January, he was surprised to discover how difficult it was to find digital talents in Indonesia. The young man had worked a similar job for four years at Commonwealth Bank in Sydney, Australia, where he could get such talents “quite easily,” before moving to Indonesia earlier this year.
Politics
Prabowo goes to court (but not literally)
Today marks the start of the Constitutional Court’s hearings on the lawsuit filed by the campaign of defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto that seeks to overturn the results of the April 17 election based on their allegations of massive and systemic voter fraud.
Given the post-election protests riots that gripped parts of Central Jakarta on May 21-22, police have heightened security around the Constitutional Courthouse, closing down roads and assigning 12,000 personnel around the court, with another 48,000 security officers ready to be deployed if needed.
Prabowo and his running mate Sandiaga Uno were initially set to attend today’s hearing, but his campaign decided to cancel their appearances, saying there were concerns their presence might lead to more of his supporters coming out to the courthouse to demonstrate.
Prabowo himself called on his supporters to not demonstrate at the court throughout the trial in order to prevent conflict. However, some groups such as the extremist Islamic Defender Front (FPI) sent hundreds members to the courthouse today anyways.
Does he have a case?
This week, Prabowo’s legal team made several amendments to their lawsuit in order to introduce new evidence and arguments not present in their original May 25 filing
Their most highlighted new argument is an accusation that President Joko Widodo’s running mate, Ma’ruf Amin, failed to properly disclose his status as an adviser to two sharia banking institutions, which Prabowo’s camp argues are state-owned enterprises, making Ma’ruf in violation of laws barring employees of SOEs from political candidacy.
However, there are several reasons why that argument will likely prove unpersuasive to the Constitutional Court judges. Professor Simon Butt of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society breaks down all the problems with that and the rest of Prabowo’s lawsuit in his aptly titled piece for Indonesia at Melbourne, Prabowo’s challenge: in search of a legal and evidentiary miracle
Shocking allegations in assassination plot
The briefing included video testimony from three individuals naming retired major general Kivlan Zen, a vocal supporter of Prabowo, as the person who hired them to undertake the assassination assignments.
Despite the shocking allegation and the police’s seemingly solid evidence for it, a spokesperson for Prabowo’s campaign said that they would still provide legal assistance to Kivlan, who was officially named a treason suspect (for the second time) late last month, as well as Soenarko, another former military commander who has been charged with weapons smuggling in relation to the alleged assassination plot.
In a bizarre twist, Kivlan wrote letters asking Security Minister Wiranto and Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu for legal protection and a suspension of his detention. Wiranto — one of the officials that was allegedly targeted for assassination — rejected the request.
Police also confirmed this week that they had named retired police general M. Sofyan Jacob, who briefly led the Jakarta Police from May 2001 to December 2001, a suspect on charges of treason and spreading hoaxes. Sofyan was also known to be a Prabowo supporter.
Jokowi trying to woo Gerindra?
There have been reports that President Jokowi has secretly been in discussion with Prabowo and offered to give ministerial positions to members of the Gerindra chief’s coalition in order to bring Prabowo’s party over to the government’s side.
Although there has been no official confirmation of those reports. Jokowi did say on Wednesday that he would be open to Gerindra joining his coalition.
A spokesperson for Prabowo’s campaign denied the reports, saying they had not even considered such a possibility since they believe Prabowo won and were focusing on winning his Constitutional Court case.
Hary Tanoe buys Trump mansion
A Beverly Hill’s mansion owned by the Trump Organization was sold for $13.5 million — nearly double its original $7 million purchase price in 2007 — to a company owned by Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the billionaire media executive who is a business partner with Trump in two resort projects in Indonesia.
According to a report by the Washington Post, real estate experts in the area believe the selling price was far above the property’s actual value.
Hary is also the chairman of Perindo (Indonesian Unity Party) and had previously discussed a possible presidential run. He ended up switching from the opposition to support President Jokowi in the 2019 election.
US wants to boost bilateral ties
The US, through its envoy in Indonesia, says it’s hopeful for increased bilateral ties between the two nations despite the ongoing trade war between the US and China stirring up anxiety about the fate of ASEAN nations.
Last year, bilateral trade between the US and Indonesia stood at US$29 billion, about half the amount between the US and Vietnam. The US sees ample opportunity to invest in the tech and education sectors in Indonesia in the near future.
Australian Labor holds up free trade deal
The Australian Labor Party says it is holding out its support for the Indonesian free trade agreement, signed off on by the Liberal/National Coalition in the previous parliament.
Labor had previously committed to reopening negotiations on trade agreements if it won office at the May election.
The withdrawal of Labor support presents a serious obstacle to ratification of the agreement, which was finalized by the two countries in March.
Recommended reads
What Do the Australian Elections Mean for Canberra’s Policies Toward Indonesia and the Rest of Southeast Asia? (Council on Foreign Relations)
In his new term, Morrison is likely to push efforts to upgrade strategic ties with Indonesia, in addition to getting the trade deal passed through parliament. The bilateral relationship, like all of Indonesia’s foreign ties, also probably will benefit from more stability in Canberra, as Morrison’s election and new Liberal Party rules that make internal party spills more difficult should stabilize Australian politics and prevent the revolving chair prime minister problem that, in recent years, has unsettled regional allies.
Jokowi’s Global Maritime Fulcrum: 5 More Years? (The Diplomat)
Jokowi’s presumed second term brings immediate questions over whether he will employ the same strategic frameworks in driving the country’s development, and whether the concept of the Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) will prevail. Early in his presidency in 2014, Jokowi highlighted his vision to turn Indonesia into a global maritime hub, motivated by the idea that the vast archipelago had turned its back on the sea for too long. The vision rests on seven main pillars: maritime and human resources; maritime defense, security, law enforcement, and safety at sea; maritime governance; maritime economy and infrastructure; maritime spatial management and environmental protection; maritime culture; and maritime diplomacy. Arriving at the end of Jokowi’s first term, how has the vision materialized? With the second term fast approaching, will he continue to commit to this concept?
Powerful Ring Behind May Jakarta Riots (Asia Sentinel): Considering the trouble Asia Sentinel got into over a previous story alleging corruption by the Democratic Party, you should probably take this one with a grain of salt, but it does posit some intriguingly conspiratorial (though unsubstantiated) theories about the riots that have been little discussed elsewhere.
Although no one is saying anything out loud in Jakarta, the reasons for attempting to overturn the election and end Joko Widodo’s presidency are thought to stem from an agreement signed days after Jokowi’s win was formalized between Indonesia and Switzerland for mutual legal assistance to seek to track money laundered out of the country and parked in Swiss banks. The Suharto family is believed to have hidden billions of dollars in Switzerland, as have a long list of other Indonesian business and political figures.
Other News and Notable Features
Heavy flooding affects tens of thousands in Sulawesi and Kalimantan
Heavy rainfall in the provinces of South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and East Kalimantan has led to severe flooding and landslides this month.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, the flooding has not caused any fatalities, but has displaced thousands of people, submerged hundreds of hectares of farmland and caused severe damage to buildings and infrastructure.
Ahmad Dhani convicted of hate speech, again
Celebrity musician and politician Ahmad Dhani was sentenced to one year in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty of spreading hate speech online for using the word “idiot” in a video blog to insult a group of people protesting against him.
It’s the second time the former Indonesian Idol judge has been found guilty of hate speech after he was sentenced to 18 months in January over a tweet insulting supporters of former Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.
Dhani was convicted under Indonesia’s draconian Law on Electronic Transactions and Information (UU ITE). Dhani’s conviction has led conservative politicians to echo the criticisms of rights activists who say UU ITE is a tool used to curtail criticism of the government and elites.
Recommended reads
When disaster hits, Indonesia’s Islamists are first to help (Associated Press)
Since its inception two decades ago, the Islamic Defender Front has pushed for Islamic law to govern the lives of Indonesia’s 230 million Muslims, aiming to correct what it sees as the errors of Indonesia’s 1945 constitution that established a secular state and religious freedom.
Indonesia’s Islamic Defenders Front is better known for vigilante actions against gays, Christmas decorations and prostitution, but over the past decade and a half it has repurposed its militia into a force that's as adept at searching for victims buried under earthquake rubble and distributing aid as it is at inspiring fear. (June 11)
Though often dismissed as a fringe group, it has recently scored unexpected and stunning political victories — only partly due to the growth of orthodox Middle Eastern Islam in Indonesia.
The group’s success also can be traced to an effort over more than 10 years to repurpose its militia into a force that’s as adept at helping the poor and searching for victims buried under earthquake rubble as it is at inspiring fear.
Frightened and displaced, Papua children haunted by conflict (Al Jazeera)
Under the pine trees, a 9-year-old girl is sitting on a blue tarpaulin, rubbing her feet.
For the past six months, she's been living in a church-run shelter after escaping the chaos that enveloped her village in Nduga, a remote highland region in the western part of the island of Papua.
"I was just sitting in my house and a 'bomb' dropped from the sky," she said, recalling the bang of what could have been a grenade. "I fled with my family," the young girl continued. "I saw houses were burning. We walked and slept like nomads in the jungle for three weeks."
She is one of an estimated 35,000 civilians, many of them children, forced from their homes in the remote territory's central highlands as the military attempted to root out Papuan independence fighters who attacked a road construction project in December last year, killing at least 17 people.
Abdul Somad: Ustadz jaman now (New Mandala)
In the space of two years, Abdul Somad Batubara, or Somad, has made an extraordinary transformation from a small-town lecturer to Indonesia’s most influential digital preacher. His preaching events can draw crowds of tens of thousands, and he is the highest-ranked digital preacher in Indonesia, with over 9.6 million Instagram followers.
What has recently dominated media coverage of Somad’s activities, however, has been the intrigue regarding his political allegiances. In July 2018, his name was floated as a potential vice-presidential candidate to support Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential race; Somad publicly rejected entering politics, saying that he wanted to focus on his dakwah (preaching) activities. Yet in the final days of the election campaign, Somad made a sudden endorsement of Prabowo, which observers say was critical in pushing conservative swing voters to Prabowo at the last minute.
Top Coconuts News
Social media use linked to greater risk of depression among adult Indonesians: study
Viral photo shows red light at Tangerang intersection lasting over 700 (!) seconds
Convicted murderer gets 3 more years for catfishing and sextorting policewoman from inside prison
Study shows Google searches for ‘marrying a cousin’ by Indonesians spike around Eid holiday