Ariel: The Trial Continues...

The trial continues...

The latest hearing of the "Ariel Does Indonesian Celebrities" trial was a public one. The fact that the hearing was a public one was not all that surprising in the big scheme of things. In essence, the hearing was merely a formality in that the judges were handing down their decision on the objections (eksepsi) of the defense to the prosecution's case. From what I can tell, the objections were contained in an injunction application.

The scenic District Court of Bandung is the place where the nitty gritty of this trial is to be played out. The crux of this case is whether Ariel did anything to prevent the distribution of the sex tapes he allegedly shot with Luna Maya and Cut Tari, and if he did do anything whether it was enough to absolve him of responsibility for the eventual distribution of the sex tapes.

According to the presiding judge in this case, Singgih Budi Prakoso, there is enough to proceed with the calling of witnesses. It would seem that Singgih is leaning towards the arguments that Ariel did not do enough to prevent the distribution.

Obviously, Afrian Bonjol, the lawyer for Ariel, was of the view that Singgih did not give sufficient thought or legal reasoning when rejecting the objections. Nevertheless, Bonjol has stated that Ariel accepts the decision of the judge and is looking forward to proving his innocence as the trial goes forward.

The next hearings for this trial are set for 13 December 2010 and 16 December 2010.

Pedophilia vs. Distribution of Porn...

This must surely be an anomaly, right? Prosecutors are seeking to have Ariel jailed for 16 years for his alleged involvement in distributing a couple of home made sex tapes, yet the same office of public prosecutors are seeking a mere 6 years for a pedophile Muslim cleric. Go figure.

Does this mean that the distribution of pornography is a far more serious offense than pedophilia? Or is it that because Sheikh Puji has a legitimate argument that underage marriage is permissible in Islam thereby in some way mitigating the seriousness of the breach as it exists under state law?

These are serious questions for Indonesia to answer. It is high time that the president took the high moral ground and involved himself in these sorts of matters and made unequivocal statements as to what it means to be Indonesian. He should also stand up and say "sorry, but the sexual abuse of children is wrong! There is no excuse for it, there is nothing to mitigate the actions of a perpetrator, and anyone committing these crimes will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law". Hopefully, the full extent of the law is a little more than 6 years.

I have posted on Pujiono Cahyo Widiyanto and his marriage to Lutfiana Ulfa. A simple search of the blog will reveal those posts. Here are the essential facts as I recall them: he is 45-years-old and she is 12-years-old (at the time of the marriage), he owns and operates a Muslim Boarding school and uses that to call himself a cleric, he is wealthy, Lutfiana's parents had financial dealings and debts with him, he argues that God's law trumps the laws of man, and in any event she has reached puberty so in a medical sense she is no longer a child.

Perhaps prosecutors could use Article 5(3) of Law No. 1 of 1951 to prosecute the Sheikh as well?

Julia Perez and the New York Times...

For a political candidate with no political experience and a reputation for controversy Julia Perez has certainly quickly mastered the art of using the media. Here is a young woman who's primary claim to fame involves being in touch with her femininity, sexuality, and sexiness who has managed to captivate a nation and seemingly the world into a race in a small town in rural Java.

It is an interesting aside that she is running for elected office in the town that the current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, hails from, but that's all it is, an aside.

The more intriguing issues were an attempt to introduce "moral" standards that candidates would have to meet in order to be able to nominate and stand for public office. This was designed with Julia Perez (or Jupe) in mind. It has come and gone, and is now well and truly off the radar for the present time. It is probably a good thing for many others other than Julia Perez because there are quite a few politicians that would conceivably have moral issues that would otherwise exclude them from public office (no need to name names, is there?).

There are those that doubt the legitimacy of Perez's candidacy and her ability to do the job as they would rather focus on the presumption that Ms. Perez is being exploited by shrewd political operators in an effort to embarrass the president and to exacerbate the divide between Indonesians of a more moderate and pluralistic view and those who adopt more fundamental and hardline approaches.

However, no one seems to be canvassing the idea that the person doing the exploiting is Ms. Perez herself. Maybe it is Perez that is exploiting the opportunity and the offers to run for office are just the opportunity she has been looking for.

Let's face it; win, lose, or draw in the election, she has won on a bigger scale in that she will now have expanded her base into places she might otherwise never have been able to. How many seriously experienced Indonesian politicians can claim recent stories on CNN and now in the New York Times.

It should be remembered that even though she has little or no political experience of consequence, she does have plenty of social activism related experience as a spokesperson on a number of issues relating to sexual health, among others. This might in fact be more "experience" than some current politicians had when they were elected to office in the present term.

Democracy is a beautiful thing. This time it seems that democracy Jupe style is a lot better looking than what the opposition has to offer.

One final note (and an admission), I am glad that she is running because it is a good excuse to go through my collection of Jupe photos and post them in the relevant blog posts. Enjoy (all these photos are freely available on the Internet, you can search for them and more if you need to).

Ho hum...

Bird Flu Still A Problem in Indonesia?

It would seem that bird flu is still a problem in Indonesia. To be honest, I do the rounds of sites focusing on Indonesian news on an almost daily basis (OK, I lie, I do it on a daily basis).

One story that I have not seen for a while is bird flu related deaths. This is in rather stark contrast to when the bird flu scare first arrived in Indonesia and the fear that it would develop into a pandemic that could potential wipe out tens of thousands of Indonesians where death was an almost daily reporting occurrence.

So, it is an attention grabber when Antara puts out a news bite that highlights a health official in Central Java confirming that the recent death of a young girl was bird flu related. The girl dies in Sukuharjo. However, the health official noted that despite the confirmation from the lab in Jakarta that the young girl was positive for bird flu, the health department was still not sure as to where the girl was infected.

We still have family that live in Indonesia, a rural kampung outside of Java, so it is always a worry.

Indonesian Asylum-Seekers Sent Home...

A group of 62 Indonesian asylum-seekers who were intercepted north of Broome of the north-west coast of Australia back in September 2009 have been sent back to Indonesia. The 62 men were moved to the Christmas Island detention / refugee processing centre.

After processing their claims, it has been determined that none of them meet Australia's strict criteria for asylum. According to the Immigration Minister, Chris Evans, there was nothing that these individuals were claiming that would trigger any obligation incumbent on Australia with respect to protection. They also failed to meet any criteria to be classified as refugees under the Refugee Convention.

All of them claimed to hail from Java.

Once again, according to the minister, Australia does not issue protection visas or refugee status to those only seeking "better economic opportunities". The group 'voluntarily' returned to Indonesia.

Australia and Indonesia have a long history with respect to Indonesians seeking asylum or refugee status in Australia. The above cartoon reflects a little of that history, and can be found here.

A Question of Tea...

If any of you are wondering why I am still up and posting at 02.40 on a Sunday morning, then the answer is probably not anything like you may imagine. I am an old man and fell asleep during the afternoon hours and woke up about 22.00. I will get tired again and then log off and get more beauty sleep.

Onto the post. I drink green tea because it is good for you. The advertising tells me so. It is apparently full of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are the scavengers of free radicals. All this scientific analysis seems to me to equate to a really simple deal, drink more green tea and live longer.

Having knocked off three Belgian beers, which has confirmed that I am getting old as I think I have that happy little beer buzz thing going. Yes, it is sad, three beers and I feel the need to drink green tea flavoured with Moroccan mint. I have gotta say at this juncture that the tea tastes pretty good as well. I think I still prefer the beer but I could definitely get used to the tea.

Nevertheless, I have a question about the benefits of green tea. I tend to drink my tea without sugar, although sometimes a good dose of honey makes it into the mug. I am wondering though are the benefits of green tea countered by the amount of sugar one adds to the mug. I ask this because I ordered a green tea in a restaurant (yes there were a variety of teas on offer for the connoisseur of tea) and it came to the table in the Javan style. This is not a criticism of Javanese it is merely noting a tendency to eat and drink sweet things. It is kind of like Padang being the capital of spicy foods.

Simply, are any benefits that might be derived from green tea lost to excessive amounts of sugar which will probably lead to insulin intolerance and the onset of type 2 adult diabetes (what a cheery thought)? Maybe the answer is somewhere out there in cyber space, perhaps I should go and find out for myself.