Indian Students In Australia -- Not All Good News...

The idea that Indian students in Australia are always the victims of senseless crimes is one that does not always hold true. This is a case in point.

Two Indian citizens who are in Australia on student visas, Sukhjinder Singh and Amarjit Singh, have been charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl who was asleep on a train travelling from Melbourne to Sydney. This is a train I have travelled on frequently in my youth when I went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School as a boarder.

The girl awoke to find the two Indians attempting to restrain her. They apparently restrained her long enough to sexually assault her. Sometime during the assault the girl managed to break free and notify train staff of the assault. The train staff radioed ahead to police and police met the train at Goulburn railway station and arrested the two men.

Neither of the accused entered a plea at their hearing and both were remanded in custody until the matter is to be heard again on 16 September 2009. At this hearing both are expected to make applications for bail. It is likely that bail will be granted with strict conditions. I would be guessing those strict conditions would include surrendering travel documents and reporting to police at least several times a week.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that visitors to this fine land are not always victims of racial taunts and other types of vilification, but are in fact perpetrators of crimes against citizens of this fine land. Simply, those that take advantage of and abuse visitors to Australia, irrespective of what those visitors are doing here must be punished. Similarly, visitors who come to this fine land must understand that they too will be punished in accordance to the law.

Just ask Schapelle Corby what that means.

Transmigration in Indonesia -- Amended Regulatory Framework...

This is something that was written for en.hukumonline.com. The original can be found here.

The era of “reformasi” was the spur for many changes in Indonesia, and this includes the drive to amend the 1945 Constitution of the Republic. There have been four amendments to date. These amendments were enacted in the period between 1999 and 2002. Furthermore, the amendments have since required that other legislation (laws and regulations) also be amended to ensure that those pieces of legislation comply with the amended Constitution.

The previous law on Transmigration Law No. 15 of 1997, has been amended in order to comply with the Constitution as it now stands, particularly with respect to matters of regional autonomy.

The Amendment Bill on Law No. 15 of 1997 was passed by the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat / DPR) and is currently awaiting the signature of the president before it can be promulgated as law. The amendments focus almost exclusively on the decentralization of certain transmigration related authorities from the Central Government to the relevant Regional Governments. The amendments also endeavor to create a more conducive transmigration sector; conducive to investment.

Articles 7 – 9, 13 – 15, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32, 33, and 35 have been amended, as has the Title of Chapter VII. Additionally, Chapter IX and Article 34 have been repealed. Finally, three Chapters have been inserted and replace Chapter XI, specifically: Chapters XA, XB, and XC.

One of the most notable changes is that the authority to: determine, establish, and develop areas for transmigration has devolved to the relevant regional governments. This is notable for two reasons; this places greater administrative control on the regional governments themselves to be pro-active in providing support for the transmigration program and accountability.

In effect, the amendments would provide the opportunity to enterprising regional governments to either go it alone or enter into private / public partnerships to develop and exploit their regional potential by enhancing opportunities for transmigration. Whether this eventuates remains to be seen. Nevertheless, the potential for such a development is clearly available under the provisions of the amended law.

The new law provides for sanctions to be imposed on anyone who breaches the prevailing provisions. This is irrespective of whether the breach is conducted by a government official, a business entity, a transmigrant, or some other individual or group. Generally, the sanctions provide for:

• Oral / written warnings;
• Cancellation of licenses (for business entities), transmigrant status (for transmigrants), and / or the Minister of Labor and Transmigration (for groups of people); and
• Criminal sanctions. Not all of the amendments are significant in terms of size.

For example, the provisions of Chapter VIII have been amended to merely change one word; “guidance” (pembinaan) to “development” (pengembangan). Nevertheless, there is seemingly a significant difference in terms of what is required between providing guidance and facilitating development. Yet, the amendment is just one word.

The bill comes into immediate force once it is promulgated. Enactment requires the signature of the President. If the President fails to sign the bill into law then the bill will self-enact after 30 days pursuant to the 1945 Constitution.

Flag, Language, Emblem, and Anthem -- Indonesian Laws and Regulations...

This is something that I wrote for somewhere else. The original can be found at http://en.hukumonline.com.

In order to ensure that the things that make Indonesians, well Indonesians, are protected from misuse and abuse, the government has enacted Law No. 24 of 2009 on The Flag, the Language, the National Emblem, and the National Anthem. The law is comprehensive and extends over 74 articles and 29 pages. Each of the substantive areas are covered in detail and set out what is and what is not permissible with each of the national symbols.

The law contains all the expected provisions with respect to the flag. Generally, there are prohibitions against abusing the flag, for example by burning it, and against misusing it, for example by exploiting it commercially. Similarly, the national anthem is not to be exploited commercially either.

Also, the national anthem is not to be rearranged to different music. However, the intent here seems to be if the rearrangement is intended to belittle the national anthem or to make fun of Indonesia. This is interesting as recently an Indonesian musician sang a version of the national anthem that had been arranged to a different tune although he maintained the original words. This caused a stir for a while, but it seems to have died down now.

On the language front it is clear that there is an intention to raise the profile of Indonesian to a level that sees Indonesian operating as an international language. This is to be done in a phased, systematic, and ongoing manner, and is to be coordinated by the relevant language agency. All further regulations with respect to this plan are to be in the form of government regulations.

Nevertheless, the law is also explicit in stating that the government may facilitate Indonesians in the learning of foreign languages. The condition here is that there is an element of increasing Indonesia’s international competitiveness with the learning of any foreign language.

Generally, all education institutions are to use Indonesian as a medium of instruction. However, there are exceptions to this rule. Primarily, these exceptions are for international schools or education facilities where there are foreign students enrolled. Foreign languages can be taught in Indonesian schools. However, it would seem that Indonesian would still play a significant part in how the foreign language material is to be delivered.

Similarly to the discussion on the Bill on Language, which is still bouncing around the parliament, all speeches and presentations in international forums, whether here or abroad, when delivered by Indonesian official, must be in Indonesian. This would not conceivably prevent an English translation being provided to those in attendance.

The law provides for criminal sanctions of up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to IDR 500 million.

The implementing regulations required to give force to this law must be enacted within two years of the law being enacted.

The law has been in force since 9 July 2009.

The Creative Economy in Indonesia

This is something I wrote for somewhere else. The original of this can be found at http://en.hukumonline.com.

The creative economy is in essence a focus on the creative industries and the contributions that they may make to the overall national economy. The government has finally realized that the creative economy holds very real and very large potential for the future development of Indonesia. The benefits of Indonesia’s creative talents are yet to be fully exploited. Nevertheless, in an attempt to better exploit theses resources the President has issued a Presidential Instruction, No. 5 of 2009, which sets out what is expected and how the stipulated goals are to be achieved.

The instruction covers the period from 2009 – 2015. The overall program will be based on a Creative Economy Policy. Then, this will require a comprehensive annual program to be devised and then carried out for each year. The first of these, 2009, is to be Creative Indonesia Year. The instruction is addressed to all the relevant ministers, the heads of all the relevant institutions, and all of Indonesia’s governors, regents and mayors.

The creative industries that form the creative economy are listed at point two. These include, among others, the following:
• Advertising;
• Arts and antiques;
• Handicrafts;
• Fashion;
• Film, video, and photography;
• Architecture;
• Music;
• Performance art; and
• Radio and television.

The instruction also establishes a Coordination Team for the Development of the Creative Economy and who is on the team. Furthermore, the instruction establishes a Secretariat and relevant Working Groups that are to assist the Team in the performance of their tasked duties. The Team is required to report at least every six months. However, the president can demand reports at any time and the Team will be required to furnish the requested report.

In addition, any budget expenses required in the fulfillment of these provisions will be allocated to the central and regional government budgets as required.

The instruction includes a detailed Attachment. This attachment sets out all of the objectives of the creative economy and who is responsible for seeing certain aspects of the program carried out.

The Instruction has been in force since 5 August 2009.

Krisdayanti & Anang -- To Divorce After Ramadan

A brief update.

Maybe I will have to become a celebrity blogger and see if I can become the next Perez Hilton or something of Indonesian celebrity bloggers.

It seems that the "official" divorce proceedings to accompany the talaq divorce will happen after Ramadan. Krisdayanti, or KD as she is known, is going to file for divorce. Her husband, Anang Hermansyah, would rather they work through their problems and stay married. Nevertheless, it would appear that KD is committed to ending the marriage this time.

That said, the idea of reconciliation probably requires that both parties play their cards pretty close to their respective chests. Yet, Anang has been pretty open about the reason for the current round of trauma is KD's wandering eye and her seemingly insatiable appetite for affairs with other men. The rumor mill over the last few years has been in overdrive with spottings of KD in all sorts of locales, such as staying in a Singaporean hotel with another man.

Although, the clincher seems to have been the relaying the story of one of those affairs to Anang by one of his own children, Titania Aurelie Hermansyah, who is reported to have said that one day while she was swimming, mummy was in the bedroom with another man. Apparently, this particular affair took place in Bali. It is pretty hardcore taking your kids along for the ride when you are off having an affair.

According to Anang he knows who the Bali squeeze is, but he is not going to tell. Very noble of him. I am not sure that I would be so noble, particularly if the divorce becomes very messy where there are contentious issues such as the custody of children and the division of assets to contend with.

The best quotable moment though is this little pearler from Anang, “I already reminded KD many times: ‘Don’t play with firecrackers if you don’t want to get hurt’, but I guess she didn’t listen.”

The reason for the update is so that I could post another interesting KD or is it CD picture?

The Armless Man, The Bank, and A Thumbprint...

Sometimes one has to wonder about bureaucracy or perhaps bureaucrazy-ness and the truly bizarre results that can eventuate through the literal interpretation of rules. A Bank of America branch in Tanpa, Florida, refused to cash a check being presented by an armless man because he would not provide a thumbprint.

Now, it is not rocket science in terms of being able to work out that a man with prosthetic arms and hands is not going to be able to provide a thumbprint. So, the teller refused to cash the check unless either he came in with his wife or he opened an account. Unfortunately, the wife was not anywhere near by and the man did not want to open an account. He did however show two forms of identification. This, though, was not enough as the clincher here was that he had to, according to the bureaucratic rules of the Bank, provide a thumbprint. Simply, no thumbprint, no cash.

Bank of America has since issued a statement noting that the policy is sound and that the thumprint requirement is only for those that do not have an account with the bank. However, they also added that in the circumstances the Tanpa branch should probably have made an exception for the armless man.

The question now being posed is whether the rights of the armless man have been violated under the provisions of the US Disability Act. In general the act has been enacted to ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against. In very simple terms, demanding a thumbprint from an armless man would seemingly be a breach of the armless man's rights.

Energy Drinks To Be Banned In NSW?

One would think that the NSW Government has more pressing matters than the total banning of energy drinks, then again perhaps not. There has recently been a report that a number of Year 7 students suffered some side effects after drinking the energy drinks on their way to school. It is alleged that these energy drinks caused the youngsters to suffer a little dizziness and nausea.

The government's reaction, ban them! Unfortunately, for the NSW Government, these drinks are usually registered as a dietary supplement at the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). So, the simple conclusion is that under Australian law these drinks are legal despite the high levels of caffeine that they include.

The Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, has stated that the NSW Government is looking into ways that the drinks can be banned and removed from the shelves. This is not going to happen anytime soon. A much better approach would be to reclassify the beverages concerned so that they may only be purchased by individuals over 18 years of age. Therefore, anyone selling them would be required to ask for proof of age before making a sale.

The science suggests that some of these drinks contain 12 to 15 times the recommended level of caffeine in terms of intake. However, the fact that these drinks have been registered as dietary supplements would also suggest that they are not dangerous. Nevertheless, this clearly requires a caveat, namely: anything that is abused can be dangerous. Excessive drinking of alcohol is dangerous, for example.

To suggest that there is anecdotal evidence that energy drinks are dangerous is a little bit on the simplistic side, as there would be an equal amount of anecdotal evidence that suggests that even greater levels of consumption than those noted do not cause any specific side effects.

It will be interesting to see whether this blows over or whether the NSW Government goes all out in order to not only restrict the sale of energy drinks but to ban them altogether.

Krisdayanti & Anang -- Divorced Talaq Style

Krisdayanti is often referred to as an Indonesian Diva and some people might argue that she behaves like a spoilt little diva at times as well. Krisdayanti or KD as she is known was way more famous than her husband to be when she married Anang Hermansyah back in 1996. And, as it turns out she is still more famous than her husband now that they have divorced.

The divorce took place four days before Ramadan and has not been done through the religious court yet. This means that it was a talaq divorce and therefore done in accordance with Islamic principles that govern divorce.

There have been rumours that the marriage has been in trouble for years. It seems that Krisdayanti was the one with the alleged wandering eye. Maybe she was married too young and had not tested the waters enough, or sown enough wild oats or something. Anang was a little reserved on the reasons for the divorce and simply said that it was not his choice but his wife's choice, There were no qualms about targeting the kids to find out what they knew. In what is sure to be a bit of a scoop for SCTV, Titania Aurelie Hermansyah at a mere 11-years-old offerred up that one time while she was swimming mummy was in the bedroom with an East Timorese businessman. The only way this might have been more sensational was if young Titania was asked to describe the noises she heard coming from the bedroom or name the man!

However, this might go a long way to explaining why KD was in Timor Leste for the recent Independence Day celebrations and doing the jig with Ramos Horta and Xanana.

The Jakarta Globe is reporting that the divorce is going to be amicable with KD and Anang already having agreed to custody of the children and the division of their "billion-dollar" fortune (assets). I have gotta say, I always knew that KD was popular and Anang had some success, but a billion dollars is a lot of money. Even on a 50-50 split that makes each of them worth at least 500 million dollars each.

People Smuggling -- Indonesia...

The Cobra seems destined for jail. Ali Cobra who also goes by the aliases Ali Kobra, Labasa Ali, Ali Basa, and Sultan Ali has been characterized as one of the main men of the people smuggling scene in Indonesia. Ali Cobra was arrested back in May as part of a joint Indonesian and Australian operation. The charges are not related to the people smuggling activities as the laws are not available in Indonesia.

The prosecutors trying the case in the Kupang District Court have asked for a four year prison sentence and a IDR 15 million fine. Both of these numbers seem a little on the light side considering the crimes committed. However, when considered in light of the charges leveled at the Cobra, then they are within the expected scope. This is because the charges relate to assisting in the mass break out of asylum seekers from a detention center in West Timor and then facilitating them onto a boat headed for Australia.

The boat eventually sank and nine asylum seekers drowned.

Interestingly, Cobra has not employed a lawyer. He has asked the court for leniency when it sentences him on 9 September 2009 as he has a wife and children living in Sulawesi who need him.