Will Learning to Swim + Becoming A One-Year-Old...

For anyone interested in seeing how the little fella is developing.

Manohara, Corruption, and Cemeteries

I have decided not to go with the traditional Manohara post heading. I think we are up to the mid-twenties or something, but who really cares about that.

There is one thing you have to acknowledge about Manohara and her handlers, they are master manipulators of the media. Manohara is often referred to as a teen sinetron star. Yet, her only foray into sinetron, or Indonesian soap operas, was axed after not fully completing a whole season. There are obviously diverse opinions on why that is, but it seems that the self-titled soap opera was not a big ratings winner once the novelty wore off.

In any event, this has not been a deterrent to Manohara or those handling her public image. She seems to have this uncanny knack of being everywhere that there is a photo opportunity. Most recently she turned up at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to support a demonstration by the "Red and White Troops" focusing on anti-corruption.

The thrust of the demonstration or protest was that corruption is bad and that convicted corruptors need to be socially stigmatized in life and in death. In death, meaning that the government should set aside special pieces of land to build cemeteries for corruptors. Personally, this seems a tad unnecessary, particularly for god-fearing people. Simply, if corruption is the evil many of us believe it to be then it would seem pretty obvious that God is unlikely to reward corruptors no matter where they are buried.

And, if there is no God then it does not really matter where corruptors commence their worm food journey, does it?

In the understatement of the day category Manohara piped up that she hope that Indonesia will one day be corruption free. Don't we all, Mano?

She went onto say that she hopes corruptors are severely punished and that where those corruptors are government employees that they are fired. This was topped off by a call for unity in the fight against corruption that would see the KPK, the Police, and the Office of the Attorney General reunited in their common cause, corruption eradication.

Although, the best part of the Manohara saga is how she refers to herself in the third person. It is almost like she is not there when she is talking about herself. One quote attributed to her is, “Mano is not afraid to get dark (from the sun). Mano could get in the car but any people out here have to stand the heat.”

I am wondering though, if Mano and her mother, Daisy Fajarina, are so concerned about law and order, then why did they not deal with the case against them in Malaysia which resulted in a rather large default judgment against them? Or why Daisy insists in not finalizing the legal issues pertaining to her alleged abuse of a domestic servant whilst living in France?

People who live in glass houses probably should not throw stones (or walk around naked :D).

Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto -- Deponeering...

The President of the Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY, is not scheduled to respond to the Team of Eight report and their investigation and recommendations regarding the police and prosecutors case against Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto until tonight. However, unwittingly or not, he has probably provided some insight into what his remarks are likely to be when he addressed the chief editors of 75 media organizations last night.

It is clear that the president feels that some of the issues that have arisen during the cause of these shenanigans have been nothing short of a personal affront to him and his family. Therefore, it is of little or no surprise that he wants this issue to go away, and go away fast. The longer it drags on the more damage it does to him and his legacy.

So, what did the president say exactly. Well, in a nutshell, he wants the issue resolved, and he wants it resolved out of court. His suggestion is that the police and the Office of the Attorney General use their deponeering (sometimes spelt deponering) to discontinue the investigation. Deponeering is a legacy of the Dutch colonial legal system and in its most simple terms means to discontinue any investigation in the public interest. In essence, the president is telling the police and the AGO to end this thing by just pulling up stumps and letting the issue die a fast but peaceful death.

Yet, it is worth noting that in his comments he seems to suggest that ultimately this is a call for the police and the AGO. If this is true, and he has not issued a direct order to the police and the AGO to deponeer this case, then it is a little bit disingenuous to suggest that he is becoming actively involved in the case. In fact, it is pretty clear that he is setting up the public for disappointment by saying that he will not be forced into overstepping his boundaries as president.

And, as far as he is concerned, if he was to order the police or the AGO to stop the investigation then he would be overstepping his authority and interfering in the proper domain of law enforcement. However, he had no qualms about involving himself by pushing through an interim law (perpu) to get three new commissioners appointed to the KPK. It would seem that the president is prepared to pick and choose how he exercises his authority in this case while hiding behind constitutional amendments that supposedly limit the president's authority in dealing with matters relevant and important to the development of democracy within the Republic of Indonesia.

The Team of Eight report also recommends that heads should role. So, it will be interesting to see whether in letting the police and the AGO decide whether he lets the Chief of Police and the Attorney General to continue to make a mockery of their respective institutions.

The idea that deponeering this case as an out-of-court settlement is fair is also a backhanded slap to the face of the KPK and to Chandra and Bibit specifically. This is particularly so if the deponeering does not result in a complete withdrawal of the charges and some degree of compensation for the damage the investigation has done to the reputations of Chandra and Bibit to date.

There would need to not only be a deponeering happening here, but a full and unequivocal apology to both the KPK commissioners for the harm done to them. Anything less would be a slap in the face. This would be particularly so considering that the Team of Eight report states that the police and the AGO do not have enough to sustain a charge of abuse of power or extortion.

So, it remains to be seen. What will the president do? Mr. President what will you do?

Megan Fox, Panties, Crotch Shot, and Criticism...

It would seem that there has been much criticism of Megan Fox lately.

But some of the more recent is that she is somewhat "slutty". However, Ms. Fox responds with the charge that the reason her detractors think and talk like that is because she is beautiful and smart.

Nevertheless, I will reserve my judgment for some other day. But, I do post these pictures for your viewing pleasure, and so that you may make a determination for yourself about whether the criticisms are warranted or not.

These photos are classed as outtakes from a recent photo shoot she did for the New York Times (NYT) Magazine.

Justice -- Indonesian Style?

Sometimes there are certain events that just leave you shaking your head and saying, "what were they thinking?"

This is one of those moments. In the grand scheme of all things Indonesian the theft of three pods of cacao beans would seemingly rank fairly lowly on the justice meter. This is especially so considering the current turmoil engulfing Indonesia's law enforcement agencies and government with respect to the KPK vs. the police and AGO spat, and the developing mess known as the Bank Century scandal. However, it seems that if you steal three beans then justice is swift, but if you attempt to bribe public officials and / or participate in the suspect use of IDR 6.7 trillion then justice might not be so swift.

Now this is a story of Minah, a 55-year-old woman, who lives in Banyumas, and who helped herself to three cacao bean pods from a local plantation. The total value of her huge haul was about IDR 1,500. To give my non-Indonesian readers an idea of value here, that is about USD 0.15 or AUD 0.18. This is hardly the crime of the century, particularly in the Indonesian context.

However, the plantation and the law enforcement agencies in the relevant area decided that this was the perfect crime for making an example and educating the public about criminal activity, and the need to stop crime in its tracks. I am sure that there are many others out there who would find it hard to believe that this is the crime to educate the masses about the ills of criminal activity.

The Law and Human Rights Minister has gone on the record to suggest that this case is an embarrassment to Indonesia and her law enforcement agencies. Specifically, the Minister believes that law enforcers need to embrace humanitarian principles. Indeed they do, but they should not also turn a blind eye to criminal activity. The question is really one of degree, and particularly how this event of theft could have been dealt with in a more appropriate matter.

Ultimately, the District Court at Purwokerto handed down a 45-day suspended sentence. The sentence stipulates that Minah cannot commit a similar criminal offense within three months from the date of conviction. If she does then she will be required to serve her 45-day sentence.

Probably what the Minister should be more concerned about is that Minah represented herself. The law requires that all people appearing before an Indonesian court be given the opportunity to have legal representation. If an individual is incapable of paying for that legal representation, then it is to be provided on a pro bono basis. And, perhaps even more concerning is the assertion that Minah was encouraged to plead guilty to the crime without legal representation present as the prosecutors stated that it would be easier for her and her treatment would be more lenient.

I do not have a problem with the idea of plea bargaining. However, this needs to be done in a manner that people who have no experience of the legal system are not rail-roaded into making confessions in order to see leniency.

A suspended 45-day sentence is a little harsh for what amounts to an IDR 1,500 theft. This could have been easily settled out of court by getting Minah to pay compensation to the value of the seeds taken. The reason she provided to the court as the motivation for her crime was that she wanted to plant the seeds in order to grow her own cacao plants. Assuming this were true, then the plantation firm missed a perfect opportunity to put together a community cacao development program where the company provides seeds to poor locals, and they could have made Minah the first recipient of that community initiative.

Yet, the infinite wisdom of the pencil-pushing corporate types was, "this is a perfect opportunity for us to educate the masses about small-scale theft!" And, I might add, the perfect opportunity to show the community that we are here only to rape and pillage your land, make large profits, and then leave you with nothing, which sounds a little bit like a public relations nightmare.

With cases like Minah's there is little wonder that Indonesians are generally not convinced that the justice system works fairly for all citizens.

Missing Pets...

For your viewing pleasure (sourced from here)

2012 Movie, Muslims, and Fatwas

When is a film just a film, and when does it become an unbridled insult of a religion, in this case Islam, that requires a fatwa (edict) to be issued warning Muslims not to watch it?

Well, this has seemingly been uncovered in Indonesia. It also highlights how little some Indonesian Muslim scholars follow the news and how narrowly they read in the case of the movie 2012.

2012 is the last year of the Mayan calendar. There have been doomsday predictions floating around for many centuries, Nostradamus has a few of them himself. However, ask a couple of Mayan scholars and experts, and you will soon come to the conclusion that the fact 2012 seems to be a cut-off date is not as evil as it seems with respect to the world ending.

In any event, it is a movie. Movies are designed to entertain, this movie has awesome special effects, and lacks somewhat on a real good plot (supposedly - I have not watched it myself, yet).

However, the very idea of a doomsday movie got the Malang (East Java) and Solo (Central Java) Chapters of the Indonesian Ulama Council (Majelis Ulema Indonesia / MUI) to thinking about how blasphemous the movie is because all good Muslims know that only Allah knows when the world will end. They forgot to add that part that all good rational Muslims also understand that this is a movie, it is not real. And, it is not likely to be the trigger for them to suddenly change their beliefs or to question Islam.

Nevertheless, these Ulamas or scholars thought that the best approach was to issue a fatwa banning Muslims in their constituencies from going to watch the film. To date this has been nothing more than a few talking heads looking for 15 minutes of fame and a few bylines in the papers (and of course the ridicule of most bloggers Muslim and non-Muslim alike). In any event, a fatwa seems unlikely.

It is worth noting that one of the key features of the movie is the scene that does not appear. The film does not show Mecca the destruction of Mecca or any other religious symbols of Islam. The director omitted the destruction of these things in order to avoid a fatwa being issued against the film.

It certainly is one of those shake your head moments where you find yourself giggling to yourself wondering if these gentlemen are for real. It would be better use of their time to be focusing on issues that have real meaning to people throughout Indonesia. For example, how about a fatwa on the prohibition of men marrying children? Or a fatwa on perils of corruption? There are so many more important things happening in Indonesia and the world compared to a Hollywood film exploring what doomsday might look like.

I have plans that go past 2012. Do you?

Chandra on Al Jazeera...

This is a brief video, but provides a little insight into what the issues are and the supposed proof that the police have.

Worth watching. It looks like the Daniel S. Lev Law Library in the background.

Enjoy!

A Pittance of Time -- Terry Kelly...

Something that we must all ponder no matter what our personal views might be about war. We must not forget the sacrifices of so many. Simply, two minutes is no time at all to spend thinking about those sacrifices and being grateful for those that made them.

It is indeed a pittance of time that one needs to take out to remember.

Lest we forget!

Enjoy.