Senin, 06 Juli 2009

Five Facts on Indonesian President Yudhoyono

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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is favourite to win a second term in office in July, helped by the resilient performance of Southeast Asia's largest economy during the global crisis.

The poll line-up was finalised after a deadline to register expired on Saturday and Yudhoyono, whose running mate is central bank governor Boediono, faces a challenge from his vice president, Jusuf Kalla, and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Here are five facts about Yudhoyono.

  • Yudhoyono, 59, was born in Pacitan, East Java. He was brought up in a devout Muslim household and his father was a soldier who encouraged his military ambitions. He graduated top of class in 1973 at the military academy. The former general went on to serve in the army for 27 years under former strongman President Suharto. While contemporaries suffered from charges of human rights violations, Yudhoyono was widely seen as clean.
  • In addition to his military experience, Yudhoyono has a strong academic background and completed a masters in management in the United States in 1991. He also has a doctorate in agricultural economics, and has authored a number of books.
  • Despite climbing up the military ladder, his public prominence came only after Suharto was pressured from office in 1998. He became oil minister and as security minister under former President Megawati was credited with tackling the threat posed by militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI). In 2004, he ran against Megawati in Indonesia's first direct elections for president -- and won, with just over 60 percent of the vote. He is now Indonesia's longest-serving president since the ouster of Suharto, and has presided over one of its best economic performances.
  • His well-known penchant for a deliberate, cautious and slow approach -- others call it indecisiveness -- has been criticised and some say he often relied too much on his vice president, Kalla, to make tough decisions in his first term. But others argue it is part of his style to let his senior people be in front on policy, but when the crunch comes and his active support is critical, as in selling a 2005 peace deal in Aceh to the public and parliament, he gives it.
  • He has pressed hard on corruption and during his term the anti-corruption commission has arrested some high-profile officials. Although graft remains a big problem, the progress under his administration has meant the issue has barely been brought up by his opponents. His government also reached an important peace agreement in troubled Aceh province, on the tip of Sumatra, as well as in Poso, Central Sulawesi. Yudhoyono is well ahead of his rivals in the opinion polls with 67 percent saying they would vote for him as president, against 12 percent for Megawati and 2 percent for Kalla in a recent poll.

Indonesia Legal System Under Fire Over E-mail Case

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An Indonesian mother who was fined, jailed and put on trial after sending an e-mail to friends complaining about her treatment in a private hospital, has become a rallying point for reform of the country's legal system.

Indonesia's unpredictable legal system is one of the main deterrents to much needed investment.

While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election next month, has pushed through some reforms and made inroads tackling graft in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, reform of the legal system has lagged.

The defamation case against Prita Mulyasari has sparked a public uproar over a perception that she has been miserably treated by a legal system that often favors the rich and well-connected in the world's fourth-most populous country.

"It's a very important case because it has to do with freedom of speech, freedom of expression," said Todung Mulya Lubis, a prominent Indonesian lawyer and rights campaigner.

Concerns over the case have also become entwined in campaigning for a presidential election on July 8.

"The application of the law has to be fair and transparent," Yudhoyono, who is currently favorite to win a new term, told a televised presidential debate last week.

A survey by Indonesia's anti-corruption agency in February found the judiciary was the most graft-prone public institution in the country, illustrated by cases where officials have been caught red-handed with suitcases stuffed with cash.

The legal system is also notoriously complex. In addition to codes dating from the Dutch colonial era, Indonesia has passed a blizzard of new local laws to allow greater decentralization.

Foreign companies have frequently become ensnared in controversial legal battles in Indonesia's courts.

A local unit of Canada's Manulife Financial Corp was declared bankrupt by an Indonesian court in 2002, despite being solvent. The Supreme Court later overturned that ruling.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court reversed a 1 trillion rupiah ($97.13 million) libel ruling against Time magazine over an article alleging that Suharto and his family had amassed a $15 billion fortune.

The lengthy legal battle against the publication, owned by Time Warner Inc, was seen as a key test of the country's legal system and freedom of speech.

FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN

The Mulyasari case has struck a particular chord, with thousands of Indonesians signing pledges of support for her on sites such as Facebook.

The 32-year-old mother, who wears a head veil, comes across as an ordinary, middle-income mom doing her best to raise two young children in mainly Muslim Indonesia. She had accused Omni International Hospital of being unprofessional in its treatment of her, for what turned out to be mumps.

Her private e-mail to friends was later circulated on other internet sites, prompting the hospital to file a defamation case accusing her of damaging its doctors' reputation.

Mulyasari was initially fined $30,000 in a civil case and then jailed for three weeks ahead of a criminal case under a controversial information law passed in 2008 that means she could face up to six years in jail for spreading false news online.

Hadi Furqon, an official in Omni's legal department, declined to comment on the case since a legal process was ongoing.

The Electronic Information and Transactions Law is not the only recently passed law to attract criticism over how it may be applied. An anti-pornography bill, also passed last year, faced opposition over concerns it discriminates against minorities.

The huge public backlash over the Mulyasari case prompted all three presidential candidates to express support for her plight.

Yudhoyono summoned the attorney general to urge her release. Opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri visited a tearful Mulyasari in jail, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also running for president, lobbied the police chief.

Aided by the attention, Mulyasari was freed from jail and put under "city arrest," although the criminal case continues.

Robert C. La Mont, Jakarta-based legal reform director at the Asia Foundation, said despite progress, real change in the legal system could perhaps take 10 years, given the amount of corruption, lack of central controls and need for legal reform.

"The last few years have seen ongoing improvements but not enough to change the citizen's or industry's perceptions because the problems are so overwhelming," he said

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