TUESDAY JUNE 12, 2018 | SIX
TU SIXTEEN
CONSERVATION
Project gauges health
of Bali’s ocean p3
Push comes to shove: Four men push a stalled car on the Salatiga-Kartasura toll road in Central Java on Monday. The driver was leaving
Jakarta to return to his hometown for Idul Fitri.
IDUL FITRI
Travelers see less traffic, arrive home early
Arya Dipa, Apriadi Gunawan
and Suherdjoko
BANDUNG/MEDAN/SEMARANG
Bekasi resident Iwan Barata,
50, can finally take a break after
a six hours of driving from Beka-
si to his hometown of Kuningan,
both in West Java.
“I actually had two breaks
[throughout the trip],” he told
The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He had come home to celebrate
Idul Fitri, which is expected to
start on Friday.
Iwan makes the long and ardu-
ous journey home for the two-day
holiday every year to see his fam-
ily and acknowledged that this
year’s trip had been less tiresome
than those in past years.
“We had to wait in line to en-
ter a rest area at KM68, at around
the time to break the fast, but oth-
erwise we would have arrived [in
Kuningan] even earlier,” he said,
adding that the trip used to take
him more than eight hours.
Iwan, who stayed on the Ciko-
po-Palimanan (Cipali) toll road
throughout the journey, attribut-
ed the shorter travel time to a lon-
ger toll road and better toll-road
management.
CURRENCY
Pressures ease on rupiah ahead of Fed meeting
Anton Hermansyah
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
After depreciating in recent
weeks, the rupiah is projected to
enter a calmer phase ahead of the
Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) meeting on Wednesday,
thanks to preemptive measures
in the domestic market and room
for an aggressive rate hike in the
United States.
Global markets are prepared
for another hike in the Federal
Reserve’s fund rate during the up-
coming meeting as the Fed had
previously shown signs of going
through with its plan, said Bank
Central Asia (BCA) chief econo-
mist David Sumual.
Moreover, David said, Bank In-
donesia (BI) had taken preemp-
tive measures by increasing its
benchmark interest rate — the
seven-day reverse repo rate — by
25 basis points (bps) at an addi-
tional board of governors’ meet-
ing on May 30.
“The market has accommodat-
ed the [FOMC] meeting on June
13, so we just need to wait for the
next hike,” he said on Monday. “If
the Fed plans to raise its rate four
times this year, there should be
RAMADHAN
IN JAKARTA
Imsak Subuh Maghrib
Tuesday 04:28 04:38 17:49
Wednesday 04:29 04:39 17:49
XT
X TE
EEEN PAGES VOL. 36 NO. 038 | SINGLE C
The 116-kilometer Cipali toll
road — part of the 653-km Trans-
Java toll road connecting Merak,
Banten and Banyuwangi, in East
Java — links the Jakarta-Cikampek
and Palimanan-Kanci toll roads.
Cipali began operating in 2015.
Meanwhile, 38-year-old Rinda
Sirait chose to fly home to Suraba-
ya in East Java from Bandung,
West Java, last week.
“Because I left earlier, the tick-
et wasn’t as expensive [as it would
be now],” said Rinda.
The government extended the
Idul Fitri holiday period from
seven to 10 days this year, lasting
from Monday through Wednes-
day next week, aiming to distrib-
ute the exodus.
The usually busy route through
Nagreg in West Java, the main ac-
cess point to popular exodus des-
tinations in the province, such as
Garut and Tasikmalaya, as cities
in the souther part of Central Java,
was relatively quiet on Monday.
“Most travelers left [for their
hometowns] last weekend,”
Bandung Resort Police chief Adj.
Sr. Comm. Indra Hermawan said
in Nagreg on Sunday.
According to state-owned toll
road operator PT Jasa Marga, as
one hike in September alongside
[another planned increase in]
December.”
However, the Fed was initial-
ly projected to refrain from ag-
gressively increasing its rate this
year as other major economies,
such as the Eurozone and Japan,
had yet to tighten their monetary
policies, said Adrian Panggabean,
chief economist at CIMB Niaga.
Another reason, Adrian said,
was the rising corporate debt in
the US, which had almost reached
275 percent of its gross domestic
product (GDP).
“Raising the interest rate too
high will likely hit overlever-
aged US corporations, poten-
tially creating new problems. To
add, the level of IOU — the pub-
lic debt plus pension liabilities —
in the US is now at 11 times GDP,”
he said.
The US media has widely re-
ported about the possibility of a
reduction in the number of secu-
rities the Fed currently owned.
In 2017, the Fed announced a bal-
ance sheet normalization plan to
reduce its securities from US$4.5
trillion to $2.5 trillion, but it was
projected to end up with a lev-
el higher than the he lat-
Inside
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MOVIE
‘Incredibles 2’: A worthy sequel to an
exemplary superhero family film p10
of Sunday, the number of vehicles
leaving Jakarta via the Cikarang
toll gate increased by 50.5 percent
from the daily average of 58,851
vehicles. Meanwhile, the num-
ber of motorcycles crossing over
from Java to Sumatra by ferry has
almost tripled from normal days.
According to Wisnu Budi, a
spokesman for Kualanamu Inter-
national Airport in North Suma-
tra, the number of air passengers
had increased since Sunday and
would likely continue to rise until
Wednesday.
“This year, we might see an 8
to 9 percent surge [in the number
of passengers] from last year,” he
said, adding that the airport had
accommodated 152 extra flights
from six airlines for Idul Fitri.
Meanwhile, travelers have also
begun making their way through
entry points to Central Java.
People coming from Jakarta and
Kalimantan as part of a free exodus
program sponsored by the govern-
ment and the private sector have
gradually started arriving by ship
at Tanjung Meas Port in Semarang.
Ahmad Wahid, head of Tan-
jung Emas’ harbor master’s office
(KSOP), said 17 vessels had been
deployed to accommodate the
ter figure due to a slower rate of
reduction.
Currently, the Fed holds $4.19
trillion in securities, while in No-
vember 2016 and November 2015,
they stood at $4.22 trillion and
$4.24 trillion, respectively.
However, as US President Don-
ald Trump aimed to boost the fis-
cal policy by issuing more debts,
the Fed could not easily execute
its balance sheet normalization
plan, said Adrian of CIMB Niaga.
“Trump’s fiscal boost program
also requires treasury financing
and the Fed may have to absorb
a treasury issuance to finance a
ballooning budget deficit, hence
diluting any attempt to unwind
its own balance sheet. It means a
less-aggressive balance sheet un-
winding,” he said.
Eric Sugandi, an economic ob-
server at the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) Institute, said if the
Fed became less aggressive in its
balance sheet normalization pol-
icy, there would be a smaller US
treasury supply in the market.
This would lead to higher price
and a lower yield, which would
discourage global investors and
prompt them to pull their funds
out of emerging markets.
o rarily to seek short-term gains.
BUSINESS | p8
B
BI
tto hold more rupiah
WORLD | p16
W attends a luncheon with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Thailand becoming ‘garbage bin of world’
T at the Istana in Singapore on Monday.
JP/Suherdjoko
free trips.
Disembarking passengers were
welcomed by officers from state-
owned port management firm PT
Pelindo III and offered free bus
rides from to their hometowns in
Central Java and Yogyakarta.
“I will go to Wonosobo [Central
Java] with my wife and children.
We are traveling from Sampit
[Central Kalimantan],” said Hari-
yadi, a passenger.
He had arrived on Sunday
along with some 1,260 passengers
and 572 motorcycles.
State-owned seaport opera-
tor PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry has
also seen an increase in the num-
ber of people traveling between
Ketapang Harbor in Banyuwangi,
East Java, and Gilimanuk in Bali.
It has recorded 23,252 passen-
gers so far this year, an increase
from 17,973 during Idul Fitri in
2017. To tackle the holiday rush,
the company had prepared 56
vessels, according to Elvy Yosa,
general manager of the ASDP’s
Ketapan-Gilimanuk branch.
“Travelers should not be wor-
ried,” she said.
AMAN ROCHMAN IN BANYUWANGI
CONTRIBUTED TO THE STORY
“The market’s anticipation of
a Fed fund rate hike, combined
with a softer balance sheet nor-
malization, will ease pressures on
the rupiah,” he said.
Indonesia is entering an ex-
tended Idul Fitri holiday, with the
stock, bond and money markets
putting their trading activities on
hold from June 11 to 19.
In the last trading session on
Friday, the rupiah appreciated
slightly against the greenback
by 0.12 percent to Rp 13,923 per
US dollar. Meanwhile, the Ja-
karta Composite Index (JCI) —
the main gauge of the Indonesia
Stock Exchange (IDX) — correct-
ed by 1.85 percent to 5,993.63.
Investors mainly sold big bank
stocks, such as those of Bank
Mandiri and Bank Negara Indo-
nesia (BNI), as their prices de-
creased by 5.76 percent and 4.73
percent respectively.
Friday’s trading also recorded
Rp 42.1 billion (US$3.01 million)
in net sales by foreign investors.
Narada Aset Manajemen analyst
Kiswoyo Adi Joe said foreign sell-
ing was common ahead of a long
break as investors shifted their
funds to other economies tempo-
Check our website for more news
SPECIAL REPORT
Bantar Gebang children
find hope in schooling p14
Trump
upbeat
ahead
of summit
Steve Holland and
Christophe Van der Perre
REUTERS/SINGAPORE
United States President Don-
ald Trump said on Monday his
historic summit with North Kore-
an leader Kim Jong Un in Singa-
pore could “work out very nicely”
as officials from both countries
sought to narrow differences on
how to end a nuclear stand-off on
the Korean peninsula.
Kim, one of the world’s most
reclusive leaders, made an eve-
ning tour of sites on Singapore’s
waterfront, on the eve of the sum-
mit that is due to get underway
on Tuesday morning at a nearby
resort island.
While Trump was optimistic
about prospects for the summit
between the old foes, US Secre-
tary of State Mike Pompeo inject-
ed a note of caution ahead of the
first-ever meeting of sitting US
and North Korean leaders, saying
it remained to be seen whether
Kim was sincere about his will-
ingness to denuclearize.
Officials from the two sides
held last-minute talks aimed
at laying the groundwork for a
meeting that was almost unthink-
able just months ago when the
two leaders were exchanging in-
sults and threats that raised fears
of war.
But after a flurry of diplomat-
ic overtures eased tension in re-
cent months, the two leaders are
now headed for a history-mak-
ing handshake that US officials
hope could eventually lead to the
dismantling of a North Korean
nuclear program that threatens
the US.
Offering a preview to report-
ers, Pompeo said it could provide
“an unprecedented opportunity
to change the trajectory of our
relationship and bring peace and
prosperity” to North Korea.
However, he played down
the possibility of a quick break-
through and said the summit
should set the framework for “the
hard work that will follow”, insist-
ing that North Korea had to move
toward complete, verifiable and
irreversible denuclearization.
North Korea, though, has
shown little appetite for surren-
dering nuclear weapons it consid-
ers vital to the survival of Kim’s
dynastic rule.
Sanctions on North Korea
would remain in place until that
had happened, Pompeo said. “If
diplomacy does not move in the
right direction [...] those mea-
sures will increase.”
“North Korea has previously
confirmed to us its willingness to
denuclearize and we are eager to
see if those words prove sincere,”
he said.
The White House later said dis-
cussions with North Korea had
moved “more quickly than ex-
pected” and Trump would leave
Singapore on Tuesday night, after
the summit. He had earlier been
Reuters/Ministry of Communications and Information, Singapore
All I can eat: US President Donald Trump holds up a menu as he
US, N. Korea teams
hold talks to narrow
differences
Kim visits Singapore’s
waterfront sites on
evening tour
scheduled to leave on Wednesday.
Kim is due to leave on Tuesday
afternoon, a source involved in
the planning of his visit, said on
Sunday.
Kim was not believed to have
left his hotel since a meeting with
Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong soon after his arrival
in the city on Sunday, but he ven-
tured out on Monday evening.
The Swiss-educated leader,
who is believed to be 34, has not
left his isolated country since tak-
ing office in 2011 other than to
visit China and the South Korean
side of the border Demilitarized
Zone, which separates the two
Koreas.
His first stop was a waterfront
park with futuristic installations,
Gardens by the Bay, which boasts
the largest glass greenhouse and
tallest indoor waterfall in the
world.
He joined Singapore’s foreign
minister, Vivian Balakrishnan,
who took a selfie, before stopping
at the Marina Bay Sands hotel,
which resembles a giant surfboard
perched on three tall columns, for
a look out over the bright lights of
the city from its rooftop garden
and swimming pool.
On the way back to his hotel,
Kim walked along a promenade
near the Merlion, a giant statue,
and fountain, of a mythical crea-
ture, half lion, half fish — Singa-
pore’s unofficial mascot.
The rare public appearance of
Kim, waving and smiling to on-
lookers, adds to the more affable
image of the young leader that
has emerged since his summit in
April with South Korean leader
Moon Jae-in.
Just a few months ago, Kim
was an international pariah ac-
cused of ordering the killing of his
uncle, a half-brother and scores of
officials suspected of disloyalty.
The White House said Trump
would hold a one-on-one meet-
ing with Kim on Tuesday on the
small island of Sentosa. The two
will later be joined by officials and
have lunch together.
Many experts on North Ko-
rea, one of the most insular and
unpredictable countries in the
world, remain skeptical Kim will
ever completely abandon nuclear
weapons. They believe Kim’s en-
gagement is aimed at getting the
US to ease the crippling sanctions
that have squeezed the impover-
ished country.
Kelsey Davenport, director for
Nonproliferation Policy at the
Arms Control Association, said
there were signs that the gaps be-
tween the two sides were narrow-
ing but there was also risk.
2 | HEADLINES TUESDAY June 12, 2018

Idul Fitri exodus: A test of connectivity

ta (Central Java) and Ngawi-Mo- few days ago, an unknown per- year’s mark of around 16,000. commodate 7 million.

A
round 32 million people
have left Jakarta and other
big cities across the coun-
try for their hometowns, mostly
in East, West and Central Java, as
well as Yogyakarta. Their aim is
to arrive home before Idul Fitri,
which is likely to fall on Friday.
For many Muslims, perform-
ing the Idul Fitri prayer with close
family members is a tradition that
has been preserved for genera-
tions. The morning prayer, nor-
mally held on an open field, will
be followed by a ritual, oftentimes
filled with emotion, in which chil-
dren ask for forgiveness from par-
ents and elders.
It has been an annual routine
for most Muslims but there are
some differences this year, partic-
ularly the way they travel to be re-
united with their families.
The 1,100-kilometer trans-Java
toll road connecting Java’s west-
ern and eastern tips is nearly
completed, with several sections
— Pemalang-Batang-Semarang
(Central Java), Salatiga-Surakar-
jokerto (East Java) — still under
construction.
Toll road operator PT Jasa Mar-
ga has prepared the tol fungsional
(uncompleted toll road) on those
routes to facilitate the holiday
makers’ journeys. The state com-
pany estimated that 1.4 million
cars would leave Jakarta, starting
last Friday, for the homecoming
trip, thanks to the government’s
decision to extend the holiday for
civil servants to 10 days.
Because of the extended holi-
day, the police predicted that con-
gestion along the toll road would
be bearable. One of the causes of
gridlock has always been unman-
aged traffic entering and leaving
rest areas along the toll road.
Congestion occurred on the
unfinished toll road section con-
necting Salatiga and Surakarta
on Sunday due to steep climbs
that some drivers were unable to
deal with. In a tweet, the Central
Java Transportation Agency called
on motorists driving cars be-
COMMENTARY
Primastuti
Handayani
THE JAKARTA POST/
JAKARTA
low 1,000 cc to exit in Salatiga to
avoid the difficult section, or else
they would get stuck in the mid-
dle of the steep slope and cause
congestion.
Both the police and the govern-
ment have learned a valuable les-
son from the tragedy that marred
the 2016 Idul Fitri exodus. Then,
12 travelers died from exhaus-
tion after cars and buses carrying
them were gridlocked for hours
near the bottlenecked Brebes exit
gate in Central Java.
A deadly accident has already
marked the exodus this year. A
son threw rocks at passing cars
on kilometer-6 of the Jakarta-Ci-
kampek toll road, killing one. The
police immediately hunted down
the perpetrator and safeguarded
all pedestrian bridges to avoid the
incident from recurring.
The police have also warned
travelers against riding motor-
bikes, especially when they have
children and overloaded cargo.
The Transportation Ministry is
deploying 16 vessels belonging to
state shipping company PT Pelni
to transport travelers and their
motorbikes for free.
Last Saturday, a Dobonsolo ves-
sel, carrying 1,300 passengers
and 700 motorcycles, left Tan-
jung Priok in Jakarta and arrived
at Tanjung Mas port in Semarang
on Sunday.
Traveling by ship is apparently
still less popular than taking trains.
State-owned PT KAI has provided
free rides for motorcycles, with
19,136 being transported by train.
The number is higher than last
As part of the government’s
support for the Idul Fitri exodus,
President Joko “Jokowi” Wido-
do inaugurated Kertajati Inter-
national Airport in Majalengka,
West Java, and the expanded Ah-
mad Yani International Airport in
Semarang, Central Java.
Kertajati is a boost for passen-
gers from Cikarang, Karawang
and Purwakarta, which have been
hit the hardest by traffic conges-
tion as a result of the ongoing
construction of the light rapid
transit (LRT) and Jakarta-Cikam-
pek elevated toll road — if they
have to fly from Halim Perdan-
akusuma International Airport
in East Jakarta. They can reach
Kertajati quicker using the Cipali
toll road.
The expansion of the Ahmad
Yani passenger terminal has given
regular travelers some relief. Pre-
viously, the old airport could only
accommodate 800,000 passen-
gers per year, but now, the Presi-
dent expects, the airport to ac-
On top of all the routine trans-
portation problems that happen
every year, the police remain vig-
ilant of potential terror threats
during the Idul Fitri holidays. The
recent terror attacks in Suraba-
ya and other cities only prove
that extremist groups remain
at large.
Jokowi is proud of the accelera-
tion of infrastructure projects es-
pecially at airports, seaports and
toll roads. He repeatedly said in-
frastructure projects were impor-
tant to help the national economy
grow. With over 17,000 islands,
connectivity is a daunting chal-
lenge for Indonesia.
Jokowi’s adversaries and hat-
ers have criticized the airport and
toll road construction, saying the
projects were part of a blanket
campaign for next year’s election.
Regardless of the negative sen-
timents, Jokowi has answered his
critics with something that Indo-
nesians can enjoy: connectivity
and quicker traveling time.

Arrest of mayor Holiday rush

celebrated in E. Java
Kharishar Kahfi
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Anticorruption activists and
supporters of the Corruption
Eradication Commission (KPK)
are not the only people lauding
the antigraft body’s investigation
into regional leaders.
The recent arrest of East Java’s
Blitar mayor, Muhammad Sa-
manhudi Anwar, has turned into a
campaign against corruption that
continues to shadow local admin-
istrations across the country.
Blitar-born Irma Hidayana,
who now resides in the United
States, heard the news that the
KPK had detained Samanhudi
from friends and relatives in Ja-
karta on Thursday.
She immediately contacted her
friends in Kios Ojo Keos, a café in
Jakarta she used to manage be-
fore moving to the US, to hand out
free iced coffees to customers to
celebrate the arrest.
She donated 10 cups to custom-
ers who uttered the words Blitar
ojo keos (Blitar is not doomed to
chaos).
The initiative taken by Irma,
who is a former anticorruption
activist, may seem small. How-
ever, one of her aims is to encour-
age people not to be afraid to raise
their voices when it comes to
corruption.
Her idea received a warm re-
sponse from customers, with at
least seven out of 10 cups being
handed out.
“We also received word that
more people will donate iced cof-
fees,” said café staff member Mu-
JAKARTA BAY
Anies forms agency on reclamation project
Callistasia Anggun Wijaya
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
The Jakarta administration’s
decision to form a special agency
that would manage reclamation
activities in the Jakarta Bay, was
promptly met with criticism for
contradicting Jakarta Governor
Anies Baswedan’s promise to stop
the multimillion dollar project.
Anies issued on June 4 Guber-
natorial Regulation No. 58/2018
on the establishment of a coordi-
nation body to manage the recla-
mation project in North Jakarta’s
coastal area.
The agency, which was formed
in accordance with Presidential
Decree No. 52/1995 on the recla-
mation of North Jakarta’s coast-
al area, is in charge of coordinat-
ing, planning, implementing and
monitoring the project.
Led by the city secretary, the
agency will also be responsible
for managing reclaimed islets and
giving recommendations about
the project to the governor.
Agency members include,
among others, heads of the Jakar-
ta Development Planning Board
(Bappeda), the Jakarta Spatial
Planning Agency and the Invest-
ment and One-Stop Integrated
Service Agency.
Last Thursday, after leading an
operation to seal 932 buildings
WEATHER FORECAST: JUNE 12, 2018
Sunny Banda Aceh
Rainy 23 - 35 °C
Medan
Cloudy
23 - 34 °C
Pekanbaru
Source:
Meteorology, Climatology
And Geophysics Agency
25 - 32 °C
Antara
Muhammad Samanhudi Anwar
Cafe in Jakarta hand out
free coffee to encourage
people to report about
corruption
Initiative came after KPK
detained Blitar mayor
hammad Asranur on Sunday. “We
are planning to do this again if the
KPK makes more arrests in the
future.”
Samanhudi is one of a number
of local leaders to be named sus-
pects over the past couple of days.
He was arrested by the KPK after
he turned himself in on Friday
night after being named a graft
suspect a day earlier.
The investigation into Saman-
hudi started when KPK investi-
gators caught businessman Susilo
Prabowo, along with other indi-
viduals, allegedly giving Rp 1.5 bil-
lion (US$107,625) as a kickback
for Samanhudi after the mayor
allegedly helped him win a con-
struction project bid in the city.
“It’s a small syukuran [gather-
ing to express gratitude to God]
to express our gratitude and relief
[for the arrest] since the regent
that lacked construction permits
(IMB) on Islet D, Anies said the
special agency should be formed
to comply with Presidential De-
cree No. 52/1995 and related Ja-
karta regulations.
The presidential decree in-
structed the administration to
form special bodies to control and
run the reclamation project.
“We will comply with prevail-
ing regulations,” Anies said.
The Save Jakarta Bay Coalition
(KSTJ) has slammed Anies for
forming the agency.
“The way we see it, the city ad-
ministration formed the agency
to continue the reclamation proj-
ect. The sealing of buildings on
Islet D meant nothing as we be-
lieve the city administration will
legalize the buildings through the
agency,” said KSTJ member Tigor
Hutapea, who is also deputy head
of the People’s Coalition for Fish-
eries Justice (KIARA).
Tigor claimed that Presidential
Decree No. 52/1995 instructed
the establishment of special agen-
cies to pave the way for reclama-
tion activities.
In 2009, the city administra-
tion under former Jakarta gov-
ernor Fauzi Bowo formed a tem-
porary agency to manage the
reclamation project.
The team was disbanded by
former governor Djarot Saiful Hi-
Batam Semarang
25 - 31 °C 25 - 33 °C
Jakarta Yogyakarta
25 - 32 °C 22 - 32 °C
Bandung Surabaya
20 - 30 °C 26 - 33 °C
was known for allegedly intimi-
dating [his] fellow government
employees and residents when he
was in office,” Irma said.
Local activists have long sus-
pected him of being involved
in a number of alleged corrupt
practices.
“There were times when roads,
bridges and other infrastructure
assets were rebuilt or demolished
despite being in good condition.
We suspected the administration
had problems in spending the
budget accordingly,” Blitar-based
antigraft campaigner Moham-
mad Trianto said.
Dozens of activists from other
cities in East Java held a gather-
ing on Sunday afternoon to cele-
brate the arrest, Trianto said.
This will not be the first time
that such a celebration has taken
place.
Last September in North Su-
matra’s Batu Bara regency, a
number of residents and local
activists held a syukuran follow-
ing the arrest of their regent, OK
Arya Zulkarnain, on allegations of
accepting bribes. They performed
various rituals to express their
joy, with some of them shaving
their heads after the arrest.
Local activists said the gather-
ing was to show support for the
KPK in holding a corruptor to ac-
count, a move they had been wait-
ing for because many believed
that Arya was involved in numer-
ous corrupt activities during his
two terms in office.
In April, Arya was sentenced to
five years and six months in pris-
on for accepting bribes.
dayat in 2017, citing concerns that
the agency was ineffective.
KSJT criticized Anies, who
promised to stop the project as
part of his campaign platform, for
creating a similar agency.
The newly issued regulation
states that the move to dismiss
the previous body had affected
the management of the recla-
mation project, and so an ad hoc
agency was needed to accelerate
the endeavour as regulated by the
presidential decree.
Tigor went on to say that Anies’
move to seal illegal buildings on Is-
let D did not prove his commitment
to stopping reclamation activities
as the previous administration had
done the very same thing twice.
Then-Jakarta governor Basuki
“Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama sealed
the buildings in 2014 and 2016,
yet they and their supporting fa-
cilities remained intact.
The coalition urged Anies to
demolish the buildings on Islet D
and rehabilitate the area, which
had been damaged by the recla-
mation project.
City Council member Jhonny
Simanjuntak from the Indone-
sia Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) faction echoed the state-
ment, saying, “The regulation
shows Anies’ inconsistency in
fulfilling his promise to stop the
reclamation.”
Denpasar
24 - 32 °C
Samarinda
24 - 31 °C
Palangkaraya
24 - 33 °C
Customers line up on Monday to buy traditional snacks at Jatinegara Market, East Jakarta, ahead of the
Idul Fitri holiday, which will start on Friday this year.
SPORTS
Asian Games tickets
available online this month
Ramadani Saputra
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Asian Games
organizers will
start selling tick-
ets online for
the quadrennial
sporting event
on June 30,
promising a rea-
sonable price.
th
The 18 Asian Games will take
place in Jakarta and Palembang,
South Sumatra, from Aug. 18 to
Sept. 2 in what will be Indonesia’s
second stint as host after the 1962
edition in the capital.
Indonesian Asian Games Or-
ganizing Committee chief Er-
ick Thohir said tickets would
be priced between Rp 30,000
(US$2.15) and Rp 100,000 for do-
mestic buyers. Purchases made
from abroad, however, will be 20
percent higher.
“Tickets will be sold to the pub-
lic starting on June 30 [via an on-
line booking system],” said Erick
during a press briefing in Jakarta
on Monday, adding that organiz-
ers would prioritize buyers from
participating teams.
Half of the venue’s 76,000 seats
will be available to the public,
while the remainder will be re-
served for guests. The opening
ceremony will be held at Gelora
Bung Karno (GBK) Stadium in
Central Jakarta.
The tickets will be ready at the
Games’ official website, asian-
games2018.id, and handled by
KiosTix ticketing management
system. Buyers can pay through
credit card, bank transfer, inter-
net banking as well as cash at Al-
famart mini markets.
KiosTix CEO Ade Sulistiopu-
tra said 20 percent of total avail-
able tickets would be set aside for
offline purchases.
Organizers have not set a sales
Makassar Ternate
24 - 32 °C 24 - 31 °C
Manado Ambon
23 - 33 °C 23 - 30 °C
Gorontalo Jayapura
24 - 34 °C 24 - 31 °C
JP/Seto Wardhana
target, but were “optimistic that Meanwhile, organizers of the
we’ll be able to sell more than 1 third Asian Para Games raised
million tickets online,” Erick said. concerns over the upcoming
The timeline for offline sales event in Jakarta after staging a
has yet to be announced, but tick- simulation of athletes and offi-
ets will be offered at pop-up Asian cials arriving and departing from
Games stores at select shop- Soekarno-Hatta International
ping balls in both Jakarta and Airport last Tuesday.
Palembang. Asian Para Games Organiz-
Spectators can also purchase ing Committee (INAPGOC) chief
tickets at the venue. Raja Sapta Oktohari said over the
For security reasons, purchas- weekend the airport had limited
es will require buyers to show facilities for people with impair-
their ID cards. One spectator can ments, likely causing difficulties
buy up to four tickets for a single for visiting athletes, especially
competition. those in wheelchairs.
The Asian Games is the biggest Last week’s simulation was
multi-disciplinary sports compe- conducted ahead of the Indo-
tition in the region, which makes nesian Para Games Invitational
it the second-largest in the world Tournament, which will be held
after the Olympics. from June 27 to July 3 in Ja-
Indonesia is expecting at least karta. The invitational is a test
20,000 visitors — comprising ath- event for the Asian Para Games
letes, officials, journalists and on Oct. 6-13.
spectators — from 45 countries for The event will feature athlet-
the event, which cost the host Rp ics, para badminton, para table
30 trillion to stage and organize. tennis, swimming and wheelchair
The Games are set to feature basketball. The para table tennis
40 sports, including aquatics, ath- competition will act as a qualifier
letics, badminton and soccer. for the Asian Para Games.
THIS ODD WORLD
Cow spared death over crossing EU border
SOFIA, BULGARIA: Bulgarian authorities announced Monday that Penka,
the cow who risked death by straying over the European Union border, will
not be put down after all.
“Laboratory analyses of the cow, that spent 15 days in Serbia and
crossed the border back [into Bulgaria] are negative for all the tested
diseases,” Bulgaria’s Food Safety Agency announced Monday.
“She will not be killed and will return to her herd by the end of the
week,” agency spokeswoman Ekaterina Stoilova confirmed to AFP.
Penka’s plight went viral on social media and made headlines around
the world after her owner Ivan Haralampiev, from the western village of
Kopilovtsi, launched an appeal 10 days ago to save her.
The animal had wandered away from her herd near the western Bulgar-
ian village of Mazarachevo on May 12 and spent more than two weeks in
Serbia before local farmers identified her from her earmarks.
Penka then fell foul of strict EU rules on the import of live animals from
third countries, which require extensive paperwork giving the animal a
clean bill of health before it can enter the bloc.
Haralampiev lacked the necessary documents to authorise her return
and was only allowed to take her back if he agreed to put her down
within days.
But instead he launched an appeal on television to save her, sparking a
worldwide outpouring of sympathy.
By Monday more than 30,750 people — including former Beatle Paul
McCartney — had signed an online petition to save her addressed to EU
institutions. Penka’s fans called her “the most famous Bulgarian woman”,
shared her story with the hashtag #SavePenka and even wrote a poem
describing her odyssey. — AFP
TUESDAY June 12, 2018 NATIONAL | 3
Flying safe ISLAND FOCUS
Elephant killed for ivory in East Aceh
ACEH: A male elephant was found dead from poisoning in East Aceh,
Aceh, on Sunday. One of its tusks had been removed.
Bunta, 27, was part of the Conservation Response Unit (CRU) el-
ephant team, which wards off wild elephants trying to enter the
area. Bunta and three other elephants had been stationed at CRU
Serbajadi in Bunin village, Serbajadi district, East Aceh, Aceh, since
January 2016.
The team was tasked with preventing animal-human conflict in the
area. Bunta was the main police elephant at CRU Serbajadi, which was
visited by Hollywood actor Leonardo Di Caprio in March 2016.
Based on information provided by the CRU Serbajadi team on Sun-
day, Bunta was found dead when a mahout went to relocate him from
a forest located 500 meters from the CRU base camp to another area
at 8 a.m. local time. He saw Bunta lying on the ground dead with one
of his tusks missing.
East Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wahyu Kuncoro said it appeared
that the elephant had eaten poison-laced bananas and mangoes. — JP

Tourist dies after taking selfie from cliff

BALI: A Chinese tourist fell from a cliff to his death after attempting to
take a selfie near its edge in Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Penida, an islet
off the coast of Bali.
Liang Wanchang, 46, was reportedly enjoying the scenery at Devil
Tears, located at the top of the cliff with a view of the ocean in Nusa Lem-
bongan, with friends at 2:30 p.m. local time on Sunday. A strong wave hit
him as he was taking a selfie with the ocean in the background.
“The victim lost his balance, slipped and fell into the sea,” Nusa
Penida Police chief Comr. Ketut Suastika told The Jakarta Post on
Antara/Adeng Bustomi Sunday.
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) officers in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in cooperation with Wiriadinata Air Force Base, conduct urine testing on The victim’s body was later found in the sea, but rough conditions
pilots and flight attendants at Wiriadinata commercial airport on Monday. initially hampered efforts to retrieve it. — JP

Project gauges health of Bali’s ocean

Moses Ompusunggu
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Representing a state univer-
sity in Indonesia’s easternmost
region of Papua, marine scientist
Ricardo Tapilatu is currently in-
volved in two research projects he
thinks could contribute greatly to
securing a better ocean for future
generations.
In one study, Ricardo, head of
the Research Center for Pacific
Marine Resources at the Univer-
sity of Papua (Unipa) in Manok-
wari, wants to assess the effects of
climate change on the population
of leatherbacks in the region’s
world renowned Raja Ampat re-
gion. In the other study, his aim
appears to be more ambitious: to
measure how healthy Indonesia’s
ocean is.
Indonesia’s water
threatened by litter,
illegal, destructive fishing
Ocean health index
to help policy making
process
Ricardo is providing technical
assistance for a project funded
by Conservation International
(CI) to gauge the health of waters
surrounding Bali, another world-
acclaimed tourist area in Indone-
sia. Ricardo considers the study,
called Bali’s Ocean Health Index
(OHI), to be a pilot project for
an even grander aim, which is to
measure Indonesia’s OHI figure.
“As a result, I now have a head-
ache,” Ricardo said jokingly in a
recent interview to describe how
he has to divide his focus for the
two projects.
Indonesia, the world’s largest
archipelago with 70 percent of its
territory covered by sea, compris-
es a large part of the Coral Trian-
gle Area, which contains around
76 percent of the planet’s coral
species and 37 percent of its coral
fish species.
Indonesia’s waters, however,
have been increasingly threat-
ened by marine litter, illegal
fishing and destructive fishing,
among other things. The Jokowi
administration has begun to ad-
dress these threats faced by the
country’s seas, having issued and
implemented several policies
such as the “sink the vessels” poli-
cy of Marine Affairs and Fisheries
Minister Susi Pudjiastuti.
But sea management in Indo-
nesia has not been well coordinat-
ed thanks to various institutions
having their own authorities and
possessing their own data on sea
resources and the pressures on it.
“If we had an index, it would
benefit the policymaking process
to reduce the pressure on [indica-
tors],” said Ricardo. The indica-
tors, he said, would be like “blood
pressure and cholesterol” in as-
sessing humans’ health.
There are 10 indicators in the
OHI: Artisanal fisheries, food pro-
vision, natural product, carbon
storage, livelihood and income,
tourism and recreation, aesthetic
and sanitation, biodiversity, clean
water and coastal protection.
The indicators used in the OHI,
in fact, are the main benefits of
the sea for the people, said I Made
Iwan Dewantama, CI Program
Manager in Bali. For instance, the
artisanal fisheries indicator could
explain more about how the sea
benefits traditional fishermen, in-
stead of merely big players in the
fisheries industry.
CI first conveyed the idea of
creating an OHI for Indonesia to
the relevant authorities in April
2016, having previously pub-
lished an OHI at the global level.
The proposal received positive
reviews from authorities, I Made
said, but there was not enough
funding to finance a nationwide
OHI, apparently due to the pri-
mary focus of President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo’s administra-
tion on infrastructure projects.
CI decided to choose Bali as a
pilot OHI project in Indonesia
because the resort island is one of
two regions where the conserva-
tion group currently implements
its projects, apart from Papua.
CI started the Bali OHI project,
which costs around Rp 150 mil-
lion (US$10,816), in September
2016 and plans to conduct a pub-
lic consultation in July to gather
input supporting the preliminary
results of the project.
Even with the OHI, it is still
rather complicated to define what
constitutes a “healthy ocean”,
said I Made.
“For instance, when [Bali] has
good scores in five indicators and
bad scores in five indicators, it
is still difficult to say that [Bali’s]
score is moderate. The more im-
portant thing, however, is that the
scores in each indicator can give
us an insight into what to do in the
future [to address sea problems],”
said I Made.

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Amien Rais no Mahathir, 8 women to compete in court justice race

observers say
Karina M. Tehusijarana
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
In a surprise move, Nation-
al Mandate Party (PAN) found-
er and chief patron Amien
Rais, apparently inspired by
Mahathir Muhammad’s victory
in Malaysia, has expressed an in-
terest in running as a presidential
candidate.
Amien made the announce-
ment on Saturday at the house of
current PAN chairman and fel-
low presidential hopeful Zulkifli
Hasan in South Jakarta.
The 74-year-old said that many
people had encouraged him to
run despite his age, which was
apparently not an obstacle for
92-year-old Mahathir.
“People often comfort me, al-
though many say that Pak Amien
is ancient, long in the tooth, de-
crepit. Now, I’m like a teenager,
because Mahathir, who is one
generation above me, was able
to win,” he said as quoted by
tempo.co.
The move came somewhat
out of left field, as PAN endorsed
Zulkifli for president at the par-
ty’s last national convention in
August 2017. Besides himself and
Zulkifli, Amien said that PAN
would also consider advisory
board chairman Soetrisno Bachir
and former party chairman Hatta
Rajasa as candidates.
Political analyst Muhammad
Qodari from Jakarta-based poll-
ster Indo Barometer said that he
was not too surprised by the move
since he still saw Amien as PAN’s
de facto chairman and main
decision-maker.
He said Amien’s candidacy
could not be compared to Ma-
hathir’s as Mahathir was a suc-
cessful and popular prime min-
ister during his first run at the
job, while Amien had never been
elected president.
“The political situation in Ma-
laysia was also very different from
the one in Indonesia,” he told The
Jakarta Post on Monday. “Ma-
hathir was also helped by the
fact that the incumbent was em-
broiled in scandal. Without that,
I’m not sure that even Mahathir
would win.”
He added that Amien’s track
record in presidential races was
not encouraging — he received
less than 15 percent of the vote
in his only previous attempt in
2004, putting him fourth out of
five candidates.
“I remember quite clearly that,
back then, even though Amien’s
name recognition was very high,
his likability rating was quite
low,” Qodari said. “I would have to
conduct another poll to confirm,
but I’m quite sure that the situa-
tion is still the same now, since his
style of communication has also
not changed.”
Amien has been an outspoken
critic of President Joko “Jokowi”
Widodo’s administration and
recently made several polariz-
ing statements, drawing ire from
Jokowi supporters.
He called Jokowi’s program on
the distribution of land certifi-
cates a “lie” in March. In a sermon
at a Jakarta mosque in April, he
divided political parties in Indo-
nesia into two categories — “God’s
parties” and “Satan’s parties” — in
an apparent dig at pro-govern-
ment coalition parties.
More recently, he said that God
would be “ashamed” to ignore the
prayers of “millions” who wanted
a new president in 2019.
Paramadina University po-
litical observer Hendri Satrio
also doubted the seriousness of
Amien’s candidacy, saying that
the momentum needed for him
to be president peaked shortly af-
ter the fall of the New Order in the
late 1990s.
“It’s a little too late now,” Hen-
dri said. “I think that he is just
testing the waters and will even-
tually throw his weight behind
another candidate.”
Centre for Strategic and Inter-
national Studies (CSIS) research-
er Arya Fernandes agreed, saying
that PAN might be using Amien to
improve their bargaining position
with prospective coalition part-
ner Gerindra.
“I think that this might be a
way for PAN to further their bid
for [Gerindra chairman] Prabo-
wo’s vice presidential slot,” he
said, noting that the Prosperous
Justice Party (PKS) had already
proposed several of its members
as prospective vice presidential
candidates.
Arya added that while Amien’s
candidacy might help im-
prove PAN’s electability among
older voters, it would have lit-
tle effect on those who are too
young to remember his role in the
Reformasi.
Marguerite Afra Sapiie
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Eight female candidates will
compete for the Constitutional
Court (MK) justice seat to re-
place Maria Farida Indrati, the
first and only woman on the male
dominated bench, who will end
her second term in August.
The eight women will also vie
against eight male candidates
who passed the administrative
selection last Friday.
Among the selected women
candidates is the head of the Na-
tional Law Development Agen-
cy Enny Nurbaningsih, who also
heads the Joko “Jokowi” Wido-
do administration’s team tasked
with formulating the bill to re-
vise the outdated Criminal Code
(KUHP).
Enny, a constitutional law lec-
turer at Yogyakarta-based Gad-
jah Mada University, has been
vocal in lobbying lawmakers in
the ongoing KUHP deliberation,
which has been marred with
controversy after lawmakers
planned to include the conten-
tious provision to outlaw pre-
marital cohabitation.
Selection team member Zainal
Arifin Mochtar said he “expects
more equal competition between
the candidates as the number of
male and female candidates are
balanced”.
This year’s selection pro-
cess hosted by the State Palace
has seen a larger number of fe-
male candidates, unlike in 2014,
where the only female applicant
decided to withdraw from the
race, and 2017, where the only
female candidate failed in the
competition.
Susi Dwi Harijanti, a senior
law lecturer at Bandung-based
Padjadjaran University (UN-
PAD), will also compete for the
Constitutional Court justice
seat. Susi is among a handful of
names that have been touted by
legal activists.
In 2014, Susi was recommend-
ed as a Constitutional Court jus-
tice applicant by academics at
her university. She made it to
the list of applicants in the 2014
vetting process but declined the
nomination later as she opted to
focus on her academic duties.
“Now that I have complet-
ed my academic duties, I accept
their [UNPAD colleagues] nomi-
nation as a Constitutional Court
justice candidate this year,” she
said on Monday. finding a justice who has quali- and Sunny Ummul Firdaus; Wit-
As a female candidate, Susi ties similar to those of Maria, ness and Victim Protection Agen-
urged fellow contenders to try who is seen as a good combina- cy deputy chairwoman Lies Sulis-
their best and be committed to tion of representing women, mi- tiani; and Mudji Estiningsih from
continuing Maria’s legacy as one nority religious groups and the the National Institute of Admin-
of the most influential figures on disabled. istration, who is giving it another
the bench. Another female candidate is shot this year following her fail-
“As Maria has extensive Ni’matul Huda, a law professor at ure in the 2017 selection process.
knowledge of various issue, who- Indonesia Islamic University in On the male candidates’ side,
ever is chosen to replace her Yogyakarta, who withdrew from constitutional law expert Abdul
must also possess this breadth of a 2013 selection process hosted Rasyid Thalib, who failed in the
knowledge,” Susi said. by the House of Representatives 2017 vetting process, is also run-
Outgoing justice Maria is con- after she failed to get consent ning for a second time. He will
sidered among the few justices from her university. She later join former Judicial Commission
who hold progressive views. She tried her luck in another Consti- commissioner Taufiqurrohman
is known for her contribution in tutional Court justice competi- Syahuri in the race of 16 candi-
rulings on cases that intertwined tion held by the House, but failed dates who will undergo a written
gender, children and minority- in her attempt. test later this month.
related issues during her two Five other candidates include The selection committee has
terms in office since 2008. academics from reputable uni- now opened a help desk to allow
Activists are pinning high versities, namely Anna Erliyana, anyone to give input and track the
hopes on the selection team Hesti Armiwulan Sochwardiah record of the 16 candidates. (dpk)
STATEMENT
by Yara Suos
Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) lawmaker
Indonesia is an old friend of Cambodia. Thanks to Indonesia, Cambodia achieved the Paris Peace
Accords in 1991. Indonesia hosted the Jakarta Informal Meeting between Sihanouk and Hun
Sen in the late 1980s. The late former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas and former French
foreign minister Roland Dumaz were the two main architects of Cambodia’s peace process.
Cambodians will never forget their great contribution to peace and development in Cambodia.
Indonesia’s democratization has inspired many countries in Southeast Asia. Cambodia has learned a
great deal from the democratic evolution of Indonesia. One of the lessons is to organize free and fair
elections. Therefore, Cambodia would like to welcome election observers from Indonesia to monitor
our general election next month in order to strengthen the quality of electoral democracy in Cambodia.
We praise the role of his excellency Vice President Jusuf Kalla as well as the chairman of
the Centrist Asia-Pacific Democrats International in promoting peace and cooperation to
link the unity and solidarity among friends in ASEAN and other countries in the region.
Democratization is a journey. Cambodia has successfully organized five general elections and four local elections.
The sixth general election will take place on July 29. Moreover, democratic values have been strengthened, while
civil society groups and the free media have significantly contributed to democratic consolidation in the country.
Cambodia has a significant role to play in advancing democracy in the Mekong region. Although Cambodia
cannot claim to be a country with a perfect democracy, democracy remains alive and is thriving. The
dissolution of the opposition party is purely the implementation of the rule of law. We cannot allow any
political party to invite foreign intervention in Cambodia’s domestic politics. Cambodia went through three
decades of war because of foreign intervention. Cambodia will never allow such past atrocities to reoccur.
Cambodia strictly implements a foreign policy of neutrality, non-alignment, independence and sovereignty.
We will not allow any major power to shape or dominate our domestic politics and foreign policy.
Peace, development and democracy are the three main, interconnected pillars of nation building.
We cannot have sustainable peace and development if democratic institutions are not strengthened.
Implementing the above vision, Cambodia achieved remarkably high economic performance led by Prime
MinisterHunSeninthelasttwodecades,withaveragegrowthofmorethan7percent.Thepovertyratehasdeclined
to slightly more than 10 percent. National reserves have increased from US$3 billion in 2012 to $9 billion in 2017.
Looking ahead, Cambodia will continue to implement comprehensive, deep reforms with revised vision and
greater efforts in delivering concrete results. People-oriented, people-centered development policy and
foreign policy will be the guiding principle. Democracy will be further consolidated in order to achieve an
inclusive and resilient society.
4 | OPINION TUESDAY June 12, 2018

From Russia with glory

ndonesia and the rest of the Muslim world High demand for symbols
I will enjoy a double party this week. As they
revel in the victory of the forces of good over
evil at the end of a grueling month-long fast,
the much-awaited soccer World Cup kicks drive ‘Islamic’ black market
off on Thursday evening.
The opening match between host Russia and Saudi

T
Arabia will enliven Idul Fitri eve, and the merriment will he Islamic black mar-
continue for one full month. ket is spreading in vari-
The World Cup, dubbed the most popular tournament ous forms. By playing
on the planet, is indeed a quadrennial event that people around with Islamic
symbols in separate cases, First
from all walks of life, ages, races, faiths and even political Travel, Abu Tours and Kanjeng
views cannot afford to miss. It is a celebration that unites Dimas (the cleric who many be-
the world. lieved could magically multiply
For President Vladimir Putin, the World Cup will put their money) scammed trillions
his credentials at stake as Russia is the first East European of rupiah over the years out of
country to host the event. There are so many things Putin consumers across the country.
needs to prove that FIFA, soccer’s governing body, made There have also been unquali-
fied Muslim preachers arbitrarily
the right choice. offering troubling interpretations
Russia’s selection as the host had sparked controversy of Islamic teachings on televi-
that stemmed from allegations of bribery in the bidding sion, like the claim that heavenly
process, although an investigation cleared Russia — and pleasure is nothing more than an
Qatar, the 2022 host — of any wrongdoing. Then-FIFA orgy. A popular female Muslim
president Sepp Blatter stated in 2014 that “the World TV preacher turned out to be in-
Cup has been given and voted to Russia and we are going capable of writing Quranic verses
in proper Arabic script. Muslim
forward with our work”. hard-line groups such as Jama’ah
There have been concerns not only from players com- Ansharut Daulah (JAD), Maje-
peting in the event, but also from soccer fans about the lis Mujahidin Indonesia, Hizbut
level of racism and discrimination against LGBT people Tahrir Indonesia and others ag-
by Russian fans. The financial burden Russia has to bear gressively propagate the necessi-
has forced Putin’s administration to slash the budget for ty of sharia through the establish-
ment of an Islamic state.
the World Cup to US$11.8 billion from the original $20 Recently, a series of terror-
billion. Most of the money was spent on infrastructure, ist attacks took dozens of lives in
especially airports. Depok, Pekanbaru in Riau and
Despite all the hiccups, the show must go on. Surabaya; the horror in the last
FIFA has allocated 2.4 million tickets for 64 matches in city was even committed by par-
11 Russian cities for the month-long tournament that fea- ents as suicide bombers and their
tures 32 national teams. Fans can expect exciting matches children. These are tips of a bigger
“Islamic black market” iceberg.
featuring the world’s best soccer talent. Why is it spreading?
Some are upset by the failure of four-time champion Obviously, religion is a symbol-
Italy and three-time runner-up the Netherlands to quali- ic system, as the anthropologist
fy, but many others will cheer on Egyptian star Mohamed Clifford Geertz explained. How-
Salah whom hosts Russia must watch closely when they ever, the need of religious sym-
meet on June 20. bols among Indonesian Muslims
Talismanic players like Cristiano Ronaldo, whose Eu- today is much bigger than ever.
The striking contrast between the
ropean champion team Portugal is pitted against Spain in present situation and the past is
the same group, and Argentinean Lionel Messi will be the stunning.
magnets of the tournament. Many, however, are betting Until the mid-1980s, due to
on seeing defending champions Germany and five-time the New Order’s hostile politi-
champions Brazil in the final on July 15. cal stance, Indonesian Muslims
Some rich Indonesians, and lucky journalists, will have were marginalized and often seen
as obstacles, if not the govern-
first-hand experience of watching a grand tournament ment enemy. In the scholar Nur-
like the World Cup. But there are other choices for soccer cholish Madjid’s terms, Muslims
mad Indonesians to quench their thirst for live games, were known as “a majority with a
ranging from free TV broadcasts to paid livestreaming. minority mentality”. When pos-
Qualifying for and hosting the World Cup looks to sible, most Muslims tended to
remain elusive for Indonesia until the next few editions avoid using Islamic symbols in
of the tournament. For the time being, let us enjoy the public spaces, let alone go to work
in headscarves (for women). Even
matches and may the best team lift the coveted trophy. saying assalamu’alaikum (peace
be upon you) to greet a mixed au-
dience made many Muslims feel
OTHER OPINION awkward.
Achmad Munjid
YOGYAKARTA
Since Suharto reached out to
Muslims in the late 1980s, we
have seen the surge of the “Islamic
wave” along with new freedoms.
Today, it is even “nor-
mal” for non-Muslims to say
assalamu’alaikum in official meet-
ings. Many public schools unof-
ficially require female Muslim
students to wear the headscarf as
part of their school uniform. To
gain public sympathy, more fe-
male Muslims, from street beggars
to mega-graft convicts, wear the
hijab. Only recently, the govern-
ment of Aceh Besar regency issued
a bylaw requiring all flight atten-
dants to wear the hijab whenever
their plane landed there.
Unlike in the past, since the
1990s Islam has become a power-
ful presence. When everyone uses
a smartphone, not using it will
make you look stupid. When most
Muslims take on all kind of Islam-
ic attributes and symbols, those
who do not participate look ugly,
even despicable and alienated.
Today there is greater social
pressure requiring Muslims to
demonstrate their religious iden-
tity. Therefore, “Islamic” fashion,
cuisine, school, media, forums, as-
sociations, groups, banking, busi-
ness etc are growing everywhere.
Islamic symbols have become
valuable resources, precious capi-
tal, marketable commodities and
a defining identity readily avail-
able for different purposes.
Besides spirituality, religion
is a social practice, as observed
by the scholar Pierre Bourdieu.
Hence, the growing demand for
religious symbols has opened up
greater opportunities for politi-
cal, economic and social interests.
Meanwhile, due to rapid
change, “religious providers” can-
not always properly cater to all the
demands. For instance, during Ra-
madhan, religious events are held
simultaneously across mosques,
institutions and forums, dramati-
cally increasing the demand for
Muslim preachers or speakers. So
does the demand for various needs
supposedly required for a proper
“Islamic” life style.
When social pressure for re-
ligious symbols is so high com-
pared to limited capacity of “re-
ligious providers” — especially
when combined with insufficient
religious literacy — the essence
and quality of religious practice
become secondary. People just
need to look normal by partici-
pating in the common practice
of “going Islamic” to avoid being
alienated from their group. This
thirst for religious symbols even-
tually invites new actors, many
without proper training, some
even with dark motives.
It is exactly this big gap be-
tween the supply and demand of
Islamic symbols that has helped
created the Islamic black market,
a free space for quasireligiosity,
pseudo-Muslim preachers, fake
Islamic business and religious
fraud like the one committed by
First Travel and Abu Tours, as
well as teaching hoaxes, including
radicalism and terrorism.
Illegal and fake products are
exchanged and unregulated in
this space called the Islamic black
market. What looks convincing
and real on the surface to unin-
formed eyes can be totally bogus,
even poisonous.
This black market mostly pro-
vides “selfie religiosity” — attri-
butes for exclusive personal piety
that serve the interest of politi-
cians, businesses or other prof-
it seekers who have nothing to
do with spiritual matters. Even
worse, the Islamic black market
is also fertile ground for religious
radicalism and terrorism.
The wide reach of the Islamic
black market explains the puz-
zling discrepancy between over-
religionization of public life,
where Islamic symbols and attri-
butes are strongly visible on the
one hand, and the pervasive ethi-
cal problems on the other, such as
the increasing numbers of graft
cases, frequent violations of hu-
man rights, poor interreligious
relations and even violence in the
name of religion.
Although reality has shifted
fundamentally in comparison to
the 1980s, and with Islam pre-
dominant on every level, some
Muslims are still entrapped in
the old “minority mentality”.
They are always anxious to have
a bigger share and worried about
being marginalized. As a result,
some Muslims are hypersensitive
when their group’s interests are
at stake. Any minor issue, like the
case of Sukmawati Soekarnopu-
tri’s poem, is perceived as reli-
gious blasphemy.
Sadly, when it is about the
rights of others, these grumpy
Muslims are very insensitive. In
addition to the Aceh local regula-
tion on headscarves for all flight
attendants, the banning of com-
munity service to be held by St.
Paul church of Yogyakarta and
persecution against the Shiites
and the Ahmadis are among no-
table examples.
It’s as if it is taken for granted
that the majority has the privilege
to define the other, but not vice
versa. Whenever people pay too
much attention to religious sym-
bols, they will easily misrecognize
the true meaning of religion.
Since religion is a symbolic sys-
tem, obviously religious symbols
are very important. However, re-
ligion should not be locked up
into symbolism. If religion is to
play a significant role in taking up
the challenge faced by the people,
we should stop making religion
part of the problem.
Religion should be part of the
solution. We should bring back
religion to its primary func-
tion, namely as moral guidance
and ethical foundation for its
adherents.
In fact, Islam encourages Mus-
lims to embrace and to cooperate
with all human beings in creating
a just and peaceful world for all.
Therefore, exclusive symbolic
personal piety should be trans-
formed into liberating social eth-
ics and inclusive public morality.
Otherwise, the Islamic black
market may spread even wider
and more people will fall prey to it.
The writer lectures at the De-
partment of Intercultural Studies,
Gadjah Mada University (UGM),
Yogyakarta.

Mosques’ closure
A climate-friendly response to Trump
T
hough rightist forces are on the march there are numer-
ous factors fueling this trend on the continent. These in-
clude the flood of refugees making a beeline for Europe, Barbara Unmüßig and reforms intended to create a just, That is why the German Green tries committed to climate pro-
as well as militant attacks. Michael Kellner equitable, and rules-based inter- party is calling for a floor price on tection. Nor is it a new idea: every
One example of state-backed efforts to counter “radical” Is- PROJECT SYNDICATE/BERLIN national trade order. Otherwise, CO2 emissions to be established climate bill that failed in the US
lam emerged recently when Austria’s right-wing government Trump-style economic national- as part of the EU’s Emissions Congress in 2009 included such a

A
announced it was shutting down seven mosques and expelling s United States President
a number of imams for links with “political Islam”. Turkey, Donald Trump translates
which supports many mosques in Austria, has termed the move his “America First” strate-
“Islamophobic, racist and discriminatory”. gy into import tariffs, and the Eu-
Sweeping moves against places of worship without solid ev- ropean Union prepares to adopt
idence are unacceptable. If European or other Western states countermeasures moving the
have concrete evidence that a certain mosque is being used by global economy toward a trade
extremist elements, they should proceed as per the law. But standoff, the real challenge facing
witch hunts against those peacefully practicing their religion the two economies — indeed, the
are not acceptable, especially given Europe’s recent history and entire world — is being ignored.
its flirtation with fascism. That challenge is to shape the
Many on the far right have a problem with the Islamic faith global economy, including trade,
itself, and not with radicalism. If Europe claims to respect diver- so that it finally respects the plan-
sity and fundamental rights, then it must stand up to such pa- et’s natural boundaries.
rochial moves against a certain faith or community. Followers Trump’s trade agenda is put-
of all faiths are free to live as they wish in Europe. These values ting progressives into a paradoxi-
must be preserved while the rightist march must be checked. cal position. For many years, they
— DAWN, ISLAMABAD have been denouncing the cur-
rent trade system as both unjust
and ecologically destructive. But
Horror stories from Saudi Arabia in the face of Trump’s national-
ist protectionism, with its echoes
ism will continue to resonate with
a large share of the population, in
the US and elsewhere.
For starters, with the EU de-
bating countermeasures to US
tariffs of 10 percent on aluminum
and 25 percent on steel, it is worth
looking beyond the economic sig-
nificance of the dispute, to the
ecological aspects of the com-
modities in question. For exam-
ple, steel production, which uses
metallurgical or “coking” coal,
accounts for roughly 5 percent of
global CO2 emissions.
This is not inevitable. Steel can
be replaced by less emissions-in-
tensive alternative materials. It
can also be produced with much
lower emissions. Swedish pro-
ducers are researching virtually
CO2-free steel production us-
Trading System. The state of Cali-
fornia has already done so in its
trading scheme. We want to lead
the way, together with France, in
Europe.
Such proposals have met with
strong resistance. Many argue
that a high price for emissions in
Europe would give foreign pro-
ducers a competitive edge in the
EU market. Moreover, because
production would simply move
abroad, the logic goes, the envi-
ronment would ultimately be no
better off overall.
Despite its weaknesses, this
argument has impressed Euro-
pean policymakers. But there is
an obvious workaround: a duty
could be imposed on emissions-
intensive imports — like steel,
cement, and aluminum — at the
mechanism.
Rather than allowing itself
to be dragged into Trump’s de-
structive trade games, the EU
should introduce border carbon
adjustment in order to foster a
climate-friendly system. French
President Emmanuel Macron is
already a vocal supporter.
By demonstrating that a lack
of commitment to climate pro-
tection comes with a price, such
a response could spur change
elsewhere, including the US. For
example, it might encourage the
Trump administration to re-
consider its withdrawal from
the 2015 Paris climate agree-
ment, particularly if European
actors reached out to likemind-
ed progressives in, say, Califor-
nia or New York. Even if Trump

T
he miseries described by the abused women workers of the fatal mistakes of the 1930s, ing electricity and hydrogen ac- EU border. This would be an im- remains unmoved, a CO2 levy
returning to Bangladesh from the host countries in the some feel obliged to defend the quired from renewable energy portant step toward a just, cli- might deter his potential imita-
Middle East, mainly from Saudi Arabia, beggar imagina- current system. sources. mate-responsive trading system. tors elsewhere.
tion. We wonder how any civilized people can treat anyone in Neoliberal defenders of the And the German multination- The duty would be fair, because With such a calibrated and
such a bestial way as our women workers are being treated. We status quo now see a political op- al Thyssenkrupp is developing environmental rules would ap- forward-thinking response to
had also cautioned our government, when employment in the portunity. Lumping progressives a process using exhaust fumes ply equally to European and for- Trump’s narrow-minded protec-
Kingdom was resumed in 2015, to ensure all the necessary guar- together with Trump as “protec- from steel production as a feed- eign products. And as long as the tionism, the EU would cement
antees for workers going there. If anything has changed, it has tionists”, they are denouncing the stock for chemical products and same levies were imposed on lo- its role as a trailblazer in the
been for the worst. justified wide-ranging protests of synthetic natural gas, lowering cally produced goods, such “bor- quest for a fairer, more sustain-
Employing agencies must make foolproof terms of contract civil society against mega-region- carbon pollution. der carbon adjustment” would able trading system. In doing so,
with the employers for physical and job safety. And should any al deals like the Comprehensive But these alternatives will not not violate World Trade Organi- it would not only help protect the
of them return home prematurely, particularly because of phys- Economic and Trade Agreement be viable as long as the estab- zation rules. environment on which we all de-
ical abuse, they must be compensated adequately, although no (CETA) between the EU and lished steel industry is permitted By enabling countries commit- pend, but also boost its own inter-
recompense is enough for the trauma they go through. They Canada, and the Transatlantic to use the atmosphere as a free ted to environmental protection national clout.
should be rehabilitated in appropriate jobs since most of them Trade and Investment Partner- dump for CO2 emissions. Econo- to push back against those that That, not a trade war, is what
on return are either deserted by their husbands or divorced. ship (TTIP) between the EU and mists across the political spec- are not, this strategy would help the world needs now.
Our government should take up the matter strongly with the the US. trum agree that one key to lim- align the global trading system
Saudis that as host country, it should ensure that all the clauses In order for progressive poli- iting greenhouse-gas emissions more closely with ecological im-
in the agreement are followed and take punitive action against tics to succeed, its proponents is to make it more expensive for peratives. Barbara Unmüßig is president of
the errant employers. It is high time for the government to re- need to go beyond defending the companies to produce them — so Policies such as border car- the Heinrich Böll Foundation.
consider sending women workers to countries where they are existing trade system against expensive that climate-friendly bon adjustment are not narrow- Michael Kellner is secretary-general
not treated as human beings. Trump. They need to go on the of- options become cheaper in com- minded national protectionism, of the German Green Party
— THE DAILY STAR, DHAKA fensive, which means pressing for parison, and thus competitive. but a necessary reaction by coun- (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen).

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TUESDAY June 12, 2018 OPINION | 5

Religion and Nationalism and

conflict: The myth of
inevitable collision
Paul Hedges
RSIS COMMENTARIES/SINGAPORE
the obligation to pay zakat
T
tians and Muslims. In Northern hough there is no sol- study conducted by the head of not force civil servants to pay za-
India, meanwhile, there are also id consensus, the word the research center at Baznas, the kat, rather it will facilitate them
shrines and sites of pilgrimage as “nationalism” is usu- national zakat agency, in a case in easily allocating their zakat as

L
eaving aside the almost
unimaginable spectacle of
parents taking, even train-
ing, their children to die for their
ideology, the recent attacks in
Surabaya, East Java, raise the is-
sue of conflict between religious
communities. While few Muslims
identify with these terrorists, it
may nevertheless leave the im-
pression that it is simply the ex-
acerbation of an essential enmity
between Christians and Muslims.
Such a thesis would accord
with Samuel Huntington’s well-
known “Clash of Civilizations”
argument, which posited that
civilizational boundaries, often
marked by religious identities,
would define the coming world
order.
To exemplify this type of thesis,
especially that conflict between
religions is prevalent, one may
look beyond events in Indonesia,
which play into a wider militant
neo-jihadi assault on Christian-
ity, to clashes between: Jews and
Muslims in Israel-Palestine; Bud-
dhists and Muslims in Thailand,
Myanmar, and Sri Lanka; Hin-
dus and Christians and Muslims
in India; or, many other exam-
ples including intra-religious vio-
lence, for instance between Cath-
olics and Protestants in Northern
Ireland.
The list of events where we
see violence across inter-reli-
gious lines in both contempo-
rary and global history seems al-
most endless. However, history
suggests that this may not be the
whole story, indeed peaceful and
positive inter-religious relations
may be the norm rather than the
exception.
The well-known Constitution
of Medina alongside the agree-
ment from Prophet Muhammad
with the monks of St. Catherine’s
Monastery are signs that peace-
ful and harmonious inter-reli-
gious relations were endorsed by
the founder of Islam. His battles
were not fought against other re-
ligions, but against those who had
attacked and oppressed the young
Islamic community.
We could equally show oth-
er examples from history, which
would include the Buddha go-
ing on missions to prevent war
during his life, or Francis of As-
sisi setting out on a peacebuilding
mission during the height of the
crusades to speak with the Mus-
lim leader Salahuddin Ayubi, bet-
ter known in the West as Saladin.
Critics may object, though, that
despite high profile or even foun-
dational initiatives for peace that
the real history of religion is one
of conflict and intolerance. The
facts, they may say, speak more
loudly than the ideals of peace
and non-violence.
Yet here, I suggest, we see in
the lived experience of commu-
nities at the grassroots, the real
evidence that inter-religious re-
lations need not be one of conflict
but can be about harmonious co-
existence.
If one looks to today’s fault-
lines between the religions, we
can also see evidence of a history
of intercommunal harmony. For
centuries, Christians and Mus-
lims in parts of Indonesia have
shared common shrines and pil-
well as holy men who have been ally attributed to Abbe study of Dompet Dhuafa Repub- a religious obligation, not a state
revered by Sikhs, Hindus, and Baurrel in the 15th century. In a lika — the legal institution to col- obligation. There are four condi-
Muslims. narrow definition, nationalism lect and distribute zakat. tions that should be fulfilled be-
Again, in Sri Lanka, shrines can be defined as an ideology that Zakat could reduce the total fore the government directly de-
that honor both Hindu deities drives people to believe their na- proportion of poor families from ducts zakat from their salaries.
and have Buddhist significance tion is superior to all others. This Yunice Karina Tumewang 84 to 74 percent. In terms of in- First, the civil servant must be
are not unknown. Indeed, across kind of understanding, in an ex- and Novita Kusuma equality, zakat has been shown to a Muslim, second, the salary must
the globe where we find inter-re- treme case, could be witnessed in Maharani be able to reduce the income gap be above the minimal require-
ligious communities which have the era of Adolf Hitler in Germany YOGYAKARTA between rich and poor, from Rp ment to pay zakat, third, there
lived together across the centu- or Benito Mussolini in Italy. While 540,657 (US$38.31) to Rp 410,337. must be akad (sincere willing-
ries we find similar things. A shar- in a wider perspective, national- be expressed in real actions. This impact could be greatly ness of the zakat payer) and last
ing and accommodation of reli- ism can be pride in one’s nation- In many ways, zakat, or alms, multiplied as the potential of za- the government must not touch
gious sites in local communities. state and a willingness to defend it as the third pillar of faith in Islam kat is increasingly realized. Ac- the zakat fund as it must be di-
Outside of this we also find pat- if necessary. In short, nationalism should be taken into account for cording to Baznas, the zakat that rectly allocated to Baznas as the
terns of reciprocation and lived is an ideology arising from having its root is the love of people near is collected only amounts to Rp 6 independent regulatory agency to
cooperation. In traditional In- the same national identity, which you, especially in your nation, who trillion, a miniscule portion of the manage zakat.
donesian society, Christians and encourages citizens to take care of are in need. Moreover, some in- potential Rp 217 trillion. Indirectly, this regulation
Muslims would have exchanged the nation and its people. depth analyses have proven that Therefore, the Religious Af- would enhance the transparen-
gifts and also partaken in work The latter understanding is in zakat ideologically can be seen as fairs Ministry aims to level up the cy and accountability of Baznas
alongside the other communi- line and closely related to Islam- a form of implementing the five realization of this potential by is- as public (particularly civil ser-
ty: Christians would have helped ic principles. Islam and national- principles of our national ideology suing a regulation stipulating the vants) awareness and participa-
build mosques, and Muslims ism cannot be separated. Many — Pancasila, as it reflects the con- deduction of 2.5 percent zakat di- tion would increase.
would have helped build church- Muslim scholars in Indonesia, cept of tauhid (oneness of God), rectly from the salaries of Muslim Having said that, there is no
es. In places such as Morocco, including Ridwan Lubis and Mu- ukhuwah Islamiah (brotherhood), civil servants. If the regulation better way to prove the nation-
Muslims have been the tradi- hammad Hisyam in Ensiklopedi unity, equality and social justice. ran effectively, it would see the alism of the Muslim community
tional keepers of Jewish graves, Tematis Dunia Islam (Themat- Zakat is the pivotal approach in collection of more than Rp 10 tril- in this holy month of Ramadhan
while at the end of Ramadhan ic Encyclopedia of the Islamic Islamic teachings to social prob- lion annually. than giving a miniscule percent-
Jews used to prepare the food for World), explain that Islam has a lems such as poverty in society There should be no reason to age (2.5 percent) of one’s income
Eid-al-Fitr. long history and played a signifi- by sharing a percentage of wealth reject this regulation as it is noth- to the needy and the other seven
Such reciprocity and inter-re- cant role as a pioneer in nurturing with relevant recipients as an ob- ing new. For years, in many states groups of zakat recipients. Es-
ligious harmony has been pat- nations. Even Medina as a state ligation for those who can afford it. such as Malaysia and Pakistan, pecially for civil servants as the
terned in similar ways in many is recognized as the first nation- In the last quarter of 2017, the the government has been active- guardians of nationalism in this
places. Indeed, we may even see state in the world, as mentioned Central Statistics Agency (BPS) ly involved in the better man- country, it is time to show your
it as typical. For the ordinary fol- by prominent historian Thomas recorded 26.58 million people agement of zakat. Specifically, in support for the better future of
lowers of religions living along- Arnold. Nationalism is also rel- (10.12 percent of Indonesian cit- Indonesia, the government has your ummah by encouraging the
side those of other religions has, evant to Indonesia as the world’s izens) living below the poverty started playing its role to regulate government to regulate zakat col-
in most parts of the world, for most populous Muslim country, line. zakat collection and distribution lection for civil servants.
most of history, simply been the as Muslims were devoted to the These people, categorized as since 2011. Following that, sever-
norm. cause of independence for Indo- beneficiaries, should be upgrad- al regulations have been arranged
Huntington suggested that “Is- nesia. ed to the level of givers through to support the optimal realization Yunice Karina Tumewang is a
lam has bloody borders”, while Nationalism, or in a more Is- zakat as seen in several parts of of zakat from the Muslim com- lecturer at the Islamic University
European Christians fought what lamic way hub al-wathan (love the world in previous times. Spe- munity especially those people of Indonesia and Novita Kusuma
are called the “wars of religion” of the country and its people) is cifically, in Indonesia, research working in state institutions. Maharani is a lecturer at Prof. Dr.
and brought their religious tradi- greatly felt by Muslims in Indo- has depicted the success of zakat Moreover, the regulation, Hamka Muhammadiyah University
tions with colonial invasion and nesia. This kind of love needs to in reducing poverty including a which will shortly be issued will (UHAMKA).
often at gunpoint to the rest of the
world. However, what we speak of
here are the expansion of empires
and the machinations of rulers.
It is not surprising that the
edges of imperial territories show
the signs of war and conflict of
religion as part of cultural, eth-
nic, economic and expansionist
policies. However, religion also
spread at times through trade,
books and gentler flows of peo-
ples across the globe.
Here, perhaps we see the real
history of inter-religious rela-
tions. A history that is not conflic-
tual and violent, but one marked
by sharing, cooperation, reciproc-
ity and accommodation as people
live out their religious identities
in relation to people with other
religious identities.
In such a context, finding areas
of common space and agreement
is more normal than conflict. In-
deed, as noted, this has precedent
in the foundational ideas and key
leaders of many religious tradi-
tions who stressed cooperation
and peace over war and conflict.
Certainly, this is not to say that
left to themselves religions will
live in peace. They contain tradi-
tions and trends to both conflict
and coexistence.
Indeed, this ambivalent nature
of the sacred, as Scott Appleby has
termed it, means that religious
leaders, devotees and others con-
cerned with social harmony and
positive inter-religious relations
have a duty to ensure that the
Eat wisely during Idul Fitri
elements favoring coexistence
and harmony are promoted and Nadhira Nuraini Afifa prolonged period of fasting dur- Idul Fitri tradition, experts warn degenerative diseases. People
extolled. NEW YORK ing Ramadhan and the transition people to avoid the urge to overeat. should be very careful about the
from “fast” to “feast” can have ad- This unhealthy habit may be type of foods they reintroduce

I
grimage sites, some of which still The writer is an associate pro- dul Fitri is a highly anticipat-
exist. While little known today, fessor for the Studies in Inter-Reli- ed occasion for Muslims. As
this is not an exception. gious Relations in Plural Societies soon as the full moon is sight-
If one traverses Southeast- Program, S. Rajaratnam School of ed, which marks the end of Rama-
ern Europe, in places such as International Studies (RSIS), Nan- dhan, a celebratory atmosphere
Macedonia, one will find shrines, yang Technological University, Sin- engulfs every city and country
mosques, and churches that form gapore. He blogs on www.logosdao. across the world where Muslims
sacred loci again for both Chris- wordpress.com. live. It is the most celebrated day
of the Islamic calendar as it comes
after the culmination of 30 days
YOUR LETTERS of fasting that lasts up to 14 hours
in our country.
On the first day of Idul Fitri,
World Cup people get together to enjoy what
is possibly the most lavish and
With regard to the June 7 publication in The Jakarta Post important meal of the year. The
of the article “Russia aims to bring soccer to the fore at World whole day revolves around feast-
Cup” that presents biased interpretations of FIFA World ing. The table will feature many
Cup in Russia, I would like to share with you my view on that kinds of dishes, snacks and bev-
material. erages — mostly containing large
The published article by the Agence France Presse is very amounts of sugar and fat. The un-
unprofessional due to the author’s extreme politicizing of the derlying message, “After a month
sport theme. Russia has been thoroughly preparing for the of abstinence, you deserve to in-
World Cup for eight years through construction of sport and dulge”. Can you imagine the ze-
public infrastructure in the host cities. Just have a look at Sochi, nith of feasting on these days? It
the city that hosted the Winter Olympic Games 2014 and the is like people cannot get enough.
Paralympic Games. Sochi has undergone considerable changes When one fasts for a month, the
ahead of such a major event and now it opens its doors for the metabolic processes are switched
World Cup. A few days ago FIFA President G. Infantino con- to conserve energy. Long gaps be-
firmed once again that Russia is “absolutely ready” for the the tween meals prompts the body
2018 World Cup. to switch to storage mode and
I am sure that the experience gained in the previous years the balance between fat and lean
will allow our country to hold the event smoothly and success- body tissue is greatly disrupted.
fully. Russia stands firmly against politicizing of the sport and So soon, after when people eat
invites everyone to visit the World Cup games and enjoy Rus- and overeat, they are frightened
sian hospitality. by their increased appetite. It is
very common to compensate fast-
LYUDMILA VOROBIEVA ing with overeating. However, it is
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO INDONESIA important to remember that the
JAKARTA body becomes accustomed to a
verse effects on one’s health.
Moreover, it is not only over-
eating during Idul Fitri that may
endanger us, but also the kind of
food we eat. Popular dishes of-
ten contain coconut milk, such
as opor ayam (chicken in coco-
nut broth), sambal goreng ati
(spicy beef liver) and semur dag-
ing (stewed meat). Not to men-
tion other harmful sweet snacks
and beverages, such as pineapple
cookies, kaastangel (cheese finger
snacks) and syrup. The Karawaci
Slaughterhouse expects to see
a 400 percent increase in meat
sales prior to Idul Fitri. According
to retailer Carrefour Indonesia,
demand for sweet snacks and syr-
up also increases 10 percent dur-
ing this season.
Unwittingly, unhealthy eating
habits during Idul Fitri can lead
to many digestive or other seri-
ous illnesses, like high blood pres-
sure, high cholesterol levels and
diabetes. People often suffer re-
lapses of chronic diseases after
overindulging in unhealthy dish-
es during Idul Fitri. If during the
fasting month obese people lose
weight, they tend to regain it or
even jump the scales after Idul
Fitri. Hospitals often see a spike
in the number of patients seeking
emergency treatment for gastric
issues, such as nausea, vomiting,
stomach upset and indigestion.
As the unhealthy habit of eating
has become entrenched in every
linked to the cultural norms dur-
ing Idul Fitri. With many invita-
tions, people tend to see more of
their family and friends, and pres-
sure increases to slack off and give
in to indulgence.
As it is considered impolite to
refuse food offered when visiting
relatives, you can handle this by
having five to six small portions
of meals every day, rather than
two or three large meals. People
who eat large meals at one time
often experience unpleasant side
effects, such as gastro-esophageal
reflux — a condition when stom-
ach acid rises into the esophagus.
Overeating does sometimes cause
conditions like this when people
tend to eat a lot without giving a
chance for the stomach to digest
food slowly.
Furthermore, Islam teaches
us many etiquettes of eating, one
of which is learned through the
Prophet Muhammad. He made
a point of developing remark-
ably healthy eating habits among
his followers, as he said, “[…]
when eating we stop before we
are satisfied.”
Controlling weight is also an
important thing that should al-
ways be remembered. We should
always be aware of the caloric
value of each food item and bev-
erage we consume. Obesity is a
risk factor of various diseases,
such as coronary heart disease,
stroke, osteoporosis and other
into their diets. During Idul Fitri,
we get used to eating almost a jar
of delicious cookies, a big plate of
rendang or a bottle of syrup. Be-
sides sending high-calories into
the stratosphere, eating rich, fat-
ty dishes and a smorgasbord of
sweet cookies and snacks could
shock the body system and dis-
rupt hormone levels.
To avoid excessive consump-
tion of greasy, fatty fried foods, al-
ways start your meal by consum-
ing fruit and vegetables before
eating main courses, as they are
rich in vitamins and fiber, which
can aid digestion.
Drinking plenty of water could
also be a good alternative to tack-
le the temptation to overeat, as
well as to prevent constipation
— caused by a lack of water in-
take because people tend to drink
syrup-based beverages and soft
drinks instead. Last, do not forget
to maintain good hygiene by wash-
ing your hands before eating.
After all, Idul Fitri is a day of
victory. It should not be a day of
overeating, but a day of meet-
ing and spending time with loved
ones. So, eat wisely and spend the
day joyfully.
The writer is a physician prac-
ticing in West Nusa Tenggara and
master of public health in socio-
medical sciences candidate at Co-
lumbia University.

Please send your articles to opinion@thejakartapost.com.

6 | CITY TUESDAY June 12, 2018

GREATER JAKARTA Business opportunity

Dump truck hangs over edge of toll road
JAKARTA: An almost-fatal accident occurred on Monday morning in
Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, when a garbage truck driver collided
with the barrier of a toll bridge, leaving the cabin hanging precariously
over the edge.
North Jakarta Police traffic accident unit head Adj. Comr. Sigit Pur-
wanto said the vehicle belonged to the Jakarta Environment Agency.
The driver was identified as Aries Sutrisno, who was on his way back
from delivering garbage to the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java.
“The driver took the wrong lane, he was then shocked and swerved
to the left [to avoid other cars heading toward him], losing control of
the vehicle and colliding with the barrier of the Plumpang toll bridge,”
Sigit said as quoted by kompas.com.
He said that Aries had been driving at 60 kilometers per hour.
Pictures posted on social media showed the orange truck hanging on
the edge of the elevated Plumpang toll road, having damaged the fence
on the sides of the bridge. No casualties were reported in the incident.—JP

KAI to offer luxury sleeper car

JAKARTA: State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI)
is set to launch on Tuesday the operation of a luxury car for its sleeper
train service.
For its maiden trip, the car will be attached to KA Argo Anggrek,
which travels from Gambir Station in Central Jakarta to Pasarturi
Surabaya Station in East Java.
According to tempo.co, the luxury service will include 170-degree
reclining seats, electric foot rests, 12-inch TVs with headsets, a USB
charging socket, foldable food trays, pillows and blankets, trash cans,
mirrors, cup holders, compartments to store shoes, magazines and
coat hangers — all available for each passenger.
“The exclusive service provided in this train car is similar to an
airline’s business class,” Krisbiyantoro, KAI Regional Operation (Daop) 3 JP/Dhoni Setiawan
Cirebon public relations manager, said on Monday. Street vendors pack the sidewalk outside Tanah Abang train station in Central Jakarta on Monday.
One train car can accommodate 18 passengers, who will also re-
ceive complimentary meals, beverages and snacks.
KAI will offer a promotional rate of Rp 900,000 (US$64.42) that
will be available for one month. Passengers can books tickets for the
luxury car through any of the company’s reservation channels.
Kris said the luxury sleeper train was one of KAI’s innovations to
improve its services, “so that the public can have greater traveling
options”. — JP
‘Mudik’ travelers rely on
Armed personnel allegedly attack police
JAKARTA: Two police officers, Second Brig. Bimo Yudho Prasetyo and
Second Brig. Feri Saputra, were allegedly attacked by military person-
neighbors to guard houses
nel in Cijantung, East Jakarta, on June 9. The Jakarta Post Many residents leave 386 criminal cases during the also patrol all residential areas
According to Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono, Bimo JAKARTA houses empty during long Ramadhan and Idul Fitri holi- to help secure the empty houses
and Feri were attacked while buying drinks behind Cijantung Graha Mall. Idul Fitri holiday day season in 2016, most of which throughout the holiday, accord-
“Suddenly, a group of people approached and attacked them,” Argo Even though many residents of were cases of breaking and enter- ing to agency head Yani Wahyu.
said on Sunday as quoted by tempo.co. Greater Jakarta complain about Some rely on neighbors, ing or motorcycle theft. “We will cooperate with neigh-
The alleged victims, who identified their attackers as military how difficult it is to find time to others on security guards, However, to prevent the num- borhood units (RT), community
personnel, were examined at the Kramat Jati Police Hospital in East interact with their neighbors due neighborhood watch ber of crimes from increasing, the units (RW), community devel-
Jakarta, Argo said. to busy schedules, when it comes system police have announced a plan to opment units (Binsa), village su-
Bimo and Feri have reported the incident to the military police in to leaving their homes for the conduct joint patrols with the In- pervisory non-commissioned
Cijantung. Idul Fitri holiday, they can rely on donesian Military (TNI) to check officers (Babinsa), subdistrict of-
Jakarta Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. Kristomei Sianturi said these next-door acquaintances to “I’ll just lock the door and leave on empty houses in the city from ficials and Satpol PP to help patrol
an investigation has been launched on whether the attackers were in keep a close eye on their houses the keys with my landlord,” he June 11 to 20. the houses,” Yani said on Sunday,
fact military personnel. while they are away. said. “These empty houses become tribunnews.com reported.
The incident occurred mere days after Second Sgt. Nikolas Kegomoi Budi Waluyo, 50, always leaves Another resident, Doni Sugan- the targets of crimes after their A Bekasi resident, Aris Munan-
and Second Sgt. Darma Aji from the Indonesian Military (TNI) were a spare key for one of his neigh- di, 32, said he was confident that owners leave for mudik,” Jakar- dar, 38, said he was confident that
allegedly attacked by Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers at a billiard bors in Tanjung Priok, North his house in South Tangerang, ta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. his house in Cikarang, Bekasi,
center in Cimanggis on June 7. Darma was killed in the incident. Jakarta, before going on long Banten, would be safe while his Raden Prabowo Argo Yuwono West Java, would be safe because
Given the June 7 attack, Kristomei said there was a possibility that trips, such as this year’s mudik entire family spends the holi- said as quoted by tempo.co. he and his neighbors had agreed
certain parties were attempting to add fuel to fire but warned against (exodus). day in his hometown in Band- Argo urged holidaymakers to to pay Rp 100,000 (US$7) in secu-
pointing the finger. “I do that every year,” Budi ung, West Java, because the resi- properly secure their houses be- rity fees.
“We should be wise in looking at this matter. We shouldn’t quickly told The Jakarta Post on Monday dential complex he lived in was fore leaving on mudik, adding that “The residents and security
conclude that the attack [on June 9] was an act of retaliation. That will while waiting for a train to take guarded by security guards. the police suggested that hom- guards worked together in three
worsen the situation,” Kristomei said. — JP him and his daughter to Malang, “Just like always, I need only eowners install security cameras shifts [to guard the neighbor-
East Java, where his parents live. lock the door. It’s quite a safe for real-time surveillance. hood], in the morning, at noon
Muhammad Liga Afifi, 43, who neighborhood with guards stand- Holidaymakers are also ex- and at night,” he said.
109,165 cars leave Jakarta on Saturday departed to Yogyakarta from ing by,” he said. pected to coordinate with local He added that the neighbor-
Gambir Station in Central Jakar- During the Idul Fitri festivi- security officers and their neigh- hood that he lived in employed a
JAKARTA: State-owned toll operator PT Jasa Marga revealed that ta with his wife and two kids, said ties, when families return to their borhood unit heads or trusted strict open-close system to mon-
109,165 cars left Jakarta for the annual Idul Fitri exodus on Saturday. that as he lived in a rented house hometowns for up to weeks at a neighbors to keep an eye on their itor every visitor in the area, so
Another 100,000 cars were expected to leave the capital via the in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, he time, houses that are left empty empty houses during the holiday. he was confident that his house
Cikarang tollgate on Sunday, Jasa Marga spokesman Dwimawan Heru would entrust the security of it to are often robbed. Separately, the Jakarta Public would be safe, provided that he
said on Sunday as reported by tempo.co. his landlord. The Jakarta Police recorded Order Agency (Satpol PP) would lock the doors.(ami)
Sunday’s figure was a 85 percent increase from the number of cars
that usually exit Jakarta on weekends, which once reached 58,851.
Heru said many travelers started the exodus on Saturday as the
government’s official 10-day Idul Fitri holiday would start on June 11. SEXUAL ABUSE
He said Jasa Marga had advised toll road users to make sure their
e-toll cards had enough credit to prevent congestion.
“Topping up with cash at tollgates will only be allowed in emer-
gency situations,” he said. — JP
KPAI, police to provide assistance for child victims
The Jakarta Post pect on June 6. case involves children, we must According to Didik, only four
Dreamland JAKARTA KPAI head Susanto and the
commission’s education com-
be sensitive in our approach.”
Retno said witnesses of the
out of the identified 13 victims —
all boys — have come forward. He
As victims of the recent sexual missioner Retno Listyati met abuse will also be the focus of the added that the police would con-
abuse case in Depok are elemen- with Depok Police chief Adj. Sr. KPAI’s rehabilitation efforts, she tinue to investigate the case to ob-
tary school students, the Indone- Comr. Didik Sugiarto to discuss added. tain the most accurate data on the
sian Child Protection Commis- the possibility of speaking with “Sometimes witnesses are victims and the suspect.
sion (KPAI) and the Depok Police the suspect — the students’ Eng- much more heavily traumatized Susanto added that there is a
have decided to provide therapy lish teacher — in addition to pro- than the victims,” Retno said. possibility of other, yet-to-be-
and counseling to help mitigate viding therapy for the victims and “They will also be rehabilitated.” identified victims.
the impact of the abuse on them. their families. As part of the process, the com- “Our team will also attempt
The case came to light when The KPAI is set to cooperate mission will encourage parents to confirm the identities of oth-
parents of four students reported with therapists from the Univer- to also come forward and receive er victims,” he said, “So that we
a former teacher identified only sity of Indonesia’s (UI) School of therapy. can provide them with the best
as WA, 23, on Wednesday to the Psychology and the Office of the “Four victims and their fami- treatment.”
police for alleged sexual abuse. Coordinating Human Develop- lies have started the recovery pro- He added that the commis-
According to one of the par- ment and Culture Minister’s In- cess with the PT2P2A,” Retno sion will follow up on long-term
ents, the suspect commanded all tegrated Women’s and Children’s said. “The rest will be handled by plans with the Depok administra-
male students to take off their Center (P2TP2A). UI.” tion, especially regarding the re-
pants while studying in the class- Didik said the victims deserved Didik called on the media to be cruitment of teachers. “Early de-
JP/P.J.Leo room. If they resisted, the suspect the best treatment to recover more self-conscious in its report- tection skills to identify abusers
A child sleeps on a heap of coconut leaves while a man prepares threatened to lower their grades from their trauma. ing of the case to reduce the pos- must be acquired by every school
the leaves to sell on Jl. Palmerah Barat, West Jakarta on Mon- and encouraged them by saying “The most important thing sibility of further trauma and stig- headmaster.”
day. Ahead of Idul Fitri, coconut leaves are particularly sought that they would get good grades if that we have to do now is heal the ma for the victims. In addition to mitigation efforts,
after because many people use them to make ketupat (rice cake they complied. victims,” he said on Monday. “But “The children must not be ex- schools must be more active in
wrapped in a coconut leaf ). Depok Police arrested the sus- we have to remember that as this posed by the media,” he said. abuse prevention, Retno said. (rfa)

PLURALISM

Movement to promote peace, tolerance marches on

The Jakarta Post
JAKARTA
A group of people under Ko-
munitas Kerja Bakti untuk Negeri
(Community Working Together
for the Country) that promotes
pluralism has continued its
movement of joint iftar (break-
ing-of-the-fast meal) events in
different houses of worship, in an
attempttocounterreligious-based
violence.
Such a movement was consid-
ered especially urgent after the
bomb attacks on three churches
last month in Surabaya, East Java.
On Saturday, the community
held the event at Buddhist In-
stitute Prasadha Jinarakhita in
South Kembangan, West Jakarta.
According to Diena Haryana,
one of the organizers, this was a way
to begin combatting the recent neg-
ativity caused by radicalism.
“We want to fight back,” she
said. “It does affect us, it makes
you feel like looking around and
asking ‘what’s going on here’?”
Diena added that she cares a lot
about the issue “because it seems
we are going backward”.
The majority of the little less
than 100 attendees were fast-
ing as they were either Muslim,
or fasting out of respect for the
tradition. They all expressed the
strong belief that Indonesia is a
pluralistic nation.
After the joint iftar event, the
participants toured the insti-
tute, which excited many as they
immediately took out their cell
phones to take selfies in the ven-
ue that showcases many Buddha
statues.
Piandi, who led the tour,
opened by saying that the insti-
tute welcomed the event in order
“to express the strength in the act
of being generous and loving one
another.” He added the event was
meant, “to break fast together, as
a family of Indonesian cultures.”
“We want to show people
that Islam is indeed a religion
that loves peace, upholds tol-
erance and respects diversity,”
said Helmi Ansor of Banser, the
youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulama,
the country’s largest Muslim
organization.
“We want to continue to build
close friendships and cooperate
as much as possible, so that we
understand that we actually com-
pliment and need each other.”
The event ended with a person-
al address from pluralism activist
Alissa Wahid, daughter of former
president Abdurrahman Wahid,
lovingly remembered as Gus Dur.
“We must remember what it
means to be Indonesian. We must
remember that the open views
and interactions that we express
here must not be limited to this
safe space with the familiar and
friendly faces we met here, but in
our everyday lives.”
Deina plans to keep the move-
ment going during Ramadhan,
adding, “We plan to go to Bogor
next, if all goes well, because it is
a really vulnerable area.”
A study by rights group Setara
Institute in November last year
shows that Bogor and Depok,
two satellite cities in West Java
to the south of Jakarta, have be-
come fertile ground for intolerant
preachers to spread radical and
hate-fueled messages in places
such as universities and housing
complexes.
“It is so worrying for me that
people become so rigid and focus
more on haram and halal, forget-
ting love, empathy, respect and
those wonderful values shown
by our parents and people of the
past. Where are we going?” Deina
said.
At the centre of the event, a
makeshift blackboard was put up
for attendees to post their wishes
for a more tolerant Indonesia.
Various positive messages were
expressed, including “Indonesia
is our shared home”; “We should
learn to keep the peace”; “We are
Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (united in
diversity); “We are Bhinneka tapi
Ika” (united despite our differ-
ences); “Kita Ika tapi Bhinneka”
(we are different but united) and
selamanya kita bhinneka tung-
gal ika (we are forever united in
diversity).
The final message posted on
the board said, “In a world where
you can be anything, be nice and
peaceful.”
Previously, the same group
held a similar event at the Jakarta
Cathedral.(acr)
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
GOLF
Johnson on
top of world
after Memphis
victory
Andy Lyons/via AFP
Dustin Johnson
Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
Dustin Johnson warmed up
for the US Open by reclaiming
the world number one ranking
on Sunday, cruising to a six-shot
victory at the Fedex St. Jude
Classic.
Johnson, who started the day
alongside Andrew Putnam at the
top of the leaderboard, held his
nerve to close with a four-un-
der-par 66 at TPC Southwind in
Memphis, Tennessee.
The 33-year-old sealed his win
in emphatic style, holing out for a
sensational eagle two on the 18th
to roars from the gallery.
Johnson finished the tourna-
ment with a four-round aggregate
261, 19 under par.
“What a cool way to end the
day to hole that shot on 18,” John-
son said afterward.
“A lot of good things happened
this week. I knew coming in this
week I was swinging really well
and I had confidence in my game.”
Putnam’s challenge wilted af-
ter a disastrous double-bogey on
the par-four first which left John-
son with sole possession of the
lead.
The win ensures Johnson will
return to the top of the rankings
as the golf world prepares for
the second major of the season
at next week’s US Open at Shin-
necock Hills, New York.
Johnson had ceded his number
one spot to Justin Thomas last
month following a 64-week reign
at the top of the standings.
Sunday’s victory was the 18th
PGA Tour win of Johnson’s ca-
reer, and his first since a triumph
at the Sentry Tournament of
Champions in Hawaii in January.
“It was nice to be back in the
hunt, to get the lead and to get the
juices flowing a little bit,” John-
son said.
“It feels like it’s been a long
time [since my last win], even
though it’s only been six months.”
Johnson admitted he couldn’t
be happier with his form as he
aims to claim a second US Open
after his victory at Oakmont in
2016.
“I have high expectations go-
ing in every week,” Johnson said.
“But I feel like my game’s in good
shape.
“I’m driving really well. I’m hit-
ting my irons well, and my wedges
are really good. I’m really looking
forward to it.”
“I haven’t seen the golf course
yet but I’ll go there tomorrow and
get 18 holes in and we’ll see.”
Putnam, meanwhile, who has
yet to win on the PGA Tour, said
he would take positives from the
way he managed to steady his
round after dropping three shots
in his opening five holes.
The 29-year-old went one un-
der for the remaining 13 holes to
close on 13 under par, four shots
clear of J.B. Holmes in third.
SCOREBOARD
Motorsports
Formula One
Results for Canadian Grand Prix of FIA F1
World Championship 2018 on Sunday
No Driver/Team Gr Lap DPt TPt
1 Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari 1 68
2 Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes
3 Max Verstappen
2 68
Red Bull 3 68
4 Daniel Ricciardo
Red Bull 6 68
5 Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 4 68
6 Kimi Räikkönen
Ferrari 5 68
7 Nico Hülkenberg
Renault 7 67
8 Carlos Sainz Jr.
Renault 9 67
9 Esteban Ocon
Force India 8 67
10 Charles Leclerc
Sauber 13 67
Notes: Gr-Grid position at the start;
DPt-Driver points; TPt-Team points
Baseball
MLB
Results from the MLB games on Sunday
(home team in CAPS)
Chicago White Sox 5 BOSTON
TORONTO 13 Baltimore
San Diego 3 MIAMI
Seattle 5 TAMPA BAY
CINCINNATI 6 St. Louis
Cleveland 9 DETROIT
PHILADELPHIA 4 Milwaukee
MINNESOTA 7 LA Angels
Pittsburgh 7 CHICAGO C.
Houston 8 TEXAS
Arizona 8 COLORADO
San Francisco 2 WASHINGTON
OAKLAND 3 Kansas City
LA DODGERS 7 Atlanta
NY METS 2 NY Yankees
VETTEL CLAIMS 50TH WIN
AND GOES TOP IN TITLE RACE
Tim Collings
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/MONTREAL
Sebastian Vettel claimed the
50th win of his career and re-
claimed the lead of this year’s
world championship on Sunday
when he ended Lewis Hamilton’s
run of supremacy at the Canadian
Grand Prix.
The four-time champion Ger-
man drove his Ferrari with near
flawless aplomb to convert his
54th pole position into a trium-
phant afternoon ahead of Finn
Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and
determined Dutchman Max Ver-
stappen, who was third for Red
Bull.
Vettel’s third victory this sea-
son lifted him to 121 points ahead
of Hamilton on 120 after seven
races, ending the defending four-
time champion’s hopes of a re-
cord-equaling seventh win at the
Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where
he won from pole for the last
three years.
It was Ferrari’s firstt win in Can-
ada since 2004 and cameame from its
first pole there in 17 years. Itt
was also Vettel’s second
ond win
in Canada where he won in
2013 for Red Bull.
Australian Daniel Ricciar-
do, who clocked the fastest lap at
the end, managed to resist
esist a late
charge from Hamilton on in the
closing laps and retain in fourth
place ahead of the English-
man who extended his is record
points-scoring run to 32
races.
Finn Kimi Raikkonen nen n
finished sixth in the sec-ec-
c ing the screw,
ond Ferrari.
German Nico
co
Hulkenberg came
me
home seventh ahead of
his Renault team-mate te
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, inz,
z which makes it far more difficult for second-tier sides to qualify.
Frenchman Esteban an
Ocon of Force India ia
and Monegasque Charles arlless
Leclerc of Sauber.
“Perfect is a good wayy
to describe this,” said a de-
d -
de
SOCCER
Neymar lands in Russia, Messi casts doubt over W. Cup future
Guy Jackson
and Andy Scott
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/MOSCOW/
SOCHI
Brazil arrived in Russia on
Monday hungry to make amends
for its World Cup humiliation
in 2014 with Neymar apparent-
ly fighting fit, as Lionel Messi
cast doubt over his international
future.
The Brazilians landed in the
early hours in Sochi, the Black Sea
resort where they will be based,
buoyant after beating Austria 3-0
in their final warm-up match.
Most of the favorites are now in
Russia ahead of Thursday’s cur-
tain raiser between the host and
Saudi Arabia but holder Germany
is due to arrive on Tuesday.
The atmosphere is low-key
ahead of the opening match at
Moscow’s imposing 80,000-ca-
pacity Luzhniki Stadium.
Russia was a disputed choice
when it was handed the World
Cup in a closely watched 2010
vote that has since been taint-
ed by bribery charges and the
tournament takes place against
a background of international
tensions.
Russia and the West have en-
gaged in a major wave of tit-for-
tat diplomatic expulsions since
London accused Moscow of be-
ing behind the poisoning of Sergei
TENNIS
25 33
18 28 Nadal insists passing Federer’s 20 Slams not on agenda
15 27
12 27
10 28
8 33
6 10
4 10
2 2
1 1
2 Reuters/Benoit Tessier
3
1 Never let go: Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates by kissing the 2018
4 French Open trophy after winning the final against Austria’s Do-
3 minic Thiem in Paris on Sunday.
2
3 on my mind.”
5 Dave James
1 Grand Slam titles.
7 AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/PARIS
3 Nadal clinched an 11th French
0 Rafael Nadal insists that he has
2
2 no desire to become locked into
0 an arms race with Roger Feder-
lighted Vettel.
“I said yesterday that this place
means a lot to Ferrari and to have
a race like this is unbelievable.
“After a long stretch here with-
out a Ferrari win, I looked around
and the people are so very happy.
It means a lot. There’s a long way
to go in the season so I am not
bothered about the title now, but
it’s a good side affect for me.”
He said the win was special be-
cause it came 40 years after Ca-
nadian Gilles Villeneuve had won
his first race for Ferrari.
The race began in near-perfect
conditions with an air tempera-
ture of 20 degrees Celsius and the
track at 45 as the lights went out.
Vettel, from his fourth Canadi-
an pole, made a clean start while
behind him Bottas had to scrap
to resist a robust attack from
Verstappen.
Hamilton stayed fourth ahead
of Ricciardo who made quick
work of passing Raikkonen be-
fore, after only half a lap, a heavy
collision between Brendon Hart-
ley’s
y s Toro
l y’
le Toro Rosso
R ss
Ro o and
sso and lo-
lo
Dan Istitene/via AFP
Skripal in Britain in March.
Brazil’s Neymar, who broke
a bone in his foot in February,
marked his first start in more
than three months by scoring in
Sunday’s easy victory in Vienna
while Gabriel Jesus and Philippe
Coutinho also netted.
It was Neymar’s 55th goal in a
Brazil shirt, allowing him to draw
level with Romario on his coun-
try’s list of all-time leading scor-
ers — only Pele and Ronaldo have
more goals for their country.
“I don’t know Neymar’s limits,”
Brazil coach Tite said. “His tech-
nical and creative capacity is im-
pressive. When we get him in the
last third of the field he is lethal.”
Brazil, which crashed out of the
last World Cup on home soil in a
humiliating 7-1 semifinal defeat
to Germany, start its campaign
against Switzerland in Rostov-on-
Don on Sunday.
Argentina captain Messi, one
of the biggest stars in Russia, said
his international future will be
determined by his country’s per-
formance at the World Cup.
“It will depend on how far we
go, how we’re going to finish” at
the finals, Messi said in an inter-
view with Spanish daily Sport.
“We’ve just lost three finals in
a row, which has led to us going
through some difficult moments
with the press,” added the Barce-
lona forward.
er to surpass his great rival’s 20
Open with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory
against Dominic Thiem on Sun-
day to take his majors total to 17.
cal hero Lance Stroll’s Williams.
The New Zealander appeared
to be squeezed into the barriers
as Stroll, with a puncture, moved
sideways ahead of him at Turn
Five and the Toro Rosso was lift-
ed off the ground before both flew
off the track.
Hamilton’s early pit-stop on an
enforced two-stop strategy, due
to an engine heating problem,
had done him no favors, but when
Raikkonen pitted after 33 laps
the Englishman was able to hang
on and regain fifth as the Ferrari
rejoined.
This left Vettel and Bottas out
in front, 24 seconds ahead of Ver-
stappen, but still running on their
original ultra-softs. Bottas was
first to blink on lap 37, Vettel fol-
lowing one lap later, both going to
super-softs.
All this left Vettel in command
after 40 laps, 5.7 seconds clear
of Bottas with Verstappen third
ahead of Ricciardo, Hamilton and
Raikkonen.
Raikkonen
After 42 laps, sadly, Fernando
30 th Grand Prix week-
Alonso’s 300
end came to t an end when, chas-
ing 10th, he was called in to pit and
retire.
With 20 laps remaining, Ham-
ilton began to find a rhythm to
move with
within a second of Ric-
ciardo while
whi Bottas, at the front,
trimmed Vettel’s lead to 3.8
seconds.
A grandstand
grand finish looked
possible
p ssible until
po u Bottas ran off at
Turnr One and took to the grass
before recovering.
rec He had lost
two seconds
secon and Vettel, turn-
sc responded with a
fastest lap
la before cruising to a
crushing
crus victory.
Good feeling:
Germany’s
Germ Sebastian Vettel
of Ferrari
Fe celebrates on the
podium
pod after winning the
Canadian
C Formula One
Grand Prix at Circuit
Gilles
Gill Villeneuve in Mon-
treal,
tre Canada, on Sunday.
The A-team: Brazilian soccer star Neymar (center) and his national teammates disembark from a plane
at Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, on Monday. Brazil is set to start its journey in the 2018
FIFA World Cup against Switzerland in Group E on June 17.
Argentina lost the 2014 World
Cup final 1-0 to Germany after ex-
tra time, before suffering succes-
sive defeats by Chile on penalties
at the Copa America in 2015 and
2016.
Messi, who will turn 31 during
the World Cup, believes Spain,
Brazil, Germany, France and Bel-
gium are the leading contenders
That’s three behind Federer
who is more than four years older.
However, the 32-year-old Nad-
al said such targets do not con-
cern him, believing his caution
is well-placed after an injury-hit
career which has seen him sit out
nine Grand Slam tournaments.
“I have never been crazy about
this kind of stuff,” said Nadal.
“You can’t always be frustrat-
ed if somebody has more mon-
ey than you, a bigger house than
you, if somebody has more Grand
Slams than you.
“You can’t live with this
feeling.”
“Of course I would love to have
20 like Roger in the future or even
more but it’s not something that is
Even this year, injury has con-
tinued to hound Nadal with a
hip problem forcing him to quit
his Australian Open quarterfinal
against Marin Cilic.
He missed the North Ameri-
SPORTS | 7
PUTTING IT BRIEFLY
RI shuttlers gear up for World C’ships
JAKARTA: Indonesian shuttlers are gearing up for the prestigious World
Championships, which are set to run in Nanjing, China, from July 30 to
Aug. 5.
In the men’s singles category, Indonesia will have Tommy Sugiarto,
Jonatan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
In the men’s doubles, Indonesia’s world number one pair Kevin San-
jaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon will play alongside Fajar
Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto, Berry Angriawan and Hardianto
as well as Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira and Ade Yusuf Santoso.
Meanwhile, junior pair Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti and Agatha
Imanuela will compete in the women’s doubles category.
“We did not expect to be able to compete at the senior level, be-
cause we’re still playing in the Junior World Championships this year,”
19-year-old Fadia said in a statement on Monday.
In the meantime, defending mixed doubles champions Tontowi
Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir will not go to Nanjing as they are focusing
on the Asian Games, which will start on Aug. 18. — JP
Robbie Williams to sing at World Cup
LONDON: British pop star Robbie Williams will perform at the World
Cup opening ceremony in Moscow on Thursday, the world football
governing body FIFA and the singer’s representatives said.
The award-winning singer formerly in the band Take That, who
is best known for his hit single “Angels”, will sing alongside Russian
soprano Aida Garifullina shortly before Russia and Saudi Arabia kick off
the World Cup at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
The 44-year-old said in a statement on Monday that performing at
the World Cup was “a boyhood dream” and it would be “an unforget-
table show”.
His song “Party Like a Russian” two years ago sparked controversy
in Russia for promoting stereotypes about the country.
It included lyrics about a leader who “alleviates the cash from a
whole entire nation, takes loose change and builds his own space
station”.
Williams told fans on Twitter at the time that the song “is definitely
not about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin”. — AFP
Scotland secures historic win over England
LONDON: Scotland’s cricketers pulled off the greatest victory in their
history to beat England for the first time amid scenes of disbelief and
jubilation at the tiny Grange ground in Edinburgh on Sunday.
The world’s top-ranked ODI team lost by six runs after just failing to
pull off what would have been the second highest one-day interna-
tional run chase.
Scotland’s Safyaan Sharif sparked a pitch invasion when he trapped
Mark Wood lbw with an inswinging yorker in the 49th over just when
England looked like they might avoid an infamous defeat that ranks
alongside their loss to Ireland at the 2011 World Cup.
England was all out for 365 after Scotland made 371 for five, its
highest total in a one-day international.
Scotland’s victory will send out a powerful message to the ICC, which
voted to restrict the 2019 World Cup to 10 teams from the previous 14,
Scotland’s innings included 45 fours and eight sixes and was an-
chored by Calum MacLeod who made an unbeaten 140.
“I hit it nicely,” said MacLeod, who plays club cricket for Bexley in
England. “It was a lovely feeling and nice to do it in a crowd this big.
Anything above 350 is a big total.” — Reuters
Reuters/Yevgeny Reutov
for the title. past the first stage of a World Cup
A big question mark hangs for the first time.
over the participation of Egypt The Egyptians arrived at their
and Liverpool striker Mohamed base in the Chechen capital Grozny
Salah, who is still receiving treat- on Sunday, after Salah sat out their
ment for the shoulder injury final training session in Cairo.
he suffered in the Champions Once they touched down,
League final. tracksuited Chechen leader Ram-
Egypt is banking on the avail- zan Kadyrov was among the first
ability of Salah as it tries to get to greet Salah.
ca hardcourt season and only re- about the future. Tennis is a very
turned in time for the European important part of my life, without
clay court season. a doubt, but is not everything.”
On Sunday, he even halted play Next on the campaign trail for
in the third set due to cramping in Nadal is Wimbledon where he
his finger that affected his blood was a two-time champion in 2008
circulation. and 2010. However, his recent re-
“It was scary,” he admitted. cord at the All England Club has
Nadal plans to return to Paris been dispiriting.
in 2019 and try and clinch a 12th Last year, he lost 15-13 in the
title at Roland Garros. fifth set of his last-16 tie against
But he remains philosophical Gilles Muller.
about the rest of his career which Since his last title in London
has so far yielded 17 majors, 79 ti- eight years ago, he has also suf-
tles in total as well as more than fered a first round exit as well as
US$100 million in prize money. two defeats in the second round.
“You can’t fight against age and “I would love to be playing in
you can’t fight against the watch. as many places as possible, but
The watch keeps going always. So you understand I need to check
that’s it.” how I feel in the next couple of
“If you tell me seven, eight days,” said Nadal as he pondered
years ago that I will be here at 32 his preparation for Wimbledon
years old having this trophy with which gets under way in three
me again, I will tell you that is weeks’ time.
something almost impossible, but He is currently entered to play
here we are.” the Queen’s Club tournament
“So I am not much worried next week.
8 | BUSINESS
Under construction
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution (right) talks to MRT president director William Sabandar at the underground construction
site of an MRT station in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Monday. William said the progress of the MRT’s construction had reached 94.2 percent,
comprising 96.59 percent of the underground and 91.82 percent of the overground.
BI tries to get companies
to hold more rupiah
Cindy Silviana and
Gayatri Suroyo
REUTERS/JAKARTA
Over the past couple of de-
cades, Indonesian companies
have developed a tried and tested
strategy to cope with the periodic
plunges in the rupiah: retain dol-
lars to protect their profits.
But their behavior can add to
downward pressure on the cur-
rency, exacerbating problems for
policymakers in Southeast Asia’s
biggest economy, especially given
its relatively open nature com-
pared to neighbors with more re-
strictive currency regimes.
The rupiah has been one of
Asia’s worst performing curren-
cies this year and hit its lowest
level since late 2015 at one point
last week after being caught up in
an emerging market sell-off.
Bank Indonesia (BI) has taken
various measures to try to boost
rupiah use and it is once again
prodding firms to sell dollars, but
companies surveyed by Reuters
are maintaining United States cur-
rency holdings and only meeting
minimum hedging requirements.
Many companies say that with
a lot of their costs in dollars and
their revenue largely in rupiah
they can’t risk getting caught by
a slide in the local currency. They
also point out that hedging can be
very expensive. Vidjongtius, the
CONSUMER PRICES
Ministry-backed grocery offers cheaper food
Riza Roidila Mufti
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
The demand for staple food has
seen an increase in prices at tradi-
tional markets ahead of Idul Fitri,
prompting the Agriculture Minis-
try to come up with a solution to
ease the burden of consumers.
The ministry has opened an In-
donesia Farmer Store (TTI) that
offers staple food at a lower price
because it distributes the stock
directly from farmers to consum-
ers by cutting out the middlemen.
On Monday, people from
across Greater Jakarta packed the
TTI Center in Jati Padang, Pasar
Minggu, South Jakarta, to buy ev-
erything from meat and eggs to
rice. One shopper, Tatik Sumarni,
68, traveled from her house in De-
pok, West Java, because she want-
ed to ensure an adequate supply
of food for her family and neigh-
bor over the Idul Fitri holiday.
“Here, I can get much lower
prices compared to the ones at
the traditional market near my
house,” Tatik said, pointing out
that she had bought 5 kilograms
of meat for Rp 75,000 (US$5.37)
per kg. The market near her home
charges Rp 130,000 per kg.
Another visitor, Andriani, 35,
came from South Jakarta just
to buy 2 kg of eggs at Rp 21,000
per kg, which is less than the
Rp 26,000 to Rp 30,000 per kg
charged at the traditional market
and food stalls near her house.
Despite BI measures,
companies still
maintaining US dollar
holdings
Companies need dollars
to protect profit
president director of Indonesia’s
biggest pharmaceutical company,
Kalbe Farma, said that every per-
centage of rupiah depreciation
raised its production costs by 0.35
percent.
Having “cash on hand” dollars
has been a strategy for Kalbe for a
long time because “hedging with
a banking product is relatively
more complex and sometimes
hard to monitor, plus there is a
cost for that”, he said.
New BI Governor Perry Warji-
yo told a media gathering last
Wednesday that forcing export-
ers to keep earnings onshore for
longer or making companies con-
vert dollar holdings was not cur-
rently an option under Indone-
sia’s laws.
That is in contrast to tough-
er foreign exchange systems in
existence in places like Malay-
sia, which since 2016 has made
exporters convert 75 percent of
their earnings into ringgit.
Indonesia is also vulnerable
because unlike some countries
in the region, it runs a current ac-
Harvest time: Residents from across Greater Jakarta swarm a farm-
ers store in Jati Padang in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. Staple food
sold at Indonesia Farmer Store (TTI) is relatively cheaper than
traditional markets or grocery stores.
The TTI was established in
June 2016 as part of a govern-
ment effort to control prices at
traditional markets, particularly
during Ramadhan and Idul Fitri
when demand for food surged,
triggering price increases.
The Agriculture Ministry is
partnering with 1,500 farm-
ers across the country to supply
count deficit. In addition, foreign-
ers own nearly 40 percent of the
government’s bonds, so its cur-
rency can be hit by outflows from
the bond market.
Warjiyo said there was a
misperception among some com-
panies about the cost of hedging
and some alarmism over how low
the rupiah might go.
He has pledged to communi-
cate more on hedging and to pro-
vide “a rational expectation” of
where the rupiah is heading after
he cited market talk suggesting it
could pass 16,000 per US dollar.
It currently trades around 13,900.
Some market participants have
begun to urge policymakers to re-
consider Indonesia’s liberal rules
on capital movement.
In a legislature hearing this
week, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo,
chief executive of Bank Mandiri,
suggested that after the period
of volatility passes, the rules be
changed to accommodate some
sort of capital management.
“A softer approach would be to
give exporters an incentive. So if
they convert [earnings in dollars]
to rupiah, maybe the tax on their
deposit can be reduced,” he said.
If BI goes down that road it
would be the latest in a series of in-
cremental steps it has taken in re-
cent years to try to pressure com-
panies into embracing the rupiah.
But this all clearly is not enough
JP/Riza Roidila Mufti
food to around 3,000 TTIs across
Indonesia.
Dino, a shopkeeper at an out-
let in the TTI Center, said a kg of
red chili was sold at Rp 35,000
per kg at, cheaper than the aver-
age price of around Rp 40,000 to
Rp 60,000 per kg found in tradi-
tional markets around Jakarta.
Shallots, meanwhile, were sold
JP/Seto Wardhana
to make a big difference.
And company executives say
that hedging does not always make
sense.
Dendy Kurniawan, chief exec-
utive of Indonesia AirAsia, which
gets about half its revenue in ru-
piah and half in dollars, said if, for
example, the rupiah fell 5 percent
and it cost 6 percent to hedge it
was pointless to hedge.
“It does make more sense if the
rupiah falls really deeply,” he said.
Jahja Setiaatmadja, president di-
rector of Indonesia’s Bank Central
Asia, said banks typically only took
20 to 25 basis points of profit mar-
gin for a simple foreign exchange
hedging product, but because it
was priced off the rupiah interbank
market it could carry a 5.95 percent
rate for a one-year contract.
It’s not only exporters, but also
companies with little or no dollar
earnings that hold onto the Amer-
ican currency.
Animal feed company Cha-
roen Pokphand Indonesia, which
mainly sells domestically but im-
ports some raw materials, has
sought to limit its dollar exposure
by buying local corn and limiting
its foreign debt, director Ong Mei
Sian said.
The company holds dollar cash
in addition to hedging short-term
interest payments, though it does
not fully hedge principal debt and
long-term dollar needs, he said.
for Rp 27,000 per kg, compared
to around Rp 35,000 to Rp 40,000
per kg at traditional markets.
With the relatively affordable
and stable prices at the TTIs, ven-
dors at traditional markets were
expected compete for customers
and refrain from charging higher
prices, said Agung Hendriadi, the
ministry’s food security head.
“If at some [traditional] mar-
kets there are commodities that
are extremely expensive, it is
purely because the sellers choose
to do so,” he said.
Data from the State Logis-
tics Agency (Bulog) as of May 30
showed that there were 1.4 mil-
lion tons of rice, 4,599 tons of
meat, 173,349 tons of sugar, 258
tons of corn and 5.37 million liters
of cooking oil.
Meanwhile, the inflation rate in
May stood at 1.3 percent year-to-
date, bringing the year-on-year in-
flation rate to 3.23 percent. It was
within the government’s target
range of 2.4 to 4.5 percent this year,
as outlined in the 2018 state budget.
Dino the shopkeeper at the TTI
Center acknowledged that the al-
ternative grocery store had at-
tracted many consumers as it was
more crowded during Ramadhan
than regular days.
“The gross profit we earn per
day ahead of Idul Fitri is double
that of any other day,” he said,
adding that his outlet, which sells
vegetables, earned about Rp 6
million in gross profit per day.
IDUL FITRI
Garuda promises
normal operations
Farida Susanty
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
National flag carrier Garuda
Indonesia has reassured travelers
that operations during the peak
travel season ahead of Idul Fitri
would run smoothly following
threats of a strike from pilots.
The airline identified the peak
season as running from June 8
until June 24, when it expects to
transport 1.2 million passengers,
a 3 percent increase from the
same period last year.
Garuda president director Pa-
hala N. Mansury said operations
remained normal.
“Our on-time performance
[OTP] was still over 90 percent
yesterday, with more than 612
flights daily,” he said during a visit
to Soekarno-Hatta Internation-
al Airport in Tangerang, Banten,
to monitor mudik (exodus) on
Monday.
Garuda Indonesia Group, an-
ticipating an increase in traf-
fic during the peak travel period,
prepared 160,000 extra seats, a 45
percent increase from last year’s
107,750 seats.
Pahala stated that, thus far, the
airline managed to ensure that no
flights were delayed longer than
45 minutes.
“We will maintain that,” he
said.
The airline’s busiest routes
during mudik, when many res-
idents leave Jakarta for their
hometowns, include Yogyakar-
ta; Solo and Semarang in Central
Java; Surabaya in East Java; and
various cities on Sumatra Island.
It recorded a notable increase
in international flights, including
those heading to Singapore and
Hong Kong.
Pahala said the airline was
committed to ensuring that its
fares stay above the base rate and
below the price ceiling set by the
government.
Pahala’s statements came after
concerns over threats of a strike
by the airline’s pilots, triggered by
ongoing tension between airline
employees and management.
The protest by the Garuda
Workers Union (Sekarga) and Ga-
ruda Pilot Association (APG) be-
OIL PRODUCTION
Chevron on track
to extend Rokan
contract
Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
With just a month to go before
a major decision is made about
the Rokan block contract, an oil
block in Riau known to be the
country’s most productive, exist-
ing operator PT Chevron Pacific
Indonesia (CPI) is in the lead to
extend its presence in the block.
The government is set to de-
cide CPI’s fate in July. State en-
ergy giant Pertamina has also ex-
pressed interest in operating the
block.
CPI, the local unit of United
States-based oil and gas giant
Chevron Corporation, has been
prioritized when the block’s con-
tract is extended thanks to a re-
cently issued ministerial regu-
lation on the management of
soon-to-expire oil and gas work-
ing fields. Chevron’s contract in
the Rokan block expires on Au-
gust 2021.
However, it seems that CPI
did not want to take the regula-
tion for granted as the firm has
already taken several measures
to convince the government that
it is the best choice to operate the
block once again.
“I heard that Chevron will ex-
ecute a full-scale Enhance Oil Re-
covery [EOR] that would double
its [Rokan block] production up
to 500,000 barrels of oil per day
[bopd],” the Energy and Min-
eral Resources Ministry’s direc-
tor general for oil and gas, Djoko
Siswanto, said in Jakarta recently.
“[For Chevron’s proposal to
be approved] it has to present
good programs that will benefit
the country, such as increasing
the production or maintaining
the current production. Not only
that, Chevron must also propose
a higher signature bonus. The
higher the better,” he added.
Data from the Upstream Oil
and Gas Regulatory Special
Task Force (SKKMigas) in April
showed that oil production in
the Rokan block stood at 210,280
bopd and gas production at
24.26 million cubic feet per day
(mmcfd).
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
gan last year and was sparked by
what they believed to be misman-
agement, which they said caused
losses to the airline.
The employees had also high-
lighted what they believed to be
a “high number of directors” on
Garuda’s management board,
with nine directors leading the
airline.
Pahala said the associations
gave a statement saying that em-
ployees would forego a strike dur-
ing the peak season.
He said discussions between
the associations and the compa-
ny’s management, as supervised
by the Office of the Coordinating
Maritime Affairs Minister, were
ongoing.
A working group was recently
established to resolve Garuda’s
industrial issues.
“We are quite optimistic that
everyone at Garuda wants to pro-
vide the best service during the
peak season,” he said.
However, the airline also said it
anticipated a possible strike over
flight scheduling and safety mea-
sures, although Pahala said the
management would try to main-
tain communications with the
two associations.
He shot down previous state-
ments that Indonesian Air Force
pilots would serve as backups in
case of a strike.
Pahala acknowledged that
more pilots were needed during
busy periods, including Idul Fitri
and the upcoming haj season;
however, Garuda would continue
to prioritize using its own pilots.
Garuda Indonesia director of op-
erations Triyanto Moeharsono said
the airline needed at least 30 more
pilots for its Boeing 737-800 NG. It
owns 73 of the aircraft, according to
the company’s latest data.
“Our current ratio is 4.6 [air
crew personnel] for each aircraft,
so we need around 300 [air crew
personnel] and we only have 286
[pilots]. We need 30 more for just
the [737-800] NG,” he said.
To prevent a strike from taking
place, Triyanto said the airline
would maintain communications
with the associations to address
problems and a policy related to
the prosperity of the pilots.
According to Chevron’s web-
site, the EOR is technology that
could be used to recover billions
of barrels that have already been
discovered, but were still beyond
reach.
It has been used by Chevron
at several oil projects around the
globe, such as the Permian Basin
in Texas and the offshore Agbami
field in Nigeria.
When asked about its interest
in the Rokan block, CPI corpo-
rate communications manager
Danya Dewanti told The Jakarta
Post that the company was still
discussing the contract exten-
sion with the government.
She, however, refused to go
into detail.
Previously, House of Repre-
sentatives Commission VII over-
seeing energy called on Chev-
ron to urgently implement EOR
technology in the Rokan block.
“SKKMigas should push
Chevron to implement its results
in the EOR pilot project seeing
how the oil price has increased as
of late.
“Previously, the reason for
stopping the implementation
was [the low price of oil],” said
Commission VII member Kur-
tubi during a hearing with the
Energy and Mineral Resources
Ministry recently.
Responding to the suggestion,
Energy and Mineral Resourc-
es Minister Ignasius Jonan said
full-scale EOR was one of the re-
quirements for Chevron to ex-
tend its contract.
Chevron IndoAsia business
unit managing director Chuck
Taylor and CPI senior vice presi-
dent for policy, government and
public affairs Yanto Sianipar vis-
ited Coordinating Maritime Af-
fairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan
in his office last week to show
their commitment to the Rokan
block.
Pertamina upstream direc-
tor Syamsu Alam said the Rokan
block was still one of the firm’s
major priorities and that it would
set up a proposal in accordance
with all the requirements as stip-
ulated in the existing regulation.
TUESDAY June 12, 2018 INTERNATIONAL | 9
Parked in ECONOMY IN BRIEF
Xiaomi unveils big loss ahead of IPO
BEIJING: Xiaomi Corp. revealed it lost more than US$1 billion in the first
three months, as the Chinese smartphone maker prepares to persuade
investors to buy into the largest initial public offering since 2014.
The eight-year-old company has begun gauging demand for a first-
time share sale intended to fuel its expansion beyond China and bank-
roll the development of devices and media services. It also published its
first prospectus for the sale of China Depositary Receipts in Shanghai on
Monday, saying it plans to use about 40 percent of the proceeds to en-
large its global footprint. Xiaomi reported a 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion)
net loss on revenue of 34.4 billion yuan in the first quarter.
Xiaomi is one of the most hotly anticipated Hong Kong coming-out
parties in years, taking advantage of new regulations aimed at attract-
ing major homegrown technology companies to Hong Kong and China.
The company is said to be seeking about $10 billion in an IPO that
could become the world’s largest first-time share sale since Alibaba
Group Holding Ltd. listed in the United States in 2014.
“In 2018, the company plans to enter or consolidate positions in South-
east Asian and European markets,” Xiaomi said in its Chinese prospectus.
The Beijing-based company saw sales from more lucrative smart-
home devices and internet services grow as a proportion of overall
revenue in the first quarter. Roughly 31.8 percent of Xiaomi’s revenue in
2018’s first three months came from products such as air purifiers and
scooters and online services such as mobile apps, according to the filing.
Its biggest business, smartphones that barely make a profit, de-
clined in importance to just 67.5 percent of sales from more than 70
percent in 2017. Xiaomi said it made a profit excluding one-time items
of 1.038 billion yuan in the first quarter. — Bloomberg
Reuters/Toru Hanai

Heavy machinery is seen parked in Tokyo in this photo taken on Sept. 27, 2016. Japan’s core machinery orders in April jumped to the highest Foxconn investigating conditions at plant
level since the start of 2016, reversing the prior month’s decline and raising hope for durable growth in capital expenditure, seen as crucial for
economic recovery after a contraction in the first quarter. NEW YORK: Contract manufacturer Foxconn said it is investigating a
plant in China that makes devices for Amazon.com Inc., after a United
States watchdog group criticized what it described as harsh working
conditions at the factory.
A 94-page report by New York-based China Labor Watch that followed

Trump’s tweets spew ire a nine-month investigation cited excessive hours, low wages, inad-
equate training and an overreliance on “dispatch” or temporary workers
in violation of Chinese law at the Hengyang Foxconn plant in Hunan
province, which makes Echo Dot smart speakers and Kindle e-readers.
“We are carrying out a full investigation of the areas raised by that

on NATO allies, Trudeau
Matt Spetalnick
REUTERS/SINGAPORE
United States President Don-
ald Trump fired off a volley of
tweets on Monday venting anger
on North Atlantic Treaty Organi-
zation (NATO) allies, the Euro-
pean Union and Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau in the
wake of a divisive G7 meeting over
the weekend.
The escalating clash over trade
between Washington and some
of its closest global partners cast
a cloud over Trump’s efforts to
make history in nuclear talks in
Singapore on Tuesday with Kim
Jong-un of North Korea, one of
America’s bitterest foes.
Having left the Group of Seven
summit in Canada early, Trump’s
announcement that he was back-
ing out of the joint communique
torpedoed what appeared to be
a fragile consensus on the trade
dispute between Washington and
its top allies.
“Fair trade is now to be called
fool trade if it is not reciprocal,”
said Trump. “Sorry, we cannot let
our friends, or enemies, take ad-
vantage of us on trade anymore.
We must put the American work-
er first!”
The communique, which had
appeared to have papered over
the cracks that surfaced so un-
characteristically at the G7, said
Trump’s tweets after G7
summit highlight
‘America First’ agenda
Leaders take sides, most
support Trudeau
Clash could affect Trump-
Kim summit
the leaders of the US, Canada,
Britain, France, Italy, Germany
and Japan were agreed on the
need for “free, fair, and mutually
beneficial trade” and the impor-
tance of fighting protectionism.
“We strive to reduce tariff bar-
riers, non-tariff barriers and sub-
sidies,” the statement said, which
came despite Washington ap-
pearing intent on taking more pu-
nitive steps on trade.
Trump’s extraordinary out-
burst on Monday against NATO
allies, the EU and Canada ap-
peared aimed at striking a chord
with voters who support his
“America First” agenda.
At the same time, however, it
put Trump in the position of going
into a crucial summit at odds with
countries he needs on his side to
pressure North Korea to move to-
ward dismantling a nuclear arse-
nal that threatens the US.
It was left to Trump’s aides to
figure out how to defend Trump’s
airing of grievances against trad-
ing partners instead of focusing
on his coming talks with Kim,
which the president’s supporters
hope will provide him with a ma-
jor foreign policy win.
“He’s rattling the cages right
now on trade,” said White House
spokesman Raj Shah, who insist-
ed there was no reason to believe
there would be any negative fall-
out for the North Korea summit.
Asked whether allies had any
reason to worry about Trump’s
commitment to any deal he reach-
es with North Korea following
his abrupt withdrawal from the
G7 communique, one US official
dismissed the issue, saying other
countries have gotten used to the
sometimes abrasive way the presi-
dent operates internationally.
But another US official, speak-
ing on condition of anonymity,
acknowledged: “The timing for all
this is not very good at all.”
The prospect that Trump could
be moving toward an even greater
protectionist trade policy is likely
to chill financial markets worried
about tit-for-tat escalation that
could lead to a full-blown global
trade war.
“Business confidence, and sub-
sequently capital spending, is
at risk if this tension continues
through the summer,” said Tai
Hui, J.P. Morgan Asset Manage-
ment Chief Market Strategist for
Asia Pacific. “This could cast a long
shadow over global growth, which
has rebounded in recent weeks af-
ter a soft start to the year.”
Trump also lambasted fellow
members of the NATO for pay-
ing disproportionately less than
the US to maintain the Western
alliance.
“The US pays close to the en-
tire cost of NATO — protecting
many of these same countries
that rip us off on trade (they pay
only a fraction of the cost — and
laugh!),” he tweeted. “The Euro-
pean Union had a $151 billion sur-
plus — should pay much more for
military!”
On Monday, Trump also re-
newed attacks on Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
who had hosted the G7 meeting in
Quebec.
“Justin acts hurt when called
out!” the US president said in his
latest Tweet.
Trudeau, in Quebec City for
bilateral meetings with non-G7
leaders after the summit, did not
comment as he arrived. But he
got direct personal support from
some European leaders.
British Prime Minister The-
resa May “is fully supportive”
of Trudeau and his leadership,
a senior UK government source
said, while European Council
President Donald Tusk tweeted:
“There is a special place in heaven
for @JustinTrudeau.”
report, and if found to be true, immediate actions will be taken to
bring the operations into compliance with our Code of Conduct,” Fox-
conn Technology Group said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Taiwan-based Foxconn, known formally as Hon Hai Precision Indus-
try Co Ltd., is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and
employs more than a million people.
Foxconn, which also makes Apple Inc iPhones, came under fire in
2010 for a spate of suicides at plants in China. Foxconn pledged to
improve working conditions.
China Labor Watch said its investigation found that about 40 percent
of workers at the plant were dispatch workers, far exceeding the 10
percent limit under Chinese law. Dispatch workers were paid at the
same rate for regular and overtime hours, rather than time and a half
as required, said China Labor Watch Program Officer Elaine Lu.
“They were underpaid,” Lu said. “That’s illegal.” — Reuters
Engine problem has spread: Rolls-Royce
LONDON: Britain’s Rolls-Royce said a costly compressor problem that
had grounded Boeing planes had now been found in a different type
of engine, compounding pressures on a group that is due to cut more
than 4,000 jobs this week.
Britain’s best known engineering company has been hit by a prob-
lem with a compressor in the Trent 1000 package C engine that is not
lasting as long as expected, grounding planes, forcing inspections and
angering airline clients.
The engine powers Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jet.
On Monday it said it had now found the same issue on a “small
number of high life Package B engines”, requiring a one-off inspection
of the B fleet and sending its shares down 1 percent.
The news, which will not affect Rolls’ full-year free cash flow target,
comes as the group embarks on the latest stage of a major restructur-
ing program under chief executive Warren East that is designed to
boost profitability.
On Friday the group will host a capital markets day where, according
to a person familiar with the situation, it will announce more than 4,000
job cuts, mostly in Britain and affecting support and management roles.
The group, which employs 50,000 people in 50 countries, is also ex-
pected to set out how it will make a return on the investment made in
recent years and the expected drivers of cash flow beyond its medium-
term horizon.
The news about the compressor issue will not help however as Rolls
has been fighting to show it has a lid on a problem which has forced
airline customers to lease alternative planes to fly in the busy summer
holiday period. — Reuters

TRADE
Growing countries need different protections: Mahathir
Elaine Lies
REUTERS/TOKYO
Growing nations like Malay-
sia need different trade protec-
tions and, while Kuala Lumpur is
not against trade pacts such as the
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP),
the TPP must be renegotiated,
Malaysian Prime Minister Maha-
thir Mohamad said on Monday.
Mahathir, 92, became premier
for the second time last month af-
ter Malaysians, angered over ac-
cusations of massive corruption,
voted out a coalition that had led
the country for the six decades
since independence.
Mahathir told an internation-
al seminar in Tokyo on his first
foreign trip since the election
that different economies needed
different rules in order to com-
pete fairly with giants such as the
United States and China.
“Small countries cannot com-
pete on the same terms as bigger
countries,” he said on the second
day of a three-day visit, during
which he will woo Japanese in-
vestment and meet Prime Minis-
ter Shinzo Abe and other officials.
“We are not completely against
the TPP but it needs to be re-ne-
gotiated [...] so that smaller coun-
tries would have the chance to
compete because they would be
given certain handicaps,” he said.
Mahathir said the ideal would
be a broad trade pact such as the
East Asian Economic Caucus
(EAEC) he proposed during his
previous administration.
“Yes, I am still in favor of EAEC.
In the past, of course, we were not
able to do this due to the objec-
tions of America, but now Amer-
ica seems to become isolation-
ist again so it is not in a position
to demand that we cannot form
EAEC,” he said.
Such a group would also be use-
ful in the face of China’s surging
economic power.
Mahathir’s visit is seen as a
sign of Malaysia’s move away
from China, which contentious-
ly pumped billions of dollars into
the scandal-tainted administra-
tion of ousted leader Najib Razak.
The new government has said
some Chinese companies are un-
der suspicion of being used to
cover up the graft scandal at state
fund 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB) that contributed
to Najib’s downfall.
Mahathir said foreign direct in-
vestment should involve bringing
in capital and ideas.
“We have to deal with China
whether we like it or not, we should
On guard
deal with it as a group,” he said.
Mahathir did not make
any reference to the 1MDB
investigations.
He said Malaysia hoped to
possibly start a new national car
project, perhaps with help from
Southeast Asia, but did not give
further details.
State-owned Proton was
founded in 1983 during an indus-
trialization push in Mahathir’s
first term. Its domestic market
share peaked at 74 percent a de-
cade later but Geely bought 49.9
percent of the struggling car-
maker last year, marking the Chi- Reuters/Feline Lim
nese automaker’s first push into Special Operations Command (SOC) police officers patrol Or-
Southeast Asia. chard Road on Sunday, famous for its rows and rows of shopping
Mahathir praised the peace- malls, ahead of the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore. From sum-
ful transition since the election mit-themed burgers and online sellers peddling “World Peace”
and said he would stay in power medallions and “Peace Out from Lion City” T-shirts, Singapor-
as long as the people of Malaysia eans are cashing in on the historic meeting between United States
wanted him. President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.

MARKET

Draghi may help worst-performing European stocks

Ksenia Galouchko
BLOOMBERG/MOSCOW
Investors in European bank-
ing stocks, pariahs of this year’s
equity market, may be especially
interested in Thursday’s crucial
European Central Bank meeting.
With the market confident that
an end to the ECB’s bond-buy-
ing program will be announced
no later than July, eyes are now
turning to the timing of the Eu-
ropean rate increase. While most
analysts do not expect the ECB to
hike rates before 2019 — a move
that would boost the income of
lenders — Citigroup Inc. is reiter-
ating its overweight call for bank
stocks on an expectation that the
unloved shares will start pricing
in the prospect of higher rates.
“The banking sector remains
very sensitive to higher rates,”
Citi strategist Jonathan Stubbs
said in a note on Friday. “The
ECB’s success at ending quanti-
tative easing and raising rates in
the coming 12-18 months should
support an extended earnings per
share recovery from the sector.”
European banking shares are
down 11 percent this year, the worst
performance among Stoxx Europe
600 sectors, as concerns about It-
aly’s new populist leadership and
slowing regional economic growth
weigh on returns. The average valu-
ation of the Stoxx 600 Banks Index
is 11 times forward earnings, com-
pared with 16 times for United States
lenders.
It appears that bankers agree
with Citigroup’s bullish outlook.
Banco Santander SA Chief Execu-
tive Officer Jose Antonio Alvarez
said on Friday that rising rates in
Europe will help banks compete
with the US and that the end of Eu-
ropean quantitative easing will not
have an effect on economic growth.
Analysts have cut their earn-
ings estimates for the sector for
this year as economic and po-
litical risks have mounted, while
maintaining the growth outlook
for next year. European lenders
are now projected to earn 5.6 per-
cent this year, down from 9.4 per-
cent seen in January, and 11 per-
cent next year.
Thomas Pearce, a strategist at
Deutsche Bank AG, which raised
European banking stocks to over-
weight on Friday, says the market
has already priced in the prospect
of tapering, but banking shares
could benefit from the ECB’s re-
assurance about Italian risks. The
nation’s lenders have been the
worst performers in Europe over
the past month, with UniCred-
it SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA and
Mediobanca losing more than 20
percent as investors weigh the
risk of Italy leaving the euro zone.
“One way in which the ECB of-
ficials could help banks is to say
something supportive about the
Italian political situation such as
that they will be there to backstop
risk,” Pearce said by email.
The ascent of a populist gov-
ernment, accompanied by a mar-
ket selloff that pushed yields to
the highest level in four years,
gave European policy makers an
extra reason to press ahead with
normalization about which they
have so far been unrushed.
Luca Paolini, chief strategist at
Pictet Asset Management, says
Italian banking stocks are espe-
cially worth focusing on after the
market turmoil due to their solid
fundamentals, including a drop in
non-performing loans.
“A hawkish turn by the ECB
could be a turning point for Ital-
ian banking stocks, provided that
the Italian bond spreads do not
rise further,” he said by email.
10 | FEATURES
A worthy sequel to an exemplary
SUPERHERO FAMILY FILM
With a deeper exploration of the Parr
superhero family, Incredibles 2 becomes
something else entirely while at the same
time retaining the emotional heft its
prequel was beloved for.
Stanley Widianto
CONTRIBUTOR/JAKARTA
H
elen Parr (Holly Hunter) moonlights as Elasti-
girl, the shape-shifting superhero. Her super-
powers do not stop when her costume is safely
stored away. She is a loving mother, a patient wife
and a tireless warrior. The Incredibles, the exem--
plary animated superhero film that came out al-
most 14 years ago, gives her a worthy partner, her
loving husband Bob, who is also the powerful Mr.
Incredible (Craig T. Nelson). INCREDIBLES
(118 min utes; Walt Disney
It has been more than a decade since the Parrss
Pixar Animation
brought home an Oscar for Pixar Animation Stu-- Director: Brad Bird Bird
dios. Back then, superhero movie fatigue had nott wri ter: Brad
Screen
reached our shores yet. Cast: Holly Hunte Bird, Samuel L.
Sarah Vowell, Bra Keener, Bob
The Incredibles was not only a delight, but a tes--
Jackson, Cather ner, Sophia Bush
tament to Pixar’s reliable heart — one that floats a Odenkirk, Huck
house with balloons, sends a clown fish on a rescue ue
mission and lets toys speak. Both domesticity and d it would merely expose his feelings
the speed (throw in the tremendous character Edna
Mode and we have a deal) of a superhero movie were the
things that Pixar offered us with The Incredibles.
Elastigirl’s family consists of Bob, their oldest daughter
Violet (Sarah Vowell), who becomes invisible and conjures
up a protective shield; son Dash (Huck Millner), who pos-
sesses super speed; and baby Jack-Jack, whose many powers
(17 of them, at least) have only started to develop.
Incredibles 2, the sequel, puts Elastigirl front and center.
Loving father: Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) prepares
breakfast for his superhero children — Violet (Sarah Vowell),
Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack.
Akram Khan returns to roots
LONDON: Britain’s best-known choreographer Akram Khan has drawn on
his roots for the final solo dance performance of his career,
with a show that pays tribute to Indian soldiers who
fought in World War I. Xenos — which means stranger in
Greek — opens with two musicians
mu on stage, playing an
interpretation of Indian music
mu in a festive atmosphere.
performance, a dancer arrives, stum-
Dressed for a performanc
bling. The lights flicker, the music stalls and the dancer,
a former soldier, is overcome by memories
of war.
For the sshow, which he choreo-
graphed and
a stars in, the 43-year-
old Khan returns to the traditional
Indian cclassical dance kathak that
lear
he learned as a boy, and which has
p
been present throughout his career.
“Th is my home if you like —
“That
m amount of time I spent
the most
in my life in one form was in
kathak,”
kath he told AFP.
The
T performance was com-
mis
missioned by 14-18 Now, the
Brit organisation tasked with
British
p
a programme of cultural events
m
to mark the anniversary of the
191
1914-1918 war.
Al
Almost 1.2 million Indians
took part in the war, fighting for
the British
B empire. — AFP
AFP
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
Sticking together:
The beloved Parr ‘THE BAND’S VISIT’
SWEEPS TONY AWARDS
superhero family
returns in
Incredibles 2.
as ‘Harry Potter’
wins best play
Chris Michaud els about the boy wizard, won a
REUTERS/NEW YORK total of six Tonys including Best
New Play and Best Director.
H
arry Potter and the Cursed Garfield won Best Actor in a
Child won the Tony for Play for his acclaimed perfor-
Best Play on Sunday mance in Angels in America,
while The Band’s Visit swept the which also won Nathan Lane his
musical categories with 10 wins, third Tony, as closeted conserva-
including the top award Best Mu- tive lawyer Roy Cohn, who died
sical at Broadway’s annual honors of AIDS.
for the best in theater. Praising playwright Tony
Glenda Jackson and Andrew Kushner, an emotional Lane said,
Garfield took home acting prizes “Tony wrote one of the greatest
and rocker Bruce Springsteen re- plays of the 20th century, and it is
ceived a special Tony, while a re- still speaking to us as powerfully
vival of the AIDS drama Angels in as ever in the midst of such politi-
America was named Best Play Re- cal insanity.”
vival and Once On This Island won Kushner, noting it was 21 weeks
Best Musical Revival. until the mid-term congressional
But the biggest surprise of the elections in the US, continued the
night came when Robert De Niro, political vein adding, “21 weeks to
appearing on stage to introduce save our democracy”.
Springsteen, used the “F-bomb” Jackson, 82, returning to
against United States President Broadway after 30 years and a
Donald Trump. lengthy term as a British politi-
De Niro’s comments brought cian, was named Best Actress for
the cheering crowd at Radio her tour-de-force performance
City Music Hall to its feet but in Edward Albee’s Three Tall
were bleeped for US television Women.
audiences. Laurie Metcalf won her second
The Band’s Visit, about Egyp- Tony, playing a younger version
tian musicians stranded in a small of Jackson’s imperious character
Israeli town, also won acting in Three Tall Women.
awards for stars Tony Shaloub, Veteran actress Chita Rivera
Katrina Lenk and Ari’el Stachel, and British musical impresario
as well as best book, score, direc- Andrew Lloyd Webber received
tor, orchestration, sound design lifetime achievement awards,
and lighting. while actor, writer and comedian
Right after the end of the first installment, where the Parrs at- It lost just one category among John Leguizamo was given a spe-
tempt to stop the villain The Underminer, the supers are de- its 11 nominations, with its 10 cial Tony for his one-man show,
clared illegal. They are stuck inside a motel and the program wins just two shy of the record for Latin History for Morons.
that they are enlisted in, the Supers Relocation Program, is be- any show set by The Producers. The Tonys, hosted by singer-
ing shut down. As Violet remarks, the whole point of their mis- “I avoided so many events with songwriter actors Josh Groban
sions is a way for the family to have fun — and let us, the view view- them [his parents] in the past be-
be and Sara Bareilles, capped anoth
anoth-
ers, have ours. cause I pretended that I was not er record year on Broadway with
A telecommunication company, DEVTECH, led by tycoon Middle Eastern,” said Stachel, office receipts,
$1.7 billion in box office
Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), who is helped by his sister whose father is of Yemeni and Is- despite the smallest number of
Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener), comes a calling. Elastigirl, raeli heritage. new productions in 20 years.
Mr. Incredible and Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson), the he family’s He also praised “a
long-time friend, are now advocating for the supers’ ban to be cast of actors who
overturned. never believed
Since Elastigirl can ease up on insurance claims the most, they would be
she’s picked for a trial run. So she’s off, fighting bad guys and able to por- The leading man: An-
being interviewed on live TV. Bob, meanwhile, is alone one in the tray their own drew Garfield, winner
house, fighting his own demons: Dash’s math homework, ework, his races.” of the award for Best
and Violet’s relationship issues and Jack-Jack’s volatile, tile, infant Harry Potter, r Performance by an Ac-
powers. a record-setting tor in a Leading Role
Sequels run the risk of taintingting their US$69 million in a Play for Angels
beloved
be predecessors. Thanks to o the deft two-part produc- in America, poses in
hhands of Brad Bird, its writer and direc- tion set 19 years after the 72nd Annual Tony
ttor, Incredibles 2 fills the shoes of The In- the last of J.K. Rowl- Awards Media Room at
credibles
c perfectly and runs withh it. It is a ing’s best-selling nov- 3 West Club on June 10
2
Pictures, thematically
t gorgeous, complex movie. Do in New York City.
Studios) the
t Parrs get barred because of the collat-
eral
e damage they cause? Could itt be possi-
ble
b that politicians are not usedd to seeing
r, Craig T. Nelson
,
good
g being done with no dividendsnds being
d
ine
paid?
p
Mil
When I saw that Bob does the stay-
at-home thing in the trailer, I thought
ngs of be-
ing emasculated. But Incredibles 2 gives his him more ore depth.
Of course he is successful out there as a superhero and there
are still people who are able to sing his theme song. But in the
house? With the kids? Being upstaged by his wife might be
shocking at first, but his worries lie elsewhere — becoming ecoming a
good parent.
Since Incredibles 2 is still a superhero movie, wee are also
introduced to the villain, the Screenslaver. This time, e, villainy
does not take form in complex weaponry. It takes form rm in hyp-
nosis and the one thing whose ubiquity should nott unnerve
us: screens; phones, computers, televisions. There is a scene
where Elastigirl hunts down the Screenslaver in an apartment
complex — the muted air to it is perhaps one of my favorite vorite mo-
ments in any of the Pixar movies.
So yeah, the fun of seeing the Parrs dance with villainsns remains
as reliable as we left them. But Incredibles 2’s greatest strength is
the exploration of the Parrs and Helen in particular. When she is
out of the house, her breath is not one of relief — it is onee of worry
for her family. The dynamic between Helen and Bob is still relat-
able, when their circumstances do not always make sense. nse.
It may be a tall order to give everybody their part, rt, but the
family members get each of theirs, which melt together her as the
movie hands them a bigger fish to fry.
AFP/Jemal Countess
— PHOTOS COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY PICTURES AND PIXAR ANIMATION ON STUDIOS.
GUESS WHAT?
‘Ocean’s 8’ women steal a big lead Kanye ties number one streak
LOS ANGELES: The women of Ocean’s 8 proved this weekend that they know NEW YORK: Headline-grabbing rapper pper Kanye
how to steal the show — and much more — as the new heist flick took in an West has tied the record for the longest
ongest streak
estimated US$41.5 million in North American theaters. of albums to hit number one on the he United
With an all-star cast led by ever-popular Sandra Bullock and supported by Cate States chart with his latest release,
e, Ye.
Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna, The album debuted at the top on the
the Warner Bros. film was Hollywood’s latest experiment — after Ghostbusters — benchmark Billboard 200 chart announced
nnounced late
in replacing an all-male cast with female stars. Sunday, marking his eighth straight ht release
The result: one of the top 10 openings of the year so far, which also best to reach number one — tying West st with
three earlier “Ocean’s” editions. The Beatles in their heyday as wellell as
The film stars Bullock as Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean (originally fellow rapper Eminem.
played by George Clooney), as she assembles a gang of talented women to plan Ye sold 208,000 albums or
a seemingly impossible diamond heist from a glamorous gala in New the equivalent in downloads and
York. — AFP streaming in the week through
Thursday, tracking service Nielsen n
Music said, easily topping the
chart’s number two, rapper Post
Malone’s beerbongs and bentleys. s.
West released Ye after going si-
lent for a year due to mental healthh
issues. He returned by making char-r-
acteristic waves on social media,
notably by becoming a rare African
American celebrity to voice supportt
for President Donald Trump.
With rhymes about his latest con--
troversies, a throwback sound of soul
ul
samples and at only seven tracks, Yee
was less ambitious than many works ks
by West, who had become known for or
AFP
his sprawling opuses. — AFP
AFP
TUESDAY June 12, 2018 FEATURES | 11
Fortification:
The San Felipe del
Morro castle, a UN
World Heritage
site since 1983, is

PUERTO seen in San Juan,

Puerto Rico.

RICO
JEWEL OF
THE CARIBBEAN

AFP/Luis Acosta

From a distance: A view

of San Juan Bay.

AFP/Paul J. Richards

Puerto Rico’s Light moment: Children play in

capital San
Juan enchants
tourists again,
with no trace
left of last year’s
Hurricane
Maria.
The Capitol Building
Aruna Harjani
towns. They are not far from each other and are
reachable within minutes.
The tours usually start with a visit to the Capitol
building, which was built in 1929. It is designed in
a neoclassical style with intricate carvings on its
pillars. Inside the Capitol building are beautiful
architectural designs on ceilings and floors.
Opposite the Capitol is the Walkaway of The
Presidents, which consists of statues of the nine US
presidents who have visited Puerto Rico. What is
more interesting is that the statues are life size.
The nine presidential statues are of Theodore
Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt,
Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kenne-
Aruna Harjani
the tourist zone of Old San
Juan, Puerto Rico.
statue, which weighs 6,500 tons using 2,500 piec-
es of bronze, steel and copper. A Georgian-Russian
painter, named Zurab Tsereteli, designed the statue.
The symbolism of the statue causes mixed reac-
tions, some see it as a remembrance of Columbus’
discovery of Puerto Rico but some see it as a remind-
er of the notorious treatment of the Tainos by him.
Puerto Ricans, being Spanish-oriented, celebrate
Christmas and after New Year, the Epiphany.
Twelve days after Christmas Puerto Ricans cel-
ebrate El Dia De Los Reyes or Three Kings Day.
In fact, this is the time Puerto Ricans exchange their
gifts. For them the three kings represent a more
spiritual and faithful representation of the story of
the birth of Christ.
The three kings — Melchior represents Europe,
Gaspar represents Arabia and Balthazar repre-
sents Africa. In celebration the Plaza Colon also has
statues of the three kings.
Another place worth a visit is the Castilo San
Felipe del Morro, named in honor of King Philip
II of Spain. The castle was built for the purpose of
guarding San Juan Bay. UNESCO has declared this
fortification a World Heritage Site.

dy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford and Barack Obama.
The Walkaway of The tour then heads to Ashford Avenue in Conda-
the Presidents do. Here, an array of shops and restaurants is located.
One of the highlights of the area is the Mother and
Child statue created by Fernando Botero, which was
reportedly purchased for $1.8 million.
Aruna Harjani The statue is situated at the Plaza del Ancla square
CONTRIBUTOR/SAN JUAN in Condado. Opposite the statue is Condado Beach.
With most tours the last stop is the Plaza Colon,
Museo De Las Americas, a museum featuring
pre-Columbian and modern art hosts different
exhibitions but also has permanent exhibits by
Puerto Rican artists.
The Cathedral of San Juan Baustista is one of the
oldest buildings in San Juan.
The church was first built in 1521 but later de-
stroyed by a hurricane and was restructured in
1540. The church has old relics displayed inside

W
“ e are the best island in the Caribbean,”
boasts a Puerto Rican to tourists.
Puerto Rico is an important island for
Americans because of its convenient lo-
cation as a bridge between Europe and America.
It was also through the island that Christopher
Columbus discovered Florida.
Despite being a United States territory, the island has
its own culture. The Tainos who hail from South Ameri-
ca were the first inhabitants of the island. By 1493, they
amounted to 50,000 people.
Puerto Rico is a popular stopover for tourists taking Ca-
ribbean cruises. Many guides offer tours in and around the
island with a running time of two hours for a price of US$25.
San Juan is divided into two sectors, the old and new
where the exquisite San Cristobal Fort — one of the
first and biggest forts in America — is situated.
A part of the San Juan National Historic site, the fort
was built by the Spaniards to protect the island from
attack. The fort has cisterns that were used to store wa-
ter during the Spanish colonial era but later were
used as bomb shelters during World War II.
The Plaza Colon also has a 40-foot pillar
with a statue of Columbus on top.
In the city of Arecibo there is another
monument created in honor of Colum-
bus, which at 106.68 meters is taller than
the Statue of Liberty. The monument mi-
raculously survived the recent heavy storms.
It is said it took 110,000 hours to make the
the building.
Teatro Tapia, is the oldest theater in Puerto Rico
built in the 18th century. The interior of the theater
is in a neoclassical style and is still used to stage
shows.
When it was time to leave the island, looking back,
I realized how Puerto Rico had stolen my heart in
just a matter of hours. It is Western in so many ways
but its rich culture and traditions will always
engulf modernity.
From here the lines of a song from West Side Sto-
ry played in my mind and it goes: “Puerto Rico, my
heart’s devotion, let it sink back in the ocean, always
the hurricanes blowing, always the population grow-
ing, and the money owning and the natives steaming.”

Artwork: Fernando Botero’s

Mother and Child statue is located
close to Condado Beach.

Aruna Harjani
12 | TUESDAY June 12, 2018

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LOCAL BEAT
Aston Solo Hotel holds Ramadhan charity event Harper Purwakarta holds gathering with orphans
The Aston Solo Hotel has just Harper Purwakarta hotel
held a Ramadhan charity event in West Java recently orga-
by handing out breaking-of-the- nized a breaking-of-the-fast
fast food packages to commut- event with orphans who live
ers and traffic workers — in- in Purwakarta.
cluding railway security guards Held on June 5, the or-
and parking attendants — who phans were involved in fun
happen to pass by or work on activities at the hotel’s play-
Jl. Brigjen Slamet Riyadi in ground, where they listened
Surakarta, Central Java. to religious advice from a
The event was organized on cleric, had a breaking-of-
June 2 with hotel staff distribut- the-fast dinner together
ing packages from 4 p.m. before receiving donations
The Ramadhan charity event from the hotel.
is an annual activity held by the The gathering was part of
hotel. It seeks to strengthen the the hotel’s regular Ramad-
connection between hotel staff han program. “Through the Courtesy of Harper Purwakarta
and people who live in the vicin- event, we hope to strengthen ties between the hotel and fellow Muslims who live in this area,” Harper Pur-
ity of the hotel. wakarta general manager Rini Resniawati said.
Courtesy of Aston Solo Hotel

Hotel Ciputra World gives away ‘tajil’ to passersby Zest Hotel Jemursari shares joy with orphans
Hotel Ciputra World Surabaya in East Java recently Zest Hotel Jemursari in Surabaya, East Java,
held its annual Ramadhan charity event, giving away recently marked its third operational anniver-
tajil (breaking-of-the-fast snacks) to passersby of the sary by visiting orphans who live in the Permata
Bungkul Garden Surabaya. Insani orphanage. The hotel distributed dona-
In cooperation with several food and beverage tions as well as took part in some joyful activi-
companies such as FINNA, Jamu Iboe and Garuda ties with the children.
Food, the hotel distributed 500 tajil packages to pass- Held on June 6, the activities involved Zest
ersby walking across the garden on June 5 at dusk, just Hotel manager Vida Frans and Room Operation
before the breaking-of-the-fast hour. executive Tony Kuswantoyo, as well as a number
On the day, the hotel was also joined by other of other staff members.
Surabaya hotels holding charity events. Swiss-Belinn The activity was held after the breaking-of-
Manyar, Tunjungan and Zest hotels also handed out the-fast hour and started with a cone rice cut-
a total of 1,000 tajil packages to motorists who passed ting ceremony to mark the hotel’s anniversary,
the garden around the breaking-of-the-fast hour. Courtesy of Hotel Ciputra World Surabaya followed by a dinner with everybody at the or- Courtesy of Zest Hotel Jemursari
“This year’s charity event was very memorable for us because we collaborated with three other hotels phanage. After finishing the dinner, the hotel’s staff members distributed school stationery, clothes and oth-
as well as the Surabaya Police, with their presence making the activity more fun and lively,” Hotel Ciputra er basic necessities to the foundation’s orphans.
World Surabaya human resources manager Adi Sumarsono said. The hotel picked the Permata Insani Foundation as its charity program recipient after observing that the
He expressed hope that a joint charity program would be held again next year and make it memorable for foundation’s children had a lot of material needs. The orphanage itself is home to around 60 people and or-
staff. phans coming from various areas of East Java.

PEANUTS

CROSSWORD PUZZLER SUDOKU

Instructions:
Fill the cells in such a way so that all rows, columns and ev-
ery 3-by-3 subsquare contains every digit from 1 to 9, with
no repetition of each digit.

ROSE IS ROSE

THE BORN LOSER

CHESSQUIZ By Shelby Lyman

GARFIELD

FERDNAND
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FOREIGN CULTURAL CENTERS
• The Japan Foundation
Japan Language Courses,
Library
Address: Summitmas I Lt. 2,
Jl. Jenderal Sudirman,
Kav. 61-62 Jakarta
Contact: 021-5201266/
jpf.go.jp/e/policy/official_accounts/
pkj@jpf.or.id
• Russian Center
of Science and Culture
Russian Language Courses
Address: Jl. Diponegoro No. 12,
Menteng, RT.1/RW.4, Menteng
Contact: 021-31935290/
idn.rs.gov.ru/indonezia@rs.gov.ru
• The Jawaharlal Nehru Indian
Cultural Centre (JNICC)
From Tuesday to
Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jawaharlal
Nehru Indian Cultural Centre, Ja-
karta. Address: Jl. Patra Kuningan
VIII, No. 1, Jakarta Selatan.
Contact indianembassyjakarta.com
/ jniccjkt@gmail.com or call :
021-5207640 / 082299663108
offers courses in Yoga, Indian
Classical Dances - Kathak and
Bharatnatyam, Indian classical
music, and Indian languages such
as Hindi and Tamil.
EXHIBITIONS
• The Italian Cultural Institute,
Jakarta in collaboration with
Art:1 proudly presents:
“Bla Bla Bla” by Fabrizio Dusi
WHERE TO EAT IN JAKARTA
Opening: July 5, at 7 p.m.
Workshop: July 6, at 2 p.m.
Exhibition: July 6 - 22, 2018.
ART: 1
RSVP: (021) 392 7531/2
Email: eventi@itacultjkt.or.id
• Visual arts exhibition:
Yayoi Kusama
May 12 to June 14; June 18 to
Sept. 9 in Museum MACAN,
West Jakarta
tickets@museummacan.org.
• Visual Art Exhibition ‘Grotesk’
Artist: Natisa Jones
Opening: June 30, at 7 p.m.
Exhibition:
June 30 – July 22, at 11 a.m.
Salihara Gallery
www.salihara.org
MUSIC PERFORMANCES
• SixtySix Band
June 25, start at 8 p.m.
Motion Blue, Jakarta
www.motionbluejakarta.com
• Jazz Music “Duo Marco
Vezzoso & Alessandro Collina”
July 11, 7 p.m.
IFI , Jakarta.
Registration to
eventi@itacultjkt.or.id
iicjakarta.esteri.it
Film: ‘The Wages of Fear’
June 25 at 7 p.m. | IFI Thamrin, Central Jakarta | www.ifi-id.com/event/the-wages-of-fear
In a South American village, four men are hired
for the dangerous mission of transporting an urgent
nitroglycerine shipment without the equipment
that would make it safe.
For a reward of 4,000 dollars, they are tasked with
• The Erasmus Huis Proudly
Presents: “Jungle By Night”
July 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Graha Bhakti Budaya
Taman Ismail Marzuki
www.netherlandsandyou.nl/
your-country-and-the-netherlands/
indonesia
AWkitchen
driving two trucks carrying this dangerous explosive
liquid on a 500-kilometer journey.
This 1953 French thriller is directed by Henri-
Georges Clouzot and stars Yves Montand. It is 156 min-
utes long and will be screened with English subtitles.
FILMS
• IIC Cine Club: ‘La casa sulle
nuvole’ by Claudio Giovannesi
June 22 at 6:30 p.m.
Italian Cultural Institute Jakarta
iicjakarta.esteri.it
CAFES
Aphrodite Club Rasuna, Jl. Rasuna Said,
Kuningan, South Jakarta.
Antipodean Hero Kemang Complex, Jl.
Kemang Selatan No. 1, South Jakarta. No
fuss super-fresh brekkies at this laid-back
Aussie-Kiwi Café.
RESTAURANTS
ASIAN FUSION
Chatterbox Plaza Senayan and branches
city- wide. Singaporean and western dishes in
cozy setting. No MSG.
D’ Bollywood
Plaza Festival Kav. C, Jalan H. R. Rasuna Said
No. 22, Karet Kuningan, Jakarta 12920
+6221-29410338
CONTINENTAL
Cacaote Jl. Senopati Raya 80, Kebayoran
Baru, South Jakarta. Telp. 293 0612.
Place to see and be seen, melt-in-your-mouth
cakes and pastries
CHINESE
Ah Yat Abalone Mid Plaza 2, LG, Jl.
Sudirman Central Jakarta. Telp. 570 7333
Chiao Tung Hotel Rekso Hayam Wuruk, Jl.
CLASSIFIED ADS
Michele and Lorenzo Raggi are
brothers who live alone in a large
house near Rome. One morning,
a man brings them sudden news:
their house has been sold by its
rightful owner, their father Dario,
who has been missing for 12 years.
The boys decide to go and look
for him to recover the house,
where they have always lived. Fol-
lowing the few clues they have,
Michele and Lorenzo arrive in
Morocco, where they learn about
their father.
PERFORMANCE
• ‘Sajak Selasa’
at Bentara Budaya
June 26 at 7 p.m.
Bentara Budaya Jakarta,
Central Jakarta
bentarabudaya@gmail.com
Sajak Selasa is a poetry appreci-
Hayam Wuruk 2F West Jakarta. Telp. 624 8680
ITALIAN
AWkitchen Plaza Senayan
Level P4 Unit No. CP 409
Jl. Asia Afrika No. 8
Jakarta Pusat 10270
+6221 5790 6071
AWkitchen Plaza Indonesia
Level 2, No. E0206
Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Jakarta Pusat 10350
+6221 2992 4325
INDONESIAN
Beautika Jl. Hang Lekir No. 1, South Jakarta.
Telp. 722 6683
A spicy culinary journey to North Sulawesi
(Manado). No frills but you will definitely feel
hot under the collar from the chilli dosage.
Bengawan Solo Hotel Sahid Jaya, Jl. Sudirman
No. 86, Central Jakarta. Telp. 570 4444
WESTERN
BLEU8 at Hotel Mulia, Senayan
Hotel Mulia Level 5, Poolside
Jl. Asia Afrika, Senayan, Jakarta 10270
Telp. (021) 5747777
WINE & DINE
Bacco Lotte Shopping Avenue, Main Lobby,
LG 38, Kuningan, South Jakarta.
| 13
ation program that brings togeth-
er lovers of poetry and shows off
the ways in which it collaborates
with different forms of arts.
Aside from showing how poetry
intersects with poetry, music, fine
arts, photography, multimedia
and dance, this event is also open
to anyone who wants to just read
poetry.
SPORTS
• Indonesia Ultimate
Golf Series 2018
June 27, shotgun at 7 a.m.
Damai Indah Golf
Info & Registration:
+62 838 7955 5355
hrdpikofficer@damaiindahgolf.com
• YOLO Run Jakarta 2018
July 1, at 6 a.m.
Indonesia Convention Exhibition
www.yolorun.com
TALKS
• Masters Of Speech: Jour-
ney Around East Timor’s Local
Heritage
June 27, at 5:30 p.m.
IFI Thamrin, Jakarta
www.ifi-id.com
TOUR GUIDE
• Indonesian Heritage Society
provides free tour at National
Museum in English.
Every Tuesday, Wednesday
and Saturday at 10 a.m.
Every Thursday at 10 a.m.
and 1:30 p.m.
CP: Indonesian Heritage
Society Library 021-5725870 /
heritagejkt.org
PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS
For queries on placement of your events in
The Jakarta Post’s WHERE TO GO section,
please send an email to wheretogo@theja-
kartapost.com / wtgjakarta@gmail.com or
call Endang at (021) 5300478 ext. 2034.
Decanter Wine Lounge Plaza Kuningan,
North Tower, Ground Floor, South Jakarta.
Telp. 5296 3888
Loewy Bar & Restaurant Oakwood Premier
Cozmo, Kuningan, South Jakarta. Telp.
25542378
The Lounge Le Grandeur Mangga Dua,
Jl. Mangga Dua Raya, North Jakarta.
Telp. 612 8811
SAKE+ Jl. Senopati 54, Kebayoran Baru,
South Jakarta. Telp. 7250002. Japanese bar
& lounge.
VIN+ Arcadia Plaza Senayan Arcadia
Lantai 1 Unit 106-108, South Jakarta. Telp.
57901477
VIN+ PIM Street Gallery Pondok Indah
Mall 1st Fl Unit 106 South Jakarta. Telp.
2952 9753
VIN+ PIM soft opening specials: - Get a
glass of sangria if you follow us on twitter
and facebook. @vinplusid and VIN+ wine
and beyond
Lunch promotion.
Buy 2 main courses and get 20 percent off
(food only)
High Tea Promotion: 1 Tapas + 1 Glass of wine
only Rp 100,000 (tax included).
VIN+ Central Park Central Park Mall at
Tribeca Park Ground Floor TG. 03 Jl. Let. S.
Parman Kav. 28, West Jakarta. Telp. 5698 5768
VIN+ Kemang Jl. Kemang Raya No. 45B,
South Jakarta Telp. 7179 2577
14 | SPECIAL REPORT
Live-In Experience is part of the two-month tutorial and on-the-job-
training sessions provided for young journalists of The Jakarta Post as
part of its recruitment and training program. Participants are attached
with selected families of the less fortunate in order to provide them with
Istu Septania
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
Within sight of schools, aspring stu-
dents yearn for a better life.
T
here was once only a swamp 1
kilometer from the infamous
landfill in Bantar Gebang,
Bekasi, West Java.
In 2004, the government built a now
prestigious vocational school there.
Lush trees surround the greenish-yel-
low SMKN 2 Bekasi vocational high
school building, rising high behind
the black front gates to cast a welcome
shade across the schoolyard.
Small neatly lettered signs in front of
each tree identify them with both their
scientic and common names: mahogany,
bullet wood, jackfruit, mango, sapodilla
and orange.
Just three minutes away, Wahyu As-
tri, an eigth grader, who lives in the Cik-
eting Udik scavengers’ village in Bantar
Gebang, dreams of continuing her edu-
cation with admittance into the school,
which provides various kinds of extra-
curricular activities, ranging from a
Japanese Club to Quran recitation. The
SMKN 2 Bekasi vocational high school,
which is very popular — accepting more
than 500 new students each year — has
also featured cultural exchange visits
with Saikyo Senior High School in Kyoto,
Japan, for three years now.
Astri, who wants to be successful and
make her parents proud, wants to go to
the vocational school because she plans
to work while studying at university to
help her parents financially.
Her parents work as scavengers in
Bantar Gebang. Astri’s mother, Dani-
ti, never went to school because, as the
oldest child, she had to take care of her
younger siblings.
Then, when she got married and be-
came a mother, she had to take care of her
own children.
Astri is the youngest child in the fam-
ily. None of her older brothers completed
secondary level education. One of them
currently helps their parents work at the
landfill.
A few of her friends from elementary
school have also dropped out of school.
They did not see the point of going to
school, which is costly.
“A few of those kids play, nongkrong
[sit around idly] or busk,” Astri explained.
The notion that the harder one works,
the wealthier one can become is not read-
ily embraced by the families in Bantar
Gebang.
Astri’s parents work from morning to af-
ternoon, collecting trash in the giant gar-
bage dump. In the evening, they still need
to deliver and sell the used paper they have
Jobs bloom from garbage at Bantar Gebang dump
Norman Harsono
THE JAKARTA POST/JAKARTA
A
sih frantically prepares two iced
teas in a plastic bag, while anoth-
er customer orders three iced cof-
fees and three fried snacks. She has a half-
empty trunk of crushed ice by her side
and 9 gallons of fresh water beside her
stall that stands on a landfill.
“This landfill is really a treasure chest
[...] as long as you’re willing to get smelly,”
she joked.
Asih is one of the hundreds of indi-
viduals who earn a living from the Ban-
tar Gebang Integrated Waste Treatment
Area (TPST Bantar Gebang) in Bekasi,
West Java.
Jakarta has been dumping its garbage
in this 110-hectare landfill, which is al-
most as wide as the Gelora Bung Karno
sports complex in Central Jakarta, since
1989. This massive dump is divided into
five zones and each zone has a range of
colorful hills of garbage up to 10 stories
tall. Most of the garbage is organic waste,
followed by plastics and paper.
The garbage hills of Zone I are covered
with a thick, black tarpaulin that collects
biogas to generate electricity. The re-
maining zones remain open landfills re-
ceiving around 6,000-7,000 tons of gar-
bage every day.
Asih’s makeshift wooden kiosk is on the
northwestern side of Zone V. She has been
selling drinks solo from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. in
Bantar Gebang for five years, serving the
hundreds of scavengers that forage the
hills of Zone V for recyclable materials.
She gets around Rp 1 million per day in
revenue from selling simple beverages,
pre-packed lunches and assorted deep-
fried snacks.
But she is under constant threat of being
thrown out by the landfill’s security staff.
“Security has been vicious ever since
Jakarta took over,” she complained, re-
ferring to the increase of regulations and
evictions ever since the the management
was taken over from PT Godang Tua Jaya
in July 2016.
“They were throwing out sellers al-
most every other day when Jakarta first
took over,” Asih adds.
Bantar Gebang children
find hope in schooling
found to a paper recycling plant, where
they sometimes must queue for hours.
For women, the working hours are
even longer. They have to wake up at
dawn to do the household chores, such as
washing clothes and dishes and cooking
meals for the family.
The money earned, however, is barely
enough for them. Astri’s school tuition is
among their greatest expenses because
she was forced to resort to registering at
a private Islamic junior high school be-
cause her parents had no family card
(KK) at the time.
In her home made of bricks and ply-
wood, Astri explained that her school fee
was often in arrears.
The local government has been trying
to solve the problem of the cost of higher
She had to stop working for a week be-
fore she dared to start selling again, while
trying to hide from security. At one point
she did not even have a kiosk and sold
drinks directly under the sun.
“As long as I can keep selling,” she de-
clared. “It’s up to our wit.”
She said she wished Jakarta would let
her work in peace, or at least give an early
warning if an inspection is planned so she
can remove all her goods.
Her business is unaffected by the fast-
ing season as the heat and the work is too
grueling for the scavengers to fast. Her
stall gets particularly crowded around
noon as the scavengers take a break.
Daniti is among her regular customers.
She and her husband have been scaveng-
ing in Bantar Gebang since it first opened.
Wait your turn: Orange garbage trucks from the Jakarta Sanitation Agency line up to dump their load at Zone II of the Bantar
Gebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java, while excavators heap garbage onto a hill.
the direct experience of living with the frequently forgotten segment of
Indonesian society. Istu Septania and Norman Harsono spent their
two nights and three days living with two different families at the Bantar
Gebang dumpsite neighborhood in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta.
education. In West Java, state schools are
obligated to provide more affordable tu-
ition or even educate students from low-
er-class families for free.
Ahmad Birul Walid, vice principal
for student curriculum, explained that
SMKN 2 Bekasi had established the spe-
cial Jalur Afirmasi (The Road to Affirma-
tion) program for children from impover-
ished families in 2017. Junaedi and Taufik
Hidayat, both in 11th grade now, were ac-
cepted through the program last year.
Jaenudin, who lives in Pendure-
nan, has a 30-minute motorcycle ride
to school. His father works as a plastic
cleaner for a small plastic recycling, or
lapak, business. Once in a while, Jaenu-
din helps his father sort the plastic, but
hopes to one day get a better paying job.
Her work involves scavenging for
freshly-dumped plastic and paper, sepa-
rating out the recyclable products, then
selling them to recycling plants.
She starts work around 7 a.m., trudg-
ing about the landfill with a curved pick
used to toss trash into the wicker basket
worn on her back. When the basket is full,
she packs the trash into a white canvas
sack, stores it by the side of the road, and
returns to scavenging. The heavier the
sacks, the more money she gets.
Throughout this process, she is at con-
stant risk of being knocked down by an ex-
cavator, stepping into pools of acidic waste
water, burned by a methane gas explosion,
or swallowed by a garbage landslide.
“What else can I do?” she commented.
“We’re poor.”
Both Jaenudin and Taufik want to get
jobs at big companies, which are more ac-
cessible with a high school diploma. They
also plan to continue to a higher level of
education after graduating to become en-
trepreneurs.
Jaenudin also wants to teach oth-
ers. “So I can apply my knowledge,” he
explained.
Astri dreams of becoming a doctor, so
she will be able to help many people.
This year, the West Java Education is
rolling out a new program called Jalur
Warga Penduduk Setempat (The Path of
Resident) that eases admission for chil-
dren living nearest to the schools in the
region.
The nearer the house of an applicant
is to a state school, the higher the chance
Daniti and her husband earn an aver-
age of Rp 1 million in revenue per week,
but this has decreased over the past few
months due to the dropping price of pa-
per and the dry season reducing the
weight of their sacks.
Their income is supposed to be sup-
plemented by Rp 200,000 in monthly
compensation from Jakarta, literally
called the ‘smelly money’, but it has not
come for the last three months.
Daniti is also a housewife and grand-
mother. She wakes up at dawn every day,
washes the dishes, washes the clothes,
then walks about 15 minutes to the land-
fill to begin work.
“I used to cook as well, but now I let my
daughter-in-law do it,” she jests.
She explained that many older wom-
JP/Norman Harsono
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
the child will be accepted. Applicants
are required to have lived at their stated
address for at least six months. Ten per-
cent of this year’s intake of around 50
students will enter school through this
program.
However, access for the children of
scavengers has remained problematic.
Last year the parents in Bantar Gebang
protested in front of SMKN 2 Bekasi be-
cause their children living nearby were
not accepted.
Birul said that some people had sug-
gested that the children of lower-class
families be prioritized for the ease-of-ac-
cess and other assistance programs.
“How come there’s a school right be-
fore their eyes, but they can’t enter it?”
Birul wondered out loud.
en had to help their scavenger husbands
to make ends meet. Only women with
young children, such as her daughter-in-
law, or other who take care of young chil-
dren, stay at home.
She also mentioned how some male
teenagers earn money by helping open
and close the back door of garbage trucks.
They are referred to as “Anak Gulung Ti-
kar” and earn Rp 5,000 per truck.
Daniti and her husband finish scav-
enging around 4 p.m. and start loading all
their sacks of garbage into a rented pick-
up truck for transportation to the back of
their house. They accumulate sacks until
there are enough to fill a pick-up truck,
which takes about a week. The trash is
then transported to a recycling plant.
Jamaluddin is a pick-up truck driver.
He can do 2 to seven trips a day, earning
at least Rp 700,000.
However, Jamaluddin’s journey to be-
coming a truck owner was not easy. He
left his home island of Madura at 14 years
old and began working at drying plastic
bags in a landfill.
Consequently, he never went to school
and is often sneered at whenever he goes
to a bank and struggles to write.
Jamaluddin grew older and then be-
came a scavenger, earning only a third of
what he earns now, yet he kept working
until he earned enough to take out a loan
on the pickup truck.
“What’s important for me is to be
healthy so I can keep working,” he said.
Jamaluddin now lives with his wife and
one child in a house on rented land only a
15-minute walk from the landfill.
His next-door neighbors, Daniti and
Denin, return home at around five in the
evening.
Even after a long day of scavenging, Dan-
iti still spares her time to cook a simple din-
ner and chat with other village women.
Daniti only wishes that her children
will live a better life than her.
“I’m already old, where else can I go?”
she jokes. “That’s why I ask Astri [the
youngest child] to go to school so at least
she can read and write. I don’t want her to
work here but at least to work in a facto-
ry. Don’t be like her mother. I can’t work
anywhere else.”
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
Historic moment
A woman takes a photo while flanked by policemen standing guard outside St. Regis Hotel in Singapore on Monday. North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un is staying in the hotel ahead of his meeting on Tuesday with United States President Donald Trump, who is staying at Shangri-La Hotel.
Thailand becoming
‘garbage bin of world’
Pratch Rujivanarom
ANN/THE NATION/BANGKOK
Experts on waste management
and environmental protection are
warning that Thailand could be-
come the garbage bin of the world,
as the government’s policies to pro-
mote the waste-to-energy indus-
try have already resulted in plastic
waste imports to the kingdom.
Ecological Alert and Recov-
ery Thailand director Penchom
Saetang said the country’s recent
waste management trends ran
counter to correct waste manage-
ment methods.
The government’s current
path could prevent a proper solu-
tion to waste management prob-
lems and unintentionally lead to
waste from other countries being
dumped in Thailand, she added.
Saetang singled out for criti-
cism the promotion of private in-
vestment in small waste-to-ener-
gy projects across the country.
“Waste-to-energy is one of the
most polluting methods for both
waste management and power
MYANMAR
Give us an identity to stop exodus: Rohingya lawyer
Lin Taylor
REUTERS/LONDON
Stateless Rohingya must be
recognized as citizens of Myan-
mar and given identity docu-
ments so they can safely stay in
the country instead of fleeing
abroad like hundreds of thou-
sands of members of their com-
munity, an award-winning lawyer
said on Sunday.
Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya
lawyer from Myanmar who was
named the winner of the Aurora
humanitarian prize, has for de-
cades fought for the rights of the
world’s largest stateless minority.
Rohingya Muslims are denied
citizenship in Buddhist-majority
Myanmar where they numbered
more than 1 million as of last year.
But about 700,000 Rohingya
VIETNAM
China warns citizens after protests over economic zones
Reuters
HANOI
China has warned its citi-
zens in Vietnam after protesters
clashed with police over a govern-
ment plan to create new econom-
ic zones for foreign investment
that has fueled anti-Chinese sen-
timent in the country.
More than 100 protesters
were arrested, and dozens of po-
lice injured at a protest in cen-
tral Vietnam on Sunday, one of
several demonstrations nation-
wide against the special econom-
ic zones opponents fear will be
dominated by Chinese investors.
The Chinese Embassy in Ha-
noi posted a notice on its website
referring to the protests as “ille-
gal gatherings” that had included
some “anti-China content”.
“The Chinese Embassy in Viet-
nam is paying close attention to
the relevant developments and
reminds Chinese citizens in Viet-
Waste-to-energy power
industry causes plastic
waste to flood Thailand
Scheme not cost-
effective for investors to
install pollution-control
systems
generation, because not only will
burning garbage emit toxic pol-
lutants, but the leftover ashes are
also very hazardous and require
very careful disposal in a secure
landfill. And so building many
small waste-to-energy plants is a
very bad decision,” Saetang said.
“I do not contest the advan-
tages of waste-to-energy, as it is
one of the acceptable measures
to deal with unrecyclable waste,
but we should only have a few big
waste-to-energy plants that are
properly equipped with all pollu-
tion control measures.”
Highlighting her concern
about the small size of the waste-
to-energy projects now being pro-
moted by the government, Saeta-
have fled to Bangladesh since Au-
gust after insurgent attacks trig-
gered a response by the army.
“We belong on this land. This
government is denying our citi-
zenship,” Aung told the Thomson
Reuters Foundation in a phone
interview from Armenia, where
the award ceremony was held.
“We are citizens of Myanmar,
so why have we become state-
less?” added Aung, who spent 12
years in prison due to his work.
“We cannot keep going from our
land to other countries.”
The Rohingya Project esti-
mates there are 4 million Rohing-
ya around the world, the majority
living outside their ancestral land
since Myanmar excluded them
from the country’s recognized
ethnic groups in 1982, effectively
rendering them stateless.
nam to pay attention to security
when travelling,” the notice said.
Vietnam’s National Assembly
agreed on Monday to delay a vote
on the draft bill, which would allow
foreign investors to lease land for
up to 99 years and provide greater
incentives and fewer restrictions
than at present in the country.
Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, chair-
woman of the Assembly, said the
protesters might have misunder-
stood the nature of the bill.
“People should stay calm, be-
lieve in the decisions of the par-
ty and the state, especially in the
fact that the National Assembly
is always listening to the people’s
opinions when discussing the
bills,” Ngan said.
Public protests are not rare in
Vietnam and are often quickly
quelled by the police.
On Sunday, protesters in the
central province of Binh Thuan
threw petrol bombs and bricks at
police and damaged local govern-
ng said it was not cost-effective
for investors to install expensive
pollution-control systems, add-
ing that they were forced to re-
duce the money spent on envi-
ronmental protection in order to
keep their investment profitable.
According to the five-year
waste management master plan,
local administrative organiza-
tions are required to manage
waste. However, the private sec-
tor is also encouraged to invest
in waste disposal plants, based
on the assumption that they are
more able and willing to properly
oversee waste disposal.
Forty-four provinces meet the
criteria, allowing them to initi-
ate private-sector investment in
waste-to-energy plants. Those
criteria include the availability of
a feed-in power line and the abil-
ity to ensure a feedstock of at least
300 tons of garbage. In contrast,
102 areas in 49 provinces have the
capacity for investment in refuse-
derived fuel processing plants.
For less populated areas that
have below 50 tons of waste gen-
The United Nations refugee
agency says the Rohingya are the
biggest minority among an esti-
mated 10 million people who are
stateless, a status that deprives
them of an identity, rights, and jobs.
The latest exodus of Rohingya
Muslims followed a crackdown
last August by the military in the
northwestern Rakhine State. Ro-
hingya refugees reported killings,
burnings, looting and rape, in re-
sponse to militant attacks on se-
curity forces.
The UN and aid agencies have
described Myanmar’s counterof-
fensive as ethnic cleansing, which
the state denies.
Myanmar and Bangladesh
agreed in January to complete the
voluntary repatriation of Rohing-
ya refugees by 2020, followed up
by an agreement with the UN last
ment offices and vehicles, state
media reported.
Police arrested 102 protesters,
the online newspaper VnExpress
reported on Monday, citing local
police. The report said dozens of
policemen were injured in the in-
cident.
In the capital Hanoi, police de-
tained more than a dozen protest-
ers who marched down a busy
street, some carrying anti-Chi-
nese banners including one that
said “No leasing land to China
even for one day”.
Activists said several protest-
ers were also detained in the
country’s economic hub, Ho Chi
Minh City.
The government has said the
bill aims to boost development in
three provinces in northern, cen-
tral and southern Vietnam and
provide “room for institutional
experiments”.
The initial draft law said land
in the zones could be leased for up
Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha
erated per day, the authorities
and residents are advised to local-
ly process their waste into fertil-
izer and bury the leftover garbage
in a local sanitary landfill.
As of the end of 2017, the Alter-
native Energy Development and
Efficiency Department reported
that 5 waste-to-energy plants were
operating — both biogas plants
and waste incinerators — generat-
ing 42.82 megawatts of electricity.
Nine of these waste-to-energy
plants in Bangkok, Phuket, Samut
Prakan, Tak, Saraburi and Khon
Kaen are waste incinerators op-
erated by private companies.
A lack of waste segregation was
another big problem that needed
addressing to properly operate
a waste-to-energy plant in Thai-
land, Penchom said.
The waste-to-energy plants in
Hat Yai and Phuket were burn-
ing all kinds of garbage for power,
without segregation to pull out less
flammable materials, thus causing
serious environmental problems
and also damaging the operational
system of the plants, she added.
month aimed at eventually allow-
ing those in Bangladesh to return
safely and by choice.
Yet Aung said the lack of docu-
ments and citizenship for the Ro-
hingya would hinder their ability
to go home and resettle.
“How can these people pro-
duce their documents for the gov-
ernment? They are trying to do
such things to call us stateless,”
added Aung, who said he would
give most of his US$1.1 million
prize money to aid groups helping
Rohingya refugees.
The Aurora prize runner-ups
were Indian campaigner Sunitha
Krishnan, co-founder of the an-
ti-trafficking charity Prajwala,
and Héctor Tomás González Cas-
tillo, a Franciscan friar in Mexico
who provides shelter for migrants
headed to the United States.
to 99 years, but Prime Minister
Nguyen Xuan Phuc told local me-
dia last week the term would be
reduced, although he did not say
by how much.
The protests come at a time of
rising tensions over the disput-
ed South China Sea, nearly all of
which is claimed by China.
Vietnam is among several
countries in the region that have
claims in the South China Sea,
through which an estimated US$5
trillion in trade passes each year.
Some of the protesters at Sun-
day’s demonstrations were also
protesting against another draft
bill on cybersecurity amid wide-
spread concern the law would
cause economic harm and stifle
online dissent in the communist-
ruled country.
The United States and Canada
urged Vietnam on Friday to delay
the vote on the proposed cyberse-
curity law. The National Assembly is
scheduled to vote on it on Tuesday.
ASEAN | 15
AROUND THE WORLD
Najib maintains innocence
MALAYSIA: Malaysia’s ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday
said he did not benefit or steal money from 1Malaysia Development
Berhad (1MDB), as authorities searched a new premise and sought
additional witnesses in an ongoing probe on the state fund.
Malaysia is investigating allegations that billions of dollars had been
siphoned from 1MDB, which Najib founded and was a key reason
behind his shock loss in at an election last month.
“I would like to repeat that I did not receive any benefits or stole
money from 1MDB or any party,” Najib said in a Facebook post, after
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Sunday that strong evidence is
needed before the authorities can book the former prime minister.
“If I am to be charged on political grounds, I am confident the courts
will find me innocent,” Najib said. — Reuters
Troops kill 15 militants in air, ground assaults
THE PHILIPPINES: At least 15 pro-Islamic State militants were killed
when Philippine troops launched air and ground assaults against a
rebel bomb factory on Sunday, a military commander said.
Air strikes and artillery pounded an area in the Liguasan marsh in
Maguindanao, where the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF)
group had been making improvised explosive devices, said Brig. Gen.
Cirilito Sobejana. About 60 to 100 BIFF militants were in the vicinity
when the assaults began before dawn, Sobejana said.
“Fifteen were confirmed killed, 10 were injured and two others
were captured,” he said. “We were able to destroy their main IED fac-
tory in southern Liguasan, and this is a big loss to them.”
The military classifies the BIFF, which it say has 300 to 400 mem-
bers, as a terrorist organization, along with the Abu Sayyaf and Maute
groups. — Reuters
UK appoints 1st honorary consul in Surabaya
INDONESIA: British Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik has ap-
pointed Surabaya-based businesswoman Ivy Kamadjaja as the United
Kingdom’s honorary consul in Surabaya.
She was chosen for the post because of her vast business network
not only in East Java province but also at the national level.
Malik said Ivy’s business network was strategic in her appointment as
the honorary consul in Indonesia’s second-largest city, after a meeting with
Surabaya Mayo Tri “Risma” Rismaharini on Wednesday.
He added that the main objective of the appointment was to represent
the UK in Surabaya, especially in the political and business sectors.
The honorary consul is expected to assist the UK in identifying economic
opportunities in Surabaya and East Java. Risma welcomed the appoint-
ment especially as the city will be cooperating with UK city Liverpool to
provide English training for Surabaya’s school teachers. — JP
Suicide bomber kills 13 outside ministry
AFGHANISTAN: A suicide bomber killed 13 people and wounded 25
more during rush hour on Monday at the entrance to Afghanistan’s ru-
ral rehabilitation and development ministry in Kabul as workers were
leaving for home, government spokesmen said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility, its AMAQ news agency said, with-
out providing any evidence. The attack comes as security has deteriorated
in the city during recent months ahead of elections scheduled for October.
“Woman, children and employees of the [rehabilitation] ministry
are among the victims,” Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior min-
istry, told Reuters, referring to the dead and wounded.
Wahid Majroh, spokesman for the ministry of public health, said no
children were among the dead.
Fraidoon Azhand, spokesman for the ministry that came under
attack, said the suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the gate.
— Reuters
THE PHILIPPINES
China told to stop taking
fishermen’s catch
Agence France-Presse we will not allow fish to be taken
MANILA from our countrymen.”
The Chinese Embassy in Ma-
The Philippines on Monday nila did not immediately respond
demanded that China stop confis-
cating the catch of Filipino fisher-
men in the disputed South China
to AFP’s request for comment.
Duterte’s administration re-
jects criticism that its response
Sea, calling the practice “unac- to Chinese activities in the hotly
ceptable”. contested waters has been weak.
The remarks by President Ro- China in May reportedly de-
drigo Duterte’s spokesman were ployed anti-ship cruise missiles
a rare public rebuke from Manila, and surface-to-air missiles on the
which has taken a non-confronta- Spratly Islands and flew nuclear-
tional approach with Beijing over capable bombers to a base in an-
the resource-rich waterway. other disputed part of the sea.
China controls several reefs Duterte’s aides have said pre-
in the sea including Scarborough viously the Philippines is taking
Shoal, which Beijing seized from “all diplomatic action” to protect
Manila in 2012 and which is just its claims while insisting it would
230 kilometers from the main not anger China by engaging in
Philippine island of Luzon. “megaphone diplomacy”.
China claims almost the entire Manila, which has pursued
resource-rich sea, through which trade deals and investment from
US$5 trillion in trade passes an- China, instead holds regular talks
nually, despite competing partial with Beijing on the dispute.
claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the On Monday Roque refused to
Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. describe the latest incident as
Duterte’s spokesman Harry harassment, adding the Chinese
Roque on Monday confirmed a Coast Guard gave the Filipino
report that Chinese Coast Guard fishermen noodles, cigarettes and
personnel seized the catch of Fil- water in exchange for their catch.
ipino fishermen in the shoal in The fishermen, who appeared
May in violation of an agreement with Roque in the news briefing,
between the two nations allowing said they were powerless to stop
Filipinos to fish there. repeated seizures by the Chinese.
“We have addressed this issue to
the Chinese and we are demanding
“The [Chinese Coast Guard
personnel] board our boats, look
that the Chinese take steps to stop at where we store the fish and
the coast guard from doing these take the best ones. We cannot do
acts,” Roque told reporters. anything because their huge ves-
“That is unacceptable. That sels are there,” said Romel Ce-
is why we informed the Chinese juela, one of the fishermen.
Reuters/Erik De Castro
Fishy business: Members of the Akbayan activist group display fish
as they chant slogans during a rally in Makati, Metro Manila, on
Monday to protest what they say is harassment of Filipino fisher-
men at the Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
WORLD
Experts seek
real solutions
from summit
Tama Salim
THE JAKARTA POST/SINGAPORE
Experts caution against plac-
ing too much hope on the histor-
ic summit between North Korea
and the United States and urge
participating countries to fo-
cus more on making measurable
progress.
North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un, should he wish to bring
lasting prosperity to his people,
must show good faith well beyond
his meeting in Singapore with US
President Donald Trump, said
Marzuki Darusman, a former
United Nations special rappor-
teur on the human rights situa-
tion in North Korea.
Kim would need to make good
on commitments to reunite Ko-
rean families separated by the
Korean War and resolve the issue
of 17 Japanese citizens kidnapped
by North Korean agents in the
1970s and 1980s.
While Kim had pledged to
make progress on the reunion
of Korean families at the recent
Inter-Korean Summit, Pyong-
yang insists the sensitive ordeal
involving the Japanese had been
“resolved” following visits by
then-prime minister Junichiro
Koizumi in the early 2000s.
Marzuki said North Korea
should also be held accountable
for the discovery of concentra-
tion camps for political prisoners,
satellite images of which were ob-
tained by Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch.
Therefore, the question of hu-
man rights, which Marzuki insists
has not improved much since he
was reporting on the situation,
should be a priority for the North
regardless of the results of Tues-
day’s meeting with Trump.
“While we do hope that momen-
tum from [the Trump-Kim sum-
mit] will help things go smoothly
in terms of peace [in the Korean
Peninsula] and the push for reuni-
fication, the path is still long and
winding. especially with regard to
the crushing [UN] sanctions,” said
Marzuki who reported on North
Korea in 2010-2016.
“[Tackling these issues will be
seen as] early proof of North Ko-
rea’s good will to improve its hu-
man rights situation.”
After a period of fiery “tweet
wars” that gave the region cause
for serious concern a few months
ago, the two leaders are meeting
Airport mishap
The blackened and heavily damaged cockpit area of one of Lufthan-
sa’s Airbus A340 passenger aircraft is pictured at Frankfurt Airport in
Germany on Monday. Ten people were slightly injured when a vehicle
that was towing the Lufthansa plane caught fire, the airline said.
HONG KONG
Democracy activists jailed up to seven years for rioting
Venus Wu
REUTERS/HONG KONG
Three protesters from Hong
Kong’s radical youth opposition
were jailed on Monday for taking
part in a violent unrest, receiv-
ing the harshest sentences hand-
ed down to democracy activists
since the city returned to Chinese
rule in 1997.
Edward Leung, 27, one of the
leaders of a movement advocat-
ing Hong Kong’s independence
from China, was jailed for six
years for rioting and assaulting
police in a 2016 overnight protest
that turned violent. He was found
guilty of rioting by a jury and had
pleaded guilty to assaulting a po-
lice officer.
Two other activists, Lo Kin-
man and Wong Ka-kui, were
jailed seven and three and a half
years respectively for rioting.
About 130 people, mostly police,
Experts call for concrete
steps to resolve Korean
Peninsula issue
N. Korea needs to resolve
human rights issue
ICAN urges Indonesia to
ratify TPNW
at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa
Island on Tuesday.
During bilateral talks with
Singaporean Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Long, Trump said he
thought the meeting was “going
to work out very nicely”.
The US seeks the complete,
verifiable and irreversible dis-
mantlement of North Korea’s
nuclear weapons program, while
Pyongyang is believed to be seek-
ing security guarantees for its re-
gime in return.
Meanwhile, the Internation-
al Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons (ICAN) has mapped out
the best route to total denucleariza-
tion in the Korean Peninsula, con-
cluding that an existing interna-
tional treaty framework is the most
appropriate solution.
Any solution to the crisis re-
quires all parties to reject nuclear
weapons outright on humanitari-
an grounds through the Treaty on
the Prohibition of Nuclear Weap-
ons (TPNW), according to the
2017 Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Muhadi Sugiono, an ICAN
campaigner from Indonesia, said
the TPNW offered a clear legal
basis for effective denucleariza-
tion, even though it still requires
ratification by 40 countries to
enter into force as international
law.
He said this was an opportuni-
ty for Indonesia to ratify the leg-
islation and urge other countries
to follow suit in the name of main-
taining world peace.
Indonesia recently obtained
a seat on the UN Security Coun-
cil, which is also responsible for
the economic sanctions against
North Korea.
Separately, the Indonesian
Foreign Ministry’s director for
international security and disar-
mament, Grata Werdaningtyas,
said Indonesia was currently in
the long process of ratifying the
TPNW, saying it was necessary to
mutually reinforce the Treaty on
the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons (NPT).
AFP/DPA/Boris Roessler
were injured when masked protest-
ers tossed bricks and set trash cans
alight to vent their anger against
what they saw as mainland Chinese
encroachment on the city’s autono-
my and freedoms. The government
quickly labelled the overnight un-
rest a “riot”.
Leung has supported Hong
Kong’s outright secession from
China given Beijing’s perceived
erosion of the “one country two
systems” principle granting the
city a high degree of autonomy
since it was handed from British
to Chinese rule in 1997.
It was not immediately clear if he
would appeal against the sentence.
Leung appeared calm upon
hearing High Court Judge Anthea
Pang announce the sentence,
while murmurs of disbelief rippled
through a crowd of about 150 activ-
ists and supporters watching a live
broadcast outside the courtroom.
Pang condemned the “severe”
No to Brexit
Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest opposite the Houses of Parliament in London on Monday. Prime Minister Theresa May urged her Conserva-
tive Party on Monday to show unity when parliament votes on changes to her Brexit blueprint.
MIGRANT SHIP
Spain offers to take in drifting Aquarius
Reuters
MADRID/ROME
Spain offered on Monday to
take in a rescue ship that is drift-
ing in the Mediterranean Sea with
629 migrants stranded on board
after Italy and Malta refused to
let it dock.
The Aquarius picked up the mi-
grants from inflatable boats and
rafts off the coast of Libya at the
weekend, and the United Nations
refugee agency said on Monday it
was running out of provisions.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro
Sanchez, who took office just over
a week ago, has given instructions
for the boat to be admitted to the
eastern port of Valencia, his office
said in a statement.
“It is our duty to help avoid a
humanitarian catastrophe and
offer a safe port to these people,
to comply with our human rights
obligations,” Sanchez’s office said.
The Aquarius took the mi-
grants, including 123 unaccompa-
UNSC SEAT
Greater RI role expected in fight for Palestinian cause
Dian Septiari
THE JAKARTA POST/ JAKARTA
Indonesia has much work to
do after securing the United Na-
tions Security Council (UNSC)
non-permanent seat for the 2019-
2020 term, especially in further-
ing the cause of the Palestinians.
Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi
often says that Palestine is “at the
heart of Indonesia’s foreign policy”,
sending a message of commitment
to a free Palestine.
“The issue of Palestine will
be of concern to Indonesia in its
membership,” she said on Fri-
day after Indonesia secured the
UNSC non-permanent seat.
However, a strong commit-
ment alone would not be enough.
Indonesia, together with South
Africa, Belgium, Germany and the
Dominican Republic, will join Equa-
torial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait,
Peru and Poland as non-permanent
members without power of veto.
Only permanent members
violence of the riot, which she
said had caused “great danger” to
those at the scene, and which war-
ranted the imposition of a strict
deterrent sentence.
“The court absolutely does not
allow livelihood or political dis-
putes to be expressed through
acts of violence,” she said.
Rioting in Hong Kong is defined
under the city’s Public Order Or-
dinance as an assembly of three
or more people where any person
“commits a breach of the peace”.
This offence, which carries a
maximum penalty of 10 years be-
hind bars, was last amended in
1970, a few years after a months-
long pro-Communist riot against
British rule killed at least 50 peo-
ple, including children.
Hong Kong’s most high-pro-
file democracy activist, Joshua
Wong, described the sentence
on Twitter as harsh under “Hong
Kong’s present era of political
nied minors, 11 other children and
seven pregnant women, towards
Italy, but the country’s new, far-
right Interior Minister Matteo
Salvini barred it from docking and
said it should go to Malta.
Malta refused to take the ship,
saying it was Italy’s responsibility
as the rescue was overseen by the
Italian coastguard. The tiny island
says it already accepts proportion-
ately more refugees than Italy.
Sanchez, a socialist who top-
pled his conservative predeces-
sor with a no-confidence vote af-
ter a corruption scandal, made his
offer after the mayors of Valen-
cia and Barcelona both offered to
take the boat in at their ports.
Meanwhile, the European
Union and the UN refugee agency
called for a swift end to the politi-
cal standoff.
The Aquarius sailed north to-
wards Italy, but Salvini, the head
of the far-right League party, who
vows to crack down on the influx
of migrants from Africa, blocked
China, France, Russia, the United
Kingdom and the United States
have veto power.
The US, however, has rejected
numerous proposals related to
Palestine. For example, it vetoed
the Kuwait-drafted UNSC reso-
lution earlier this month, which
called for the protection of Pales-
tinian civilians.
Dozens have been killed and
thousands wounded by Israe-
li forces since Palestinians held
protests in the besieged Gaza
Strip. Indonesia will take its turn
as UNSC president at least twice
during its tenure, when it will be
able to raise initiatives, including
on the Palestine cause.
Former UN special rapporteur
on the situation of human rights
in the Palestinian territory Ma-
karim Wibisono said Indonesia
should take concrete measures
to focus more on the protection
of civilians and start communi-
cating with permanent member
countries so that the initiatives
prisoners”.
Wong himself was convict-
ed of “unlawful assembly” un-
der the Public Order Ordinance
and served about two months
in jail before the city’s top court
quashed the imprisonment sen-
tences in an appeal.
Leung’s sentence was also
slammed by some international
voices including Hong Kong’s last
British governor Chris Patten.
Patten noted that the Public
Order Ordinance carried vague
definitions that were being used
against a slew of local activists
since the “Umbrella Movement”
protests paralyzed major roads in
the city in late 2014.
“It is disappointing to see that
the legislation is now being used
politically to place extreme sen-
tences on the pan-democrats and
other activists,” Patten said in a
statement issued via the London
based NGO, Hong Kong Watch.
TUESDAY June 12, 2018
the ship and said it should go to
Malta instead.
Malta refused, saying it had
nothing to do with the rescue mis-
sion, which was overseen by Ital-
ian coastguard. The island nation
with fewer than half a million in-
habitants says it already accepts
more refugees per capita than It-
aly, which has taken in more than
600,000 boat migrants since 2014.
“Saving lives at sea is a duty, but
transforming Italy into an enor-
mous refugee camp is not,” Sal-
vini said on Facebook on Monday.
“Italy is done bowing its head and
obeying. This time there’s some-
one saying no.”
Pictures from aboard the
Aquarius, which is operated by
SOS Mediterranee and Doctors
without Borders, showed hun-
dreds of Africans huddled aboard,
including a young girl wrapped in
a blanket in the arms of a rescue
worker.
“People are in distress, are run-
ning out of provisions and need
could be wholly supported.
Considering the polarized
stances taken by permanent
member countries, especially the
US, he said the dispute between
Israel and Palestine should be ap-
proached with universal values.
“We can raise an issue that is
not necessarily political, but hu-
manitarian,” he said. “Access to
food, medicine and other univer-
sal values are not political, they
are basic human rights, and we
can start from there,” he said.
Makarim quit from his posi-
tion in 2016, three years after
being appointed by the Office of
the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR) in 2014. He said he was
obstructed in his attempts to in-
vestigate claims of abuse by the
Israeli military. Tenures in the
position normally last six years.
According to Reuters, in 2015,
Makarim said in his first report
that Israel should investigate the
killing of more than 1,500 Pales-
Standing proud: Pro-independence activist Edward Leung walks
inside a detention center before leaving for the High Court for a
sentencing hearing in Hong Kong on Monday.
| 16
Reuters/Peter Nicholls
help quickly,” the UN refugee agen-
cy said, urging governments to set
aside political considerations.
“Broader issues such as who
has responsibility and how these
responsibilities can best be
shared between states should be
looked at later,” UNHCR special
envoy Vincent Cochetel said.
SOS Mediterranee said the
Gibraltar-registered ship had
enough supplies to feed the mi-
grants, at least for another day.
EU law requires asylum seek-
ers register in the first safe coun-
try they reach, but frontline coun-
tries such as Italy and Malta say
the burden needs to be shared out
across the bloc.
“This is not an inhumane act,”
said Transport Minister Dani-
lo Toninelli, in charge of Italy’s
ports and coast guard.
“It’s common sense [...] We ask
that all of Europe assume respon-
sibility for such a delicate and im-
portant issue as is immigration,”
he said in a TV interview.
tinian civilians, one-third of them
children, during the 2014 Gaza
war, and make the findings public.
Makarim said based on inter-
national humanitarian law, Israel
as the occupying power had a re-
sponsibility to protect civilians in
the occupied area.
“If the occupying power is un-
able or unwilling to do it, this can
be a reason to send UN peacekeep-
ing forces to protect the civilians,”
he said, adding that Indonesia
could also propose new policies
about the Gaza Blockade because
of the inhumane situation.
He took the example of the
apartheid issue in South Africa,
which was approached from a
humanitarian perspective, help-
ing universal ideas to slowly be
accepted, including by countries
who supported the status quo.
“If it is achieved, there’ll be a new
situation where what’s left is poli-
tics that can be resolved with diplo-
macy as a peaceful use of any initia-
tive without violence,” he said.
Reuters/Bobby Yip