Extracts from the Criminal Code of the Republic of Indonesia
PENAL CODE PROVISIONS ON REBELLION/CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT [KUHP]
Article 106: Rebellion for the purpose of placing all or part of the territory of the state in the hands of the enemy or separating part of the state territory from the rest shall be liable to a prison sentence of life or a period of imprisonment of at most twenty years.
Article 154: Whosoever publicly expresses feelings of hostility towards, hatred for or contempt of the Government of Indonesia, will be liable to imprisonment for up to seven years or with a fine of up to three hundred rupiah.
Article 155: (1) Whosoever publicly disseminates, shows or displays in public, a writing or painting which contains expressions of hostility towards, hatred of or contempt for the Government of Indonesia in order to make such writing or painting known, or better known, will be liable to imprisonment of up to four years or a fine of up to three hundred rupiah.
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The 50 Most Powerful People in Asia
1. Suharto - Three decades as Indonesia's unchallenged leader
Most Indonesians have known no president but Suharto. He maneuvered to power in 1966, after the chaos of a communist coup attempt and a purge in which hundreds of thousands died. He has ruled, some would say reigned, without a serious challenge ever since. Suharto created a New Order for the vast archipelago, and recreated himself as a new kind of Javanese king. He is the paramount leader, the sole arbiter of policy, in a country that is now home to nearly 200 million people.
Suharto's fingers extend from Jakarta to the most remote village. He approves every general, appoints every governor. He handpicks the heads of the army, navy, airforce and police. He can veto promotions to key command posts. Suharto has final say over more than half of the seats in the 1,000-member assembly that selects the president every five years. His eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana is chairwoman of the central board of ruling party, Golkar. One son controls a huge Indonesian conglomerate; another has the rights to build the national car.
The president travels throughout Indonesia to open factories and talk to farmers. But he rarely explains the details of his policies. His critics become enemies, then the government tries to coopt and weaken them. That's precisely what happened to Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno. When she began gaining prominence as leader of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party, the government contrived to oust her.
This year no president, no prime minister, no tycoon can match the power of Suharto. His hold on Indonesia is such that talk of his successor is as unsettling as it is commonplace. Many believe he intends to die in office -- or that he will remain only until he cuts a deal with the army to protect his children's wealth. As Anderson points out, for Suharto, as for the ancient Javanese kings, "Power is neither legitimate nor illegitimate. Power is."
More at http://wisdom.psinet.net.au/~lani/aw1.html
The Heritage Foundation Lectures and Seminars, Lecture No. 546
Dan Amstutz President, North American Export Grain Association:
Consider just one example of why agriculture is so interested in Asia. This is an OECD estimate. If China, India, and Indonesia grow by an average of 6 percent a year economically, which is entirely feasible, and their income distribution remains unchanged from current levels, by the year 2010 some 700 million people in those countries will have an average income equal to Spain today. That is 600 million more than at present. The interesting thing about that number, 700 million, is that it is roughly equal to the current combined populations of the United States, the European Union, and Japan. So in a half a generation, a sophisticated market equal in size to Europe, the U.S., and Japan will develop in China, India, and Indonesia. For the agriculture sector, that is a lot of business: a lot of meat and a lot of all kinds of food products. It presents an exciting outlook for trade expansion.
More at http://www.townhall.com/heritage/library/categories/trade/lect546.html
Freedom of the Press
AMENDMENTS TO ACT NO. 11 OF 1966 CONCERNING BASIC PROVISIONS ON THE PRESS AS AMENDED BY ACT NO. 4/1967
17. The provision in Article 19 shall be changed to read as follows: (1) Whoever deliberately and unlawfully uses press publications for his personal or group interests, causing deviations from or obstacles to the tasks, functions, rights and duties of the press as intended in Article 2 and Article 3 of Act No. 11/1966 as amended by Act No.4/1967 and the Law on the Second Amendment to the Law concerning Basic Provisions on the Press, shall be liable to a prison sentence of up to 4 (four) years and/or a fine of up to Rp. 40,000,000 (forty million rupiahs).
More at http://143.117.33.25/qub_law/timor/Ti7.HTM
Operation Cleansing
Amnesty International on Human Rights in Indonesia (November 1994)
The human rights situation in Indonesia has deteriorated in the run up to the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit being held in Jakarta in November, as the government has sought to rid the capital of "economic and political criminals". The crack-down, which began in April with an anti-crime campaign known as "Operation Cleansing", has broadened in recent months to affect government critics, labour activists as well as a variety of socially marginal groups.
Amnesty International is concerned that the pre-APEC crack-down has resulted in serious human rights violations, including: the arbitrary arrest, and in some cases torture and ill-treatment, of political detainees; the unfair trial and arbitrary imprisonment of labour activists and workers; and the unlawful execution of alleged criminals. It is also concerned that a recent escalation of official harassment of government critics has helped to create a political climate in which the opportunities for dissent are even more strictly circumscribed than before, and in which other human rights violations may be more likely to occur.
http://www.amnesty.org/summaries/INDONESIA:--Operation-Cleansing-.txt
President Suharto clings to power amid serious political challenge
(By a correspondent in Jakarta)
The problem with `strong' leaders is that they do not leave behind an obvious successor. This is further complicated if the `strong' leader also happens to be in power for a long time. This is what confronts the people of Indonesia where general Suharto has been in power since 1966, thanks to a CIA-engineered coup that took care of at least one million innocent lives.
With so much blood on his hands, Suharto obviously does not allow any rival, real or imaginary, to get in his way even if he is 75 years old and in poor health. His departure for Germany on July 7 for medical check-up only heightened speculation about his health and what would happen to the country if he were suddenly to drop dead.
More at http://www.au.malaysia.net/muslimedia/archives/suharto.htm
More on Indonesia
- http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/indonesia/news/
- gopher://oasis.leidenuniv.nl/11/.kitlv/.daily-report
- ftp://ftp.io.org/pub/human-rights/Amnesty/indonesia/
- http://143.117.33.25/qub_law/timor/intro.htm law
PRESIDENTIAL EDICT No. 11 of 1963
THE ANTI-SUBVERSION LAW - ERADICATION OF SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
Chapter I SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
Article 1:
(1) The following shall be convicted of having committed a criminal act of subversion:
1. anyone who has engaged in an action with the purpose of or clearly with the purpose which is known to him or can be expected to be known to him can:
(a) distort, undermine or deviate from the ideology of the Pancasila state or the broad policy lines of the State; or
(b) overthrow, destroy or undermine the power of the State or the authority of the lawful government or the machinery of the State; or
(c) disseminate feelings of hostility or arouse hostility, cause splits, conflicts, chaos, disturbances or anxiety among the population or broad sections of society or between the State of the Republic of Indonesia and a friendly State;
More at http://143.117.33.25/qub_law/timor/Ti4.HTM '63
