1. BAGIR: 4 lines, 11 counts<\/p>\n
Chief Justice
\ngives investors
\ngo ahead for
\nint'l arbitration<\/p>\n
(UNEDITED. The idea of the whole story is that Bagir says if
\nmultinational companies are not happy with the Indonesian
\njudicial system, take yoUr disputes with local companies to
\ninternational arbitrage).<\/p>\n
Chief Justice Bagir Manan signed a green light for investors to
\nbring their dispute with local partnership here to the
\ninternational arbitrage.<\/p>\n
\"If any parties --both foreign and locals here, are in
\ndispute, we leave it to them whether they will bring the case to
\nour national court or to international arbitrage to settle it,\"
\nBagir told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday after briefing tens of
\ncandidate judges at the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\"The parties made a commitment on their joint agreement
\ncontract. So I guess it has nothing to do with their lack of
\ntrust to our national court,\" Bagir added.<\/p>\n
In line with the promised disbursement of some US$3.14 billion
\nin loans and $586 million in grants, creditors in the
\nConsultatives Group on Indonesia (CGI) recently urged the country
\nto accelerate its judicial reforms, as well as a comprehensive
\nreform strategy with clear milestones to establish rule of law
\nand reduce corruption in the courts.<\/p>\n
For the first time the CGI also discussed corruption issues
\nwhile underlined that many investors have lost its trust to local
\ncourts and prefer to settle dispute with its local partnership to
\ninternational arbitrage due to massive corruption in the courts.<\/p>\n
A controversial case of PT Manulife Asuransi Jiwa Indonesia is
\nonly example on how the national legal system has failed to
\nprotect foreign investment.<\/p>\n
Even former president Abdurrahman Wahid at the time ordered
\nthe Attorney General's Office to terminate the investigation on
\nthe criminal suit against the major Canadian insurance company,
\nsaying that \"the case not only damaged Indonesia's relations with
\nforeign creditors but also ran against national interests.\"<\/p>\n
2. MUKERNA: 2 lines, 21 counts<\/p>\n
PKB plan extraordinary
\nparty congress<\/p>\n
The National Awakening Party (PKB), under the chairmanship of
\nMatori Abdul Djalil, plans to organize an extraordinary congress
\nbefore March in an attempt to strengthen his grip on the party,
\nwhich has had a split leadership for the past four months.<\/p>\n
All 27 regional chapters of the party, which took part in the
\nongoing national working meeting here, demanded that the congress
\nbe held to resolve the leadership dispute in the party, according
\nto acting secretary-general Abdul Khalik Ahmad.<\/p>\n
Matori is leading the minority camp in the party, which relies
\non the support of millions of members of the Nahdlatul Ulama
\n(NU), the country's largest Muslim organization.<\/p>\n
The other camp is led by former foreign minister Alwi Shihab
\nand relies heavily on the patronage of Abdurrahman Wahid, the
\nformer NU chairman who was Indonesia's president until his
\ndismissal in July.<\/p>\n
Matori dissented from the party line when he endorsed the
\nelection of Megawati Soekarnoputri as president in July to
\nreplace Abdurrahman. He had since been rewarded with the post of
\nminister of defense.<\/p>\n
Although the majority in the PKB has since rejected his
\nleadership, he continues to command a small, but loyal, group of
\nsupporters, who turned up in full force at this week's meeting.<\/p>\n
3. ENVIRON: 4 lines, 11 counts<\/p>\n
RI, Norway
\nlaunch joint
\ndevelopment
\ninitiatives<\/p>\n
The government, in cooperation with Norway, kicked off on
\nTuesday an integrated program aimed at ensuring continued growth
\nwhile at the same satisfying the needs of environmental
\nprotection in Riau province.<\/p>\n
The holistic nature of the program, which allows both
\nindustrial and environmental needs to be taken into account,
\nsolicits the participation of all community levels in the
\nprovince and was launched with the recent regional autonomy
\ninitiative in mind.<\/p>\n
Funded by the Norwegian government, the program also seeks to
\nintroduce conflict-solving mechanisms with a focus on poverty
\nalleviation through community development.<\/p>\n
The five-year program will be guided by an outline already
\ndrafted by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
\n(NORAD) and Indonesia's State Ministry for the Environment.<\/p>\n
The resumption of the program on Tuesday was marked by the
\nsigning of a memorandum of understanding by State Minister of
\nEnvironment Nabiel Makarim and NORAD Director General Tove
\nStrand.<\/p>\n
A total budget of 20 million Norwegian kroners (some US$2.22
\nmillion) will be donated for the program and managed by the
\nDirectorate for Nature Management, which comprises of
\nstakeholders of the project.<\/p>\n
4. POLITIK 4 lines, 12 counts<\/p>\n
Activists set
\nnon-violent
\npolitical
\nagenda<\/p>\n
A rare meeting of activists from political and Islamic-based
\norganizations agreed on Tuesday to develop an agenda of political
\nparticipation that was strictly nonviolent.<\/p>\n
The participants came from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan), the Golkar Party, the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the
\nNational Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).<\/p>\n
The participating nongovernmental organizations were the
\nNahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah, the Ka'bah Youth Movement,
\nthe Nation's Vanguard, and the Pancasila Youth.<\/p>\n
The agreement, known as the Jogja Commitment, was forged amid
\nfrequent street protests in Yogya and elsewhere involving youth
\ngroups, which often turn violent. Usually, such street violence
\noccurs during election campaigns -- the next is only two years
\naway.<\/p>\n
The activists also committed themselves to supporting a
\ncampaign for constitutional reform, better law enforcement and
\neconomic development.<\/p>\n
However, the participants have yet to set out a clear-cut
\naction plan on what they would do to minimize violence in their
\nactivities.<\/p>\n
\"In an effort to achieve civilized behavior in politics, we
\nshall set up a strategic coalition at both national and local
\nlevels to cultivate nonviolent politics at all levels of
\nsociety,\" said the declaration read out by Sayuti Asyatri from
\nPAN during a media conference at Yogyakarta Radison Hotel.<\/p>\n
The dialogue was organized by Gadjah Mada University's
\ndepartment of social and political sciences.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/1-bagir-4-lines-11-counts-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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