1. COURT (4 X 12)

1. COURT (4 X 12)

Judges of new court's credibility questioned Law experts have questioned the credibility of judges of the newly established Constitutional Court due to a hasty process of the judges selection and the endorsement of the Constitutional Court bill.

"We are now in the situation of like possessing cats in a bag as fit and proper test of the judges was carried out in a very short time," a noted legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis told the Jakarta Post on Monday.

Thus, it is inevitable that the Constitutional Court has several judges that are affiliated with political parties, but public can not examine their independence from those parties, according to him.

"If we have enough time to carry out fit and proper tests, public will be able to test the judges political stance. With that, we can force them to step down in the future if they break their statement," he said.

Todung claimed that political interests had too much burdened the selection of the Constitutional Court judges, prompting the selection process was less credible.

"It is very difficult to maintain public confidence of the Constitutional Court," he said.

Harun Al Rasyid concurred with Todung. Harun said that many had asked him about the Constitutional Court judges reputation, but he only knew few of them.

"Who are these judges? Do they have knowledge on Constitution Law and State Administrative Law ?," he said.

Harun said the problem emerged due to poor selection process and legal flaws in the Constitutional Court Law.

According to him, the Constitutional Court Law is violating the amended 1945 Constitution as it limited the age of judges of between 40 and 67, while the Constitution did not stipulate such a criteria.

The Constitutional Court, which consists of nine judges, has a number of powerful authorities, including reviewing laws against the amended 1945 Constitution, recommending an impeachment of the president, dissolving political parties, and resolving dispute on general election result.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri just installed on Saturday the nine judges after a quick selection from the government, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court.

Each institutions had power to select three judges respectively.

The House, for example, named constitutional law expert Jimly Assiddiqie (affiliated with Golkar party), former House legislator Achmad Rustandi (affiliated with the United Development Party) and People's Consultative Assembly legislator I Dewa Gede Palguna as the Constitutional Court judges.

However, the House had only conducted fit and proper tests for two days on last Wednesday and Thursday.

The government also selected three judges: Achmad Syariffudin Natabaya of the state University of Sriwijaya, Mukti Fajar of the state University of Brawijaya and Haryono of the regional representatives faction at the People's Consultative Assembly (affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle).

But the government also failed to carry out an open fit and proper tests in a limited time.

The remaining three judges that hailed from the Supreme Court choice are Laica Marzuki, Sudarsono and Muarar Siahaan, who are all the High Court judges.

Besides the hasty selection of the judges, the Constitution Court Law also possessed problems on its content as it was only deliberated by the House in one and half months before its endorsement two weeks ago.

President Megawati signed the court bill several days later, passing the bill into a law.

2. NATION (2 X 21)

Scholar says RI suffers from nationalism crisis

Almost 60 years after it declared independence in 1945, Indonesia still suffers from a nationalism crisis, which could lead to disintegration, a prominent scholar says.

Azyumardi Azra, the rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said over the weekend that Indonesia had to embark on a campaign of multicultural education in order to cure the nationalism crisis and prevent the country from breaking up.

Speaking at a seminar entitled Ethnic Chinese and the Politics of Multiculturalism here on Saturday, Azyumardi said the crisis had long plagued the country and became serious during the leadership of former president Soeharto, although it was quelled.

During his 32-year reign, Soeharto adopted monoculturalism at the national level by putting Javanese culture above all others, and thus creating animosity among the thousands of other ethnic groups in the archipelago, Azyumardi said.

Ethnic acrimony came to a head in the form of many violent clashes between Javanese and non-Javanese after Soeharto's iron- fisted regime collapsed -- and with it the oppressive control of society -- in May 1998.

"The end of the New Order era provided an opportunity for a counter-reaction," Azyumardi wrote in his paper presented during the seminar, which was organized by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, Education and Information (LP3ES) on Saturday.

Azyumardi, however, was not present at the seminar, which was held in conjunction with the nation's 58th independence anniversary on Sunday.

According to Azyumardi, the counter-reaction manifested itself in demands by many ethnic groups/regions to separate from Indonesia after they felt that they had been treated as second- class citizens for more than 30 years.

He said Soeharto imposed his brand of the much-hated monoculturalism on regions and through his centralization policy, wherein natural resource revenues were essentially stolen by Java, while the local people in those regions became desperately poor.

Provincialism and discrimination against other ethnic groups in the recruitment of regional government posts has become a common practice since the reform movement started in 1998, a phenomenon that could lead to the disintegration of the nation, said Azyumardi.

He also stated that separatism was a fact that Indonesia would have to deal with in order to prevent a total break up.

In addition to possible solutions such as granting greater autonomy, Azyumardi proposed in his paper that Indonesia should introduce and promote multicultural education, so that people would accept differences and respect each other.

According to Azyumardi, the concept of multiculturalism could foster cooperation among people and encourage them to negotiate any differences so that there would no longer be conflicts among them.

Azyumardi said such a campaign should be started now with the younger generation via formal and non-formal education nationwide, so that it could create a sense of belonging, for the younger generations, to Indonesia as a nation and state.

3. DROUGHT (2 X 24) Govt allots Rp1 trillion for farmers, villagers

The government will channel Rp 1 trillion (US$117.6 million) beginning September to farmers and peasants, who are affected most by the current drought, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Monday.

"Priorities and the form of labor intensive program assistance will be discussed during a coordination meeting between the coordinating ministry for people's welfare and governors in Jakarta on Tuesday," Jusuf Kalla was quoted by Antara as saying after visiting dry paddy fields in Karawang regency, Purwakarta, West Java on Saturday.

The minister did not say where the government would take the money from but assured that the House of Representatives (DPR) had approved the disbursement of the funds to help farmers and peasants who experienced crop failure due to prolonged drought.

The labor intensive programs will include repairing irrigation canals and tree planting along water catchment areas (DAS) so that more water would be preserved during the rainy season and prevent flash floods.

"Plant seeds are ready; farmers and peasons need only to plant them, for which they will get paid," Jusuf Kalla said.

The government would also sell rice to farmers and peasants at Rp 1,000 per kilogram. The cheapest rice available in the market costs Rp 1,800 per kilogram.

During his visit, Jusuf Kalla, who was accompanied by Minister for Restlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno, State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim, and West Java Governor Dany Setiawan, also officiated one Water Treatment Unit worth Rp 2.5 billion in Balong Gandu village, Karawang. Some 3,000 families are to benefit from the unit.

Jusuf Kalla said the drought had caused crop failure in some rice-producing areas on Java, affecting national rice supply.

"This year's drought hits rice-producing areas and it will definitely affect national rice supply, aside from triggering clean water scarcity and reducing purchasing ability among farmers," said the minister.

4. REMISI (2 X 18)

5,000 inmates freed on Independence Day

Independence Day was certainly liberating for some inmates of the country's prisons. Over 5,000 of them were granted the remission of their sentences, and set free on Sunday, in line with celebrations.

The Minister for Justice and Human Rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, said 5,175 inmates ended their prison terms upon receiving the remission. But, a total of 43,475 inmates throughout the country were granted remission by President Megawati Soekarnoputri. The remaining 38,300 inmates will still have to serve the rest of their sentences, the minister said.

"The remissions are expected to make all -- especially the prisoners -- appreciate the freedom of every individual," he told reporters after the remission-granting ceremony in Paledang prison in Bogor, West Java.

Presently, there are 85,149 inmates in correctional centers across the country.

Convicts who show good conduct while serving their sentences may be granted a remission, on one of two occasions each year. One on independence day, and the other on either (religious holiday), Idul Fitri or Christmas.

Among the recipients of the remission are timber tycoon Mohamad "Bob" Hasan, and former president Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who are imprisoned in Nusakambangan prison-island.

Hasan's jail sentence is cut by seven months and 20 days, while Tommy's by four months and 15 days.

The remission, however, eludes the "smiling bomber" Amrozi, who was recently sentenced to death by the Denpasar District Court for his complicity in the deadly Bali blast.

An official said that a person who has just been sentenced to death is not entitled to be granted remission, but he or she could ask for a Presidential clemency as a last resort.