1. JUDI -- 1x45
1. JUDI -- 1x45 Joint efforts needed to shut down gambling dens Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Police cannot fight wide-spread gambling alone in the capital, an expert says, adding that state prosecutors and judges as well as other government officials should also join hands.
Criminolog of the University of Indonesia Adrianus Meliala stressed Wednesday that the government had opted to ban gambling in any form in the country and thus so law enforcers must do their jobs accordingly.
"Police officers should close down gambling dens and arrest gamblers, prosecutors should charge them with proper law, and judges should convict them without considering whether or not he or she is a powerful or rich people," he told The Jakarta Post.
Rumors, however, have it that law enforcers and high-raking officials often protect certain gambling dens for financial gains.
Adrian said that he often heard stories that several gambling dens were closed down while several others were left untouched only because they have connections with certain powerful people.
He said that police could only handle one part of the process and it was not fair to blame them for all gambling mess in the city.
Adrian, who is also a personal advisor to Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, alleged that often legislative members and ministers, who publicly attack gambling practices, ask police to free certain suspected gambler or operators.
"So, stop being hypocrite if we want to see the capital clear from gambling activities. Inconsistency makes gamblers think that the government is not serious in fighting against gambling," said Adrian. He did not reveal the names of legislative members and ministers who often asked police to release gambling suspects.
Gambling, which takes many forms in the capital and continues to thrive despite a ban, is allegedly backed by some well-known figures and certain police officers.
According to Article 303 of the Criminal Code and Article 2 of Law No. 7/1974, gambling operators and gamblers could face up to 10 years imprisonment and a Rp 25,000 fine if found guilty.
Former Jakarta governor Ali Sadikin had recently renewed his call to legalize gambling.
The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) edict commission head Muarif Amin said that the public could also help police in controlling gambling.
"Organized groups can take part in efforts to slash down the number of gambling dens. For example, they can submit to police data of gambling locations in the capital," he told the Post.
Muarif warned, however, that police's continued failure to follow up their report could initiate mass action.
"These organized groups can take over police's job to close down gambling dens, and can cause conflict. Gambling supporters will fight back as they will question the authority of the groups to take action. Mass riots and clashes will be unavoidable," he said.
Several organized groups or paramilitary groups, including the Native Jakarta Brotherhood Forum (FBR), the Banten Big Family Development Committee (BPPKB), and the Islamic Defender Front (FPI), have often conducted raids on bars and discotheque across the city.
Clashes between groups, often triggered by struggle for influence and areas, have been common since after the fall of Suharto in May 1998, while countless victims have been recorded.
Saman Subekti of the National Mandate Party's youth movement said that he and his friends had submitted to police data on gambling dens in the capital, including gambling a house in Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta and a casino in a hotel on Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta.
"We will wait for a week. If we don't see any action from the police then we will do it ourselves. We have grounds for our action as the law has clearly prohibited gambling," he told the Post last Monday.
2. HOSPITAL -- 3x17 City to go ahead with hospital construction Damar Harsanto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Unedited Despite objection from city councillors, the city administration would go ahead with its plan to build a Rp 15.1 billion (US$1.6 million) two-storey hospital in Thousands Island regency.
"The presence of a hospital in the regency is of paramount importance to give immediate and cheaper medical treatments to patients with relatively milder complaints," City Health Agency head Abdul Chalik Masulili said in a hearing with City Council's Commission E on people's welfare on Wednesday.
According to Chalik, patients in need of hospital treatment would be no need to dig deeper into their pockets to pay between Rp 2.5 million (US$263) and Rp 3 million for ambulance boats to reach nearby hospitals.
"However, patients with more chronic health complaints will have no other choice than going to nearby hospitals for better treatments as the new hospital would not be equipped with complete medical devices," he admitted.
The construction of hospital worth Rp 15.1 billion (US$1.6 million) in the Thousand Islands regency was not urgent and it would only put another burden to the city administration, the City Health Agency said Wednesday that it would go ahead with the plan.
The regency only has six public health centers, which all have no rooms for in-patients.
Residents, who want to be hospitalized, must take costly ambulance boats to enjoy medical treatment at the city-run Koja hospital in North Jakarta or the Cengkareng hospital in West Jakarta.
He added that the hospital was also necessary to provide immediate help for divers and fishermen who suffer decompression sickness after their diving or snorkeling activities with hyperbaric chambers available in the hospital.
Decompression sickness is a dangerous and occasionally lethal condition caused by nitrogen bubbles that form in the blood and other tissues of divers who goes up to surface too quickly. One who suffers the sickness needs immediate treatment in hyperbaric chamber in which air pressure is gradually increased and decreased to allow nitrogen bubbles to shrink and safely diffuse out of the blood and body tissues.
The plan to develop the two-story hospital occupying 2,447 square meters land at Pramuka islet has been opposed by the city councillors who urged the administration to delay its construction, arguing that the presence of hospital was not urgent in the resort islands since the six public health centers in the regency would be able to accommodate the residents' need of health services.
"The relevant issue, I think, is how to upgrade services in those centers instead of building new hospital," the commission E chairman Dani Anwar asserted.
Dani referred to a prevailing regulation issued by the Ministry of Health, which stipulates that the development of a hospital requires minimum populations of 25,000, far higher than the current population in the regency of only 19,200 residents.
Another councillor Achmad Husin Alaydrus criticized that the operation of the hospital would only burden the administration that has to provide the subsidy for it.
"It is easy to develop new hospital, but please keep in mind how much money the administration has to provide for subsidizing the operation of the new hospital," Alaydrus said.
3. TEACHER -- 2x24 Former SMP 56 principal fights to be reinstated The Jakarta Post Jakarta
The former principal of State Junior Highschool SMP 56, Nurlaila, is planning to sue Governor Sutiyoso in the State Administrative Court next Monday for discharging her as a civil servant.
"The letter, which meant to discharge me, was issued on Dec. 6, 2004, but it said that I was fired since February (2004). Such a letter could not be retroactive, that's why I am going to State Administrative Court," she told The Jakarta Post Monday in sidelines of an education seminar held at the National Library, Central Jakarta.
Nurlaila said she was the only teacher who still rejected the land-swap deal between the Ministry of National Education and PT Tata Disantara, a company owned by former minister of manpower Abdul Latif in 2000, which forced the school to move out from the strategic business area in Melawai to Jeruk Purut, both in South Jakarta.
Fear that they would get fired, all of her fellow SMPN 56 teachers chose to move to designated replacement schools in Jeruk Purut, South Jakarta. The schools were State Junior Highschools SMP 11, 12, 13, 19, which all located in South Jakarta.
"The reason why I'm still fighting for my right is because there is no legal verdict on the status of my school. The judge at the South Jakarta District Court said that the school is in status quo," the 48-year old said.
She said that the administration had also stopped paying her salary since last year and denied her rights as a civil servant to receive any other facilities, including pension. The city administration downgraded her civil servant rank from IV-A to III-D.
The case of a land-swap itself is now in the Supreme Court, after both South Jakarta District Court and High Court threw out a civil suit against the Ministry of National Education and PT Tata Disantara.
Aside from administrative problems, Nurlaila believed that the land-swap deal indicated a corruption because the land was only sold at a price of Rp 2.5 million per square meter, while the real tax valuation of the land was Rp 9.65 million per square meter.
Nurlaila, who was supported by lawyers from by Legal Aid LBH APIK and the Human Rights Lawyers Association (APHI), said she was convinced that if the judges at the State Administrative Court were fair, she would win the case.
"Unless the judges take side in favor of powerful persons that I'm against, I will win the case. But, win or loose I already gathered support to continue struggling for my rights," said the woman, who had taught at the SMP 56 since 1990. (006)
4. EMISI -- 1x30 Police offer free emission testing The Jakarta Post Jakarta
In an effort to raise public awareness on clean air, Jakarta police together with the Clean Emission Foundation will conduct free emission tests for cars passing through the police headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto every Friday.
Traffic police chief Sr. Comr. Djoko Susilo said on Wednesday that not all of vehicles entering the headquarters could be tested as they have limited personnel and equipments.
"However, we will try to test as many cars as possible to be able to reach out to wider motorists. We want them to know the actual condition of their cars. We will also gradually increase the frequency of the test," he said.
Djoko said that the police would tell the car owners whether their car's emision was below or above standard, hence the source of air pollution in the city.
He added that upon knowing that their cars cause pollution, car owners were expected to immediately make adjustment to their cars.
"We want people to know that their main concerns are not only car engine or body but also the emission their car produced as stipulated in regulation," he said.
He referred to Law No. 14/1992 on traffic, which regulates that cargo vehicles and public transportation vehicles should pass emission test to be declared roadworthy.
City Bylaw No. 2/2005 on air pollution control, in addition, requires all vehicles in the city to undergo emission tests while Gubernatorial Decree No. 1041/2000 on emission standards for vehicles regulates that the standards vary among vehicles depending on age and type of fuel system.
Violators of emission standards could face up to six months in prison or Rp 5 million (US$555.56) fine.
Environmental activist Achmad Safrudin welcomed the police program but expressed concerns on the lack of law enforcement despite clear existing laws.
"It is good that police promote emission awareness among Jakartans. However, what we want to see is that they start punishing violators," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Jakarta, which is the third most polluted city in the world, has about four million cars. About 70 percent of the hazardous substances in Jakarta's air comes from vehicular emission.
5. DRUGS -- 2x28 Four drug dealers nabbed, 8,500 ecstasy pills seized Abdul Khalik The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Jakarta police arrested over the weekend four suspected drug dealers and confiscated 8,500 ecstasy pills plus 100 grams of shabu-shabu, or crystal methampetamine, in three separate locations.
Two suspected drug dealers identified as Ray Angela, 27, alias Sherly, and Purwanto Nugroho, 31, alias Kiki, were apprehended in Sunter Hijau, North Jakarta, while Lie Jie Tek, 44, was arrested in Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta.
City police narcotics unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sugeng IR said that Sherly and Kiki caught red handed during a drug transaction, while Lie was arrested while he was waiting for Sherly to deliver him the illegal substance.
He said that his officers found 7,300 ecstasy pills and 100 grams of shabu shabu in Sunter Hijau and 200 ecstasy pills in Gunung Sahari.
"We suspect Sherly is a member of a international drug syndicate. We still interrogate her if she was the supplier for many drug agents in Jakarta," Sugeng said.
Based on the information from the three suspects, the police then moved to Jl. Kewenangan in Glodok, West Jakarta, to pick up Andrianto Agung, 30, alias Ayung.
"We arrested him also as we found another 1,000 ecstasy pills in his house," Sugeng said.
He said that all four suspects were now being detained in the City Police headquarters for further questioning.
The police are in the battle against drug trafficking in the capital.
In the last two weeks, around 90 drug dealers were nabbed by East Jakarta police in several locations across the municipality, while last week Jakarta police arrested four suspected members of a drug syndicate and confiscated 176 kilograms of marijuana.
A Nepalese, a suspected international drug supplier identified as Man Sing Gale, 40, was shot dead last April after he apparently resisted arrest in Bekasi, West Java.
Police said that they seized 1.25 kilograms of heroin, 276 grams of cocaine, 500 ecstasy pills and a firearm from his house.
Earlier, City Police arrested 761 people, including five foreigners and several active military and police personnel, seizing over 100 kg of drugs in raids conducted in dozens of places across the capital.
"Each police precinct chief were ordered since last month to arrest at least 32 drug traffickers each month in their respective area as we find the traffickers have penetrated into neighborhood," said City Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono.
6. SPEAK -- 1x40
'All parents complain about high education fees' President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono complained recently about the growing number of private schools, many of which, he said, put profit before quality education. However, the government has not yet been able to place a high priority on education, especially for the poor, as stipulated in the Constitution. The Jakarta Post asked residents their thoughts on this important issue.
Parjo, 45, is a security guard at Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta. He lives with his wife and three children in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta:
I have three children, the eldest is now in high school, while the other two in are junior high school.
Thank God they were able to pass the admission requirements to enter state schools, as the tuition fees are cheaper than private schools.
But still the amount of the school fees and other related expenditures for their education is a big burden on me, because it costs around a third of my monthly salary of Rp 1 million (US$105).
My second child will enter high school next July. It gives me headache just thinking about the expensive entrance fee.
I heard that the Jakarta administration prohibits schools from collecting entrance fees from the parents, but I don't think it is stopping the schools from taking something from us, legal or not. Such practices are common here.
I could never dream of sending my children to a high-quality private school.
For me, it is enough to see my children go to a state school so that they can continue studying without worrying too much about the fees.
Burhana, 40, works at a bank on Jl. S. Parman in West Jakarta. He lives in Kebon Melati in Central Jakarta. He has two children, both are studying in elementary school:
All parents, especially from the low-income bracket, of course, complain about the high education fees, although I have not experienced it yet because my two children are still in elementary school.
Several of my neighbors, whose children are studying at junior high and high schools, said that they had to pay some Rp 2 million in entrance fees to state schools.
I wonder what the politicians have done after getting what they want?
During the election campaigns last year, they promised to fight for free education.
I hope when it's time for my children to enter junior high school over the next several years, the government is able to provide free education for all.
I'm not sure whether my children are now at a quality school or not. Moreover, I don't think state schools are so bad, many of their graduates later go to university.
--The Jakarta Post