1. Visa -- 48pt Bodoni Bold 5/1 (1x24)
1. Visa -- 48pt Bodoni Bold 5/1 (1x24)
Visa policy granted grace period
Sari P. Setiogi
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The government is not postponing the new visa policy but is
merely implementing a six-month transition period instead,
spokesman Ade E. Dahlan for the Directorate General of
Immigration at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said on
Monday.
"Actually, the transition period has been in effect since late
March, so it is not an extended delay," he told The Jakarta Post.
The controversial decree on the new visa policy was signed on
March 31 and will be implemented in September.
The new visa policy will scrap the 60-day visa-free policy
because the facility had been abused by several foreign
nationals. The new policy will require visitors to Indonesia to
apply for the appropriate visa at Indonesian embassies or
consulates in their respective countries.
Alternatively, they can also apply for a visa on arrival,
which will charge visitors US$45 per person for each visit.
"Which countries will be given this visa-on-arrival privilege
will be determined later.
"In the meantime, we're also waiting for technical guidelines
from the ministry, which are now ready. Reassessment (of the
guidelines) involving relevant parties will be conducted later,"
Ade said.
The technical guidelines include regulations on those
countries eligible for the visa-on-arrival facility and the
reciprocal visa, and will also outline the economic benefits of
the new policy.
2. didik -- 28pt Bodoni Bold 2/2 (2x24)
Legislators told to delay
education bill endorsement
Kurniawan Hari
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar urged
fellow lawmakers on Monday to resolve all of the contentious
issues in the national education bill before bringing it to a
House plenary meeting for endorsement.
Legislators deliberating the bill have yet to resolve three
issues -- the introduction that serves as the basis of the bill,
the function and role of national education, and the recognition
of five religions in the country.
House Commission VI for education affairs agreed earlier to
settle the issues through a vote should lawmakers fail to reach a
consensus.
However, Muhaimin said legislators should avoid voting on
these issues because that would have a serious impact on the
entire nation.
"Legislators must not insist on endorsing the bill if they
cannot accommodate the people's aspirations. We can vote on the
presidential elections bill, but we cannot do that on the
education bill," Muhaimin said during a meeting with a delegation
from Makassar, South Sulawesi, and councillors from Nias, North
Sumatra.
Muhaimin said a hasty endorsement of the education bill would
create disharmony among the people.
Commission VI members and Minister of National Education Abdul
Malik Fadjar are negotiating to settle the three issues before
the bill's scheduled endorsement on June 10.
Muhaimin of the National Awakening Party (PKB) emphasized that
the bill should accommodate the aspirations of the people.
At least two parties, PKB and the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), have called for a delay in the
bill's endorsement.
During the meeting with Muhaimin, the delegations from
Makassar and Nias demanded that the House not endorse the bill,
some of whose articles they said were not in line with the 1945
Constitution.
3. ILC -- 32pt Bodoni Bold 5/1 (1x45)
Manpower minister leads RI delegation to ILC
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea is leading
Indonesia's tripartite delegation to the 91st International Labor
Conference (ILC) taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from June 3
to June 17.
The conference is being held to discuss labor issues such as
poverty alleviation, workplace safety and security, and the
elimination of discrimination in the workplace.
An adviser to the minister on institutional and international
relations, Edison Situmorang, is already in Geneva to lead the
delegation during the ILC's preliminary meetings, which will last
until June 7.
A number of other top officials from the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration have left for Geneva to represent the
government at the conference.
Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hasanuddin
Rachman and several other Apindo executives will represent
employers, investors and state-owned Pertamina at the conference,
while a number of labor activists will represent workers.
Only five of Indonesia's 68 labor unions are sending
representatives to the two-week meeting. The five are the
Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), the
Federation of Trade Unions for Justice, Welfare and Unity (SPKP),
the Federation of Indonesian Unions (SPI), the Indonesian
Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) and the Telcom Sector Union (SP
Telkom).
According to a press release from the International Labor
Organization (ILO) office in Jakarta on Monday, all of the
delegations to the conference are expected to discuss a road map
for fighting poverty, enhancing safety and security in the
workplace, and eliminating labor discrimination.
The ILC is also slated to review ILO Seafarers' Identity
Document Convention No. 108/1958 and to discuss a new
international standard on human resource development, to replace
ILO Human Resource Development Recommendation No. 150/1975.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is scheduled to deliver an
address to the conference on June 11, while Jordan's King
Abdullah II is scheduled to address the meeting on June 12.
4. RUU -- 36pt Bodoni Bold 3/2 (2x24)
Only candidates may
protest election results
Kurniawan Hari
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Only presidential candidates and their running mates, not
political parties, will be allowed to submit objections to the
Constitutional Court should they find any fraud in the final
results of presidential elections, according to the special
committee currently deliberating the presidential election bill.
The complaint must be submitted within three days of the
announcement by the General Elections Commission of the results
of the presidential election to avoid any prolonged unproductive
disputes that may disturb the state administration.
"It is only the presidential candidates and their running
mates that can submit complaints. If all people and parties are
allowed to do so, it will create many more problems," Chozin
Chumaidy, deputy chairman of the special committee, said here on
Monday.
Chozin, also a legislator of the United Development Party
(PPP), said that all nine factions in the special committee had
agreed to the stipulation.
Yet, several factions were divided over the time period for
presidential candidates to submit any objections or complaints.
"We are still discussing that," he added.
Besides, KPU should listen to complaints submitted by
independent organizations before it announces the presidential
election results.
Firman Jaya Daeli of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Hafiz Zawawi of Golkar, and Patrialis
Akbar of the Reform faction concurred, saying KPU was supposed to
validate the final election's result before announcing it to the
public and that only major cases were expected to be brought to
court.
Chozin said that only the court had the authority to decide
whether to process the complaints or not.
The stipulation won support from all factions.
The bill drafted by the home ministry did not specifically any
regulations on that matter but only stated that the KPU must
validate the election result before it is approved by the
President.
Hafiz Zawawi meanwhile emphasized that the election results
could be brought to the Constitutional Court only if the there
were nationwide objections.
"All disputes at a regional level will be settled by the local
chapter of the KPU and the Election Supervisory Committee," Hafiz
added.
With such a problem-solving mechanism at the regional level,
there will no major disputes nor a total rejection of the
presidential election results at the national level, he said.
The bill is expected to be endorsed by the House by the end of
this month.
5. HUTAN -- 32pt Bodoni Bold 7/1 (1x58)
Linggasana gives rise to new forest management concept
Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Kuningan, West Java
When a mudslide at a hotspring resort in Pacet, East Java killed
at least 26 visitors last December, state forestry firm Perhutani
could no longer hide its poor management of Javanese state
forests.
Families of the victims sued the firm, which oversees the
tourist area, for negligence. Rampant illegal logging in the area
above the hotspring had helped trigger the mudslide. The local
government was also sued, but the court rejected the lawsuits.
Critics said Perhutani had not only had failed to curb illegal
logging, but had encouraged the illegal practice by planting
commercial trees on land that was designed to protect the soil of
water catchment areas. Perhutani had also not involved local
people in managing the forest.
In certain areas such as the Kuningan regency in West Java,
the illegal logging of state forests no longer has the chance to
increase as Perhutani has begun managing the forest with the help
of the local people and government.
The new concept is known as community based forest management.
The success of the concept can be seen in Linggasana village in
Kuningan, where at least 100 poor farmers have been able to plant
fruit and other trees alongside pines and other harvested trees
since last year.
Said, a 60-year-old farmer, who manages 0.3 hectares of land
in the state forest, said he benefited a lot from the change in
state forest management.
"Before 2002, I was afraid of entering the state forest as the
rangers were always suspicious of us. The forest management also
used to force us to grow certain fruits that we could harvest in
two years," he told reporters over the weekend.
"But now I can grow trees like banana, durian, avocado and
jackfruit to fulfill my own needs and patchouli that can be sold
to businessmen for the cosmetics industry," he added.
Farmers in Linggasana and Perhutani will soon sign a profit
sharing agreement for the crops of supporting trees.
In other villages, 75 to 80 percent of the profit goes to
farmers and the rest to Perhutani.
A Kuningan businessman has also established a simple patchouli
oil refinery capable of processing 200 kilograms per day.
The businessman exports the oil to partners in France and the
United States.
Wawan, a man who runs the refinery, said the refinery employs
three local people and earn profits of Rp 3 to 4 million a month.
Besides benefiting from planting supporting trees in the state
forest, farmers in Linggasana will also receive a share of
revenue from the harvesting of pine and the sale of latex for 30
years.
In this field, 75 to 80 percent of the profit goes to
Perhutani, while the rest to farmers.
The success of community-based forest management in Linggasana
has attracted the attention of foreigners.
S.P. Sasmita, head of the Forum of Community-based Forest
Management in Linggasana said the visitors came from Canada, Laos
and other countries.
Sanusi Wijaya K, Chairman of Kuningan-based Institute of
Community Based Forestry Implementation Service (LPI) said people
in Kuningan and the local government had responded well to the
community based forest management scheme.
In 2001, Perhutani and the Kuningan administration signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) to implement the community-
based forest management to replace the centralized forest
management run by Perhutani.
Perhutani and other forestry villages later signed similar
MOUs.
At the end of 2002, at least 23 of 141 forestry villages in
Kuningan signed MOUs with Perhutani to manage state forests
together, ranging from planting supporting trees in the state
forests to forestry based tourism.
In the same year, the Kuningan administration also agreed to
allocate funds for the community-based forest management.
Noor Rochman, Perhutani official in charge of environment
supervision in West Java, said the scheme helped Perhutani
minimize conflict with local people in Kuningan at an early stage
and foster cooperation with local people and the Kuningan
administration in managing state forests.
6. Proper -- 28pt Bodoni Bold 2/2 (2x24)
House urges govt to name
environmental violators
Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
The House of Representatives called on the government to announce
immediately the final report on an audit (PROPER) of companies
which are allegedly polluting the environment to help uphold the
law on the environment and avoid raising any suspicions of
collusion among the public.
Irwan Prayitno, chairman of Commission VIII on oil, gas,
mining and the environment, said any delay in the announcement of
the audit's results would raise questions among the public.
"If PROPER's results are final, the government should announce
it to the public. It will be very good for public to know which
companies comply with the law on the environment and those
polluting the environment," said Irwan when asked on Monday to
comment on the government's delay in announcing the result.
State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim disclosed to
the commission last week that the environmental audit was
finished but he declined to identify the polluting companies.
PROPER is conducted annually to encourage companies,
especially the ones using pollutants in their raw materials, to
help preserve the environment. The government has also conducted
a clean river program (Prokasih) to discourage companies from
dumping toxic waste into the rivers.
Non-governmental organizations and environmentalists have
urged the public not to buy products produced by polluting
companies.
Nabiel also expressed disappointment over the findings, saying
many companies had poor management of waste water for numerous
reasons.
Based on the PROPER's result, the government will rank the
companies, depending on their performance in managing their
waste. Companies complying with the law in managing their waste
will be awarded gold and green environment labels while companies
polluting the environment will be given red and black labels.
Nabiel said there had been a growing trend since the 1998
economic crisis for companies to pay less attention to protecting
the environment.
Nabiel said that many factories in Java no longer complied
with the law on the environment in managing their waste due to
increased overall costs.
Julius Bobo, member of Commission VIII, said the government
should start imposing sanctions on polluting companies to
encourage other companies to comply with the law.
"There is no reason for the government to delay the
announcement of the list of polluting companies for another two
months as the result is final," he said.
The government faces a dilemma in identifying the polluting
companies because the audit was conducted randomly and the
government had run short of equipment to examine the serious
impacts of polluting companies' waste water on the environment.
Many companies declared as polluters, are expected to object
to the environmental audit, since not all companies were examined
thoroughly.
The government examined only 85 of thousands of companies
across the country
Hermien Roosita, an assistant to the environment minister on
environmental conservation, conceded that her office had carried
out a limited examination of certain companies.
"We just want PROPER's results to be perfect," she said.