Eat, Pray, Love Gives Bali A New Title: Island of Love

The film production of Eat, Pray, Love (EPL) starring Julia Roberts has given Bali a new title, Island of Love. The movie, based on Elizabet Gilbert's bestselling memoir tells about the author's journey for self-discovery to three countries: Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and Indonesia (Love). In Ubud, Bali, the author rediscovered the combination of Eat, Pray and found she could Love once more. Hence the new Bali title, Island of Love.

Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika has no qualm about it. "We have to be thankful, because the presence of the Hollywood movie star has given birth to Bali's new title, Island of Love, which will of course support our tourism," said him in Denpasar on Saturday (7 November 2009)

He referred Island of Love as a new title because Bali has already been awarded several, namely Island of Gods, Paradise Island, and Island of Thousand Temples. The travel industry has also recognized Bali by giving the island awards like "The World's Best Island" by Travel and Leisure magazine, "The Top City in Asia" and "The Friendliest Town of All" (for Ubud, Bali) by Conde Nast Traveler and the inclusion in Lonely Planet's Best in 2010 Travel's Top Regions.

The EPL filming is still ongoing until 15 November 2009 in several Bali locations such as Pasar Seni Ubud, Padang Padang, Ungasan and Beno port.

source : http://www.indonesia.travel

President urged to put an end to law mafia practices

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is facing mounting pressure, including from Indonesians abroad, to combat rampant mafia practices in the country's legal institutions.

A group of Indonesians living in London urged the President on Monday to find the courage to put an end to rampant law mafia practices and find a clear solution to the graft scandal between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The request was announced by Amika Wardana, a University of Essex student from the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) in London.

The request was made in a joint statement signed by representatives from the ICMI in the UK, the UK branch of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, and also from the Association of Indonesian students in the UK, reported state news agency Antara.

The request was prepared in response to the fierce dispute over alleged efforts to incriminate two suspended KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.

"The President has to seriously listen to complaints and demands from the public, who are getting increasingly fed up with the dispute," said Winarno, a legal observer from the University of Jambi.

"The fact-finding team should have been given more authority to enable them to disclose the truth and impose stern actions," Winarno told Antara in Jambi.

Amien Rais, the 1998 reform figure, who helped topple Soeharto, said the conflict between the "Cicak and Buaya" (Gecko versus Crocodile) or between the KPK and the police and Attorney General's Office had created the momentum necessary to reform the legal sector.

"The dispute should be used by all involved parties to increase awareness and put pressure on those bodies to ensure the law is upheld.

"If this issue is not given necessary attention, it will have serious repercussions for proper legal practises being upheld in the future," Amien said in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, on Monday.

"The total reform of legal mafia practices should be conducted as soon as possible by thoroughly processing the dispute and punishing those who are guilty. This will make it clear to the public that justice is being upheld," he added.

Hendardi, from the Setara Institute, said in Jakarta on Monday the current uproar over efforts to weaken the KPK should be used to improve the performances of law enforcement institutions, namely the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the KPK.

"The individuals involved from the three institutions *in the graft scandal* have to be dismissed and investigated," Hendardi told Antara.

He said the officials from the three institutions that were not found guilty must be rehabilitated and reinstated to their earlier positions.

"Not all policemen and prosecutors are clean, but we have to be just, objective and critical.

"We can't just indiscriminately back the KPK as if all of their officials are clean," he said.

Meanwhile, Facebook support for the two suspended KPK deputies continued to increase on Monday or 11 days after the online group was formed.

The number of Facebookers registering their support reached over 1,162,000 as of 6 p.m. on Monday.

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

Internet users support for disgraced KPK deputies breaks 1,000,000 barrier

The number of people joining a group on social networking website Facebook to support digraced Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, who were allegedly framed in criminal cases, has surged pas the 1,000,000 mark.

The group, titled “Gerakan 1.000.000 Facebookers Dukung Chandra Hamzah & Bibit Samad Riyanto”, has recorded 1,007,664 members as of 9 a.m. on Saturday, since it was created in Oct. 29.

KPK deputies Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto have been named suspects in bribery and power abuse charges by the police.

A government-sanctioned fact-finding team is currently working to unravel an alleged plot, allegedly constructed by businessman Anggodo Widjojo, brother of graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo, with high ranking officials of the Attorney General's Office and the National Police.

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

Carrefour Fined $2.6m for Monopolizing Indonesian Market

Indonesia’s competition regulator on Tuesday ruled that the Indonesian subsidiary of French retail giant Carrefour was guilty of breaching antitrust laws, fining it Rp 25 billion ($2.6 million) and ordering it to sell its stake in a local retailer.

The Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) ruled that PT Carrefour Indonesia had violated the 1999 Anti-Monopoly Law by dominating the wholesale supplier market and forcing unfair trading terms on its suppliers following its acquisition of PT Alfa Retailindo in 2008. The acquisition gave the company an effective 58 percent share in the national retail market, the KPPU said.

Carrefour must sell its 79 percent stake in Alfa Retailindo within a year, said Dedie S Martadisastra, the head of the KPPU’s legal tribunal.

“Since its Alfa Retailindo acquisition in 2008, the French retailer has been in control of the retail market nationwide with a 58 percent share, an increase from 46.3 percent in 2007,” he said.

“The KPPU decision to sanction Carrefour has been made after a long investigation and with an objective analysis of evidence, including information from witnesses and relevant business partners such as the suppliers of Carrefour.”

Dedie added that Carrefour’s Rp 25 billion fine had to go into the state coffers through a state-owned bank.

Irawan D Kadarman, Carrefour’s corporate affairs director in Indonesia, said the retailer was likely to appeal the ruling. Carrefour believed that the verdict was not based on the proper research and lacked a legal basis, he said.

“We still maintain the KPPU was not objective in its decision. Its verdict is groundless without the strong support of evidence or proper fieldwork.”

Carrefour had strongly denied all charges about its relations with suppliers and, citing an AC Nielsen survey, maintained that the Alfa Retailindo acquisition only garnered it a 17 percent share of the national retail market.

KPPU Chairman Benny Pasaribu, who is also member of the legal tribunal, said the commission had also found evidence that Carrefour had violated another law on mergers and acquisitions.

“However, the commission dropped these charges because there are yet no government regulations implementing this law,” he said.

Nugroho Setiadharma, a member of the Association of Indonesian Retailers (Aprindo), said the ruling could jeopardize both existing and future foreign investment in the retail sector.

Natalia Sutanto, a retail analyst at PT Ciptadana Securities, said the decision was unlikely to change the competition among the large supermarket retailers.

source : http://thejakartaglobe.com

Yahia-Cherif builds bridges to link Indonesia and Algeria

One of Hamza Yahia-Cherif’s main goals during his five year term as Algerian ambassador to Indonesia was to build more bridges — literally and figuratively.

And he is confident in saying he has done his best to achieve that goal. “When I came here in December 2004, only 200 Indonesians got visas to his North-African homeland, but in December 2008, this figure had reached more than 2,000,” the outgoing ambassador told The Jakarta Post, at his office recently.

The rising number of Indonesians visiting Algeria indeed reflects increasingly dynamic relations between the two nations in various aspects. Trade volume between Indonesia and Algeria had increased from US$216 million in 2004 to $431 million in 2008, Yahia-Cherif said.

“But the most important thing,” he said, ”is that Indonesian enterprises discovered Algeria during my term.”

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

An oil-rich country, Algeria had laid out $150 billion worth of infrastructure projects and invited foreign companies to carry out these projects. State-owned construction company Wijaya Karya (WIKA) has already taken part in a massive project by building 110 kilometers of a 1,050-kilometer highway that Algeria is currently developing.

“WIKA is the first, but definitely not the last,” Yahia-Cherif said, adding that he wished more Indonesian construction companies would bid for the projects — including the building of one million houses, 10 ports, six airports, 3,000 kilometers of railway, and also school and health facilities.

The Algerian government was pleased with WIKA’s work and had begun to pay more attention to Indonesian enterprises, Yahia-Cherif said.

“I want to see Indonesian enterprises going to Algeria not as subcontractors but working directly [for us]. All these projects are using Algerian money. We do not want people to bring their money, just their know-how.”

An Indonesian trading house will also soon be established in Algeria to boost trade, Hamza said. Indonesian exports to Algeria include palm oil, coffee, plywood, vegetable oil and pharmaceutical products.

Yahia-Cherif believed Indonesian contractors would help build bridges for the future relations between the two Muslim-majority countries, which share common stories of struggle against colonial oppressors.

Indonesia is also part of Algerian history. It was one of the first nations to lend its full support to Algeria in its struggle against French colonial powers. The people-to-people contact between the two nations, Hamza said, had begun even before the official diplomatic relations had.

In 1960, in a critical moment before the November First Revolution that led to Algeria’s independence on July 5, 1962, Sukarno offered a full state visit reception to Ferhat Abbas, the first provisional president of the yet-to-become-independent Algeria.

In 1955, Indonesia also invited two representatives of Algeria’s National Liberation Front (NLF), an anti-colonial political party, to the Asia-Africa conference in Bandung.

This history has prompted Yahia-Cherif to initiate the building of a bridge — this time metaphorically — that will not only bring the people of Indonesia and Algeria closer, but which will also preserve the historical events that once bound the two states.

“I wanted to create a sister city between Bandung and Setif, as a symbol of the bond and the focal point when two people started to meet and fight colonialism,” Yahia-Cherif said.

Yahia-Cherif has been working on this plan since 2007, but due to sluggish bureaucracy only recently has he managed to finalize the MoU and letter of intent for the program, which will hopefully be signed within the next two months.

While Bandung is known for the Bandung Sea of Fire incident during the revolution, Setif is known as the city in which thousands of Algerians were killed by the French colonialists on May 8, 1945, an event that consolidated the spirit of nationalism among Algerians and also marked the beginning of the Algerian war against the French, writes Mohammed Harbi in Le Monde Diplomatique.

“I was happy to meet [Bandung] mayor [Dede Rosyada]. We have the draft of the MoU now and are in the process of one in Algeria. By this, there will definitely be much more people-to-people contact, and it will be more enthusiastic,” Yahia-Cherif said.

Yahia-Cherif , who had formerly been posted in Tokyo, New Delhi and Stockholm before coming to Jakarta, submitted his credentials on Jan. 10, 2005. He will be leaving Jakarta for Algiers on Nov. 4.

Yahia-Cherif says he was blessed to be posted in Indonesia since it became a democracy, adding that the republic had shown remarkable achievements, politically and economically, in the last five years.

Jakarta has provided Yahia-Cherif both with excitement and perhaps a little frustration. Residing in Pondok Indah in South Jakarta, he had to bear the heavy traffic jams to reach his office in Kuningan. “Life in Jakarta is nice once you get out of the car,” he said. “I promise I will come back to Indonesia, be it personally or professionally.”

Jakarta to host international air-con exhibition

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 10:26 PM

Jakarta to host international air-con exhibition

Hasyim Widhiarto , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 11/03/2009 9:41 PM | Jakarta

An association of experts and practitioners in air-conditioning engineering will hold an international exhibition of air conditioning technology in Jakarta this month.

Rana Yusuf Nasir, the president of the American Society for Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) Indonesian chapter, said Tuesday around 100 local and international companies had agreed to participate in the exhibition, which will take place at the Jakarta International Trade Expo from Nov. 19 to 21.

During the three-day exhibition the association will also run two conferences, discussing energy efficiency in air conditioning technology and the future of the industry following global restrictions on HCFCs.

HCFCs, or hydrochlorofluorocarbons, are a group of chemicals used as refrigerants and propellants in aerosol cans. They are considered less destructive to the ozone layer compared to CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon), which have already been banned.

“We hope the conference and exhibition will help drive more people to use environmentally friendly technologies,” he told The Jakarta Post.

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

Indonesia

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia. It is part of the Malay Archipelago. It has 18,108 islands. 6,000 of these islands are inhabited. The most important islands of Indonesia are Java, Bali, Borneo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta, on Java. The current president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Modern Indonesia began on the 17th of August 1945. At 10 o'clock on that Friday morning, Ir. Soekarno read Indonesia's Declaration of Independence. Indonesia's Independence Day is a national holiday.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world with a population of 238,452,952 (2004 est.) There are 111 inhabitants per km². The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia, but a total of 737 languages are spoken throughout Indonesia mostly confined to remote tribal groups. Other languages widely spoken in Indonesia include Javanese, Balinese and Sundanese. The closest countries are Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and East Timor which share land borders with Indonesia. Other neighbouring countries are Australia to the south, Singapore to the Northwest, and Philippines to the Northeast.

The religion that most people follow is Islam, which is the country's official religion. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population on earth. Other religions include Christianity (Protestant, and Roman Catholic), Hinduism, and Buddhism.

History
Pre World War II

Indonesia has written history dating to the 7th century. Before the colonial Dutch came in the 1700s, Indonesia consisted of many kingdoms in perpetual warfare. Indonesia was ruled by the Netherlands from the 17th century until World War II.

Modern Indonesia
During World War II, the Japanese drove out the Dutch and took charge of Indonesia. After the Japanese surrender, Indonesia claimed its independence on the 17th of August 1945. The proclamation was read by Ir. Soekarno in Jakarta. Soekarno later became Indonesia's first President.

British troops came into Indonesia to restore peace and to rescue Europeans who had been prisoners of the Japanese. The British troops also had the job of shipping home 300,000 Japanese troops. The Indonesian Republicans fought the British troops, because it was expected that the British would give Indonesia back to the Dutch. The Indonesian Republicans killed many of the Japanese prisoners, before they could be sent home. They also began killing people from minority groups who might be against the new Republic. Many European and Indonesian European people were killed. Many Chinese business people and other minority groups were killed or made homeless. In Java there were many thousands of homeless people.

In 1946, the Dutch came back. When the British left in 1947, there were 55,000 Dutch soldiers in Indonesia. The Dutch action was called "Operatie Product" or "Politionele Acties". The Indonesian Republicans fought the Dutch until 1949. But the Indonesian Republicans were badly organised and often fought among themselves. As the Dutch forced the Republican soldiers out of different areas, they moved in more troops until there was 100,000 Dutch troops. The Dutch refused to obey the United Nations who said they should stop the fighting in Indonesia. The United States of America organised for meetings between Dutch and Indonesian leaders. The Dutch finally agreed to recognise Indonesia's independence in November 1949.

Because of the fighting and the bad organisation, it took a long time for the country to become peaceful, and for the economy to get better. Many Indonesian soldiers had died, between 45,000 and 100,000. Also, a very large number of civilian (people not in the army), Indonesians, Europeans and Chinese, had died; perhaps as many as 200,000.

source : http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia

SBY wriggles; protests to hit streets

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Sunday discussed with several national figures a case involving two leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), with the public readying to take to the streets.

Late on Sunday, Yudhoyono spoke with University of Indonesia law professor Hikmahanto Juwana, Islamic State University rector Komarudin Hidayat, Transparency International secretary-general Teten Masduki and Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan, as support for the KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah continued to mount, and translated into street rallies today.

"We proposed to the President to establish an independent team to review the facts and articles used to charge Pak Bibit and Chandra," Hikmahanto said after the meeting.

Coordinating Minister for Legal and Political Affairs Djoko Suyanto said the President would respond to the suggestion.

Meanwhile, thousands of members of the Cicak (Love Indonesia, Love the KPK) movement and other civil society groups were planning to stage a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta today. They will be giving out black ribbons to people as a symbol of support for the two KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, who were taken into police custody last Thursday.

“The police and the President still won’t listen to the people’s plea. So it’s high time we take to the streets,” Illian Deta Sari from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), a member of Cicak, said Sunday.

Bibit and Chandra were declared suspects on Sept. 15 for alleged abuse-of-power and bribery. Public speculation that the two KPK officials were being criminalized was recently backed with a widely-published transcript of voice recordings of plans by police and the Attorney General’s Office to fabricate evidence to frame the pair in criminal cases.

Besides high-ranking police and AGO officials, the recordings, set to be played before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, also mention Yudhoyono.

Many have expressed hopes that playing the recording in court will be recognized as a police attempt to criminalise the KPK officials.

Many figures have demanded both National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and his chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, often mentioned in the recordings, to resign for unprofessional conduct.

Illian said the President seemed to be “washing his hands” of the case.

Yudhoyono had previously stated his stance, saying he would not interfere with police investigations and supported the police’s right to arrest suspects it believed had broken the law.

The fiasco surrounding the case was the President's fault, Setara Institute director Hendardi said.

Emerson Yuntho from ICW said his organization, along with several other civil society groups would push for the impeachment of the President through the legislative body.

Voicing similar warnings against the President on possible people power similar to that of the 1998 mass demonstrations against Soeharto, and 1986 Philippine movement against Ferdinand Marcos, Hikmahanto earlier said Yudhoyono should not play down the public support for Bibit and Chandra.

“If the President fails to contain this support, it has the potential to become massive,” he said.

Public support for Bibit and Chandra continues to grow after the pair's arrest. As of Sunday evening, the number of people who had joined “The move of 1,000,000 Facebook Users to Support Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto”, which was set up Thursday, has reached more than 231,000.

Members of the Islamic Students Association are also planning rallies in front of police offices in various parts of the country. In Jakarta, protests will take place in front of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Presidential legal advisor Denny Indrayana said, "Looking at the claims investigators used to arrest Bibit and Chandra, it is not surprising how this has caused doubts among the public."(adh)

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

Over 4.6 million tourists visit Indonesia

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has recorded more than 4.6 million foreign tourist arrivals between January and September of this year, up by only 1 percent from the same period last year.

Brimming with confidence, the head of data management at the ministry, Wibowo, told Antara on Monday the national target of 6.5 million arrivals remained within reach.

Wibowo said seven international airports saw a significant increase in the number of foreign tourist arrivals compared to the same period in 2008, including Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport. Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau booked the biggest increase with 60.5 percent.

The ministry’s data reveals, however, eight airports, including the country’s largest airport Soekarno-Hatta, posted less arrivals in the first nine months of this year than the same period last year.

Widodo said the ministry would insist on raising the target to 7 million arrivals next year.

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com

KPK case: Conspiracy and impunity?

More than just a regular criminal case, the arrest of two members of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has evoked a public outcry towards the pervasive culture of impunity and suspicions of blatant fraud in the justice system. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular digs deeper in this two-page special report into a case which has spun a web of deceit that may well implicate several state offices.

"I'm the granddaddy of wiretapping!" boasted National Police chief detective Comr. Susno Duadji in a voice recording obtained by the Post made during his meeting with KPK deputy chairman M. Jasin and his staff in early October.

Susno's remark was a boastful shot back at KPK officials, after Susno discovered he was being wiretapped by them over suspicions of demanding a bribe from businessman Boedi Sampoerna to retrieve the latter's US$18 million in savings from a legal limbo in Bank Century .

Almost boastful, Susno in the recording said the wiretaps could have remained concealed if the KPK had been more competent. With tongue-in-cheek he suggests perhaps KPK could use police wiretapping facilities and training.

For Susno, that meeting was a brief moment of triumph in the saga which many have described as a witch-hunt against the commission which has now seen two of its deputy chairmen -Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto-hurriedly detained on Thursday on allegations of abuse of power, bribery and extortion involving businessman Anggoro Widjojo.

While individuals like Susno may be currently in the spotlight, critics suggest that police may not have gotten so gung-ho had the momentum not been there. A climate of permissiveness was created by a conjunction of interests of high-ranking officials, politicians, law enforcers, and businessmen.

Bibit claims the assault on KPK is a consequence of a convergence of political and business interests.

"First, the elite political community were unhappy with the KPK, which had disrupted their activities. Then it was the business community," the retired police general told the Post last week.

The fact that KPK was on top of many a hate-list is no surprise. No less than 152 politicians were implicated on various graft charges. They even had the "audacity'" to shame the first family by putting the father-in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son Agus Harimurti up on charges of corruption.

The Commission also uncovered "case-brokering" practices at the Attorney General's Office, sending a prosecutor and a high-profile broker to jail while implicating other high-ranking prosecutors.

But the spark which ignited the blaze the fuel surrounding KPK looks to be the bribery case involving then politician Yusuf Emir Faisal and Anggoro Widjojo.

A crackdown of Anggoro's company PT Masaro Radiokom led the commission to uncover evidence of a string of bribery allegation involving politicians, government officials and law enforcers. Masaro is the regular telecommunications contractor for the police, the military and the intelligence agencies.

At the same time, KPK was also investigating allegations of bribery involving lawmakers in the election of then central bank senior deputy governor Miranda Goeltom.

The case may yet implicate the son of a high-profile Chinese-descendant businessman known to have close ties with police and military officers as well as Yudhoyono's inner circle.

Another sensitive case being investigated revolves around the Bank Century fiasco, in which a peripheral event led to the wiretapping of Susno.

Chandra and Bibit were at the center of these investigations, making them a primary target for any outside attempt to suspend investigations.

The window of opportunity opened when then KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, currently being indicted in the murder of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, claimed that KPK officials were taking kickbacks from Anggoro.

Sources close to Bibit and Chandra allege that Antasari was eager to incriminate his deputies to ensure prosecutors would be lenient when forwarding charges before the court.

Police then claimed that the bribe money was handed to Chandra and Bibit by middlemen Ari Muladi and Edi Soemarsono.

Ari has since retracted his statement concerning the accusation.

With the case becoming weaker, a new one was quickly constructed, that of abuse of power, in slapping a travel ban on Anggoro, and later attempted extortion for revoking it.

"The allegations are so weak. There are so many loopholes leading us to conclude that the case was fabricated," said Chandra and Bibit's lawyer Ahmad Rivai.

While Susno refuses to comment over the issue, National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri denied suggestions of fabricating evidence, contending that the allegations can and will be substantiated in court.

But the case may be unraveling more quickly than anticipated.

"I can confirm that there's a senior police officer whose name I cannot disclose, who came to the KPK to confess about the fabrication," Bibit told the Post.

The senior detective, who was involved in the investigation, was so troubled about the extent of the cover-up that out of his own free will he personally confessed about conspiracy at the KPK office.

The disbelief over the validity of the case against Bibit and Chandra was reinforced by the existence of a voice recording between police officials and members of the Attorney General's Office to fabricate evidence to implicate the the KPK members.

The recordings allegedly involve a conversation between Anggoro Widjojo, Anggodo Widjojo, a high-ranking AGO official and another unidentified official. Anggodo is the brother of graft suspect Anggoro.

Curiously, the President was referred to at least three times, referenced as "RI-1".

Yudhoyono has personally, and through his spokesman Dino Patti Djalal, denied involvement in any cover-up.

However questions persist as references to either Yudhoyono or his inner circle continue to crop up, undermining claims of neutrality.

The latest involves another recording between Susno, prosecutors and other officials inferring the First Lady by reference of "Blue Sky" during a call about Bank Century.

Susno has refused to comment over the issue.

As the case builds up - both for and against Bibit and Chandra -the political reverberations grow stronger.

"We can say that the elite is trying to seek impunity for past and future misdeeds by strangling the KPK," said lawyer and activist Taufik Basari, who is also legal advisor to Chandra and Bibit.

Additional reporting by Ika Krismantari

source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news

Police: Dozens dead in Pakistan explosion

Rawalpindi, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people Monday by detonating explosives outside a bank where people had lined up to pick up their monthly checks, police said.

The blast, in the Cannt area of the city, also wounded more than 65 others, said Imdad Ullah Bosal, a district coordination officer. Two women were among the dead, he said.

Meanwhile, another suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a police checkpoint in Lahore hours after the Rawalpindi attack, a police official told CNN.

The bombers, believed to be wearing suicide vests, blew themselves up as police inspected their vehicle at the Babu Sabu checkpoint, according to Lahore police chief Pervez Rethore. The blast injured at least 17 police and civilians, a local rescue services spokesman said. At least three people sustained serious injuries, Rethore said.

In recent weeks, Pakistan has been rocked relentlessly by a wave of attacks as Islamic militants retaliate against a military offensive to rout insurgents operating along its border with Afghanistan.

The worsening situation prompted the United Nations to announce Monday that it was pulling all non-emergency foreign staffers from the country's northwest.

The scene of Monday's deadly explosion in Rawalpindi is about 18 miles (30 kilometers) from the capital city of Islamabad. It is a closely guarded city that is home to the country's military headquarters.

The Cannt area is short for cantonment, so called because of its proximity to the military offices. It is home to several travel agencies and mid-range hotels.

The bomber rode up to the front of the National Bank in a motorcycle or a bicycle, said Rawalpindi Police Chief Rao Muhammad Iqbal.

The impact of the bomb was so intense that residents a block away said they thought the blast took place where they were.

The explosion blew out windows in the three-story building and blackened its walls. Rescue workers in surgical masks picked through the rubble looking for survivors.

Iqbal Nisouwana, a driver, who rushed to the scene to help tend to the wounded said he saw five men in uniform among the wounded.

"Two soldiers were injured. I helped put them in the ambulance," Nisouwana said. "And I saw three more wounded."

"One old man called to me for help," he added. "I tried to pick him up but he was too heavy."

On October 10, militants held dozens of hostages for some 22 hours inside the army headquarters in Rawalpindi. Eleven military personnel, three civilians, and nine militants were killed in the siege.

On October 20, back-to-back explosions took place at Islamabad's International Islamic University. At least six people died in the attack. Twenty-nine others were wounded.

And on October 28, a massive car bomb tore through the heart of a bustling marketplace in Peshawar, killing at least 100 people and injuring at least 200 others.

The attack on the capital of the North West Frontier Province was the deadliest terrorist attack on Pakistan since the October 2007 attack on a homecoming rally for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. More than 135 people were killed in the suicide bombing in Karachi. Bhutto escaped harm, but she was assassinated two months later.

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now the president of the country.

The U.N. decision to withdraw staffers applies to all except those needed for emergency, humanitarian and security operations in the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), said spokeswoman Ishrat Rizvi.

The agency has been providing aid to the 2 million Pakistanis who have been displaced in the fighting between government forces and Islamic militants.

This year, the United Nations has lost several staffers to terror attacks, including five who were killed in a suicide bombing at the World Food Programme offices in Islamabad last month.

Two more U.N. workers died when attackers shot their way onto the grounds of the Pearl-Continental Hotel in Peshawar in June and set off a car bomb.

And gunmen killed a U.N. worker during a kidnapping attempt in Peshawar in July.

CNN's Ivan Watson in Rawalpindi, Samson Desta in Islamabad and journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.

source : http://edition.cnn.com

Karzai declared elected president of Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan electoral officials declared incumbent President Hamid Karzai the winner of the 2009 presidential election Monday, after canceling this weekend's second round of voting.

Observers say Karzai's real test will be whether he can form a government that is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the Afghan people and the international community.

The Independent Electoral Commission made the announcement after they canceled Saturday's presidential runoff following the withdrawal of opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

A runoff could have been held with just one candidate, but commission president Azizullah Lodin said electoral officials decided to cancel the second round of voting for several reasons, including security and money.

The decision was made just a couple of hours before the announcement, according to IEC deputy Zakria Barakzai.

Afghans went to the polls on August 20 in a vote marred by widespread fraud. Karzai had initially claimed victory, but two months after the vote, a U.N.-backed panel of election monitors threw out nearly a third of his votes, citing fraud. When that left Karzai short of a majority, he agreed to the runoff.

Abdullah had called for the resignations of top election officials and politicians to avert electoral fraud in the runoff.

He argued that the commissioners, who are hired by Karzai, cannot be impartial. But that request was not met, Abdullah said Sunday, and he did not believe a transparent election was possible.

"I want this to be an example for the future so that no one again tries to use fraud to abuse the rights of the Afghan people," Abdullah told reporters.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kabul on Monday, hours before the commission's announcement.

He issued a statement welcoming the decision, congratulating Karzai, and restating the U.N.'s commitment to supporting the new government.

"This has been a difficult election process for Afghanistan and lessons must be learned," Ban said in the statement. "Afghanistan now faces significant challenges and the new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community."

On Monday, Ban met with both Karzai and Abdullah, as well as U.N. officials, including Kai Eide, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul also issued a statement Monday welcoming the commission's decision and congratulating Karzai.

The cancellation of the runoff "puts the election issue behind us," but Karzai has yet to achieve a true victory, according to former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

"Now the key issue is how the Afghan people will react to this, what kind of government will President Karzai put together, and how the international community will react," Khalilzad told CNN's "American Morning."

"We're in a new stage now in Afghanistan."

Khalilzad had predicted last week that Abdullah would quit the race, in an interview for CNN's "Amanpour."

"First, he doesn't have much money left," he said in the interview, which aired on Sunday. "Second, I think that he thinks that given the situation, he's likely to lose, and maybe he'll get less votes than he did in the first round, so that would be embarrassing."

Speaking to CNN following his withdrawal, Abdullah said his decision does not mean he has given up public life.

"I will be available to serve this country," he said. "At this stage, I am in consultation with my followers, with my supporters and a movement for change will be there and I will lead that movement. There is no doubt about it."

Karzai served as acting president following the removal of the Taliban regime in 2001, then secured a victory in the 2004 elections. He begins his second term in office amid a Taliban resurgence.

The militants claimed responsibility for a Wednesday attack that killed five United Nations workers -- two of whom were helping with the vote. Nine others were wounded after attackers stormed a guest house in Kabul. In response, the United Nations ordered nonessential personnel out of the country.

International troop levels increased this year to provide security for the Afghan election in August, and the United States is considering deploying more troops.

Attacks against U.S. and NATO forces have also spiked: 59 American troops died in Afghanistan in October, the highest U.S. monthly toll since the war began eight years ago.

CNN's Jonathan Wald in Kabul, Afghanistan contributed to this report.

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