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One month after prominent terrorist leader Santoso was gunned down in East Indonesia, the group’s second-in-command has been taken into custody.

On September 14, Indonesian police and the national army in Poso, Central Sulawesi, discovered the body of a man named Andika, a member of the local terrorist group known as East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT).

Sulawesi Tengah Police Commissioner Rudy Sufahriadi reported that Andika cracked his head after hitting a rock while drifting in the river. The team also found firearms, a jacket, and improvised explosive devices in the Puna River near the Tangkura Village of the same district.

Continuing their pursuit, police and army personnel managed to get their hands on a much bigger catch: Basri, a prominent member of MIT and the second target of Operation Tinombala.

Beginning in January 2016, Operation Tinombala was established by the Indonesian government to capture and eliminate MIT, which had been spreading terror in Central Sulawesi for years. 

Basri’s capture is considered a major success of the operation. One month earlier, the joint-military operation put down MIT leader Santoso in a violent gunfight. As second-in-command, Basri took charge of the group’s rebel operations until he was captured Wednesday, September 14.

Chief General Tito Karnavian of the national police said Basri’s capture will definitely weaken MIT. The terrorist group, which started with about 39 members armed with factory-made assault rifles, now only has 12 members left with very few firearms; the third man in the MIT chain of command Ali Kalora is now the main target of the joint operation.

But despite these developments, the leading authority on Islamic extremism in Indonesia Solahudin expressed worries on how radical theology is well supported by the people of Poso. Experts say the locals have regarded Santoso as a hero to one degree or another for the protection he provided Muslims in the Poso community. This idea was supported by the number of people who gathered during Santoso’s burial.

Head of the police’s public relations division Inspector General Joey Boy Amar, however, dismissed this claim of public support for MIT, explaining that the people who gathered for the burial were not MIT supporters, but simply curious people who wanted to see the body of Santoso.

Regardless, the police continue to approach the Poso situation with vigilance. Authorities aim to hunt down the remaining MIT members, educate the public, and lure them away from radicalism.

Will the police and military soon eliminate MIT? What lessons can they apply to other pockets of extremism in Indonesia?  

Editing by Nadya Joy Ador

Featured image via Wikimedia; post image via Flickr; video via Antara TV

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Denmark signed a US$3 million funding deal with local conservation organization Burung Indonesia to support legislation on Jambi’s Hutan Harapan and assist restoration efforts on the country’s dilapidated forests.

Denmark’s Ambassador to Indonesia Casper Klynge explained that the funding will help strengthen management of the Forest of Hope (Hutan Harapan) in Jambi. This is the third time the Danish government has granted funds for use on the forest’s restoration programme.

Denmark has been supporting the preservation of Jambi’s Hutan Harapan since 2011, with funding assistance now reaching an estimated US$10 million. Founded in 2008, the Forest of Hope is the country’s first Ecosystem Restoration Concession (ERC) programme.

The signing took place right at the heart of Hutan Harapan on Tuesday, September 27. Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya witnessed the signing, along with government officials of the Jambi Province.

Klynge said in a statement that encroachment continues to threaten the Hutan Harapan local community’s livelihood and biodiversity. He said that while the complicated challenge cannot be fixed overnight, he was glad to see Indonesia and Denmark working together on the project, which has so far managed to protect the virgin rainforest.

The ambassador added that the Forest of Hope aims to serve as the pioneer forest that will set the standards for sustainable forestry and provide a model structure for other endangered forests across the archipelago.

Nurbaya announced that the project is turning out to be a success, despite some parts of the forests having suffered devastating fires recently. She remains confident that outside parties can learn from Hutan Harapan’s example of establishing cooperation between the project management and local communities.

Nurbaya said she values Indonesia’s cooperation with the Danish government. Denmark’s funding agreement with the nation encourages sustainable forest management and largely reduces the local communities’ use of forest land for subsistence.

Storing around 10 million tonnes of carbon, Jambi’s 100,000-hectare Hutan Harapan restoration project looks to help cut down the country’s carbon emissions.

The Indonesian government has allocated over 1.6 million hectares on its ERC development plans. As its name suggests, Hutan Harapan is also ‘hopeful’ about attracting foreign investors to help build industries related to environmental sustainability in Indonesia.

Feature image via Gahag; image via Burung

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A 23-year-old Dutch tourist died after stepping in front of a train at the station in  Lempuyangan, Yogyakarta on October 20.

The woman, whom authorities are only identifying by her initials DP, was reported to be at the station with a companion right before the incident. While it’s still unclear how she ended up in harm’s way, some officials believe she committed suicide.  

Eko Budiyanto, a PR manager at Indonesia’s railway company PT Kereta Api said it looked like DP intentionally jumped onto the tracks after it was announced that the train was arriving at the station.

As reported by Detik, Budiyanto said, “There are indications that she committed suicide by jumping and getting herself hit by the train.” He added that there were a handful of people in the vicinity who witnessed the incident and tried to help her.

Officials believe DP died instantly. Her body was taken to a nearby hospital and police are currently investigating the circumstances of her death.

Although the Dutch woman was a tourist, the issue of suicide is something that often gets swept under the rug in Indonesian culture. Many people suffering from mental illness in the archipelago remain undiagnosed and untreated. In May, a man jumped to his death from the roof of Mall of Indonesia in Kelapa Gading.

See: Breaking The Stigma On Mental Illness In Indonesia

Featured image via yogya-backpacker

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Last month’s drop in Bank Indonesia’s foreign-exchange reserves, even as the rupiah led emerging markets to surge 7 percent, highlights vulnerability in the nation’s increase in US borrowing costs.

Falling for its eight month, from US$1 billion to US$100.7 billion, Indonesia’s central bank stockpile figures were released last week. The monetary authority said in a statement that the decline was due to rising costs to service the government’s foreign debt and the use of reserves to stabilize the rupiah, which suggests Bank Indonesia intervened to help its currency hold onto gains after it jumped 9.1 percent in the week through 9 October.

At the lowest level since January 2014, reserves are near the US$100 billion level, often cited as a key psychological threshold, reducing the central bank’s buffer for when the Federal Reserve raises interest rates. Futures contracts show the odds of this happening in 2015 has risen to 70 percent, after US jobs data released last week boosted the case for an increase. According to an estimate from Macquarie Bank Ltd., net outflows of US$1.7 billion came from the Indonesian economy in October.

According to median estimates from Bloomberg surveys, the currency will weaken to Rp.14,034 by the end 2015 and to Rp.14,500 by mid-2016. The rupiah fell 0.6 percent to Rp.13,650 a dollar at the close in Jakarta after dropping as much as 1.2 percent earlier, according to prices from local banks. Since its intraday peak in October of Rp.13,228, it has lost 3.1 percent.

The rupiah’s rally in October was aided by overseas funds unwinding hedges to take advantage of the reduced cost of protecting their currency exposure, said Nizam Idris, head of currencies and fixed-income strategy at Macquarie in Singapore. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the rupiah’s one-month onshore implied yield, a gauge of expected interest rates and fluctuations used to price forwards that are used to hedge against exchange-rate losses, was 9.6 percent on 2 November, down from 15.98 on 30 September.

“Hedging needs might come back so that would put pressure on the rupiah to weaken,” Idris said. “The pressure on the currency isn’t over.”

Source: Bloomberg

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Zika causes only mild flu-like symptoms, but can lead to serious neurological disorders in unborn babies. Pregnant women in Indonesia should take precautions.

Earlier this month, Indonesia said it would ramp up preventive measures against the Zika virus after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency over the spread of the disease. The nation’s Health Ministry also issued a travel warning for eight countries affected by Zika, and for more than 20 others where the virus was actively transmitting. Thailand was one of them. President Jokowi says Indonesia needs to increase vigilance at the border if the government hopes to keep Zika out of the archipelago.

The Zika virus grabbed headlines around the world in recent weeks. On February 1, the WHO announced that a recent cluster of neurological disorders and neonatal malformations in the Americas is likely linked to the presence of Zika in certain settings. Microcephaly, an abnormal smallness of the head, which is a congenital condition associated with incomplete brain development, was the key disorder referenced. Following the WHO’s announcement, scientists and the media went about mounting further evidence suggesting Zika is indeed the underlying factor that causes several other brain abnormalities in infants.

In Indonesia, there has been only one reported case of Zika so far. The virus was found in a man living in Sumatra, who went to the hospital after complaining about a number of symptoms, including a sudden high fever and headache.

“People normally have a mild fever, headache, joint pain, and a rash. Three out of four people infected with Zika don’t even show symptoms,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier tells Indonesia Expat from Geneva. “The Zika virus itself is actually mild, but it becomes an issue when a pregnant woman is infected, and evidence strongly suggests it causes development issues for the child.”

Lindmeier says Zika is transmitted by the same species of mosquito that commonly carries yellow fever (which attacks the liver and kidneys, and can be fatal), chikungunya (which causes fever and severe joint pain, and is rarely fatal), and more common in Indonesia, dengue (which causes a sudden fever, acute joint pains, and is sometimes fatal).

There is no evidence to suggest that Zika leads to dengue, but experts say it has the potential to be misdiagnosed as dengue, as the two viruses are indeed related, transmitted by the same mosquitoes in the Aedes genus, and induce similar symptoms.

By this rationale, pregnant women in Indonesia who believe they’ve contracted dengue during or around the time of pregnancy should also get themselves tested for Zika. It also means the number of Zika cases in Indonesia is likely higher than just the single currently known incident.

WHO announced that a recent cluster of neurological disorders and neonatal malformations in the Americas is likely linked to the presence of Zika | Courtesy of Wikimedia

In 2015, nearly 72,000 cases of dengue were reported in Indonesia, of which there were 641 fatalities, according to data from the Health Ministry. The WHO says incidents of dengue have grown dramatically around the world in recent decades. The actual number of dengue cases is underreported and many are misclassified. There is no readily available data on how many microcephaly cases have been reported in Indonesia. However, health authorities in Brazil say there were more than 3,500 cases reported in that country last year, a staggering increase from the 147 cases the year before. Indonesia has the world’s second highest number of annual dengue cases after Brazil.

Scientists and interest groups are conducting experiments and test projects to mitigate the potential threat of Zika and dengue in the archipelago. In Yogyakarta, the Eliminate Dengue Program (EDP) is experimenting with a bacterium called Wolbachia. Director Scott O’Neill told Reuters that Wolbachia impedes the growth of dengue in mosquitoes, and EDP’s evidence shows it also impedes the growth of Zika.

The programme is now introducing Wolbachia into captive populations of mosquitoes with hopes of introducing the Zika-immune insects into the wild to breed with other mosquitoes. The idea is that future generations of mosquitoes in Indonesia may be unable to transmit dengue and Zika to humans. But the process would naturally take a great deal of time. Funded partially by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, EDP is also operating in Vietnam. Lindmeier says other groups are running experiments that involve certain kinds of fish that eat Aedes larvae.

There are four distinct, but closely related, types of the virus that causes dengue. Recovery from infection by one provides lifelong immunity against that particular strain. However, cross-immunity to the other types after recovery is only partial and temporary.

Lindmeier says there is no clear solution to eradicating dengue or Zika in the immediate future. “Avoid being bitten by the mosquito and practice safe sex if you think you have or may contract the Zika virus,” he says. “Use fumigation to get rid of breeding places [of mosquitoes] and get rid of standing water sources.”

Pregnant women who have been exposed to Zika should be counselled and observed for birth outcomes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States say pregnant women in any trimester should consider postponing travel to the areas where Zika is transmitting.

The Indonesian government is advising locals to avoid going to Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Martinique, Panama, and Suriname. “Pregnant women mainly are advised not to travel to these countries. If travelling can’t be avoided, they should take strict preventive measures against mosquito bites,” said Health Minister Nila Moeloek in a statement earlier this month.

“There is increasing evidence that pregnant women in affected areas may be at increased risk of giving birth to microcephaly babies,” Lindmeier says plainly. “We will always see travellers bringing back mosquito-borne diseases to their home countries. It’s not unusual for travellers to bring them back, but then receive treatment. We should expect Zika to spread, and we really should not be too surprised when it shows up.”

He adds that research and development of medicine and a vaccine is on the way, but people in Indonesia should not bank on it as a quick win. “It could be months away. It’s not a solution for tomorrow,” Lindmeier says.

However, he adds that it’s possible some people in Asia may already be immune to Zika. The New York Times reports that after the first Zika case occurred in Uganda in 1947, blood tests have found Zika antibodies in people in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia — evidence that they had been exposed to the virus. Lindmeier says, “We hope a good population in Asia would have an immunity already to Zika without even knowing it.”

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US presidential candidate and billionaire Donald Trump is in bed with MNC Group. What could happen to Indonesian relations if he slithers into the oval office?  

We’d like to preface this piece by saying that Republican US presidential candidate and blowhard billionaire Donald Trump will probably not become president. Even if he did somehow manage to leave a slime trail all the way to the White House — and get his disproportionately tiny hands on the nuclear codes — the American government is set up in such a way that he would be rendered impotent on most of his outrageous ideas. Build a wall at the border and make Mexico pay for it to keep “rapists” out? Sure, Donald, good luck getting that bill through congress.

With this in mind, let’s consider the imaginary scenario of what might happen in Indonesia if Donald Trump somehow fools the majority of Americans and insults his way to the oval office this November.

As part of a disjointed, and Frankenstein-like, radical conservative agenda that would in no way “make America great again”, Donald Trump has called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” In the final Republican debate, Trump said, “They’re not coming to this country if I’m president.” In his mind (somewhere under the furry creature atop his head), Trump believes this would be the answer to terrorism.

Naturally, anti-Trump sentiment and chest-beating has cropped up from Muslim voices the world over. Indonesia has a population of 250 million, the vast majority of whom are Muslim, and Jakarta did its fair share of rabbling in recent months. In terms of business and politics, however, Indonesia has forged close ties with the US on many fronts, and a circus freak of a president would be unlikely to change that.

Despite Islamophobic policy proposals, Trump himself has business interests in Indonesia. Without batting an eyelash at this fact in his campaign, the pandering tycoon is actually pulling in millions from business deals in countries where Islam is the prime religion, including the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. Trump owns golf resorts in Dubai, in partnership with prestigious property development company DAMAC Crescent Properties. The dollar-value of said resorts has not been made public.

Another one of Trump’s assets is a luxury hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan, located in the Caspian Sea. Trump clocks his income at US$2.5 million for “management fees” on this hotel. In Istanbul, Turkey, there is a Trump Towers, a 40-storey building full of residential suites for rich people. While Trump does not own the development straight up, the owners have licensed his name by paying annual royalties of US$1 million to US$5 million.

In Indonesia, the Trump Hotel Collection will soon open in Lido, West Java, and Bali, despite two circulating petitions calling to prohibit Trump and his empire from doing business in the country.

The idea of these petitions is that the nation with the world’s largest Muslim population should somehow take an eye-for-an-eye approach, and slap a ban on Trump himself. A taste of your own medicine, Donald? The two petitions — set up anonymously on the web — urge Indonesian president Jokowi to expel the billionaire and his businesses from the archipelago. While this notion is entertaining, these petitions are unlikely to yield actual results, having garnered less than 47,000 signatures since December 2015.

In Indonesia, Trump is partnered up with PT Media Nusantara Citra (MNC) Group, controlled by fellow billionaire Hary Tanoesoedibjo.

Lido Resort

In Bali, Trump will open a six-star hotel built on a cliff, looking out over the temple at Tanah Lot, one of Bali’s most iconic tourist destinations. In Lido, Bogor, Trump’s resort will be complete in early 2019. It spans 700 hectares and will be made up of three components: a hospitality wing, a golf course, and a theme park. The theme park is set to employ another US firm which specializes in entertainment. Other Trump ventures in Indonesia include a six-star luxury resort, an 18-hole signature Ernie Els championship golf course, a country club, a wellness destination spa, and high-end residential villas.

MNC Land vice president of business development Ivan Casadevall recently told The Jakarta Post that the golf course is already in the development phase, and is expected to become operational by the end of 2016. The country club will become operational in 2017, in line with the unveiling of a new Bogor-Ciawi-Sukabumi toll road, also developed by MNC. Other hotel villas and residential areas affiliated with the Trump name will begin in 2018, projected to become commercially operational in early 2019.

Trump would simply act as an operator brand of these properties, while they would be 100 percent developed and owned by MNC Group. The Indonesian conglomerate acquired Lido Resort in a Rp.1.4 trillion (US$97.8 million) deal from British Virgin Islands-based Charlton Group Holdings Ltd. It paid around Rp.1 trillion (US$74.6 million) to acquire the Bali resort.

An official signing between Donald Trump and Hary Tanoesoedibjo was held in New York City on August 14, 2015. “I am personally very pleased to bring the Trump brand into Indonesia. The Trump family’s personal involvement and globally proven success are set out to elevate Bali’s expectations for luxury and excellence,” Tanoesoedibjo said in a statement.

Even with the knowledge that Trump is running for president and throwing around what can only be interpreted as anti-Islamic statements, MNC Group remains confident about doing business with Trump.

“Business is business. The implication for wider Indonesia, we have to see later,” corporate secretary of MNC Group Syafriel Nasution recently told Reuters.

Ari Kuncoro, dean of the faculty of economics at the University of Indonesia, also defers to the maxim that “business is business” when asked about Trump’s ventures in Indonesia, but takes a slightly different stance.

“Just change the corporation’s name and throw away the word ‘Trump’ from the title. The management also can say that Donald Trump has been discharged from all business, but the projects will continue on schedule. Business is business, I think nothing [would] change,” argues Kuncoro.

If Trump became president (and pressed on with his Muslim ban), it’s conceivable that his business dealings in Indonesia would suffer. Regardless, in the nightmarish universe where Trump changes America into a dystopian society overnight, it’s unlikely that Indonesia would totally shut the US out of its international trade agenda. The country represents a more than US$972 million annual export market for the archipelago.

“What Donald Trump repeats in his campaign is how to put the United States in a protectionist regime like what occurred in the 1920s,” explains Kuncoro. “If he runs the administration with that policy, not only would Indonesia-US relations, but all countries’ relations with the US change dramatically.” He adds that several economic consultants list Trump as a “risk factor” in their projections for the American economy.

Meanwhile, Imaduddin Abdullah, a researcher from Jakarta’s Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, believes something thrilling could happen in terms of economic cooperation between governments if Trump became president.

“His business will still gain a positive response as long as his corporation gives big benefits to his partner in Indonesia. Especially if the business is not an end-product. Customers are usually concerned with the end-product from Trump. For example, in Lido, perhaps there will be a slight protest against the development of the resort from people around there. But that’s all that will happen,” says Abdullah.

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Surabaya, the second-largest city in Indonesia, has approved a bylaw that forbids the production, consumption and distribution of alcoholic beverages, as the city’s governor Tri Rismaharini previously endorsed the ban.

The mayor is basing her decision to ban alcohol on recent cases of juvenile delinquencies, one of which involved the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old student in Sumatra last month by a group of allegedly drunk teenagers.

Similarly, the Papuan government decided to ban alcoholic beverages in the region in March due to multiple crimes that led to deaths and injuries.

Concerned by the damage that alcohol can bring, In 2015 Tri Rismaharini disallowed the distribution of alcoholic beverages in minimarkets or supermarkets and is now planning to issue this new bylaw:

“In the near future, I’ll issue a mayoral bylaw to ban alcoholic beverages in Surabaya,” Rismaharini said as reported by The Jakarta Post.  

The bylaw covers all kinds of alcoholic beverages, including traditional and mixed, that contain more than 10 percent alcohol.

Punishment for those who violate the regulation will include the issuance of warning letters, administration fines, temporary closure of business, revocation of business licences and the closure of business. Offenders will also face either three months of jail time or pay a fine of Rp.50 million.

Speaker of Surabaya Legislative Council, Armuji, said that Surabaya officials have previously consulted the bylaw with the Home Ministry to ensure that it remains consistent with other regulations:

“If in three months [Governor] Soekarwo does not respond to this bylaw, it would be enacted directly in Surabaya. The bylaw does not contradict to any [sic] regulation because we have consulted with the Home Ministry.”

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