News

Kompolnas Said to Summon Officer Over Alleged Meeting With PDI-P Politician

Jun 12 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. The National Police Commission, or Kompolnas, plans to summon a high-ranking police officer to clarify allegations that he had been recruited by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, to support the party’s presidential candidate Joko Widodo in next month’s election, according to media reports.

Economic Nationalism Drumbeat Grows Louder Before Presidential Election

Jun 12 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. Indonesia’s two presidential candidates are outdoing each other with hardline policies to rein in foreign firms and control the resources sector, risking a lurch towards nationalism in Southeast Asia’s top economy, analysts say.

Frontrunner Joko Widodo and ex-general Prabowo Subianto have said they will favor domestic companies in the lucrative oil and gas industry and have pledged to stick with a controversial mineral ore export ban ahead of the July 9 polls.

Almost 300,000 Police Officers Said to Be Assigned to Secure Presidential Election

Jun 11 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

 

Jakarta. National Police will assign almost 300,000 officers to ensure the security of the country in the July 9 presidential election, and they will be supported by the military and civilian patrolmen, according to Antara.

“The National Police troops would be assisted by the soldiers and People Protection [Linmas] officers,” Gen. Sutarman, National Police chief, was quoted as saying by state-run Antara news agency on Wednesday.

Joko-Kalla Campaign Fundraising Hits Rp 35b From Public Donations Via Bank Accounts

Jun 11 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. Presidential and vice presidential candidates Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla have managed to raise as of Tuesday for their campaign up to Rp 35 billion ($3 million) from the public through bank accounts that they opened last month.

“The numbers have increased by Rp 3 billion since yesterday,” Zuhairi Misrawi, a member of Joko and Kalla’s campaign team, said on Wednesday.

Party affiliation of regional leaders to influence election

Jun 10 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

Potential voters in the upcoming July 9 presidential election would likely choose a candidate linked to the parties of their regional leaders, a survey shows.

The survey, which was conducted by the United Data Center, shows that mayors and governors represent political parties strongholds and potential voters in certain areas would be more likely to back either presidential figures Prabowo Subianto or Joko “Jokowi” Widodo based on party preferences.

Activists Rage at Omission of Human Rights From Debates

Jun 10 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Rights activists have slammed the national election organizing body for not including human rights as one of the topics to be tabled in a series of debates between the two presidential candidates ahead of the July 9 poll.

The groups, led by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, said they had long recommended to the General Elections Commission, or KPU, that it make the issue a central theme of one of the five scheduled debates, the first of which took place on Monday.

Stinging and Weaving in a Presidential Debate That Enthralled

Jun 10 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. The calm and collected start by former Army general Prabowo Subianto turned into a high-pitched, hoarse speech toward the end of the first televised debate of this year’s presidential election campaign, after Jusuf Kalla, the running mate to Joko Widodo, pressed the issue of Prabowo’s role in the abduction of pro-democracy activists in 1998.

Prabowo confidently answered the debate’s first question; he got to go first by moderator Zainal Arifin Mochtar, a lecturer at Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University (UGM) and anti-corruption activist.

Big-name legislative candidates received illegal funds: PPATK

Jun 09 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) said on Sunday it had sent reports to the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) on scores of legislative candidates who allegedly received funds from illegal sources to pay for their campaigns in the April 9 legislative election.

According to PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso, the PPATK initially received a request from Bawaslu to probe the bank accounts of a number of legislative candidates, some of whom are incumbents.

Candidates to Face Off Over the Law of the Land in First Debate

Jun 09 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Jakarta. Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto will face off tonight in the first debate of the presidential election campaign — streamed live on this website from 7:30 p.m. The debate, sponsored by BeritaSatu, focuses on the issues of law enforcement, clean government and democratization, spanning the ubiquity of corruption in Indonesia to the country’s ongoing efforts to professionalize its civil service.

Budget for presidential poll reaches rp7.9 trillion

Jun 09 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The General Elections Commission (KPU) has so far received budget allocations of Rp7.9 trillion to finance the presidential elections, its secretary general Arif Rahman Hakim said. 

"The budget has been allocated to the KPU. The budget consists of Rp4 trillion for the first round of presidential elections and Rp3.9 trillion for the second round," he said here on Sunday.

The use of budget allocations for the second round of presidential elections depended on whether the polls would be held in one round or two rounds, he said.

‘Misunderstanding’ Over TNI Canvassing, Investigation Finds

Jun 08 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

 

Jakarta. The investigation held by the army into allegations that a soldier encouraged residents of a Central Jakarta neigborhood to vote for Prabowo Subianto has found that the incident was a misunderstanding.

“The Army chief of staff Gen. Budiman has instructed Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Mulyono to thoroughly check the allegations,” Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Andika Perkasa said in a written statement on Sunday.

Poll winner PDI-P might lose chairmanship of the House

Jun 07 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

Lawmakers are planning to revise an internal regulation so that the next speaker of the House of Representatives is selected via a voting mechanism, instead of the position being automatically granted to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which secured the largest number of votes in the 2014 legislative election.

The plan emerged amid an ongoing discussion to revise the Legislative Institution Law, known as MD3, a revision that, according to critics, would shut off public monitoring and accountability if approved. 

KPU commences peaceful campaign period

Jun 04 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

The General Elections Commission (KPU) officially started the 2014 presidential campaign during a declaration at the Bidakarta Hotel in South Jakarta on Tuesday.

"We are declaring a peaceful campaign, run with integrity," KPU commissioner Arief Budiman said, as reported by kompas.com.

The event was attended by presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla, alongside competing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and running mate Hatta Rajasa.

Campaigning Kicks Off For Indonesian Presidential Election

Jun 04 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
Jakarta Globe

Campaigning for Indonesia’s July presidential election officially kicked off Wednesday, with favorite Joko Widodo facing a tough challenge from a Suharto-era former general with a chequered human rights record.

Widodo, who won legions of fans during his time as Jakarta governor, started the campaign period with a ceremony at his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s headquarters in the capital.

Race narrows as Prabowo plays catch-up

Jun 03 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

With presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party managing to improve his approval rating over the past few weeks, analysts predict that the July 9 poll will be a tight race that neither candidate will win with a landslide.

“Both candidates’ chances of winning are now equal and the race will be very competitive. Jokowi supporters should not be complacent because the tables can turn at any time,” political analyst Burhanuddin Muhtadi of the pollster Indikator Politik Indonesia told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Facing criticism, Gerindra backpedals on 'religious purification' pledge

Jun 03 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

Hashim Djojohadikusumo, deputy chairman of the Gerindra Party’s patron board, said his party had dropped a program of ‘purification of religious teachings’ in its ‘Manifesto of Struggle, following a number of criticisms that the party carries a fundamentalist view toward religions and diversity of beliefs.

“We have erased the sentence from our manifesto, because we based our party principle on Pancasila. We will uphold the law if there is discrimination against any ethnic, religion or race,” he said as quoted bytempo.co on Monday.

Scavenger union donates to Prabowo-Hatta campaign

Jun 03 2014
Indonesia
Source: 
The Jakarta Post

The Indonesian Scavengers Association (IPI) donated money to presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Rajasa on Monday.

IPI secretary general Andilado said that even though they did not donate a large amount of money to the political pair, which is listed as Number One on the ballots for the presidential election, they hoped that it would be a help to Prabowo's campaign, as reported by kompas.com.

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