NU: The ‘transactional’, ‘trans-national’ and ‘progressive’ clerics

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Headlines | Sat, 04/03/2010 12:42 PM

NU: The ‘transactional’, ‘trans-national’ and ‘progressive’ clerics

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta

Despite being an organization of Muslim clerics, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) remains unable to uphold moral values and divine principles both internally and for Indonesian Muslims in general.

NU should set an example for the public, and particularly other socio-religious organizations and political parties in Indonesia that must embrace and promote clean governance and fair politics.

The reality is, however, that NU cannot rid itself of moral hazards and murky politics.

Rumors of vote buying and negative campaigning abounded at the organization’s national leadership conference in Makassar, South Sulawesi, last week.

The momentum continued to shift among voters right up until the dying minutes of the chairmanship vote at the five-day conference; a phenomenon critics attributed to a frantic campaign of last-minute under-the-table voter bribing.

The rumors, although widespread, proved hard to verify on the final night of the conference, but have since been confirmed by respected cleric Sahal Mahfudz, who was elected as chief of NU’s edict-making body after beating out rival Hasyim Muzadi.

Although many participants at the conference refused to comment on the presence of vote buying at the event, others admitted they were offered bribes in the form of airline tickets and hotel vouchers in exchange for their votes.

Bribes were not merely offered by insiders, it transpired, but also by powerful outsiders, in particular political party members, who were lobbying for support from the 40-million-strong Muslim organization in the next national and regional elections.

During recent local polls to elect regents, mayors and governors across the country, NU clerics and members’ changing political support stirred internal bickering and sparked segregation within the organization.

During last year’s national elections, several members of NU’s cleric council were seen to dramatically shift allegiance during the campaign period, leading many to believe they were being bribed.

Perceptions of this kind threaten to ruin NU’s image and diminish its credibility and integrity as an independent mass religious organization and a civil society group.

The moderate Muslim organization is also plagued by a stagnant conservatism that threatens reform and modernization, and has lost much of the support it garnered when under the leadership of pluralist figure Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who passed away last December.

Gus Dur turned NU into a globally recognized progressive and moderate organization. Moreover, the NU under Gus Dur commanded respect and influence in national politics.

This once bright image has been dimmed over the last decade by internal politicization and the dominance of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence)-minded clerics and old figures influenced by “transnational” ideals brought from the Middle East.

There are other examples of figures and groups who have been shaped by such transnational currents that claim to return to the roots of the Koran and who embrace hadits (Prophet Muhammad’s traditions) interpretations of Islam. Such examples include extremist or militant groups Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the Islam Defenders Front and the Prosperous Justice Party.

The late Gus Dur gained great respect and recognition from within NU and many non-Muslim organizations as a champion of pluralism. But at the national conference last week, NU appeared to dismiss its previous progressive and liberal takes on sharia issues.

It seems that Gus Dur’s philosophies, which produced an explosion of progressive and liberal young intellectuals, including Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, Moqshit Ghozali and Zuhairi Misrawi, have no place in the current NU, which is under the control of fiqh-minded leaders.

While Gus Dur, for example, vehemently defended and protected the Ahmadiyah sect from frequent attacks and bullying by extremist groups, recently NU ridiculously joined the chorus condemning the minority sect as heretical for its belief that there was a prophet after Muhammad.

“What Gus Dur did was down to his personal views. NU as an institution has its own way of Islamic thinking. It should be separate, although Gus Dur was a great figure for NU,” said a senior cleric who led a discussion on contemporary religious issues during the NU conference.

Despite several discussions on contemporary religious issues during the conference, the respective juries drew largely on the puritan fiqh and salafi perspectives when constructing their theological arguments.

For example, the jurists ruled in favor of underage marriage, basing their argument on the fact that the Koran and hadits had never set a marriage age limit for Muslims.

During Gus Dur’s leadership, similar NU discussion circles typically produced progressive edicts on contemporary religious concerns.

“At the time, it was Masdar *Farid Mas’udi* who was behind these halaqoh discussions, and he greatly contributed to NU’s progressive mindset,” said contemporary Muslim societies analyst Martin van Bruinessen of the Netherlands.

To return to its once dynamic and modern thinking, young intellectuals who were inspired by Gus Dur and who studied not only kitab kuning (traditional textbooks) but also modern philosophy and social influences should be given a larger space in the new leadership of the NU.

The author, a staff writer at The Jakata Post, covered NU’s recent leadership conference.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/03/nu-the-...clerics.html

I will not let NU interfered by govt: Said

--- The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

National | Sat, 03/27/2010 10:20 PM

I will not let NU interfered by govt: Said

Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Nahdlatul Ulama chairman elect Said Agil Siradj on Saturday responded his victory by vowing not to let NU be interfered by the government.

“Indeed, the President called me several days before this congress. But it was not even close to be called as an intervention,” he told the press shortly after the voting.

Said also denied he would use his chairmanship as a political vehicle to run for presidential election.

“Any proposal to run for president or vice president candidate will not be interesting for me. I promise. No matter who is asking me [to run for presidential election],“ he said.

Asked about how he would bring NU followers to treat sects like Ahmadiyah, Said said the sect would stay harmful for Islam.

“There’s already been rules about Ahmadiyah, and NU has made its decision that Ahamdiyah is a sect that NU defies,” he said.

Slamet Effendy Yusuf, who lost the two-horse race for Said, meanwhile, said that he was ready to help Said to develop NU. “Pak Said has said he would invite me [to be involved in the organizational committee],“ he said.

Slamet who was a former legislator from the Golkar Party denied that he had gained support from the party. “No. NU is not a place for practical politics,” he said.

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/03/27/i-will-not-le...vt-agil-sirajd.html

Court told to be firm on rowdiness, intimidating visitors

---The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National   -   Thu, 03/18/2010 9:28 AM

Court told to be firm on rowdiness, intimidating visitors
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Constitutional Court must be firm on members of hard-line Islamic groups who intimidated petitioners of the blasphemy law judicial review by issuing threats and shouting religious slogans during hearing sessions, activists said Tuesday.

“There were threats against [the supporters of the review] outside the courtroom,” M. Choirul Anam, a lawyer for petitioners, told The Jakarta Post. “While protests in the courtroom were intimidating.”

Anam said the hard-liners, mostly from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), who opposed the rights activists’ move, continually attended hearings and often yelled at those testifying in support of the judicial review, calling them “infidels” and telling them to “repent”.

“The court has the authority to take strict action against these people,” he said. “It has the authority to expel them from the courtroom.”

A number of activists and self-proclaimed supporters of pluralism filed the request for a judicial review of the 1965 blasphemy law last year.

The move was mainly triggered by the government banning of the Ahmadiyah group, regarded by mainstream Muslims as heretical.

The law’s articles in scrutiny stipulate the government’s authority to dissolve religious groups whose beliefs and practices are deemed as blasphemous by religious authorities such as the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

According to petitioners, the law was discriminatory of certain religious groups, which have been denied their right to worship according to their beliefs.

Anam said the Court was firm in its approach at the first session of the hearings, with Court chief Mahfud M.D. asking loud visitors, dominated by FPI members, to quieten.

“But the Court has not been as firm of late,” he said. “We suspect that the judges are intimidated by the protestors in the courtroom.”

Choirul said activists were apprehensive the Court could not issue a fair ruling because judges were intimidated.

Hearing sessions on the blasphemy law at the Constitutional Court have often been rife with cacophony from the gallery.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, an expert supporting the review, reportedly received death threats from the gallery at Court.

Mahendradatta of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, an Islamic group opposing the review, dismissed the belief that the Court’s ruling would be influenced by intimidation from visitors.

“The Court will not be intimidated,” he said.

He insisted that the actions of protesters at the Court had not breached misconduct.

“It is tolerable. The judges have not had to expel anyone from the courtroom.”

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/03/18/cour...intimidating-visitors.html

Controversial cleric retains position as presidential adviser

---The Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Headlines Tue, 01/26/2010 9:32 AM

Controversial cleric retains position as presidential adviser

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

New advisers: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono congratulates senior economist and former environment minister Emil Salim (center) after swearing him in as one of nine new members of the Presidential Advisory Council at the State Palace, Jakarta, on Monday. Courtesy of Presidential Office/Abror Rizki

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated on Monday nine members of the presidential advisory board, retaining the position of a controversial Muslim cleric who supported the banning of Jamaah Ahmadiyah.

Ma’ruf Amin, former chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) who issued a fatwa banning liberalism and pluralism after heading the council’s fatwa commission, is among the old faces staying in the board, along with the country’s environmental guru Emil Salim.

Both served on the board during the President’s first term.

Among the new advisers are former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari, former coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs Widodo A. S., former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda, and former state minister for women’s empowerment Meutia Hatta.

Others are Ryaas Rasyid, former state minister for regional autonomy during Abdurrahman Wahid’s presidency in early 2000s, former speaker of Regional Representatives Council (DPD) Ginandjar Kartasasmita and former Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie.

The former advisers were the late Ali Alatas, Adnan Buyung Nasution, Subur Budi Santoso, TB Silalahi, Rahmawati, Syahrir and Abdul Ghafur Lahode.

Political observer Mohammad Qodari from poll agency Indobarometer considered Yudhoyono’s decision to appoint his new nine advisers as quite agreeable in the way that they covered fields in which the President would require counsel.

Legal, health, foreign, women’s, security, regional autonomy, economy and religion issues have been covered by the new figures, Qodari said.

“I believe, however, that the President should appoint advisers that can help him with education, technology and industry issues.”

Qodari said Yudhoyono’s decision to retain Emil and Ma’ruf was understandable, citing Emil’s recognized expertise in economic and environmental issues and Ma’ruf’s “strategic” position in the MUI.

Public policy expert from University of Indonesia, Andrinof Chaniago, however, lamented that the appointment of some of the new advisers was based more on political considerations instead of abilities.

“That is Yudohyono’s weakness. He places too much emphasis on political symbolism and representation, when he should choose people based on their experience and abilities to improve the government and benefit his own performance.”

Andrinof declined to share the names of those he considered unsuitable for their positions.

Jimly was upbeat that the new board could work effectively in advising the President on the execution of his duties.

“To give advice effectively depends on the way you convey the message. There is an art to it.”

URL: www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/26...n-presidential-adviser.html

Letter to President Yudhoyono on Human Rights Concerns in Indonesia

---Human Rights Watch, USA

Letter to President Yudhoyono on Human Rights Concerns in Indonesia

August 6, 2009

Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President, Republic of Indonesia
Gedung Bina Graha
Jl. Veteran 16
Jakarta Pusat

Re: Human Rights Concerns in Indonesia

Dear President Yudhoyono,

Congratulations on your recent election success. Human Rights Watch would like to say selamat menunaikan tugas, good luck in carrying out your duties as president. We encourage you to build on the successes of your first term in office, and bring new energy to areas including human rights where important objectives have not yet been achieved.

For many years, Human Rights Watch has raised human rights issues with the Indonesian government. With another five-year term, you and your new coalition government have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to address continuing human rights concerns in Indonesia. As Indonesia is a party to the major human rights treaties, we urge you to ensure that Indonesia lives up to its international legal obligations.

To this end, we write to you with specific recommendations on the issues that have important implications for the human rights of Indonesians, specifically corruption, military business, impunity, religious freedom, freedom of expression, the situation in Papua, and child domestic workers. We urge you and your government to give high priority to each of these issues.

Corruption

Anti-corruption measures are critical to ensuring that human rights protections are enjoyed by all Indonesians. Corruption diverts money that could have been collected as tax revenue away from government coffers-funds that could otherwise have been spent on social spending, such as improving access to health services. To this end, we urge you to deliver on your campaign promises to fight corruption and improve the welfare of Indonesia’s citizens. We commend the progress made by the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK), established under your first administration. Yet current trends undermine the effectiveness and very existence of the commission. In particular, to ensure its continued existence, the National Parliament must pass a bill to reestablish the KPK court by September 30, but the bill is not on the list of priority legislation for the parliament's attention. Further clauses in the bill are under debate that, if included in the final legislation, would erode the commission's effectiveness and independence, including by limiting the KPK to an investigative function and reducing the number of ad-hoc judges to sit on trial panels.

Anti-corruption efforts should be broadened to be effective. Sustained, rigorous efforts to root out corruption in the police, judiciary and military will help stem the loss of tax revenues from lucrative natural resources, especially the forestry and plantation sectors. Strong leadership from yourself and the Ministry of Forestry is needed to implement anti-corruption reforms, such as chain of custody mechanisms to ensure the legal origin of wood products and the full payment of forestry taxes.

We urge you to:

• Act immediately to ensure the National Parliament enacts legislation to renew the KPK court, without eroding its authority or independence. If necessary issue an appropriate executive order until legislation can be passed;
• Ensure corruption investigations sufficiently extend to the judiciary, police and military, including the use of anti-corruption and money laundering legislation to fight corruption in the forestry sector;
• Stem the loss of government tax revenues from forestry corruption by finalizing chain of custody and revenue tracking mechanisms.
  

Military Business

Dismantling business activity by the armed forces (Tentara Nasional Indonesia or TNI) is widely recognized as a necessary pillar of military reform. But progress has been slow, despite a 2004 legal mandate requiring the government to shut down or take over all of the TNI’s business interests before October 2009. We understand that your government has recently decided on a course of action and is finalizing a presidential decree that sets out how it will proceed. We hope that, as the culmination of nearly five years of discussion and debate, this effort will embody a well-considered and comprehensive approach.

TNI involvement in the economy takes several forms: military-owned businesses; collaboration with the private sector (including protection payments); criminal enterprises; and various forms of corruption. Each is pernicious, amounting to an abuse of power as well as a misuse of state assets. Human Rights Watch has shown that money-making ventures by TNI foundations and cooperatives at all levels fuel human rights abuses and create conflicts of interest. Military involvement in illegal businesses, including in the logging and oil palm sector, undermines the rule of law and Indonesia’s anti-corruption agenda.

The fact that Indonesia’s military derives funds from ties to the private sector, including corporate security payments, presents another ongoing concern. Controversy over such payments has resurfaced in the wake of the series of deadly shootings in July 2009 near the Freeport McMoRan copper and gold mine in Papua. Although a 2004 presidential decree stipulates that responsibility for guarding major corporate sites should transfer from the military to the police, this handover has been incomplete. Company filings in the United States show that Freeport’s total spending on “support costs” for the 1,850 Indonesian soldiers and police who operated in and near its mine reached US$92 million through 2008, including US$8 million for 2008 alone. Some of these funds are dispersed as cash “allowances.”

We urge you to take firm action to end the involvement of Indonesia’s security forces in wide-ranging economic activities as follows:

• Move expeditiously to issue the long-awaited presidential decree on TNI business reform and accompanying regulations. These measures should be comprehensive and without exceptions, incorporating robust accountability provisions for TNI business dealings (including the unauthorized sell-off of companies and the misuse of state assets) and associated abuses, and be complemented by strict enforcement of the ban on all military business activity;
• Reject a proposal to transfer TNI businesses to the nominal control of the civilian-led Ministry of Defense, where uniformed military personnel exercise great influence, and instead name an impartial body to take temporary control of such businesses until they are liquidated or sold off. Adopt and enforce similar measures prohibiting business activity in any form by the police;
• Call for a full, impartial, and transparent investigation of company payments for government security, ensuring that regular reporting on the progress of such investigations takes place and is shared with the Secretariat of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, as well as corporations operating in Indonesia that have joined the initiative.
• Act to end the practice whereby the presence of government security forces at major corporate sites is underwritten by the companies. Develop an alternative system of financing for public security such that the cost of security is paid from government coffers and the funds directed to this purpose are independently audited, and publicly disclosed in detail.
  

Impunity

There is still widespread impunity for members of the security forces responsible for serious violations of human rights. Indonesian military officers and militia leaders have yet to be brought to justice for the atrocities committed by their forces in East Timor, Papua, Aceh, the Malukus, Kalimantan, and elsewhere.

A bellwether test is the case of Munir bin Thalib, a respected human rights advocate murdered on a Garuda Indonesia flight five years ago. In 2004, you yourself said that finding Munir’s murderer is “the test of our history.” On December 31, 2008, a Jakarta court acquitted Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono, a former deputy in the State Intelligence Agency, of Munir’s murder in a trial marred by witness coercion and intimidation. On June 15, 2009, the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected an appeal by state prosecutors of Muchdi’s acquittal.

Human Rights Watch understands the difficulties in investigating a murder allegedly involving a state intelligence operation. But there are serious concerns about events in the lead-up to the trial and the quality of the evidence. Witnesses were possibly intimidated into changing their statements, a key witness fled the country and the prosecution was weak.

During your previous term as president, you succeeded in ending the conflict in Aceh through the signing of a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement. But there is still no serious effort to establish a truth and reconciliation commission and a tribunal to look at crimes committed after the August 2005 peace agreement, as required by the 2006 Law on Aceh Governance. The tribunal was supposed to be in operation by August 31, 2007. For there to be lasting peace, those involved in extrajudicial killings and other abuses need to be held accountable.

We urge you to:

• Establish a new independent investigation into the murder of Munir bin Thalib with strong measures to protect witnesses;
• Set up an inquiry into allegations that witnesses in the trial of Maj. Gen. Muchdi Purwopranjono were intimidated into changing their statements;
• Encourage Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf to establish the human rights tribunal as well as the Aceh Commission on Truth and Reconciliation. The Aceh commission can be established by provincial decree, without waiting for the establishment of the national commission.
  

Religious Freedom

Countries around the world, including the United States, are looking to Indonesia to lead in religious tolerance. In an October 2008 Newsweek interview you said that, “Indonesia has always tried to demonstrate and project moderate Islam. Indonesia is not immune to the radicalism, but this is exactly why we must maintain our identity as a moderate, tolerant nation.”

A June 2008 decree ordering the Ahmadiyah to cease public religious activities, and continuing violent attacks on Ahmadis and Christians show religious intolerance in Indonesia is on the rise. Following the Ahmadiyah decree, Islamist militants have closed Ahmadiyah mosques in Cianjur, West Java and attacked Ahmadiyah mosques in Greater Jakarta. In Lombok, around 160 Ahmadiyah members have been displaced from their homes since February 2006 because Islamist militants attacked and burned down their houses in Ketapang. The West Nusa Tenggara government has forbidden Ahmadis from returning to their homes, citing security concerns.

Another decree requiring anyone building “a house of worship” to receive prior approval from other religious leaders has been used by Muslim clerics and Islamist militants to block the building of churches. Christian groups say that mobs forcibly closed or burned down more than 480 churches between 1969 and 2007 mainly in Java and Sumatra. On June 14, Islamist militants and government officials tried to demolish two church buildings in a village in Bekasi outside Jakarta because they had not secured approval from Muslim leaders. Members of church groups have been forced to hold meetings in private homes. The religious activities of one group should never be beholden to the approval of others.

Meanwhile, Sharia-based local law in provincial Aceh as well as in regencies in West Sumatra, West Java, Banten, South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara violate the right to religious freedom and the rights of women, such as by forcing all women to wear the veil.

We urge you to:

• Abolish the decree banning Ahmadiyah religious practices;
• Protect religious minorities such as Ahmadis and Christians from violent attacks. While focusing efforts on Islamist militants, make clear to all religious communities that infringements on the rights to religious freedom will not be tolerated.
• Establish a presidential team to review all local laws that might improperly infringe upon the right to freedom of religion under the Indonesian constitution and Indonesia’s obligations under international human rights law.
  

Freedom of Expression

Indonesia has a diverse and lively media, but the right to freedom of expression has been undermined by the use of criminal and civil defamation laws to silence criticism of the government. Offenses in Indonesia’s criminal code such as treason or rebellion (makar) and “inciting hatred” (haatzai artikelen) are used to suppress peaceful acts of free expression, including demonstrations and acts of flag-rising in Papua and the Moluccas where there are separatist movements. Under the 2001 Papuan Special Autonomy Law, symbols of Papuan identity such as a flag or song are permitted, but article 6 of Government Regulation 77/2007 prohibits the display of the Morning Star flag in Papua, the South Maluku Republic flag in Ambon, and the Crescent Moon flag in Aceh. Currently there are more than 170 people, including at least 43 in Papua, who are imprisoned throughout Indonesia for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

We urge you to:

• Revoke regulations and provisions in the Indonesian Criminal Code that violate the internationally recognized right to freedom of expression;
• Order the release of those currently in prison for peaceful acts of free expression.
  

Situation in Papua

In a 2005 speech, you said you would solve Papuan problems “peacefully, fairly and with dignity,” and in 2006 you said you would use “persuasion and dialogue” rather than violence in dealing with Papuan activists. Human Rights Watch takes no position on the right to self-determination, but we have long expressed concerns about ongoing abuses by the security forces in Papua and a complete lack of accountability. Restrictions on access by foreign human rights monitors and journalists to Papua exacerbate a climate where security forces can act with impunity by keeping abuses out of the public eye and making investigations more difficult.

Both army troops and police units, particularly mobile paramilitary units (Brigade Mobil or Brimob), engage in largely indiscriminate village “sweeping” operations through the Central Highlands in pursuit of suspected militants, using excessive, often brutal and at times lethal force against civilians. In routine policing, officers sometimes use excessive force. In Merauke, Kopassus soldiers have routinely arrested Papuans without legal authority, beating and mistreating those they take back to their barracks including by forcing them to chew chilies. In Jayapura, prison guards continue to torture inmates inside the Abepura prison. Such abuses contribute to continuing public unrest in Papua.

At the Freeport goldmine in Timika, violence has escalated recently with the killing of three people including one Australian in July 2009. Police arrested at least 20 Papuans in relation to the killings and have declared eight as suspects but they have had no access to lawyers. Media photographs showed the police had roughed up some detainees when making arrests.

We urge you to:

• End restrictions on access to Papua for independent observers, including diplomats, foreign journalists, and human rights organizations, so that they can visit Papua without need for specific permission or approval;
• Order an independent and impartial investigation into allegations of human rights violations in Papua, including killings, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention. Such an investigation should hold security forces accountable and bring the perpetrators of such abuses to justice;
• State publicly that Kopassus and Kostrad troops should not be involved in law enforcement activities, which are the responsibility of the police, and call on the head of Kopassus, Maj. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, to publicly list the duties of Kopassus in Papua.
  

Child Domestic Workers

Hundreds of thousands of girls in Indonesia, some as young as 11, are employed as domestic workers in other people’s households, performing tasks such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, child care, and sometimes working at their employers’ businesses. Many girls work 14 to 18 hour days, seven days a week, with no day off. Many employer’s forbid these child domestic workers from leaving the house where they work, isolating them from the outside world and thus placing them at higher risk of abuse. Many employers withhold paying any salary until the child returns home-and many employers fail to pay the children at all or pay less than what they promised. In the worst cases, girls are physically, psychologically, and sexually abused by their employers of their employers’ family members, in addition to being exploited for their labor.

Indonesia’s labor law-the Manpower Act of 2003-excludes all domestic workers from the basic labor rights afforded to formal workers, such as a minimum wage, overtime pay, an eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek, weekly day of rest, and vacation. This has a discriminatory impact on women and girls, who constitute the vast majority of domestic workers. This exclusion in the law also serves to perpetuate the devaluing of domestic work and domestic workers.

We urge you to:

• Pass a Domestic Workers Law in time for the 2010 International Labor Organization Conference on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, that guarantees that domestic workers receive the same rights as other workers, such as a written contract, a minimum wage, overtime, a weekly day of rest, an eight-hour workday, rest periods during the day, national holidays, vacation, paid sick leave, workers compensation, and social security;
• Instruct your Ministry of Manpower and provincial and district governments to strictly enforce 15 as the minimum age of employment for all sectors, including domestic work. Give priority to underage domestic workers for removal and recovery assistance to help them return to school, and rebuild their lives;
• Ensure that police have the commitment and resources necessary to comply with their obligations under the Domestic Violence Act, in particular to provide temporary protection to a victim within 24 hours of knowing or receiving a report of violence in the household.
  

Thank you for your consideration. We would appreciate the opportunity to discuss these and other human rights issues with you and members of your administration.

Sincerely,

Brad Adams
Executive Director, Asia division
Human Rights Watch

CC: Vice President-elect, Boediono;
Vice President, Jusuf Kalla;
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr. Haj Ahmed Mahmin M.C.;
Speaker of the Regional Representatives Council, Agung Laksono
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr.Nur Hassan Wirajuda;
Minister of Defense, Prof. Dr. Juwono Sudarsono;
Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Andi Mattalata, SH, MH;
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration, Erman Suparno;
Chief of Army, Lt-Gen Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo;
Ambassador to the UN, H.E. Marty Natalegawa
Ambassador to the US, H.E. Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat.

URL: www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08...erns-indonesia