The wRap Indonesia: Oct. 22, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia’s wait for President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s new cabinet and Prabowo Subianto’s apology for the divisive election lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia the past day.

1. Jokowi keeps Indonesia waiting for his cabinet

Rumors and speculations continue to fill headlines and political discussions, as President Joko Widodo still hasn’t announced his cabinet list. A number of names in the list of 43 submitted by Jokowi to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for vetting came back with red marks – meaning they are potential corruption suspects or are involved in a KPK case – so the president is said to be planning to submit new names. Analysts speculate those marked in red could be the names put forward by political parties supporting Jokowi, like Muhaimin Iskandar, the chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), who has been implicated in a corruption scandal. But KPK spokesman Johan Budi also said the 43 names came from private entities, not political parties, according to state news agency Antara. 

2. Prabowo apologizes for divisive election 

Continuing his reconciliatory tone, former presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto on Tuesday apologized for his statements and actions during the recent presidential election in a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla. The election was seen to be the dirtiest and most divisive in Indonesia’s history. “We are one ship,” Kalla said after the meeting, which Prabowo agreed to. Despite all the reconciliation talk, Prabowo maintains they will be in the opposition in order to balance the government.  

3. Australia drops long-running ‘Balibo Five’ investigation

After “exhausting all inquiries” and still finding “insufficient evidence to prove an offense”, Australian police said on Tuesday they were dropping the long-running war crimes investigation into the “Balibo Five” – the 5 Australian journalists killed during Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in 1975. This is despite an admission from an Indonesian officer in 2009 that the military had killed the journalists to cover up the early stages of the invasion and occupation, which lasted until East Timor gained independence in 2002. Read the full Reuters story.   

4. Briton found dead with throat slashed in Bali

In what appears to be another gruesome murder of a foreign national in Bali, police said on Tuesday the body of 60-year-old Robert Kelvin Ellis was found in a paddy field in a village between Ubud and Kuta. The neck was almost completely cut, the hands were tied, and the body was covered with plastic and bed quilts, police said. Ellis had been living at a villa in the tourist area of Sanur for some years and his Indonesian wife had earlier reported him missing. Read the full story on Rappler. 

5. Not too cool: Kalla wants AC units set at 25 degrees 

On his second day back at the vice president’s palace, Vice President Jusuf Kalla noted again – as he did when he was its occupant more than 5 years ago – that the rooms were too cool. Most of the air-conditioning units in the palace were set at 18-20 degrees Celsius, he said, which uses more energy. In at least one of the rooms, he personally increased the temperature to 25 degrees – the setting all air-conditioning units in all government and private offices must have, he said, according to Tempo.co. – with a report from ATA/Rappler.com