The wRap Indonesia: Oct. 23, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The continued wait for President Joko Widodo’s new cabinet and the harrowing experiences of Indonesian migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia.

1. Indonesia kept waiting for Jokowi’s cabinet

At 7pm on Wednesday, October 22, dozens of reporters were standing at the Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, wondering where President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was. They were brought there and told to expect the cabinet announcement at that time. Port workers were said to have begun preparing by as early as 3pm the makeshift stage and sound system for the highly anticipated announcement. A bit past 730pm, they were told nothing was happening, with no clear explanation why. Most were disappointed but anti-corruption activists would rather Jokowi postpone his announcement than rush it, given that Jokowi admitted he had to replace 8 of the 43 names in his list as they failed to pass the vetting done by the anti-corruption and anti-money laundering agencies. 

2. Indonesian migrant workers detail abuse suffered in UAE

Arti L. (not her real name), a 22-year-old Indonesian domestic worker in the United Arab Emirate, told Human Rights Watch in an interview in December: “He [my sponsor] slapped me and banged my head on the wall, then spit on me. He beat me with a cable on my back and put a knife to my face.” And then she was raped. “I ran away with blood on my panties. I was bleeding badly,” said. She was one of 99 foreign domestic workers working in the UAE interviewed by Human Rights Watch for the report, “‘I Already Bought You’: Abuse and Exploitation of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the United Arab Emirates”, released on Thursday, October 23. Read the full story on Rappler. 

3. Yogyakarta student’s defamation case over social media post turned over to prosecutors 

Remember Florence Sihombing? She’s the Gadjah Mada University student who was bullied online and detained for 3 days in August for allegedly defaming Yogyakarta when she called the city “poor, stupid and uncultured” in a post on social media app Path. She has since apologized but she now faces the threat of serious jail time. On Wednesday, despite calls for the case to be dropped, local police submitted their investigation report to the prosecutor’s office, which could lead to an indictment and a court date. If convicted under Indonesia’s Electronic Information and Transaction Law, according to local media reports, Florence could be jailed for up to 6 years.

4. Wife admits ordering killing of Briton in Bali

Was it over infidelity or money? Bali Police say these could be the motives behind the killing of British national Robert Ellis, 60, which his Indonesian wife has admitted to ordering. Bali residents found the decomposing body of Ellis, who had lived on the island for several years, early Tuesday dumped next to a paddy field, wrapped up in plastic and blankets. His wife, Julaikah Noor Ellis, went to the police to report her husband missing soon after the body was found, but she was later detained and named a suspect in the case. “After talking to her slowly and kindly for a while, she finally admitted it,” detective Wisnu Wardana said on Wednesday. Read the full story on Rappler.

5. Supreme Court upholds controversial conviction of Chevron employees

The Supreme Court has not only upheld the guilty graft verdict against Chevron Indonesia employee Bachtiar Abdul Fatah, it even doubled his sentence to 4 years. The controversial case stems from a cleanup project at a Chevron site in Sumatra that prosecutors claim caused state losses. Chevron argued that the project was approved and supervised by the government. But the main concern is that contractual issues are increasingly being subject to criminal prosecution in Indonesia, according to the Wall Street Journal. American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Indonesia managing director Andrew White said the ruling would have a negative impact on business in Indonesia, particularly on the oil and gas sector.