The wRap Indonesia: Sept. 26, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – How Indonesians lost their direct local voting rights and the online outrage over cartoon censorship lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia the past day.  

1. Indonesians wake up with fewer democratic rights

While most Indonesians were sleeping in the early hours of Friday, September 26, their elected representatives dismantled a cornerstone of the country’s democracy – the right of the people to directly elect their governors, mayors, and district heads. In a stunning reversal for one of the most widely praised emerging democracies in the world, the House of Representatives voted 226-135 to pass the controversial Regional Elections Bill (RUU Pilkada). The country will go back to having local legislatures (DPRD) choose the regional executive leaders – the way it used to be, until post-Suharto era reforms led to Indonesians being able to directly vote for them for the first time in 2005. Read the full story on Rappler. 

2. Online outrage over cartoon censorship

Indonesians may have just lost their direct local voting rights, but trending on Twitter on Friday morning was the hashtag #SaveSpongebob, alongside #ShameOnYouSBY and #RIPDemokrasi. The online outrage stems from the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission’s (KPI) decision to categorize a number of cartoons under its “caution” or “danger” categories. “Tom & Jerry” was considered dangerous for its “explicit violence”, while “Crayon Shin-chan” and “Spongebob Squarepants” were given the “caution” tag. Censors said “Crayon Shin-chan” – a popular Japanese children’s cartoon in which the main character regularly displays his naked buttocks – was “somewhat pornographic” and would be censored. Read the story on Rappler.

3. Riau governor caught ‘red-handed’ in corruption raid

The powerful Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday arrested Riau Governor Annas Maamun allegedly in the act of exchanging bribes with some businessmen in a house in East Jakarta. The KPK also detained two of Annas’s relatives who were in the house with him, and confiscated Singaporean dollars and rupiah notes worth “billions of rupiah,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said, according to Kompas.com. The KPK hasn’t revealed what the alleged bribery is for yet, but the anti-graft agency has a strong track record of these red-handed arrests owing to its wiretapping powers. Police were already investigating the 74-year-old separately over sexual assault allegations against him, which Tempo.co reports isn’t the first scandal he’s been involved in.

4. US slaps sanctions on Indonesian entity for supporting terrorists

The Indonesia-based Hilal Ahmar Society Indonesia (HASI), “ostensibly” the humanitarian wing of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), has been slapped with financial sanctions by the US Treasury as part of efforts to disrupt the finances of the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda. JI is blamed for a number of attacks in Southeast Asia, with the deadliest being the Bali bombings of October 2002 that killed 202 people. “While not indicative of the activities of the charitable sector as a whole, the activities of HASI demonstrate how terrorist groups, such as JI, continue to abuse charitable giving to raise and use funds to support violent acts and provide cover for logistical requirements for their terrorist organization,” the Treasury said. Read the full story on Rappler.

5. Roadblock for Jakarta’s MRT project 

Jakarta’s long-awaited and much-needed MRT is apparently caught up in a dispute among companies involved in the consortium that won the project. The Jakarta Globe reported that Dextam Contractors has, over the past year, been attempting to oust Japan’s Shimizu Corporation from the consortium. While the legal wrangling is ongoing, the construction of the rail line could be hampered, Shimzu’s lawyer said. – Rappler.com