The wRap Indonesia: Sept. 29, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Unabated anger in Indonesia towards outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the golden Asiad weekend in Incheon for the country’s shuttlers lead our wrap of Indonesian stories over the weekend.     

1. From #ShameOnYouSBY to #ShamedByYou

Netizens are keeping up the campaign to tell the world they’re ashamed of outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – the country’s first directly elected president – for his failure to prevent the loss of their direct regional voting rights. Yudhoyono has been scrambling to appease people since Friday, September 26, when his ruling Democratic Party’s dramatic walkout from the legislature led to the passage of the controversial bill that returned those rights to the local legislative councils. He has even said he won’t sign the new law, but that is largely a ceremonial act that won’t affect its validity. So the anger remains. When the popular hashtag #ShameOnYouSBY – which trended worldwide on Friday – mysteriously disappeared from Twitter on Saturday, outraged netizens quickly created and popularized a new one: #ShamedByYou, a play on the president’s initials, SBY.  

2. Shuttlers deliver a golden Asiad weekend 

Indonesia scored an incredible weekend at Incheon courtesy of the country’s famed shuttlers. Saturday saw a historic victory for women’s pair Greysia Polii and Nitya Krishinda in their doubles final over Japan for the country’s first Asian Games win in that event since 1978, and the first gold in Incheon. On Sunday, men’s doubles pair Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan added to the gold medal haul by besting South Korea’s top players, making this the nation’s best Asian Games for 16 years. Indonesia now has a total of 12 gold medals, with a chance to win more. Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir face world No. 1 mixed doubles duo Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei in the finals.  

3. Repeal Aceh’s ‘backward’ new bylaw, activists demand

Amnesty International has asked Indonesia to immediately repeal a new bylaw in Aceh described by activists as “an enormous step backwards”. The law passed early on Saturday makes intimate acts between unmarried couples and gay sex and  punishable – the latter by up to 100 lashes of the cane – for both Muslims and non-Muslims. “The criminalization of individuals based on their sexual orientation is a huge blow for equality in Indonesia,” said Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director Richard Bennett, who added that it would increase “the climate of homophobia, fear and harassment many in Aceh are already facing”. Read the full story on Rappler.

4. Jakarta gets its very first parking meters

Along the famous Jalan Agus Salim (formerly known as Jalan Sabang) in Central Jakarta, 11 automated parking meters now stand ready to charge motorists up to IDR5,000 ($0.40) per hour (it used to be about IDR3,000 from informal parking attendants). But while the parking meters launched Friday are automated, the city government still had to deploy 50 personnel working in 3 shifts to monitor motorists, or provide change for those who don’t have any, according to the official Jakarta news portal Beritajakarta.com.

5. Accident kills 4 workers at Freeport’s Papua mine

Four workers were killed Saturday in another tragic accident at the US-controlled copper and gold mine in Indonesia’s remote Papua province, AFP reported. A light vehicle carrying 9 passengers collided with a giant haulage truck at Freeport-McMoRan’s huge Grasberg mine. Open-pit mining activities have been temporarily suspended pending an investigation. In May last year, a training tunnel collapsed killing 28 miners as they took part in a safety course in one of Indonesia’s worst-ever mining accidents. – Rappler.com