The wRap Indonesia: Oct. 15, 2014

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Corruption Eradication Commission’s response to a graft allegation against President-elect Joko Widodo and reports of another Indonesian suicide bomber with the Islamic State lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia the past day.

1. Anti-graft agency clears Jokowi of corruption as Solo mayor

“It’s clear Jokowi was not involved in the education aid graft,” the highly respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Tuesday, October 14, in response to allegations made against President-elect Joko Widodo, Tempo.co reported. The claim that Jokowi misused education aid for Solo was first reported to KPK in 2012, amid the heated Jakarta gubernatorial election. The anti-graft agency investigated and found no links to Jokowi. The allegation has now resurfaced and is being used by the opposition to try to delay the president-elect’s inauguration on Monday, October 20. The Prabowo Subianto-led opposition has threatened to investigate Jokowi on another graft allegation, this time involving the procurement of buses for Jakarta.

2. Indonesian suicide bomber dies fighting with Islamic State

An Indonesian suicide bomber has reportedly died fighting with the Islamic State organization. Monitoring group SITE and a jihadist website in Indonesia said the Indonesian drove an explosives-packed van into a military base outside Tikrit north of Baghdad on Saturday, October 11. Photos sent out by SITE showed the alleged attacker reading the Koran and a plume of smoke after the van was driven into the base. Read the full story on Rappler. 

3. Aburizal: ‘There will not be any impeachment attempt against Joko’

Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of the biggest opposition party Golkar, said this after meeting with Jokowi on Tuesday, according to the Jakarta Globe. The meeting was seen to have been an attempt to lure Golkar away from the Red and White Coalition, but it didn’t work. Jokowi announced after that “Golkar will stay with the Red-White Coalition,” but Aburizal added “we have agreed to build a better Indonesia.” Puan Maharani, who leads the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) – Jokowi’s party – in the legislature, previously said she heard rumors of a plan to revise the People’s Consultative Assembly’s (MPR) regulations to allow it to impeach Jokowi. The Red and White Coalition has control of the MPR majority and leadership. 

4. Lippo Group out to break Indonesian cinema duopoly

The Lippo Group, which owns one of the largest mall chains in Indonesia, now wants to have the largest cinema chain as well. The group has begun operating its new cinemas, called Cinemaxx, in its Jakarta and Palembang malls and plans to spend IDR6 trillion ($491 million) to install 2,000 cinema screens in 85 cities within the next 10 years. The industry is currently dominated by Cinema 21, which only has 667 screens for a country of 250 million, according to the Jakarta Globe, which is also part of the Lippo Group. 

5. Area under Jakarta flyover turned into ‘interactive park’ 

The space under the Klender flyover in East Jakarta that used to be filled with street vendors now has a futsal field, skateboard track, basketball and badminton courts, giant chess, table tennis, and outdoor fitness area, according to the official city news portal Beritajakarta.com. By the end of the month, it will also have WiFi access. If all goes according to plan, Jakarta will have more such spaces. Jakarta officials said the Klender park is planned as the model for other spaces under flyovers in Jakarta. – Rappler.com