The wRap Indonesia: Feb. 5, 2015

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesia’s slowing growth rate and developments in the police chief crisis lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia today.

1. Indonesia’s growth rate slows to 5-year low

It doesn’t really come as a surprise: Official figures out Thursday, February 5, show Indonesia’s economy grew 5.01% in 2014 – the slowest rate of expansion since 2009, at the height of the global financial crisis. Indonesia’s economy, long a bright spot among the Group of 20, has been slowing in recent years as the price of its key commodity exports are hit by weakening demand in regional powerhouse China and other major markets. Read the full story on Rappler.

2. Budi Waseso promoted, says ready to be nominated police chief

The head of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division, Insp. Gen. Budi Waseso, was made a 3-star general on Thursday, making him eligible for the police chief position. Budi, who made headlines in January after his division arrested Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, is seen to be close to the problematic current police chief nominee, corruption suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan. Under pressure from activists and the public, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is expected to cancel Budi Gunawan’s nomination and is reportedly looking for a new police chief candidate. If Budi Waseso is nominated, he said he “is ready to serve”. Read the full story in Bahasa Indonesia on Rappler.  

3. Jokowi visits Malaysia amid new row over ‘insensitive’ maid ad

Lawan “@anishidayah: Iklan yg rasis dan merendahkan PRT migran Indonesia. Pak @jokowi_do2 pripun niki? pic.twitter.com/LVg9BCnvUB“

— frenia nababan (@thefr3y) February 3, 2015

Jokowi is scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur later on Thursday for an official visit, his first since being elected last year, just two days after Indonesia formally protested the Malaysian vacuum cleaner ad it says is “utterly insensitive” to the hundreds of thousands of its citizens working as maids in the country. Relations between the two Southeast Asian neighbours have repeatedly been strained over the treatment of Indonesian domestic helpers in Malaysia. In 2012, a flyer advertising cut-rate maid services emerged in Malaysia declaring “Indonesian maids now on sale!” After Malaysia, Jokowi will head to Brunei and then the Philippines. Read the full story in Bahasa Indonesia on Rappler.  

4. Australians on Indonesia death row lose last-ditch legal bid

Two Australian drug traffickers facing imminent execution in Indonesia lost a legal bid to have their cases reviewed Wednesday, February 4, dashing their final hope of avoiding the firing squad. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug-smuggling gang, were arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year for attempting to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday said he had done all he could to save the lives of the two, as their lawyers admitted the situation was “bleak”.

5. Indonesian Trade Minister gets online flak for saying used clothing can transmit HIV

@RachmatGobel is pathetic. Can we hope for education about sexual health when a gov minister believes that you contract #AIDS from clothes

— shaun_ww (@shaun_ww) February 4, 2015

He later retracted it, but the damage was done. Trade Minister’s statement during a legislative hearing on Tuesday that used clothing can transmit HIV will likely now live on in infamy. His statements were made in the context of justifying his ban on the importation of used clothes to protect consumers and domestic products, but health experts and netizens alike were unforgiving. It’s not the first time that ministers in Indonesia have made embarassingly controversial statements about the disease. Former Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring tweeted in 2010 that AIDS stood for Akibat Itunya Dipakai Sembarangan, which translates to “due to reckless use of the penis”. Read the full story in Bahasa Indonesia on Rappler. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com