Tempointeraktif.com - The History of Shia in Indonesia

The History of Shia in Indonesia
Tuesday, 04 September, 2012 | 06:51 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:It is difficult to trace when Shia teachings entered Indonesia exactly. However, Prof. A Hasjmy in his book, “Shia and Ahlussunah: Power Takeover since Early Islamic History in the Archipelago,” writes that Shia has existed in Aceh since the 800s, or 173 Hejira in the Islamic calendar.

The teachings were brought by about a hundred traders from the Arab Gulf, Persia and India, that arrived at Peureulak Port on merchant ships from the Kambey Gulf, Gujarat, led by Captain Khalifah.

They were Shiites who were persecuted in their homelands. The ‘Islamic missionaries’ managed to influence Peureulak residents and within only 40 years, or 1 Muharram 225 Hejira in the Islamic calendar, the Peureulak Islamic kingdom was established. The king was Sultan Saiyid Maulana Abdul Azis Syah, a Shiite and descendant of Quraysh-Arab.

PURWANTO

Rights body to summon energy minister | The Jakarta Post

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik will be summoned to discuss the case of PT Triangle Pase Inc., an Australian mining company allegedly operating without a permit in East Aceh, a human rights official says.

“We will summon minister Jero Wacik and representatives from the company as well. The company has allegedly continued operations without approval from the local administration,” National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) official Ridha said after meeting with East Aceh regency officials in Jakarta on Friday.

Local residents reported PT Triangle Pase Inc. to Komnas HAM for continuing operations after its permit expired in February, Antara reported.

According to Terpiadi Madjid, a community leader in East Aceh, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas extended Triangle Pase’s permit without the consent of the local administration.

According to Triangle Energy’s website, the company has applied to renew its production sharing contract (PSC) for an additional twenty years.

Aceh Set To Become A Major Cacao Producer | Atjeh News

Banda Aceh — The district administration of Nagan Raya of Aceh, said it will open 115 hectares of new cacao plantations to make the commodity its biggest export earner.

“The local farmers would operate the plantations,” Akmaizal, head of the Area Expansion and Supervision of the regional Forestry and Plantation Office, said.

The government will support the farmers with high yield seed variety and fertilizers, Akmaizal said on Tuesday.

He said cacao plantations in the regency of Nagan Raya are relatively small compared with other districts in Aceh.

He said the regency of Nagan Raya has only 4,500 hectares of cacao with annual production averaging 400-500 kg per hectare.

The opening of new plantations would make the district a major producer of that commodity.

The district’s production of cacao beans could reach 19,310 tons a year , he said.

Indonesia with annual production of around 550,000 tons, is the world’s third largest producer of cacao beans after the Ivory Coast and Ghana in Africa.

The country’s cacao production center is Sulawesi especially West Sulawesi.

The government has a program to revitalize the country’s cacao plantations with the Cacao National Movement launched in 2008.

With the program the country’s production of cacao beans is expected to reach 1.2 million tons in 2014.

Unlike the two African countries Indonesia will rely more on domestic market to dispose of its cacao beans with the imposition of an export tax on beans.

The export tax aimed at guaranteeing feedstock for domestic industries, resulted in an increase in cacao bean consumption in the country to 180,000 tons in 2010 from 125,000 tons in the previous year.
Last year, the domestic requirement was estimated to reach 280,000 tons especially with falling price in international market.

The price of cacao beans has been reported hitting the rock bottom or the lowest in 32 months on oversupplies.[]

Antaranews

Endangered Sumatran Elephant’s Surprise Birth: It’s a Girl! | The Jakarta Globe

Banda Aceh. A trained Sumatran elephant named Suci has given birth at Conservation Response Unit Sampoiniet in Aceh Jaya, Aceh. 

Wahdi Azmi, field manager for the Aceh branch of Flora & Fauna International, a conservation group, said that Suci gave birth to a female calf early on Tuesday morning. 

CRU staffers were not there to witness the birth of the calf, as Suci, 20, had not been displaying any signs of labor. 

“Yesterday, when the CRU team woke up, they were surprised to see Suci already gave birth,” Wahdi said 

He added that the team thought Suci was 44 weeks pregnant, and elephants generally have a gestation period of 88 weeks, or 22 months, the longest of any land mammal. 

The baby elephant, which weighs about 70 kilograms and stands 80 centimeters in height, is in good condition, according to Wahdi. She has been named Ayu Rosalina. 

According to Wahdi, Suci began mating with a wild elephant that lived in the forest area around CRU Sampoiniet’s Camp 21 months ago. 

CRU is a program collaboration between the local Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Aceh Jaya Forestry Agency, Aceh Protection and Monitoring Program of Flora and Fauna International and a local community ranger institute. 

“The program, which has been running since 2009, is aimed at building community-based forestry security mechanisms and mitigating conflict between the community and wild animals,” Wahdi said. 

The CRU Sampoiniet team has five trained elephants used as rides during forest patrols, but the elephants are also an important tool to raise awareness and provide conservation education. 

The Sumatran elephant has been declared critically endangered, with its population in Aceh estimated at only 500. 

The number of Sumatran elephants in the wild has dropped dramatically in the past four years. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has said the species is now one step away from extinction.

Police Admit Aceh Officers’ Role in Drug Trafficking | The Jakarta Globe

Banda Aceh. Police in Aceh destroyed more than 2,000 kilograms of marijuana on Wednesday and admitted the involvement of their own personnel in the high-volume trafficking of the drug in the province. 

Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan, the Aceh Police chief, oversaw the incineration of the 2,361 kilograms of marijuana, 1.79 kilograms of heroin and 6,000 pot plants at the provincial police headquarters. 

He said the drugs, with an estimated street value of Rp 11 billion, were seized throughout the course of the year by police and by customs officers from five suspects, two of whom remain at large. 

Iskandar said the marijuana represented just a fraction of the more than 15,500 kilograms seized from around 700 suspects since the start of the year. 

He blamed the high volume of the drug on the involvement of police, citing the arrest last week of an officer in Medan, North Sumatra, for alleged drug trafficking. 

“The marijuana bosses are exploiting our officers to ensure the smooth flow of their operations,” he said. 

However, he did not say whether his office planned to charge any officers for complicity in trafficking or whether any preventive programs would be put in place. 

The police chief was speaking next to the bales of marijuana, which in keeping with standard police procedure for the destruction of narcotics had been set on fire. 

Last December, Iskandar revealed that up to 1,000 of the Aceh Police’s 13,000 officers had tested positive for drug use, but no charges were ever pressed against them. 

Instead, they were sent on a monthlong reform program. 

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) lists Aceh as the province with the highest rates of marijuana trafficking and use, and fourth nationwide for all drug trafficking based on estimated street value. 

Basri Ali, head of the BNNP, the provincial office of the BNN, said the situation was “growing dangerous.” 

“What makes it worrying is that marijuana is no longer just being sold in big cities here, but is also available in kampungs,” he said, adding that dealers were increasingly targeting non-traditional users such as schoolchildren and office workers. 

“If this isn’t addressed urgently, the younger generation will be ruined.” 

Suara Pembaruan

Indonesian utility seeks $200m to construct gas-fired plant in Aceh - Energy Business Review

Indonesian utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced it was seeking funding to build a $200m gas-fired power plant in Arun of Aceh region in the country.

PLN planning and risk management director Murtaqi Syamsuddin was quoted by the JakartaGlobe as saying that the opportunity has been made available to interested bidders.

"The winner will be announced by early next year, so that the construction can start," Syamsuddin said.

PNL will supervise the construction of the 200MW power plant, while the winner will provide the funding for the engineering, procurement and construction.

Syamsuddin said this project comes amid plans to convert Arun liquefied natural gas plant into a receiving terminal and regasification facility.

In May, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding with oil major BP under which daily 230m standard cubic feet of natural gas will be allocated to PLN.

After completion of the project in 2014, the utility intends to close down the operation of a 150MW diesel-fuel power plant in Aceh.

Aceh’s Delay in Establishing Truth Body a Setback: Amnesty | The Jakarta Globe

The Aceh provincial legislature’s decision to further delay the setting up of a truth and reconciliation commission is a major setback to end impunity in the region, a leading human rights group says. 

Amnesty International has been urging the Aceh parliament and central government to deliver on their promises made in 2005 and commit to ensuring truth, justice and full reparation for victims and their families during the era in which the province was militarized. 

“There has been little progress in ensuring accountability for crimes committed during the armed conflict in Aceh, including murders, rape and other crimes of sexual violence, disappearances, torture and other ill-treatment,” Josef Roy Benedict, Amnesty International’s campaigner for Indonesia, said in a statement on Saturday. 

The organization said that the 2005 Helsinki Peace Agreement and the 2006 Law on Governing Aceh contained provisions for the establishment of a Human Rights Court and an Acehnese branch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

“However both have yet to be established,” Benedict said. 

Last week, Abdullah Saleh, a member of Commission A of the Aceh provincial council, said that the council would have to wait for the passing of the national truth and reconciliation commission law. 

“We have to delay setting up the commission while we wait for Jakarta to pass the law first,” he said. 

Amnesty said that the establishment of truth commissions did not relieve states of their obligation to bring those suspected of criminal behavior under international law to trial. 

He added that an important step is to understand the circumstances that led to past violations, claiming that learning from the past will ensure that such crimes will not reoccur. 

“All victims of gross human rights violations, crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law have a right to know the truth,” the statement read. 

More than 15,000 people were killed and thousands more disappeared during Aceh’s pro-independence movement from the 1970s to early 2000s. 

The Indonesian Military (TNI) launched a crackdown on separatists until the state of emergency in the province was lifted briefly between early 2000 and 2003. 

In 2003, the TNI again declared Aceh a military emergency zone and moved to quash the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Though fighting flared up again after that, a devastating tsunami in 2004 refocused the country’s efforts toward rehabilitation and eventually led to a peace agreement. 

Amnesty said it met with victims’ groups from Aceh who told the organization they continue to demand to know the truth about the harm they suffered. They want to know the causes, facts and circumstances in which such violations took place. 

The organization also met family members, particularly of those who were killed or disappeared, who wanted to establish the fate and whereabouts of their loved ones. 

“They expressed disappointment that they continue to be ignored by the authorities,” Benedict said.

After Aceh teen’s suicide, media to review reporting | The Jakarta Post

Hotli Simanjutak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh | Archipelago | Tue, September 18 2012, 10:23 AM

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Paper Edition | Page: 5

Local journalists want the Press Council to investigate reports that Aceh’s media reported unconfirmed allegations voiced by local sharia police that led a teenage girl to kill herself.

“We urge that the case be immediately addressed, as the media had a lot to do with the teen’s suicide,” Taufik Al Mubara, the head of the Banda Aceh chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), said.

The body of the 16-year-old girl, identified as PE, was found hanged in her home in Langsa, East Aceh, on Sept. 6. Several newspapers had printed the allegations of the sharia police that the girl was a prostitute.

“The media has committed a ‘trial by press’ by reporting that the arrested woman was a prostitute without confirmation and only using quotations and information provided by the sharia police,” said Taufik.

The reports were published by ProHaba, a local newspaper operated by Serambi Indonesia, a regional media group owned by Kompas Gramedia; the Medan, North Sumatra, edition of Waspada, and the Medan edition of Rakyat Aceh, owned by the Jawa Pos group.

The tabloids published stories that said two girls were arrested by sharia police at Merdeka Square in Langsa, East Aceh, as they watched a concert on Sept. 3.

The next day, ProHaba published a report titled “Two teenage sex workers arrested by sharia police”, while articles with similar headlines were published by Rakyat Aceh and Waspada.

Apparently wrought with guilt and shame, PE hanged herself, leaving a suicide note addressed to her father.

The note said: “Father, forgive me, for I have brought shame on you and others, but I swear that I‘ve never sold myself to others. That night, I was just watching a concert in Langsa, and I was sitting on the field with a friend.”

The three newspapers allegedly did not verify the claims of the sharia police, according to Banda Aceh chapter of the AJI. “Without confirmation, the media immediately judged PE as a prostitute,” Taufik said.

Langsa Islamic sharia office head Ibrahim Latif told the AJI that PE never mentioned that she was a sex worker, Taufik said.

BERNAMA - 28 Acehnese Students Undergo Industrial Training At Kedah Government Offices

BERNAMA - 28 Acehnese Students Undergo Industrial Training At Kedah Government Offices

BERNAMA - 'Saman Dance' Enlivens APEC Summit In Vladivostok

BERNAMA - 'Saman Dance' Enlivens APEC Summit In Vladivostok

Former RI VP joins Myanmar peace process | The Jakarta Post

Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), former vice president Jusuf Kalla traveled to Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar, on Monday, to join talks on finding peaceful solutions to long-standing civil conflict in the country.

Kalla said that in the forum he shared some of the best practices from Indonesian experience in striking a peace deal in Aceh.

“We told the Myanmarese government that the most important issue in negotiations with insurgent groups is that the groups need to leave the past behind and start talking about future plans. A peace negotiation is about building a future and not history,” Kalla said after the meeting.

Kalla said that in order for the peace talks to be successful, the Myanmarese government needed to address the problem of injustice among minority groups in the country.

He also said that conflict settlement and peacemaking needed political stability, economic stability and socioeconomic 
development.

Kalla represents an Indonesian delegation invited to join the meeting by the Geneva-based Center for Humanitarian Dialogue. A team sent by the Philippine government to talk about its experience in dealing with the insurgent groups in its restive southern province of Mindanao also attended.

Joining Kalla in the meeting were former law and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin, who led the government’s negotiating team in the Helsinki peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret.) Endriartono Sutarto.

Representing the Myanmarese government is U Aung Min, the chief negotiator in the peace talks with the insurgent groups in the country.

As part of the government-initiated reforms in Myanmar, the military junta has taken a bold peace initiative to talk with insurgent groups in the country that it had engaged in a devastating 60-year long civil war. 

President Thein Sein has made resolving ethnic conflict a key component of the reform agenda.

Myanmar has 11 major armed ethnic groups spread across seven states, and many more smaller groups and militias. Over the past year, cease-fires have been agreed upon or renewed with 10 out of the 11 groups. An agreement has not yet been reached with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO).

Soe Thein said that Myanmar could learn from the experiences of other countries.

He also said that the Myanmarese government was in critical need of international support and assistance for the peace process.

Serving as vice president, Kalla has been credited as the prime mover behind the Helsinki peace agreement in August 2005, a deal that brought an end to more than 30 years of violence in Aceh, which had killed more than 15,000 people. Due to his position, and the sensitivities of the negotiations, Kalla often had to play a very subtle, behind-the-scenes role.

Prior to his work in the Helsinki talks, Kalla served as coordinating people’s welfare minister under president Megawati 
Soekarnoputri, where he took a lead role in mediating talks between conflicting parties during the Malino I and Malino II peace agreements that formally ended the conflicts in Poso and Maluku in 2001 and 2002, respectively.

Aceh teen’s suicide linked to sharia practice | The Jakarta Post

Aceh teen’s suicide linked to sharia practice | The Jakarta Post

Security in Aceh still fragile, experts say - khabarsoutheastasia.com

Aceh's new governor is urged to co-operate fully with national, local security forces, and to calm lingering political tensions.

By Wella Sherlita for Khabar Southeast Asia in Jakarta

September 06, 2012

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The new leadership in Aceh must remain vigilant about security in the province, where a militant training camp was uncovered in 2010, officials and experts agree.

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  Zaini Abdullah, former foreign minister of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), casts his ballot in the Pidie district of Aceh Province on April 9th. Zaini won the election and has served as Aceh's new governor since June 25th. [Stringer/Reuters]
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  Indonesian police officers gather after a raid on an Islamic militant training camp in Aceh Besar on March 6th, 2010. Officials and experts say Aceh's new leadership must remain vigilant about the threat of terrorism in the province. [Stringer/Reuters]

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The province is still considered a potential haven and training place for armed terrorists, and Aceh's new governor and deputy governor have been asked to boost co-operation with police and public order forces, according to the head of the State Intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara/BIN), Lieutenant General Marciano Norman.

"We don't see signs of anything that is going to threaten the new leadership in Aceh. There was a terrorist group that set up a military training camp there, but we have confirmed that the group was not part of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM)," Marciano told Khabar Southeast Asia recently in Jakarta.

"But the new government in Aceh must carry out surveillance that is better, more careful than before," he added.

Marciano said he met with new Governor Zaini Abdullah – who served as GAM's foreign minister -- and Deputy Governor Muzakir Manaf , ex-commander-in-chief of GAM's armed forces, shortly after their June 25th inauguration.

He told them that henceforth all security activities must be conducted within the structure of the provincial government. If they have activities or need a security escort, they must use established police or public order personnel.

"There will be no more party task forces with the connotation of ex-combatants. I hope the process in Aceh improves, that the elected governor and deputy governor are now leaders of all the people of Aceh. No more 'my group', 'your group', or 'their group'," Marciano said.

He admitted there was euphoria among their followers after Zaini and Muzakir assumed power, unseatinganother former GAM leader, Irwandi Yusuf, after a campaign season marred by violence and allegations of voter intimidation.

"But I asked for this to be defused immediately. The tension has to be quickly calmed and they must merge with other social groups immediately," he said.

Undetected militant camps

Conditions in Aceh are still conducive for terrorism, because the region has not achieved stability and some areas are not yet monitored by the government, according to Al Chaidar, a professor and terrorism expert at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh.

In 2010, the Indonesian military (Tentara National Indonesia/TNI) and national police discovered a militant training camp in Jantho, Aceh, dealing a major blow to terror networks in the region. But the work is far from over, according to Al.

"Outside Jantho, they are still in North Aceh and Central Aceh. Between Nagan Raya (West Aceh) and North Aceh, there are still two more militant camps that have gone undetected by the National Police Agency and even TNI," he told Khabar in a phone interview.

He said Zaini and Muzakir have already put forward good effort in co-operating with the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) as it combs suspected terrorist havens.

Of the 71 people arrested at the terror camp in Aceh, 13 were Acehnese, and four had links to the province's former fight against the central government that ended in 2005, he said.

"Strong collaboration with TNI and the national police is needed to address this serious potential threat. It isn't only threatening the Republic of Indonesia, but also the existence of the Free Aceh Movement," said Al, a longtime specialist on Aceh.

Any potenial link between GAM and terrorists threatens the validity of former GAM members now serving in government, analysts say. The Indonesian government and GAM now have a shared interest in keeping Aceh safe from terrorism.

Impunity for election violence?

Local journalists say the real security problem in Aceh is the pre-election violence that terrorised civil society, just as in the old days when civilians were caught between warring parties of the separatist rebellion.

"Security disturbances began in the lead-up to the election and afterwards, and there is no decision yet on sentences for the suspects, former combatants who carried out shootings, bombings, and terror," said Maimun Saleh, chairman of the Aceh branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).

Maimun noted that Jakarta, the local government, the military and society as a whole should increase their awareness to maintain security around the region.

Sharing natural resource wealth during war-to-peace transitions

NGOs slam forest concession reactivation | The Jakarta Post

Aceh’s title as a “green” province may likely end with the reactivation of production forest concessions (HPH) in Aceh by the new administration of Zaini Abdullah and Munakir Manaf.

“The Forestry Ministry is currently lobbying the new Aceh administration to reactivate the HPH, which was earlier suspended during Irwandi Yusuf’s administration,” said Greenomics Indonesia coordinator Vanda Mutia Dewi.

According to Vanda, Greenomics recorded around 10 production forest concessions from the previous Aceh administration.

Greenomics Indonesia has strongly criticized the planned reactivation of the 10 HPH permits in Aceh by the Forestry Ministry.

“We strongly criticize the plan to reactivate the HPH operation licenses, which were earlier imposed as a moratorium by previous governor Irwandi Yusuf,” said Vanda.

Vanda urged the current Aceh Governor Zaini not to commit to a political compromise by agreeing to reactivate HPH operations in Aceh.

According to her, Zaini should continue the moratorium and seek an alternative to curb illegal logging effectively and ensure the supply of timber for development and the housing needs of people.

Vanda said Greenomics Indonesia had given several reasons why it had been firm in requiring the stoppage of HPH operations in Aceh, such as the 10 HPH permits covering 819,892 hectares, which were located within and around the Leuser ecosystem. 

Besides that, nearly 300,000 hectares of the forest concession areas are in the form of protected forests and conservation areas.

“The 10 production forest concessions are located in 15 regencies and mayoralties that are ecologically at risk of natural disasters, such as floods and landslides,” said Vanda.

Vanda urged Zaini to study the facts carefully and not mix particular political agendas to reactivate the HPH in Aceh.

The Aceh Indonesia Environmental Forum said that the planned issuance of HPH permits in Aceh was a step backward in efforts to save the environment, especially conservation forests in Aceh.

The Aceh chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) even deemed that the numerous logging moratorium programs in Aceh had not been fully implemented by the former administration and had become a burden for the new administration.

“The new administration should be extra careful in issuing HPH or mining permits again as they could damage the forests in Aceh,” said Aceh Walhi coordinator Teuku Zulfikar.

Court grants Walhi appeal, cancels plantation permit in Aceh | The Jakarta Post

Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah has been instructed to revoke a legally problematic business permit owned by oil company, PT Kallista Alam, which operates in the carbon-rich Tripa peat swamps in Nagan Raya regency, Aceh, by the Medan Administrative Court after granting an appeal filed by the Aceh chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

The permit was granted to the company by former Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf on Aug. 25, 2011, contradicting Presidential Instruction No. 10/2011 on the moratorium of new permits in primary forests and peatland conversion areas.

Walhi Aceh's executive director, Teuku Muhammad Zulfikar, applauded the verdict, which was signed by a panel of judges led by Arpani Mansur on Aug. 30, saying it was an important ruling supporting efforts to protect more than 61,000 hectares of Tripa peatland.

“We urge the Aceh governor to immediately follow up the verdict by revoking the company’s permit, as well as evaluating all permits owned by other oil palm companies operating in the area,” Zulfikar said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post Digital on Wednesday.

Tripa peat swamp is peatland with a depth of three meters or more, meaning it is protected under a 1990 presidential decree.

PT Kallista Alam is also the subject of an ongoing investigation by the National Police for allegedly illegally burning the protected peat swamp to convert the area into an oil palm plantation, further threatening the ecosystem of about 200 orangutans that live in the area.

Shariah Police Arrest Five in Banda Aceh Punk Raid | The Jakarta Globe

Shariah Police Arrest Five in Banda Aceh Punk Raid | The Jakarta Globe: