Tampilkan postingan dengan label Hot Issues. Tampilkan semua postingan
El Clasico, Cules and Madridista Indonesia Sign 5 Big World
In a survey conducted by Marca, it is known that Indonesia has the highest enthusiasm ahead of the passing game full of prestige heat titled El Clasico between Barcelona against Real Madrid on Monday early morning.
The data is taken from the number of social media users are talking about El Clasico Facebook. Amazingly, enthusiasm Cules and Madridista Indonesia able to beat both teams home country, Spain.
If sorted, gossip El Clasico most can be found in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, United States, Indonesia, and then Spain.
Indeed, since the last few years, the number of fans of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Indonesia jumped so dramatically. It would be supported by two of the most phenomenal figure in this modern era, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Tag :
Hot Issues
Indonesia includes United States on new visa-free list, excludes Australia
Jakarta - Indonesia will soon allow tourists from an additional 30 countries to visit without a visa, a minister said, but neighbouring Australia was left off the list amid a row over looming executions.
The move comes as Jakarta seeks to boost a faltering economy, which is growing at five-year lows, and to attract more foreign income as the rupiah rapidly weakens.
The country currently only allows tourists from 15 countries, mostly in Southeast Asia, to visit without a visa. People from a number of other countries can buy a tourist visa on arrival.
The 30 countries added to the list are mainly European, but also include China and several others in Asia, the United States, and some nations in the Middle East and Africa (Including SA), Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said.
"People who want to travel to Indonesia won't need to worry about a visa any more," Yahya said late Monday, as he announced the changes.
"We hope that we can attract an additional one million foreign tourists," he added, saying the policy could bring in an extra $1 billion a year and that he hoped it would come into effect next month.
Indonesia has long lagged behind its neighbours in attracting foreign visitors. In 2013, 8.8 million foreign visitors came to Indonesia, according to official figures, compared with 25.72 million in Malaysia and 26.55 million in Thailand.
But Yahya predicted that "in two years, we will beat those countries" following the introduction of the new policy.
Australia - which accounted for more than 10 percent of Indonesia's foreign visitors in 2013 -- was not included in the list of countries whose citizens will no longer require a visa.
Ties between Indonesia and Australia have deteriorated in recent months as Jakarta prepares to execute two Australian drug traffickers on death row who were convicted of trying to smuggle heroin out of Bali.
Yahya denied the row had played a role, suggesting that Australia was excluded from the list because its own policy required visiting Indonesians to have a visa.
However, most of the 30 countries added to the list require Indonesians to obtain a visa before visiting.
"It's not that we do not want to include Australia," he said.
Though their country was not on Indonesia's visa-free list, Australian nationals can nevertheless purchase a tourist visa on arrival.
The minister also downplayed fears that Indonesia was ill-prepared for a huge jump in the number of tourists.
"We have calculated that if we have a 50 percent increase, our capacity is still more than enough," he said.
Indonesia's economy has been hard hit as investors withdraw funds and redirect them back towards more developed markets, which have recently been showing signs of renewed strength.
The economic woes have seen the rupiah sink to a 17-year low against the dollar in recent days.
Tag :
Hot Issues,
Tourism
Indonesian Gvt to Implement Measures to Combat Current Account Deficit
After a series of good economic data (particularly
US employment) the market expects that the Federal Reserve will raise
its key interest rate in the second or third quarter of 2015 thus
providing ammunition for bullish US dollar momentum (hovering at an
11-years high). Due to the expected higher yield in the USA, capital is
flowing back to the world’s largest economy at the expense of emerging
market currencies, including the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate which
has depreciated 6 percent against the US dollar this year so far.
The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) has signalled on various occasions that it is comfortable with a weak rupiah. Although the institution decided to intervene several times (using its foreign exchange reserves) to soften the rupiah’s fall against the US dollar in recent weeks (in order to avert a plunge), Bank Indonesia considers that the weak rupiah is a remedy for the country’s ailing current account deficit as it makes Indonesian export products more competitive on the global market and therefore should lead to a stronger rupiah on the longer term. This stance was also a reason why Bank Indonesia cut its key interest rate (BI rate) by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent on 17 February 2015 (supported by the country’s easing inflation). Although this move provides room for accelerated economic growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy (which has moderated to a growth pace of 5.02 percent y/y in 2014, or, the slowest pace in five years), it also provides additional pressures on the rupiah rate. Since Bank Indonesia’s interest rate cut in mid-February, the rupiah has weakened 3.4 percent against the US dollar.
Indonesia has been plagued by a structural current account
deficit since 2011, primarily due to a wide deficit in the country’s oil
& gas trade balance. The current account deficit narrowed to 2.95
percent of gross domestic product (USD $6.1 billion) in 2014 from 3.18
percent of GDP in 2013. However, in 2015, the current account deficit is
expected to widen again. Bank Indonesia estimates that the deficit will
stand at about 3 percent of GDP at the year-end. Although, the
country’s oil & gas trade balance should improve markedly this year
on low global oil prices (Indonesia being a net oil importer) and the
government’s subsidized fuel policy reforms, imports will remain high
this year due to imports of capital goods for infrastructure
development. This is a positive change regarding the country's import
composition.
The Indonesian government is also eager to improve the country’s
current account balance, the widest measurement of foreign exchange
flows, including trade, services, interest payments and remittances. The
government announced that it plans to provide exporters (who export a
certain amount of their products) a tax allowance. Companies that
reinvest their profits (instead of repatriating these earnings) can also
count on tax breaks. Companies will be given a 30 percent cut in income
tax bills for a five-year period, a longer loss carry forward period of
10 years, and an income tax rate of only 10 percent on repatriated
dividends. The government further plans to impose a temporary
anti-dumping import tax on steel and textile products in a move to curb
imports (anti-dumping import tax measures will now be implemented
immediately without needing to wait for results of a formal
investigation first). The government also plans to give visa exemptions
to another four countries to boost foreign visitor arrivals and foreign
exchange earnings in the tourism sector. These countries are Japan,
Russia, China and South Korea. Lastly, the government plans to raise the
ethanol content requirement in (palm oil-derived) biodiesel to 15
percent (from 10 percent currently) in a move to reduce imports of
diesel fuel. In the future, this figure will be elevated to 20 percent
and 30 percent. Although Indonesia missed its biodiesel targets in 2014 -
mainly on logistical and infrastructure troubles - the government is
still eager to protect its biofuels industry against the globe’s low
crude oil prices, hence providing more biofuel subsidies.
Tag :
Hot Issues
Grand Mufti of Australia Asked Indonesia To Forgive The Offenders Dead
Myuran Sukumaran (left) and Andrew Chan, two death row Australian drug cases to be executed in Indonesia
Grand Mufti of Australia Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed asked the Indonesian government reconsider the death penalty policy convicted of narcotics. According to him, forgiveness is the core of the teachings of Islam.
"We, as leaders of Islam, respecting the attitude of the Government of Indonesia's efforts to combat drug firm in Indonesia. We do not mean to criticize the judicial system in cases of this time. However, we note that forgiveness and forgiveness is the core (heart) for their Islamic teachings who repent and have improved their way of life. We urge that forgiveness in our religious heritage in full and in-depth consideration in the application of state law, "said Ibrahim, in a release receivedMetrotvnews.com, Wednesday (03/11/2015).
"On behalf of the Australian Muslim community, we ask, with respect and humility, forgiveness of their serious crimes who have rehabilitated themselves," he continued.
Accompanied by some Muslim leaders of Australia, the Grand Mufti Ibrahim met with the Minister of Religious Affairs in Jakarta Lukman Hakim Saifuddin. He plans to meet with some other Muslim leaders in Indonesia to discuss the problem of execution.
The administration of President Joko Widodo confirms the execution will still be done, regardless of the number of appeals and political lobbying. President Jokowi call rate of deaths due to drug RI has been a concern, so that the execution of narcotics cases should be done.
Australia, where two residents were in row convict to be executed in the second wave, the country's most vocal.
Tag :
Hot Issues
Barack Obama on the Death Penalty
America’s opinions on the death penalty have fluctuated greatly over the years. It has been as low as 42 percent in 1966, and reached its height at 80 percent 1994. Currently, 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty. The Democratic Party is in support of the death penalty. The party’s support has diminished over the last 20 years, currently sitting at 49 percent (20 years ago it was at 75 percent). Many Democrats have begun to prefer the option of life imprisonment, according to recent Gallup polls. Consequently, most states that have abolished the death penalty in the last few years have been Democratic leaning states. Since 2007, six states have gotten rid of the death penalty, with no new states adopting it.
Democratic views on the death penalty revolve around the opinion that it must only be used in certain cases. The 2012 Democratic Party Platform stated, “we believe that the death penalty must not be arbitrary. DNA testing should be used in all appropriate circumstances, defendants should have effective assistance of counsel, and the administration of justice should be fair and impartial.” Previous Democratic platforms have stated, “in all death row cases, we encourage thorough post-conviction reviews. We will put the rights of victims and families first again. And we will push for more crime prevention, to stop the next generation of crime before it’s too late.” As a party, Democrats believe that stricter punishment, such as the death penalty, work as a preventative measure to keep crime from happening to begin with.
However, not all Democrats share this view. Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsome of California says, “I think we should repeal the death penalty. It’s not a deterrent; there are racial components to it.” Martin O’Malley, governor of Maryland, believes similarly. He says “It’s wasteful. It’s ineffective. It doesn’t work to reduce violent crime.”
Democrats strongly support the death penalty in cases of those who have murdered policemen and terrorists. Bill Clinton and Al Gore fought to have this punishment put into place for these criminals. The party is currently divided on whether or not the death penalty should be applied to all convicted murderers.
Clayton Lockett
One of the biggest factors that is reducing support of the death penalty is the recent execution of Clayton Lockett in the state of Oklahoma. On April 29, 2014, Lockett was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection. The execution ran late, because the technician struggled to find a place to insert the IV. A drug to knock Lockett unconscious was administered, and after ten minutes, he was deemed unconscious. After three minutes, he began to have a “violent reaction.” He began seizing, and mumbling incoherently. A journalist who was attending the execution stated, “He looked like he was in pain to me. “How much pain, nobody knows but him.” After examining the IV, it was determined that “the blood vein had collapsed, and the drugs had either absorbed into tissue, leaked out or both,” and the lethal injection had not made if fully into Lockett’s system. 33 minutes after he was administered the lethal injection, his execution was cancelled. Ten minutes later, Lockett suffered a massive heart attack, and was pronounced dead.
While events like these aren’t frequent, they make many Americans concerned about the death penalty. Botched executions are considered “cruel and unusual punishment” by many, and a large percentage of Americans would rather see life imprisonment than risk seeing a fellow human subjected to an experience similar to Lockett’s. This event has most certainly led to a decline in support for capital punishment. Likewise, many Americans fear wrongfully executing convicted criminals. In fact, 27 percent of Americans said they opposed the death penalty because it was immoral or not within the rights of citizens, and another 27 percent opposed it due to the “imperfect nature” of the justice system, according to a recent Pew survey. These concerns are not restricted to the Democratic Party, either. A recent Chicago Tribune article exposed mistakenly executed convicts, which led to Republican Governor George Ryan fighting to abolish the death penalty in the state of Illinois.
Barack Obama on the Death Penalty
President Obama is a supporter of the death penalty in certain cases, stating, “I believe that the death penalty is appropriate in certain circumstances. There are extraordinarily heinous crimes, terrorism, the harm of children, in which it may be appropriate.” However, he voted against expanding the death penalty in cases of less severe crimes during his time as a state legislator. He does not believe that the death penalty prevents crime, but rather believes that these crimes simply deserve such a punishment. Obama states, “While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes—mass murder, the rape and murder of a child—so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.”
Obama called the incident in Oklahoma “deeply disturbing,” and has asked for a review of execution policies across the country. A Justice Department spokesperson has stated that “the department will expand this review to include a survey of state-level protocols and related policy issues.”
Obama also sees cause for concern with other aspects of the death penalty. He says, “In the application of the death penalty in this country, we have seen significant problems — racial bias, uneven application of the death penalty, you know, situations in which there were individuals on death row who later on were discovered to have been innocent because of exculpatory evidence. And all these, I think, do raise significant questions about how the death penalty is being applied.”
Hillary Clinton on the Death Penalty
Hillary Clinton is a strong supporter of the death penalty. However, like the rest of her party, she believes that it should be implemented with restrictions. She is a supporter and cosponsor of the Innocence Protection Act, which implements the restriction of requiring DNA evidence for an execution. This bill also provided funding for DNA testing for those facing the death penalty. During her time as first lady, she lobbied for President Clinton’s crime bill, which expanded the number of crimes which were subject to the death penalty.
Source: republicanviews.org
Tag :
Hot Issues
Indonesia president stands firm on looming executions
JAKARTA— Indonesian President Joko Widodo has defended his decision to reject clemency for foreigners on death row for drug smuggling, but said he does not rule out abolishing capital punishment in the future.
Indonesian authorities this week moved the two Australian ringleaders of the so- called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang from Bali to the prison island of Nusakambangan, indicating they would soon be executed.
They are among a group of drug convicts, including foreigners from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana, who are expected to be executed at the same time on the island.
In an interview to Al-Jazeera, Widodo defended his decision to not halt the planned executions, which have sparked diplomatic tensions with Canberra. “About 4.5 million people need to be rehabilitated because of the drugs. Please do not only see the traffickers but also the impact of the drugs trafficking,” he said.
“Please do visit the ( drugs) rehabilitation centre when they are screaming due to the drugs addiction. People must see this from both side, not only from one side,” he added.
But Widodo said that the government would be open to abolishing the death penalty if the Indonesian people wanted change.
“I think we want to listen to what people want first. It’s still a long time to go through and I do not want to talk about the issue now,” he added.
Canberra has warned Jakarta that the execution of the two Australians would have implications, not just in Australia but globally. UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville called on the Indonesian government to halt the executions on Friday, urging the authorities to “reinstate its moratorium on the death penalty and conduct a thorough review of all requests for pardon”.
Tag :
Hot Issues
‘No evidence death penalty deters any crime,’ senior UN official tells Rights Council
Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
Despite progress in recent years to universally abolish the death penalty, major challenges persist, the United Nations top human rights official said today at a high-level debate in Geneva, expressing concern that the death penalty, in practice, is “too often applied to the poor and marginalized foot soldiers” rather than the powerful organizers of the drug business.
“We can do better. We need not kill immigrants, minorities, the poor and those with disabilities to show that we are committed to fight crime,” Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said in his opening remarks to the UN Human Rights Council on the third day and final day of meetings.
The Council kicked off its three-day High-Level Segment on Monday. This is the 47-member body’s 28th session.
At this afternoon’s meeting on regional efforts aiming at the abolition of the death penalty and challenges faced, Mr. Šimonović underscored the need for a unified approach to the global abolition of what he called an “inhuman and outdated punishment.”
“Several countries continue to use the death penalty for drug-related crimes, with the argument that this harsh punishment is needed for deterrence purposes. However, there is no evidence that the death penalty deters any crime,” he emphasized in his remarks.
The Americas were the first to abolish the death penalty in Venezuela in 1867. Following that, many other countries in the region abolished the death penalty leading to the 1990 adoption of the Protocol to the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.
In Africa, many States have taken an abolitionist stance. Meanwhile, in the past sixteen years, no death sentence has been carried out in any of the 47 member States of the European Union. And in the Middle East and Asia, national human rights institutions and civil society are moving the abolitionist movement forward.
As it stands now, some 160 countries have either fully abolished the death penalty or do not practise it. In the last six months, the death penalty was abolished in Chad, Fiji, and Madagascar.
However, despite these strides some countries are seeing a move towards the preservation and even reintroduction of the death penalty, said Mr. Šimonović, pointing out that in 2013, there were more executing States and more victims of execution than in 2012.
“Some States justify the death penalty on the grounds that it is demanded by a large majority of the population, or that without it, it is impossible to fight drug trafficking or terrorism,” he added.
While the need to tackle drug-related offences has to be acknowledged, the focus of crime prevention should be on strengthening the justice systems and making it more effective. And while public opinion cannot be ignored, a country concerned with human rights should not merely accept opinion polls as a reason for retaining the death penalty.
“Indeed, there is clear evidence of mistakes, abuses and discrimination. It has been empirically proved that the more the population is informed on facts, the less it supports the death penalty.”
In recognition of the crucial role that regional organisations play in promoting the abolition of the death penalty, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) plans to hold several regional seminars on moving away from the death penalty this year.
“We hope to gather State officials, lawmakers, practitioners and civil society to discuss at the regional level the challenges aced in moved away from the death penalty and ways to overcome them,” Mr. Šimonović said.
Source: un.org
Tag :
Hot Issues
Death penalty in Indonesia: an executioner's story
A police officer who has been part of an Indonesian firing squad tells how he and his prisoners prepare for the death sentence, and how he hopes those who are killed find their peace.
Indonesian police stand guard at Wijaya Pura port as the Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran pass through on their way to Nusa Kambangan ahead of their execution. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
As Indonesia prepares to execute up to 11 prisoners, including two Australians, a Brazilian and a Nigerian national, amid international uproar, the spotlight has been thrown on the use of the death penalty in the country. There are dozens more prisoners on death row and the government has declared there will be no mercy for those convicted of drug offences, meaning more executions are likely.
The Guardian has spoken to a police officer who has been part of the firing squad which operates on the prison island, Nusa Kambangan. His story is one that reveals the grim reality of Indonesia’s justice system but also the conflicting emotions of those responsible for upholding it.
Pulling the trigger is the easy part, the officer says as he contemplates the executions which are to come.
The worst part is the human touch, he says, the connection with those who are about to die. The executioner has to lace the prisoner’s limbs, hands and feet to a cross-shaped pole with thick rope. It is that final moment of brutal intimacy that haunts.
“The mental burden is heavier for the officers that are responsible for handling the prisoners rather than shooting them,” he says. “Because those officers are involved in picking them up, and tying their hands together, until they are gone.”
The officer – a young man who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of his role – is part of a wing of the Indonesian police corps known as the Mobile Brigade (“Brimob”).
The brigade carries out the executions on top of its regular duties. They are not full-time executioners but rather special police officers assigned to the job.
They are paid less than $100 on top of their existing salary to carry out their grim task.
The officer spoke exclusively to the Guardian, describing the bleakest moments of what he called “his job”, of being the last person to touch the prisoner just moments before they are “released from life”.
The act of execution happens in a jungle-skirted clearing on the prison island of Nusa Kambangan.
One team is assigned to escort and shackle the prisoners, a second team is the firing squad. This officer has been on both of those teams.
“We see the person close up, from when they are alive and talking, until they die,” he said. “We know it [that moment] precisely.”
Five Brimob officers are assigned to each prisoner, to escort them from the isolation cells in the middle of the night and accompany them to the clearing.
The officer says prisoners can “decide if they want to cover their face” before they are tied up to make sure their heart or the position of their body does not move.
Moments before, the prisoner has the option to seek religious counsel.
Using a thick rope known as “tali tambang” in Indonesian, the officer says he avoids speaking to the prisoners when he binds their hands behind their back and onto the poles, kneeling or standing as they wish, but that he treats the prisoners gently.
“I don’t make conversation with the prisoners. I treat them like they are a member of my own family,” he explains, “I say only, ‘I’m sorry, I am just doing the job.’
He says that by the time he escorts the prisoners from their cells to the clearing “they are resigned to their fate, as though it was written like lines on their palm”.
These may be the last steps that Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, will follow, sentenced to death for their part in the Bali Nine trafficking ring.
Eight other death-row inmates, also dressed in white and blindfolded if they choose, will be lined up and shot simultaneously.
In the darkness of the night a torch will shine onto a circle, 10 centimetres in diameter, drawn over their hearts.
The firing squad, made up of 12 Brimob officers, will be five to 10 metres away and will shoot their M16s when given the order. Only some of the officers will have live rounds so they never know who fires the fatal shot.
Officers are chosen for the firing squad based on their shooting ability and mental and physical fitness.
But what emerged from the Guardian’s interview is a complicated portrait of a man who is both a pragmatic killer and reluctant executioner, who hopes he will be forgiven for what he has done.
Of being part of the firing squad, the officer describes the experience with detachment.
“We just come in, grab the weapon, shoot, and wait for the dying to finish. Once the ‘bam’ of the gun we wait 10 minutes, if the doctor pronounces him dead then we return, that’s about it.”
The weapons are placed in position for the officers before the execution.
Of the few executions the officer has been involved in, each has gone according to plan.
“It doesn’t take more than five minutes to be over,” he said.
After they are shot he says: “They go limp directly, because there is no life.”
A doctor examines the prisoners to determine whether they are dead. If the prisoner is not dead, a designated officer is told to shoot them at close range in the head.
The bodies are then transported to a place where they are bathed and placed in coffins and treated according to their respective religious tradition.
Describing the execution process the officer said he sees his role as simply doing his duty, “just carrying out orders based on law” regardless of whether he believes in the death penalty or not.
“I am bound by my oath as a soldier,” he said. “The prisoner violated the law and we are carrying out a command. We are just the executors. The question of whether it is sin or not is up to God.”
That responsibility, he said, also rests with his Brimob superiors.
Considering his involvement and whether he is disturbed by the memories of the executions the officer says that it is best not revisited.
“Whatever happened we don’t bring it up again because that is the experience of being in Brimob,” he says.
After performing the execution the officers undergo three days of classes that include spiritual guidance and psychological assistance.
And there’s a limit to the number of executions an officer can take.
“If we do the executions once or twice it is not a problem, but if we have to do it many times we will certainly be subject to psychological problems,” he said.
Speaking recently to the Jakarta Post, the Brimob’s chief, Brigadier General Robby Kaligis – who was part of the firing squad in the 1980s – acknowledges the psychological strain on his officers.
“The shooting is the easiest part. It’s much harder to ensure that they are mentally prepared,” he says.
And of the dark memories, the Brimob chief tells the paper: “I don’t want to remember that part of my life. We need to focus on the present and the future.”
Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, has said he will not grant clemency to any inmate on death row for drug-related charges, meaning dozens more are in line for the firing squad.
But the Brimob officer who has already taken part in several executions says he is reluctant to be involved in any more.
“I hope that I won’t have to keep doing this indefinitely. There are some 50 people on death row so it could be my turn to execute again,” he says. “I’m not that happy doing it … If there are other soldiers, let them do it.”
One day he hopes he “will not remember these moments” and prays that like the people he has executed, he too will have some solace, in this life, or the next. “I hope the prisoners rest in peace,” he says. “I hope I do too.”
Source: theguardian
Tag :
Hot Issues
