Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Armando Siahaan | January 02, 2011
Over the past 12 months, Indonesia has experienced a string of cases that have sapped the nation’s energy and tested its patience. The political battle over a bank bailout, the increasing prevalence of violent religious extremism, a graft suspect with ties reaching, well who knows how high, who enjoys nipping out of his cell to watch tennis — it’s been one heck of a ride.
Funnily, most of these cases have yet to end. So let’s make some predictions, to be taken with a pinch of salt, of course, on what 2011 may bring to some of these unresolved stories.
Let’s start with football. Following the country’s nail-biting journey in the 2010 AFF Cup, in which a laser beam (and four defensive blunders) denied us the trophy, FIFA somehow decides Indonesia, not Qatar, should host the 2022 World Cup.
But it doesn’t take long for FIFA to annul its decision. Why? The dearth of stadiums that meet international standards, our beloved hooligans who almost obliterated Bung Karno Stadium just days before we hosted Malaysia in the second leg of the AFF Cup final, the palpably abrasive meddling by politicians during sporting events — take your pick.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to FIFA refusing to partner with a football federation whose chairman has been convicted on two counts of graft.
Going back to the AFF Cup final, Indonesia once again stands on the verge of war with Malaysia. Is it possible to get through a year without an Indonesia-Malaysia row?
This time, the hostility is sparked by the notorious vigilante group Bendera, which had previously threatened to round up Malaysians here, burned their flag and, most embarrassingly, hurled feces at their embassy in Jakarta.
Apparently, Bendera just can’t accept that we lost the AFF Cup to Malaysia, blaming the laser beams in particular. So Bendera mobilizes its troops. But due to some budget problems, it only manages to send five soldiers to Malaysia.
With their battle cry of an eye for an eye, these Bendera fighters equip themselves with Rp 5,000 battery-powered flashlights. However, to prevent groups like Bendera from getting up to more shenanigans, the government decides to strengthen the security apparatus. This time, it wants a band of brothers that is not only highly disciplined, but also morally perfect. There really is only one option: the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI).
The government seems to be a big fan of the FPI’s work, judging by its lack of action as the group has gone on rampage after rampage. So why not just make it official and hire them as part of the national security force?
The government this year also finally figures out what to do about the beleaguered Ahmadiyah sect. Rather than protect the Islamic denomination, based on the Religious Affairs Ministry’s suggestion, the country amends the Constitution, appending to the article that guarantees religious freedom the line: “the country believes in the principle of the tyranny of the majority.”
Under the new article, the government decides to isolate other minority religious groups. While all Ahmadiyah members will be corralled on a deserted island off Lombok, all Hindus will be moved to Bali and Christians will be relocated to the country’s east. “Now you don’t have to whine about how hard it is to get a license to build a church, right?” one government official says.
The clause also applies in the government’s war on porn, which is of course spearheaded by Information and Communication Minister Tifatul Sembiring. Backed by the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law, the minister launches a pervasive censorship campaign that sees people arrested for posting pictures of themselves in bikinis on Facebook, suggestive traditional dances on YouTube and sex-related comments on Twitter.
But you can still enjoy the myriad actual porn sites the government has failed to block.
A question then arises over the legality of blocking sexually suggestive comments on Twitter. This is after all a country where the only thing messier than the legal system is Jakarta’s traffic on a rainy Friday night.
Just look at the legal cases that grabbed the country’s attention this year. We have Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the National Police’s former chief of detectives, who blew the whistle on the rats in the force, only to become a graft suspect himself.
There’s also Gayus Tambunan, the rogue tax official facing multiple charges ranging from taking bribes from 140 companies to money laundering and bribing law enforcers.
Interestingly, although the trials for both men have begun, the police have failed to touch those on the receiving end.
To divert attention from these cases, law enforcers focus on the Nazril “Ariel” Irham sex video scandal, fabricating reports that the pop star was also involved in salacious romps with lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the trials of Susno and Gayus are sped up. Susno is convicted and gets a prison cell with air-conditioning, 50-inch TV and a 24/7 butler who makes the best filet mignon in town. Gayus is also convicted, but we’ll probably see him watching women’s tennis at the SEA Games while e-mailing tax-evading companies a list of his colleagues who provide the same services he used to.
Law enforcers by then decide to drop the case against Ariel. But Ariel’s time in jail has helped his career. He writes a song — with a little help from a fellow jailbird, firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, — titled “We Love the Authorities and the United States.”
While law enforcers occupy themselves with these fiascoes, lawmakers decide to continue with their overseas trips, despite mounting public rage. This time, all 560 lawmakers jet off to the moon, reportedly to study its legislative system, only to realize to their chagrin that the shopping is not very good there.
During the trip, they figure out they can legislate more effectively from a lunar base, so they scrap plans for a new Rp 1.3 trillion office tower on earth, and propose a multitrillion rupiah project to relocate the House complex to the moon.
OK, this last one may be a bit too wild. But then again, this is Indonesia, a country where nothing is impossible — literally. So just sit back and enjoy what craziness 2011 may bring us.
Read original post here: Football, Gayus, Intolerance — Can All of Indonesia’s Problems Be Solved in 2011?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments. Any comments irrelevant to the post's subject matter, containing abuses, and/or vulgar language will not be approved.