Below is a list with tagged columns and company profiles.
Today's Headlines Scandals
There is still no end in sight to the drama at Indonesian food processing company Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food. An emotional Joko Mogoginta, the company's president director, walked out of the General Meeting of Shareholders on Friday (27/07) after several hours of debate saying that a "hostile takeover" had happened.
During the first trading session on Monday (11/09) shares of Mitra Keluarga Karyasehat, Indonesia's largest listed hospital operator in terms of market capitalization, plunged 4.27 percent to IDR 2,020 per share after a high degree of negative attention in Indonesian media. This weak performance is linked to a scandal that emerged over the weekend.
Shares of Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food, the Indonesian food manufacturer and distributor that is plagued by a scandal, shows a volatile performance on Monday (24/07). After having plunged 24.92 percent to IDR 1,205 a piece on Friday, its shares continued to tumble after markets opened on Monday. It fell to IDR 905 per share shortly after opening. However, after about 40 minutes it started to show a great recovery.
Shares of Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food, an Indonesian company that is engaged in food processing, rice processing and the palm oil business, tumbled by a whopping 24.92 percent on Friday (21/07) to IDR 1,205 a piece. This huge loss followed after the raid and sealing of a factory owned by Indo Beras Unggul, a subsidiary of Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Food.
The second woman that was arrested in Kim Jong Nam's murder case is an Indonesian citizen named Siti Aishah, who originates from Banten in the western part of Java. Malaysian authorities announced the arrest of the Indonesian citizen. This was later confirmed by Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry. Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader, was poisoned on Tuesday (14/02) at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Indonesian authorities requested consular access in order to provide legal assistance to the Indonesian citizen.
After suspending cooperation with US multinational banking and financial services firm JP Morgan Chase (for the underweight rating, a double downgrade), Indonesia has also suspended military ties with Australia after 'offensive training materials' were seen at the Special Air Service base in Perth where members of the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) were doing military training. Major General Wuryanto, Indonesian military spokesman, said on Wednesday (04/01) that all forms of cooperation between the Indonesian and Australian military have been suspended.
Indonesia's Regional Representatives Council speaker Irman Gusman will be removed from his position on Tuesday (20/09) after being named a suspect by the nation's anti-corruption watchdog (Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK) in Indonesia's latest corruption case. Allegedly, Gusman accepted a IDR 100 million (approx. USD $7,500) bribe for lobbying to manipulate West Sumatra's sugar import quota. Earlier this year State Procurement Agency Bulog imposed the quota to a company called CVSB. It is yet another graft case related to Indonesia's import quota system for food commodities.
A group of Islamic activists in Indonesia, called the Family Love Alliance (in Indonesian: Aliansi Cinta Keluarga, or AILA), are pushing for an amendment of an existing Indonesian law that criminalizes sexual acts between adults and minors of the same gender. AILA activists filed for a judicial review of this law at Indonesia's Constitutional Court and want authorities to include sexual acts between adults of the same gender. The existing law mandates a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
Just after midnight in the early hours of Friday (29/07) Indonesia executed four people by firing squad - three Nigerians and one Indonesian convicted drug traffickers - on the remote Nusa Kambangan island (part of the province of Central Java). The government gave the green light for these executions, resisting fierce international criticism, as it remains committed to its "war on drugs". However, the fate of ten other inmates who were recently moved to Nusa Kambangan to face their imminent executions remains unknown.
Despite fierce international criticism, Indonesia will go-ahead with the executions of 14 convicted drug traffickers, including 10 foreigners (from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan). According to local media coffins have already arrived at the Nusa Kambangan prison island (Central Java) where executions usually take place, while the families of those who face imminent executions have already been informed. The executions, by firing squad, are expected to be conducted tonight or tomorrow (traditionally around midnight).
Latest Columns Scandals
One of Indonesia's largest listed property developers - Agung Podomoro Land - saw its shares plunge 10 percent on Monday (04/04) after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the country's anti-graft agency, named the company's President Director Ariesman Widjaja a suspect in a bribery case that also involves a Jakarta legislator. Allegedly, Muhammad Sanusi, legislator of the Jakarta provincial assembly and member of Prabowo Subianto's Great Indonesia Party (Gerindra), accepted money in exchange for support related to the Pluit City project.
Jero Wacik, Indonesia's former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (2011-2014) and Minister of Culture and Tourism (2004-2011), could face nine years in prison, a fine of IDR 350 million and may have to pay compensation up to IDR 18.8 billion to the government. These are the demands expressed by prosecutor Dody Sukmono at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Thursday (21/01). Wacik is being accused of mishandling ministerial funds and extortion by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Former Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali (who was also Chairman of the Islamic political party PPP) was sentenced to six years in jail and a fine of IDR 300 million (or three additional months in prison) by the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor) on Monday (11/01). Suryadharma was found guilty of self-enrichment by deliberately mishandling state funds that were allocated to the hajj pilgrimage program covering the financial years 2010-2013.
Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), the central government's agency that regulates and supervises Indonesia's financial services sector, needs to hire hundreds of new staff in order to safeguard monitoring of the nation's banking sector and to enhance its early warning system in order to detect possible corruption cases. As up to 350 OJK workers are expected to return to the central bank per 1 January 2017, good monitoring of the banking sector is in jeopardy.
With the forest fires still raging on parts of the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, damaging the tropical environment, while the toxic haze still spreads to other parts of Southeast Asia, having caused an estimated 500,000 cases of respiratory tract infection as well as 19 casualties, the ongoing disaster has been labelled a crime against humanity. A new and interesting research report, released by Dr. Herry Purnomo (scientist at the Bogor-based Center for International Forestry Research), points to a link between local elections and spikes in Indonesian forest fires.
In the past couple of days Indonesian media touched upon the government’s proposal to revive a law that had been removed by Indonesia’s Constitutional Court in 2006. This law makes the act of insulting the Indonesian president an illegal act and can lead to prison sentences and fines. Criticism on the government’s proposal immediately emerged as several legislators and human rights activists fear that freedom of speech will be curtailed in the young democracy. Moreover, it can further erode public support for President Joko Widodo.
Berlin-based Transparency International released the 2014 edition of its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) earlier this week. In the new edition Indonesia was ranked 107th (out a total of 175 countries), up from 114th in the previous edition. As such, Indonesia continues to improve gradually through the ranks of the index. However, with a score of 34 (out of a possible - and perfect - score of 100) the country still lags behind its regional peers such as Singapore (84), Malaysia (52) and the Philippines (38).
The Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, OJK) of Indonesia announced that it has declared five Indonesian insurance companies insolvent as they do not meet capital requirements. OJK official Dumoly Freddy Pardede said that Bakrie Life, Asuransi Jiwa Tugu Mandiri and MAA General Assurance are three of the five insolvent companies. He refrained from mentioning the names of the other two insurance companies. The OJK will continue to monitor the five companies and force them to meet all capital requirements.
At 14:00 pm local Jakarta time zone, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) is expected to announce its decision on Prabowo Subianto’s election result challenge. The defeated presidential candidate filed a court case claiming that massive fraud and violations took place amid the voting and counting processes in the context of Indonesia’s July 2014 presidential election, won by Joko Widodo (securing 53.15 percent of the votes). Although the court’s decision is final and legally binding, Subianto not expected to surrender yet.
Former Deputy Governor of Indonesia's central bank (Bank Indonesia) Budi Mulya was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and a fine of IDR 500 million on Wednesday (16/07) after being found guilty of self-enrichment and corruption in connection to the government's USD $573 million bailout package for Bank Century in 2008 when, amid the global financial crisis, this bank was on the brink of collapse. However, many disagree that Bank Century was about to collapse as no deep analysis had been conducted on the financial condition of the bank.
