before we start blaming the president, i have some questions

SBY's position regarding the KPK-Police-AGO debacle... demonstrates a near criminal lack of leadership. Seen in a less charitiable light it could suggest outright participation in a criminal act.
via pagun-view.blogspot.com

I've just finished reading this very good blog post by Patrick (click on the link).

It got me thinking. The President has come under a lot of criticism (including from me) for being indecisive, for flip-flopping and sitting on the fence. Basically, a lot of people (including me) seem to think that SBY didn't do enough -- yet no-one has told us what he should have done.

These are the possibilities:

He should have stopped the Police investigation into Bibit and Chandra

That's called "interference in the judicial process". It's more Megawati's style (remember Prita?), and it is completely unconstitutional. The President must not interfere in the judicial process under any circumstance.

He should have fired the Attorney-General and/or the Police chief

Let's leave aside the question of whether he can actually do that for now. What would it achieve? It certainly wouldn't stop the case. And if it did stop the case, then couldn't you say that the President had interfered in the judicial process? Maybe not directly, but that doesn't matter.

Team 8 was a toothless tiger

It could only make recommendations. He should have given it more power. Power to do what exactly? Stop the case? See above.

The President shouldn't have fired Bibit and Chandra

Absolutely. This is the President's biggest mistake. But guess what. He did that after taking a lot of advice from some very smart people. He got really bad advice. If I was in his shoes, I would be seriously pissed off.

The President should have been more open in his support for Bibit and Chandra 

Really? The Police chief and the Attorney-General both told him that they had undeniable evidence that Bibit and Chandra had received bribes. If I were the President, I would be carefully distancing myself from the KPK commissioners -- not supporting it!

All the accusations of delay and fence-sitting don't really amount to much unless someone says what the President should have done.

Most journalists in this country seem to have forgotten that this is a constitutional democracy and the President must abide by its rules.

See the comments below for Rob Baiton's comments and my response -- if you haven't fallen asleep with boredom yet! 

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Filed under  //   ago   kpk   kpk crisis   police  

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cool people of the week: businessweek indonesia

(download)

The very cool people at BusinessWeek Indonesia have given the Priscilla Hall Foundation free editorial in this week's edition. Thanks BusinessWeek! 

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feeding the media bullshit?

This was just an ordinary tour of duty. As an officer I can neither decline nor choose an appointment
via thejakartapost.com

If I was one of the most hated men in the country, I would probably avoid the press. No matter what he says, he is going to come across as a jerk -- and a liar.

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Filed under  //   kpk   police  

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what does the constitutional court decision about the KPK mean?

After we heard the recordings we discovered several clues that the implication of the KPK deputies had been fabricated
via thejakartapost.com

The Constitutional Court has come out guns blazing again with this pretty stunning statement -- this time from Achmad Sadiki.

Bibit and Chandra won round #1 of the fight when the Constitutional Court decided that the President had broken the law by firing Bibit and Chandra. You might remember that the President didn't actually fire them. He issued a presidential decree called a PERPPU. In the PERPPU, there are two clauses that confirm that Bibit and Chandra have been dismissed.

The Court said that the two provisions in the PERPPU that effectively fired Bibit and Chandra were unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. This means that the two provisions are struck out of the PERPPU as if they never existed.

Actually, the whole PERPPU is now pretty useless, because the whole purpose of it was to appoint replacements.

Now Bibit and Chandra have just won round #2. The Constitutional Court has decided that was a possible fabrication of evidence by Police and/or other people connected with the case (i.e. Anggodo Widjojo).

This is a really important decision. What the Constitutional Court is actually saying is that the Police and Attorney-General should immediately drop the case and investigate the people who are behind the conspiracy.

The odds are very high that this is what will happen. The Police are already talking to the KPK about Anggodo.

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Filed under  //   constitutional court   kpk   police  

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mengubah pembajak menjadi pengusaha yang jujur

Ini dari artikel saya The Jakarta Globe. Seperti biasa, Zata Ligouw menerjemahkan text Inggris. Makasih Zata!

Minggu lalu, pemerintah Inggris mengumumkan undang-undang, yang jika sudah berlaku, akan memaksa penyedia jasa internet untuk menyediakan informasi mengenai tersangka pelanggar-pelanggar hak cipta dan memberhentikan koneksi internet mereka tanpa diadili. 

Pemerintah Inggris adalah salah satu negara yang menjalankan pendekatan garis keras terhadap pembajakan online. Lebih dari 30 negara saat ini sedang bernegosiasi mengenai Perjanjian Perdagangan Anti Pemalsuan atau Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, yang isi ketentuan-ketentuannya mirip dengan RUU milik Inggris. Ini hanya masalah waktu sebelum negara-negara berkembang seperti Indonesia ditekan untuk menjalankan undang-undang yang serupa.

Apakah undang-undang baru yang keras ini akan membuat perbedaan?. Kelihatannya tidak. Bukti-bukti menunjukan bahwa pendekatan garis keras terhadap pembajakan tidak berhasil.

Asosiasi Industri Rekaman Amerika berkampanye selama enam tahun untuk menghentikan berbagi atau sharing musik online yang justru mengakibatkan organisasi ini menuai reputasi jelek dan cemoohan karena targetnya adalah mahasiswa dan para ibu tunggal.

Asosiasi ini menghentikan kampanyenya pada Desember 2008. Meskipun sudah menuntut lebih dari 30.000 orang, kampanye ini tidak banyak berpengaruh dalam menghentikan pembajakan.

Ledakan teknologi baru dan perkembangan platform berbagi konten yang sangat pesat seperti You Tube dan jaringan antar kelompok menciptakan masalah-masalah baru kepada para pemilik hak cipta.

Poster “Hope” Shepard Fairey yang terkenal menjadi simbol pada kampanye Obama tahun 2008 dan kemudian masalah hak cipta mulai panas diperdebatkan. Fairey membuat poster itu dengan mengambil salinan digital atas foto milik AP atau Associated Press dan mengubah cahaya dan pewarnaannya. AP menyatakan bahwa Fairey melanggar hak cipta mereka dengan menggunakan foto tersebut tanpa ijin. Fairey membantah dengan mengatakan bahwa ia hanya menggunakan foto tersebut sebagai referensi visual.

Ini adalah masalah hukum yang kompleks. Membuat undang-undang baru yang keras  tidak akan berpengaruh besar jika tak seorang pun mengerti apa yang  bisa atau tidak bisa mereka lakukan untuk memulai.

Facebook dan YouTube menghasilkan pembajak hak cipta dari jutaan pengguna internet. Solusi terhadap masalah ini mungkin berasal dari YouTube sendiri.

Situs berbagi video ini telah lama menuai kritik karena gagal mengambil langkah-langkah yang memadai untuk mencegah penayangan video-video yang dilindungi oleh hak cipta. Meskipun menampilkan peringatan hak cipta, situs ini membiarkan banyak klip yang tidak sah dari televisi maupun bioskop ditayangkan.  

YouTube tidak melihat video-video tersebut sebelum ditayangkan. Hal itu diserahkan pada pemegang hak cipta untuk mengeluarkan peringatan pencabutan jika menemukan video mereka di YouTube.

Pada 2008, YouTube meluncurkan program mitranya yang memberikan pemasukan kepada pemegang hak cipta atas konten illegal yang ditayangkan di YouTube.

Daripada menghapus kontennya, pemilik hak cipta bisa mendapatkan pemasukan dari iklan yang ada saat video ditayangkan. Program ini meraih kesuksesan besar. Tahun lalu, YouTube mengungkapkan bahwa 90 persen pemilik hak cipta yang mengirimkan peringatan pencabutan kemudian memilih opsi pendapatan.

Tahun ini, YouTube memperluas programnya sehingga orangtua pada umumnya bisa mendapatkan imbalan financial saat video 3 menit anak balitanya yang sedang menari menjadi virus.

YouTube telah cukup baik memecahkan masalah pembajakan hak cipta dengan menyediakan solusi, misalnya dengan sebuah model pendapatan.  Sebagai program yang tumbuh dan terbukti sukses, itu bisa menjadi model yang berguna dalam mengubah masalah seperti halnya pembajakan.

 

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how to get your boss to tweet

A tweeting CEO is a terrific asset. It puts a human face (and voice) to the company... And unlike blogging, tweeting imposes relatively light demands on a CEO's precious time.
via blogs.harvardbusiness.org

Alexandra Samuel over at Harvard Business Publishing has some great suggestions for getting CEOs on to Twitter.

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Filed under  //   twitter  

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a bule's perspective: don't believe what you see on TV

The KPK crisis seems to be winding up nicely. Here's what I have learned so far:

  • Media coverage of the whole debacle has been pretty crap -- particularly TV. There has been way too much speculation on the part of news editors. What scant information we have has been manipulated to make for juicy TV and evocative headlines. 
  • The result? Most people don't understand the case and, worse, there are a lot of silly allegations flying around.
  • People expect a lot from the President, probably way too much. The main complaint against the President is that he didn't get involved. This is not a fair complaint. He couldn't get involved. We should be happy that we have a law-abiding President.
  • We need to put an end to 'rent-a-crowd' protests. They destroy the credibility of genuine protests -- and cause traffic chaos. 
  • In Indonesia -- perhaps more than anywhere else -- it is important that we don't jump to conclusions too quickly.
  • Stick to the facts and you'll be fine. Speculating about a person's motives isn't a good idea, unless you have some good evidence to support your theory.
There are a quite a few people on Twitter who do have a good understanding of the facts. I recommend following Treespotter and reading his blog. He writes in both English and bahasa Indonesia. Rob Baiton also has a good blog. He writes in English, but is a fluent bahasa Indonesia speaker and writer. 

Tree's blog posts in particular can be a bit hard to understand for simple folk like me. But don't let that stop you. If you don't understand, or would like them to explain, ask them in the comments -- in Indonesian if that's easier. They respond quickly to all comments. Don't be scared to ask. And don't worry about looking stupid. 

The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
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Filed under  //   kpk   media   police   president  

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crocodiles, geckos and muppets

We are working alongside the KPK because they probably have more preliminary evidence in the case,” Dikdik said. “We will give them full access to Anggodo for questioning. If the KPK wants to make an arrest, we will lead them to [him].
via thejakartaglobe.com

Finally! The Police have handed Anggodo Widjojo (the muppet) to the KPK on a silver platter.

My guess is that the Police don't have enough evidence to do anything with Anggodo and need the KPK to fill in the (evidential) blanks -- i.e. the taped phone conversations.

It's good to see that this horrible man will get his comeuppance.

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Filed under  //   anggodo   kpk   police  

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sri mulyani and bank century: don't jump to conclusions

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who led the committee that determined that Century needed help, said the bailout was “legal” and failure to act might have “burned” the nation’s finance sector... [and] without the rescue, the country’s banking industry could have faced the threat of a liquidity crisis in light of the global financial meltdown.
via thejakartaglobe.com

One of the the Jakarta Globe's headline confused me this morning. "Indonesia Finance Minister Backs Bank Century Bailout" it reads.

Why am I confused? Because only last week I read an extract from minutes of a meeting where Sri Mulyani clearly warned against the bailout. I was under the impression that she did NOT support the bailout.

Why the contradiction? I think it is because Sri Mulyani is speaking on behalf of the committee -- not in her personal capacity or as the Finance Minister. If this is the case, then it is very important that we don't jump to conclusions.

I seriously doubt that the Finance Minister and the Vice President are involved in anything illegal or inappropriate. Bailing out Bank Century may not have been the best decision, and it certainly led to a much bigger problem -- the Susno-Sampoerna (alleged) crime -- but that doesn't mean that these two are guilty of anything untoward.

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Filed under  //   bank century  

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is youtube the answer to our IP woes?

The following is a reprint of this week's The Jakarta Globe column. You can find the original here.

Last week, the UK government announced a new law that, if passed, would force Internet service providers to provide information about suspected copyright infringers and cut off their Internet connections without trial.

The UK is one of a number of countries adopting a hard-line approach to online piracy. Over 30 countries are currently negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which contains provisions similar to those found in the UK's bill. It is only a matter of time before developing countries such as Indonesia are pressured into adopting similar laws.

Will these new tough laws make any difference? Probably not. Evidence shows that taking a hard-line approach to piracy does not work.

The Recording Industry Association of America's six-year campaign to stop online sharing of music earned the organization a reputation for being heavy-handed. It drew public scorn for targeting university students and single mothers. The association ended its campaign in December 2008. Despite having sued more than 30,000 people, the campaign did little to stop piracy.

The explosion of new technology and the proliferation of content-sharing platforms such as YouTube and peer-to-peer networks are creating new problems for copyright owners. Facebook and YouTube are making copyright pirates out of millions of Internet users.

Shepard Fairey's famous "Hope" poster became symbolic of the 2008 Obama campaign, and then the subject of a heated copyright debate. Fairey created the poster by taking a digital copy of an Associated Press photo and changing the lighting and coloring. AP claimed that Fairey infringed its copyright by using the photo without its permission. Fairey argued that he only used the photograph as a visual reference.

These are complex legal issues. Copyright is difficult to understand at the best of times. Creating tough new laws will do little if no one understands what they can and cannot do to start with.

The solution to this problem may originate with YouTube itself.

The video-sharing site has long been criticized for failing to take adequate measures to prevent copyright-protected videos from being posted. Despite posting copyright warnings, the site allows many unauthorized clips from TV and cinema to be posted. YouTube does not view videos before they are posted. It is left to copyright holders to issue a take-down notice if they find their videos on YouTube.

In 2008, YouTube turned the copyright world on its head by launching its partner program, which provides copyright owners with a means of earning revenue from content illegally posted on YouTube. Instead of removing the content, copyright owners can choose to earn revenue from ads shown when the video is played.

The program has been an enormous success. Last year, YouTube revealed that 90 percent of take-down notices resulted in the copyright owner choosing the revenue option.

This year, YouTube expanded the program so that normal moms and dads can reap the financial rewards when that three-minute video of their break-dancing toddler goes viral. YouTube is quietly solving its copyright piracy problems by providing a solution, namely a revenue model.

As the program grows and proves successful, it could serve as a useful model for turning a problem like piracy on its head.

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Filed under  //   copyright   jakarta globe   piracy   youtube  

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A hyper-opinionated bule with a deep fondness for Indonesia. Mildly outraged but mostly harmless.

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