spruiked: jakarta style

This is not a question of intervention or non-intervention. It is about the responsibility of the president as head of state

It is hard to believe that only two weeks have passed since the President addressed the nation. He told us in earnest that he could not interfere in the KPK crisis because, in his words, the justice system "will be ripped apart."

That is no longer an issue. In less than a week, the Attorney-General and Police chief have by themselves destroyed what little trust and confidence the public held in the two institutions. The justice system has been badly crippled, if not mortally wounded.

These men have revolted Indonesians with their arrogance. They have discredited the hundreds of thousands of men and women that work for them. It is disgusting to think that the replacement for General Sutanto -- who was praised internationally -- -- could so quickly damage the Indonesian National Police.

Who was not sickened by the Attorney-General as he whined like some Old Testament snake. "I didn't want this job," he cried, "but it is God's will."

God's will? That drivel only works on peasants.

The prophecy has come true. The justice system is in disarray. As the Attorney-General and Police chief did their best to bury the justice system in filth, the Constitutional Court worked overtime to save it. The unimaginable became reality as the nation's top judges took the President head on.

At first martyrs, the victims of this Greek tragedy, Bibit and Chandra, have become national heroes.

But the biggest heroes are the people of Indonesia, for their unwavering call for an end to this debacle.

"Save our beloved KPK," they demanded, echoing the war cry of the 1,2 million strong Facebook group, Gerakan 1 juta Facebookers Dukung Chandra Hamzah dan Bibit Samad Riyanto.

The Indonesian people don't care about the integrity of the justice system or political protocol. "Just do it!" they demand.

Stand tall, my friends. There is as least once crotchety Pondok Indah expat who thinks you're just great.

Check out Jerry Aurum's website. He is another awesome Indonesian photographer.

The one app keeping me hooked to my iPhone, the one app I would really miss if I ever traded up to an Android phone... PicPosterous. This nice little app is the perfect blogging tool for budding photographers like me.

Posterous has just updated their awesome app so that it is actually better than their web-platform! Thanks guys!

Susno’s bank account had mysteriously swelled

The Team of 8 has begun looking for connections between the Bank Century case and the Police case against Bibit and Chandra.

Basically, the Team wants to know if whether high ranking Police officers plotted to bring down Bibit and Chandra because they had uncovered bad things in the Bank Century case.

Here's what happened, as far as I can work out:

• Bank Century was having liquidity problems (i.e. it couldn't pay its debts) and the government had frozen all its customers bank accounts.
• One of the bank's richer customers, Boedi Sampoerna, contacted Police chief detective Susno, and asked him to help him get his money out of the bank -- Rp 2 trillion ($18 million).
• Susno (allegedly) agreed to do so, if Boedi Sampoerna paid him Rp 10 billion ($1 million).
• Little did they know, this telephone conversation was being taped by the KPK, which was investigating the bank.
• Susno's bank account then "mysteriously swelled", presumably with Rp 10 billion.
• Susno found out that he had been wiretapped.
• Antasari was arrested for murder, and the Police launched their campaign against Bibit and Chandra.

Susno maintains that he deliberately tricked the KPK into thinking he had asked for a bribe, just so he could confirm who was wiretapping him.

Who do you believe?

One of the nicest commercials I have seen for a mobile phone, like ever.

I am fortunate enough to be selected as one of the fellows in Paragon 100, an event held by the Foundation for Youth Social and Entrepreneurship (FYSE) that aims for the development of Asia's young entrepreneurs. I hope this venture could bring a lot

Congratulations to Bellamy for his selection!

This is one of the Big Picture's best photo essays yet. Really stunning photos from Cuba.

It's pretty scary to see how quickly a bit of rain brought the city to a grinding halt. Thanks Aulia for posting these pics!

New Zealand has been picked by Lonely Planet as one of the Top 10 travel destinations in the world. Cool! So go already!