Funny business

Taxation, Politics, Funny business

Golkar Party members are on the defensive over rumors that rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan met party chair and business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie in Bali. Widely circulated photos of Tambunan watching an international tennis match in Bali when he should have been in police detention in Jakarta took on a political twist when Bakrie was also seen at the match. Tambunan amassed a fortune that he claims came from bribes paid by companies linked to Bakrie.

Kompas - November 27, 2010

Cell phones

Woman: We'll be furnished with cell phones remember...

1st Man: And if the employer asks for them?

2nd Man: The legal protections don't connect do they? (a play on tulalit, bad phone connection)

Labour activists say providing migrant workers with cell phones is an 'irrelevant' response to a serious problem and that the government should instead enforce legal protections to prevent abuses, noting that phones are often confiscated by employers.

Kompas - November 24, 2010

Happy here, happy there

Gayus: Happy here, happy there, happy happy everywhere...

Headlines over the last two weeks were dominated by photos of high-profile graft suspect Gayus Tamanan in a wig and glasses watching an international tennis match in Bali when he should to have been under police detention while facing trial. Police, who remained in self-denial for about 10 days after the photo was widely circulated, have admitted Gayus had spent almost US$40,000 since July to bribe his way out of police detention 68 times.

Kompas - November 20, 2010

Tor the sake of bakso

Bakso seller: Mr President! Was it in the interests of Indonesian-American relations or for the sake of... bakso!

While President Obama may have charmed audiences with jokes about his fondness for the traditional bakso meatball soup he loved when living as a child in Indonesia, activists say his visit failed to address key issues such as ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua, continued military impunity and widespread violence against religious minorities.

Kompas - November 13, 2010

Handshakegate

Against a backdrop of humanitarian disasters and anti-US protests, President Obama's first visit to Indonesia was overshadowed by the 'handshakegate' affair after Communications Minister Tifatul Sembiring found himself at the centre of a media maelstrom for shaking hands with First Lady Michelle Obama after he swore he would not touch a woman to whom he was not related. An outspoken conservative from the Islamic-based PKS, he is known for his colourful diatribes such joking about AIDS and blaming natural disasters on a lack of morality.

Kompas - November 10, 2010

Green space

Rampant unregulated urban development, which environmentalists blame on widespread collusion between city officials and the business elite, has resulted in Jakarta loosing 28% of its green space over the last 25 years – much of it replaced by shopping malls, luxury apartments and government offices. Now standing at only 9.6%, this is well below the 13.9% of green space that Jakarta is supposed to have by the end of 2010.

Kompas - November 8, 2010

Perhaps they should move here

Kid: Perhaps the people's representatives would be smarter and perform better if their new building and comparative studies were here (Sidoarjo), in Wasior, in Mentawai or Merapi, yeah Dad!

Seemly unmoved by the thousands of people around the country struggling to cope in the wake of a series of humanitarian disasters, legislators are wasting time and money on plans for a plush new parliament building or overseas junkets to conduct so-called comparative studies.

Kompas - November 6, 2010

We have to be responsive

1st Man: We live in a disaster prone area so of course we have to be responsive to disasters...

2nd Man: Their response is just a comparative study...

As the Mentawai Islands struggle to cope in the wake of the October 25 tsunami disaster, West Sumatra Governor Irwan Prayitno departed for Germany for unclear reasons. Apologising later for not answering journalists' calls, the PKS politician said 'My activities in carrying out the God-given duty has made me lose weight and I have had no chance to log on Facebook'.

Kompas - November 3, 2010