blog @abdulmanan

The Depok KPUD has filed a request for judicial review over a West Java High Court verdict which annulled the election of Nurmahmudi Ismail as Mayor of Depok. LAST Thursday, former Indonesian Minister of Forestry, Nurmahmudi Ismail, scrutinized the journalists standing before him before breaking into a smile and announcing: "We will still put up a fight, but we will stage our protest without using undermining or subversive tactics." Ismail was attending a function held by businessman Setiawan Djody at the Hilton Hotel. "I will continue to seek justice. We will fight this constitutionally," he continued. On August 4 the West Java High Court delivered a blow to both Nurmahmudi Ismail and his Justice & Prosperity Party (PKS), annulling Ismail's election as Mayor of Depok. Chaired by Justice Nana Juwana, the presiding judicial panel ruled that Ismail's campaign backers had hiked his votes by 27,782 rendering his election invalid. The election took place on J...

A trial is to begin soon of alleged polluters of Buyat Bay. Walhi hopes the prosecution won't rely solely on police reports. THE trial of PT Newmont Minahasa Raya on charges of polluting Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi is scheduled to begin early next month. Police dossiers of the case, which were three times rejected by the North Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office for being incomplete, were finally accepted and delivered to the Manado District Court on July 11. The trial, to be held at the auditorium of the Manado Mayor's Office, will open with Newmont and its president director, Richard Bruce Ness, sitting as defendants. Both are charged with polluting the environment under Article 41 of Law No. 23/1997, liable to a jail term, if convicted, of a maximum 10 years in jail and a maximum fine of Rp500 million. The uncommon venue of the trial, says presiding judge Yuliana Wullur, was because the court building won't be able to accommodate the big crowd of visitors expected to attend...