In Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia, Islam is the official religion of the two countries but not to be confused as being Islamic states like Saudi Arabia. The Malaysian constitution theoretically guarantees freedom of religion, Islam is the official religion of the federation, as well as the legally-presumed faith of all ethnic Malays (?). Both countries are secular states constitutionally, that is. Does that make sense?
Anyways, under that complicated mixed bag of control mechanism, Muslims somehow are caught under two sets of hammer – Sharia Law and Civil Law. And for a Muslim soldier he will have an additional hammer over his head – Martial Law.
In such a scenario, you’d find the secular government is in a silent war with the Mullahs who are unrelentingly exerting their ‘religious authority’ over the Muslims, and in Malaysia they are intensively pushing the Hudud Law to even reign over the non-Muslims.
JAKARTA: National Police chief Gen Tito Karnavian has ordered the chiefs of police in Bekasi, West Java, and Kulonprogo of Yogyakarta to revoke circulars on the ban on wearing Christmas attributes based on a fatwa of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI).
“I have asked them (the chiefs of police in Bekasi and Kulonprogo) to revoke the circulars,” Gen Tito said at Jakarta State University campus in East Jakarta on Monday as reported by kompas.com.
He stated that the MUI fatwa was not a law, merely a reference that could be used as coordination among police offices.
“I have firmly warned the Bekasi Police chief and Kulonprogo Police chief. I warned them because it’s not permitted to issue circulars based on an MUI fatwa,” Gen Tito.
“So, a MUI fatwa is not statutory law that should be upheld.
“(The police) should not issue circulars that could become a legal document,” he added.
Bekasi Police reportedly issued a circular on Dec 15 while Kulonprogo Police released a circular on Dec 17, in which both instructed owners and management of businesses not to force their employees to wear Christmas attributes.
Meawhile, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo instructed Gen Tito to uphold discipline among members of the force and make efforts to prevent their power from being abused by hardline groups, in light of the decision of some local police leaders to back a campaign by firebrand Muslim groups to crack down on Christmas celebrations.
During a meeting with Gen Tito at the State Palace on Monday, Jokowi said that the police force must work only to implement official rules and regulations.
“Our existing rules are laws, government regulations, presidential regulations, ministerial regulations and so on, including a regulation from the police chief himself.
“That should be the ground rule,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said.
Over the weekend, police in Surabaya, East Java, also came under fire for their failure to prevent members of the hardline Islam Defenders Front (FPI) from cracking down on business establishments that allowed their employees to wear Christmas attributes.
Gen Tito also ordered members of the corps to keep an eye on groups that carried out intolerant acts under the guise of publicity programmes for the MUI edicts.
“If we find some groups that carry out raids while claiming to be conducting ‘familiarisation’, but in fact bring fear to people, we must take the initiative to stop them,” Gen Tito said.
“We shouldn’t bow to those groups,” he added.
The police chief said that he would discuss the issue with the MUI in the coming days.
“I will talk with the MUI so that they take tolerance and Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (the country’s motto of “unity in diversity”) into consideration when they want to issue a fatwa,” he added. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
50 years ago, two of ASEAN’s founding members fought an undeclared war in the Konfrontasi.
By Adam Leong Kok Wey
An Australian soldier in Borneo during the konfrontasi
The recent successful conduct of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits at Vientiane, Laos from September 6-8, 2016 bears testament to the legacy of the peaceful settlement and reconciliation of a little known war between two of ASEAN’s founding members. Fifty years ago, the Konfrontasi officially ended when both Indonesia and Malaysia signed a peace agreement on August 11, 1966.
The Konfrontasi was an “undeclared war” fought between Malaysia and Indonesia. The conflict started when Malaysia, consisting of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore, was formed on September 16, 1963. Indonesia under President Sukarno was vehemently against the formation of Malaysia, which Sukarno saw as a British strategy to contain Indonesia’s geopolitical ambitions in the region (the Philippines was also against the formation of Malaysia but apart from braking off diplomatic relations did not resort to the use of military means). Sukarno launched a “Ganyang Malaysia” or “crush Malaysia” campaign, initially using political, economic, and propaganda means. When these actions failed, he decided to launch military attacks against Malaysia.
Indonesian military forces then conducted cross border raids in Sarawak and Sabah from Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) through the porous mountainous and jungle borders. This was slowly but effectively countered by Malaysian security forces, aided by a strong contingent of British Commonwealth military forces – mostly from the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The slow results gained from the Indonesian cross border raids in Sabah and Sarawak frustrated Sukarno and prompted him in the middle of 1964 to open a second front in Peninsular Malaysia to divert the attention of the British Commonwealth and Malaysian security forces, and to boost the morale of Indonesian military forces embroiled in the fringes of Sabah and Sarawak. Indonesian commandos launched amphibious raids on the coastal areas of Johor and Singapore, and later para-commandos were also parachuted into Peninsular Malaysia to conduct subversion and sabotage attacks. All of these Indonesian commando operations were foiled and the Indonesians were mostly killed or captured by Malaysian and British Commonwealth security forces. Meanwhile, the Indonesian military forces continued to attempt cross-border attacks in Sabah and Sarawak but were continuously disrupted by track-and-ambush operations conducted by Malaysian and British Commonwealth security forces.
Indonesia had also used international propaganda to degrade Malaysia. Jakarta initially gained the trust of the Afro-Asian states, at that point an important group of mostly ex-colonial newly independent states which form a large group of members in the United Nations and Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Malaysia countered Indonesia’s claims by conducting a whirlwind of diplomatic visits between 1964 and 1965, led by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Abdul Razak and Singapore’s Chief Minister Lee Kwan Yew. The visits explained Malaysia’s formation and eventually managed to turn the tables on Indonesia and obtain recognition for the new country from almost all of these Afro-Asian states.
The Konfrontasi lasted until 1966, when Indonesia under its new leader Suharto (who had replaced Sukarno at the end of 1965 in the midst of a failed coup), and suffering serious military setbacks and without much international support for its cause, decided to explore diplomatic options in ending the conflict. Both Indonesia and Malaysia held peace talks leading to the final conclusion of the undeclared war with the signing of a peace treaty. During the Konfrontasi, Malaysian and British Commonwealth security forces lost 114 men and the Indonesian military forces lost close to 600 men.
The end of the Konfrontasi led to the formation of ASEAN in 1967. It was initially formed as a regional organization to reconcile relations among three of its five pioneer members namely Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and serve as an important confidence building measure. ASEAN has since expanded and included all of the Southeast Asian states. ASEAN has served remarkably well to quell regional competition and suspicions among its members, even though most of its members are still entangled in border and territorial disputes with each other. ASEAN has also done well in managing to integrate its regional economy and cooperate in natural disaster response and management. Contemporary security risks from Chinese assertive actions in the South China Sea and overlapping claims among some of the ASEAN members, however, will continue to test ASEAN’s strategic coherence and response in the future.
As for Indonesia and Malaysia, both of these states have rebuilt their relationship and today are close partners in continuing ASEAN’s collaborative spirit, ensuring that the Konfrontasi was not fought in vain 50 years ago.
Dr Adam Leong Kok Wey is a senior lecturer in strategic studies at the National Defence University of Malaysia, and a post-doctoral visiting research fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford.
I think its a wrong question. The right question “Is Jokowi a minion of the bank$ter$?”
Indonesia’s president needs to be wary of Washington’s overtures when it comes to world’s largest trade agreement.
In February, Indonesia President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo was in the United States to attend the ASEAN-US Summit.
The sit-down in Sunnylands was one of the most important recent high-level meetings between ASEAN and Washington — especially after the regional countries decided to elevate the status of their relationship with the US into a “strategic partnership” last year.
In a press conference before boarding the presidential carrier to California, Jokowi outlined a number of important points. First, his trip to the US was about strengthening a “partnership for peace and prosperity.” This vision stresses that both the US and ASEAN countries have an obligation to contribute to global peace and wealth.
At the same time, the relations between the two should bring about mutual benefits for the people of both ASEAN and the US. Beyond the rhetoric there were some signs that these noble goals could be made reality.
During his visit, Jokowi brought up several ways that the US and Indonesia could work together, including increasing cooperation in the field of small to medium enterprises, entrepreneurship, innovation, and development of the digital economy.
Meanwhile, President Barrack Obama asked the Indonesians to lead a special session on the issue of terrorism. Indonesia, as Jokowi emphasised, can share much needed experience and insight when it comes to preventing radicalisation and combating terrorism.
But it’s fair to say that the ASEAN-US Summit was also a tool for Washington to advance its own interests, mainly in the areas of geopolitics and economics. The geopolitical aspect includes the South China Sea, which has now become the “new battlefield” between Washington and Beijing.
Not less important is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was discussed extensively during the Summit under the guise of enhancing trade and investments between ASEAN and the US. Four ASEAN countries have already signed up to it — Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand are currently weighing up the pros and cons of participating in what is supposedly the world’s largest free trade agreement.
The US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Orris Blake Jr recently reiterated the strategic importance of Indonesia for the TPP. These include the country’s very large market, the rapid growth of the middle class, and the large number of youth.
The past six months have seen a serious discussion at the governmental level about the possibility of Indonesia joining. As always, there are pros and cons in this debate. There are those who are very supportive of the initiative, even though they have not yet seen or read the detailed documents. There are also those who prefer to be cautious because Indonesia will only be a market for foreign products.
Late last year, Jokowi stated that the government was carefully examining the benefits and the drawbacks of participating in the TPP. It was said that there was a possibility for Indonesian products to enter the TPP market. However, Jokowi also believed that Indonesia could simply become a large market for the US and its allies.
It is hoped that after the Summit meeting in Sunnylands the Indonesian government will be able to truly represent its people on the issue. Undeniably, Jakarta should protect the sovereignty of its national economy as well as small businesses.
Why? Because that is what has been repeatedly said by Washington when putting forward the TPP agenda. In his speech in front of the 12 ministers from the TPP participating countries one year ago, Obama made this clear.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership finished negotiations on an agreement that reflects America’s values and gives our workers the fair shot at success they deserve. This partnership levels the playing field for our farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers by eliminating more than 18,000 taxes that various countries put on our products.
Obama’s speech clearly indicates the TPP’s real roadmap for the future. The government in Jakarta should not deviate its course by blindly following the direction of other countries or partnerships.
Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is a PhD scholar at the University of Manchester.
The AirAsia flight QZ8501 which crashed on Sunday, December 28, 2014 from Surabaya to Singapore was an ‘illegal / unscheduled‘ flight, because it was an unapproved air transport movement. It had no permit. If that is true, the legal implications are abounding, and it will most definitely affect the compensations process by both the government of Indonesia and the insurers.
The airline must be held fully responsible. accountable and liable. The ‘beings‘ who perpetrated and conspired in this dastardly act must be made to face the consequences. Never mind the money and the compensations as what good is it anyway when 162 precious lives perished and all because of some people’s insane greed of money.
There is already a report stating that AirAsia is not complying with IATA safety standards as it did not complete the global safety audit. Which in the opinions of safety experts rendered it a rather unsafe airline, and one which they would not fly in.
What is believed to be wreckage from crashed AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Java Sea is pictured in this underwater photograph released by Indonesia’s National Search And Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) January 7, 2015. — Reuters pic
.
“AirlineRatings.com initially rated the AirAsia group five stars out of a possible seven because it had not done the audit”
Had AsiaAsia complied with the rules there would NOT have been such a flight on that fateful dark Sunday morning… there would NOT have been any such a disaster in which 162 people perished.
AirAsia planes were only permitted to fly from Indonesia’s second largest city to Singapore on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The crash occurred on Sunday.
Indonesia is reputed for being one of the most corrupted countries in the world and so for this to actually happened is not a big surprise….but, but Singapore? Yeah Singapore! Supposedly one of the cleanest and strictest and stand at #7 on the world’s least corrupted countries list….well, so much for this Global corruption index. This RT report says about actions taken in Indonesia, but is silent on the just-as-guilty Singaporeans. Corruption is not only bad it kills….and that is the sad part.
Air officials suspended in wake of AirAsia crash as Indonesia promises crackdown
Indonesia is taking steps to regulate its air industry in the wake of revelations that the AirAsia flight that recently crashed took off without the correct permits. A number of officials have been suspended, while other airlines are being investigated.
Indonesia is still reeling from the crash on December 28 of AirAsia Flight 8501, which killed all 162 passengers and crew on board. It emerged that the plane took off without being given the proper permits and this prompted the acting director general of air transportation to crackdown on those breaking the rules.
Air chief Djoko Murjatmodjo says the airport’s operator and officials in the control tower have been suspended for their role in letting the plane take off from Surabaya airport. AirAsia planes were only permitted to fly from Indonesia’s second largest city to Singapore on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The crash occurred on Sunday.
AirAsia Indonesia is currently been investigated and while this is taking place, their route between Surabaya and Singapore has been suspended. Murjatmodjo also stated that it will now be the responsibility of airlines to provide pilots with up-to-date weather reports. Currently this is the responsibility of the captain and co-pilot, AP reports.
SURABAYA, 30TH DECEMBER 2014 – AirAsia Indonesia regrets to inform that The National Search and Rescue Agency Republic of Indonesia (BASARNAS) today confirmed that the debris found earlier today is indeed from QZ8501, the flight that had lost contact with air traffic control on the morning of 28th.
The debris of the aircraft was found in the Karimata Strait around 110 nautical miles south west from Pangkalan Bun. The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were 155 passengers on board, with 137 adults, 17 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots, 4 cabin crews and one engineer.
At the present time, search and rescue operations are still in progress and further investigation of the debris found at the location is still underway. AirAsia Indonesia employees have been sent to the site and will be fully cooperating with BASARNAS, National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC), and relevant authorities on the investigation.
Sunu Widyatmoko, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Indonesia said: “We are sorry to be here today under these tragic circumstances. We would like to extend our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of those on board QZ8501. Our sympathies also go out to the families of our dear colleagues.”
Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia added: “I am absolutely devastated. This is a very difficult moment for all of us at AirAsia as we await further developments of the search and rescue operations but our first priority now is the wellbeing of the family members of those onboard QZ8501.”
AirAsia Indonesia will be inviting family members to Surabaya, where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met. Counsellors, religious and spiritual personnel have also been invited to the family center to provide any necessary services.
Further information will be released as soon as it becomes available. An emergency call centre has been established and available for families seeking information. Family members of QZ8501, please contact:
Malaysia: +60 3 21795959
Indonesia: +62 2129270811
Singapore: +65 63077688
Korea: 007 98142069940
Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and friends of our passengers and colleagues on board QZ8501.
Missing AirAsia flight: Reports of crash not true, search ongoing.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai asked Malaysians to remain calm and not listen to unverified news reports.
When asked to comment on reported news that the missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 had been found crashed in Belintung, Liow confirmed the reports to be false.
“There is plenty of speculation that they have found the plane. At this point in time (5pm) that is not true. We are still looking for the plane,” he said. – The Star On Line
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 (Surabaya LT) this morning. The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535hours.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.
The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours
There were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew.
Nationalities of passengers and crew onboard are as below:
1 Singapore
1 Malaysia
1 France
3 South Korean
156 Indonesia
At this time, search and rescue operations are being conducted under the guidance of The Indonesia of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). AirAsia Indonesia is cooperating fully and assisting the investigation in every possible way.
The aircraft was on the submitted flight plan route and was requesting deviation due to enroute weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control (ATC).
The aircraft had undergone its last scheduled maintenance on 16 November 2014.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.
Contact with AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from Surabaya lost
Indonesia air traffic control lost contact with AirAsia flight QZ8501 bound for Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya on Sunday morning.
Search and rescue operations have begun, AirAsia Indonesia said in its Facebook page.
Passengers on board the Airbus A380-200 include 130 adults, 24 children and one infant, according to Indonesia media reports.
The Singapore government has offered help to Indonesia authorities and has put two C130s on standby. “At the present time we unfortunately have no further information regarding the status of the passengers and crew members on board, but we will keep all parties informed as more information becomes available.”
The aircraft reportedly lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control at 7:24am local time, while it was flying over Kalimantan island.
Trikora Hardjo, the general manager of Indonesia’s Airport Company, Angkasa Pura II, said that they are still waiting for more information.
According to Flightradar, the status of the flight QZ8501, which left Juanda International airport in Surabaya at 5:35am and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 8:30am, was “unknown”.
AirAsia has established an Emergency Call Centre that is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board the aircraft. The number is: +622129850801.
AirAsia will release further information as soon as it becomes available. Updated information will also be posted on the AirAsia website, www.airasia.com.
While Indonesia marked another democratic advance on Monday, democracy in neighbouring Malaysia goes backwards.
Indonesia inaugurates the man that most voters chose to be leader, while Malaysia concludes a sham trial to destroy the man that most voters chose to be leader.
Indonesia is conducting the first transfer of power from one directly elected president to another.
Illustration: John Shakespeare
And Malaysia? It remains under the control of the same party that has ruled continuously since independence in 1957.
“While Indonesia is making huge progress, we are rewinding and the democratic space is going back to the Mahathir era of the 1990s,” says Malaysia’s opposition treasury spokesman, Rafizi Ramli, during a visit to Australia on Monday. “We have not recovered from last year’s election.”
There is more than democracy at stake. A professor of political science at Monash University’s Malaysian campus, James Chin, says: “In Malaysia, politics is being hijacked by political Islam. It really worries me. They are putting Malay supremacy together with Islamic supremacy.”
The foundation stone of the perennially ruling party was always racial discrimination – special favour to native Malays over all other citizens, including the country’s sizeable Chinese and Indian minorities.
But now it’s pursuing policies of religious discrimination as well, says Mr Chin: “Previously, they tried to regulate the body and behaviour of Muslims; now, they are trying to regulate the body and behaviour of non-Muslims too.”
He contrasts this with Indonesia, where a secular state does not impose Islamic standards on other faiths. It’s one thing to fine Muslims for drinking alcohol, says Mr Chin, but now there are attempts to penalise non-Mulsims taking part in Oktoberfest in Malaysia.
The authoritarian nature of the Najib government will be on display to the world next week when it renews its courtroom persecution of the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar was the subject of one of the world’s most ridiculous political persecutions, an effort by the then prime minister, Mahathir Mohammed, to ruin him by accusing him of sodomy. And now, a ruling on the sequel: Sodomy 2.
He was the deputy prime minister to Mahathir when they had a falling out in 1998. The foolish and farcical pursuit of Anwar failed to ruin him, but it did turn him into a formidable leader of the opposition.
Anwar spent six years in jail before a court overturned his conviction. He emerged to lead an energised campaign at the 2013 election. So the Malaysian people delivered their own verdict on Anwar and his Pakatan Rakyat, or People’s Pact party.
The opposition under Anwar won 51 per cent of the vote at the 2013 election, but only 40 per cent of parliamentary seats.
It was a record result for an opposition and it shook the government. Even in a manipulated system, the ruling party, for the first time, had failed to win a majority of votes.
The result scared the government of Najib Razak into reviving its favoured tactic for repressing Anwar: the charge of sodomy. Sodomy 2 had been running for a while, but after the High Court knocked out the latest sodomy charge against the married father of five, the government took its trumped-up case to Malaysia’s Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court. It gave Anwar a five-year jail sentence. He is free on bail pending appeal. On the weekend he flew home from London to Kuala Lumpur for final appeals. His supporters fear the outcome: “Quite a few of my friends have tried to persuade me to stay away,” Anwar told British media just before boarding the plane home.
The prosecution is asking for an even longer jail term.
In an extraordinary illustration of the government’s contortions in its manic determination to get Anwar, the prosecution will not be led by the a lawyer from the prosecution system but a private lawyer hired by the state. Experts say there is no precedent in Malaysian jurisprudence.
In fact, the prosecution is to be conducted by the personal lawyer for Mr Najib.
The political crackdown is much wider than Anwar. Human Rights Watch has detailed at least 14 cases this year where the government has brought spurious charges against political opponents and activists under the 1948 Sedition Act. One opposition politician faces the prospect of five years in jail for saying “damn UMNO”. UMNO is Najib’s political party.
The Najib government has two options, according to the opposition’s Rafizi Ramli: “It can reform and allow more democratic space. Or they can go for the crackdown, and risk an even worse backlash from the public.”
He has personal experience of the crackdown. Before entering politics he ran a corruption-busting NGO that exposed a Najib government minister misusing a $A90 million taxpayer loan. Instead of setting up a cattle farm, she was using the money to buy luxury apartments.
The expose forced the minister to resign. But now Mr Ramli is the one facing jail. He’s facing the risk of three years in jail for breaching banking secrecy laws in disclosing the corruption. Mr Ramli, the man who busted the scam, is the only person charged over it.
Mr Ramli, also the secretary-general of the opposition party, is in Canberra on Tuesday, leading a delegation. He’s hoping to convince Australian politicians to help coax Mr Najib from authoritarianism to democratic openness.
Professor Chin says Mr Ramli has no hope of support from the Australian government: “The Abbott government loves Najib.”
Australia favours the Najib government based on a long-standing view that Malaysia is a modern, Western, secular, like-minded power in a region fretting about a backward Indonesia, he says.
But Indonesia is modernising and it is Malaysia that is going backwards. “The romantic view of Malaysia,” says Chin, “is based on a country that hasn’t existed for the last ten years.”‘
As this article derives from ‘the’ Council for Foreign Affairs (CFR), I read it as a mere extension to the already widely disseminated fear propaganda, although it contains a certain truths, and that the threats are valid and potentially dangerous. That aside, I am rather amused by this assertion:
“… the lingua francas of the region’s Muslim communities remain Malay and Indonesian, not Arabic. The vast majority of Muslims from the region are insufficiently literate in Arabic to even appreciate ISIS’ propaganda without translation, much less fully integrate with ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria.”
Lol, this is so so true, that I can’t resist to state that this is the general scenario of their beliefs and understanding of Islam itself. They recite (as oppose to reading with understanding) the Quran, and murmur in their prayers in Arabic without understand a single word. This tantamount to them being mere followers with absolute dependency on the Ulamaks/imams/gurus for interpretations (complete control). Contrary to the hypothesis, to me I see this makes it even more dangerous as they’re vulnerable to the lies and deception of the ‘marketers’ of ISIS.
A man prays in a mosque outside Kuala Lumpur. (Courtesy Reuters)
As the United States sought in recent weeks to assemble an international coalition to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, also known as the Islamic State), it looked mostly to the Middle East and Europe, regions that it said face a direct threat from the militant Islamist group. But other parts of the world are just as anxious about ISIS — above all, Southeast Asia. The governments of that region have not publicized their concerns very loudly, but they are acutely aware that ISIS is a menace. Their top concern is that its extremist ideology will prove attractive to the region’s many Muslims, lure some of them to the Middle East to fight as part of the group, and ultimately be imported back to the region when these militants return home.
There is a clear precedent for this scenario. During the 1980s, many young Muslims from Southeast Asia went to Pakistan to support the Afghan mujahideen’s so-called jihad against Soviet occupation. Many of these recruits subsequently stayed in the region, mingling with like-minded Muslims from all around and gaining exposure to al Qaeda’s militant ideology. Many eventually returned to Southeast Asia to form extremist groups of their own, including the notorious al Qaeda–linked organization Jemaah Islamiyah that was responsible for several high-profile terrorist attacks in the region over the last 15 years. With evidence now surfacing of Southeast Asians among the ranks of ISIS casualties, it’s only natural that governments in the region are feeling a sense of déjà vu.
RADICAL CHIC
Singapore has already revealed that several of its nationals have made their way to the Middle East to battle with ISIS, and the Philippine government has suggested that local ISIS sympathizers are attempting to recruit from among the Bangsamoro populations in the country’s southern islands. But the greatest concern comes from Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has already confirmed that more than 50 of its citizens are currently fighting in Syria and Iraq; Malaysia has suggested that between 30 and 40 Malaysians are doing the same. In both cases, the actual numbers could be much higher if we consider those who may have traveled to the conflict zones from other destinations. Indonesian authorities have already noted that several of their nationals have been killed fighting for ISIS in Syria. On May 26, a Malaysian suicide bomber killed himself in an ISIS attack in Iraq. Another Malaysian fighter who died fighting for ISIS in Syria several months later has been celebrated as a martyr by leaders of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, the same party that had earlier dismissed him after he departed for Syria. Intriguingly, three Malaysian women were also alleged to have left for Syria to wage a “sexual jihad” (jihad al-nikah), offering their bodies to ISIS fighters to “boost their morale.”
ISIS’ reach in Southeast Asia is based on several factors. First, certain devout Muslims feel a theological affinity for the militant group. They see parallels between ISIS’ mission and prophecies in Islamic holy texts of the eventual creation of a Khilafah Minhaj Nebuwwah (“end-times caliphate”) following the fall of dictators in the Arabian Peninsula; they are also reminded of the apocalyptic struggle that is said to be fated between the forces of Imam Mahdi, an Islamic messiah figure who is supposed to fight under a black flag, and those of the Dajjal, or Antichrist. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this millenarian perspective is growing in Indonesia and Malaysia with radical clerics such as Aman Abdurrahman, who, though in jail, are expanding their reach through the Internet and radical tracts — including a book titled Strategi Dua Lengan (Two-Armed Strategy) — increasingly finding their way into Indonesian translation.
Another reason for ISIS’ appeal is its sectarianism. The ISIS challenge is seen in some quarters as an extension of the Sunni-Shiite schism. To wit: The group’s struggle against Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite regime is considered legitimate in fundamentalist Sunni-Salafi circles. In much the same way, ISIS militancy in Iraq is seen as a consequence of Sunni grievance against the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki. This support needs to be understood in the context of Southeast Asia’s own problems with sectarianism: Shiite Islam is banned in Malaysia and is not widely accepted in Indonesia.
Finally, the question of the recruitment of Southeast Asians into ISIS cannot be divorced from the larger context of the humanitarian crisis in Syria. The universal sympathy for the Syrian people among Southeast Asia’s sizable Muslim populations has undoubtedly prompted a large number of humanitarian missions to depart for the conflict zone. Many members of these missions may well have set off with noble intentions. But once they arrive in territory held by ISIS, it is not difficult to imagine how they would be exposed to ISIS indoctrination and recruitment.
FALSE ANALOGY
In many ways, Southeast Asia seems to be seeing a repeat of its experience with Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s. The most familiar aspect is ISIS’ recruiting efforts, mostly undertaken by Southeast Asian sympathizers rather than ISIS leaders based in the Middle East. In 2012, ISIS’ appeal started to grow among Indonesian and Malaysian civil society groups that had mobilized in response to Syria’s humanitarian crisis by creating local awareness and fundraising. Within a year, several Islamic preachers in Indonesia had pledged allegiance to ISIS’ caliphate, and about half a dozen graduates from Indonesia’s Ngruki Islamic boarding school, previously a hotbed of Jemaah Islamiyah membership ideology and recruitment, are believed to have left to join the jihad in Syria (often with funding from Jemaah Islamiyah and other affiliated extremist groups). ISIS has also been actively recruiting in Malaysia through Islamic study groups known as usrah. In turn, those Malaysian recruits are believed to have attempted to recruit from Singapore. It is still not yet known exactly how successful these recruiting efforts have been. But it is clear that ISIS has been able to promote its jihad through sympathizers plugged into the region’s local Islamic communities and networks, just as Afghan militants did in earlier decades.
But there are also significant differences between the present-day jihad and the earlier one in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union. While the Afghan mujahideen’s struggle was widely embraced, ISIS has proven extremely divisive in Southeast Asia, even among extremist groups, some of which have rejected and virulently condemned the organization. Jemaah Islamiyah, for one, has accused ISIS of being takfir (Muslims who pass judgment on fellow Muslims of being un-Islamic ) and dismissed its members as khawarij (extremists). Other groups, such as the conservative Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (Indonesian Mujahideen Council), have cast doubt on ISIS’ religious credentials, proclaiming that it is an organization and not a caliphate and hence has no legitimate claim to the loyalty of Muslims. Furthermore, they have also argued that ISIS’ process for appointing Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph was in violation of Islamic law, as it did not take place before a religious council that represents the entire Islamic community. As the terrorism expert Sidney Jones has rightly pointed out, the existence of this divergence of opinion on ISIS speaks to a split within Indonesia’s extremist community between those who support ISIS and others who remain loyal to al Qaeda and the al Nusra Front. Unsurprisingly, the other major difference from the days of the jihad in Afghanistan is ISIS’ use of social media. ISIS has consistently used Twitter and Facebook to amplify its message and broaden its reach. Also, the fact that authorities in Indonesia have been reluctant to shut down radical websites that carry ISIS propaganda, such as al-Mustaqbal.net, despite already imposing a ban on the group’s jihadist teachings (likely because of a misplaced concern for its religious credibility in the eyes of the vocal radical Islamist community), has only enhanced its visibility in the region.
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON
Without downplaying the ISIS threat to Southeast Asia, there are nevertheless limits to the effectiveness of its recruitment in the region. Despite huge investments from Arab governments, particularly Saudi Arabia, in Islamic education across Southeast Asia over the past three decades, the lingua francas of the region’s Muslim communities remain Malay and Indonesian, not Arabic. The vast majority of Muslims from the region are insufficiently literate in Arabic to even appreciate ISIS’ propaganda without translation, much less fully integrate with ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria. In Afghanistan during the 1980s and 1990s, this problem was in part surmounted by the creation of dedicated training camps for Southeast Asians; although the situation may change, this does not seem to be the case in Syria or Iraq at the moment, where Southeast Asian recruits are thrown onto the front lines with everyone else. Second, Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia enjoy social and economic conditions far better than those of their coreligionists in the Levant (or even in Europe, where there is a palpable sense of alienation and marginalization among Muslim immigrant populations). By and large, Southeast Asians simply have fewer incentives to travel to Syria or Iraq.
Finally, unlike the immediate aftermath of the Afghan conflict in the 1990s, terrorist recruitment in Southeast Asia today has lost the tactical advantage of surprise. With regional security and intelligence agencies alert to the potential threat emanating from Iraq and Syria — thanks precisely to the lessons they learned from the 1990s — conditions are considerably more difficult for the kind of clandestine recruitment that went on two decades ago. Two other factors are instructive in this regard. First, whatever its shortcomings, the Indonesian state today is not nearly as weak as it was in the late 1990s, when radical groups flourished after the fall of former President Suharto. Second, the apparent resolution of the long-standing conflict in the Philippines between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has potentially opened the way for cooperation on counterterrorism.
That said, it’s understandable that the governments of the region are concerned that ISIS might spawn a new generation of jihadist leaders, fighters, and ideologues in the region. Afghanistan still casts a long shadow over discussions in Southeast Asia — and with good reason. But regional policymakers would be well advised to appreciate not only the similarities between the former challenge and the present-day conflict but also the very significant differences.
With ideology spreading via social media, authorities need to consider a ‘soft’ approach as well as traditional tactics.
The Indonesian government recently banned the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) also released a statement that it was “haram” or forbidden, for Muslims to participate in IS activities. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also recently issued a strongly worded statement condemning the IS for its actions, which run counter to Islamic faith, culture and to common humanity.
These are all positive steps. But they have been inadequate, given the spread of the ideological beliefs of IS via social media tools to preach and recruit others to join the extremist group.
Rise in Social Media Support
Following IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s message for Muslims worldwide to join the Jihadist cause in Syria and Iraq, new jihadist recruitment videos have surfaced from Southeast Asian terrorists. In July, a picture of firebrand Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir in his maximum security prison in Nusakambangan, Central Java, with an ISIL flag as its background, was widely circulated on Indonesian social media. Bashir had reportedly instructed his followers to support their “fellow brothers” who were part of the IS group. Another prominent jailed jihadi leader, Aman Abdurrahman, had also conveyed support for IS and had reportedly been translating and distributing IS publications over the Internet.
A video by the IS released in July featuring an Indonesian fighter named Abu Muhammad al-Indonesi showed him delivering an impassioned appeal to fellow Indonesians to “join the ranks.” A number of Indonesian IS fighters are reportedly also using social networking platforms such as Facebook to recruit fighters. A growing number are young individuals who are drawn to the cause. Among them is al-Indonesi, a 19-year-old Indonesian student who studied in Turkey and later joined the IS in Syria. According to Indonesia’s National Agency for Combating Terrorism (BNPT), 34 Indonesians have joined the IS. These numbers do not include Indonesians who have joined other groups in Syria and Iraq in the jihadist cause.
Malaysian authorities meanwhile say that IS sympathizers are attracting a small number of Malaysians from a wide variety of backgrounds through social media, particularly Facebook, and have also managed to raise funds through the same channels. In early August, photos of a dead 52-year-old jihadist Malaysian fighter who was formerly a member of the Kumpulan Mujahiden Malaysia (KMM) were uploaded and circulated via social media and blogs. The man allegedly died while defending the town of Arzeh with several other jihadist fighters. The photo was liked by thousands of online users, with some congratulating him on his “successful transaction.”
Radical Narratives
The IS justifies its radical narrative by making use of Islamic symbols and propaganda. According to the IS, Syria is said to be the epicenter of the Last Caliphate. The IS believes that the Final Battle against the false prophets will ensue in the ongoing battle in Syria.
The primacy of these theological arguments feature strongly in Indonesian militants’ motivation to fight in Syria. The activities of Malaysian IS supporters on Facebook on the other hand points to a more complex mix of factors that might motivate Malaysians to join the IS, most of which are political, financial or ideological.
The distinct divergences in the factors motivating these Indonesian and Malaysian fighters to join the IS, as well as the differences in contexts, highlight the need to personalize responses by state and community in each country.
Counterterrorism Approaches
In response to the 2002 Bali bombing, the twin bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton in 2009, and other attacks on Indonesian soil, Jakarta has adjusted its counterterrorism strategy. Indonesia has prosecuted more than 600 terrorists. Currently, responsibility for counterterror operations remains under the purview of the Indonesian police, particularly the elite counterterrorism unit, Detachment-88, which has captured hundreds of terrorist suspects and confiscated their weapons across the Indonesian archipelago.
Indonesia has stressed a hard approach to countering the threat of terrorism, primarily through the lens of law enforcement. In spite of the military’s success, two notable trends have emerged in recent terrorist attacks. The first is the growing incidence of attacks targeting the police. The second is an emergence of alliances between jihadist fighters and religious vigilante groups. The militant Islamist organization, Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), has allegedly been acting as an liaison among like-minded radicals through radical preaching that serves to instill a commitment to jihad. In recent years, violence against minority groups has taken place in various parts of Indonesia. Attacks against Ahmadiyya and Shia believers have claimed lives and displaced hundreds, and Christian communities have been targeted for attacks by Islamist militants. The convergence between jihadist fighters and religious vigilante groups provide opportunities for the jihadist groups to recruit and enhance their influence in society.
In Malaysia, amid reports that four new Malaysian militant groups, identified by their acronyms BKAW, BAJ, Dimzia and ADI, are bent on creating a “super” Islamic caliphate in parts of Southeast Asia, including secular Singapore, authorities have stepped up their counterterrorism efforts and arrested several individuals. The BKAW was reportedly recruiting through Facebook and rallies. One of its members is said to be Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki, a 26-year-old factory worker – the first Malaysian IS-linked suicide bomber– who killed 25 soldiers during the attack in Iraq on May 26.
A ‘Soft’ Approach
This emphasis on hard approaches to countering terrorism has had some success in disrupting terrorist plots. But the rise of Internet provides the perfect medium for terrorists to recruit, promote their ideology, and attract financing. Research has shown that younger people are at greatest risk of being radicalized by extremist messages. Governments thus need to drive the debate on the Internet and through social media to ensure that their positive messaging is heard above the extremists’ messaging. Hence, the use of social media by radical groups to recruit, raise funds, and spread propaganda messages should not be taken lightly. The rising influence of social media and the popularization of IS ideologies via the Internet highlights the need for states to be innovative in using modern communications to counter the growing threat of radicalization.
According Techinasia, approximately 35.4 million Indonesians were already using Facebook in 2011, making it the second-largest population of Facebook users in the world. Indonesia also has the fourth-largest population of Twitter users, with more than 4.8 million users, and a growing number who use other social media platforms. Internet use has been growing rapidly Malaysia as well. Extremist ideas increasingly available online and pose a legitimate concern for the authorities in both countries. Widespread exposure to external currents of contemporary Muslim socio-political thought, ranging from the moderate-liberal through radical and sectarian in both Malaysia and Indonesia is intensified by the growth in the pace and volume of two-way, instantaneous information flows over social media.
The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia need to adapt their counterterrorism responses to include counter-radicalization strategies focusing on soft approaches. Soft approaches should include engagement through media, cultural, educational and religious forums, with the aim of highlighting the realities of life under the IS. This will serve to dissuade individuals from internalizing extremist messages advocated by extremist groups like the IS.
IS has carried out a number of executions, including beheadings. In many cases, it has videotaped the executions and posted them online. Attention given to these videos should be minimized, to deny the group the positive publicity it seeks. Governments should partner with civil society activists to channel key messages of religious moderation and interfaith tolerance through soft media campaigns.
To date, Malaysian and Indonesian IS supporters have not posed any immediate security threats to their countries. However, their governments must improve their intelligence and surveillance activities by monitoring individuals who could potentially go on to commit acts of violence. There is a need for cooperation between civilian and military agencies to closely monitor the development of IS supporters. To date, a number of Indonesian suspects have been found in possession of IS paraphernalia.
While improving the effectiveness of counterterrorism operations, Indonesian authorities have also been working on de-radicalization and counter-radicalization strategies. Authorities have warned that many imprisoned Indonesian terrorists are due for release. Malaysia’s Ministry of Law and Human Rights recognizes the grave danger of terrorist recidivism and as part of its de-radicalization program for terrorist inmates, has sought to reform the correctional system and improve the physical condition of many prisons in Indonesia. Incorporating softer approaches, terrorist de-radicalization programs should focus on creative citizenship engagements and critical thinking training to better integrate these individuals and minimize the likelihood of recidivism.
To effectively counter the threat of the IS, authorities in Indonesia and Malaysia will need to take into full consideration the unique social, cultural, economic and religious dynamics of their countries.
Indonesian former judge Akil Mochtar waits in a detention room prior to his corruption trial in Jakarta yesterday. – AFP pic, July 1, 2014.
The former top judge of Indonesia’s constitutional court was jailed for life yesterday for accepting more than US$5 million (RM16.05 million) in bribes to influence rulings, in the country’s latest high-profile corruption case.
A judge in Jakarta handed down the unusually tough sentence, and said that by accepting kickbacks to sway decisions on local election disputes, Akil Mochtar had severely damaged the constitutional court’s standing.
“The defendant was the chairman of a high-level state institution that was the last bastion for people seeking justice,” presiding judge Suwidya told a special anti-corruption court.
“His actions have resulted in the collapse of the authority of the constitutional court.”
Mochtar, 53, described the sentence as “unfair” and said he would appeal.
He was caught red-handed in October in a sting by anti-corruption investigators as he was about to accept around three billion rupiah (RM802,750) in bribes from a businessman and a lawmaker, according to prosecutors.
He is the latest in a series of top public servants to become embroiled in a corruption case, with the former top energy regulator and several government ministers among those accused of graft.
However his case was the most shocking in recent times, as the constitutional court had been considered one of the country’s cleanest institutions.
After a lengthy final hearing yesterday that ran into the night, judge Suwidya announced that Mochtar had been “proven legally and convincingly guilty” of corruption and money-laundering and handed him a life sentence.
He had accepted around US$5.4 million in bribes in cases linked to regional election disputes, according to prosecutors.
One of the key roles of the constitutional court, created in 2001, is to decide on disputes in local and national elections.
But following the Mochtar scandal, the court ruled that it should no longer have responsibility for deciding local poll disputes, although it will continue to decide on such cases until the government has issued a new law.
The court also hears cases about the constitution and rules on any attempt to impeach the president.
Indonesia is consistently ranked one of the world’s most corrupt countries.
NGO Transparency International ranked Indonesia 114th out of 177 countries and territories in its annual corruption perceptions index last year. A number one ranking means the least corrupt. – AFP, July 1, 2014.
The United States of America Corporation has managed to stave off bankruptcy once again last week after Secretary of Skull and Bones John Kerry showed up in China with begging bowl in hand last week and got a donation, according to Chinese government sources. The money came with many strings attached, notably getting the US to jerk Japanese slave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s chain
and accept the reunification of the Korean peninsula, the sources said. The reunification of Korea story, something the Zionist slave press tried to ignore, can be seen here on the official North Korean news site:
However, Kerry’s efforts to get gold from Indonesia to support the Federal Reserve Board and his Fuehrer George Bush Sr. were rebuffed prompting Kerry to make veiled threats to unleash weather warfare: “in a sense climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon,” after Indonesia’s president refused to meet him.
These sorts of veiled threats are a sign of desperation, not strength because events around the world are no longer going according to the Zionist/Nazi agenda and their fascist new world order is collapsing.
The suspicious death last week of yet another JP Morgan IT specialist, the 37 year old Ryan Henry Crane, was linked to Kerry’s gold begging mission in Indonesia, according to CIA and other sources. The dying beast that is JP Morgan has to make
There may also be some military turbulence that will accompany this financial warfare, according to Eastern European sources. A war call has been sent out in the Eastern bloc and some sort of major move is promised for after the Sochi Olympics end, these sources say.
Already, Russian and other Eastern European special forces have gone to the Ukraine and told the CIA “protesters” there to choose between “vodka, caviar and friendship” or “death.” Perhaps that is why the Ukraine turmoil suddenly stopped.
Also, the Serbians are very upset the Americans did not shut down their Bondsteel military camp as promised and are once again thinking of destroying it with a suit-case nuclear weapon.
The situation in the Middle East too is moving towards a paradigm shift. The Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians and Turks are all moving towards ending the ancient Sunni/Shia rift and creating a loose confederation of Muslim states.
The Saudi and Israeli factions still trying to foment a Christian/Muslim holy war are increasingly isolated and a take-down of the Saudi regime is possible unless they surrender.
Speaking about surrender, the Saudis made an offer of $25 trillion recently to the White Dragon Society in exchange for historical Asian gold but were refused because accepting it would have meant agreeing that they had the right to create money out of thin air. The money would have been created at one of several esoteric “trading platforms” the cabal uses to create money out of thin air and then launder it into the real economy. The right create money must always be linked to the real world and must belong to the people and other living creatures of the planet earth and not to an ancient slaving guild.
There was also an offer of 12 trillion dollars’ worth gold from South America made to the WDS last week. This offer seemed to be genuine and filled with good intent but so far, as has been the case with all other stories of astronomical amounts of gold, no physical proof it exists has yet been produced. The person making the offer promised to show up soon with physical gold. We shall see.
The only real treasure in Asia this writer has seen proof of still being in existence is the treasure hidden in the hills behind the treasure museum in Taipei, Taiwan. Even a lot of that was thoroughly looted by eunuchs etc. long before the Nationalist Chinese government evacuated it to Taiwan.
Even if some of the other legendary treasure stashes exist, the people of the world must ask themselves if hidden controllers claiming ownership of these treasures should be put in charge of deciding the future of the planet.
The Chinese government, the Russians, the Pentagon and their allies may have to come to the conclusion that all of these tales of umpteen million tons of gold are a red herring. If that is the case, they need to take over the current privately owned international central banking system and then start backing the various currencies out there with a basket of commodities or other real assets.
In compliance with the subscription terms and conditions, the full report will be posted here on Thursday, February 20, 2014.
The United States of America Corporation has managed to stave off bankruptcy once again last week after Secretary of Skull and Bones John Kerry showed up in China with begging bowl in hand last week and got a donation, according to Chinese government sources. The money came with many strings attached, notably getting the US to jerk Japanese slave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s chain
and accept the reunification of the Korean peninsula, the sources said. The reunification of Korea story, something the Zionist slave press tried to ignore, can be seen here on the official North Korean news site:
However, Kerry’s efforts to get gold from Indonesia to support the Federal Reserve Board and his Fuehrer George Bush Sr. were rebuffed prompting Kerry to make veiled threats to unleash weather warfare: “in a sense climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon,” after Indonesia’s president refused to meet him…to be continued on Thursday February 20.
Meanwhile the John Kerry’s Asian visit has been one of a warning to East Asia of what to expect if the cabal do not get what they want.
US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Indonesians yesterday that man-made climate change could threaten their entire way of life, deriding those who doubted the existence of “perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction”. Read further
US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Beijing last Friday was the latest move in the Obama administration’s provocative “pivot to Asia,” the purpose of which is to undermine Chinese influence and build up US military forces and alliances in preparation for war. Having deliberately inflamed dangerous flashpoints in Asia over the past four years, the US is seeking to press home its advantage, regardless of the consequences. Read further
Indonesia’s parliament passed into law the nation’s first trade bill that enables the government to restrict exports and imports, to protect local industries and assure local demand is met, according to Bloomberg. The law was approved at a plenary session today, according to Pramono Anung, the parliament’s deputy speaker.
“This law underlines Indonesia’s stance of not adopting a free market,” Deputy Trade Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said after the bill was passed. “The government has been given the right to intervene to protect its people.”
Earlier this year, a set of Indonesian laws that demands that mining companies begin to process their ores in Indonesia, so as to expand the manufacturing base and create local industrial jobs, went into effect, despite howls of outrage and defiance from the international mining cartels and the banker controllers.
Only China, India and the United States have a greater population than Indonesia, and there is no country with a larger Muslim population.
“Following updates last week, where it was revealed that initially Obama declined the transfers (because he was lied to and misled by the Cabal insiders to subvert these funds) then he okayed them, but then Angela Merkel blocked the transfers, so confusion set in at the highest ranks, so the request was sent out for M1 to re-instruct the release of the funds – that happened last week, now comes this:
It is a long one, but confirms all I have been saying, even the initial 6-million USD per individual on the planet. Just note too though that as per the OPPT the UCC filings … THERE ARE NOW NO HIERARCHIES, NO AUTHORITIES CAN STAND BETWEEN THE SOVEREIGN INDIVIDUAL AND CREATOR / SOURCE … NO KINGDOMS CAN OR WILL RULE THE SOVEREIGN HUMAN BEING … “I initially mis-read their intention below, until I re-read it where it specifically states: “… As *a sovereign being participating in* the kingdom of the world, they consciously affirm their inherent responsibilities and rights as a legitimate member of the world community. … ” so, relax, they have no intention of ruling anyone …” ~ Ivan, in an email note to me this morning.
PART 1: SINO AND SWISSINDO – PRINCIPLES OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
PART 2: THE SWISSINDO TRADITION OF PROTECTING DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
PART 3: GOD SKY EARTH IS THE FIRST CVAC
PART 4: THE DIGITAL VALUE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
APPENDIX: 20 FACTS OF HUMAN FINANCE
Neo The United Kingdom Of God Sky Earth:
‘The Royal Oath of Honor Council: A History of the Beginning of the End’ A further inquiry into the SWISSINDO Trust
What if we all have the opportunity right now to give the best of ourselves and, at the same time, be supported and rewarded for being those multi-variant selves, no matter what our range of interests is, as long as we do no harm to another being? Whose signature do you need to see on paper to believe that this is a very real option in this precise moment of now?
Consider whether you’re persuaded by the concept that sufficient funds exist and are available to us, this summer, to underwrite not only a global debt jubilee, but also to sustain a return of the people’s value to the people—because we are all equally the beneficiaries of the world’s wealth.
It’s an entirely open question who really rules the world. It depends on which lens you want to use.
The trust that is now formally prepared to underwrite this global initiative has been misused at an international level. In February of this year, the Trustee of the SWISSINDO International Orbit Trust, Mr. A1.Sino.AS.S“2”.IR.Soegihartonotonegoro,ST, has deployed the One People’s Public Trust UCC filings to legally declare an end, worldwide, to corruption, collusion and nepotism (known in Indonesia by the acronym KKN:
‘korupsi, kolusi, nepotisme’). The people of the earth are presently afraid to retire old systems of government, banking, and judicial structure because they don’t know what will replace them, even though the complete corruption of these institutions is killing us all—softly and slowly or hard and fast, depending. This paper aims to resolve that equation by presenting the logic of a robust new framework that will handily support our transition to life on a much better planet.
PART 1: SINO AND SWISSINDO – PRINCIPLES OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
On June 2, in honor of Mr. Sino.AS’s birthday, SWISSINDO officially published a document titled PRASASTY KERATON CAKRABUWANA DAN SUMPAH CARAKA and subtitled ‘Royal Oath of Honor Council: A History of the Beginning of the End’. This declaration commemorates the establishment of the world’s first CVAC (Creation’s Value Assistance Center), which creates the legal structure that makes possible SWISSINDO’s distribution of funds to all the people of the earth, a value that Mr. Sino.AS understands was stolen from us all through ‘korupsi, kolusi, nepotisme’. This is a model CVAC, the first of its kind. Interestingly, for SWISSINDO’s purposes it is also a kingdom. This kit comes complete with a king, so it might be best to consider what the CVAC called NEO THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GOD SKY EARTH is all about, exactly.
Included among the precedents that Mr. Sino.AS cites are the following. He takes his precepts from the tenets of Pancasila; from Indonesia’s Declaration of Independence as a republic under Sukarno in 1945; from the 1948 U.N. Declaration of Human Rights; from the 1955 Bandung Conference of non-aligned nations, hosted by Indonesia; from the 1963 Green Hilton Memorial Agreement between American President Kennedy and Indonesian President Sukarno; and from Sukarno’s ‘Supersemar’ initiative of 11 March 1966.
Let’s take a look at the relevance of each precedent to Mr. Sino.AS’s vision of the global project now at hand.
The short clip linked below is an audio file of Sukarno reading the Indonesian Declaration of Independence along with a most striking photo of young Sukarno standing in a garage in front of 500 people, surrounded by student revolutionary representatives, early in the morning of 17 August 1945.
Here’s the back story: The Japanese, having supplanted the Dutch over the course of World War II as the colonial overlords of the Indonesian Archipelago, had experienced the horror of nuclear annihilation at the hands of Americans just ten days earlier. The students knew that there was only one, very finite, moment available in which to propel the Indonesian peoples out of colonialism, and they seized it. The night beforehand, Sukarno was pulled to a safe house and handed the Declaration that he read from the garage at dawn—and so the Republic of Indonesia was created.
“Indonesian Proclamation of Independence, 17 August 1945″
Mr. Sino.AS evokes that event as emblematic of the moment we have before us now. We have arrived at a singular point of historical time in which it is
truly possible to return the value of the world to all of its people. Mr. Sino.AS wishes to seize this moment, and he invokes student participation
(‘the youth of the world’). He sees students as the activist inheritors of all that is good.
During his long tenure in power as President of Indonesia, Sukarno was most productively concerned with developing the political philosophy of
Pancasila (pronounced [pantʃaˈsila]), the official ideological foundation of the Indonesian state. This is Sukarno’s greatest legacy. Pancasila
consists of two Old Javanese words (originally from Sanskrit), ‘pañca’ meaning five, and ‘sīla’ meaning principles. Thus Pancasila comprises five
principles held to be inseparable and interrelated:
• Appreciation of the one and only Creator, (in Indonesian, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa);
• Just and civilized humanity, (in Indonesian, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab);
• The unity of Indonesia, (in Indonesian, Persatuan Indonesia);
• Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives (in Indonesian, Kerakyatan Yang
Dipimpin oleh Hikmat Kebijaksanaan, Dalam Permusyawaratan dan Perwakilan);
• Social justice for all of the people of Indonesia (in Indonesian, Keadilan Sosial bagi seluruh Rakyat Indonesia).
In addition to Pancasila, Mr. Sino.AS also philosophically links his GOD SKY EARTH initiative to the principles of the 1948 U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, here paraphrased to match Mr. Sino.AS’s articulation of them:
• Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
• Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.
• Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
• Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
• Whereas the peoples have reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
• Whereas the peoples have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with one another, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
• Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
• Now, Therefore THE PEOPLE proclaim THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance among the peoples.
Mr. Sino.AS recognizes that the above are principles that we, each of us, must start to apply in full self-responsibility if our CVAC initiatives are to succeed. We, the one people are now free to choose our own actions for ourselves, as long as we each stand in full responsibility and liability for those actions. As Mr. Sino.AS envisions the role of GOD SKY EARTH, the initial mission of the CVAC is to deploy the principles of Pancasila and the Declaration of Human Rights to improve on an international plan that almost became possible in 1963:
“In 1963 the gold that had been entrusted to the care of President Soekarno was recalled by the Nations to underpin the issuance of further US Dollars in order to further facilitate international trade. Under this Agreement, Soekarno (as the International Trustee Holder of the Gold) began the process of repositioning the gold that had earlier been entrusted to the care of the Indonesian People, back into the banking system to create a fractional backing for the US Dollar.
“The potential of this agreement led to Executive Order 11110 issued July 1963, which would have provided the Department of the Treasury the power to issue United States Dollars. Within two weeks after signing the Green Hilton Agreement which would have then enabled consolidation of EO 11110. Kennedy was assassinated a few days after his signing of the Green Hilton Agreement. With the death of Kennedy, the authority granted to the Treasury was never taken up.” [see Resources, “The Green Hilton Agreement (Geneva 1963)”]
This plan, which never came to fruition, laid the framework for the international cooperation that has now resulted in the GOD SKY EARTH concept.
PART 2: THE SWISSINDO TRADITION OF PROTECTING DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
Post-colonialism is a useful tool for explaining and responding to the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism; it considers the human consequences of controlling a country and establishing settlers for the economic exploitation of the native people and their land. An important post-colonial story unfolded dramatically during the Bandung Conference of 1955, hosted by Indonesia. The Bandung Conference was co-sponsored by the governments of Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The sponsoring nations brought together 24 additional nations from within Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Because the process of decolonization was still underway in many places on earth, the conference delegates took it upon
themselves to speak for other colonized peoples (especially in Africa) that had not yet established independent governments.
At the conference, the delegates did an amazing thing. They debated and subsequently resolved key principles for national and local communities coming into full independence in the aftermath of colonial rule: political self-determination, mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, and equality. The delegates signed a communique at the close of the conference that indicated their serious objectives: the promotion of economic and cultural cooperation, protection of human rights and the principle of self-determination, a call for an end to racial discrimination wherever it occurred, and a reiteration of the importance of peaceful coexistence.
The delegates built upon the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which had initially been worked out in negotiations between India and China in 1954. Those principles stand as an alternate, complementary version of the Pancasila principles laid out by Sino above—they come from the same root.
Both seek to build solidarity within and among recently independent nations. At the time of the conference, non-European countries were forced to carefully negotiate their relationships with both the west and the east, and they were the locus of considerable collateral damage. Many territories were either engaged in fierce decolonization battles or facing the challenge of becoming autonomous nations even as a new global, neocolonial framework was being imposed on them. This is an era now finished, per Sino’s GOD SKY EARTH initiative.
The SWISSINDO Trust, while waiting patiently for its opportunity to fund development on a truly global scale—an opportunity that has now arrived—partnered with OMD (Organisation Mondiale de Développement or, in English, World Development Organization), which was originally established in Paris in 1901 and is currently characterized as a United Nations ECOSOC Consultative Member and Non Governmental Organization. OMD has been working with SWISSINDO for the past decade to provide funding for international economic development and to assist its implementation with revolutionary technological tools.
Under the direction of OMD, SWISSINDO has for the past decade had a funding program in place for projects that respect the tenets of the Bandung Conference, which are these: effective political participation in a new international democratic framework fueled by real grassroots energy to seek democratic participation at the national and local level. However, Mr. Sino.AS asserts that since the mid 1960s in particular, “global crisis and corruption swept across the line, executive, legislative, judiciary.” The net result has been the failure of “ECOSOC related Conventions and human rights law, [and] the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN-1948).” Mr. Sino.AS names in particular “money laundering conspiracy and a variety of covert transactions on Product Exhibit A. UBS Gold Certificate-Instruction and Exhibit B. UBS-Mortgage Obligation Certificate Statements, scattered throughout the territory of the Republic of Indonesia and throughout the banking system.” Mr. Sino.AS now envisions a new trajectory, and he has the signing authority to put his plan in place.
SWISSINDO has historically funded OMD’s programs via the utilization of physical metallic assets and monetary assets currently held in the largest commercial banks and institutional banking organizations throughout the world, including the World Bank, the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve System. Indonesia has been described as one of the most governmentally corrupt nations on earth. At the same time, however, the ancient royal houses of the Indonesian Archipelago are leading the world to fight for freedom from economic enslavement. Mr. Sino.AS’s remedy is connected OMD’s banking apparatus, which will now assist in the disbursement of value to all the people, globally.
PART 3: GOD SKY EARTH IS THE FIRST CVAC
Mr. Sino.AS does not seek to change any existing economic systems that are doing no harm. Rather, he wishes to offer everyone, globally, the first CVAC structure as a carapace of protection under which funds can be disbursed. Mr. Sino.AS’s main intent is to preserve existing systems wherever this is possible. He does not wish to harm any other living being nor see any harmed. Here, Mr. Sino.AS’s metaphysical sense comes through strongly. Indonesian culture has retained a focus on ancient metaphysical principles that have been discouraged in western culture. GOD SKY EARTH has been created entirely to suit one sovereign being’s interaction with the needs and desires of like-minded others. Indeed, we expect this of the participants of every CVAC on the planet. GOD SKY EARTH cannot be regarded as a kingdom in any of the usual western historical senses of the term, because the CVAC structure is entirely non-coercive. Similarly, it is not necessary to subscribe to the tenets of one particular philosophy or ecclesiastical doctrine in order to be receptive to the underlying values that Mr. Sino.AS endorses, as they are universal. This is the New World Order entirely defanged.
As the 681st King of Kings, Mr. Sino.AS wishes to introduce and endorse his own CVAC recommendations for governance (not government), according to which each participant affirms that they stand in full self-awareness and declares that they are willing to become a citizen of the kingdom of the world. As a citizen of the kingdom of the world they affirm their planet’s commitment to a civil world government founded in principles of universal values, the basis of the law of the world. As a sovereign being participating in the kingdom of the world, they consciously affirm their inherent responsibilities and rights as a legitimate member of the world community. Sino concludes that the principle of unity above all is a civil commitment to preserve planet earth.
The collateral supporting the accounts that GOD SKY EARTH proposes to grant directly to the people of the world is collected under the SWISSINDO Trust designation ‘Exhibits A and B’. The backing for these accounts consists of 74,760,920,184 kilograms of collateral gold, stored throughout the Indonesian Archipelago. Traditionally, by “master agreement” (and prior to Mr. Sino.AS’s change of plans), Mr. Sino.AS has handed the dividends of the interest-bearing accounts backed by this gold to 25 countries through the U.N. and the World Bank. These are the off-ledger accounts that have been funding the world’s corporations, including the world’s corporate governments, for decades.
Witnessing that there is “global change and fiscal strain and demand of a monetary nature,” Mr. Sino.AS has declared that the Committee of 300 and the United Nations have now received sequential audits performed on behalf of the SWISSINDO Trust, and so are amply informed of both his plan and his authority to execute it. These audits are represented in the Declaration as “ASBLP Final Report 1900-2008, ASBLP-0333902-2010, ASBLP-Audited Accounts 0330-2012 Data Sheets INFINITE BANK STATEMENTS (Supervision: The Committee of 300 – The World Bank Group)”. The document proclaims that the Committee of 300 and the United Nations have now had the opportunity to review the changes Mr. Sino.AS has made to the plan for disbursement of the global collateral accounts, per audits of the Trust’s Infinite Bank Statements as supervised by the World Bank. Because the Bank for International Settlements (and all subsidiary banks globally) have now been lawfully foreclosed by the UCC legal filings of the One People’s Public Trust, SWISSINDO seeks to establish an alternate route for disbursing the funds of the Trust to all of the world’s people directly. In technical terms, this is not a complex matter. The means of bypassing the existing banking system is straightforward.
Mr. Sino.AS’s instruction is for the asset-based funds that will enable the transition to be disbursed via a series of CVACs that for the sake of convenience he calls the ’5 Continents’: Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas, and Australia. The people called to manage this transition will work under the following auspices: “UN-SWISSINDO-OMD for Europe; UN-MUN-SWISSINDO for Asia, UN-SWISSINDO (OPPT) for Africa, the Americas, and Australia.” In implicit acknowledgement of the student revolutionaries who have been critically important to Indonesia’s history as a republic, Sino avers that this is “the new generation of the best in the world as the messenger of GOD, the Lord Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.” Sino proposes to pay out a series of accounts numbered 1-11 to “all participants”, which is to say to the global human population. The funds go to all “7 Billion people on Planet Earth (5 Continents) with the Global Key Master Plan” that has been in development since the time of the Declaration of Indonesian Independence, but which had been subverted by large corporate organizations and institutions that have now been foreclosed.
Mr. Sino.AS recommends that members of the GOD SKY EARTH CVAC stop “the bankers and heads of government who have been violators of human rights (UN-1948) since the start of the Republic of Indonesia, and which have inhibited the management of the assets” known to westerners as the Global Collateral Accounts. Accordingly, he invokes the power of the Supersemar:
“The Supersemar, the Indonesian abbreviation for Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret (Order of March the Eleventh) was a document signed by the Indonesian President Sukarno on 11 March 1966, giving the army commander Lt. Gen. Suharto authority to take whatever measures he ‘deemed necessary’ to restore order to the chaotic situation during the Indonesian killings of 1965–66. The abbreviation ‘Supersemar’ is a play on the name of Semar, the mystic and powerful figure who commonly appears in Javanese mythology including wayang puppet shows. The invocation of Semar was presumably intended to help draw on Javanese mythology to lend support to Suharto’s legitimacy during the period of the transition of authority… In effect, the Supersemar came to be seen as the key instrument of the transfer of executive power.” [see Resources, “Supersemar – Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret (Order of March the Eleventh)”]
Sino acknowledges that the existing government and banking bureaucracies constitute a harvesting system. This debt slavery system can now be replaced with an asset-based system of credit that eliminates usury. The UCC legal filings of the One People’s Public Trust foreclosed existing banks and governments; reconfirmed the legal framework for true common law, replacing for-profit admiralty law systems; and laid the framework for CVACs as new forms of governance. CVAC governance councils that are established by sovereign beings, each having their own system of value exchange under common law, is the only legal mandate by which the SWISSINDO Trust can be administered.
PART 4: THE DIGITAL VALUE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
The CVAC called GOD SKY EARTH has offered to back more than seven billion people with six million dollars apiece. That value is located digitally on computer servers. All the people of the world interact directly with the servers, without intermediaries. Transactions are recorded via basic double-entry bookkeeping. All people are connected to the servers independently, utilizing both new and existing technologies and services. Usurious monetization of this economic value is impossible: there are no taxes or interest to be paid by the people, ever. The servers manage personal, development, and business accounts. There will also be development accounts established to fund the rebuilding and repairing of our planet. GOD SKY EARTH, via OMD, thereby establishes the first transparent and secure system for the free exchange, trade and potential increase of a person’s true value using a subset of commonly held banking concepts, if not the exact architecture of a banking system. We the people may want to retire the existing banking system, but not before we replace it with a system that enables every person on the planet to trade securely and freely with one another.
SWISSINDO has spent months preparing to release a huge tranche of representational value backed up by gold to the people of the world. Each person’s account receives and distributes its contents as that person sees fit. The servers are impenetrable, secured legally and with all existing guarantees invoked. The clients are all the people of the planet. This is a historical event that will change the essence of business forever. In the historical system now crumbling beneath us, we have had economies but not communities; we have been consumers but not sovereign beings. The GOD SKY EARTH plan for distribution of the Global Collateral Accounts directly addresses the widespread fear of a global currency. There is no need for fear. Banking as we have previously understood it will go away altogether.
The system to replace it is already operational for asset transfer. We are now truly free to create local communities, digitally connected. We can create these communities on our own terms.
APPENDIX: 20 FACTS OF HUMAN FINANCE
1. Government corporations and elite businesses and organizations worldwide were lawfully foreclosed in December, 2012.
2. These corporations’ assets all have UCC liens placed against them in lieu of payment for knowingly establishing fraudulent contracts with the
people of Earth, creating a de facto slavery system.
3. All governments are corporations and have been since at least 1934 when governments mortgaged their populations for the first time, without their
consent, to pay for the corporations’ combined excesses, mistakes, and wars.
4. These corporations continue their criminal acts to avoid the collapse of their foreclosed paper empire while awaiting help from the central banks
and their printing presses.
5. Historically, these banks and corporations have received massive payments and loan guarantees to run the presses that have sustained their
central banks. These loans are backed by the combined wealth of the planet, mostly in gold, but have also included the value placed on each individual
via their birth certificate.
6. The Collateral Accounts were set up to support the combined value of the worlds’ assets, to facilitate commerce and to provide for the wealth,
health and safety of the world’s people.
7. Treaties and agreements, signed and then ignored over centuries, guarantee that this money is to be distributed to all of the people of the
Earth. The elected and selected government corporations had other plans and other means not made known to the people or the trustees of the accounts
until it was almost too late.
8. For too long the accounts’ trustees dutifully obeyed the governments and central banks and gave payments and guarantees only to them and to their
corporate associates and families -as they demanded was their right.
9. But recently, after generations of careful planning and preparation, the trustees refuted the corporations’ claims on the Collateral Accounts and
have instead prepared to release the funds to the people to rebuild the world.
10. This money is entirely backed by precious metals and jewels,constituting the wealth of the world that has always been everyone’s to share equally -but wasn’t. When released, this money will cancel all odious debt for every nation and every person on Earth. It is enough to make money and all its attachments irrelevant.
11. This money, a sum large enough to guarantee the end of financial tyranny for everyone, is available now.
12. This money will enable long hidden technologies and medical breakthroughs to be released to all the people.
13. This money will enable the restoration of the planet’s natural environments and will support a commitment to keeping the planet healthy
with clean energy.
14. The proof of all this new information, including the hidden history of our planet, is available now if you look. This information is less likely
be found in the corporate- and government-owned mainstream media.
15. Consider the fact that any bank mortgages you may have or other bank loans or tax payments you may owe are fraudulent. Humanity didn’t agree to
be sold for corporations’ and governments’ excesses, mistakes and wars; therefore no valid contract exists.
16. Consider that many new world communities have worked for decades – at significant risk to the people involved and their families – to ensure this
distribution of the world’s wealth takes place peacefully.
17. As a result of this event some world leaders will be detained for a short period. No being will be harmed. A temporary government and new
financial structure, already available, will be put into place.
18. Help each other get these accounts released to the people of Earth and stop paying the bankers and their governments their fraudulent claims. Only
together can we replace and eradicate our bankrupt system.
19. Accept that you are infinitely valuable and in every way free and that your portion of the wealth of the world is available for you now to enjoy
in peace.
20. All that remains for the people of Earth is to accept what is rightfully theirs: take back their share of the world’s wealth from those
who fraudulently held it from them and claim their rights as equals among anyone. An event.
Satu Insan - Malaysia 