Family of Canadian held in Indonesia hopes related ruling will help man’s case

By Diana Mehta, The Canadian Press on August 5, 2015.

The family of a Canadian teacher imprisoned in Indonesia on much criticized child-abuse convictions is hoping a related ruling from a court in the neighbouring country of Singapore will help his case.

Neil Bantleman is currently serving a 10-year sentence after an Indonesian court found him and a co-worker guilty of abusing children at the elite international school that employed them.

Bantleman's brother said a mother of one of the alleged victims levelled many of her accusations at the start of the case in the form of emails, text messages and other digital communication sent from Singapore.

As a result, Guy Bantleman says his brother, his co-worker and their employer filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman in Singapore.

He says the court found that accusations of sexual abuse levelled by the mother regarding her son could not be proven, found that the mother had defamed the men and the school and ordered the mother to pay a total of nearly 230,000 Singapore dollars ($219,000) in damages.

"The court said there was no evidence to support the allegations of the mother and in reality there were more communications that actually said the mother and child indicated no sort of physical abuse," Bantleman's brother said.

"We hope the courts in Indonesia have taken note of what the courts in Singapore have ruled."

Neil Bantleman's family has called the case against the 46-year-old Burlington, Ont., man a surreal one.

He and a teaching assistant were both working at the Jakarta Intercultural School when they were arrested last July following reports from parents of a six-year-old boy who claimed to have been sodomized. Police had already arrested five janitors who worked at the school on charges of child sexual assault in relation to the case.

Bantleman and the teaching assistant, Ferdinant Tjiong, were then charged with sexually abusing three children at the school, underwent a trial that saw conflicting evidence, and were eventually convicted in April.

Both men maintained their innocence throughout and frequently voiced criticisms about the fairness and transparency of the trial which saw medical reports from three different hospitals in Jakarta and Singapore show no major injuries or abnormalities in the three children at the centre of the case.

Bantleman filed an appeal, which is expected to be ruled on at the end of this month.

His family hopes the positive court ruling from Singapore might have some impact on the outcome of his Indonesian legal battle.

"Obviously we're talking about two different countries, what happens in Singapore doesn't mean it's going to follow through in Indonesia," Bantleman's brother said. "But I think it does point the courts in Indonesia in a direction that says listen, 'we've looked at this information and find a very different outcome of what happened.'"

Bantleman wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper after being found guilty in Indonesia, saying the process used to convict him was corrupt and amounted to a human rights violation.

The federal government has called on Indonesia to ensure the appeal is conducted in a "fair and transparent manner" and says it continues to monitor Bantleman's health and safety.

Source: Family of Canadian held in Indonesia hopes related ruling will help man's case

Face to face with a terrorist: Bali bomber Ali Imron meets victims' friends and families in Jakarta jail

The man who drove the explosives-laden van in the Bali bombings has come face to face with the friends and family of some of the victims.

Ali Imron, the only surviving member of the bombers' inner circle, has met Nyoman Rencini, who lost her husband, Jan Laczynski, who lost five friends, and Ni Luh Erniati who also lost her husband.

Before meeting with Imron in a Jakarta prison, Ms Rencini told SBS's Dateline: "My friend asked, if Ali Imron asks us for forgiveness, will you forgive him or not? I said, I don't know. Let's wait and see."

During their meeting, Ms Laczynski asks Imron: "Why did you drive the bomb vehicle?" and "How do you sleep at night?".

Two bombs ripped through Legian street in the tourist hotspot of Kuta on October 12, 2002, killing 202 people.

One was detonated inside Paddy's Pub by a suicide bomber, and another by a suicide bomber in the van parked outside the Sari Club.

Three men convicted of carrying out the bombings were executed by firing squad in 2008 while others have served or continue to serve behind bars.

Imron was spared the death penalty and instead sentenced to life imprisonment after he expressed remorse and cooperated with police.

He now works on de-radicalisation and changing the jihadist mindset.

However, he revealed in the meeting he still receives invitations to carry out more bombings of Bali and could "find a bomb even though I'm inside".

"I'm not grateful that there was a bombing in Bali," he told Dateline.

"I'm grateful that I'm one of the perpetrators who realises they were wrong and are repentant.

"I've said that I apologise to everyone, especially the victims and their families.

"Since then, I have not killed anyone… I'm not a monster."

When Imron entered the room, he offered Mr Laczynski a handshake but Mr Laczynski refused, later saying: "No, no thanks, I'm not going to shake someone's hand who killed five of my friends and 88 Australians".

Ms Rencini, who had to wait two months to receive confirmation of her husband's death, leaving her to bring up three children alone, said, "People said he'd be half-man, half-animal".

"Some friends told me to take a knife or other sharp object and use it on the perpetrators, but my conscience wouldn't let me do anything so cruel."

In the program, Imron says he was "obeying his leaders".

"I was only carrying out the orders of my seniors in Jemaah Islamiyah and my brother Mukhlas," Imron said.

He said if he did not complete the orders he would have been expelled as a traitor.

After the meeting, Ms Erniati said: "I know he was thinking, he was listening but his face didn't show any sign of sympathy".

'I don't think I could control my emotions enough'

Kevin Paltridge lost his son Corey in the bombing.

Seven of Corey's Kingsley Football Club team-mates were also killed when the bomb ripped through the Sari Club.

Mr Paltridge said he personally did not think meeting with a terrorist responsible for the attack would be helpful.

"But I'm probably one of the aggressive ones," he said.

"I sent a letter to be part of the firing squad. That's how angry I was, and probably still am."

Mr Paltridge said he did not know whether he could control his emotions enough in such a meeting.

"Meeting them doesn't really interest me at all because I'd probably thump them on the chin."

He said he understood why Mr Laczynski did not want to shake Imron's hand.

"I'd probably take his hand with one hand and whack him with the other," Mr Paltridge said.

But Mr Paltirdge said if he ever came face to face with one of the terrorists involved, his first question would be "Why?"

Risks and benefits of meeting a perpetrator

The decision for a victim, or a relative or friend of a victim, to meet with a perpetrator is not one made lightly and can have varying psychological impacts.

Often such encounters are sought to make sense of a traumatic event but the after effects differ significantly between individuals.

"It can be quite dangerous," Anxiety Australia said in a statement.

"Because if they haven't seen the perpetrator before they can create direct associations.

"They can then see them in their mind, when they are just walking down the street or when they think about what happened."

University of Queensland psychology Professor Justin Kenardy said it very much depended on whether the person had the capacity and resources to deal with the emotions ignited by the exposure.

"If someone is really distressed and just not really in the right frame of mind then I would think that something like that might be counter-productive," he said.

"It would reinforce all of the fearful and confusing thoughts which they had to try to resolve."

But for some it can be a positive and beneficial process.

"If somebody feels fully supported and are relatively resilient or in a place that fosters that recovery and adaption, it's going to be something that's useful," Professor Kenardy said.

Coming face to face makes it more concrete and the intangibility of what has happened may be more distressing than seeing the reality, he said.

Source: Face to face with a terrorist: Bali bomber Ali Imron meets victims' friends and families in Jakarta jail

Indonesian foundation defends awarding Kim Jong-Un peace prize

World Aug. 04, 2015 - 07:00AM JST ( )

Jakarta (AFP) —

A daughter of Indonesia's founding president has defended honouring North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un with an award for statesmanship, dismissing criticisms of his human rights record as "Western propaganda".

Rachmawati Sukarnoputri confirmed the leader would receive an award from her organisation, the Sukarno Education Foundation, in September for his "peace, justice and humanity."

The decision to award the autocrat such an accolade — handed in the past to such freedom icons as Mahatma Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi — has made headlines and triggered an outpouring of ridicule and disbelief.

But Sukarnoputri brushed aside questions of Kim's suitability for the award, saying the young leader "should be honored for his fight against neo-colonialist imperialism."

"The allegations about human rights abuses are untrue," she told AFP.

"That's all just Western propaganda. Those Western governments like to put ugly labels on North Korea."

Her father, Indonesia's first president Sukarno, established early ties with North Korea back in the 1950s.

Jakarta has maintained open relations with Pyongyang ever since. In April. President Joko Widodo hosted a delegation from the reclusive state as part of an international conference.

It is not the first time Rachmawati's foundation has handed its top prize to a member of North Korea's ruling family. In 2001 the award was posthumously given to Kim's grandfather, the state's founding father Kim Il Sung.

Rachmawati drew parallels between the younger Kim and her own father, the leader of Indonesia's independence struggle who ruled the Southeast Asian archipelago until he was overthrown in 1965.

"Sukarno was also accused of being an evil dictator who violated human rights, but this was proven otherwise over time," she said.

Rachmawati is also the younger sister of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's fifth president, who remains one of the country's most powerful political figures.

Kim is known for his ruthlessness in dealing with even the most senior officials suspected of disloyalty, following the execution of his uncle and one-time political mentor Jang Song-Thaek in 2013.

South Korean intelligence reported in May that he had his defence minister shot to pieces with anti-aircraft fire for insubordination and dozing off during a formal military rally.

Foreigners detained by the North Korean authorities are habitually required to make public, officially-scripted pronouncements of their guilt in order to help secure their eventual release.

© 2015 AFP

Source: Indonesian foundation defends awarding Kim Jong-Un peace prize

Plane skids off Indonesian runway, three injured and airport closed

Reuters, 02/08 19:33 CET

JAKARTA (Reuters) – A Citilink plane skidded off a runway in western Indonesia on Sunday, injuring three people and forcing the airport to shut down, according to a transportation ministry official and local media.

The Airbus A320 plane was carrying 174 passengers en route from Jakarta to Padang when it bounced off the runway upon landing, transportation ministry spokesman Julius Barata told Reuters.

"The plane is blocking the runway, so the airport is still closed," Barata added.

Citilink is the budget arm of flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk.

Indonesia has a patchy aviation safety record and has seen two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all on board.

(Reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor and Nyimas Laula; Editing by Digby Lidstone)

euronews provides breaking news articles from Reuters as a service to its readers, but does not edit the articles it publishes.

Copyright 2015 Reuters.

Source: Plane skids off Indonesian runway, three injured and airport closed

Less chance of Indonesian forest fire haze this year - officials

An aerial view of burned trees is seen during the haze in Indonesia's Riau province June 28, 2013. REUTERS/Beawiharta

JAKARTA, August 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Indonesian leaders say there is less chance of haze from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan affecting the region this year as a result of strong cooperation to tackle the issue among Southeast Asian countries.

The numbers of fire hotspots in Riau province has declined about 70 percent in West Kalimantan province, between January and July, compared to the same period in 2014, they said.

Meranti district, for example, which had 20 hotspots in March last year, has had none this year, said Indonesia's Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya.

"It shows that [peatland] areas can be managed with good water management. It is clear that if peats are not dried and (kept) wet, fires can be put off," he said this week in Jakarta, at a meeting of a regional working group on managing transboundary haze.

Haze pollution from land and forest fires first became a regional issue in the late 1990s, when thick smoke coming from Indonesian provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan blanketed neighboring countries, especially Singapore and Malaysia.

Cutting and burning forest to open land for agriculture was considered the primary cause.

A 2003 study from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) estimated that economic losses from haze affecting transportation in the region amounted to $1.62 to $2.7 billion in 1997-98, and losses from other smoke pollution were between $674 million and $799 million.

Those losses resulted in rising politician tensions among countries in the region.

But  in 2002, nine countries in Southeast Asia region, -- Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – signed the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, pledging to work together to deal with smoke from land and forest fires.

Indonesia, however, did not ratify the agreement until  September 2014, delayed by concerns about sovereignty issues.

After ratifying the agreement, Indonesia moved  to tackle haze issues, including installing bulkheads in peatland canals to retain water, using aircraft to fight fires, trying cloud seeding to trigger rain and stepping up law enforcement against burning forest.

Nurbaya said improvements had also come through working together with other countries in the region, particularly Malaysia and Singapore.

"We have already taken many steps to anticipate haze, through coordination and law enforcement," he said. Indonesia's government has also started legal action against companies that illegally burn land or forest," she said.

Other countries in the region in turn applauded Indonesia's ratification of the anti-haze agreement.

 "I am very encouraged that Indonesia has already ratified the ASEAN Transboundary haze (agreement). This means we are now all united and have a common platform to collaborate in action," said Vivian Balakrishnan, Sinagpore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, speaking in Jakarta.

During a visit to Riau at the end of 2014, Indonesian President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo called for an end to haze in 2015 and instructed that canals that drain water from peatland areas be blocked.

Dry peat is prone to fires that are difficult to put out, and a major source of haze.

"I am very hopeful based on the number of hotspots over these six months that there is effective fire prevention," said Balakrishnan.

TOO EARLY TO RELAX

However, Yuyun Indradi, a forest campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia, said it was too early to claim success as the lack of smoke in the early part of the year might be the result of changes in the timing of burning or weather patterns.

"This year's hotspots were lower than last year but we have yet to enter the peak of dry season. So, it's too early to tell," Indradi said.

He praised progress in international cooperation on the issue, and better studies on peatlands and fires. But "the impacts are still minimal," he said.

What is needed, he said, is to establish a regional platform on hotspot monitoring – and more  political will.

"Singapore and Malaysia (governments) must also assume responsibility to ensure that their companies (doing business in Indonesia) comply with Indonesian regulation. They also need to ensure these companies have standard equipment to prevent fires on the ground," he said.

Despite the progress, Minister Balakrishnan of Singapore said the refusal by Indonesia and Malaysia to make public data from land concession maps was hurting the ASEAN Haze Monitoring System (AMHS), which is hosted by Singapore.

Indonesia's land concession maps show the coordinates of concessions, their size, how long they have been operating and their owners,

 "The software is already running. The only thing missing is the concession maps," Balakrishnan said.

 If the maps were publicly available, he said, they could drive stronger law enforcement against companies that cause large fires.

Minister Nurbaya of Indonesia said that under the country's constitution it could not release the maps. Instead, countries have agreed to share information on hotspots without the maps, he said.

But Indradi said concessions maps data was key to pursuing legal charges against companies illegally burning land.

"It would give a strong signal to companies that they are being monitored, which hopefully would make them manage their land accordingly," he said.

Source: Less chance of Indonesian forest fire haze this year - officials