US Jerusalem move: Fury spreads from Jakarta to Rabat

A wave of anger against a US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital has spread from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to denounce the controversial move.

Protesters filled central avenues and squares in a number of major international cities on Sunday, waving the flag of Palestine and shouting slogans to express their solidarity with the Palestinians, who see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump's announcement on Wednesday drew near-universal condemnation from world leaders and inflamed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with violence flaring up in the occupied Palestinian territories for a fifth day.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 157 people were injured on Sunday in confrontations with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.  

At least four Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the US declaration. 

Clashes also erupted on Sunday at a protest in Beirut, where demonstrators fought with security forces outside the US embassy in the Lebanese capital. 

Demonstrators set fires in the street, torched US and Israeli flags and threw stones at police officers, who responded with tear gas and water cannon.

Adnan Abdullah, a protester in Beirut, said Trump's Jerusalem decision "will not happen as long as there are people like us".

Another demonstrator, whose face was hidden behind a black mask, held up a tear gas canister and condemned Lebanese forces for "defending America".

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He went on to add, "There is no one by our side. None of the Arab countries. Oh God, we will raise the Palestinian flag"

Arab foreign ministers, in a resolution on Sunday, urged Trump to rescind the decision and have called for a UN Security Council condemnation of the shift in US policy.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 Indonesians rallied outside the US embassy in Jakarta to vent their anger for a second day. Protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners saying "Pray for Palestine".

"We are not satisfied with just official statements," said Nurjannah Nurwani, one of the lead organisers of the gathering. "We need follow-up, international lobbying which could pressure them into withdrawing their decision."

Another female protester in Jakarta urged Trump to "use his brain" and "withdraw from Jerusalem".

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has condemned Trump's decision. On Thursday, he ordered the US ambassador in Jakarta to be summoned over the move.

In Turkey's Istanbul, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets again, transforming the city's Yenikapi Square into a sea of Turkish and Palestinian flags.  

"I feel like I should defend Palestine because I don't know any other way to defend them," said Ananda Sereka, who was at the protest. "So this is what I can do. This is the least I can do."

Israeli crackdown brings protests in Jerusalem to standstill

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the most vocal critics of Trump's move, has called the declaration "null and void" and vowed to fight it.

He has also called a summit of Islamic countries to discuss the move on Wednesday.

In Rabat, Morocco's capital, protesters yelled slurs against Trump and carried banners saying Jerusalem belonged to Palestine.

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Rabat, said the protest was "a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people but also an opportunity to express anger" over Trump's decision.

"The protesters came from all walks of life," he said. "Government officials, members of the opposition, seculars and conservatives - all denouncing what they consider to be a decision that could destabilise the region."

Mohamed Boussaid, Morocco's finance minister, said the demonstration was a way "to express our indignation and un-satisfaction" and to show that "we refuse completely the decision taken by the president of the US".

Protester Mohamed Alghram agreed.

"We totally reject the decision that targets the most sacred place for us and we say no," he said. "Jerusalem is a red line."

Jerusalem is home to Islam's third holiest site and its status is deeply sensitive for Muslims.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, protesters took a different approach.

Residents of the capital Srinagar, home to 1.1 million people, closed their shops and abandoned the streets in protest. Salman Khan, a Srinagar resident, told the ANI news agency that Trump's decision was "completely unjust".

Muslim solidarity with Palestine also spread to the war-torn nations of Yemen and Syria.

Further protests were held in Egypt, where students and professors demonstrated at the Al-Azhar University.

In Pakistan's Karachi, hundreds of protesters marched towards the US Consulate in the city, but were turned back by riot police. 

Source: US Jerusalem move: Fury spreads from Jakarta to Rabat

Simultaneous diphtheria immunization following outbreak in Jakarta

A diphtheria outbreak in Jakarta has been getting worse, making it a health emergency, an official said. 

There have been 25 diphtheria cases in 2017, claiming two lives, Jakarta Health Agency head Koesmedi Priharto said on Friday. 

The number was higher compared to 2016, in which there were 17 cases and one death. 

Generally, a disease outbreak is classified as a health emergency when the infection and mortality rate increases by two fold. 

In response to the report, he said, the administration will hold a program called Outbreak Response Immunization (ORI) in five municipalities and one regency in the capital. 

"If a person in an area is suffering from diphtheria, all people in the area must take part in the ORI," Koesmedi explained, adding that the ORI, which is set to be held simultaneously on Dec. 11, is a measure that is usually conducted in an area where a diphtheria patient is found. 

He further said the ORI required three injections administered at certain intervals. 

The first and second injections are given in the first and second month, while the last one is given six months later. 

"The immunization is actually given to children at the age of two months, four months, six months, two years and six years. Then, it is continued with an immune booster," he explained. 

He then called on all Jakartans to willingly get the vaccine, which will be given for free. (agn) 

Source: Simultaneous diphtheria immunization following outbreak in Jakarta

International Conference “In Defending Palestinian Rights” – Jakarta Declaration

Jakarta 7-8th, December 2017: We the participants of the International Palestine Conference held in Jakarta, on 7, 8 December 2017, with delegates from Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, India, Argentina, Malalysia, Phillippines & Indonesia hereby declare:

This conference resolved to continue to support the cause of the liberation of Palestine with Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as a its capital. We call upon the people and the nations of the world to continue to support the Palestinian People and the Global Intifada, the Global Resistance to establish an independent sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital. Where Palestinians of all religions co-exist with mutual respect and equality on the 1948 borders of historic Palestine. This includes all Muslims, Christians & Jews and those who did not migrate from other countries to Palestine in 1917 or before.

The conference categorically condemned U.S President Trump's statement wherein he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Zionist Israeli Regime. Trump's decision is illegal and a flagrant violation of all International laws and UN's resolutions. The overwhelming majority of the nations have rejected Trump's decision. Trump's decision poses a threat to the holy city of Jerusalem as the continued Judaisation is a clear and present danger to the holy Masjid Al-Aqsa, the Dome of the Rock, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and all other Islamic and Christian sites.

The entire world is witness to the fact that the Balfour Declaration has proved to be a genocidal disaster, a "Nakba" for the Palestinian nation over the course of the last 100 years. We unanimously state that the Balfour declaration is an unpardonable crime against the Palestinian nation & thus demand that the British government apologise for their crime against humanity.

We strongly condemn the occupation and the daily oppression faced by the Palestinian people inflicted upon them by the Zionist apartheid Israeli colonial regime.

We call upon all the International Palestine solidarity movements, all civil society organizations, NGOs, Human Rights & Peace activists to come togather, unite and support the Palestinian Resistance against the imperialist Zionist occupation to defend & protect the holy city of Jeruslaem which is the common heritage of all of Humanity.

We especially call upon the Muslim world to unite and defeat all those forces that are spreading disunity, division among the Muslim nations and come forward to unite & undertake our Islamic duty for the liberation of Palestine and the holy city of Jerusalem.

We support the Right of Return of all the Palestinian refugees that had been ethnically cleansed by the Zionists. We also call for the end of the siege of the Gaza strip & an immediate end to the building of all Settlements in the West Bank.

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Source: International Conference "In Defending Palestinian Rights" – Jakarta Declaration

Public Anger Erupts After New Jakarta Governor’s Proposed Budget

There is rising outrage in Jakarta in the wake of the presentation of the proposed 2018 budget by the new governor, Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno, which is showing a clear sign of what one city council member called "thirst quenchers" for politicians.

Allocations in the spending plan have drawn the public's attention because of a spike in expenditures in several areas. The sharp rise in spending is attributable to what appear to be sweetheart allocations for the use of both the provincial government and members of the city council, known by its Indonesian acronym DPRD.

The allocations are in sharp contrast to previous fiscal plans by the former governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who sought to eliminate the long-standing abuse. Basuki, known universally by his Hakka nickname Ahok, lost his seat as governor to Anies in April after a campaign in which trumped-up charges of blasphemy were filed against him, resulting in waves of outrage among the majority Muslim population, fanned by rallies by Muslim conservatives and religious figures.

Months after the election, police arrested three leaders of an organized fake news syndicate known as Saracen that poured hundreds of thousands of bogus hacks onto the Internet, inflaming public opinion against Ahok, who was jailed after the election on the blasphemy charges. Worldwide human rights organizations have objected to Ahok's imprisonment, calling it a political travesty.

The allocations represent a sharp rise in irregularities from the two previous administrations, starting in 2012 when now-Indonesian President Joko Widodo was elected Jakarta governor and set out to clean up the corruption-ridden government. He was followed by Basuki, a Chinese Christian who was widely described as the best governor the city had had in recent history before he was driven from office.

Data obtained from the Jakarta government's official website shows a rocketing rise for so-called "working visits" for DPRD members, amounting to Rp107.7 billion (US$7.9 million) for more than 7,000 people.

The figure for the "working visits" budget under Ahok was only Rp8.8 billion, resulting in a quadruple rise of Rp99 billion and drawing massive anger from the public.

The amount is set for various things such as accommodation costs and air travel. Based on the administration's official budget website, the working visit budget covers domestic trip representation costs for city councilors and echelon level II officials.

The data showed that the 2018 working visit budget is allocated for 7,752 people. Each gets representation costs of Rp150,000 requiring Rp1.1 billion in total. In addition, the allocation includes daily travel expenses for 7,752 echelon level II officials and city councilor, at Rp4 million per person. However, the data didn't explain how many times the officials or councilors partook in working visits. Ironically, the Jakarta council itself has only 106 members. 

Responding to the issue, City Council Commission's secretary, Syarif, explained that each commission has 20 to 23 members and in a month could carry out two work visits. During a visit, the councilors usually bring along four staffers to take care of administration. Hence, within the working visit period, which is usually effective for 10 months, a commission would deploy 540 people for the activity, he argued.

There is also a budget of Rp620 million to "rejuvenate" a fishpond at the Regional House of Representatives, a public laughing stock.

The soaring budget also includes the implementation of "recess fees" for DPRD members, which rose to Rp34.4 billion. Then followed "discussion fees" for special committee of DPRD members, which rose to Rp27 billion, as well as discussion fee for budget agencies, another Rp11.9 billion.

There is also a significant rise in the percentage for the management fee of the Jakarta DPRD's website – up by a factor of 17 from Rp31 million to Rp571 million.

The new proposed budget, which the critics called "totally awkward," was descried as a "thirst quencher" for the members of the local Regional House of Representatives. A member of the DPRD was quoted by local media said the increase was to "meet the thirst of board members who had been castrated by the provincial government for so long."

In addition to the increases in the existing allocations, there are additional budget points that were not originally listed in the Local Government Work Plan, but emerged after a discussion with the DPRD Budget Agency such as the creation of a board member "profile book" costing Rp218 million, something that was also red-penciled out by Ahok.

City secretary Saifullah said the council needed to approve the proposed budget, which amounted to Rp77.1 trillion, before Nov. 30 and that, based on Government Regulation on the regional administration's development and supervision, top administration officials and council members wouldn't receive their salaries until they did so.

"The Home Ministry is going to evaluate the budget in December. If the city administration is late to submit it, a six-month sanction will be applied. So the budget deliberation had to finish in November," he said as quoted by local media, adding that the council members would also receive the sanction of

public criticism toward Jakarta's 2018 budget plan.

Anies Baswedan has allocated Rp1.6 trillion (US$118.3 million) in grants to 104 non-profit mass organizations, mostly Islamic ones including mosques, musholla (prayer rooms) and majlis taklim (Quran study congregations).

Several of Jakarta mosques played a significant role in Anies' victory during the gubernatorial election when they called on Muslims not to hold funeral prayers for deceased Muslims found to have supported Ahok, who is a Christian of Chinese ethnicity.

Meanwhile Anies said he hoped more people would keep an eye on the budget plan, to ensure it is well deliberated and transparent. He further said the city's budget is for the people, so Jakartans must take part in examining the deliberations. 

"With more eyes watching, [God willing] the funds will be allocated for people's needs," he said.

Dewi Kurniawati is a Jakarta-based correspondent and regular contributor to Asia Sentinel

Source: Public Anger Erupts After New Jakarta Governor's Proposed Budget

Jakarta Promises Pain for Drivers as Vehicle Entry Fees Planned

Drivers in the traffic-choked roads of Indonesia's capital have been put on notice that using the city's streets is set to get more painful.

With more than 10 million motorcycles and as many as 4 million cars already on Jakarta's streets, the provincial government is preparing to introduce a congestion tax and push people towards using public transport.

"We want to make it painful so that it's enough of a disincentive for people to move to public transport," Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno said Wednesday at a Bloomberg conference in Jakarta.

The city of about 10 million people is the epicenter of business for Southeast Asia's biggest economy. But the streets are often congested, with traffic jams a major obstacle to logistics and economic activity. To overcome the problem, the provincial government is planning an electronic road pricing system to be rolled out in March 2019, after the first stage of an MRT already under construction is up and running.

There's no price structure yet, but it'll be "flexible" with the project going to tender in 2018, Uno said.  The number of vehicles in Jakarta "is completely unsustainable," he said. "We want to fix the traffic by building world class infrastructure."

Source: Jakarta Promises Pain for Drivers as Vehicle Entry Fees Planned