Govt to Enact Regulation Requiring All Public Officials to Disclose Wealth

Jakarta Globe, Carlos Paath, Jan 27, 2015

Rupiah notes and US dollar bills being counted at a Bank Negara Indonesia
branch on Jan. 26, 2015. (Antara Photo/Yudhi Mahatma)

Jakarta. The Indonesian government is set to enact a regulation mandating public officials on all levels to disclose their wealth, Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister Yuddy Chrisnandi said on Tuesday.

“We will issue a letter from the ministry mandating all officials without exception to disclose their wealth,” he said.

Currently, only ministers, directors general, division heads, generals, leaders of independent bodies and directors of state-owned companies are mandated by law to disclose their wealth.

The asset declarations are submitted to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to be scrutinized before and after they hold office.

Yuddy said the new requirement would be for officials on all levels.

“This [requirement] will also apply to military and police officers. Because it is proven that corruption not only involves high-ranking officials but also middle- and even lower-ranking ones,” he said. “This is a way to prevent acts of corruption.”

The declarations will be submitted to his ministry and the KPK and will be used for administrative evaluation purposes, although Yuddy did not rule out their use in legal cases.

Failure to disclose their assets may result in a stay in promotion. “So all officials who want to get promoted must follow [the new regulation],” the minister said.

Yuddy said the asset declaration drawn up by his ministry will be simpler than those designed by the KPK for top ranking officials.

“Just two pages,” he said of his ministry’s version of an asset declaration form. The form will require all officials to list among others the properties they own, their values and also how much money they have in their bank accounts.

Yuddy said that once the requirement was enacted, he wanted all public officials to immediately disclose their wealth.

“The most important thing is that they disclose [their assets first],” the minister said, adding that each ministry will then make the necessary confirmations and corrections.

Jokowi Inaugurates Politician-Heavy Advisory Board

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Jan 19, 2015

President Joko Widodo and his wife Iriana, left, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla
 and his wife Mufidah, seen at the State Palace presenting the cabinet in this
Oct. 26, 2014, file photo. (Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo on Monday officially inaugurated the nine members of his Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres).

The board consists of senior figures from the military and the religious establishment, but is dominated by politicians.

The new presidential advisers are former Education Minister Abdul Malik Fadjar; Hasyim Muzadi of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama; Jan Darmadi of the National Democrat (NasDem) Party; retired general Yusuf Kartanegara of the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI); Lion Air chief executive Rusdi Kirana, who is also a deputy chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB); former People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Sidarto Danusubroto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Strugle (PDI-P); Sri Adiningsih, an economic adviser to the PDI-P; former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret.) Subagyo H.S. of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura); and Suharso Monoarfa of the United Development Party (PPP).

Separately, Rusdi said that he would step down from his other positions after being inaugurated as a member of the Presidential Advisory Board.

“We have to let go of our other positions at private or state companies and also at political parties,” Lion Air Group co-founder Rusdi said, as quoted by news portal Kompas.com on Monday. “I’ve spoken to the PKB and I was nominated by them [for a position in the Wantimpres],” he added.

A Decade After Munir’s Assassination, Questions Still Linger

‘Test of Our History’: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promised to solve murder of prominent human rights activist, but its masterminds remain at large as his administration comes to an end

Jakarta Globe, Nivell Rayda & Raja Humuntar Panggabean, Sep 05, 2014

Munir Said Thalib, center, his wife Suciwati, left, and an unidentified staff member of the
Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial), moments before the human rights defender
boarded a flight on Garuda Indonesia on Sept. 6, 2004. (Photo courtesy of Imparsial)

Jakarta. They were the last pictures of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib alive, taken late on Sept. 6, 2004, shortly before he took the Garuda Indonesia flight where he would draw his last breath.

The pictures showed Munir with his closest friends: his staff from the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor (Imparsial) and his wife Suciwati, sharing jokes and laughs over cups of coffee at a doughnut shop at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

He looked well. Healthy as could be. His short, curly hair was golden brown, like ripe corn kernels glinting from the camera’s flash.

In almost every shot, Munir is grinning from ear to ear, enthusiastic about his planned post-graduate studies in the Netherlands — a dream he’d had to postpone so many times before because he was too busy advocating for victims of violence, too anxious about leaving Indonesia, whose democracy was still in its infancy.

But that year he found very few reasons to put his dream on hold again. For the first time, Indonesia had held a free presidential election.

Munir was pleased with the fact that former military chief Wiranto, a candidate whom he saw as having the worst human rights record, failed to advance to the runoff vote. In a few weeks’ time, then-president Megawati Soekarnoputri would be going head to head against her former security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Neither was an ideal candidate in Munir’s eyes, but at least they were committed not to let Indonesia fall back into military rule. The outcome of the election made him slightly less uneasy about leaving Indonesia.

It had also been years since Indonesia saw a major human rights violation, and he saw a growing number of people start to speak up about human rights. He was confident he could pass on his work to his peers and juniors.

Poengky Indarti, who eventually took over from Munir as Imparsial’s executive director, felt the urge to take lots of pictures of him before he left that day. She felt it would be years before she could see him again.

She also went against Munir’s wishes and asked an old research consultant friend named Sri Rukminingtyas, who had recently moved to Rotterdam, to pick him up at Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport.

“I don’t need anyone to pick me up,” Poengky, then Munir’s number three at Imparsial, recounts her old boss as saying. But Poengky insisted. “I’m not sure why. Maybe it was just my maternal instinct. I had been taking care of his scholarship applications and getting his visa. I guess I needed to be sure he would be taken care of when he got there.”

On Sept. 7, 2004, Munir died on board the plane as it flew over Budapest.

Sri remembered packing four tuna sandwiches that morning before she set out to pick up Munir. She thought that perhaps Munir might not have eaten on the plane, and getting breakfast at the airport would be too expensive.

She doesn’t remember now what happened to the sandwiches. All she could remember was an announcement blaring from the airport’s speakers mentioning the name “Munir.” She also remembered that shortly afterward she got a call from Poengky. Poengky told her that someone from Garuda had just called to say that Munir was dead.

Sri immediately went to the airport’s information office. A police officer confirmed that Munir had indeed died during the flight. “I lost control of myself and cried loudly. It was like being struck by lightning,” Sri says.

Her seemingly simple task of picking Munir up at the airport turned into a somber affair, but one that threw her into a crucial role in unraveling the true nature of his death.

Sri explained to the Dutch police that Munir was 39 and in good health. She explained that he was a very prominent human rights defender back in Indonesia and that the he had received multiple death threats. Based on Sri’s statements, the Dutch police ordered an autopsy done, and subsequently found a fatal dose of arsenic in Munir’s body.

“If Sri hadn’t been there, maybe his death would have been attributed to natural causes. His body would have been sent back to Indonesia without any investigation and we wouldn’t have known the truth,” Poengky says.

A man covers his face with an image of Munir Said Thalib. (JG Photo/Nivell Rayda)

Legacy of impunity

Sunday marks the 10-year anniversary of Munir’s death, a case that still holds many questions.

Three people have been convicted of his death: Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, an off-duty Garuda pilot and suspected State Intelligence Agency (BIN) operative who spiked Munir’s drink with arsenic; and two accomplices who played minor roles in arranging for Pollycarpus to be on the same flight as Munir.

But those who masterminded the murder, giving Pollycarpus his orders, remain beyond the reach of the law. And activists blame this travesty on the reluctance shown by the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who came into office the same year that Munir died, to bring those responsible to justice.

“At the beginning of his rule, SBY promised to resolve [Munir’s] case and even said that it would be ‘the test of our history,’ ” says Choirul Anam, the executive secretary of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum). “But now at the end of his administration the case is not fully resolved.”

After two months of intense pressure from human rights activists and international media, Yudhoyono formed an independent fact-finding team on Nov. 23, 2004, to monitor the police investigation into the case and conduct its own inquiry.

Witnesses on board the flight noted that Pollycarpus was seated next to Munir on the flight from Jakarta to Singapore, where it picked up more passengers. The passenger manifest indicated that Pollycarpus got off in Singapore and didn’t continue on to Amsterdam. But before he left Singapore’s Changi International Airport, he was seen offering Munir a cup of coffee, which was spiked with arsenic.

Munir’s health deteriorated from that point on, and he eventually died on board, hours before the plane landed in Amsterdam.

The fact-finding team also found that immediately prior to and after Munir’s death, Pollycarpus had communicated extensively with Muchdi Purwoprandjono, who at the time was a deputy chief of the BIN.

In their court testimonies, several intelligence officials also said that Pollycarpus often visited the BIN headquarters and met behind closed doors with Muchdi. In at least one of those meetings, Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono, the BIN chief at the time, was also present.

Pollycarpus is now serving a 14-year prison term after the Central Jakarta District Court, on Dec. 1, 2005, found him guilty of murdering Munir. The South Jakarta District Court, however, acquitted Muchdi of all charges on Dec. 31, 2008, despite the judges in Pollycarpus’s trial ruling that Pollycarpus had acted on Muchdi’s instructions.

Police never questioned Hendropriyono for his alleged involvement in Munir’s killing.

Kasum secretary Anam notes that during Yudhoyono’s two terms in office, Pollycarpus’ sentence went from 14 years to two years in 2006, to 20 years in 2008, and finally, last year, back to 14 years. Pollycarpus also enjoyed a number of sentence cuts, amounting to a total of 42 months during six years in prison.

Anam says recent developments in the case should give prosecutors enough evidence to launch a fresh investigation.

“This government has never been serious in punishing those responsible, let alone solving the mysteries surrounding his death,” he says. “Ever since Muchdi was acquitted, [prosecutors] have done nothing. Even after two changes of attorney general, they only made promises.”

Anam says Yudhoyono has left his successor, Joko Widodo, with the very important task of seeking justice for Munir. “They had all the evidence. All that it takes is courage,” he says.

Uli Parulian Sihombing, the executive director of the Indonesian Legal Resource Center, has called on Joko to bar those with questionable rights record from serving in his administration, following Joko’s appointment of Hendropriyono as an adviser to the team preparing the new government for office.

Munir’s widow, Suciwati, has also lambasted Hendropriyono’s appointment. “Human rights is not a political commodity. If [Joko] has promised [to resolve rights abuse cases], then he must fulfill it by forming a government that is free of human rights violators,” she says.

Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono says it is important that Joko appoint reform-minded people as his picks to head up law enforcement agencies, to ensure the resolution of Munir’s case as well as all past human rights abuse cases, in which Munir so passionately sought justice during his lifetime.

A fearless defender

Anam describes Munir as a courageous fighter, even during the Suharto era, when free speech was greatly curbed and those criticizing power ended up dead, missing, or in jail. “He was never afraid of pointing at people’s noses,” Anam says. “Even powerful generals.”

Among those he named as human rights abusers was Hendropriyono. The latter, at the time an Army colonel, led a bloody military crackdown on civilian protesters in Talangsari, Lampung, in 1989 that led to 45 people being killed and 88 others missing. The military also burned the protesters’ village to the ground.

Munir’s criticism of Hendropriyono intensified when the retired general joined Megawati’s campaign. Aside from highlighting his past cases, Munir also raised concerns that he might abuse his authorities as the BIN chief for the campaign’s benefit. Munir even lodged a lawsuit with the State Administrative Court demanding Hendropriyono’s removal from his BIN post.

“But does that have a direct correlation with Munir’s death? We don’t know yet. What we know is that [Hendropriyono] is not the only human rights violator with a military background who had a grudge against Munir,” Anam says, adding that Munir’s many enemies could have conspired to have the rights defender killed.

Then there’s Prabowo Subianto, a close friend of Muchdi’s and the losing candidate in this year’s presidential election. Munir repeatedly accused Prabowo, who was then chief of the Army’s Special Forces unit Kopassus, of kidnapping pro-democracy activists toward the end of Suharto’s 32-year rule.

Several of those activists remain missing to this day.

Munir’s constant pressure to have Prabowo tried forced the government to form a fact-finding team and the military to set up an ethics tribunal, which eventually led to Prabowo’s dismissal from the Army.

Prabowo has repeatedly denied responsibility for the abductions, saying he was simply carrying out orders from his superiors and that all the kidnapped activists were released after being interrogated.

“He would have got onto the first flight back to Indonesia,” Poengky says when asked what she thinks Munir would do if he were alive to see Prabowo running for president.

An activist lays out 10, to commemorate the death of Munir Said Thalib,
who died on Sept. 7, 2004. (JG Photo/Nivell Rayda)

Inspiring generations

Munir’s killers might have been trying to send a message by having the prominent activist killed in an elaborate assassination plot on board an international flight.

“If this can happen to Munir then imagine what could happen to lesser-known activists in remote areas like Papua or Aceh, so far away from the media spotlight,” Poengky says.

But Munir’s death only emboldened the next generation of activists to continue his struggle, advocating for the victims of human rights abuses.

Novia Seni Astriani is 25 and for three years she has been advocating for Munir’s killers to face trial, as a member of Kasum’s campaign and networking division.

“While in college, like so many of my peers, we learned that what we were taught as kids were lies. We never knew that our history was so tainted by so many human rights violations. We were never taught about Munir’s assassination,” says Astri, as she is better known.

“In college I got to know Munir. I got to know the cases he was fighting for … his thinking. And I was saddened. How could anyone murder someone like Munir? How could his case remained unsolved to this day? I felt I needed to do something.”

On Thursday, Astri organized Kamisan, a weekly rally in front of the State Palace in Central Jakarta to demand the resolution of past human rights abuses. This week’s Kamisan is dedicated to Munir with some protesters wearing a mask bearing the likeness of the slain activist.

After some 20 minutes of silent protest, Astri grabbed a microphone and began talking to the crowd to fire them up.

“Let’s all gather around facing the so-called ‘palace of the people.’ For 10 years Munir’s case has been in limbo. For 10 years the person at that palace has done so little,” Astri tells some 40 protesters.

Aside from a handful of ageing victims of human rights abuses and violence, most of the rally’s participants are youths, not much older than herself.

Munir has also inspired many to follow in his footsteps of advocating for victims of injustice.

“Munir as a human rights defender has given us a legacy that is simple yet very profound in its meaning,” says 23-year-old Ichsan, who works for the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH).

“In his time, he wasn’t afraid to reveal injustice. All youths should learn from his courage.”

Veronica Koman, 26, another LBH Jakarta lawyer, says she always bows whenever she goes to her office, which proudly displays Munir’s pictures.

“Much of Munir’s legacy inspires me. Munir … has become a symbol of human rights in Indonesia,” she says.

Those behind the assassination might have succeeded in killing Munir, but in doing so, they unwittingly created a martyr, an inspiration and a legend.

Further Coverage

Editorial: Munir and the Fight for Human Rights

Related Articles:

Remembering Munir — Human Rights Defender, Brother, Husband, Father and Friend

Yudhoyono Recognized for Press Freedom in Decade of Office

Indonesia court upholds Joko Widodo poll victory

BBC News, 21 August 2014

Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto gathered
outside the court ahead of the verdict

Indonesia's top court has rejected an appeal from defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto over the results of July's presidential poll.

The constitutional court's decision upholds the results from the elections, which Joko Widodo won by a 6% margin.

Mr Subianto had claimed widespread electoral fraud, and taken his case to the court.

Hundreds of Mr Subianto's supporters gathered outside the court ahead of the verdict, clashing briefly with police.

The court decision means that Mr Widodo, who was declared president last month, has his position firmly sealed, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta reports.

The constitutional court is the highest authority in the country - and the decision from the court is final, our correspondent adds.

Mr Widodo's win was seen as heralding a new era for Indonesia, whose leaders have generally been drawn from the military and political elite.

Mr Prabowo is a former army general closely associated with the traditional elite, while Mr Widodo, a former furniture-maker who grew up in a small village, has promised a decisive break with Indonesia's authoritarian past and better social welfare for the poor.

Indonesian military chief in flashy watch row insists his timepiece is a Chinese-made fake

Head of Indonesian army smashes watch in front of reporters saying it only cost HK$3,333 and is just one of his vast collection of fake luxury timepieces he owns

South China Morning Post – AFP, 25 April, 2014

Indonesian military chief General Moeldoko shows his luxury watch, which
he claims is a Chinese-made fake, to journalists in Jakarta. Photo: AFP

Indonesia’s top general came under fire on Friday after rejecting claims he had been pictured wearing a luxury Swiss watch and insisting that the timepiece was a Chinese-made fake.

A Singapore website reported this week General Moeldoko was wearing a watch from the Richard Mille brand’s Felipe Massa collection worth more than US$100,000 during a recent interview with a broadcaster in the city-state.

However the general, who goes by one name, angrily hurled the watch to the ground when confronted by reporters about the claims, insisting he would not have done so if it was genuine.

“Just watch me, so you know I am not lying,” he was quoted as saying in local media before throwing the timepiece onto the floor.

Scepticism has greeted the general's claims collects fake copies
of expensive Swiss watches. Photo: AFP

The general said it was a convincing imitation he had bought for just five million rupiah (HK$3,333). He also told reporters it was just one of large collection of fakes that he owned.

However the claim was met with scepticism and anger in a country where millions live in grinding poverty and there is much sensitivity about high-ranking officials leading luxurious lifestyles.

“Your watch is so expensive general! Compared to the salary of a worker,” said Lucky Harri on Twitter.

Indonesia’s founding principles “which discourage people from living in luxury, have been forgotten by the general”, commented Pakde Djojo on the microblogging site.

One comment on the Jakarta Globe newspaper website noted: “I think a general would not wear counterfeit watches.”

US Hopes Apache Sales Will Keep Indonesia on Side

Jakarta Globe, August 27, 2013

An AH-64 Apache from the US Army’s 101st Aviation Regiment in Iraq.
(Wikimedia Commons Photo).

Indonesia will buy eight Apache attack helicopters off the United States, it was announced on Monday, as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta in what analysts said was a diplomatic bid to check the rise of China.

During the meeting, Yudhoyono said that Indonesia-US cooperation could enhance the prosperity of both nations, as well as have important implications for the peace and stability of Asia, according to a spokesman.

The world’s largest economy is in the process of shifting resources in Asia and the Pacific as part of a “pivot” with a view to the emergence of China.

“We are strengthening our bilateral ties and our cooperation in the region,” Yudhoyono said on Monday.

Both statesman said the Asia-Pacific region was an engine of global economic growth, underscoring the importance of peace and stability in the region, including a peaceful resolution to South China Sea territorial disputes.

“South China Sea is part of … the larger picture of relations in the region,” said Teuku Faizasyah, Yudhoyono’s spokesman for international affairs.

Hagel, for whom Jakarta was the second stop on a week-long four-nation trip that began in Malaysia on Saturday, voiced US appreciation for Yudhoyono’s leadership, which he said contributed to regional stability.

“I bring you greetings from President [Barack] Obama,” Hagel told Yudhoyono at the start of their meeting.

Hagel said the US president was “looking forward to seeing you in October,” referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in Bali.

The defense secretary added that Washington was committed to “deepening and strengthening” ties between the two countries.

Obama spent part of his childhood in Indonesia and has called for improved ties with the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, which has embraced democracy since the downfall of dictator Suharto in 1998.

The United States has gradually expanded cooperation with Indonesia’s military over several years, even while voicing concerns about the country’s human rights record.

US officials say the Indonesian military has improved its human rights practices and that Washington has an interest in expanding cooperation on counter-terrorism.

The US tilt to Asia is driven in part by the region’s growing economic importance and concerns over China’s expanding military might.

Several analysts said that Monday’s announcement of the sale of the eight Boeing AH-64E Apache helicopters in a deal worth $500 million (including radar, training and maintenance), was part of a broader effort to persuade Indonesia to maintain its position as US friend amid the rise of China.

“I think the US needs to keep Indonesia close. And offering military equipment is one way to do it,” said Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University’s social and political science department.

Officials confirmed that the sale represented the culmination of more than a year of behind-the-scenes work by Indonesia, which saw the helicopters as a key part of a wider plan to modernize its weaponry.

A 14-person delegation, including Army Chief Gen. Moeldoko and Defense Ministry Secretary General Lt. Gen. Budiman, traveled last week to a Boeing factory in Arizona to inspect the aircraft.

On meeting the Indonesian delegation, Boeing business development manager Dave Bostrum said the deal was important to the evolution of the Indonesian military. “The Apache is expected to be a key part of Indonesia’s continuing efforts to improve its strategic defense capabilities,” he said.

When it first emerged that Indonesia wanted to acquire the helicopters, two human rights groups — The East Timor Action Network and West Papua Advocacy Team — wrote to the US Congress expressing their opposition to the sale.

Indonesia’s defense preparedness has lagged in recent years, with econ o mic problems preventing the country from maintaining or upgrading its military equipment. During his first term, Yudhoyono slashed defense purchases to free up money for economic and social policies, but he later increased the defense budget.

For 2014, defense allocations stand at Rp 83 trillion ($7.65 billion), the largest share of any government program.

Beside bilateral and regional issues, Yudhoyono and Hagel also discussed global issues — including the conflicts in Syria and Egypt— where Indonesia may play a role. The US has indicated it is preparing for military action in Syria.

“The president expressed Indonesia’s position on Syria and Egypt,” Faizasyah said.

After meeting with Yudhoyono, Hagel met with Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro in a follow-up to talks held recently at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Hagel will head to Brunei today for a regional defense gathering that will include China. On Thursday he will fly to the Philippines, his final stop.

Additional reporting from AFP & Reuters

Xi Jinping cracks down on luxury mansion owners in PLA

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-05-26

China's president, Xi Jinping, greets soldiers on May 23, 2013. (Photo/Xinhua)

China's president and chairman of CPC Central Military Commission, Xi Jinping, is cracking down on senior officers in the People's Liberation Army with luxurious mansions, reports our sister paper Want Daily.

The latest anti-corruption initiative, which began earlier this month, is expected to conclude before the National Day holidays in October and is reportedly aimed towards extravagant high ranking officials and the illegal sale or lease of military property.

The operation comes amid reports that Gu Junshan, the former deputy commander of the PLA's General Logistics Department, was sacked last February and is currently under investigation for alleged corruption, owning a 13,200 square meter mansion in Beijing. Gu is also said to be the owner of a second mansion in his hometown of Puyang in central China's Henan province, with each tree within the mansion's garden estimated to be worth at least 400,000 yuan (US$65,200).

Beijing will also look into claims that high ranking PLA officials are selling or leasing military property for personal gain. All sales and leases of PLA property must first obtain permission from the Central Military Commission, which owns all military property rights.

The move appears to be yet another push by Xi to eradicate official corruption in the Chinese military. Since being appointed chairman of the Central Military Commission last November, Xi has already launched a frugality campaign banning officials and state-owned companies from using public funds to hold lavish banquets and purchase luxury cars.

Liu Mingfu, a professor at the PLA National Defence University in Beijing, said that the sweeping anti-corruption measures initiated by Xi have stunned the PLA. Anti-corruption schemes must have high standards, be thorough, and value the voice of the people, Liu said, adding that the PLA must learn to accept public supervision.　

References: 

• Xi Jinping　　習近平 
• Gu Junshan　　谷俊山 
• Liu Mingfu　　劉明福

Related Article:

China’s Xi Says Country Won’t Sacrifice Environment for Growth

Pro-democracy general could help shape Xi's vision for China

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-03-31

Liu Yazhou presents before the Indonesian Ministry of Defense in Jakarta
last year. (Photo/Xinhua)

One of president Xi Jinping's closest military advisors is general Liu Yazhou, the political commissar at the PLA's National Defense University and son-in law of former Chinese president Li Xiannian. The 60-year-old is said to part of Xi's inner circle and political commentators believe that Liu, widely known for his pro-democracy stance, has and will continue to play a vital role in shaping the president's strategies and world view.

Liu was born in eastern China's Anhui province in 1962 and joined the PLA during the Cultural Revolution. He was selected by the army at the age of 20 to study English at Wuhan University in central Hubei province, and was later a visiting scholar in Asian language studies at Stanford University in the US. During his time in America, Liu was once said to have confidently claimed that China would be ruled democratically within 10 years.

The general is known for his pro-democracy stance, with his support for a democratic China beginning in the early 1980s when he was a military reporter for the PLA. When he was not reporting on the army, Liu penned several novels, some of which stirred controversy in China as they were judged to bear a pro-democracy slant and belittle the country's military power.

In 1996, Liu joined the political department of the Beijing military region air force and later became the political commissar of the air force in Chengdu, the provincial capital of southwestern Sichuan. In December 2009, he switched to the PLA's National Defense University to lecture elite military officers and was promoted to general in April last year.

In an internal speech to mid-level officers in 2009, Liu supported the decision of former PLA general Xu Qinxian to refuse to suppress student demonstrators during the violent Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

A year later, in an interview with the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Weekly magazine, Liu boldly claimed that China must either embrace US-style democracy or accept a Soviet-style collapse.

"If a system fails to let its citizens breathe freely and release their creativity to the maximum extent, and fails to put those who best represent the system and its people into leadership positions, it is certain to perish," the magazine quoted Liu as saying.

"The secret of the United States' success is neither due to Wall Street nor Silicon Valley, but its long surviving rule of law and the system behind it. A bad system makes a good person behave badly, while a good system makes a bad person behave well. Democracy is the most urgent thing; without it there can be no sustainable growth," he said.

When penning the foreword to China Dream: The Great Power Thinking and Strategic Positioning of China in the Post-American Age by Liu Mingfu, a professor at Beijing's National Defense University, Liu said that the 21st century is a race between China and the US, and the winner will be the country that can develop better and best lead the world.

Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the Moscow 

State Institute of International Relations on

March 23. (Photo/Xinhua)

Related Article:

Chinese president calls for "win-win" int'l relations

Ghana told to free Argentine ship Libertad by UN court

BBC News, 15 December 2012

Related Stories

• Argentina asks UN to free ship
• Argentine ship crew return home
• Argentina 'firm' over seized ship

The ARA Libertad is being manned
 by a skeleton crew in the port of Tema

A UN court has ordered the release of an Argentine naval ship impounded by Ghana over a debt dispute.

The UN International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Germany, ruled that the ARA Libertad had immunity because it was a military vessel.

The ship has been held in the port of Tema since October when a local court ruled in favour of a financial fund.

The fund says it is owed $370m (£233m) by the Argentine government as a result of its debt default a decade ago.

A skeleton crew has stayed on board the three-masted training ship since about 300 personnel and naval cadets flew home in October.

The tribunal in Hamburg ordered that Ghana should "forthwith and unconditionally release the frigate ARA Libertad" and ensure the ship and its crew can leave Ghanaian waters.

It set a deadline of 22 December for the ship to have left the port.

Tribunal president Shunji Yanai ordered that the vessel should be resupplied if needed.

The court said that holding the ship was "a source of conflict that may endanger friendly relations among states".

Last month, sailors on board the Libertad reportedly drew guns on Ghanaian officials after they tried to board the vessel to move it to another berth.

Immunity 'violated'

An agent for the Ghanaian government who was at the court said after the ruling that it would "carefully consider the tribunal's order with a view to ensuring that it is given effect."

Financial fund NML Capital has so far not commented on the ruling.

NML is a subsidiary of US hedge fund Elliot Capital Management, which is one of Argentina's former creditors.

Argentina had argued that the seizure violated the immunity of military vessels under international maritime law.

In 2001 and 2002, Argentina defaulted on more than $100bn of debt. Most of these loans were subsequently restructured, giving creditors about 30% of their money back.

However, some creditors including Elliot chose to hold out, pursuing the Argentine government through the courts. 

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Seized Argentina navy ship Libertad leaves Ghana

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Britain's Arms and oil bosses refuse to attend corporate responsibility inquiry

Among the loans underwritten by the Export Credits Guarantee
Department  was one for £35m to Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe for
the purchase of five of BAE Systems' Hawk fighter jets. 
Photograph: PA

Britain owed millions for weapons used by autocratic regimes

Former Indonesian president General Suharto. Britain lent 
the country  more than £630m at a time when Suharto 
was stifling demonstrations. Photograph: AP

Britain owed millions for weapons used by autocratic regimes

Campaigners call for end to 'unjust poor country debts' after government figures show arms were used against civilians

guardian.co.uk, Richard Norton-Taylor, Tuesday 6 November 2012

Former Indonesian president General Suharto. Britain lent the country
 more than £630m at a time when Suharto was stifling demonstrations.
Photograph: AP

Britain is owed hundreds of millions of pounds of unpaid debt on loans to autocratic governments in Argentina, Indonesia, Iraq and Zimbabwe for UK weapons and equipment that were used against civilians, an analysis of figures released by the government show.

Britain lent Indonesia more than £630m to pay for British arms provided to General Suharto at a time when he was repressing protests. Some of the weapons, including armoured cars and jet aircraft were used in the 1990s against civilians in what is now East Timor, the former foreign secretary, Robin Cook, admitted at the time.

Up to £50m was lent to the Argentine junta to buy British arms before the invasion of the Falklands in 1982. They included two Type 42 destroyers, two Lynx helicopters, and 22 Sea Dart missiles, according to documents in the National Archives discovered by the Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC), which is calling for an end to what it calls "unjust poor country debts".

One of the Lynx was the first Argentine aircraft to land on the Falklands after the invasion.

The government lent £12m for the export of Land Rovers to President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. The vehicles were supplied after he promised they would be used "with due respect for human rights". He said he would not use them for riot control, but Amnesty International said vehicles were used to crush demonstrations.

Some £100m of unpaid loans were originally provided to Egypt under the former president Hosni Mubarak to buy British weapons; £5.5m of unpaid loans were provided to Saddam Hussein's Iraq then engaged in a war of attrition against Iran.

A proportion of the loans to Indonesia have recently been settled, though the country still owes £400m, most of which comprises debts for the purchase of British weapons, according to official figures.

Tim Jones, policy officer at JDC told the Guardian on Tuesday: "For years the UK government has claimed it is not possible to find out where debts come from. The figures released today show this was a lie. They reveal a history of horrendous loans to dictators such as General Mubarak, General Suharto and Saddam Hussein for military equipment. People in these countries should not have to pay these unjust debts."

The UK government is demanding Egyptian people pay the debt inherited from General Mubarak and £14m will be paid this year, according to the JDC.

The figures are included in a report on sovereign debt data by UK Export Finance, part of the Department for Business. It is the first time the department has disclosed such country-by-country figures.

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Among the loans underwritten by the Export Credits Guarantee
Department  was one for £35m to Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe for
the purchase of five of BAE Systems' Hawk fighter jets. 
Photograph: PA

"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“… Most of the indigenous people of the world no longer exists. Tens of millions of indigenous people that were connected to the Divine have been wiped from the face of the Earth; and that includes the Europeans, the indigenous Europeans. What commands the Earth plane today is the pure masculinity, symbolized by the obelisk, where there is no love; pure masculinity and no love. As you remember early on in the channelling we said: Once you feel loved, your world is perfect. Once love is flowing through your bodies, everything is in order. There is no love in war, there is no love in the Military. It’s just a low consciousness government. Government meaning control of the mind. This energy will also dissolve in the New World, and these men, this people, will have to find an honourable occupation. There is a place in the world for all those who have become conscious.

  

As you are with your eyes closed, just let the feelings come into your body; and once again, hand over any Military Energies that are in your bodies to Kryon. If you have Military energies inside your body you know how to relate to this; either on Earth, national or an individual basis. Here in Costa Rica there’s a beginning of a dissolving of the Military Energies, and this goes one person at a time. Your energy, the structure of your energy, will move from that of a the pentagon to that of a dodecahedron, as you release this Military Energy. It is like the story from Gulliver travels, where Gulliver is tied down by the little people; slowly but surely you cut through these small ropes, and as your consciousness flows, you begin to stand up in the world, proud and loving. So just observe your bodies and observe your feelings; many of you will fear releasing these energies for this has been your way of life. Allow these energies to release for there is another way, there is another way to live your life, there is a loving way to relate. Allow the fear of being without the military energies to also come into your body... let the feelings come and let the feelings go... 

What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems. Allow the feelings in your body to come and let them go... imagine beneath you the beautiful planet, Mother Earth, and inside of Mother Earth there is a pink heart... allow all your family constellation to move into this pink heart... your mother, your father, your grandparents and great-grandfathers... brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles... nephews and nieces... cousins... let them all go into this pink energy... be cleansed and purified, and allow these Military energies to release and dissolve... heal all the hurt that the Military has caused to your family... let the feelings into your body... let them come and let them go... as these energies begin to dissolve the New World will begin to come to you. …”