Saturday, April 5, 2014

[media-jabar] [Siaran Pers] Jangan Pilih Parpol Perampok Frekuensi Publik

 

Siaran Pers

Jangan Pilih Parpol Perampok Frekuensi Publik
Waspadai informasi yang bias dari 6 stasiun televisi yang terafiliasi dengan parpol


JAKARTA—Setahun menjelang Pemilu 2014, kami mencatat ada tiga partai politik yang dengan masif dan sewenang-wenang telah mengeksploitasi stasiun televisi untuk kepentingan kelompoknya semata. Padahal untuk bisa bersiaran, stasiun televisi menggunakan frekuensi milik publik yang diamanatkan UU Penyiaran agar dapat digunakan sebesar-besarnya bagi kepentingan rakyat, bukan segelintir konglomerat atau partai politik.
Tapi pada kenyataannya, hal itu dilanggar justru oleh beberapa partai politik, yakni institusi yang seharusnya memahami hak publik atas frekuensi dan peran media massa sebagai pilar keempat demokrasi. Partai politik tersebut malah menunggangi stasiun TV dan mengabaikan hak publik untuk mendapatkan informasi yang benar. Karena itu kami menyerukan kepada rakyat Indonesia untuk tidak memilih calon legislatif dari Partai Golkar, Partai NasDem, dan Partai Hanura dalam Pemilu Legislatif 2014.
Ketiga partai ini adalah yang petingginya memiliki stasiun televisi. Metro TV dimiliki oleh Surya Paloh, Ketua Umum Partai NasDem. RCTI, MNC TV, dan Global TV dimiliki oleh Hary Tanoesoedibjo, yang adalah calon wakil presiden sekaligus Ketua Badan Pemenangan Pemilu dari Partai Hanura. Sedangkan TV One dan ANTV adalah stasiun televisi yang dimiliki oleh Aburizal Bakrie, Ketua Umum dan calon presiden dari Partai Golkar. Sehingga, informasi dari keenam stasiun TV propaganda ini bias kepentingan politik yang menyebabkan isinya cenderung bersifat memihak, tidak akurat, dan cemar.
Melalui frekuensi publik, ketiga partai politik dan tokoh-tokohnya tersebut mendapatkan keuntungan yang tidak bisa dimiliki oleh partai politik lainnya—padahal tiap partai politik harus mendapatkan kesempatan yang sama dan setara. Lewat program non-berita, iklan, dan program berita, kemunculan mereka memperlihatkan arogansi dan kecurangan dalam memburu kekuasaan. Produk jurnalistik dipaksa untuk bersikap partisan dan menghamba pada partai politik, bukan kepada publik. Kuis rekayasa dan reality show murahan juga dibuat demi meraup simpati publik. Kritik yang dialamatkan kepada tokoh dari partai politik lain dilakukan terutama bukan untuk kepentingan publik, tapi semata-mata demi menggebuk musuh politik. Bahkan, penggalangan dana bencana yang dilakukan stasiun TV, yang berasal dari dana pemirsa, juga diselewengkan untuk kepentingan kampanye politik.
Pesta demokrasi harus menjadi kemenangan bagi rakyat, pertama-tama dengan tidak memberikan tempat bagi mereka yang telah berlaku tidak adil dan lalim. Masa menjelang Pemilu harus dijadikan ujian bagi mereka yang sedang membujuk dukungan rakyat. Dan mereka yang gagal dalam ujian adalah mereka yang telah merampok frekuensi milik publik untuk memenuhi ketamakan diri dan kelompoknya.
Selain ajakan untuk tidak memilih parpol perampok frekuensi, kami juga mengimbau kepada masyarakat Indonesia untuk tidak mengandalkan informasi dari beberapa stasiun televisi yang bias kepentingan politik. Waspadai dan kritisilah informasi yang disiarkan oleh RCTI, Global TV, MNC TV, TV One, ANTV, dan Metro TV. Keenam stasiun televisi ini tidak layak dijadikan rujukan dalam menentukan pilihan politik warga dalam Pemilu 2014. Publik mesti selalu cermat dan mencari sumber informasi pembanding dari media massa lainnya yang lebih dapat dipercaya.
Kami juga menuntut agar Dewan Pers, Komisi Penyiaran Indonesia (KPI), dan Kementerian Komunikasi dan Informatika (Kemenkominfo) menjalankan perannya dengan sebaik-baiknya dan setegas-tegasnya. Dewan Pers dan KPI wajib menghukum media massa yang tidak independen dan menunjukkan dosa mereka ke publik. Kemenkominfo dan KPI perlu mempertimbangkan pencabutan izin siaran bagi stasiun televisi yang telah gagal menggunakan frekuensi publik untuk kepentingan masyarakat luas. Kami juga menyayangkan gugus kerja antara KPI, Bawaslu, dan KPU yang berkinerja buruk, lamban, dan ragu-ragu.
 
Dengan hormat,
Koalisi Frekuensi Milik Publik
  1. Aliansi Jurnalis Independen Jakarta (AJI Jak)
  2. Center for Inovation Policy and Governance (CIPG)
  3. Gambar Bergerak
  4. ICT Watch
  5. Joglo TV (TV Komunitas)
  6. KontraS
  7. LBH Jakarta
  8. LISAN (Lingkar Studi Anak Nusantara)
  9. Lentera Anak Indonesia
  10. Masyarakat Peduli Media
  11. MataMassa
  12. Melek Massa
  13. Pamflet
  14. Paralegal Pemilu
  15. Remotivi
  16. Rumahpemilu.org
  17. Rumah Perubahan Lembaga Penyiaran Publik
  18. SeJuK (Serikat Jurnalis untuk Keberagaman)
Narahubung:
Fadli RamadhanilParalegal Pemilu (0852-7207-9894)
Roy Thaniago
Direktur Remotivi (08-999-826-221)
Tigor HutapeaPengacara Publik (0812-8729-6684)
Usep Hasan Sadikin, Redaktur rumahpemilu.org (0813-8050-1118)
 
--
REMOTIVI
"Hidupkan Televisimu, Hidupkan Pikiranmu"
www.remotivi.or.idTwitter | Facebook


Remotivi adalah sebuah inisiatif warga untuk kerja pemantauan tayangan televisi di Indonesia. Cakupan kerjanya turut meliputi aktivitas pendidikan melek media dan advokasi yang bertujuan (1) mengembangkan tingkat kemelekmediaan masyarakat, (2) menumbuhkan, mengelola, dan merawat sikap kritis masyarakat terhadap televisi, dan (3) mendorong profesionalisme pekerja televisi untuk menghasilkan tayangan yang bermutu, sehat, dan mendidik.

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[batavia-news] Wanita Indonesia terlepas hukuman pancung

 

 
RKIB : 05/04/2014

Wanita Indonesia terlepas hukuman pancung

 

Kakak ipar Satinah Jumadi Ahmad menunjukkan gambar Satinah yang berdepan hukuman pancung setelah didapati bersalah membunuh isteri majikannya di Arab Saudi. - AGENSI

JAKARTA 4 April - Kerajaan Indonesia menyumbang sebanyak Riyal 3 juta daripada keseluruhan Riyal 7 juta (RM6 juta) sebagai wang diyat (pengganti darah) untuk menyelamatkan nyawa seorang rakyatnya, Satinah Jumadi Ahmad yang berdepan hukuman pancung di Arab Saudi atas kesalahan membunuh isteri majikannya dan mencuri wang majikannya.

Satinah yang bekerja sebagai pembantu rumah, sebelum ini dijatuhkan hukuman mati oleh sebuah mahkamah di Arab Saudi selepas didapati salah membunuh isteri majikannya.

Wang diyat itu dituntut oleh keluarga majikannya sebagai syarat untuk membebaskan Satinah daripada hukuman pancung selepas dia didapati bersalah membunuh dan mencuri sejumlah Riyal 37,970 (RM34,000) daripada majikannya pada Julai 2007.

Bagaimanapun, sehingga petang semalam yang merupakan tarikh akhir pembayaran diyat itu, wakil kerajaan Indonesia masih belum tiba di Gaseem, Arab Saudi untuk membuat pembayaran.

"Diharapkan tidak ada perubahan pada terma-terma tuntutan," kata Menteri Koordinasi Politik, Hukum dan Keselamatan, Djoko Suyanto seperti dilaporkan media tempatan hari ini.

Daripada jumlah Riyal 7 juta itu, Djoko berkata, kerajaan melalui Kementerian Luar menyumbang sebanyak Riyal 3 juta (RM2.6 juta) sementara baki Riyal 4 juta (RM3.4 juta) diperoleh daripada sumbangan pelbagai pihak.

Menurut Djoko, wakil kerajaan Arab Saudi telah menghulurkan bantuan selepas Presiden Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono menulis surat kepada Raja Arab Saudi, Raja Abdullah memohon bantuan supaya membebaskan Satinah.

Pada awalnya, wang diyat yang dituntut daripada Satinah ialah sebanyak Riyal 15 juta (RM13 juta) iaitu pada 2011, namun jumlah itu dikurangkan kepada Riyal 10 juta (RM8.7 juta) pada tahun berikutnya, sebelum akhirnya ditetapkan kepada Riyal 7 juta.

Perbicaraan kes Satinah ditangguhkan sebanyak tiga kali sebelum mahkamah tinggi Arab Saudi pada Ogis 2011 menjatuhkan hukuman mati ke atas pembantu rumah berusia 41 tahun itu, yang berasal dari Semarang, Jawa Tengah.

Kes yang dihadapi Satinah merupakan kes terbaru melibatkan pekerja Indonesia yang berhadapan hukuman mati di Arab Saudi. - UTUSAN

 

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[batavia-news] Nafsu Syahwat Kekuasaan Prabowo Sudah di Ubun-ubun

 

res : Nafsu  syahwat besar tenaga kurang?
 
 

Nafsu Syahwat Kekuasaan Prabowo Sudah di Ubun-ubun

Prabowo Subianto. Foto: Dwi P/RM/dok.JPNNPrabowo Subianto. Foto: Dwi P/RM/dok.JPNN
Sabtu, 5 April 2014

JAKARTA – berbagai sindiran capres Partai Gerindra Prabowo Subianto dan anak buahnya, Fadli Zone terhadap Joko Widodo (Jokowi) rupanya tak tertahankan lagi oleh peneliti ilmu politik senior LIPI Dr Ikrar Nusa Bhakti untuk angkat suara.

Menurutnya, sindiran Prabowo dan anak buahnya itu malah akan berbalik menghantam dirinya sendiri lantaran rekam jejaknya yang lumayan hitam saat masih berada di lingkaran elite kekuasaan Presiden Soeharto di Jalan Cendana semasa Orde Baru dulu.

"Dia bilang dalam pantunnya boleh bohong asal santun, sekarang saya tanya ke dia boleh gak menculik asal santun ? Artinya apakah dia sudah bicara jujur saat menyerang orang lain?" lontar Ikrar dalam perbincangannya dengan wartawan di Jakarta, Sabtu (5/4).

Dijelaskan Ikrar, Prabowo seharusnya instropeksi dulu serta membenahi diri sendiri dulu sebelum menyindir orang lain. Menurutnya, dalih Prabowo terpaksa menculik puluhan aktivis demokrasi di era mertuanya saat menjabat Presiden RI karena perintah atasannya sangat tak masuk di akal.

"Kecuali dia jelaskan alasan penculikan itu. Kalau memang perintah atasan di lantas gak mau mengungkapkannya ? Jangan begitu. Dia (Prabowo) sekarang bukan militer, dia ini sipil yang sedang nyapres. Jelaskan peristiwa penculikan itu," tegas Ikrar.

Ia menambahkan, lontaran pedas Prabowo terhadap Jokowi justru tidak akan membuat  orang malah membenci Jokowi, namun justru kebalikannya dengan berlipat-gandanya dukungan terhadap Jokowi.

"Lihat saja nanti, orang-orang makin lama malah muak dan muntah melihat tingkah polah dia yang terus-terusan menyerang Jokowi. Bahkan intensifnya serangan kayak begitu itu jadi terlihat sekali dia (Prabowo) sangat ingin berkuasa. Itulah kalau nafsu syahwat kekuasaan sudah di ubun-ubun dia dan ternyata tak bisa terlampiaskan, ngamuknya bisa setengah mati," beber Ikrar kalem.

Sekedar diketahui berkali-kali Prabowo secara terbukanya kerap menyindir Jokowi lewat pantun-pantunnya. Prabowo menyindir keputusan Jokowi maju sebagai bakal capres dari PDI-P, padahal sudah berjanji akan membenahi Jakarta selama lima tahun.

 

Berikut salah satu pantun Prabowo yang berjudul "Asal Santun"


Asal Santun

Boleh bohong asal santun
Boleh mencuri asal santun
Boleh korupsi asal santun
Boleh khianat asal santun
Boleh ingkar janji asal santun
Boleh jual negeri asal santun
Boleh menyerahkan kedaulatan negara kepada asing asal santun

Sedangkan Wakil Ketua Umum Partai Gerindra Fadli Zone juga membuat beberapa puisi, diantaranya :

 

Sajak Tentang Boneka

 

Sebuah boneka
Berbaju kotak merah muda
Rebah di pinggir kota

 

Boneka tak bisa bersuara
Kecuali satu dua kata
Boneka tak punya wacana
Kecuali tentang dirinya
 

Boneka tak punya pikiran
Karena otaknya utuh tersimpan
Boneka tak punya rasa
Karena itu milik manusia
 

Boneka tak punya hati
Karena memang benda mati
Boneka tak punya harga diri
Apalagi nurani

 

Dalam kamus besar boneka
Tak ada  kata jujur, percaya dan setia
Boneka bebas diperjualbelikan
Tergantung penawaran
 

Boneka jadi alat mainan
Bobok-bobokan atau lucu-lucuan
Boneka mengabdi pada sang tuan
Siang dan malam

 

Boneka bisa dipeluk mesra
Boneka bisa dibuang kapan saja

Sebuah boneka
Tak punya agenda
Kecuali kemauan pemiliknya

 

Fadli Zon, 3 April 2014

 

 

Sajak Menuju Indonesia Raya

Indonesia tak akan hebat
Kalau pemimpin tidak amanat
Indonesia tak akan hebat
Kalau koruptor semakin kuat
Indonesia tak akan hebat
Karena kau jual Indosat
Indonesia tak akan hebat
Kalau dirawat kaum khianat
Indonesia tak akan hebat
Karena rakyat belum berdaulat

Indonesia akan bangkit
Kalau pemimpin tidak sakit
Indonesia akan makmur
Kalau koruptor segera dikubur
Indonesia akan jaya
Kalau rakyat berkuasa
Indonesia akan jadi macan Asia
Dengan gerakan Indonesia Raya

Fadli Zon, 1 April 2014

 

Sajak Air Mata Buaya

Kau bicara kejujuran sambil berdusta
Kau bicara kesederhanaan sambil shopping di Singapura
Kau bicara nasionalisme sambil jual aset negara
Kau bicara kedamaian sambil memupuk dendam
Kau bicara antikorupsi sambil menjarah setiap celah
Kau bicara persatuan sambil memecah belah
Kau bicara demokrasi ternyata untuk kepentingan pribadi
Kau bicara kemiskinan di tengah harta bergelimpangan
Kau bicara nasib rakyat sambil pura-pura menderita
Kau bicara pengkhianatan sambil berbuat yang sama
Kau bicara seolah dari hati sambil menitikkan air mata
Air mata buaya

 

Sajak Seekor Ikan

Seekor ikan di akuarium
Kubeli dari tetangga sebelah
Warnanya merah
Kerempeng dan lincah

Setiap hari berenang menari
Menyusuri taman air yang asri
Menggoda dari balik kaca
Menarik perhatian siapa saja

Seekor ikan di akuarium
Melompat ke sungai
Bergumul di air deras
Terbawa ke laut lepas

Di sana ia bertemu ikan hiu, paus, dan gurita
Menjadi santapan ringan penguasa samudra

Fadli Zon, 29 Maret 2014 (ind)

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[batavia-news] Former Guatemala dictator Rios Montt found guilty of genocide

 

res : Malang nasib  diktator Rios Monte bila dibandingkan dengan mantan presiden  Muhammad Soeharto. Soeharto hidup  nyaman bin enak sampai saat nafasnya dihabiskan dengn dicekik oleh malaekat Jibrael.
 
 

Former Guatemala dictator Rios Montt found guilty of genocide

Efrain Rios Montt

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt, 86, speaks during his trial in Guatemala City. He was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment May 10 after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. (Moises Castillo / Associated Press / May 9, 2013)

MEXICO CITY -- Efrain Rios Montt, the former Guatemalan military dictator who ruled his country during one of the bloodiest phases of its civil war, was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity Friday for the systematic massacre and displacement of ethnic Mayan people. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

The landmark ruling by a three-judge panel headed by Yassmin Barrios came after a dramatic trial that featured testimony from dozens of Maya who described atrocities committed by the Guatemalan army and security forces as they sought to clean the countryside of Marxist guerrillas and sympathizers during the 1982-83 period that Rios Montt, a general and coup leader, served as the country's de facto leader.

The ruling is likely to be derided by Guatemalan conservatives, many of whom see Rios Montt as a hero who prevented the country from being overtaken by communist rebels who had been attempting to foment revolution in the poverty-stricken countryside for decades.

International human rights groups, however, had been hoping for such an outcome for decades.

A 1999 report by the country's truth and reconciliation commission listed widespread human rights abuses during the civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996 and claimed more than 200,000 lives. The panel found that 93% of the rights violations were committed by the government or its paramilitary allies.

Guatemalan prosecutors accused Rios Montt of responsibility for the massacre of more than 1,700 Ixil Maya, as well as systematic rapes, tortures and the burning of villages.

Rios Montt and his attorneys had argued that as the country's political leader he should not be held responsible for military matters that occurred in a rural province a few hours northwest of the Guatemalan capital.

"I never authorized, I never signed, I never proposed, I never ordered that a race, ethnicity or religion be attacked," the 86-year-old Rios Montt said in a dramatic statement to the court Thursday evening. "I never did it!"

But the judges decided otherwise. "Rios Montt was aware of everything that was happening, and did not stop it, despite having the power to stop it," Barrios stated on the panel's behalf in a packed courtroom, which erupted on numerous occasions in applause.

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[batavia-news] Brazil exhumes remains of leftist president deposed in 1964 coup

 

res : Presiden Soekarno yang dipuji-puji dengan Pancasilanya tidak mendapat penghormatan penguburan bila dibandingkan presiden Goulart di Brasilia. Goulart disikat oleh militer tahun 1964 dan Soekarno tahun 1965.  Di NKRI sekalipun anak Soekarno menjadi pemimpin partai dan pernah menjadi kepala negara tak berani atau tak mau membuka proses didaulat  ayahnya dari kursi kepresidenan oleh militer.
 
 

Brazil exhumes remains of leftist president deposed in 1964 coup

 
  • MILITAR HONORS FOR LATE FORMER BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT GOULART IN BRASILIA

    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, sixth from the right, stands next to Maria Teresa Goulart, widow of former President João Goulart, and other dignitaries at a reception during the arrival of Goulart's coffin at the air base in Brasilia. (Fernando Bizerra Jr. / European Pressphoto Agency / November 14, 2013)

     
     

    RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's government exhumed the remains of former President João Goulart on Thursday to investigate whether he may have been murdered by the military dictatorship that deposed him in 1964.

    Goulart died in exile in Argentina in 1976, supposedly due to a heart attack, and an autopsy was never performed. Family members and some officials in the current government believe he may have been poisoned as part of Operation Condor, the collaborative effort of South American military governments at the time to eliminate leftists from the continent.

    The case is part of an ongoing examination of crimes committed by Brazil's military government. The effort includes an official truth commission investigating torture and disappearances of political opponents, a process of redemption similar to those carried out in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.

    Goulart, a left-leaning president, was deposed in a U.S.-backed military coup. The military government that ruled Brazil until 1985 never granted him the funeral services usually accorded former presidents.

    After being exhumed Thursday morning, Goulart's remains were received in an official ceremony by President Dilma Rousseff -- who also had been imprisoned and tortured under the military dictatorship -- along with former presidents from both sides of the political aisle, dignitaries and family members.

    After the honors bestowed in Brasilia, the capital, which included a 21-gun salute, Goulart's widow said Brazil had finally given him the respect he deserved, local media reported.

    "It took a while, but it's never too late," she said. "It's a way to rescue my husband's memory."

    Goulart's remains will now be analyzed by local authorities, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross and representatives from Uruguay, Argentina and Cuba, according to a statement released by Brazil's National Truth Commission.

    "The exhumation is not the end of this process. We've asked the military police for more documents and more hearings," said João Vicente Goulart, son of the former president. "There are American agents that were involved in Operation Condor that haven't been heard yet."

    "It's a first big step for the country," he added, "but there's still a long way to go."

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    [batavia-news] Brazil's military to cooperate in dirty war investigation

     

    res : Tentara Brasilia setuju penjelidikan terhadap  "dirty war", tetapi di NKRI yang katanya beragama suci murni sulit diselidiki kekejaman dan pembunuhan-pembunuhan yang dilakukan  oleh TNI  masa lalu dan begitupun partai-partai politik berlagak bisu, tuli dan buta terhadap pelangaran HM.
     
     

    Brazil's military to cooperate in dirty war investigation

    Brazilians mark 50th anniversary of military coup

    Demonstrators protest at the Military Club in Rio de Janeiro on the 50th anniversary of the coup d'etat against president Joao Goulart. (Marcelo Sayao / European Pressphoto Agency / April 1, 2014)

     
     

    SAO PAULO, Brazil — Brazil's military has agreed to open investigations of use  torture at bases it operated during two decades of dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

    The announcement Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled a democratically elected government, marked the first time the country's armed forces have pledged to cooperate in examining human rights crimes for which no one has ever been tried. An amnesty law was passed by the military government in 1979.

    The military government is accused of killing and "disappearing" more than 450 people and torturing and exiling thousands. The military on Tuesday finally accepted a request from the country's Truth Commission, a public, non-military organ investigating abuses in the period, five decades after the day President Joao Goulart was deposed.

    The anniversary of the coup has been marked by a bout of national reflection in Latin America's largest country, as well as with protests over allegations of ongoing brutality by military police.

    "We must remember and tell the story of what happened," President Dilma Rousseff, a former anti-dictatorship guerrilla who was imprisoned and tortured, said Monday.

    "We owe this to everyone who died and disappeared, to those tortured and persecuted, to their families, to all Brazilians," she said. "If there are children without parents, parents without tombs, there can never, never, be a story without a voice. And the voice in that story is provided by the free men and women who are unafraid to write it."

    From March 31 to April 4, 1964, conservative political forces and the military forced progressive President Goulart into exile and established the first of many U.S.-allied military dictatorships in South America.

    Powerful right-wing forces considered Goulart's left-leaning reform program dangerous, especially in the context of the Cold War. Declassified documents show that Washington offered explicit military support to the coup, if needed.

    Initially considered a temporary solution and backed by significant parts of Brazilian society, including the media, the coup saw military rulers maintain power, eventually making liberal use of torture, repression and censorship.

    Brazil's Truth Commission was formed in late 2011, long after neighbors Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay went through similar bouts of self-reflection.

    The commission can publish accounts of crimes committed but has no power to prosecute the guilty because of the amnesty law, which Rousseff says she supports.

    Military participation in the investigation will begin with the formation of commissions to study seven installations believed to have been used for crimes, according to a note published Tuesday on the commission's website.

    "This is a very important gesture from the armed forces," Pedro Dallari, Truth Commission coordinator, said. "It's a big step forward."

    The military high command has never acknowledged any responsibility for crimes committed during the dictatorship, which ended in 1985

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    [batavia-news] Afghan election concludes: Little violence, lots of votes to count

     

     

    Afghan election concludes: Little violence, lots of votes to count

    Afghanistan Elections

    Female voters are searched by a poll worker before they enter a polling station in Kabul on Saturday. (Rahmatullah Nikzad / Associated Press / April 5, 2014)

    MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan — Afghanistan passed the first major test of the impending post-American era on Saturday with an election that featured a robust turnout, minimal violence and few glaring reports of cheating as voters began the process of selecting a successor to 13-year President Hamid Karzai.

    Next comes the counting of some 7 million ballots nationwide and the investigation of hundreds of claims of irregularities — from the serious to the superficial. The process is likely to take several weeks and none of the three presidential front-runners is expected to win an absolute majority, which would mean a runoff vote between the top two no earlier than the end of May.

    Still, voters stared down Taliban death threats and lingering memories of past fraud-scarred elections, trekking through the deserted streets of Kabul and rain-swept fields in the provinces to polling places guarded by 195,000 Afghan soldiers and police. Some voters quietly left Taliban-controlled villages to cast ballots in the safety of cities and towns. Others waited in long lines under wet skies at schools and mosques, and some were delayed even longer when many polling places ran out of ballots and had to be resupplied.

    By day's end, officials said voter turnout had far surpassed the 4.6 million of the 2009 presidential election, and approached that of the first election after the fall of the Taliban, in 2004. Barely one-third of the voters were women, owing both to Afghanistan's conservative society as well as fears of Taliban attacks.

    But after a series of high-profile Taliban assaults in recent weeks aimed at derailing the polling — decried by the insurgent group as a U.S.-sponsored plot — violence Saturday was relatively limited. Four civilians and 16 Afghan security personnel were reported killed nationwide.

    "We showed the world we are a democracy," Karzai said in an evening address to the nation.

    It was heartening news for U.S. officials, who publicly maintained a studied silence but privately described the vote as a barometer for the direction Afghanistan will take after most of the remaining 33,000 American troops withdraw by year's end.

    "I commend the Afghan government, electoral bodies and the [security forces] for their enormous effort to plan, secure and hold the elections," tweeted the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, James B. Cunningham.

    With Karzai constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, the Obama administration hopes that a change in leadership will refresh relations, which have soured under the increasingly combative Afghan leader. Each of the three presidential front-runners has pledged to sign a long-awaited security agreement that would allow a few thousand American troops to remain beyond 2014 to carry out counterterrorism operations and continue training Afghan forces.

    For a sizeable number of rural Afghans, however, the election didn't take place at all: Officials did not open 956 out of a planned 7,168 polling stations because they were located in areas that soldiers and police couldn't secure. There were also reports from several other areas that ballot papers weren't delivered to some unsafe districts or that many voters, particularly women, stayed home out of fear.

    In outlying parts of Wardak province, just west of Kabul, the Taliban circulated letters for weeks warning that anyone who participated would be punished or killed. So the night before the vote, 52-year-old Sher Agha drove to the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr, where government security forces patrol the streets.

    Early Saturday morning, draped in a mustard-colored shawl to ward off the chill and spitting rain, the tall farmer cast his ballot at the provincial government compound that served as the main polling center in Maidan Shahr, a mountain-ringed town one hour's drive from Kabul.

    "People should be proud to vote," he said. "But where I live, people are afraid they might be killed if they vote."

    As in past elections, voters had their forefingers dipped in in indelible ink to guard against multiple vote-casting. The mark could draw the attention of the Taliban, but many, like Sher Agha, decided it was worth the risk.

    Low turnout and little official oversight of the balloting in rural areas could open the door for vote-rigging allegations, as in 2009, because of the ability of political partisans to buy off election staff and security forces. One such effort was exposed when the Afghan interior ministry announced that it had arrested two police and intelligence officers for stuffing five ballot boxes in Sayedabad, one of Wardak's most troubled districts.

    Voters were also selecting members of elected advisory boards known as provincial councils. At the offices of Mohammad Hazarat Janan, deputy head of the Wardak provincial council, reports came in all morning from rural areas where voter turnout was low.

    However, in one rural district, Jalrez, poll workers told Janan they had exhausted all 600 ballot papers within barely two hours of voting. He suspected that was an attempt to cover up possible ballot-stuffing.

    "They are making excuses to pave the way for fraud," Janan said, while acknowledging he would have to request a formal investigation.

    By 11 a.m., four hours after polls opened, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission, the government-appointed election watchdog, said it had received about 200 complaints. They ranged from voting stations that opened late to reports that candidates or authorities had interfered with voting in the provinces, said the commission's spokesman, Nader Mohseni.

    One leading presidential candidate, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, tweeted, "There are reports of serious fraud in several locations but all is documented and will be passed on to [the complaints commission] for investigation."

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    [batavia-news] McDonald's Closes Its Doors in Crimea

     

     
     

    McDonald's Closes Its Doors in Crimea

     
    Stringer / ReutersA man signals to a woman that the McDonald's restaurant is closed in the Crimean city of Simferopol April 4, 2014.

    McDonald's has suspended operations at its three restaurants in Crimea indefinitely "due to manufacturing reasons independent of McDonald's," the Ukrainian branch of the U.S. fast-food giant said.

    Restaurants in the cities of Sevastopol, Simferopol and Yalta have been closed but employees will be allowed to take up their old positions at other branches in Ukraine, McDonald's said Thursday in an online statement, without elaborating on the reasons for the closure.

    The statement also said the company had offered to cover relocation costs for workers and their families, as well as housing for three months following the transfer.

    Severance pay would be available for those employees who declined to leave, the company said, adding that it hoped to reopen its restaurants in Crimea "when such an opportunity" arises. The offer of a relocation package for workers suggests that the company does not expect to do so any time soon, however.

    About 500 people have been laid off as a result of the closures, most of whom intend to look for new jobs in Crimea, Itar-Tass reported, citing out-of-work employees.

    "We got advance notices, but we couldn't believe it until the last moment, we love our jobs and it was a big shock to us," one former employee said.

    News of McDonald's leaving Crimea was mostly received well by Russian Internet users, with several commentators on the Ekho Moskvy website saying that Crimeans will now get healthier, while some remarked that Russia's fast-food restaurants did not have much to offer in terms of healthy food either.

    Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the outspoken leader of the Liberal Democrat party, or LDPR, also welcomed Friday's news, telling reporters he would do all he could to bring about the closure of McDonald's restaurants in Russia, Interfax reported.

    "I call upon local LDPR organizations to arrange pickets outside every McDonalds branch," Zhirinovsky said, adding that once the "soul" of the fast-food chain had been destroyed, he would seek the removal of Pepsi Cola from Russia as well.

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