Saturday, September 21, 2013

[batavia-news] Dari Sini Awal Isu 'Jihad Seks' di Suriah Merebak

res: Untuk membaca berita ini dalam bahasa Inggris dari Tunisia, click : http://www.tunisia-live.net/2013/09/20/tunisian-women-travel-to-syria-for-sexual-jihad-interior-minister-says/

http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2013/09/21/115515399/Dari-Sini-Awal-Isu-Jihad-Seks-di-Suriah-Merebak

Sabtu, 21 September 2013 | 11:24 WIB

Dari Sini Awal Isu 'Jihad Seks' di Suriah Merebak

TEMPO.CO, Tunis - Menteri Dalam Negeri Tunisia, Lotfi Ben Jeddou, menyatakan banyak wanita muda asal negerinya yang pergi ke Suriah untuk menghibur pejuang oposisi. Mereka mengobarkan "jihad seksual" dengan melakukan hubungan badan dengan 20, 30, atau 100 laki-laki. "Setelah itu kembali ke Tunisia dalam keadaan hamil," katanya.

Jihad seks, mereka menyebutnya jihad al-nikah, kini menjadi perbincangan hangat di negeri itu. Koran Tunisia melaporkan bahwa seorang pria muda Tunisia menceraikan istrinya setelah sang istri ketahuan menyeberang ke negara itu untuk bergabung dengan wanita lainnya menghibur pejuang oposisi Suriah.

Ulama setempat, Noureddine al- Khadimi, menolak fatwa jihad ini. Ia mendesak warga Tunisia dan lembaga negara untuk tidak menanggapinya.

Isu ini pertama kali merebak setelah sebuah video beredar luas di Internet dan situs jejaring sosial di Tunisia yang menunjukkan pengakuan orang tua dari seorang gadis bernama Rahmah. Mereka mengatakan gadis 17 tahun itu menghilang dari rumah suatu pagi dan mereka belakangan mengetahui ia menuju ke Suriah untuk melakukan jihad seksual.

Wakil keluarganya mengatakan bahwa Rahmah tidak fanatik beragama "tapi dipengaruhi oleh sesama siswa yang terkenal karena afiliasi mereka dengan Salafi untuk mendukung mujahidin di sana."

Dalam cuplikan rekaman lain, ulama Salafi terkenal Sheikh Mohamed al- Arifi mengeluarkan seruan bagi perempuan Muslim untuk melakukan jihad melalui seks. Namun, sumber yang dekat dengan sheikh itu membantah bahwa ia telah mengeluarkan fatwa tersebut dan menekankan bahwa siapa pun yang percaya pada imbauan itu adalah gila.

Laporan di Tunisia menekankan bahwa isu itu sengaja dibesar-besarkan untuk mencoreng citra para pejuang Islam.

TELEGRAPH | MAIL ONLINE | TRIP B

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[batavia-news] Journalist Photographs, Details Beheadings by Rebels in Syria

http://www.clarionproject.org/news/journalist-photographs-details-beheadings-rebels-syria

Journalist Photographs, Details Beheadings by Rebels in Syria

'As a human being I would never have wished to see what I saw. But as a journalist I have a camera and a responsibility.'

Mon, September 16, 2013

This photo was shot moments before the beheading.

Time magazine has published pictures and a first-hand account from a photojournalist who was given unprecedented access to public beheadings carried out by rebels opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

An eyewitness to the event told Time magazine that the executioners belonged to ISIS, an Al-Qaeda faction fighting on the side of the rebels in Aleppo.

The public execution was one of four that took place on August 31 in the town of Keferghan in the north of Syria.

The picture forms part of a set taken by a non-Syrian photojournalist, whose identity has not been revealed in order to protect him. Among the other photos is an executioner lining up his sword before delivering the final blow as his victim kneels in the village square, and a victim's head being held aloft by a jubilant fighter.

The entire barbaric episode was watched by a crowd of cheering men, many of them armed. Women can also be discerned in the pictures, one in particular, appears to be standing right next to one of the victims.

Sitting on a low wall only a few feet from where the wretched captive died so violently is a line of young boys.

They were still there as the dead man's head was dumped on his body. Another child, even younger, was led by the hand past the corpse.

The victims were accused of belonging to the fearsome Shabiha ('Ghosts') -- thugs loyal to Assad who are said to roam the country massacring women and children.

TIME acquired the photographs exclusively from the photographer. They have agreed not to publish his name, in order to protect him from repercussions when he returns to Syria.

What follows is an edited account of his experience as published in Time:

The man was brought in to the square. His eyes were blindfolded. I began shooting pictures, one after the other. It was to be the fourth execution that day I would photograph. I was feeling awful; several times I had been on the verge of throwing up. But I kept it under control because as a journalist I knew I had to document this, as I had the three previous beheadings I had photographed that day, in three other locations outside Aleppo.

I saw a scene of utter cruelty: a human being treated in a way that no human being should ever be treated. But it seems to me that in two and a half years, the war has degraded people's humanity. On this day the people at the execution had no control over their feelings, their desires, their anger. It was impossible to stop them.

I don't know how old the victim was but he was young. He was forced to his knees. The rebels around him read out his crimes from a sheet of paper. They stood around him. The young man was on his knees on the ground, his hands tied. He seemed frozen.

At the moment of execution the rebels grasped his throat. The young man put up a struggle. Three or four rebels pinned him down. The man tried to protect his throat with his hands, which were still tied together. He tried to resist but they were stronger than he was and they cut his throat. They raised his head into the air. People waved their guns and cheered. Everyone was happy that the execution had gone ahead.

As a human being I would never have wished to see what I saw. But as a journalist I have a camera and a responsibility. I have a responsibility to share what I saw that day. That's why I am making this statement and that's why I took the photographs. I will close this chapter soon and try never to remember it.

Warning the following video contains graphic content:

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[batavia-news] Liputan Khusus China Asean Rally VII di Nanning, Vietnam, Laos dan Thailand

Kegiatan China-ASEAN RALLY ke 7 di Nanning, Vietnam, Laos dan Thailand memasuki hari ke 5 berjalan lancar.

Acara pelepasan CA-Rally ke 7 pada hari ke 2 diadakan di Hotel Novotel Halong Bay Vietnam pada tanggal 7 Sep 2013.

Konvoi dilepas oleh Wakil Gubernur Provinsi Guang Ning (mengangkat bendera hijau) tanda dilepasnya konvoi CARALLY 2013 ini dan pejabat teras kota Halong Bay, selain melepas rombongan CAITA 2013 (China-ASEAN INTERNATIONAL TOURING ASSEMBLY & CHINA-ASEAN JOURNALISTS RALLY), panyelenggara CARally ke 7 ini Mr Chen Lijin memberikan kenang-kenangan kepada pejabat teras yg hadir.

Konvoi CARally (China-ASEAN Rally) pada keesokan harinya menempuh jarak 460 Km dari Vinh Vietnam ke Vientiane Laos, dalam perjalanan tersebut panitia mengadakan perlombaan ketepatan kecepatan dalam 21 km dengan kecepatan rata2 36,5 km/jam.

Senin, 9 September 2013, CA-Rally ke 7 hari ke 4 ini dilepas oleh Dir Jend Trade & Product Promotion Department Ministry of Industry and Commerce Lao PDR dan Konjen RRT utk Laos di Victory Gate Vientine, Laos.

Ripka Widjaja dengan bendera Indonesia berphoto sesaat sebelum acara pelepasan konvoi CARALLY 2013 dimulai di halaman Victory Gate Laos.

Mr Somvang Ninthavong, Dir Jend Trade & Product Promotion Department Ministry of Industry and Commerce Lao PDR memberikan kata sambutan sesaat sebelum acara pelepasan CARALLY 2013 dimulai, didampingi dengan penyelenggara, pimpinan konvoi China-ASEAN Rally 2013 dan pejabat teras Laos lainnya.

CARally dilanjutkan dari Vientiane Laos menuju Sukhothai Thailand dengan jarak tempuh 500 km. Rencananya konvoi CARally akan tiba di Sukhothai pada sore hari dihari ke 4 ini.

KONVOI China-ASEAN RALLY 2013 dilepas oleh Wakil Gubernur SUKHOTAHI di Taman bersejarah SUKHOTHAI pada hari ke 5.

Tampak dalam photo dari kiri kekanan : Mr Chen Liji Vice Director the sports Administration of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomouus Region, Ms Saratwadee Asasupakit, Director TOURISM AUTHORITY OF THAILAND, Ms Nongkran Sooksom, Director of Sukhothai Historical Park dan Mr Smith Palawatwichai, Wakil Gubernur Sukhothai (melambaikan bendera) didampingi pejabat teras lainnya, menandakan pelepasan konvoi CAIRALLY 2013 dilaksanakan.

Peserta Indonesia CARALLY 2013 bergabung dalam tim A yang terdiri dari perally (racer), staff serta para jurnalis dari Media dan TV dipimpin langsung oleh Mr Xu Bo Ph D, Associate Proffessor Guangxi University for Nationalities College of Physical Education & Health Service.
1 dari 4 tim (A, B ,C dan D) Peserta CARALLY 2013 ini berphoto bersama di Sukothai Historical Park, sesaat sebelum berlangsungnya acara pelepasan di hari ke 5.

CHINA-ASEAN INTERNATIONAL TOURING ASSEMBLY & CHINA-ASEAN JOURNALISTS RALLY yang diadakan 6 – 27 September 2013 ini diikuti oleh 26 kendaraan dan 121 pengemudi, staff, media/ jurnalis dan official, akan berally dari Nanning Guangxi RRT melewati Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore dan Cambodia dan kembali ke Nanning Guangxi RRT.

Keesokan harinya, konvoi CAITA 2013 (China-ASEAN INTERNATIONAL TOURING ASSEMBLY & CHINA-ASEAN JOURNALISTS RALLY) akan dilanjutkan dari Sukhothai menuju Bangkok menempuh jarak waktu 460 km dan selanjutnya bermalam di ibukota Thailand tersebut selama 2 malam.

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[batavia-news] Billions of Petrodollars at Stake in the Syrian Civil War

http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/billions-petrodollars-stake-syrian-civil-war

Billions of Petrodollars at Stake in the Syrian Civil War

The bloody Syrian civil war pits religious sects against each other, but also involves massive economic interests in petrodollars.

By Ryan Mauro

Fri, September 20, 2013

Flames emerge from a pipeline as Iraqi soldiers take position inside one of Fakka wells near Amara, southeast of Bagdad. © Reuters

The Syrian civil war is often accurately framed as an ideological conflict, while other times it's reasonably portrayed as a sectarian one. It is sometimes forgotten that Islamists have economic interests and that the outside parties fueling the bloodshed see it as an investment that can yield sky-high returns.

The oil politics of the region are intertwined with its sectarian and ideological divisions. In the energy contest, every loss for Iran is a gain for its Sunni nemeses and vice versa. The fate of Syria is a decisive battle in that contest with potentially severe strategic and financial consequences for Russia.

The West and its Arab allies have long sought to turn Syria away from the Iranian sphere of influence. After all, Syria is an Arab country, while Iran is Persian. The Syrian population is majority-Sunni, while Iran's is majority-Shiite. And Syria's regime is secular, while Iran's is theocratic.

In 2009, Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia (presumably with American backing) approached the Assad regime with a lucrative deal. A pipeline would be built to deliver natural gas to Europe via Syria, transiting Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey.

The losers in this deal would be Iran and Russia. The Russians treasure the dependency of Europe and Turkey upon its natural resources. The Iranian regime would likely lose its only Arab ally and conduit to Hezbollah, as Syria would become economically linked with Iran's Sunni rivals.

Assad turned the offer down and instead double-downed on his alliance with Iran and Russia. In 2011, he signed a $10 billion deal for an Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian pipeline.

As Abraham H. Miller explains, "Assad, in a stroke of the pen, foiled Turkey's economic dreams and potentially brought Iranian oil and gas into the European market by an estimated increase of thirty percent."

U.S. policy is largely to blame for the Iraqi component of the deal. In 2009, the Iraqi government boldly confronted Assad over Syrian support for terrorism. The U.S. decided to stay neutral and the pressure went away. U.S. forces left Iraq the following year. Now, the same Iraqi government has thrown its lot in with Assad.

Iraq has a bright economic future because of its increasing oil production. One billionaire recalls, "A top manager at a leading Western firm said the modern history of the oil business will be split into the pre-Iraq and post-Iraq periods. I agree." The Russian company that is developing a massive oil field in southern Iraq predicts a "revolution" in the oil market in the coming years.

The Saudis, Qataris, Turks and other Sunnis hope that removing Assad will thwart the energy ambitions of Iran, Iraq and Russia. The Arabs' offer to pay for any U.S. military intervention makes financial sense because of the wealth that the proposed pipeline would deliver.

The Syrian civil war isn't just about Syria. It's about the future balance of power in the region.

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Friday, September 20, 2013

[batavia-news] Child Bride Dies in Yemen From Injuries on Wedding Night

http://www.clarionproject.org/news/child-bride-dies-yemen-injuries-wedding-night

Child Bride Dies in Yemen From Injuries on Wedding Night

Activists are calling for the groom, who is believed to be around 40 years old, and the girl's family, to be arrested so they can face justice.

Thu, September 12, 2013

Children in Yemen, close to the age of the bride. (Photo: © Reuters)

An eight-year-old child bride has died in Yemen of internal bleeding sustained during her wedding night after being forced to marry a man five times her age, human rights activists have said.

The girl, identified only as Rawan, died in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Activists are now calling for the groom, who is believed to be around 40 years old, and the girl's family, to be arrested so they can face justice in the courts. They say arrests would help put a stop to the practice of marrying very young girls to older men, a common practice in the region.

The practice of marrying young girls is widespread in Yemen and has attracted the attention of international rights groups seeking to pressure the government to outlaw child marriages.

More than a quarter of Yemen's females marry before the age of 15, according to a report issued by Human Rights Watch. Yemen passed a law in 2009 which sets the minimum age for marriage at 17 years, however, it was repealed after conservative lawmakers complained that it went against Islamic teachings.

Yemen had previously set the minimum age for marriage at 15 years ago, but parliament annulled that law in the 1990s, saying parents should decide when a daughter marries.

Yemen's gripping poverty plays a role in hindering efforts to stamp out the practice, as poor families find themselves unable to say no to "bride-prices" for their daughter which can be hundreds of dollars.

Tribal customs also play a role, including the belief that a young bride can be shaped into an obedient wife, bear more children and be kept away from temptation.

In September 2010, a 12-year-old Yemeni child-bride died after struggling for three days in labor to give birth, a local human rights organization said.

Bloggers were ripe with criticism for this practice. Commenting on this particular case, one blogger named "Angry Man" posted on his site, "The man is an animal who deserves to be punished severely for his crime. All those who supported such a crime should also be punished," he added.

Another blogger, called Omar, wrote: "Rawan's family members are not humans. They do not deserve to have children."

Another blogger, called "Sad" wrote, "Her family and her groom could have waited for some time before having this marriage. It was not fair at all and the marriage should not have happened even if some tribes believe that it is a good custom."

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[batavia-news] Bikini Tensions Mar Islamic Games in Indonesia

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/sports/bikini-tensions-mar-islamic-games-in-indonesia/

Bikini Tensions Mar Islamic Games in Indonesia

By Agence France-Presse on 3:08 pm September 20, 2013.
Category Featured, Sports
Tags: bikini, Islamic Solidarity Games

Yudhani Rahayu Ni Putu Timy of Indonesia applauds her team mate Yokbeth Manisala Kapasiang during the womens beach volleyball match against Yang Li and Anna Hu of China during their women's beach volleyball match against and of Indonesia on day six of the Asian Beach Games at Sanur Beach on October 23, 2008 in Bali, Indonesia. (AFP Photo/Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Palembang. The Islamic Solidarity Games open in Indonesia this weekend following a chaotic run-up, with controversy over female athletes competing in sports bikinis adding to the turmoil.

Some nations demanded that all women cover up for the beach volleyball, track and field, and swimming events, but organizers have refused to axe the two-piece sporting outfits.

"If some countries do not want to use the bikini, that's fine, but if other countries want to, we will allow that," senior organizing committee member Djoko Pramono told AFP.

"We agreed to apply international rules, including the dress code."

Thousands of athletes from 44 nations with Muslim populations will come together for the games, but only those ruled by Islamic governments opposed the bikini, Pramono said, adding they complained collectively.

He did not mention the countries which complained by name.

This year is the second time the games have been held, the first in Saudi Arabia, where not only were there no bikinis, but men and women competed on separate days and men were barred from watching women swim.

Some countries also asked the organizers to again run male and female events on separate days.

Pramono said he did not know which teams had decided to wear the bikinis.

Female players from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei have worn them at previous international competitions.

The event has faced a string of other problems, in the latest chapter of Indonesia's shambolic history of hosting of major sporting tournaments.

It is set to officially open Sunday and run until October 1 after months of delays and two changes of venue, now in Palembang city on Sumatra island.

Unpaid laborers shuttered the stadium in the original host city, Pekanbaru, with the governor embroiled in multiple corruption scandals unable to help.

It was moved to the capital, Jakarta, only to be shifted again to Palembang after Sumatran officials complained, giving organizers less than two months to move everything to the new venue.

Eyebrows have been raised over the Palembang complex, where parts of the ill-fated 2011 Southeast Asian Games took place.

Some facilities were not fully constructed as the 2011 event opened and scores of athletes suffered food poisoning there.

During that event, two football fans were crushed to death in a stampede at a venue in the capital as security guards were unable to control a massive crowd.

But Pramono was optimistic about the Islamic games, which includes archery, badminton and karate, and brings together nations from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

"Everything is progressing, and I'm sure all 13 sports will be a success," he said.

The religious-based row is not the first to hit an international sporting event.

Last year, the International Judo Federation told Saudi Arabia's first woman to compete at the Olympics, Wojdan Shaherkani, that she could not compete in a Muslim headscarf.

A compromise was reached and she fought in a modified head covering at the London Games.

Agence France-Presse

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[batavia-news] PRESS RELEASE : Terbentuknya CHINA-ASEAN MEDIA CLUB

Date: 2013/9/19
Subject: Terbentuknya CHINA-ASEAN MEDIA CLUB

Yang terhormat rekan2 media,

Dengan bangga kami sampaikan kepada rekan2 media, bahwa pada hari ini 19 September 2013 di Jakarta, telah didukung oleh Media, Radio & TV Indonesia pendirian China-Asean Media Club yang telah diumumkan pembentukannya pada perjalanan CA-RALLY 2013 yang telah didukung oleh media-media China dan negara2 Asean lainnya.

Prof DR Nurdin Purnomo telah dipercayakan untuk menjabat Ketua Umum, semoga kerjasama China-Asean khususnya dibidang media olahraga dapat lebih ditingkatkan dan Sukses Selalu !!

Terima kasih

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[batavia-news] Return of Stalin Statues Signals Political Divide in Georgia

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/return-of-stalin-statues-signals-political-divide-in-georgia/

Return of Stalin Statues Signals Political Divide in Georgia

By Irakli Metreveli on 2:45 pm September 20, 2013.
Category Editor's Choice, International, World
Tags: Former Soviet Union states, Georgia, Joseph Stalin

Two men speak as they stand next to a statue of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin daubed with paint in the Georgian in the town of Telavi, some 100 kilometers east of in Tbilisi, on September 3, 2013. (AFP Photo/Vano Shlamov)

Telavi. Recently re-erected then vandalized within hours, a communist-era statue of Joseph Stalin stands sprayed with bright orange paint on a hilltop overlooking the provincial town of Telavi in eastern Georgia.

The slightly larger than life-size monument was torn down several years ago as part of staunchly pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili's campaign to eradicate all traces of Georgia's Soviet past.

But local Stalin loyalists clubbed together this month to restore the statue — only to see unknown vandals cover it in paint and scrawl slogans on the wall behind, one reading: "Stalin is a murderer."

Sixty years after the dictator's death, commentators say the incident — the latest of several in the past year — highlights not only the deep political divisions in Stalin's homeland but also a struggle over his legacy.

"Some sort of nostalgia for Stalin still exists in a certain segment of the Georgian society," said political analyst Gia Nodia.

In October 2012, Saakashvili's party lost parliamentary polls to a coalition led by his bitter foe billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has made normalizing relations with Russia his foreign policy priority.

Since the election upset, Stalin monuments have been erected in six other villages and all have suffered a fate similar to the Telavi statue, each quickly defaced.

With Ivanishvili, now prime minister, and Saakashvili preparing to step down as president when his second and final term ends next month, analysts say the changes have emboldened conservatives who believe the time is right to rehabilitate Stalin.

"When a party, which has been pursuing an active de-Sovietization policy has been replaced in power by politicians who were flirting with Stalinist sentiments during the electoral campaign, those who are nostalgic about the Soviet past reckoned that their time has come," said Nodia.

'We miss his truth and justice'

Shota Lazariashvili is the self-proclaimed president of Telavi's Stalin Society who was behind restoring the hilltop monument of his "idol."

For him, Stalin embodies the social justice he feels was lost amid the political turmoil and economic hardship that followed the Soviet Union's collapse.

"We miss his truth and justice," said the 63-year-old, standing under a framed portrait of Stalin in his crumbling office as he launched into an ecstatic ode to the "great leader."

Born Joseph Dzhugashvili in 1878, Stalin ruled the Soviet Union with an iron fist from the late 1920s to his death in 1953.

But Lazariashvili flatly rejects Stalin's responsibility in the death of millions of Soviet citizens in brutal Gulag prison camps and the forced collectivization of agriculture.

"Stalin liberated the suppressed class of workers and peasants, he symbolizes the Soviet Union's victory over Hitler" in World War II, he said.

While Prime Miniser Ivanishvili says he remains "cautiously negative" about the dictator, his culture minister has endorsed plans to resurrect a giant Stalin monument in the courtyard of the Stalin museum in his hometown of Gori.

The statue, erected in 1952, stood in Gori's central square until it was torn down in 2010 on the orders of Saakashvili, who later initiated a law banning the public display of Soviet symbols and prohibiting former Communist Party and KGB security service officials from holding public office.

The return of such statues is seen as a backlash against those policies, though authorities say most of the monuments are being re-erected without government backing.

For Zurab Butskhrikidze, the vice chairman of Telavi's city council, "some groups feel more relaxed about expressing views they were forced to hide under the previous government," now that Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition has assumed power.

He supports the continuation of de-Stalinization policies but through education, rather than draconian measures.

"Some people from the old generation still are under the Soviet propaganda's influence. We can't do anything about this by force, we need to step up information efforts.

"Our whole society failed to repent for what happened in Stalin's era," said Butskhrikidze. "This is why Stalin's ghost makes such bizarre appearances in our modern life."

Agence France-Presse

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[batavia-news] Indonesia Has Bigger Problems Than Bikinis

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/indonesia-has-bigger-problems-than-bikinis/

Indonesia Has Bigger Problems Than Bikinis

By William Pesek on 1:15 pm September 20, 2013.
Category Columns, Featured, Opinion
Tags: opinion columns, William Pesek

Miss World Philippines 2013 contestants wave during a bikini contest at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Paranaque city, metro Manila on July 31, 2013. The Miss World finale, which will be held in Indonesia, had to scrap the bikini contest amid protests by hard-line Islamists. (Reuters Photo/Romeo Ranoco)

Indonesians are taking to the streets to demand the government heed their complaints. Are they livid about corruption? No. Fed up with poverty? Not really. Angry over political gridlock? Not so much. It's those damn bikinis.

In recent days, the nation with the world's largest Muslim population has been consumed by protests against the Miss World pageant finale on Sept. 28, originally scheduled to be held near Jakarta. Muslim groups, including radical ones, have threatened violent attacks. The government has responded by moving the event to Bali — the Hindu-majority island popular with Westerners — increasing security, and hoping for the best.

This column isn't a defense of beauty contests. My question is, why the misplaced anger? Where's the outrage over obscene levels of graft, which eats up national wealth and forces 115 million Indonesians to live on less than $2 a day? Where are the placards condemning policies that have made the rupiah Asia's most pathetic currency? Why don't we hear chants demanding greater accountability from leaders?

It's great that Indonesians are worked up, but their ire would be more constructive if it were focused on the right target. Investors know the trouble. And that's the biggest problem of all.

Deep breath

First, let's all take a deep breath. The risk of Southeast Asia's biggest economy plummeting into free fall, as it did in 1997, is quite small. Its banks are much healthier. The government is far more transparent, and the central bank is sitting on $93 billion of currency reserves. That might seem like a paltry amount compared with, say, South Korea's $331 billion, but it's more than twice the size of the International Monetary Fund-led bailout Indonesia received 16 years ago. Also, short-term foreign-currency debt levels are manageable.

The political stability that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has established since 2004 has won investment-grade ratings from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service. The former general is now taking aim at Standard & Poor's, which rates the economy at the highest junk level.

Foreign-direct investment trends, meanwhile, show that Indonesia's domestic market is still wooing considerable long-term money. The total rose 18.9 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter to $6 billion. Although that's the slowest pace since 2010, it's still suggestive of a nation that, for all its warts, has a bright future. Long-term investors remain enthusiastic about Indonesia's vast store of natural resources and the fact that 26 percent of its 250 million people are younger than 15.

Yet short-term investors are focusing ever more intently on those warts, which Yudhoyono's government must urgently address. The most immediate worry is a trade deficit that widened to a record $2.3 billion in July, weighing on a current account that's been in shortfall for seven straight quarters. That's prompting waves of hot money to flee and creating a sense of crisis.

The bigger problem is the government's failure to use the good times to accelerate infrastructure upgrades and institutional reforms. Inadequate ports, highways, refineries and power grids are squandering Indonesia's chances of attracting manufacturing jobs that are now going to China, the Philippines and Vietnam. The government has been remiss about making Jakarta's bureaucracy more efficient, building more credible judicial and tax systems, rolling back unaffordable subsidies, and scrapping limits on mining exports that smack more of nationalism than good economics.

Enriching cronies

Corruption remains rampant. Early on, Yudhoyono scored some headline-grabbing victories over graft. But the campaign lost focus and urgency. In 2012, Indonesia slipped 18 places in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, falling behind Egypt. Yudhoyono can't run in next year's election. What if his successor cares more about enriching cronies than moving Indonesia forward?

The Miss World controversy raises another concern: the democratically elected leader of a secular government caving to the whims of an ultraconservative minority of Muslims. One of Yudhoyono's most important tasks is to hold the forces of creeping Islamization at bay. Last year, radicals prompted Lady Gaga to scrap a sold-out concert in Jakarta, making for damaging headlines overseas.

The last few months have shown how fickle markets can be about Indonesia and how vital it is for the government to head off negative sentiment before it overwhelms the economy. Yudhoyono must use his last 10 months in office to cement the sweeping changes that originally made Indonesia an investment darling. He must accelerate plans to spend $125 billion on infrastructure by 2025. He should empower an independent anticorruption ministry with full subpoena powers. The country needs a grand blueprint and timeline for the strengthening of democratic institutions. The former general must insulate the government further from military influence, as well as contain extremism.

But Indonesians need to do their part, too. Their voices can keep Yudhoyono focused on the real obscenity. It's not beauty contests or scantily clad pop stars but a vast kleptocracy that thrives off the masses being distracted by the small stuff. The more voters obsess about exposed skin, the less the fraudulent class has to worry about being exposed. That's the real travesty here, not Miss World's bikini.

Bloomberg

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist. Follow him on Twitter (@williampesek).

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