Day: December 8, 2021

The National Police has confirmed that it will induct 44 former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officers into the police force on Thursday (December 9, 2021), coinciding with the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day.

The 44 officers are among the 57 who were dismissed by the commission on September 30, 2021 after they failed the civic knowledge test, a requirement for their employment status to be changed to civil state apparatus.

Head of the National Police’s Public Relations Division Inspector General Dedi Prasetyo informed that after the inauguration, the 44 new officers will undergo a new police training program in Bandung, West Java.

Meanwhile, ex-KPK officer Yudi Purnomo, who accepted the offer to work in the police force, said that he has received an official notification about the inauguration.

“The police have notified us about our inauguration, and because the inauguration will coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day, it is an opportunity to reiterate our commitment to eradicating corruption crimes in Indonesia,” Purnomo said.

Earlier on Monday (December 6, 2021), the national police headquarters had invited 57 ex-KPK officers to a meeting to inform them about National Police Regulation No. 15 of 2021 permitting special arrangements for the inauguration of dismissed KPK officers as police apparatus, provided the ex-KPK officers accept the offer.

While 54 of the total of 57 ex-KPK officers attended the meeting, 44 ex-KPK officers, including former KPK investigators Novel Baswedan and Yudi Purnomo, indicated that they would accept the offer to work in the police force.

Following the meeting, the 44 ex-KPK officers who accepted the police’s offer sat for a competency test on Tuesday (December 7, 2021), with 43 officers attending the examination at the police headquarters and one taking the test online, he said.

While the ex-KPK officers are completing the formalities for their inauguration, the police public relations division’s public information bureau head Brigadier General Rusdi Hartono confirmed the police has coordinated with the National Civil Service Agency (BKN) to register them as the new police apparatus.

Source: Antara News

The National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team has announced that it has received the bodies of 34 victims of the Mount Semeru eruption, and, as of Wednesday, 17 of them have been identified.

“On Tuesday evening, the DVI team received one body part while today, they got three more bodies,” National Police spokesperson Sen.Coms.Ahmad Ramadhan informed.

Therefore, as of Wednesday, the National Police’s DVI team has received 34 bodies to be identified, Ramadhan said at a press briefing at Dr. Haryoto Public Hospital in Lumajang district, East Java province.

On Wednesday, the DVI team identified seven more bodies, taking the total number of Semeru victims whose bodies have been identified to 17, he disclosed.

The identification could be carried out quickly thanks to the information provided by the victims’ families to the DVI team about the victims’ identification marks, including moles and tattoos, he said.

Among the Semeru victims who have been identified are Mani (60), Zakira Talita Salsabila (4), Ani Tri Hartini (23), Dwi Santoso (35), Mustofa (37), Budi Cahyono (40), and Didik Aprianto (30), he said.

Meanwhile, to evacuate victims of the Mt Semeru eruption, the East Java Police has prepared 14 excavators, which will be operated by Lumajang Police in coordination with the Mount Semeru Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Of the 14 excavators, four will be deployed in Curah Kobokan village in Pronojiwo sub-district and ten in Jarit village, Pasirian sub-district.

The East Java Police have also provided eight dump trucks, one tanker truck containing diesel fuel, and two trucks carrying excavators to assist in the evacuation of victims.

On Tuesday, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) inspected areas affected by the eruption of Mount Semeru to ensure assistance for refugees.

“I come here to ensure that we have put in all our efforts to find the remaining victims and evacuate them,” he stated in Lumajang district.

“We are also looking at the plan to repair infrastructure damaged by the eruption,” President Widodo said.

Mount Semeru, located in two districts in East Java province — Malang and Lumajang districts — erupted on December 4, 2021, at around 3 p.m. local time. The mountain spewed incandescent lava while emitting rumbling sounds and thick gray smoke. (

Source: Antara News

The Palembang city police thwarted an attempt by two drug dealers to sell five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in the city on December 3, 2021.

The suspects, identified as Bayu Prabowo and Wahyu Romadhon, informed police investigators that they obtained the drugs from a drug lord in Riau province, Palembang city police chief, Sen.Coms. Irwan Prawira, said.

“The two suspects were apprehended in a raid at a hotel in Palembang,” he informed in a statement that ANTARA received here on Wednesday.

The drug lord who supplied the crystal meth package to the suspects has been identified by his initials as A, Prawira said, adding that the drugs were meant to be sold to drug users in Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra province.

Prabowo and Romadhon confessed that A was to pay them Rp5 million for every kilogram of the crystal meth they sold, he said.

The Palembang city police are continuing to probe the drug case and have launched a hunt for the Riau-based drug lord, he added.

Police have charged the suspects under Articles 114 (2) and 112 (2) of the Narcotics Law. If found guilty, they would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

South Sumatra is one of the provinces in the Indonesian island of Sumatra which remains vulnerable to drug crimes.

In March this year, for instance, personnel from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN)-South Sumatra Office arrested Samsul Bahri (39), a former legislator from Aceh’s Pidie Jaya district while he was trying to transport five kg of drugs in his car.

Following his arrest, BNN also apprehended two more suspects in connection with the case.

Domestic and transnational drug dealers view Indonesia as a potential market owing to its huge population and millions of drug users.

The drug trade in the nation is valued at nearly Rp66 trillion.

People from all strata of society are falling prey to drugs in the country regardless of their socio-economic and professional backgrounds.

Over the past few decades, the Indonesian government has taken harsh punitive action against drug barons found smuggling and trading drugs in the country.

The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has sought capital punishment for those involved in the drug trade in the country.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has issued shoot-at-sight orders against drug kingpins.

However, this has failed to deter drug traffickers, who continue to treat Indonesia as a main market, prompting Indonesian law enforcers to step up vigilance against them.

Source: Antara News

The Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions (KSPI) has threatened to call a nationwide strike if the government does not meet workers’ demands.

Their demands include the government revising gubernatorial decisions fixing the provincial minimum wage for 2021, revoking a regulation on wages, and implementing the Constitutional Court’s decree declaring the Job Creation Law unconstitutional.

“We can order two million workers to stop production. All will suffer losses and the economy will be paralyzed. We will not do that if the government seriously implements the Constitutional Court’s decree and the gubernatorial decisions,” KSPI President Said Iqbal said at a joint rally, held near the Patung Kuda roundabout in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The joint rally, which started on December 6, will end on December 10, 2021.

Iqbal warned of escalating protests if the government fails to implement the Constitutional Court’s decree declaring the Job Creation Law No. 11/2020 conditionally unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court has declared Omnibus Law No. 11/2020 unconstitutional or contradictory to the 1945 Constitution, adding it has no binding legal force.

The Constitutional Court has also ordered the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government to revise the Job Creation Law in two years’ time.

“A nationwide strike will be a choice if (the government) ignores public aspirations in the next two years starting from the enactment of the Job Creation Law,” Iqbal said.

The nationwide strike, which will involve two million workers from 60 federations of national labor unions, will have a detrimental impact on 100 factories, he added.

Tens of thousands of workers from Jakarta and surrounding areas participated in the joint rally on Wednesday to convey three demands.

First, all governors revise their decisions on provincial minimum wages because they contradict the Constitutional Court’s decree No. 7 suspending strategic policies/measures having a far-reaching impact, including on wages, Iqbal said.

Second, the government revoke Government Regulation No. 36/2021 on wages, he added.

Third, the government implement the Constitutional Court’s decree declaring the Job Creation Law conditionally unconstitutional, he informed.

Source: Antara News