President, ASEAN military chiefs attend breakfast meeting

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 03/31/2011 8:57 AM | World

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday began the day with a joint breakfast with military chiefs of 10 ASEAN member states, at the State Palace in Jakarta.

The breakfast banquet was held as part of the 8th ASEAN Chiefs of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM), which is an annual event.

A similar banquet was held last year in Hanoi, as Vietnam chaired the ASEAN in 2010. This year, Indonesia holds the chair post.

The meeting, the rest of whose sessions will take place at the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta, covers defense and security issues in Southeast Asia, tempointeraktif.com reported Thursday.

This year, the meeting is expected to conclude with commitments to continuing and enhancing ASEAN countries’ partnerships in tackling terrorism in the region.

Yudhoyono is scheduled to lead a Cabinet meeting at his office after the breakfast, but the agenda of this meeting had not been made public at the time of the report.

House halts meeting with Health Minister on contaminated milk products

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 02/17/2011 10:01 PM | National

The House of Representatives Commission IX on health decided on Thursday to stop a meeting with the Health Minister, the Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB) and two other institutions as the IPB insisted on concealing the identities of bacteria-contaminated milk products.

“This meeting is delayed until Monday…,” Commission IX deputy chairman Ahmad Nizar Shihab said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

An IPB dean, I Wayan Teguh Wibawan, refused to identify the bacteria-contaminated milk products to legislators during the meeting, saying IPB had not yet received a copy of the verdict from the Supreme Court ordering the disclosure of the contaminated milk products found in a 2006 IPB research.

Wayan also said he needed to consult with the IPB rector about any decision to announce the research results.

The House will summon the IPB rector, Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih and Food and Drugs Monitoring Agency (BPOM) chairwoman Kustantinah on Monday over the issue.

President holds meeting on religious conflict

The Jakarta Post | Thu, 02/17/2011 10:00 PM | National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held a meeting with ministers, religious figures and human rights activists Thursday to find a solution to the problem of violence related to religion.

“Relevant ministers are requested to find solutions [to the problem],” Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.

The impromptu meeting was attended by Vice President Boediono, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi, Attorney General Basrief Arief, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, Military chief Adm. Agus Suhartono and Cabinet secretary Dipo Alam.

Patrialis said that meeting participants discussed recent violent incidents.

This month has seen a number of violent incidents, such as the attack on Ahmadiyah in Banten that killed three, the church burnings in Temanggung, Central Java, and an attack on an Islamic boarding school said to be related with teachings different from mainstream Islam in East Java.

Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said the possibility of disbanding the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) was not discussed.

The FPI recently threatened to overthrow the government if it attempted to disband any mass organizations, itself included.

VP holds impromptu meeting on Gayus case.

The Jakarta Post | Wed, 01/19/2011 9:39 PM | National

Vice President Boediono held a coordination meeting to discuss Gayus H. Tambunan, just a few hours after the former low-level tax official was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for graft.
The meeting at the Vice Presidential Office in Jakarta was attended by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo and Attorney General Basrief Arief, as reported by tempointeraktif.com online news portal.

“The Vice President has become the national coordinator, as per the President’s instructions. Of course, he will often meet with law enforcement chiefs….I think this is just a preliminary meeting,” Boediono’s spokesman, Yopie Hidayat, said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued 12 orders for handling the Gayus case earlier this week, one of which named Boediono point person for implementing Yudhoyono’s orders.

Other orders require performance evaluations and audited financial reports for all institutions connected to Gayus’ case and sanctioning officers found guilty wrongdoing in the case’s many investigations.