Indonesians Stranded in Middle East
At least half a million Indonesians are stranded in the Middle East with limited options to escape, Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday, as the United States-Israeli war against Iran spread out across the region on its third day. After waves of US-Israeli air strikes on Saturday killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 40 other top Iranian officials, Tehran retaliated with a barrage of missiles targeting Israeli territory and US military bases across the Gulf, raising fears of vast regional turmoil. The war expanded on Monday with no end in sight, news agencies reported, as the air space over the Middle East remained closed and commercial flights were suspended. Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have all announced at least partial closures of their skies. According to the Foreign Ministry’s interim director for citizen’s protection, Heni Hamidah, there are 519,042 Indonesian nationals recorded as resident in the region, based on data from diplomatic missions as of Feb. 28. The figure does not include travelers transiting through the Middle East. (Jakarta Post)
Sentences in Pertamina Oil Trading Scandal
A prison sentence handed down to the son of oil tycoon Riza Chalid in a corruption case pertaining to state energy firm Pertamina has brought a resurgence of public attention to his father’s whereabouts, as he remains at large despite his status as a suspect in a related graft investigation. Early on Friday, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Riza’s son Muhammad Kerry Adrianto Riza to 15 years in prison after finding him guilty in a case related to procurement projects at Pertamina. The bench, presided by Judge Fajar Kusuma Aji, also ordered him to pay a Rp 1 billion (US$59,683) fine and Rp 2.9 trillion in restitution or serve an additional five years of imprisonment in default. The sentence was lighter than the 18 years and Rp 13.4 trillion restitution fee sought by Attorney General’s Office (AGO) prosecutors. The verdicts in the Pertamina case brought attention to nine other suspects who have yet to be indicted in the case, including Kerry’s father Riza, who was once dubbed the country’s “gasoline godfather”. Bringing Riza to justice would be crucial to uncover the modus operandi behind his alleged intervention in Pertamina governance, according to energy economist Fahmy Radhi of Gadjah Mada University, a member of now-defunct Anti-Oil and Gas Mafia Task Force established by then-president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2014 to oversee the energy sector. “Riza’s role could be very significant. He must be arrested immediately and brought to court to reveal who else may have been involved,” said Fahmy on Friday. (Jakarta Post)
Indonesia on USTR Notorious Markets List
The Mangga Dua shopping mall is one of 37 markets worldwide listed by the USTR for its selling of counterfeit goods, including handbags, wallets, toys, leather goods, accessories, and apparel. According to the USTR report: “there has been little or no enforcement actions against counterfeit
sellers.” (USTR)