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MARGARET CONLEY
ABC News Reporter
Margaret Conley is an ABC News reporter based in Jakarta, Indonesia. In this role she contributes on and off-air reporting to all ABC News platforms. Conley has contributed stories from across the Asia Pacific region, including Tibet, Hong Kong, Australia, Bali, Thailand, and Cambodia. Her interviews include United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Thailand's then Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, Senator John Kerry and Beyoncé.
Indonesia Election to Determine Presidential Candidates
April 09, 2009 12:31 PM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Jakarta, Indonesia
Today’s Indonesian parliamentary election is crucial for the country's upcoming presidential election scheduled for July.
After weeks of campaign rallies, platform promises, and media blitzes across the sprawling archipelago of about 235 million people, it was the public’s turn to cast their ballots.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democrat Party is favored to win today’s voting, clearing the way for him to win a second five-year term. Yudhoyono has been largely credited with instilling stability and improving security in the country, which is the world’s third largest democracy and most populous Muslim nation.
Early results show the Democrats in the lead but not by enough to ensure Yudhoyono can rule without forming a coalition.
Only political parties (or a coalition of parties) that garner at least 25 percent of today’s popular vote, or a fifth of the 560 seat parliament, can place a presidential candidate on the ballot for the next election set for July 8.
“Setting aside three decades of fraudulent elections during the Suharto dictatorship, no Indonesian president has ever been re-elected,” said Jeffrey Winters, author and professor of politics at Northwestern University. “It would be a sign of greater democratic stability if SBY,” as Yudhoyono is known locally, “won a second term.”
Former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno and of the Democratic Party–Struggle, is the incumbent’s main opponent, and vice president Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party may also run against him, leaving open the possibility of a new running mate for Yudhoyono.
These elections will set the tone for the future, domestically as well as internationally.
“The country sits on three of the world's most strategic straits, and nearly all of the oil and gas flowing to Northeast Asia flows through the archipelago,” explains Winters. “It is crucial for American security that Indonesia remains a moderate, pluralist, democratic nation.”
In sync with Indonesia’s national motto “Unity in Diversity,” voters had 38 parties to choose from.
“Every citizen has the right to express their politics, their vote,” says political analyst Sri Budi Eko Wardani of the University of Indonesia.
Turnout was expected to be high, with more than 170 million registered voters and offices and banks closed for the public holiday.
More than 500,000 election booths were spread across more than 900 islands, including the far-flung region Papua, where army helicopters were used to transport ballots.
Throughout capital city Jakarta, large color-coded paper ballots are stacked on tables at various poll locations, some set up inside tents.
Officials stood watch with police vehicles at several locations, and voters left the polling stations marked with an inked finger. The ink, estimated to last three days, was used to protect against voter fraud.
The area’s analysts are keeping close watch on the results of the smaller Islamic parties during this election.
“The irony is that the momentum of the conservative Islamic movement is stronger than ever,” says Winters, “while the Islamic parties themselves are fraught with problems of leadership, organization and corruption.”
“The consequence is they don’t have significant solid numbers to be in power,” says Chusnul Mar'iyah, former election commissioner, with the reminder that Indonesia is still a mostly moderate country.
Ensuring the legitimacy of this complicated voting process is another area in question in a country struggling to cope with corruption.
“The transparency of the results becomes an important issue,” says Mar’iyah.
“It is a logistical nightmare, because each citizen must cast four complicated ballots, each of which, when unfolded, is too large to be laid flat in the voting booth,” says Winters. “This totals nearly 700 million ballots cast by ...voters who are poorly educated in general and were not treated to very informative campaigns by the parties.”
Despite mostly peaceful voting, there was violence in Aceh pre-election and in Papua overnight, where at least five people were reportedly killed.
“It would also be an important achievement if Indonesia could once again hold peaceful elections,” says Winters, “despite being in the middle of a global economic crisis.”
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April 9, 2009 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Secretary Clinton "Dahsyat" in Indonesia
February 19, 2009 12:06 PM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
As part of her visit to Indonesia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared as a guest on the hit variety TV show “Dahsyat,” or “Awesome.” She spoke from an intimate stage filled primarily with young women.
"What is your favorite music and artist?" asked host Luna Maya.
"I'm older than you are,” Clinton said smiling, ”so I have many likes in music. When I work I listen to classical music because I find it very soothing. My husband can listen to jazz and rock 'n' roll and concentrate."
She cited her favorites as the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, to applause.
On a more serious note, RCTI TV’s Isyana Bagoes Oka asked Clinton, “Your visit to Indonesia is part of your first trip as U.S. secretary of state … can we perceive that as signifying a new direction in U.S. foreign policy – are you trying to be on better terms with a Muslim country?”
“If you want to see democracy and Islam and modernity and women's rights all co-existing in one place in the world, come to Indonesia,” Clinton replied, “because this is the place that I think is more about the future than many places right now in the world.”
As ABC's Martha Raddatz reports, "Hillary Clinton came to Indonesia promising closer ties and a greater openness with the predominantly Muslim nation. She certainly showed that herself today."
Clinton’s 24-hour visit included a meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is currently running for reelection. She also held a news conference with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda, attended dinner at the capital’s National Archive Building and toured a Jakarta kampung, or neighborhood.
Among the many topics on the table for Clinton in Indonesia: the economy, climate change, democracy and development. She also noted that the Peace Corps would resume in Indonesia after shutting down here in 1965.
While there were a few small scattered protests in Indonesia, the secretary was largely welcomed. Her trip was linked to ties to President Barack Obama, or Barry, as he is known here from his childhood years.
Students from the Besuki elementary school Obama attended greeted her at the airport. The children sang songs and waved mini Indonesian and American flags as they cheered.
“How do you perceive your former rival, now that you are working together?” asked Isyana.
"We had an incredibly intense competition,” Clinton answered, “but in a democracy, somebody has to win, and somebody has to lose.”
And the question asked over and over again, but not definitely answered, was now that the way has been paved by the new administration, when will it be President Obama’s turn to visit?
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February 19, 2009 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Inhale, Exhale, Don't Chant - Indonesian Islamic Authority Bans Yoga with Hindu Rituals
January 27, 2009 9:18 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) has stirred debate here after issuing a string of fatwas or edicts on Islamic law.
Voting, abortion, vasectomies, smoking and yoga are among the many hot topics that have been covered in the decrees issued in the last few days in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
The most devout of Muslims generally adhere to fatwas, although technically they are not mandatory.
“The fact is that a fatwa is not legally binding," said Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra, according to the Jakarta Globe. "People can choose to follow it or just ignore it.”
The new fatwas reportedly include:
That it is forbidden to abstain from voting in elections with “qualified candidates.”
Abortions are banned unless the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life, she was raped or the fetus is less than five weeks old.
Smoking is banned for children and pregnant women and in public places.
Vasectomies are banned because they are irreversible.
And one of the most talked about of the decrees:
Yoga is banned if practiced with Hindu rituals or chants.
The yoga fatwa follows in the footsteps of Malaysia, where yoga was banned outright late last year, triggering widespread protests. In November Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi softened the ban, saying Muslims could practice yoga as long as they did not chant, which to some Muslims is derived from the Hindu religion.
It’s a compromise included in the Indonesian fatwa. “If it is purely a physical exercise or sport, it is not considered haram [or forbidden],” Umar Shihab, the chairman of the MUI, told the Jakarta Globe. “We are afraid that chanting could weaken their Islamic faith.”
Yoga is a physical and mental discipline that originated in India and it is popularly practiced across the globe, including in the capital city of Jakarta where pollution and traffic dissuade many from outdoor exercise.
“Yoga is a big subject,” Mony Suriany, an Indonesian Bikram Yoga studio owner, said. “It’s like dance. There’s the cha-cha, tango, ballroom dance.”
Her specialty is hot yoga, the physical challenge of practicing in a studio cranked up to 100-107 degrees.
Suriany’s studio, located in the south Jakarta neighborhood of Kemang, passes the fatwa test.
Suriany says the MUI visited the studio three times to evaluate, study and photograph classes. The clerics did not participate in any yoga sessions.
“This yoga is 100 percent physical,” she said. “There is no meditation, no chanting, no ‘ohms.’”
"In other studios, I do other styles,” she said. “I believe in all the benefits yoga brings to my life. I'm Christian. Yoga has nothing to do with religion."
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January 27, 2009 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (2)
Thailand Awaits News of Their Beloved King
December 05, 2008 9:39 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who ascended the throne in 1946 and is the longest reigning monarch in the world, has divinelike status in Thailand.
“The reason is simple,” said a rep at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs when asked why. “Because he has earned it. The people know,
through his deeds, that their king loves them. Their feelings are a
reflection of their deeply felt appreciation for the king’s devotion
and hard work for their well-being throughout his reign of over 60
years.”
Shown by displays of the king’s portrait in homes and offices and by standing whenever the royal anthem is played, including before a movie starts in a theater, “the role of the monarchy is deeply ingrained in Thai life, being one of the three pillars reflected in the Thai tricolor flag. The other two pillars are nation and religion,” the ministry said.
Last year for the king’s birthday, a national holiday in the country, tens of thousands of loyal Thais flooded the streets around the grand palace wearing the royal color yellow -- a sign of their devotion to their beloved king.
Today, on his 81st birthday, it is a very different scene. It was announced by his children that he was too sick to give his much anticipated birthday eve speech, a longstanding tradition.
“Yesterday when I saw him he looked OK,” his daughter the Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn said, according to The New York Times. “He could eat what we served him, but today he had a throat infection so he could barely eat. Therefore, the doctors prescribed him medicine and put him on a saline drip.”
This comes as hard news for a country in tough times of political turmoil. Anti-government protesters recently succeeded in shutting down Bangkok’s main airport in demand of the resignation of their second prime minister in the last three months.
"My heart is with him,” said Sapsin Panyathaweesap of the king, according to The Associated Press Television News. “People should not have fought and caused all these troubles to upset him."
A constitutional monarch after absolute rule ended in 1932, the king has intervened in politics -- most notably during Thailand’s repeated coup attempts in 1981 and 1985 and then in 2006 after demonstrations prompted a military coup to oust the elected government of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The king is favored as a king of the people.
In 2006 he was awarded the inaugural Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award by then-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
“Instead of enjoying the comfort of the palace, the king has traveled to all areas of Thailand, including its remotest parts with the most rugged terrain, talking to the people to understand their ways of life and problems and find ways to help them,” the ministry said. “Despite traditional rituals and court etiquettes, the Thai king is closer to his people than many leaders to theirs.”
The public so highly reveres their king that it is actually against the law not to.
“So devoted has been the present king’s lifelong service to his people that he is held in the highest affection and reverence,” the Foreign Ministry said. “By tradition and by the will of the people, his majesty is inviolable. This is reflected in the Thai Constitution, in the laws enacted by parliament, and in the attitudes of individual Thais.”
Perhaps the West's most prominent exposure to the Thai monarchy is the classic musical “The King and I,” which has been banned in Thailand since the 1950s for its portrayal of the king, as well as historical inaccuracies according to Thai officials.
Thailand is one of the few countries, if not the only, that still upholds lese majeste law -- jail time for defaming the monarchy.
Born Dec. 5, 1927 in Cambridge, Mass., where his father studied medicine at Harvard University, the king later moved to Switzerland where he completed most of his education.
He is fluent in English, French and German, and is also an accomplished sailor and musician, having composed music and played several instruments including the clarinet, saxophone and trumpet.
The king composed the song “Blue Night,” which was performed on Broadway. “During his visit to New York in 1960,” the Ministry said, “he had two jam sessions with Benny Goodman at the home of then-New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and Mr. Goodman’s house.”
The Thai king and queen have four children -- three daughters and a son, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is in line to succeed the throne.
The country awaits news of their King Bhumibol, seen as a unifying and stabilizing force in Thailand.
“[We] must be united, like our legs must be united, which means one goes forward and one pushes back before moving forward,” he said in a speech last year. “This way, we could walk without falling. Without unity, the country will face disaster.”
(Above photo by the Associated Press)
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World AIDS Day In Indonesia
December 01, 2008 5:54 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
The HIV epidemic in Indonesia is among the fastest growing in Asia. The continued spread is largely attributed to injecting drug use.
“Injecting drug use remains the major contributor to the dramatic expansion of the epidemic outside of Papua, especially when it interfaces with commercial sex or recreational sex with multiple partners, each of which are major at-risk behaviors in their own right,” according to a Aksi Stop Aids Program in Indonesia.
Syifa’s father was an injecting drug user. She is now a 7-year-old orphan living with AIDS.
The government, through the Indonesian National AIDS Commission and Ministry of Health, supports nonprofit organizations, such as Family Health International and Tegak Tegar to reduce risk and provide assistance to those with HIV/AIDS.
As of now, the group is a small percentage of one of the world’s most populous nations. “There have been an estimated 8,700 deaths due to AIDS in Indonesia,” according to UNAIDS and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta. “As of June 30, 2008, 43 percent of all reported cases of AIDS had been transmitted through heterosexual intercourse and 49 percent through injecting drug users.”
Nonprofit organizations provide support to the community.
“When someone gets HIV, they think there is no hope, says Juharto, a coordinator at Tegak Tegar. “Sometimes they don’t see there is a life in the future, so we want to show them.”
Prevention plans and treatment services are supplied; and help is offered in any way possible.
Once a month, 32-year-old Astuti delivers powered milk to Syifa, who now lives with her grandmother.
Those who help are living examples of hope.
When Andung Nursehan was 25 years old, she learned that both she and her 3-month-old baby had contracted HIV from her husband, an injecting drug user.
“My feel[ing] is angry,” recalls Andung when her baby died two months later -- “confused, confusion, sad and sorrow.”
Andung now handles finance at Tegak Tegar and shares her personal story with others living with HIV.
“If you have HIV in your body, it’s not over,” she says, smiling bravely. “It’s not the end of the world. We can reach our dream, we can do our activities normally.”
(Pictured above: Astuti and Syifa, left to right / Photo by Margaret Conley)
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December 1, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Rihanna Takes A Bow Out Of Concert In Indonesia
November 14, 2008 10:24 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
Rihanna’s sold-out concert in capital city Jakarta has been canceled because of security concerns.
Event spokesman Troy Waroka said Rihanna's management considers Indonesia's security still on alert after the recent executions of three Bali bombers, as reported in the Jakarta Post.
"The concert will be postponed until January or February," Waroka said of the event that was to take place today, according to Tempointeraktif.com.
The 20-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer was born in St. Michael, Barbados, and performed at both the Grammy Award and MTV Video Music Award ceremonies this year.
Rihanna’s popular songs include “Umbrella” and “Take a Bow.”
Fans in Jakarta are disappointed by the cancellation and have commented at www.thejakartpost.com.
“They are looking down on indonesia's security,” writes Gary. “This is stereotyping. Im very dissapointed and un-happy about this. It was my sister's birthday. and this was suppose to be her birthday gift. now everything is ruined. i feel sorry for Mr Troy too.”
“omg rihanna, please come tomorrow. i've been waiting for tomorrow since... EVER!” writes Samantha Adriaan, “i'll do anythin, even being your bodyguard!akon and ashanti came and left safely to indonesia a month ago... so please do come. i beg you...”
Ticket holders are expected to be fully refunded.
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November 14, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
The Bali Bombers' Execution
November 10, 2008 11:06 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
It was the worst terrorist attack in Indonesia’s history.
On a Saturday night in 2002, a suicide bomber walked into Paddy's nightclub in the tourist area of Kuta, Bali, and set off a bomb attached to his vest. Shortly afterward, a nearby car bomb exploded outside.
The surrounding area was devastated and 202 people were killed -- including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians and seven Americans. A memorial listing the names and nationalities of those killed now stands where Paddy's once stood on Legian Street.
Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron were convicted of the bombings and had been on death row for more than five years. Unrepentant, they wished to die as martyrs.
On Saturday shortly after midnight, after several previous delays, the three men were executed in Central Java, Indonesia.
Their bodies were returned by helicopter to their families in their hometowns and, as is Muslim tradition, were buried within 24 hours.
Haji Chozin, the brother of convicted militant Amrozi, told AP Television, “We confirm that our brother has passed away. Now his soul is flying with the green birds into heaven.”
Though many are relieved that the executions are finally over, little in the lives of survivors and victims’ family members has changed.
“This morning was a bit of an empty feeling when I finally found out that it had happened,” bombing survivor Erik De Haart told Australia’s Channel 7. “It was kind of difficult to reconcile that yeah now they’re finally dead, but nothing has really changed.”
Brian Deegan’s son Joshua, according to APTN, was visiting Bali in celebration of a premiership with his Australian Football League team at the time.
“It’s capital punishment that I’m against," Deegan said to the Australian Broadcasting Corp., "and the thought that it is occurring somehow in connection to myself, my family is abhorrent to me. The deaths of these individuals will never bring back my beautiful son.”
There is concern of possible retaliation and demonstrations across Indonesia, particularly in Bali, by those opposing the executions.
The New York Times reports that nearly 1,000 Islamic hardliners shouted "God is great" in Arabic, threatening revenge when two of the convicted militant's bodies were returned to their hometown in Tenggulun, East Java.
Though much has been done to protect the region against future attacks, authorities in Indonesia warn that the country is still at risk.
More about the Bali bombers: The Blotter with Brian Ross
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Indonesia Passes Anti-Porn Bill
October 31, 2008 8:07 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Jakarta
In Indonesia, the passage of a long-debated anti-pornography bill by the House of Representatives Thursday has reignited controversy in the predominately Muslim country.
Critics argue the bill threatens personal and cultural freedoms, while supporters applaud tighter restrictions on the distribution of what they see as indecent material.
“This is what we need to fight pornography. This law will complete our legal system to protect us from pornographic materials,” Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni told the Jakarta Post.
Contention among the general public, human rights groups, religious activists and political parties is not only about whether such a bill should exist, but also about the interpretation and implementation of the new law.
The definition, for example, of what “may incite obscenity, sexual exploitation and/or violate moral ethics in the community” is debatable, especially among a vast and diverse population ranging from cutting-edge artists in Bali, to tribes whose traditional attire nears nudity in Papua.
Another article of the bill states that “the public can play a role in preventing the production, distribution and use of pornography.”
"We're worried it will be used by hard-liners who say they want to control morality," Baby Jim Aditya, a women's rights activist, told The Associated Press. She adds concern about the public’s policing role. "It could be used to divide communities."
Violation of the law can result in up to 12 years in prison or up to $750,000 in fines, according to the AP.
On the mainly Hindu island of Bali, Gov. Made Mangku Pastika told reporters, “We will continue opposing the porn law because this has been our stance from the very beginning,” according to the Jakarta Post.
The issue of indecency is a familiar one in Indonesia. Last year, headlines spun when Erwin Arnada, the editor of the local version of Playboy, was acquitted on charges of publishing indecent material. The Indonesian and more conservative version of the U.S. magazine had been on sale at the time here for two years. Though models wear barely there clothing, there is no nudity.
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October 31, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (17) | TrackBack (0)
Alicia Keys Drops Smoking Sponsorship Of Overseas Concert
July 31, 2008 9:40 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Jakarta, Indonesia
Philip Morris International has yanked its sponsorship of the Alicia Keys concert that will take place tonight at the Jakarta Convention Center.
Tobacco industries are targeting developing countries the same way they used to target developed countries, such as the United States, decades ago. In this case, a major cigarette brand sponsored a hip and popular concert in a third-world country.
As ABC’s Rachel Martin reports, “According to the world's largest tobacco seller, Altria, the maker of Marlboro, cigarette sales in the U.S. are declining 2 percent to 3 percent a year. At the same time, international sales jumped by almost 10 percent in 2007.”
“Keys says she didn't know her show had ties to a tobacco company. In response to questions from ABC News, Keys called for an investigation, and Phillip Morris International withdrew its sponsorship,” Martin reports.
Key’s record company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, released a letter requesting that Philip Morris International stop the branding, according to the Associated Press.
"I am an unyielding advocate for the well-being of children around the world and do not condone or endorse smoking," Keys says in the letter.
Philip Morris International responded with a statement today. "Whether tobacco sponsorship of music events leads to youth smoking is a matter of serious debate. Having considered the facts in this specific instance, we have decided to withdraw all branding associated with this concert,” it reads, according to the Associated Press.
Over 30 percent of Indonesia's 220 million-plus people smoke, making it the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world, according to the World Health Organization and the Associated Press.
Also in recent news, as ABC reports on World News, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to spend $500 million to cut global smoking.
During a press conference according to ABC, Bloomberg urged, "If we do nothing, tobacco will kill 1 billion people by the end of the century."
(above photo by Margaret Conley: A concert billboard promotion in Jakarta, Indonesia that has since been pulled. “A Mild Live Production” is produced by Sampoerna, the Indonesian subsidiary of Philip Morris)
July 31, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Serial Killer Captures Local Headlines In Indonesia
July 29, 2008 9:06 AM
By Margaret Conley, ABC News, Indonesia
A gruesome serial killer captures local headlines in Indonesia.
Yesterday, police exhumed at least five bodies from the backyard of the alleged serial killer’s home, bringing the total number of his suspected victims to over nine.
Verry Henyanksyah, who goes by the alias Ryan, was arrested last week after confessing to murdering his lover and disposing of his mutilated corpse in a suitcase in Jakarta, police spokesman Abu Bakar Nataprawira said, according to the Associated Press.
Henyanksyah also reportedly admitted that five other people reported missing by their families were among his victims.
"He confessed to the murders when he was shown pictures of the five people," Muhammad Khosim, chief of the Jombang district police, told Antara News.
Last week four bodies were found buried at Henyanksyah’s parent’s house.
The corpses found yesterday at Henyanksyah’s home, five of them identified as victims all under 30 at time of death, include a 28-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter.
Local television footage, according to the Associated Press, showed hundreds of villagers gathered around the area as police dug up the decomposed bodies.
Police are urging anyone who has been in contact with Henyanksyah to contact them, out of fear that there may be more victims.
At this time motive remains unclear.
Experts claim the alleged serial murders are not sexually motivated. "I believe that he murdered the victims to take their money," criminologist Erlangga Masdiana of the University of Indonesia told the Jakarta Post.
"We have not yet named any other suspects besides Ryan. We cannot make predictions before we have strong evidence," Rusli Nasution, chief investigator of the East Java police, told Antara News.
In an unrelated “suitcase murder” case, local police yesterday arrested three suspects for the murder of Bambang Sapto Nugroho, 50, who was allegedly buried alive and unconscious, and was found dead in a suitcase on Lake Sunter, North Jakarta, according to the Jakarta Post. Two other suspects, including a US citizen, remain at large.
Over the past month, Indonesia has executed four people convicted for murder. Two were serial killers, according to the Associated Press.
July 29, 2008 in Margaret Conley | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
