More highways. No MRT? (Jakarta)

One corner of Jakarta. Guess where this pic was taken.

Fw: EMWIS Flash n°94, October 2011 - Euro-Mediterranean In formation System on the know-how in the Water Sector

------Original Message------
From: EMWIS Flash (HTML)
To: Mohamad Mova Al Afghani
Subject: EMWIS Flash n°94, October 2011 - Euro-Mediterranean In formation System on the know-how in the Water Sector
Sent: Nov 4, 2011 20:01

EMWIS Flash - October 2011 Euro-Mediterranean Information System on the know-how in the Water Sector EMWIS is a program of the Union for the Mediterranean. For further information: www.emwis.net Monthly Flash produced by the EMWIS Technical Unit- OIEAU, CEDEX, SOGESID- It is available in English, French & Arabic. (French & Arabic versions are available few days later)
Mediterranean Water Information Mechanism / Geo-Catalogue / UfM-Water
 
======================== In this issue N°94 (www.emwis.net/thematicdirs/eflash/flash94) ======================== HEADLINE 1- World Water Forum preparation, Collection of solutions IN BRIEF 2- The 1st Mediterranean Water Forum, Marrakech, 19-20/12/2011 3- Water Think Tank - Territorial water governance in the Mediterranean, Monaco, 10 November 2011 4- Porto 2011 declaration: "EURO-INBO 2011" and General Assembly of MENBO 5- SWIM-SM Workshop on Sustainable Use of Non-Conventional Water Resources, 16 September 2011, Athens (Greece) 6- The Euro-Mediterranean University: How to move forward 7- New CBCMed project promotes a sustainable Mediterranean through audiovisual cooperation 8- EC Expert group on Water Scarcity and Drought, Venice (Italy), 13-14/10/2011 9- European Innovation Partnership on water (EIP) 10- Harmonization efforts for the integrated management of the Buna/Bojana basin, coastal area and aquifers 11- Europe: From efficient water use to quitting fossil fuels 12- Spain: Minister visits commissioned desalination plant in Almeria 13- Montenegro: Another step towards a shared vision for the management of the Drin river basin 14- Turkey: European bank to fund climate adaption strategies 15- Egypt: Water challenges forcing a rethink on usage 16- Egypt: Water desalination revolutionised17- Egypt: FAO Nile Information Products Launched 18- Palestine: France launched a water supply project in the West Bank 19- Israel to focus on desalination to deal with water woes 20- Jordan: Integrating Jordan into the European Research Area 21- Tunisia: The AfDB Fosters Water Supply to Tuni
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

At least one number for every country

I impose a no-roaming policy, and this is the implication :)

Four tips for Dealing with Tuk Tuk Drivers

The Tuk Tuk (wiki’s definition: a motorcycle with a cabin attached to the rear), as you are aware, is a viable alternative of transportation in Phnom Penh, only second to 'Moto' (aka Motorcycle) in terms of price. I always wonder where the word Tuk Tuk comes from. But let's not discuss it for now.

I would like to propose you four Principles tips in dealing with Tuk Tuk drivers:

1. Bargain first, then ride. There is no fixed price and there's no meter. If you ride first and pay later, be prepared to pay more.
   
2. When you give the address and they say "yes", that does not always mean that they understand and know where to go. "Yes" is more like an expression of "I agree to take you into my Tuk Tuk". So make sure that they get your point. They are equipped with map, so you can point your destination in their map. Visual is always better than verbal.
   
3. The average price (distant or near within the city center) is 1.5 dollar. I heard some people can get 1 dollar, but they speak Khmer.
   
4. A moving Tuk Tuk is generally cheaper than a stopping Tuk Tuk. There is probably a behavioral economics explanation to this, but my evidence so far is anecdotal :)
   
   

Picture: inside a Tuk Tuk

Past mid-night thought

This is my twit last night which I compile for a blog post. I do this for a longer shelf life note:

I can't sleep, I can't forget about the ojek/moto riders who are still outside. They don't dare to go home until they have enough dollars to feed their family tomorrow. I keep remembering about a little boy I met on the street who was eating from a box of food trashed by other people. I can't help to think about the skinny lady and little girl outside.. That little girl must go to school at 7am and every night she sells souvenirs till late. That skinny lady don't seem to have any assets to sell, nor skill to offer. She begged, I think she has the right to do so.

While I am enjoying this comfortable bed and warm blanket, I wonder how do they sleep? Did they fill their tummy well at dinner time? What will they tell their wives and children when they get home? Where do they sleep?

Allah please take care of them. You are the creator, the caretaker, the master of all os us.

Blog readers, do we deserve what we enjoy? Do you realy think we get what we have because we work hard? I think they work harder. We are just luckier. And luck don't come for free, I have d responsibility to give back..,to those ojek/moto riders, beggars..what have I done for them so far? ...

My best friend told me it is not right to feel guilty with the blessings I get because others don't get the same. I keep confronting my self with that statement. But I keep feeling bad about these people. Then I realize what I really feel bad about; I feel bad because.. given this abundant blessings, I haven't give forward to people who are not so lucky as I am. At least not yet enough to make me feel fulfilled.

If I could, I want to spend the rest of my career; feeding the hungry, giving the needy, teaching the uneducated, loving the insecure, employ the poor..That's just my soul, my call, my passion, what I believe as the reason why I was born in this world.

Dear Allah, kindly give me the strenght, courage and patience to answer this call, in your most appropriate time :)

Love, mulia.

Daftar Beberapa Publikasi Terakhir Yang Tersedia Online

Untuk teman teman yang tertarik mendalami persoalan air, berikut saya sertakan daftar artikel op-ed, conference paper dan peer reviewed journal terkini yang dapat diakses secara cuma cuma lewat internet.

Op-eds

1. Ultimate Risks of Water Privatizations, The Jakarta Post, May 17^th, 2007
2. Access to water is a fundamental human rights, The Jakarta Post, July 10^th2007 
3. Coastal Management Law Review, The Jakarta Post, April 15^th , 2008
4. Water Services Transparency, The Jakarta Post, March 20, 2009
5. The Need for Clarification on HP-3 Rights, The Jakarta Post, May 14^th, 2009
6. Bringing Patients to Court May Not be Efficient, The Jakarta Post, June 15, 2009
7. Can Public Service Law be Applied to Private Sector?, The Jakarta Post, July 14, 2009
8. Indonesia Needs a Strong Water Services Law, The Jakarta Post, August 31, 2009
9. The Trap of Legal Formalities and Legal Rethoric, The Jakarta Post, November 24, 2009
10. RI’s Water Services Suffering from a lack of Governance, The Jakarta Post, March 30, 2010
11. Constitutional Court Election Scandal: Forgery or a Serious Crime? The Jakarta Post, 11 October, 2011
12. When It Comes to Water Services, Jakarta Is Living in the Distant Past, The Jakarta Globe, October 16, 2011

Workshops/Conference Papers

1. Safeguarding Water Contracts in Indonesia, Workshop on the “Legal Aspects of Water Sector Reform”, organised by the International Environmental Law Research Center (IELRC), Geneva, 20-21^st of April 2007. Proceedings available at http://www.ielrc.org/activities/workshop_0704/index.htmWorld Water Week Seminar: ‘Human Rights Based Approach to Improving Water Quality; organized by BothEnds, UNESCO Etxea, UNDP, Swedish Water House, delivering a presentation with the topic “The Potential Role of the Human Right to Water in the Management of Indonesia’s Water Resources” Stockholm, September 09, 2010, paper available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1723205
2. Anti privatization debate, opaque rules and neglected ‘privatised’ water services provision: some lessons from Indonesia, STEPS II Conference Liquid Dynamics Background Paper, IDS, Sussex, March 22-23, Sussex, UK. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1885726

Peer Reviewed Journals

1. Kampanye Melawan Terorisme telah Merusak Tatanan Hukum. (Campaign Against Terrorism has Disrupted the Legal Order) Published in Jurnal Teropong MAPPI (Masyarakat Pemantau Peradilan Indonesia, November, 2002). Available on http://www.pemantauperadilan.com
2. Constitutional Court’s Review and the Future of Water Law in Indonesia, 2/1 Law, Environment and Development Journal, 2006, published jointly by the School of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and the International environmental Law Research Center (IELRC) 2006. The paper is available at http://www.lead-journal.org/content/06001.pdf
3. Safeguarding Water Contracts in Indonesia (peer reviewed, developed from a workshop paper) 3/2 Law, Environment and Development Journal (2007), p. 148, available at http://www.lead-journal.org/content/07148.pdf
4. Religious Freedom in Indonesia Before and after Constitutional Amendments(April 10, 2010). CRITICAL THINKERS FOR ISLAMIC REFORM, Brainbow Press, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1587256
5. The transparency agenda in water utilities regulation and the role of freedom of information: England and Jakarta case studies, The Journal of Water Law, Special Issue, Vol.20 Issues 2/3, 2010

Reports

1. Feasibility Study of Right to Water and Sanitation Pilot Project in Indonesia, Both Ends, August 2009 (Submitted to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
2. Transparansi Lembaga Lembaga Regulator Penyediaan Air Minum di DKI Jakarta (Transparency in DKI Jakarta’s Drinking Water Utilities Regulatory Bodies), ECOTAS and Tifa Foundation, August, 2011)
3. Contribution to GWP IWRM Toolbox C6.03: Water Services,. Global Water Partnership, 2011

How ‘Framing’ Works in Law Enforcement: Constitutional Court’s Election Case Scandal

My Jakpost op-ed below observes how framing works in criminal justice system as evidenced by the recent general election case scandal at the Constitutional Court.

Mohamad Mova Al Afghani, Jakarta | Tue, 10/11/2011 7:00 AM

If there are any institutions the public can still have faith in in terms of law enforcement in Indonesia, they are the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Constitutional Court (MK): Both are comparatively new and insulated from the chronic, New Order mentality, while also carrying with them part of the spirit of the reform movement that began with the downfall of Soeharto in 1998. But both these institutions may also be eroding because of external pressure.

The Constitutional Court is supposed to be relatively waterproof. Unlike the KPK, it doesn’t send people to prison and there are no direct, short-term or pragmatic monetary interests at stake in the business of invalidating laws. However, there are always loopholes. If the court had been consistent in its function in dealing with the ideals, that is, in making sure the Constitution is compatible with laws, the court could be off the hook. Unfortunately, politicians wanted the court to meddle in election dispute cases and this is where the havoc began.

Lately, several scandals have rocked the Constitutional Court. In one of them, two officials were accused of issuing a forged letter that was later used as justification to get an allegedly ineligible candidate a seat in the House of Representatives. The interesting part of this case has been the tendency focus on the “supply” side of the crime and to frame it merely as “forgery” instead of an election crime or a corruption case.

In corruption cases, there is always a buyer and a seller. The seller must be someone with authority, while the buyer is a beneficiary who receives “corrupt” services in exchange for money. If a case involves a general election dispute then common sense dictates that some politicians at the end of the pipeline must have been the ultimate beneficiaries of the crime and therefore acted as buyers of the service. However, so far, no one from the “demand side” in this election scandal has been apprehended.

Limiting investigations to the supply side alone is possible if the case is framed as forgery. A forged letter was issued by some court officers and the letter was then used by the election commission as the basis to determine that a candidate has the right to win a House seat. The forgery was the crime and the case is closed. Of course, there is the question of motive, i.e., why would anyone bother to forge a letter and risk getting caught? But such motives do not need to be established.

In contrast, if the case is framed as corruption, authorities would have to show that there was a flow of money etc, which is a difficult task indeed, and would require proof of the identities of buyers and their role in the whole case. Meanwhile, if the case is framed as an election crime; a more systematic investigation of the demand side would be required in order to qualify the act as one of the criminal offenses listed in the election law.

Many judges and former judges at the Constitutional Court have expressed their disappointment at how this case investigation has unfolded, although they also note that it is too early to make any judgments. But they have many reasons to be disappointed

First, it was the Constitutional Court chief himself who reported the case to the police. Two years had passed and no significant action had been taken. An investigation was commenced, but to the shock of many people it was the same official whose signature was forged who was recently declared a suspect.

Second, with the focus on the supply side, investigations and the following criminal court proceedings will hover only around the Constitutional Court. The court’s internal administration and the ethics of its officers will be pointed out as the only culprits. The investigation and the follow-up trials will focus only on that issue and will never touch the “external forces”. This will also weaken the Court’s morale.

Third, even if the Court eventually manages to fill in the holes within its administrative system, the external forces luring the Court’s officers to commit crimes will remain. Indonesia’s general elections are notorious for being costly affairs, in which many candidates bet everything they own — including their sanity — to win elections. Hot money is always involved. Even if this administrative gap were filled, in the next election another loophole could still be found.

Finally, the curtailment of the case on the supply side may require innocent and honest Court officers to be dragged into the whole process in order to fit the whole frame. These people may have only been present at the wrong time and in the wrong place but as a consequence they will risk facing the miscarriage of justice. This will absolutely weaken the morale of officers at the Constitutional Court.

It may still be too early to drop judgments as this case is still developing. But there is a public interest in monitoring how this case unfolds and to ensure the police that the public support is with them. At the same time, the public will demand their accountability in their handling of the case. While we wait as the case progresses, the “red flags” above can be used by the public as a framework in safeguarding and ensuring that justice shall be served.

The writer is founder of the Center for Law Information.