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today. This capacity is far in excess of Indonesia's domestic demand. It is becoming increasingly apparent that, as other countries in the region intensify their fight against copyright infringement, audio and video pirates are finding refuge in Indonesia. Trademark infringement is a growing problem, with famous U.S. trademarks appearing on products ranging from televisions to blue jeans, which is detrimental to U.S. mark owners. The Indonesian judicial system remains an ineffective mechanism for enforcing intellectual property rights. The United States presented the Indonesian Government in January 2001 with an action plan for intellectual property protection that we expect to work with Government of Indonesia on in the coming months. (from US Embassy, Jakarta)
Indonesia may have found its Mr Clean
Editor's note: Indonesia's new Minister of Justice, Baharduddin Lopa, a former prosecutor in Sulawesi noted for toughness, is winning praise for his efforts to establish the rule of law and clean up Indonesia's court system, noted for corruption. Even Indonesia's leading news weekly, Tempo, compared him to Eliot Ness. Lopa may be in a position to help his beleaguered President fend off the effects of two motion of censure. Ian Timberlake profiled Lopa for the Strait Times of Singapore on May 3. Excerpts below:
The new minister has wasted no time in living up to expectations. Since taking office on Feb 12 he has:
Warned judges and other officials against accepting bribes and forbidden judges from meeting lawyers and their clients. Mr. Lopa said in a written statement: 'Now, judges are reluctant to receive guests in their office, since these visits might be perceived to be connected to the court cases. 'This effort will reduce automatically the bribing that destroys a responsible judiciary.' Transferred 'Bob' Hasan, the first Suharto crony to be imprisoned, from a Jakarta jail to a remote island prison. Hasan, who was trade and industry minister in Suharto's last Cabinet, was sentenced to six years for a US$243-million forestry-funds scam.
Announcing the transfer, Mr. Lopa said he hoped it would deter other corruptors. Fired, demoted or otherwise punished 12 senior judges and 15 other ministry officials. 'Whoever is proven guilty of violating the code of conduct for public officials, or any other law, has to be punished,' Mr. Lopa said in his statement. Began a revision of anti-corruption legislation that will shift the burden of proof to the accused. Under this system, the accused will have to show he got his wealth legitimately.
While the last move has been praised by anti-corruption activists, foreign observers fear it could lead to an abuse of civil liberties. It also shifts attention from the real reason why few corruptors have been jailed under Gus Dur's administration, observers say. The Western diplomat said: 'it's not because it's difficult to prove. It's because there's no political will to put these people behind bars.' Mr. Lopa, he said, could become that political will.
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