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LEGAL AFFAIRS

MICROSOFT WINS MORE PIRACY SUITS
Giant U.S. software company Microsoft Corp. has won a legal battle against software piracy for the second time here committed by four local computer dealers in the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday.
The court ordered PT Panca Putra Komputindo, Altec Computer, HJ Computer and HM Computer to pay the plaintiff a total compensation of US$ 4.7 million.
The verdicts were presented at 2:30 p.m. by the same panel of judges, who in turn presided over the four separate trials. They were Amiruddin Zakaria for PT Panca Putra Computindo, Saparuddin Hasibuan for Altec Computer and Herri Swantoro for HM Computer and HJ Computer.
"The American company Microsoft deserves to be protected by the state as do local companies, since Indonesia has enacted Law No. 12/1997 on copyright protection and the country had an agreement with U.S. government regarding this", Herri said during the trial of HM Computer.

ANTI AMERICAN RALLIES: REACTIONS
Since the US began its military campaign against Osama bin Laden and his Taliban supporters, many demonstrations have occurred in Indonesia.  Some, rather small but widely publicized, have been particularly anti-American (calling for "sweeps") while others --often larger-- are not anti-US but are against the bombings and loss of civilian life.   The following are excerpts of Jakarta Post accounts of "anti-sweeping demonstrations" that have not made the international media.
Some 400 residents from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, staged a peaceful rally against the sweeping (searching for and attempting to expel) of foreigners, on Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Sunday. The demonstrators, including housewives and children, called on the public to remain calm in facing conflict between Afghanistan and the United States. "We are against sweeps of foreigners, terrorism and violence," one of the protesters was quoted by Antara as saying. Unfurling banners and posters, the demonstrators urged the government, scholars and political elite to prioritize issues of national importance. They suggested the government concentrate more on solving domestic problems in the restive provinces of Aceh and Maluku, and the refugee problem in East Nusa Tenggara.
On Friday, hundreds of residents in Tebet, South Jakarta also staged a rally against the sweeping of foreigners.
Earlier this month, residents of Jl. Jaksa, Central Jakarta, established an anti-sweeping forum. Jl. Jaksa is very popular as a location for short-term accommodation for foreign backpackers.
BLOW TO JAKARTA'S ANTI-GRAFT DRIVE
Indonesia's anti-corruption drive suffered yet another serious setback when the whistle-blower in a graft case involving two Supreme Court judges was given a suspended jail sentence for defamation. Endin Wahyudin, who confessed last year to bribing Justice Marnis Kahar and Justice Supraptini Sutarto to influence their decisions over his land dispute case, was sentenced to a three months' suspended term on Wednesday. But his case is likely to set a bad precedent for President Megawati Sukarnoputri's pledge to fight corruption when she came to power in August.  The case has raised the question of whether the government can clean up the corrupt court system without a reliable system to protect whistle-blowers. Endin was persuaded last year by then Attorney-General Marzuki Darusman and the head of the now defunct Joint Anti-Corruption Team Adi Andoyo Sucipto to testify in the case against the two judges, after he complained of irregularities

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