Political system is a complete sequence which consists of various elements of government works and influences in order to achieve the political objectives. The aim of political system is to sustain national welfare, intellectual life of the nation, participation within the establishment of the world order in accordance with freedom of expression, lasting peace and social justice. Presidential system is the political system applied in Indonesia. It implies that the executive agents are directly elected by its people. Ironically, the cabinet as the executive agent is elected by the president.

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The Cabinet members are the agents who are responsible for the authority to intercommunicate with the president. It is believed that the Cabinet members should be elected by the people instead of the president because as is generally known, Indonesia is a democratic country and this identity should be upheld because the people of a country have rights to participate within the election of The Cabinet members with respect to the democratic value.

The second argument is if president directly choose the cabinet member, nepotism may happen. The president would elect the candidate who will not oppose to his policies. Therefore, it will be easier to manipulate financial sector. This indeed will obstruct the national development.

To sum up, the people of Indonesia must be aware of the transparency of the government and the participation in the political engagement including to elect the professional candidates who are able to assist the president.

By Fitriani  || Internal Of HEC 

Recently, the issue of synthetic rice has been a very popular issue among Indonesians. This issue of synthetic rice firstly emerged from Dewi Nurizza Septiani (29th), an entrepreneur in Mustikajaya, Bekasi.

She wrote on her Facebook that the rice was different from the previous rice that she bought. It seems to be mixed with plastic substance. She also spread the photos to her Instagram and reported to the radio in Bekasi.

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"I have spread the photos to my social media, Facebook and Instagram, and I have also reported it to the radio" she said in her eating house (May 19th, 2015).

It is believed that the synthetic rice is imported from China. According to Korean media, The Weekly Hong Kong, The rice was made of potatoes, yams and plastic and it is free to sell in the market. However, further inquiry should be taken to prove the validity of this news.

To confirm the issue of synthetic rice, Commerce Minister, Rachmat Gobel, stated that there was also a video in social media that illustrated the procedural steps on how to produce synthetic rice. In contrast, after being investigated, it is ,in fact, the procedure of producing plastic pellets.

In an event in Bekasi mayor’s office, Thursday (25/5), the head of Laboratory Testing Sucofindo, Adisam NZ, announced the results of two samples provided by Bekasi Commerce Department. It was discovered that the samples of rice are combined with polyvinyl chloride, a chemical substance commonly contained in plastic products such as cables, pipes pralon (PVC) and so on. The chloride mixture composition is as many as 6.76% of 250 grams after the identification.

Then, Andi Amran Sulaiman, Agriculture Minister, affirmed that the laboratory tests by the police, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Agriculture denoted negative results of plastic substances from the rice samples. The samples were taken Laboratory Testing Sucofindo.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the trading of synthetic rice was unprofitable due to the expensive price. The price was approximately Rp.12,000 per kilogram, while the natural rice was Rp.7,300 per kilogram.

This argument was supported by Hasanudin Abdurakhman who led a Japanese company which manufacturesd plastic materials. He assumed that plastic rice was unreasonable in terms of production and economy.

" It will be very expensive because of the expensiveness of the raw material and the demand of high technology. Furthermore, plastic substances cannot be digested and it is easily tasted by the tongue" he said.

Although, the result from the laboratory tests of the police, the Food and Drug Control Agency (BPOM), Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Agriculture denoted negative results, this issue has remained a massive terror to Indonesians because the result from Laboratory Testing Sucofindo was positive and there has not been further clarification from Sucofindo untill now.

The ministry of agriculture affirmed that his office had conducted daily market check with respect to the issue post-haste.

"We have already checked markets, and the case is now in the hands of the police," he said.

Writer : Harmila S.S ( Internal HRD)

The government as a policy maker is obligate (v. wajib) to accomodate the needs of every element of society. It also means they have to keep themselves away from self-interest fullfilment (n. pemenuhan) and discrimination. The government should treat societies equally, especially for the blind people in educational sector in order to make sure blind people are not discriminated in terms of education. In fact, there are still several cases that government turned out not to have any concern, even humiliated (v. menghinakan) the blinds.  Therefore (adv. oleh karena itu) this paper will explain unjust (adj. ketidakadilan) treatment of government in educational service for blinds.

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For instance, recently happening in the public schools, schools unreasonably do not accept a blind student due to (phr. karena) the absence of teaching-blind-oriented educational infrastructure and instrument (n. alat). They claim, in studying, the blind students are not able to go together with ordinary students because their visual impairment (phr. keterbatasan penglihatan). Schools are seemingly worried on being hardened by them. Let along (phr. apalagi) most teachers who are complaining being uneducated in teaching blind student and normal students in a mixture (n. percampuran/penggabungan).

In this case, obviously (adv. dengan jelas) seen government does not put sufficient (adj. tidak cukup) concern for improving special teacher for blind in numbers. There should be planning and budgetting provided for increasing the number of the special teachers or in another case training certain teachers in public school for dealing with (phr. berhubungan) class mixture between blind students and ordinary students.

The worst case raises in school admission. The discrimination humiliates the rights of blinds students both directly and indirectly. Direct discrimination happens in Makassar when public schools and universities refused them by including ‘not accepting disabilities’ in their admission requirement. Then indirect discrimination was that the school provided application form in an inaccessible format for blinds, in this case all difables experienced (v. mengalami).

Government with their rights in making social decision have responsibility to look after (phr. membela) diffables’ rights, especially in education service. The concern must be serious and away from perjury (n. janji palsu). Toward education, blind students needs extra support and aid, such as teaching specialists or supportive equipment in classrom and a ramp (n. jalur landai) or special road for their mobilization.

How about if the blind students are in exam? This typical question is the other frequently-asked one by teachers or common people. As has been done so far by Blind Union (PERTUNI) by recruiting volunteers to assist the blind students during their exam, the government should learn that the blinds are a part of society that needs education and there is no way of ignoring (v. mengabaikan) the difficulties to do it. As another reference for government in order to learn how to treat (v. memperlakukan) diffables like blind well, they should learn from government of Australia who put high concern on this issue by providing free, supportive transportation, special ramp for blind and special educational system and instrument for dealing with blind people.

Written By: Rahmat J. | President of HEC

     The Policy of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) refusing clemency (n. grasi/ampunan) of the death penalty for the six drug traffickers (n. pengedar) gets pros and cons (phr. pro dan kontra) responses from the public this early day. As it is known, the death sentence has brought six lifes into their end of drug traffickers, they are Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira from Brazil, Rani Andriani and Tommi Wijaya from Indonesia, Tran Thi Bich Hanh from Vietnam, Namaona Denis from Malawi, and Daniel Enemuo from Nigeria. However this policy making has drawn (v. menarik) international attention to give response, let along Indonesian people.

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     Those who do not agree with this policy argue that death penalty which takes person’s life is murder and it violates (v. melanggar) human rights as set (v. diatur) in article 28 A 1945 "every person has the right to live and to defend life and living". Jakarta Archbishop (n. uskup besar) Mgr. Ignatius Suharyo in Tribunnews.com said that life and death of a person is not in the hands of man, and this is contrary to the teachings of the church. Jokowi gives the decision as if all dealers are guilty and should be put on death penalty. "He (Jokowi) does not see the reason of the drug traffickers, it should be revised and examined one by one, the death penalty will not solve the problem," adds Ignatius. Meanwhilst (adv. sementara itu) those who agree said that the death penalty can give the effect of abundant and provide lessons for other traffickers who have not been caught yet.
       On the other hand, the Head of the National Narcotic Province Agency "BNNP" of South Sulawesi, Richard M Nainggolan approves (v. menyetujui) the decision which has been taken by Jokowi. He said "The death penalty should be carried out to the drug traffickers who are really proven, so that others feel threatened (v. terancam)". In order to legitimate the death penalty, the legal process should be based on Law, Human Rights, Health, and should be through assessment. This will determine whether the results will prove it is the trafficker or only user or addict. Those who proved to be an addict must be rehabilitated and those who proved to be a dealer (n. pedagang) must get death penalty.
      In constitution 1997 No.22 about narcotics, article 80 paragraph (1a, 2a and 3a), article 81 paragraph (3a), article 82 paragraph (1a, 2a, and 3a) the death penalty does not violate human rights, which is guaranteed in article 28A and international law obligations of Indonesia which come from an international agreement on combating illicit (adj. haram) trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances so that law enforcement needs to be improved. Moreover Indonesia does not adhere (v. menganut) to the absolute human rights law as stated in the article 28J paragraph (2) that everyone should respect other people's rights and peace to to get their rights. So that it can break the protection of human rights contained in Article 28A.
       Departing from the legal basis, it can be concluded that the death penalty for drug traffickers who would have been convicted  through (phr. dihukum) due law process and assessment must be carried out (phr. diadakan) because it can provide lessons and prevalent effects to other traffickers who have not been caught so that the drug traffickers will be decreased, and probably be stopped.

Questions.
1. What is in your mind about death senctence? What if it is implemented to criminals? What kind  of crimes that deserve it?
2. Do you agree about Jokowi’s decision to reject petition for mercy of the six drug traffickers?
3. What do you know about the result of the Jokowi’s rejection? Is it good for our country?
4. How drugs give bad impact to our society? How to resolve it?
5. How should law behave to user, addict, and traffickers of drugs?

       Written By: Mila | English Department Bachelor

Death penalty is one of the controversial punishments in every country. There are many kinds of opinion and reason to support or opposite (v=menentang) the death penalty. Actually, the purposes of the death penalty are to reduce the number of crime and violation, to solve conflicts caused by criminal, to recover the balance and to wreak (v=mendatangkan) piece in society, and to give wary (adj=jera) impact and strong warning to society.

According to KUHP, there are several kinds of crime that must be addressed death penalty such as tricky tactic, pogrom (n=pembunuhan berencana), terrorism, violation of human’s right and drugs.

Today, there have been so many pros and conts developing in society whether to erase or to defend the death penalty. In one side, government, some societies and organizations support death penalty because it is suitable for the people who do serious violation to the nation’s rules. This is not a problem to do. However, they think that we have to also consider about the criminals’ rights. They have to be treated fairly without compulsion (n=paksaan). In this case, criminals have their rights to be accompanied by lawyers. In our religion, death penalty or qisash isn’t something forbidden. According to spokesman (n=juru bicara) of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Ismail Yusanto, death penalty is a command from God and it couldn’t be deleted because they are very sure that a punishment given in the world can help us out afterlife. For example, Rajam, a punishment given to those who do sexual intercourse (n=hubungan) without official marriage, is believed be able to purify (v=menyucikan) their mistreatment afterlife (n=akhirat).

In the other side, there are many people oppose the death penalty because they think that every human has fundamental rights and one of them is “a right to live”. It couldn’t be confined (v=dibatasi), decreased or seized (v=direbut) whatever the condition. It is in step (adv=sejalan) with section 28A and 28I of UUD 1945. By committing death penalty, it means the government, the law enforcer, breaks the human right. In addition, death penalty isn’t trusted yet able to give wary effect or stop the crime. It’s been widely known that several death penalty have been committed to some terrorists some years ago, hoping that the number of terrorism can be declined (v=menurun). Today, however, terrorism threat still widely persists (v=berlangsung), embellishment (n=pembunuhan) happens everywhere, and drugs is still easily distributed around Indonesia.

As of now, there have been no clear and practical solutions for death penalty issue. There are many considerations we have to pay attention on if we want to vanish (v=menghilangkan) it. If the government insists (v=menuntut) to commit death penalty to above mentioned crimes, they have to be audacious (adj=berani) and strict (adj=tegas) in applying it.

So, do you think death penalty is necessary to commit? Share your ideas in our discussion!

HEC on!

by Zakia – Moslem University of Indonesia