Hundreds of people packed out an Indonesian court on Thursday (Oct 27) for the verdict in the sensational trial of a young woman accused of murdering her college friend with poisoned coffee at an upmarket cafe.

Police were deployed around the Jakarta court as Jessica Kumala Wongso, who is an Indonesian citizen and also an Australian permanent resident, arrived in a van and was ushered inside through a media scrum.

Relatives of the victim, Wayan Mirna Salihin, headed into court wearing T-shirts with her face emblazoned on them and the slogan: “Justice for Mirna”.

Wongso, 28, is accused of murdering Salihin, 27, in January by slipping cyanide into her Vietnamese iced coffee in a cafe at one of Jakarta’s fanciest malls. The victim collapsed after consuming the drink and died shortly afterwards.

The soap opera-style tale of two members of the wealthy elite allegedly having a dramatic fallout that culminated in murder has captivated Indonesia, where it has been dubbed “the poisoned coffee” case.

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Poisoned coffee case in Indonesia draws nationwide interest

Source:

AFP

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It has also generated huge interest in Australia, where the victim and alleged murderer studied together at a design college.

Prosecutors have demanded a 20-year jail term for Wongso, who denies a charge of premeditated murder.

They allege Wongso decided to murder Salihin after she advised the defendant to break up with a boyfriend as he was using drugs, and the crime was planned “meticulously”.

“I hope for a fair sentence,” Salihin’s husband, Arief Soemarko, told AFP as he arrived at court. “We hope the judges can give us justice.” Wongso earlier this month broke down in tears in court as she rejected the allegations.

The defence team in the trial, which began in June, asserts the case against their client is weak and lacks evidence to prove guilt.

Australian authorities agreed to assist with the case after receiving assurances that Wongso would not be handed the death penalty if found guilty of murder, a capital crime in Indonesia.

The hearing is due to begin in the afternoon and is expected to last several hours.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a chance to stay in power through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and become the country’s longest-ruling leader after his party decided this week to allow its presidents to serve a third straight three-year term.

The rule change by Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party could give Abe a better chance to achieve his controversial goal of revising the post-war pacifist constitution, revered by some as a beacon of democracy but seen by many conservatives as a humiliating symbol of Japan’s defeat in World War Two.

Abe took office for a rare second term as prime minister in December 2012, promising to reboot a stale economy and bolster defence. He is now serving a second consecutive term as LDP president, which ends in September 2018.

LDP rules now cap the presidency at two consecutive three-year terms. The rule change to allow a third term must be formalised at an LDP convention set for March next year.

Japanese prime ministers are elected by parliament’s lower house and therefore are members of the majority party or a ruling coalition party.

If Abe wins reelection as LDP head and his party remains in power, he could stay on as premier into September 2021, which – combined with his 2006-2007 tenure – would make him the longest-serving leader of a country accustomed to a revolving door of short-term premiers. “It is certain the environment would be created for him to settle down and tackle long-term issues such as revising the constitution,” said the conservative Yomiuri newspaper in an editorial.

Abe’s reelection as party president, and hence premier, two years from now is hardly a done deal.

His popularity has remained mostly robust – a September Yomiuri survey put it at 62 per cent – and the main opposition Democratic Party is languishing in public opinion polls.

But voters were split on the desirability of extending Abe’s term as LDP chief, with 48 per cent in favour and 43 per cent against.

Doubts persist as to whether his “Abenomics” recipe for revving up the economy with hyper-easy monetary policy, spending and promised reforms is working. The same survey said 55 per cent did not expect the economy to improve under his administration.

Some critics worry that with opposition parties weak and LDP members willing to speak against Abe few and far between, governance could suffer from a lack of checks and balances. “A lack of competition can lead to complacency and good governance would possibly be in danger,” said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano.

If Abe lasts until late 2021, he would have served longer than early 20th century premier Taro Katsura and than his great-uncle, Eisaku Sato, Japan’s longest-serving post-war premier.

Indonesia is among the top-five most improved nations worldwide with regard to ease of doing business, but it is no time for complacency as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ambitious target remains unmet.

The country’s ranking on the ease-of-doing-business index in the World Bank’s flagship annual report has jumped 15 places to 91st position, one of the best improvements among 190 countries in the survey, although Jokowi is looking for the country to achieve 40th position.

“The economies showing the most notable improvement in performance on the “Doing Business” indicators in 2015/2016 were Brunei Darussalam, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Belarus and Indonesia,” reads the report, which also names New Zealand as the easiest country in which to do business, taking over the top spot from Singapore for the first time in a decade.

The significant jump in Indonesia’s ranking is based on improvements made in starting a business, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, paying taxes, trading across borders and enforcing contracts.

Jokowi in April issued the 12th economic stimulus package that specifically targeted a significant improvement in the World Bank’s index – regarded as a parameter for investors around the world – by scrapping many procedures and reducing both the time and cost involved in starting a business.

In total, the deregulation package has seen 94 procedures slashed by almost half to 49. The time spent on procedures dropped from 1,566 days to 132 days. Costs have also dropped from Rp 92.8 million (S$9,800) to Rp 72.7 million, among other reforms.

World Bank Indonesia country director Rodrigo Chaves said the government had done a lot to enhance the quality of the business environment for the private sector, particularly in the last three years. For one, it now takes 58 days for a business entity to connect to the power grid, compared with 79 days previously.

Still, many areas remain wide open for improvement to achieve Jokowi’s ambitious target of securing the 40th place, including abolishing illegal levies and regulatory overkill by regional governments, as well as digitalization of the bureaucracy, economists say.

“Governments in other countries have utilized comprehensive IT systems to expedite processes, rather than relying on manual procedures,” Bank Central Asia (BCA) chief economist David Sumual said, highlighting the pressing need for a more efficient bureaucracy to reduce costs for businesses.

He lauded the government’s recent efforts to fight illegal levies and implementing “e-logistics”, which is the digitalization of the logistics process that could help streamline bureaucracy.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam said his group had found in a 2010 study that there were many illegal levies charged for freight transportation on a route between Jakarta and Bandung, an example of a high cost of doing business.

Another example of high logistics costs is the long dwell time in ports, particularly Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port, which has almost reached saturation level, said Gadjah Mada University economist Tony Prasetiantono.

The government’s efforts to boost the ease-of-doing-business ranking is part of a greater plan to make Indonesia more competitive in the international business community, as Southeast Asia’s largest economy grew the slowest in six years in 2015.

Direct investment is among the top growth contributors for the economy even though it is expected to slow to 12 to 14 per cent this year, compared with 19 per cent in 2015, according to Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Thomas Lembong.

The methods used to create the index have faced criticism, however. An independent panel appointed by World Bank president Jim Yong Kim found it used a narrow source of information and had the potential to be misinterpreted, according to a 2013 report. The ranking should not be used to apply a one-size-fits-all template for development, the panel found, as reported by Bloomberg.

“God willing, this will create confidence and instill greater faith” among businesses, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said with reference to Indonesia’s improved performance.