Betty Nuraniah, who is wanted by police for questioning regarding
her involvement in an internet banking scam (Lippo E-Net),
has been arrested on Saturday (6/5) in the Sogo Mall, Plaza
Indonesia in Jakarta. Betty is suspected of being involved
in a scam which lifted hundreds of millions of rupiah
from private Lippo E-Net accounts in Bali. Police are now
questioning the woman as to the identity of others who
may be involved in the crime. She is currently being detained
a holding cell in Bali. (May 8th 2006, Denpost)
Indonesia's Most Wanted Terrorist Developing New Network
Indonesia's most wanted terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top has
been receiving guidance in recruiting suicide bombers from
one of the jailed Bali bombers according to a new report by
the International Crisis Group. The report says that recent
raids have weakened but not dismantled Top's terrorist network.
While he still identifies with Jemaah Islamiya, a new report
by the International Crisis Group says that Noordin Top is
increasingly running his own operation which identifies with
Al Qaeda, but it says he has failed to secure the funds and
fighters of other hardline Islamic groups in Indonesia.
The report also says that Noordin Top has communicated with
the Ali Ghufron or Mukhlas, the imprisoned Bali bomber now
on death row. It warns that material from Mukhlas may be used
by Top to recruit new suicide bombers. (May 8th 2006, AFP)
Indonesian Troops Accused of Killing Student Papuan Students
Papuan student activists are alleging that the Indonesian
military has killed fellow students in revenge attacks following
the deaths of five Indonesian security officers during
a protest last March. The students claim they witnessed
the Indonesian military commit murder on two separate occasions.
Our correspondent in Papua, Steve Marshall, says one student's
account describes Indonesian soldiers stabbing a student to
death in the water when the boat they were using to escape
Papua sank. Another student claims the Indonesian military
opened fire on university dormitories in the highlands, killing
two people. The March protest demanded the closure of an American-owned
gold and copper mine in Papua province. Supporters of Papua's
independence movement have accused the mine's owner's, Freeport-McMoRan,
of failing to benefit the local community. The Brussels based
think-tank, the International Crisis Group, says the
Indonesian military responded to the riot with a violent crackdown.
(May 11th 2006, ABC Asia Pacific)
Two Year old Dies of HIV / AIDS - Ubud
A two year old toddler from Ubud has been the latest victim
to die of HIV related illness. The child passed away on
Thursday (11/5) in Sanglah General Hospital after suffering
a severe bout of broncho-pneumonia. It is uncertain as
to how the child contracted the deadly disease. This is the
second HIV related death on the Island this year. According
to current statistics, there are over 900 cases of HIV in
Bali, five of them under the age of four. (May 13th 2006,
Bali Post)
Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever Claims another Life
Wayan Pande Sudiarta (27) of Peliatan, Ubud has become the
first victim to succumb to the deadly Dengue hemorrhagic fever
for the month of May. Wayan, a driver at the Komaneka Resort,
passed away on Wednesday (10/5) after spending 3 days in the
Sanglah intensive care unit. According to family members he
had been suffering from a high fever for eight days, and on
the fourth day he was rushed to Denpasar when he started vomiting
blood. (May 11th 2006, Bali Post)
Indonesian Tests Confirm 5 People from one Family Died of
Bird Flu
Five people from the same family have died of bird flu in
Indonesia, according to local tests, a health official said.
The two men, two women and an eight-year-old girl lived closely
with each other in the Karo district of North Sumatra and
came from "the same family tree," said I Nyoman
Kandun, the health ministry's director general of disease
control. Kandun said the five had been in contact with sick
poultry and pigs near their homes before they fell ill and
died within days of each other over the past three weeks.
Results from local tests are routinely sent to a laboratory
accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Hong
Kong for confirmation, but are normally accurate. "We
are trying to prevent a possible outbreak by conducting limited
culling in the area and performing better surveillance,"
Kandun told AFP. He said three other people from the group
also tested positive but remain alive. If the local tests
are confirmed by the WHO-accredited laboratory, Indonesia's
death toll from avian influenza would rise to 30. Asked if
he was concerned about a possible wider spread of bird flu
in the district, Kandun said: "Who in Indonesia is not
at risk of being infected with bird flu?" A 30-year-old
resident of Jakarta's satellite town of Tangerang was last
week confirmed as Indonesia's 25th fatality. Indonesia, the
world's fourth most populous nation, has witnessed more bird
flu deaths than any other country this year. It has the second
highest number of fatalities reported in the world since 2003,
after Vietnam. The WHO's Asia chief Shigeru Omi this month
urged it to work harder at grassroots level to combat the
deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu. (May 15th 2006, AFP)
Bali Suspect Recants Account, says Feared Torture
A terror suspect accused of involvement in the 2005 bombings
on Indonesia's Bali Island renounced on Tuesday (16/5) statements
given to interrogators, saying he made them because he feared
being tortured. However, Muhammad Cholily admitted to traveling
with two of Asia's most wanted fugitives and learning how
to make bombs from them. Cholily is one of four Islamic militants
on trial since last week over allegations they played a part
in suicide bombings that killed 20 people in Bali last year.
Cholily, in a letter read by his lawyer, said he did not know
he once carried bombs used in the attacks, contrary to the
prosecution dossier against him, which says he admitted
being aware of what he was doing. Cholily is accused of helping
assemble the bombs used in the October 1, 2005, attacks. "Why
did that statement reach the dossier? It is because I was
afraid things like having my testicles crushed, my genitalia
struck and kicked facing threats of sodomy, electrocution
and being shot with a pistol in the mouth would be repeated,"
said Cholily in the letter. (May 16th 2006, Reuters)
Paralysis Caused by Interbreeding - Kintamani
Doctors at the Denpasar Sanglah Hospital have been puzzled
by the case of a Kintamani family, where four out of five
of the children are suffering from a mysterious disease causing
paralysis of the lower limbs. Doctors from several specialties
have come to the conclusion that the condition may have been
caused by repeated inter-breeding through the generations.
The father of the family confirmed that he and his wife were
“close” relatives, as were his parents. The family
comes from a small village in the Kintamani area. Marriage
of close family members is common among village Balinese,
some marrying as close as first cousins. (May 12th 2006, Denpost)
Indonesia to Have Major Nuclear Plant by 2015
Indonesia will have its first nuclear power plant on densely
populated Java Island by 2015, the country's energy minister
has said. "We have the blueprint. We will start the construction
in six or seven years," Purnomo Yusgiantoro told AFP.
The power plant, to be built in East Java, will have the capacity
of 1,000 megawatts in the first phase, with the cost estimated
at $US8 billion ($10.35 billion), he said. The capacity will
later be increased to 4,000 megawatts. "We are open to
any investors who are interested in developing this project,"
he said. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said
on Thursday (10/5) that the international community had no
objection to the country's nuclear power program. "Our
country has an excellent record of compliance" with regulations
of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mr. Wirayuda told
reporters. Indonesian nuclear power plans were shelved in
1997 in the face of mounting public opposition and the discovery
and exploitation of the large Natuna gas field. But nuclear
plans were floated again last year. Critics have said that
Indonesia has many alternative energy sources and that a decision
on whether to build the plant should rest with the people.
(May 13th 2006, AEST)
Indonesia Prepares 2005 Bali Bombing Trials
A court in Bali is preparing to open the trials of four people
accused of involvement in triple suicide bombings on the resort
island last October which killed 20 bystanders. Fifteen Indonesians,
four Australians and a Japanese citizen died in the October
1 attacks, plus the three bombers. Anif Solchanudin, alias
Pendek, 24, Mohamad Cholily, alias Yahya, 28, Abdul Aziz,
alias Jafar, 30, and Dwi Widiyarto, alias Wiwid, 30, will
be tried separately by different panels of judges, Mr. Wirya
said. He said that they will be charged with violating Indonesia's
2003 anti-terrorism law but declined to elaborate. Nyoman
Suwila from the Denpasar prosecutors' office was quoted by
the state Antara news agency as saying that the four could
face the death penalty if found guilty. (May 8th 2006, AEST)
Indonesia Confirms 25th Human Bird Flu Death
International tests have confirmed that an Indonesian man
died of bird flu on April 26, bringing the total deaths from
the lethal virus in the country to 25, according to Joko Suyono,
an official from the Indonesian Health Ministry's centre for
bird flu information. Earlier, a laboratory in Hong Kong said
that the 30-year-old man, who was from west Jakarta, had tested
positive with bird flu, the official added. (May 8th 2006,
VNA)
