Avian influenza is now endemic in Indonesia because of past
delays in dealing with H5N1 bird flu, with the virus now well
established and a major concern in SouthEast Asia, says an
Australian veterinary scientist. But Laurence Gleeson, a regional
manager with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and other UN officials, were positive over steps taken to
control bird flu in South East Asia when speaking to reporters
today. In recent weeks Indonesia reported the deaths of four
more people from avian flu - taking its toll to over 60, from
a global death total of 161 out of 267 confirmed cases. Today
the FAO reported new flare-ups of avian flu in China, Egypt,
Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
But officials stressed the numbers of outbreaks in 2007 were
significantly lower that the epidemic waves of the last year.
Officials say the Asia region is better prepared to deal with
outbreaks of the virus than in the past. The World Health
Organization however has warned of resurgence in the virus
during the current northern winter and cool season through
Southeast Asia. (January 23rd 2007, AP)
Indonesia to File Suit against Suharto over Funds Misuse
Indonesian state prosecutors plan to file a civil suit against
former dictator Suharto later this month over alleged misuse
of charitable funds, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said
Thursday (2/2). Suharto, 85, has so far escaped trial over
allegations he amassed billions of dollars in state assets
during the three decades he ruled Indonesia with an iron fist,
including through foundations he ran. Saleh said they would
file a lawsuit over the alleged mismanagement of one of seven
charitable foundations set up and chaired by the former leader.
The Supersemar foundation, founded by Suharto in 1974, collects
donations from businesspeople and other donors to provide
scholarships for students. Almost 800,000 scholarships have
been awarded by the foundation but, as a private foundation,
its fund management has never been made public. Due to ill
health, Suharto has never taken the stand for corruption charges
leveled against him in 2000. These accuse him of misusing
more than 500 million dollars from charitable foundations
- separate to the billions in state assets he is also alleged
by critics to have siphoned off. (January 25th 2007, AFP)
Australian Journalists Deaths Were Intentional - Timor 1975
An inquest into the death of one of the five journalists,
cameraman Brian Peters, began in Sydney this week, more than
30 years after his death. Mr. Peters and four other journalists
- Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart and Malcolm
Rennie - were killed during an attack by Indonesian Special
Forces troops on the Timorese border town of Balibo on October
16, 1975. Official reports say the men were killed in crossfire
between Indonesian troops and Timorese militia, but their
families insist they were murdered. The inquest on Tuesday
(6/2) heard evidence from an East Timorese witness who had
trained with the Indonesian military, known only by the code
name “Glebe 2”. He said he saw four of the journalists
raise their arms in the air “as though asking for mercy”
from invading Indonesian soldiers, before they were shot in
cold blood. He said Captain Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah, who became
Indonesia’s minister for information in the Habibie
government in 1998, was the first to start shooting the men.
Mr. Yosfiah on Tuesday (6/2) denied having anything to do
with the killings, and called those making accusations against
him “big liars”. Meanwhile, East Timor’s
Prime Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said there was no doubt the
journalists were deliberately killed by Indonesian forces,
and urged Indonesia to come clean & allow the reporters’
families to move on. (February 6th 2007, AAP)
East Timor Travel Warning Rises Again
The Foreign Affairs Department has again updated its travel
advisory for East Timor. It says Australians and other foreigners
have been caught up in recent incidents of armed robbery and
assault, and should reconsider all travel to the country.
It warns continuing incidents of violence could deteriorate
further without notice and there is an increasing likelihood
Australians or Australian interests may be specifically targeted.
(February 2nd 2007, ABC News)
Indonesia to Drop Concrete Balls into Mud Volcano
Indonesia plans to drop hundreds of concrete balls into a
mud volcano next week. Officials hope the move will half the
flow of hot liquid that has displaced more than 10,000 people
and inundated entire villages in Java. The torrent of hot
mud has been flowing since an oil drilling accident in May
in an industrial suburb of East Java’s Surabaya, Indonesia’s
second-largest city. Numerous attempts to cap or curb the
flow since it started have failed. But now the government
plans to try concrete balls linked by metal chains. (February
2nd 2007, ABC News)
Australian Women Gets 3 Months for Drug Offence
A Victorian woman says justice has been served after she was
sentenced to three months in jail for drug possession by a
court in Bali. With time already served, Michelle Condon,
of Port Melbourne, will be released in less than two weeks.
The 35-year-old says she is planning to return to Australia.
“Everything that was taken into consideration today
was fair and just, and justice has been served,” she
said, smiling, after the hearing in Denpasar District Court
today. Condon was caught on November 16 purchasing 0.2 grams
of crystal methamphetamine from a local man. Condon’s
lawyers had used a similar strategy to that employed by Australian
model Michelle Leslie, who was freed after three months in
jail after convincing authorities she was a drug user. Condon
previously told the court she had become a drug user at the
age of 15 after seeing her mother die of an overdose. (January
31st 2007, Denpost)
Indonesia to Push Ahead with Nuclear Plans
Indonesia will pursue its plans to develop nuclear power as
part of efforts to find alternative energy sources to address
its growing needs, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has
said. Jakarta shelved atomic energy plans in 1997 in the face
of mounting public opposition and the discovery and exploitation
of the large Natuna gas field. But the plans were floated
again in 2005 amid increasing power shortages. Indonesia’s
nuclear plans are part of its policy to develop and diversify
energy resources in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Witoelar said Indonesia was also developing other energy sources
such as bio-fuels and wind and geothermal power to reduce
carbon dioxide emissions which are blamed for global warming.
Indonesia had previously said it planned to build its first
nuclear power plant on densely populated Java Island by 2015.
The government, however, has yet to secure investors. The
province of Gorontalo, on Sulawesi Island, is considering
developing a floating nuclear power plant using Russian expertise.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has backed Indonesia’s
plans to build nuclear plants despite opposition from environmentalists.
Greenpeace says the plan poses a danger to quake-prone Indonesia
and its neighbors. (February 5th 2007, AFP)
Global Warming - Indonesia Could Lose up to 2,000 Islands
Rising sea levels because of global warming stand to inundate
around 2,000 islands in Indonesia by 2030, the country’s
environment minister said Monday (29/1). The assessment by
Rachmat Witoelar was the governments bleakest yet of the effects
of global warming on the Southeast Asian nation that is made
up of some 18,000 islands, most of them unpopulated. “It
is very, very serious,” he said at a media conference
attended by Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. climate
treaty secretariat. Witoelar said respected scientific studies
showed around 2,000 islands would be swallowed by 2030. He
did not say whether the threatened islands were inhabited
or not. The environment minister also said rice shortages
are forecast for next year because of wild weather blamed
on climate change. “It is feared there will be a lack
of rice production next year because of the changes in the
weather and because the farmers are not used to this,”
he said. De Boer was in Jakarta to discuss a major U.N. climate
change meeting later this year on the resort island of Bali.
Environment ministers from 80 countries will meet to begin
talks on what action the world must take after the first commitment
period of the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012. (January 30th
2007, Bali Post)
Head On Collision Kills 3 in Front of Discovery Shopping Mall
A head on collision between 4 motor bikes and a Kijang station
Wagon on Jln Kartika Plaza in front of the Discovery shopping
Mall in Kuta has left three dead and two others seriously
injured. The accident occurred at approximately 02.30hrs on
Saturday morning (4/2). Among those killed were Willy Sugiono
(35) and Widi Pramuarto (27) both employed as Disc Jockeys
at the Musro night club. Desi Triwirastuti (31) also died
in the collision. All three of the deceased were riding motorbikes.
(February 4th 2007, Radar Bali)
Toxic Plankton Kills Fish off Bali
Toxic plankton has killed thousands of fish in waters off
the Indonesian resort island of Bali. The “red tide,”
or algal bloom, has contaminated the sea in the Tabanan district,
the head of the Bali Fisheries Office Ida Bagus Putu Wisnawa
Manuaba said Thursday. “The fish’s mass death
is a natural phenomenon caused by the El Nino-induced storm
which moved from the Pacific Ocean to the Indonesian waters.
“The El Nino-induced storm triggered the growth of toxic
planktons called red tide,” Manuaba was quoted by the
official Antara news agency as saying. He said the toxic plankton
had turned the sea red and yellow. People living near the
two beaches were warned not to eat the dead fish or swim in
the waters, he said. The main tourists beaches at Kuta and
Legian further south were not reported to have been affected.
Researchers collected samples of the dead fish, sea water
and plankton to investigate the deaths. It is not clear what
causes red tides. Water pollution has been blamed but the
El Nino weather phenomenon, which brings about an increase
in sea water temperatures, has been linked to red tides in
the Pacific Ocean. (February 5th 2007, Yahoo News)
