The Bali Police have introduced a hotline number to fight
corruption on the police force. This is aimed at police officers
extorting money from tourists and expats as the rogue officers
are hurting the island’s image at home and abroad. The
24-hour tourist police hotline, which is (0361) 224-111, reach
the Police Headquarters and English-speaking officers are
standing by to assist tourists and expats who are being ripped
off or unlawfully challenged by rogue officers. [Editors note:
sounds like a good number to keep handy].
Jakarta asks Australia for Eased Travel Warning
Indonesia has asked Australia to lift its travel warning against
the nation as the two countries forge closer ties.Indonesian
Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said she hoped Australia
would lift the warning as it gained more confidence in Indonesian
counter-terror efforts, through closer cooperation. The comments
came at a historic Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) summit in Cebu, Philippines, where leaders pledged
tighter cooperation on fighting terrorism, signing their first
convention on counter terrorism. They also agreed to create
ASEAN’s first ever charter, and set a goal of 2015 to
create a massive free-trade zone. Australia and Indonesia
have been rebuilding their relationship and late last year
signed a security agreement, after a public fallout last year
over the arrival of Papuan asylum seekers in Australia. However,
Australia recently renewed its travel warning, urging Australians
to reconsider travel to Indonesia, including Bali, because
of “the very high threat of terrorist attack”.
(January 13th 2007, AFP)
Brands Sell Illegal Indonesian Coffee, Threaten Rare Species:
WWF
Global food giants Nestle and Kraft Foods and coffee giant
Starbucks have sold coffee illegally grown in a key conservation
area for endangered tigers and rhinos, WWF said.The coffee
comes from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park on the
southern tip of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, which is
home to about 40 Sumatran tigers, of which there are fewer
than 400 left in the wild, the conservation group said. It
is also home to about 500 Sumatran elephants, a quarter of
the remaining population, and 60 to 85 critically endangered
Sumatran rhinos. Despite its importance as a conservation
area and World Heritage Site, nearly 20 percent of the park
has been cleared for illegal coffee cultivation, the WWF said
in a report titled “Gone in an Instant”. If current
trends continue, in 10 years’ time the area could double,
causing significant impacts to the (endangered) species’
habitats. Indonesia is now the world’s fourth-largest
coffee exporter and second-largest producer of robusta, widely
used for instant coffee. At least half the country’s
coffee is exported through the port of Lampung, adjacent to
the national park. “All the coffee exported from Lampung
is tainted,” said Foead, who authored the report. Local
traders mixed illegally grown coffee with legal beans and
exported it to international firms. Kraft Foods, ED and F
Man in Britain, Dutch firm Andira, Hong Kong’s Noble
Coffee, Germany’s Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, Marubeni Corp.
of Japan, Hamburg Coffee Company, Nestle, Olam of Singapore
and Italy’s Lavazza were the top 10 buyers of Lampung
coffee in 2003, the WWF said. Starbucks, Folgers and Tchibo
also received shipments from Lampung in 2004.Foead said they
were probably unaware of its illegal origins, due to the lack
of regulations in the region. “I think they don’t
know where the coffee comes from, the villagers and sub-district
traders are mixing the (illegal and legal) coffee.”
He said. (January 18th 2007, AFP)
Indonesian Official Accused of Graft at ASEAN Summit
An official accompanying Indonesia’s president to the
ASEAN summit in the Philippines allegedly tried to get hotel
managers to mark up their expenses and split the profits,
a report said on Wednesday (11/1). The state secretariat staffer
allegedly approached the management of the up-market hotel
where the Indonesian delegation was staying in Cebu, and asked
them to increase the charges for the presidential party in
return for a share of the balance. After a first offer was
rejected, the member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s
delegation increased it to 40 percent of the margin but this
was also rejected, a report said. “I know nothing about
this,” presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng told
AFP. Indonesia has an endemic corruption problem and tied
with Zimbabwe as the 130th most corrupt nation out of 163
countries in the 2006 global rankings issued by the anti-corruption
watchdog Transparency International. The country was ranked
137 out of 158 nations in the previous year’s report.
(January 17th 2007, AFP)
Bali Niners Challenge Indonesian Law
Two ringleaders of the Bali Nine heroin ring have launched
a new legal bid to escape the firing squad, arguing that Indonesia’s
constitution enshrines their right to life. Australians Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran today lodged their appeal with Indonesia’s
Constitutional Court, with their lawyers saying the South-East
Asian country’s constitution affords life as a basic
human right. The pair, who were sentenced to execution by
firing squad in Denpasar’s District Court in February
last year, are challenging the constitutional validity of
the law under which they were sentenced. Prominent Jakarta-based
human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said the lawyers were
“challenging the constitutionality of the death penalty
under the law”. Sukumaran - the ringleader of the failed
bid to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia in April 2005
- and Chan, his deputy, are fighting a court ruling that they
must face the firing squad for their crimes. The challenge
follows two failed appeals against their sentences, in the
Indonesian High Court and Supreme Court. (January 17th 2007,
AFP)
India to Have New Cultural Center in Bali
India will have a new cultural center on Bali Island as the
Bali provincial administration has provided a 629-square-meter
plot of land for the purpose. The Bali administrations commitment
to provide the land was stated in an agreement signed by Indian
Ambassador to Indonesia Navrekha Sharma and Bali Governor
Dewa Beratha here on Monday (22/1). The sound bilateral relations
between Indonesia and India could be improved further in the
future, the ambassador said in her remarks. “The cooperation
which could be further intensified includes tourism, culture
and education,” Ambassador Navrekha Sharma said after
the signing of the agreement. The Indian cultural center in
Bali will be the second in Indonesia, the first being located
in Jakarta. A temporary Indian Cultural Center was set up
in Bali on January 26, 2004, in a rented building. Governor
Dewa Beratha hailed the plan to intensify cooperation saying
both Bali and India had unique cultures and predominantly
Hindu population. (January 23rd 2007, Kerala)
Quake Strikes off Indonesia Coast of Sulawesi
An earthquake measuring 7.3 has struck near the Indonesian
island of Sulawesi the US Geological Survey said. It centered
in the Molucca Sea at 1927 (1127 GMT), some 160km (100 miles)
south-east of the city of Manado. An official from the meteorology
department in Jakarta said there were five aftershocks in
the first hour. Indonesian officials put the strength of the
quake at 6.5 but said there was no longer risk of a tsunami
following initial warnings. A spokesman for the Hawaii-based
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had said there were dangers
of a “localised” tsunami, stretching from 100-200km
(60-125 miles) from the epicentre. Indonesia was the worst-hit
country in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, which
killed more than 160,000 people in Aceh province. “After
one hour we called the port authority in Manado and there
was no rise in sea level. Therefore we cancel the possibility
of tsunami taking place,” the meteorology department
official was quoted by AFP news agency as saying. The Associated
Press news agency reported a witness on Sulawesi as saying
that at least three residents were injured by the quake. But
Indonesian authorities said there were no reports of damage
or casualties, AFP said. The earthquake was centered some
51km under the seabed. (January 21st 2007, BBC)
10 Killed in Indonesian Police, Militants Shootout - Poso
At least one policeman and nine other people were killed Monday
(22/1) during a shootout between counter-terrorism police
and suspected Muslim militants in the restive eastern Indonesian
province of Central Sulawesi, police and hospital sources
said. The violence occurred when police units raided residential
areas in the town of Poso, looking for Muslim militants wanted
in connection with sectarian violence in the province dating
back to 2000. Tension remained high in Poso and normal daily
activities were at a standstill. Most shops, markets, schools
and government offices were forced to close down. Poso, which
lies about 1,800 kilometres north-east of Jakarta, was the
centre of conflicts between Muslims and Christians in 2001
and 2002 that killed more than 1,000 people. (January 23rd
2007, Indo-Asian News Service)
Six Children now Positive for HIV - Denpasar
According to the most recent statistics from the Sanglah General
Hospital in Denpasar, six children are now being treated for
the HIV virus. The children have contracted the virus from
their mothers, who are also HIV positive. Reported cases of
confirmed HIV positive patients have been steadily rising
over the past decade, with the true statistics feared at being
many more that those documented in the report. Many of those
suffering from HIV may indeed not be correctly diagnosed or
seek medical care, preferring to use local remedies instead.
The documented statistics for 2006 are 139 HIV positive cases.
A total of 92 cases are male, and 47 are female. 29 of the
affected are intravenous drug users. 27 of the affected have
full blown HIV / AIDS, 11 of whom are currently inpatients
at the hospital. (January 23rd 2007, Denpost)
