Indonesia Expects 7.5 Million Foreign Tourist Arrivals in
2007
Culture and Tourism Minister, Jero Wacik, said Pacific Asia
Travel Association (PATA) had predicted that about 7.5 million
foreign tourists would visit Indonesia in 2007. The PATA prediction
is higher than the government’s target of six million
arrivals during the year. Wacik said he believed that the
arrival of foreign tourists in Indonesia would continue to
increase by one million people annually up to 2010.
“Thus, we hope that at the end of 2008 about seven million
foreign tourists are expected to arrive in Indonesia and about
10 million at the end of 2011,” the minister added.
(September 30th 2007, Antara News)
Bali Prison Keeper Arrested for Drug Dealing
The chief of security at the main jail in Bali has been arrested
for running drugs. An undercover operation by Indonesian police
has lead to the arrest of Muhammad Sudrajat, who is suspected
of running drugs inside and out of the Kerobokan Prison since
he took on the post 14 months ago. Kerobokan Prison houses
many foreign prisoners who have been convicted of drug offences
in Indonesia. Some are on death row. The father of a young
man currently awaiting a decision on his death sentence said
the arrest of Muhammad Sudrajat should receive international
attention due to the corruption and cover-ups in the Bali
jail. He said it was inexcusable that 60 per cent of those
held within Kerobokan Prison were there on drug-related offences
while allegedly being given drugs by the jail’s security
chief. Sudrajat has reportedly admitted to using drugs but
has denied he was a drug dealer for inmates. (September 20th
2007 INN)
Garuda to Reopen Denpasar-Nagoya Route
“National flag – carrier Garuda Indonesia will
reopen its Denpasar-Nagoya route beginning in June 2008 using
Airbus 330s which have 300 seats including 42 in the business-class
compartment,” a spokesperson said. “The Denpasar-Nagoya
route was closed early this year for security reasons. Garuda
will reopen it and serve the route on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays,” Garuda’s regional manager for Japan,
South Korea, China and the United States, M. Arif Wibowo,
said here Friday (28/9).
The decision to reopen the route was made based on market
research which showed the cargo business potential on the
route was big,” he said. Arif said his office would
send officials to Bali later this week to hold a meeting with
the business community in Bali and to Nagoya in October for
the same purpose.
Garuda is currently flying a Tokyo-Denpasar-Jakarta route
every day and an Osaka-Denpasar route five times a week.
The Denpasar-Nagoya route was closed following two deadly
bombings in 2002 and 2005 which had a negative impact on the
tourism industry in the world-renowned resort island, Arif
said.
According to the Bali Tourism Board in 2006, the number of
Japanese tourist arrivals in Bali last year was recorded at
255,767 or the largest number among foreign tourist arrivals,
followed by Australia, Europe and the United States.
The number of Japanese tourists visiting Bali reached 20.54
percent of a total of 1,137,469 foreign tourists arriving
in Bali last year. The number of Australian tourists who traveled
to Bali stood at 10.37 percent in the same period. (September
28th 2007, Antara News)
Bali Must Advance Negotiating Agenda, UN Chief Says
“Bali must advance a negotiating agenda to combat climate
change on all fronts, including adaptation, mitigation, clean
technologies, deforestation and resource mobilization,”
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a UN
press statement in New York on Monday (24/9).
Ban Ki-moon made the statement as he sought to advance the
global agenda on climate change when he met with heads of
state and other top officials from more than 150 countries
at United Nations Headquarters on September 24.
More than 70 heads of state and governments will attend the
one-day event, making it the largest meeting ever of world
leaders on climate change. The high-level event – which
takes place one day before the opening of the United Nations
General Assembly’s annual general debate – is
aimed at securing political commitment and building momentum
for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali,
where negotiations about a new international climate agreement
should start.
The Bali meeting, from 3 to 14 December, will convene the
parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change.
It was said in the UN press statement that, according to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, if no action was
taken on greenhouse gases, the Earth’s temperature could
rise by 4.50 degrees Celsius (8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) or more.
According to the panel, the effects of climate change are
being felt already. It said the Arctic was warming twice as
fast as the global average, and adverse effects on human activities
were documented. Impacts of warming have also been observed
in other regions and sectors, in particular on ecosystems.
As glaciers retreat, water supplies are being put at risk.
For populations living in dry lands, especially those in Africa,
changing weather patterns threaten to exacerbate desertification,
drought and food insecurity. Other regions are expected to
suffer from floods, sea level rise and extreme weather events.
“We cannot go on this way for long,” Ban said,
addressing a recent session of the United Nations General
Assembly. “We cannot continue with business as usual.
The time has come for decisive action on a global scale,”
he added. (September 28th 2007, Antara News)
Aussie DJ Released From Bali Jail
Australian music DJ Nick Taylor has been released from Bali’s
Kerobokan Prison after serving more than three months for
cocaine use. Taylor, 41, of Byron Bay, was arrested on June
10 following a raid on a party in a Bali villa, where police
found 0.3 of a gram of cocaine in his possession. “He
had already returned to Australia and arrived in Brisbane
yesterday,” his lawyer Erwin Siregar said. “Taylor
has no plan to return to Indonesia, ‘in short or longer
term’,” Siregar added. Indonesia has staunch policies
against drugs use, with 10 Australians jailed in the country,
six of whom are on death row. (September 20th 2007, AFP)
Volcano in East Java Increases Activity –
Alert Level 3
Government authorities warned residents living in the danger
zones of Mount Kelud in Indonesia’s crowded East Java
on Sunday (28/9) of possible dangerous activity by one of
the world’s most active volcanoes. Local authorities
in East Java’s district of Kediri said dozens of military
soldiers and police officers have been readied to evacuate
residents following the raising of Mount Kelud’s alert
status to level three. Vulcanologists issued recommendations
for nearby residents, including a call that they should not
conduct any activity in areas within 5 kilometres from its
crater. Deputy Chief of Ngancar Sub district Military Command
Lieutenant Sukana told the state-run Antara news agency that
70 troops had been mobilized to help evacuate about 24,000
residents of six villages in danger zones. The 1,731-metre
volcano’s most recent eruption was in 1990, when at
least 22 people were killed. Indonesia has the highest density
of volcanoes in the world, with 500 located in a so-called
“Belt of Fire,” along the 5,000-kilometre wide
archipelago. Of those, 128 are considered active and 65 –
including Mount Kelud – are considered dangerous. (September
30th 2007, Antara News)
Singapore’s CordLife Opens SE Asia’s
Largest Cord Blood Bank in Jakarta
Southeast Asia’s largest cord blood bank, which is also
Indonesia’s first, has opened in Jakarta. This privately
run facility is a joint venture between Singapore-based cord
blood banking company, CordLife, and Southeast Asia’s
largest publicly listed pharmaceutical firm, Kalbe Farma,
which hails from Indonesia. The private initiative will meet
the growing demand for such facilities in the Indonesian capital,
and cord blood units will no longer need to be sent from Indonesia
to Singapore for processing and storage. Storing a newborn
baby’s umbilical cord blood, which is rich in stem cells,
is increasingly popular worldwide. These cells can be used
to treat diseases previously considered incurable, such as
leukemia. And with medical advances, they could hold the cure
for other conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. With
an annual birth rate of five million, Indonesia represents
a huge potential for cord blood banking. If every baby born
in Indonesia stored his or her cord blood at the facility,
it would be full in three days. The facility can take in 30,000
units of cord blood units. The first year charge is US$1,000,
with an annual fee of US$130. (October 1st 2007, Channel News
Asia)
Ngurah Rai Airport Sitting Pretty With
Cleanest Toilets
The Culture and Tourism Ministry has named Bali’s Ngurah
Rai International Airport as having the cleanest airport toilets
in Indonesia, with the country’s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta,
in fourth place. Of the country’s 12 international airports,
Riau’s Sultan Syarif II Kasim Airport and Riau Islands’
Hang Nadim Airport took second and third place, while last
was Nusa Tenggara Timur’s El-Tari. The awards are the
first to be presented since the program launched in early
2006. According to the minister, airport toilets “reflected
the country”. The judges of the contest assessed the
condition of the toilets, maintenance, aesthetic aspects and
facilities available. Operators Association’s, Naning
Adiwoso, said that although having improved compared to two
years ago, before the contest was first announced, the conditions
of toilets at the 12 airports still failed to comply with
international standards. “The toilets are still far
from the standard. It’s not easy to make Indonesians
aware of the importance of clean toilets, as most of them
still consider toilets as things that are away at the back
part of the home or building, and are usually dirty,”
explained Naning. (September 29th 2007, Antara News)
Tight Security for Bali Bomb II Service
Tight security surrounded a memorial service in Bali today,
to mark the second anniversary of the bombings that killed
four Australians. Sixteen others from Indonesia and Japan
were also killed in the October 1, 2005 suicide bombing attacks
on popular seafood cafés at Jimbaran Beach and a busy
restaurant in Kuta. Indonesian survivors of the blasts will
be among 60 people expected to gather for this afternoon’s
service. Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer,
addressed the service on behalf of the government. Representatives
from the three nations which lost lives – Australia,
Indonesia and Japan – joined in prayer and marked a
moment’s silence to remember the dead. They also layed
wreaths at the foot of a wooden cross that became a symbolic
focal point for grieving Australians after the 2002 bombing
attack in which 88 Australians were among the 202 killed.
A separate memorial service will be held to commemorate the
victims of that attack on October 12, and many Australian
relatives, friends and survivors are expected to attend. (October
1st 2007, AFP)
Real Madrid to Open Academy in Bali
Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid has announced plans to establish
the Real Madrid Football Academy (RMFA) in Bali next year.
“The academy, which will be able to accommodate up to
220 students between the ages of 9 and 18, will be directly
supervised by coaches and trainers from Real for about a year,”
the CEO of PT Realino Sport Indonesia, Jose Eduardo Nadal,
said Monday (1/10), as quoted by Antara newswire. The academy
is the first to be established in the Asia Pacific and just
the second outside Spain since the club was founded in 1902.
The only other Real Madrid academy outside of Spain is located
in Mexico. “The tuition for every student is US$20,000
for 10 months,” said Nadal after meeting National Sports
Council chairwoman Rita Subowo. Nadal said at the end of each
academic year, the academy would select the top students to
train in Madrid and play with the Spanish RMFA. Students from
Indonesia’s academy will also be given the chance to
pursue their training at Real Madrid’s training and
education center, La Cludadd Deportiva del Real Madrid. The
center has worked with the club’s top players, including
Raul Gonzalez, Iker Casillas and Ruud Van Nistelroy. The Bali
academy will start the admission process by January, with
the first academic year to kick off in August. “Besides
the regular program, we will also open a short-term program
or a football camp from December 16-29 in Bali,” Nadal
said. The academy of the nine-time European champion will
be built in the coastal area of Berawa, in Canggu, with international
standard facilities including soccer fields, a swimming pool,
a gymnasium, a health clinic, office buildings, classrooms
and a dormitory. Rita praised Real’s plan to set up
the academy, saying it would help the Soccer Association of
Indonesia scout new talent. “I hope this academy will
groom potential players who will become the future backbone
of the national team,” she said. Real Madrid –
one of the richest clubs in Europe – has won 13 Spanish
League titles, 17 Copa del Rey crowns and nine European Champion
titles. Based at Santiago Bernabu Stadium, the club was named
“Best Club of the 20th Century” by soccer’s
ruling body FIFA on December 23, 2000. (October 3rd 2007,
Antara News)
Indonesia’s Sumatra Hit by Quake, Tsunami Alert Issued
An undersea earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale
hit Indonesia’s southwestern Sumatra on Tuesday (2/10),
prompting the country’s meteorology agency to issue
a tsunami warning. There were no immediate reports of any
casualties or damage after the tremors that struck around
the same area where a strong earthquake and powerful series
of aftershocks killed 25 people and damaged more than 80,000
buildings last month. The epicenter of the quake lay at a
depth of 20 km, about 160 km southwest of Lais district in
Bengkulu province, the agency said in a text message. Since
last month’s earthquake, the area has been hit by a
series of quakes and strong aftershocks, setting off tsunami
warnings in Indonesia and other countries in the region. (October
3rd 2007, Reuters)
Indonesia Maintains Polygamy Restrictions
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday (3/10)
rejected a high-profile request to scrap restrictions on polygamy
filed by a lawyer who argued that it ran counter to the teachings
of Islam. Court Chairman, Jimly Asshiddiqie, said that polygamy
was permitted under the law, but only under strict conditions.
Muhammad Isan, who filed the demand, had argued that the restrictions
on polygamy effectively encouraged extra-marital affairs,
prostitution and divorce, and said polygamy was justified
by a higher ratio of women to men. But the court said, “The
arguments presented by the plaintiff do not stand.”
Asshiddiqie said polygamy had existed long before Islam came
into being and religious authorities had gradually seen to
it that polygamy did not lead to men tyrannizing women. “One
of the most important requirements is fairness,” he
said, adding that it was the duty of the government to step
in and apply regulations and laws. Any increase in divorce,
prostitution and extra-marital affairs was “not merely
related to whether there is polygamy or not, but also related
to the socio-economic conditions of individuals, and, more
importantly, the morals and ethics of the said individuals,”
Asshiddiqie said. The court also cited official data showing
that men in fact accounted for around 50.2 percent of Indonesia’s
population, the world’s fourth largest. Islam permits
up to four wives but some mostly Muslim nations such as Tunisia
have banned polygamy. Polygamy for men is permitted in Indonesia
if a wife can no longer “perform her duties”,
is an invalid, suffers from an incurable disease, or is infertile.
Approval to take another wife must also be obtained from a
religious court and from the first wife. Government officials
must also obtain permission from their immediate superior
to engage in polygamy. More than 90 percent of Indonesia’s
population is Muslim but most follow a moderate form of the
religion. (October 3rd 2007, AFP)
