Another Aussie Facing Bali Drug Charges
A 50-year-old Australian man could be jailed for up to 10
years if found guilty of possessing 17 grams of marijuana
and hashish in Bali. Police on the Indonesian resort island
arrested former airline executive Mr. Wilfred, formerly of
Melbourne, at his home near Kuta on Sunday. A police report
said the drugs were found in a drawer at the home, after the
man was interviewed by officers. Three packets of marijuana,
with a combined weight of 2.7 grams, and two packets of hashish,
with a combined weight of 14.4 grams, were allegedly found.
He has been charged under a drug possession law, which carries
a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail. (August 23rd 2007,
AP)
Indonesia Expects Australia to be Willing to Trade in Uranium
Indonesia has said it would expect Australia to sell uranium
to the Island nation if it plans to build nuclear power plants.
Indonesia is yet to decide if nuclear plants would be safe
in its unstable environment, which is plagued by earthquakes
and volcanoes. “We are in the stage of discussions only,
not yet any budget, we have not any plan,” the country’s
Vice President Jusuf Kalla was quoted by PTI as telling local
radio channel here Thursday (30/8) on possible plans to build
nuclear power plants. Under last year’s Lombok Treaty,
Australia has committed itself to peaceful nuclear co-operation
with Indonesia, which is also a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty. Kalla said this should mean that Australia would sell
uranium to Indonesia. “If some day the study (on nuclear
power) and the people say `yes, okay`, of course we will buy
from sources including Australia,” Kalla said. Australia
agreed `in principle` to sell uranium to India earlier this
month. (31st August 2007, Antara News)
Aussie DJ Gets 3-Month Drug Sentence in Bali
An Australian DJ arrested in Bali has been sentenced to 3
months jail for being an addict in possession of cocaine.
Forty-one year-old Nicholas Bernard Taylor from Byron Bay
was arrested in June at a private party in Bali.Indonesian
police considered charging Mr. Taylor with possessing 0.3
grams of cocaine, but when he claimed to be a drug addict
prosecutors sought the lesser charge of drug use, which carries
a maximum penalty of six months prison. Judges at Denpasar
District Court today sentenced Taylor, who was a former Sydney
DJ, to three months and 10 days in jail. He is expected to
be released on the 21st of September. (August 31st 2007, ABC
News)
Indonesia Seeks Plan to Save Rare Tigers, Elephants
More than 100 experts and officials met in Indonesia on Wednesday
(29/8) to try to draft an action plan to save Sumatran elephants
and tigers threatened with extinction. Satellite images show
large areas of lowland tropical forests, the primary habitat
for elephants and tigers, have been cleared on Sumatra mainly
due to farming and logging, the WWF conservation group said.
Between 1990 and 2000, a total of 8 million hectares (20 million
acres) of lowland forests have been lost to development, the
group said. Shrinking habitats have led to conflicts with
humans, resulting in the deaths of 42 people and 100 elephants
between 2002 and 2007, said the group. WWF said Sumatran elephants
in Indonesia had declined approximately 35 percent over the
past 15 years, from 2,800-5,000 in 1992 to 2,400-2,800 animals
in 2007. Today, there are no more than 400 Sumatran tigers
left in the wild, while Indonesia’s Bali and Javan tigers
are already extinct, it said. “Saving the populations
of Sumatran tigers and elephants will strongly depend on saving
their remaining forest habitat,” said Elisabet Purastuti,
coordinator of elephant conservation for WWF-Indonesia. (August
31st 2007, Reuters)
Three Tourists Drown on Kuta Beach
Three Swedish tourists all from the same group, drowned off
of Kuta Beach on Friday (31/8). Eva (58), Anders Lundhuift
(70) and Kent Janffon (61) all died after being towed under
by strong rips and a large swell while swimming in front of
the Melasti Hotel, Legian beach at about 5pm. Life guards
tried in vain to rescue the three, who were apparently swimming
in front of red flags that are positioned to warn swimmers
of the dangerous conditions. The area is also a long way from
life guard watch towers. One other member of the party was
successfully rescued. All were guests at the Sari Beach Inn.
(September 1st 2007, Denpost)
Active Grenade Found at Padang Sambian
Members of the local community in Jalan Pajajaran, Padanga
Sambian were shocked to find what appeared be a grenade amongst
the dirt as they raked the ground to prepare the land for
a volley ball court. According to one resident, a truck full
of land fill and dirt from Tabanan had just dropped its load
onto the area, and volunteers from the local area were leveling
the soil when one man came across what he thought was a coconut.
On closer examination there appeared to be wires and fuses
attached the object. The find was reported to the Denpasar
police department who sent the bomb squad to evacuate the
device, which was said to be a grenade and was still active.
(September 1st 2007, Denpost)
Czech Diver`s Body Found
The body of Milena Bacuropa (41), a Czech tourist reportedly
missing while diving in Jungutbatu waters of Nusa Penida,
Klungkung District, was finally found not far from the diving
area on Friday (31/8). “The body was found on Friday,
a week after she was declared missing and it is now being
kept at the morgue of Sanglah Hospital, Bali,” Gus Sumastra,
a local official, said here on Saturday (1/9). He said the
Czech Consulate here was trying to contact Bacuropa`s relatives
in her country. Bacuropa was diving along with her four other
friends when she suddenly separated from the group and went
missing on August 24, 2007, in Klungkung, some 75 kilometers
southeast of here. The four surviving tourists later reported
her missing to the local police. (September 1st 2007, Antara
News)
Ten Percent of Sex Workers in Bali HIV Positive
It has been estimated that ten percent of sex workers in Bali
are HIV positive according to a recent statement made by Dr
Mangku Karmaya. According to Dr. Karmaya this may account
for the drastic increase in the overall HIV rate in Bali which
has increased from approximately 3,000 in 2005, to 4,041 in
January 2007. He said that in 2001 only 3 percent of sex workers
were known to be positive for HIV, and in just 5 years the
rate had increase by 7 percent. Coupled with the fact that
the amount of people employed in the sex industry had also
increased this would explain why the HIV figures for Bali
in general had increased dramatically. (September 3rd 2007,
Denpost)
Muslims Protest Indonesian Nuclear Plant
Dozens of Muslim clerics have issued an edict against the
construction of Indonesia’s first nuclear power plant
on seismically charged Java Island, saying the potential dangers
far outweighed the benefits. The scholars from the country’s
largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, acknowledged
the plant, which is scheduled to be built in 2010 and up and
running by 2016, would help meet the rising demand for electricity.
But they declared the project “haram” - or forbidden
by Islam - over concerns about frequent earthquakes on the
densely populated island and questions about the handling
of radioactive waste, said Kholilurrohman, who led Sunday’s
meeting.(September 4th 2007, AFP)
Russia to Extend Billion-Dollar Credit to Indonesia for Arms
Russia will grant Indonesia a billion-dollar credit line to
enable it to buy Russian military hardware, a Russian presidential
spokesman said Monday (3/9). “The amount of credit will
be about one billion dollars (734 million euros)” he
said. Indonesia would not be placing any immediate orders,
but the countries two leaders would discuss military and technical
cooperation during the course of the visit, he added. “Indonesia
is a solvent country that produces oil, and Russia grants
credit to such countries, if the possibility arises,”
he said. Indonesia is a major arms buying client for Russia.
In August it bought six Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft
for a cost of 330 to 350 million dollars. (September 4th 2007,
Antara News)
European Tourist Arrivals in Indonesia Unaffected by Flight
Ban
The ban by the European Aviation Authority for Indonesian
airlines to fly over its airspace does not affect the flow
of European tourists arriving in Indonesia, a spokesman said.
“We don’t see any impact of the ban on the flow
of European tourists into Indonesia because in reality we
have no airlines flying the European space,” Central
Board of Statistics (BPS) head Rusman Heriawan said on Monday
(3/9). He said that the European tourists came to Indonesia
aboard foreign flights. Citing as an example, Heriawan said
that the number of British tourists arriving in Indonesia
in July reached 12,083, or an increase by 11.83 percent compared
with that of the previous month which totaled 10,805. He said
the same case also happened to the number of German tourists
which increased 26.73 percent from 8,017 to 10,160 in June.
There was a drastic increase in the number of Dutch tourist
arrivals which rose 93.30 percent from 9,124 to 17,637.(September
4th 2007, Antara News)
Sulawesi to Host World Ocean Conference in May 2008
The North Sulawesi provincial administration will host a World
Ocean Conference (WOC) in its capital, Manado, on May 11-15
next year, a spokesman said here Monday (9/3). He said the
central government and the provincial administration would
do their best to maintain security and stability in the country
in general, in North Sulawesi in particular. Among world bodies
that had responded positively to the planned conference were
the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the UN Habitat,
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), Global Forum Ocean, World Wide Fund (WWF), the Partnership
in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)
and the Arafura and Timor Seas Experts Forum (ATSEF). He said
the conference would be a means for world leaders and decision-makers
to gather and make commitments to development and management
of marine resources. (September 4th 2007, Antara News)
Australia Builds 17 New Schools in S. Kalimantan
Australia’s Deputy Head of Mission to Indonesia, Ms
Louise Hand, on Friday (31/8) officiated at a ceremony in
Br. Baru to inaugurate one of 17 junior secondary schools
(SMP) the Australian Government is building in South Kalimantan.
According to Australian Embassy media release here on Friday,
Ms Hand said the new schools were part of the Rp2,5 trillion
Australian Government program to build or expand 2000 schools
in Indonesia, across 20 provinces, from 2006-2009. The Australian
Government program, developed in consultation with the Ministries
of National Education and Religious Affairs, aims to create
more than 330,000 new junior secondary school (SMP) places
for 13 to 15 year olds by mid-2009, targeting children from
poor and remote areas. Around 500 of the 2000 schools being
built or expanded are private Madrasah Tsanawiyah, under the
supervision of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Local people
are building the schools using locally supplied materials.
The school sites have been selected based on assessments of
unmet demand, enrollment rates & community involvement.
Ms Hand said some schools built under the program would be
invited to participate in a planned `sister school` arrangement
with Australian schools. She hoped this new program would
facilitate exchanges between Australian & Indonesian school
communities and “strengthen further the extensive people-to-people
links between our two countries.” (September 1st 2007,
Antara News)
