Indonesia Calls for Balance in Balibo Film
A new Australian film on the alleged killing of five foreign journalists by Indonesian troops in East Timor should include Indonesia’s point of view, a foreign ministry spokesman said. The film Balibo, which is being shot in Darwin, tells the story of five Australian-based journalists, known as the Balibo Five, allegedly executed by Indonesian troops during their 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony. “We can’t interfere with this film-making process. We hope this film can be done in a balanced way and doesn’t just refer to one source,” spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told reporters. “We hope this production includes substance from Indonesia’s point of view.” An inquest last year found Indonesian soldiers had murdered the five British, Australian and New Zealand nationals in the East Timorese town of Balibo to prevent them exposing the invasion. The inquest recommended to the Attorney-General’s office that war crimes charges be pursued against former Indonesian officers, including an ex-minister, over the killings. Indonesia has brushed off the results of the inquest, sticking to its original story that the five were accidentally killed in crossfire. Balibo is directed by Robert Connolly and stars Australian-born Hollywood actor Anthony La Paglia. (June 27th 2008, AFP)
Indonesian Orangutan Populations
Declining Sharply
A researcher says the number of orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia has declined sharply mostly because of illegal logging and the rapid expansion of palm oil plantations. Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust in Iowa, says the orangutan population on Sumatra dropped almost 14 percent since 2004 because of shrinking habitat, and fell about 10 percent on Borneo island from deforestation. His group’s study is one of the most comprehensive on the endangered apes and appears in this month’s peer reviewed, science journal Oryx. But Wich, in an interview Saturday, insists there is reason for optimism. He says government commitments in Indonesia to protect forest and increasing conservation programs could help save the remaining 61,600 apes. (July 5th 2008, The West)
Give to Beggars and Cop Jail Time,
says Indonesian City
Residents in one Indonesian city who give in to the tug of guilt could face three months in jail under a law which criminalizes giving money to beggars and street children, the city’s mayor said. The new regulation approved last month by the legislative council in Makassar, South Sulawesi, is aimed at reducing the city’s swelling population of beggars, Mayor Ilham Arif Sirajuddin said. “Under the law, people who give money to beggars will be jailed up to three months or have to pay a maximum fine of 1.5 million rupiah ($169.40),” he said. “This is an important decision to clear beggars from the streets,” Mr Sirajuddin said, adding that beggars and street children face maximum sentences of three years in jail or fines up to five million rupiah. The crackdown has been matched by a program to train beggars for work, he said. The population of beggars and street children in Makassar jumped from 870 in 2006 to 2,600 this year, he said. (July 4th 2008, AFPO)
Indonesia Grounds Five Airlines over Safety
Indonesia has grounded five airlines and given them three months to improve safety standards or face a ban, a transport ministry spokesman said. A safety audit found airlines Helizona, SMAC, Asco Nusa Air, Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines and Dirgantara Air Service failed to meet minimum standards in all safety categories, spokesman Bambang Ervan said. The airlines have been moved into the transport ministry’s bottom safety ranking and have had their Air Operator’s Certificates (AOC) suspended, Mr Ervan said. “They can’t fly because their certificates have been frozen. If after three months they don’t take any action, their AOCs will be revoked,” he said. The Transport Ministry in June revoked the AOC of Adam Air after the troubled budget carrier failed to meet a three-month deadline to improve its safety standards. Indonesia, which relies on air routes to link its thousands of islands, has one of the world’s worst air safety records. (July 1st 2008, AFP)
Corby Returned to Kerobokan Cell
Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby has been returned to her Bali jail after being treated in hospital for two and a half weeks for depression. A large media contingent was on hand when the 30-year-old was taken from Bali’s Sanglah Hospital on Tuesday (8/7) night. She was accompanied by her sister Mercedes who yelled at photographers as they closed in on Corby. “Leave her alone. Get out, I’ll smash your camera,” Mercedes Corby yelled, in footage shown on the Seven Network. Officials from Kerobokan prison - where Schapelle Corby is serving a 20-year sentence for marijuana smuggling - said she had slumped into a deep depression after her final legal appeal failed. Her doctor Nyoman Ratep told reporters she was improving and that she would continue her treatment in prison. (July 9th 2008, AFP)
Corby Visits Bali Beauty Salon
Convicted drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, who is serving a 20-year jail term in Indonesia for smuggling marijuana, has spent several hours having her hair and nails done in a Bali beauty salon. The 30-year-old beautician, whose case is the subject of a documentary film and is frequently in the media spotlight, was convicted in 2005 of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana from Australia to Bali. Flanked by two armed officers, Corby went to a beauty salon in the Balinese capital located near a hospital where she has been receiving treatment for depression, witnesses said. Corby instructed the salon staff using English and Indonesian, Ida Ayu Purnama, a member of the salon staff, said. After getting her hair groomed and a pedicure, she spent another hour in the salon hiding from journalists waiting for her outside. Corby, who was wearing a blue hat and top, eventually left but tried to shield her face with a sheet of paper. She was taken from Kerobokan jail to a Bali hospital last month suffering from depression, which her lawyer said was due to a decision by Indonesia’s Supreme Court to reject her final judicial review appeal. Nyoman Ratep, a doctor treating Corby, said she was getting better but would need more medical treatment before being allowed to return to her cell. The doctor said she had been allowed to go to the salon because it was close to the hospital. (July 2008, Reuters)
Indonesia Executes Nigerian Drug Traffickers
Two Nigerian drug traffickers have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia, an official said. “A firing squad of 12 people executed them in an outdoor area some three kilometers away from their prison,” provincial prisons chief Bambang Winahyo said. He said the execution was carried out just after midnight near Nusakambangan island prison in central Java. Samuel Iwachekwu Okeye and Hansen Anthoni Nwaoysa were caught smuggling some seven kilograms of heroin into the country through Soekarno Hatta airport in 2001. Their requests for clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were rejected in 2004. Mr. Winahyo said the Nigerian embassy had asked Indonesia to take care of their burial. The last person to be executed for a drug offence in Indonesia was an Indian national in 2004. (June 28th 2008, AFP)
Bali Developing into Center of International
Arts Conventions
Bali is increasingly developing into a center of meetings and interaction among artists and culturalists from all parts of the world, a lecturer at the Denpasar-based Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI), Prof. Dr. I Wayan Dibia, MA, said here Friday (27/6).
At different times and in different contexts, artists and culture experts from various countries meet in Bali for inter-cultural dialogs in an effort to create art works of good quality, Dibia said.
They intentionally come to Bali to absorb new aesthetic inspirations and adopt Balinese art concepts and elements to produce new inventions, he said. “In order to prevent Bali`s local arts and cultural heritage from experiencing unexpected things, they need to be protected by such things as copyrights,” he said. Therefore, Bali`s artists should always produce original works and at the same time improve the quality of their creations, he said. Balinese arts and culture are changing rapidly from traditional to recreational works as well as new inventions in various forms, he said. The artistic tastes are dynamically changing and this was making the Balinese people proud, he said. However, he said, there was no legal protection for Bali`s arts and culture which had been bequeathed to the Balinese people from one generation to the other, Dibia said. (June 28th 2008, Antara News)
Bali Produces Environmentally
Friendly Coffee Beans
Bali is determined to produce environmentally friendly coffee beans to meet demands internationally. “Our farmers have been told to use manure and natural pesticides in coffee plantations,” Head of the Bali plantation service Gede Ardhana said here on Saturday (5/7). The coffee beans were meant for exports to places such as Japan, France, and the United States, he said. Bali has 31,831 hectares of coffee plantation areas, which consisted of coffea arabica (7,963 ha), and coffea robusca (23,878 ha).
In 2007, the plantations produced 15,647 tons of coffee beans, comprising 3,296 tons of Arabica coffee beans and 12,351 tons of Robusta coffee beans. Bali earned US$78,704 from coffee exports at a volume of 7.8 tons last year, or an increase of 54 percent from US$50,838 and 5.6 tons in 2006.(July 5th 2008, Antara News)
Waste Management Confab Ends with
Bali Declaration
The ninth Conference of Parties (COP-9) to the Basel Convention ended here on Friday (27/6) with the issue of so-called Bali Declaration. But the declaration made no mention of crucial issues related to a ban on the import and export of hazardous waste or what among conference delegates is known as the BAN Amendment. After days of lobbying, 40 countries agreed on the formation of a working group tasked with discussing the BAN Amendment. Indonesia and Switzerland initiated the formation of the working group. Executive Secretary of the Basel Convention Katharina Kummer Peiry said the Bali Declaration would pave the way for the formulation of the BAN Amendment. “The results of the Bali conference go beyond my expectations. Moreover, the long-deadlocked BAN Amendment issue can now begin to be brought forward,” she said. (June 28th 2008, Antara News)
Aussies Travel to Bali Once More Despite
Rigid Restrictions
With the demand for more flights into Bali from Australia, it appears that Aussie travelers are once more heading back to the island, regardless of the travel warnings. Government travel warnings to Indonesia haven’t lifted and they remain at the high level of “Reconsider your need to travel”. This has remained unchanged even though the US has recently lifted its warnings on Indonesia. And it appears that Australians aren’t listening anyway, with 2007 showing that 206,427 Australians traveled to Indonesia, against 126,595 who traveled there in 2006 – that’s an increase of over 60%. Breaking down these figures the Eastern seaboard has seen slightly weaker growth, with Victoria/Tasmania growing by 44 % and NSW/ACT by 49% for the year. The startling statistics come from the capital cities of Perth and Darwin, which in 2007 grew by 75% and 71% respectively. Airlines have been increasing capacity between the two destinations, further showing that this market is not expected to slow anytime soon. Garuda will soon add more services, and Jetstar started Denpasar services in June. (July 5th 2008, News.com)
Aussies Called to Clean Bali Beaches
Australians are being urged to join locals in cleaning up Bali’s beaches. On July 13, celebrities and locals will team up to collect rubbish from sea and reef areas in the inaugural Coca-Cola For Bali Coastal Clean-up Day. Organizers are hoping Australians and other visitors holidaying in Bali will take part and encourage others to keep the area tidy. “We want to remind and encourage everyone who enjoys our drinks – locals and visiting tourists – to do the right thing and put their drink containers and other rubbish in bins, and even better, make sure it goes into recycling,” said Coca-Cola chief executive Terry Davis. CCA, which owns the Coca-Cola bottling operations in Indonesia, is partnering with environmental organization Reef Check Indonesia Foundation, and local Bali environmental organization Yayasan Gus in a long-term commitment to clean up Bali’s major beaches. “As the company in Indonesia which makes great beverages, we are very mindful of the responsibility we have to the environment,” Mr. Davis said. The event will kick off with a traditional Balinese opening ceremony and entertainment on Legian and Mertasari, Sanur beaches, before starting the clean-up operation on Mertasari, Sanur beach and Nusa Lembongan. (July 5th 2008, news.com)
