A moderate earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale shook part of the Nusa Dua resort in Bali at 02:22 on Wednesday morning (22/10), Meteorology and Geophysics Office (BMG) said. It said the epicenter of the earthquake was located between 11.71 degrees southern latitude and 116.02 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 kilometers under the sea level, or some 335 kilometers southeast of Nusa Dua. BMG spokesman H Sutrisno said there were no reports of casualties or damage. (October 22nd 2008, Antara News)
Some 150 Foreign Students Study at Unud’s
Bali Faculty of Medicine
The faculty of medicine at Udayana University (Unud) in Denpasar, Bali, is currently educating 150 foreign students who make up 10 percent of the university’s student body.
“In 2008 academic year alone the Unud faculty of medicine has accommodated 48 foreign students but next year the number will be reduced to give wider opportunity to domestic students,” the faculty’s dean Prof Dewa Putu Wijana said here on Saturday (25/10). He said most of the foreign students were from Malaysia and the rest were from other countries including Canada, Germany, England, and Timor Leste. (October 25th 2008, Antara News)
Tuna under Threat in Key SE Asia Ecosystem: WWF
Key tuna species are under threat from over-fishing in Asia’s diverse Coral Triangle region and a drastic rethink is needed to stave off collapse, environmental group WWF said Tuesday (21/10). Tuna species in the triangle, including heavily over-fished bluefin and bigeye tuna, are under increasing pressure as fleets move in from depleted fishing grounds in other parts of the world, WWF researcher Lida Pet Soede was quoted by AFP as saying. The Coral Triangle - which is bounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor - contains spawning and nursery grounds as well as migratory routes for up to 89 percent of the world’s tuna catch, according to the WWF. The triangle is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. Saut Hutagalung, a senior official in the Indonesian fisheries ministry, said the country was struggling to regulate tuna fishing by a fleet of mostly small, unlicensed boats. Indonesia has no effective quota system for species apart from the lucrative bluefin tuna, prized for sushi and sashimi, Hutagalung said. The archipelago nation produced 700,000 tons of tuna in 2007, he said. (October 21st 2008, Antara News)
British Official Missing During Asian Beach
Games - Bali
A British sea scooter official has gone missing during the Asian Beach Games in Indonesia. Jeremy Hoyland is believed to have disappeared on Friday (24/10) during a trip to Nusa Lembongan islet, near Bali. Mr. Hoyland, 41, was supposed to return to Tanjung Benoa beach a few hours later to preside over a sea scooter race but failed to turn up. The Foreign Office is in contact with Indonesian authorities and is providing consular assistance to his family. Fully Aswar, who was in charge of the competition Mr. Hoyland was supposed to be at, told the newspaper that the group had not told him they were going to Nusa Lembongan islet. He said: “They went there of their own will. I only found out that he was missing when I checked the team for the next competition.” He said Mr. Hoyland answered his mobile phone at 1400 local time (0600GMT) and said he was a few miles away from the shore but after that he could not be contacted. A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the BBC: “Indonesian authorities have carried out extensive sea and air operations in their search for him.” (October 26th 2008, BBC News)
Indonesia has 746 Researched, Documented
Languages
The National Language Center has since the 1970s researched and documented a total of 746 different languages across Indonesia, a spokesman said. The number represents 12 percent of the number of languages existing in the world, Dendy Sugono, head of the center at the National Education Ministry, said here Thursday (24/10). This center would document 420 of the researched languages by including them in a language map. The map would be shown to the public at a Language Congress to be held on Oct 28, 2008 in Jakarta. (October 24th 2008, Antara News)
Jetstar Launches Bali Flights as Terror Alert Increased
Jetstar has launched its inaugural service from Perth to Bali amid fresh warnings from Australia’s foreign affairs department about travel to Indonesia. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade updated its travel advice for Indonesia on Friday (24/10), warning the imminent executions would compound an already significant terrorism risk. The update followed Friday’s announcement by Indonesia that three Islamic militants would be put before a firing squad in early November for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. The warning is ill-timed for Jetstar. (October 24th 2008, AAP)
An Hour’s Silence in Bali to Reject Pornography Bill
Scores of people representing the Balinese were observing a one-hour silence in rejecting the pornography bill in Sanur here Thursday (23/10). Dressed in “Madya” traditional apparel, tens of Balinese youth unfolded banners reading “Rise my Indonesia, Bali is faithful to Bhineka Tunggal Ika” and “Beware the Pornography bill may cause national disintegration”. “This silence is aimed at the House of Representatives special committee to think clear and in silence when passing the bill into law. We hope a clear thought comes from many directions,” said the demonstration coordinator Wayan Semaracipta. The act was started with a single contemporary Balinese dance by Balinese choreographer Wayan Sura. This was followed by an hour of silence and standing still.(October 23rd 2008, Antara News)
Arrested Terror Suspects Planned to Blow up Plumpang Oil Station
Five suspected terrorists who were arrested in the Kelapa Gading area, North Jakarta, on Tuesday (21/10) had planned to blow up an oil station in Plumpang, North Jakarta, police said. “One of their objectives was to blow up Plumpang oil station but their other objectives are still under investigation,” National Police Headquarters spokesman Brig Gen Sulistyo Ishak said here Wednesday. He said Rusli, Hasan, Muntasir and Budiman were arrested in Jakarta while Basar was arrested in Bogor, West Java. Rusli was also suspected of being involved in past terrorist activity in Ambon in Maluku and Poso in Central Sulawesi. In Tuesday`s arrest in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, the police also seized a 9 mm caliber revolver, a magazine, 27 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a firearm, 257.5 grams of TMP, and a bomb assembling manual. (October 22nd 2008, Antara News)
VP Closes Asian Beach Games in Bali
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla officially closed the first Asian Beach Games (ABG) 2008 on Sunday (Oct 26) night in Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Nusa Dua, Bali. Jusuf Kalla on the occasion expressed his feeling of pride of the struggle showed by athletes from 45 Asian countries. The ABG was opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on October 18. The Asian Beach Games was attended by over 10,000 athletes from 45 countries including China, Japan, Afghanistan, Laos and Macau. There were 17 beach sports for the event such as beach volleyball, dragon boat racing, body building, beach soccer, beach handball, beach pencaksilat (traditional martial art), beach wrestling, jet-skiing, marathon swimming, para-gliding, sailing, triathlon, windsurfing, woodball and sepaktakraw. Jusuf Kalla was also proud of what has been achieved by the Indonesian contingent with their success as the overall champion, grabbing 23 gold medals, eight silver and 20 bronze medals. Thailand was runner-up with ten gold medals, 17 silvers and ten bronze medals. Oman will be the 2nd host the ABG in 2010. (October 26th 2008, Antara News)
Garuda Co-Pilot Withdraws too Fast Claim
The co-pilot of an ill-fated Garuda plane which crashed killing 21 people has dramatically withdrawn his earlier claims that the plane was traveling too fast. Five Australians were among those killed when the Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737 slammed onto the runway at Yogyakarta airport, careered into a rice paddy field and exploded in flames on March 7, 2007. Co-pilot Gagam Jahman Rochman withdrew his earlier statements to police, as he testified in the trial of his captain Marwoto Komar in Slemen District Court, Yogyakarta. Komar is fighting charges he deliberately crashed the jet, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.Gagam said he was influenced by media opinion in his earlier comments, and admitted he was unclear about the chronology of events and did not read his police statement fully before signing it. He also said he was not aware of what was happening in the plane’s final moments because he had passed out. (October 27th 2008, AAP)
‘Extinct’ Cockatoo Rediscovered in Indonesia: Researchers
A species of cockatoo feared to have become extinct has been “rediscovered” with the sighting of a handful of breeding pairs on a remote Indonesian island, researchers said Thursday. Ten Yellow-crested Abbott’s cockatoos were found on the Masalembu archipelago off Java Island, the Indonesian Cockatoo Conservation group told AFP. The group included four breeding pairs and two juveniles, but despite the discovery the Yellow-crested Abbott’s cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea abbotti) remains the rarest species of the bird on earth, he said. It hasn’t been seen since scientists observed a group of five in 1999, researcher Dwi Agustina said. It was assumed that number was too low for the cockatoos to reproduce and the species had died out, Agustina said. The local population of the cockatoo has been threatened by hunting and capture for the pet trade. (October 23rd 2008, Antara News)
