Bali Outlaws Human Trafficking Including both Male and Female Prostitution
Bali has taken a stand against human trafficking by passing local legislation packing prison terms of up to 15 years and fines of Rp. 600 million (US$58,800) for those convicted of pedophilia, prostitution, marriages of convenience, pimping and slavery. According to Radar Bali, the provincial criminal law underwent months of deliberation before being rushed through approval before the close of the current session of the Bali House of Representatives. The new legislation which was originally conceived to be called the “Provincial Law to Against the Commercialization of Women and Children” had its name changed to the “Provincial Law for Prevention of Human Trafficking” when changes in the law were made to include rules against male prostitution. The new legislation will adopt a cross-sector plan of attack by confronting both the perpetrators while also assisting the victims of human trafficking. Budgets have been allocated to provide for “safe houses” and enforcement coordination with various national enforcement authorities. The new rules also provide for identity checks at sea and airports in Bali as a step to prevent the criminal trade in human beings.Governor Made Mangku Pastika, who attended the House Session at which the law was passed, applauded the new legislation saying he hoped that local authorities would prosecute violators to the full extent of the law. (June 13th 2009, http://www.balidiscovery.com.)
Bali Villa Assoc. urges Government to Close Unregistered Commercial Villas
The Chief of the Bali Villa Association (BVA), Ismoyo S. Soemarlan, is calling on the government to undertake sweeping raids against illegal commercial villas in Bali and close all illegal villas down. Quoted in Denpost, Ismoyo, who is also the owner of the Villa Uma Sapta, said that he hoped the government would soon undertake sweeping raids involving members of the BVA. The raids are necessary, according to Ismoyo, in order to move against villas that avoid taxes and have callously evaded recent efforts to allow lenient ex post facto commercial registration of their enterprises. The Chief of the BVA told the press that he has accumulated data on illegal villas that could form the basis of future enforcement actions. Ismoyo said that tracking down the illegal villas is an easy matter of comparing the list of licensed establishments against those Bali villas offered for rent on the Internet. (June 13th 2009, http://www.balidiscovery.com.)
Indonesia Detains 12 Iranians Bound For Australia
Indonesian authorities arrested 12 Iranian migrants bound for Australia, police said Tuesday (23/6). The group was detained after a tip-off from locals that they were staying at a hotel on Aru island in the eastern Maluku province, police officer Wayan Arsana said. “The twelve Iranians told police investigators that they fled to Indonesia due to political conflict in their country,” Arsana said. “According to them, they were in transit in Indonesia before traveling on to Australia,” he said, adding they had been moved to an immigration detention center. The arrest comes amid a spike in migrants from the Middle East and Asia using Indonesia as a staging point for travel, often aided by traffickers, to what they hope is a better life in Australia. Earlier this month 59 Afghan and Pakistani migrants were detained in Indonesia after being forced by bad weather to abort an attempt to travel by sea from Sumbawa island to Australia. Hundreds of migrants from countries including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been caught in Indonesia since late last year. (June 23rd 2009, AFP)
Another Indonesian Elephant Found Dead
Environmental group WWF said on Monday (15/6) that poachers might have used pineapples to poison and kill an endangered Sumatran elephant for its tusk. Syamsidar, a WWF spokeswoman, told AFP that the male was found dead in a pulp plantation in Riau province, Sumatra last Friday (12/6) with its tusks removed. This is the seventh recent Indonesian elephant found dead from poaching. Syamsidar said the other elephants that were found dead had been killed in Riau in the last two months and two of those were found with missing tusks. “We believe it could be the work of poachers. Cut pieces of ivory could be sold for five million rupiah (495 dollars) a kilogram and whole tusks for 25 to 30 million rupiah a kilogram,” Syamsidar said. “We want the authorities to take firm action against the poachers because the Sumatran elephants are an endangered species and must be protected.” Humans and wild animals are fighting for space as legal and illegal logging is rapidly reducing the tropical jungle. Syamsidar said that there are between 2,400 and 2,800 Sumatran elephants in Indonesia, of which only 200 to 250 are in Riau. (June 16th 2009, AAP)
Indonesian Govt preparing Three Million Tamiflu Tablets
The government is preparing about three million tamiflu tablets in an effort to anticipate the spread of the H1N1 swine influenza A virus in Indonesia, a foreign ministry spokesman said. “The government is preparing two steps in anticipation of the entry into Indonesia of the swine flu virus, namely providing tamiflu pills and installing monitoring devices at airports,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said. He said that swine flu virus had affected people in 74 countries so that the World Health Organization (WHO) had the alertness rate of the disease to six. The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic on Thursday, raising its alert level to the maximum six, the Swedish government said. Swedish Health Minister Maria Larsson held a press conference later Thursday following “the WHO`s decision to raise the pandemic level to six for the influenza A (H1N1),” the government said in a statement. The WHO was holding a meeting at its headquarters in Geneva amid growing evidence the virus, which originated in Mexico two months ago, is now being widely transmitted between humans in Asia and Europe as well as in the Americas. Faizasyah said that Indonesia was still considered safe from swine flu so that it did not yet need to impose a travel warning. He said that the Indonesian people have been very aware of the danger of the swine flu virus. The government called on people from all walks of life to keep calm in facing the problem and try to understand and respond to any change related to the spread of the disease which began in Mexico and the United States last April, he said. The world body noted that the number of H1N1 flu cases increased by 2441 in two days earlier. WHO data show by June 11th 2009, influenza A (H1N1) had affected 28,774 people with 144 deaths in 74 countries. (June 18th 2009, Antara News)
40 Feared Dead in Indonesia Mine
A coal mine explosion in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island has killed 28 miners and 12 others are missing, officials said.The explosion, on Tuesday, may have been caused by a build-up of methane gas in the mine in Parambahan, West Sumatra. The miners have been trapped underground for around 30 hours. Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry’s disaster centre, said in a telephone text message that 28 had been confirmed dead, 8 were still in hospitals, one had been discharged and 12 were missing. Local police chief Jasman, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said the prospect of finding more survivors in the mine, which according to media reports is 150 meters deep, were fading.Indonesia has rich mineral resources with many coal and other mines, but often tends to use open-pit mining rather than underground mining. The mine hit by the explosion was locally owned and produced only about 1,500 tones of coal a month and supplied local paper and power companies.Indonesia, which is the world’s largest thermal coal exporter, is expected to produce around 230 million tones of coal this year. (June 18th 2009, Reuters)
Anak Krakatau Erupts 452 Times
Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait has erupted smoke 452 times which was moving northward. “Besides eruptions shallow volcanic earthquakes have also been recorded up to 157 times while tremors to 377 times and blows 271 times,” the head of the volcano monitoring post in Pasauran, Serang, Banten, Anton Prambudi, said here on Friday (19/6).He said the volcano was still under Level III alert status, and for this reason public or fishermen were not allowed to approach the mountain’s surrounding area. The Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center in Bandung only recommends people to go as far as two kilometers away from the eruption center. “I am afraid of them being hit by burning rocks from the mountain the heat of which could reach 1,0000C,” he said. In spite of the mountain’s increasing activity the people living on the coastal area in Banten in west Java remained peaceful as no strong eruptions or tsunami had occurred. The activity is still considered normal and not threatening the people. (June 19th 2009, Antara News)
Industrial and Human Waste Discharged into the Ocean on Double Six Beach
Bali’s Badung House of Representatives (DPR-Badung) is pressing a number of Bali agencies to take the necessary steps to stop hotels, restaurants and businesses in the Double Six - Legian - Seminyak area from discharging raw sewage into surrounding drains, rivers and, eventually, Bali’s Sea. Wayan Suyasa of Commission B of the DPR-Badung was quoted in the NusaBali, calling on the Badung Environmental Agency (BLH) to urgently determine the source of pollution in the area. “What’s clear is that an investigation must be undertaken at the location. The (current) condition is worrying. The BLH must visit hotels and restaurants suspected of discharging sewage and, if proven to be violators, action must be taken against them.” Suyasa said. The North Kuta legislator blames the raw sewage discharging onto Kuta’s famous beach as being caused by hotels and restaurants in the area that are ignoring regulations which require every place of business to have its own sewage capture and treatment system. For hotels and new investments, in fact, licensing requirements require detailed environmental impact plans and facilities to handle any sewage produced by each enterprise. A visit by a group of lawmakers to the seaside gutter on the edge of Jalan Double Six shocked the group who saw evidence of both kitchen-chemical waste and raw human sewage flowing into the waters of the popular public beach. As reported by NusaBali, while inspecting the area surrounding the nearby Puri Naga Hotel, Suyasa proclaimed that the hotel was sending its dirty dishwater to a nearby drain. This charge was denied by a staff member of the hotel who opened a cover over a local drain showing waste flowing by from locations even further to the north. Suyasa promised to call the Chief of the LBH , Putra Suteja, to obtain his explanation for the sewage discharge. Showing his growing frustration, Suyasa complained, “This problem has gone on for years without resolution.” (June 21st 2009, http://www.balidiscovery.com)
Indonesian Elephant Fossil Opens Window to Past
Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin. The prehistoric elephant is believed to have been submerged in quicksand shortly after dying on a riverbed in Java around 200,000 years ago. Its bones - almost perfectly preserved - were discovered by chance in March when an old sand quarry collapsed during monsoon rains. The animal stood four meters (13-feet) tall, five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons - closer in size to the woolly mammoth of the same period than to the great Asian mammals now on Earth. Animal fossils are rare in the humid, hot climate of the equator because decomposition occurs extremely quickly. Scientists agree it is the first time an entire prehistoric elephant skeleton has been unearthed since vertebrate fossil findings began to be recorded in Indonesia in 1863. (June 23rd 2009, AP)
Bali Prisoners Scare off Police Drug Raid
Indonesian police have aborted an anti-drug raid on a Bali prison holding Australia’s Bali Nine and Schapelle Corby after inmates armed themselves with stones and prepared to defend themselves. Bali’s notorious Kerobokan Prison houses the nine Australians convicted in 2006 of attempted heroin smuggling and Corby who’s serving 20 years for cannabis importation. Hundreds of officers arrived at the prison yesterday but were ordered to pull back to avoid a violent confrontation with the prisoners. It’s not known whether any of the Australian inmates were involved in the prisoners’ actions to thwart the raid. Kerobokan prison is known to be a major market for drugs on the resort island with inmates as well as prison officials involved. The prison’s chief of security was arrested in September for possession of methamphetamine. (June 20th 2009, AAP)
