Six HIV/AIDS Patients Die in Bali Hospital in July
Six HIV/AIDS patients passed away this month at Sanglah General Hospital here, a hospital officer said. Two of the six patients died last week, Sagung Anom Suryani, coordinator of the Sanglah General Hospital’s Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) clinic, said on Monday (6/7). Mr. A of Tabanan District, had been hospitalized for one month for a complication of various diseases. And he had already reached the AIDS phase, Suryani said. Another man, an inhabitant of Denpasar, died after being hospitalized for ten days for Tuberculosis (TB) and fungi in his throat. According to Suryani, HIV/AIDS infection cases in Bali were quite complex because they were related to the patients` life styles and social, economic and cultural status. The main factors which caused HIV/AIDS infection in Bali were unsafe sex and intravenous drug use. The first HIV/AIDS case was found in Bali in 1987 involving a Dutch national. A total of 3,492 people died of HIV/AIDS in Indonesia in the January 1987 - March 31, 2009 period. The cumulative number of HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia in the January 1987 - March 2009 period reached 23,632, which consisted of 6,668 HIV cases and 16,964 AIDS cases. (July 9th 2009, Antara News)
At Least 40 Indonesians Killed by Drugs Daily
About 42 people are killed in Indonesia every day due to drug addiction while about 15 thousand Indonesians get involved in narcotics cases every year, a provincial drug administration official said. “Based on a survey carried out by the National Narcotics Board (BNN), about 15 thousand people get involved in narcotics cases each year while 40 to 42 people die of drug abuse every day,” chairman of BBN for West Java, Dede Yusuf, who is also West Java vice governor, said here on Saturday (11/7). Speaking at the observance of the 21st anniversary of BBN, Yusuf said Indonesia was suffering a loss of Rp32.4 trillion per annum due to narcotics cases.(July 11th 2009, Antara news)
Images of Bomb Body Parts Sent to Mobile Phones
Images of the body parts of Jakarta bombing victim Nathan Verity have been circulated on mobile phones, a friend and business colleague says. Jim Truscott, who owns a crisis management firm in which Mr. Verity was a partner, has called for authorities to arrest anyone found to have sent the photos. “This is a criminal act,” Mr. Truscott, a former SAS soldier, told AAP in Perth on Sunday. “Please tell anyone that’s doing that willingly, knowingly or unknowingly that they are aiding and abetting terrorism and they will be condemned in a court of law.” Mr. Verity was one of three Australians believed to have been killed in the blasts that rocked Jakarta’s Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on Friday morning. The owner of the Verity recruitment and consultancy firm, he is believed to have been attending a breakfast business meeting at the Ritz-Carlton’s Airlangga Restaurant at the time of the bombings. Mr. Truscott, the owner of Perth-based crisis management company Truscott Crisis Leaders, said a work colleague in Jakarta informed him on Saturday that the photos of Mr. Verity’s body parts were being circulated. “My colleague did not receive them but he saw them on another phone. They are clearly official photographs in official location. They’ve been taken in a medical background and they’ve been passed by mobile phone all around Jakarta.” Said Mr. Truscott. He said whoever was responsible and whoever participated in passing the photos on was aiding and abetting terrorism. He did not say who could have been responsible for initially circulating the photos. (July 19th 2009, AAP)
Netherlands Suspends Activities in Indonesia - Dutch Couple Killed
The Dutch government has suspended its activities in Indonesia following the terrorist bomb attacks at Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Kuningan area, Jakarta, Friday morning (17/9). “For the time being, the Netherlands government, represented by the Dutch embassy in Jakarta, has stopped all kinds of activities following the bomb attacks,” founder of KidsFest, Nia Dinata (39), said after opening the event in Jakarta Friday (17/9). Earlier, she said, the Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis fully supported KidsFest Indonesia 2009 scheduled to be held in Jakarta from July 17 to 26. The contribution from the institute includes two children’s films from the Netherlands among the 25 films which will be shown during the event. Meanwhile, an Indonesian police spokesman said that a Dutch couple had been identified amongst the deceased. The man and woman shared the last name of Keaning. (July 18th 2009, Antara News)
Australian Man Hangs Himself at Kuta Hotel
Australian man Benjamin Alan White (27) apparently hung himself in his hotel room at the Villas Hotel in Kuta on Tuesday (14/7). According to a police spokesman, Benjamin was found deceased hanging from the ceiling of his room with rope from the swimming pool’s rescue device, with a suicide note, in which he claimed to be feeling confused and alone. There was no suspicion of foul play. (July 15th 2009, Denpost)
Australian Man Killed in “Big Bike” Accident
An Australian man Randall Bell (34) was killed in a motor bike accident when he lost control of the Honda “Big Bike” that he was riding. The accident occurred on Sunset road in Kuta at approximately 6pm on Saturday 11th July. Mr. Bell sustained severe head injuries and was taken to Sanglah General Hospital in a pick up truck, as ambulances could not reach him due to the severe traffic jams. He was pronounced dead-on-arrival. A police spokesman said that it appeared that the bike and the rider where traveling and a very high speed when the bikes front tyre clipped the dividing strip, causing the bike to spin out of control. (July 13th 2009, Denpost)
Obama Still Hopes to Visit Indonesia
US President Barack Obama still wants to visit his old hometown of Jakarta perhaps later in the year, despite the twin blasts at two luxury hotels in the city, the White House said on Monday (20/7). “I have no reason to believe that the events of the past few days have changed or lessened the president’s desire” to visit Indonesia, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Obama spent a few years as a child living in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971 after his mother remarried to an Indonesian national. He told reporters in June: “Oh, I need to come to Indonesia soon. I expect to be traveling to Asia at some point within the next year and I would be surprised if when I came to Asia I did not stop by my old home town of Jakarta. “And I’ll go visit Menteng Dalam and have some bakso - Nasi Goreng. These are some special dishes here that I used to eat when I was a kid.” Gibbs said Obama’s upcoming itinerary would be discussed in meetings at the White House this week. However, the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to be held in Singapore in November could provide an opportunity for a stopover in Indonesia. Gibbs again on Monday stressed the special importance that Indonesia holds for Obama, saying: “Obviously it is a country with the largest number of Muslims in the world, important to him from that standpoint as well as personal.” (July 21st 2009, AFP)
Bali Prosecutors Request Jail for Aussie
Prosecutors have called on an Indonesian court to jail an Australian man caught using drugs on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali. Jason Scott McIntyre, 33, was arrested outside a bar in Kuta in the early hours of April 20 carrying about five grams of hashish. In Denpasar District Court on Thursday (16/7), prosecutor Ketut Terima Darsana said there was no excuse or justification for McIntyre’s actions. “The defendant’s actions have damaged Bali’s image as the world’s tourist destination, his actions have made Bali look like a haven for drug traffickers, and could destroy the mentality of young people,” Darsana told the court. McIntyre should be found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison, minus time already spent in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison, Darsana said. McIntyre, from Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory, has admitted his wrongdoing and says he has struggled with drug addiction for years. The court will deliver its verdict and sentence on July 27. (July 17th 2009, AAP)
Indonesian Muslim Leaders Urge not to Link Terror with Islam
Various Muslim leaders and organizations in Indonesia are calling on all sides not to link Islam to terror attacks which killed 9 people and injured more than 50 others in Jakarta last week. “Resorting to terror was not Islamic. Islam does not adopt that terror behavior. So, the bomb terror such as the bombings of two top hotels in South Jakarta on Friday has no link with Islam,” Antara news agency quoted chairman of the Islamic organization Basri Bermanda as saying on Sunday (19/7). A similar call was also made by the country’s largest Muslim organization, the Nahdhatul Ulama (NU). “Terrorism is not a religion and so it is not correct to say Muslims were the mastermind of the bombings,” the chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi, said. Both NU and the second largest Islamic organization Muhammadiyah condemned the barbaric attacks. “The terrorist act was inhumane,” Muhammadiyah chief Din Syamsuddin said. Secretary General of the Islamic Community Forum (FUI) M Alkhaththath also called for all sides not to link the bombings with Islam. “One should not link the bomb blasts to the Muslim community and the recent presidential elections,” the FUI secretary general said on Sunday. Tarbiyah Islamiyah Organization chairman Basri Bermanda said that terrorist acts were against Islam but they could be done by quarters using the label of Islam or by non-Muslims who wanted to tarnish the image of Islam. He therefore refused to accept that Islam was identical with the symbol of violence and cruelty. “Islam teaches peace and goodness,” he said. On the occasion, the organization’s central executive board strongly condemned the bombings of the two hotels, saying the attacks could have been done with an intention to create chaos, political and economic instability. Even Muslim cleric Abubakar Ba’asyir who was once described as a hardliner, said the perpetrators of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings in Jakarta were “enemies of Islam”. NU chief Hasyim Muzadi called on the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to unveil those behind the bombings which had caused people to suffer. “I certainly condemn the incidents that have claimed lives,” he said. (July 20th 2009, Xinhua)
Australia Warns of More Terrorist Attacks in Indonesia
Australia has upgraded its travel advisory to Indonesia after the fatal hotel bombings in Jakarta. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra warns Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Indonesia because of the possibility of further terrorist attacks. The explosions at Jakarta’s Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people, including three Australians and a New Zealander. The attacks have prompted the Australian government to warn its citizens to think twice before traveling to Indonesia. The upgraded travel advisory warns that further acts of terrorism are possible. In Canberra, officials say that Bali, a resort island popular with Australian tourists, remains vulnerable to attack. David Mackney, a security expert in Jakarta, says Indonesia has responded quickly to this new threat. “Security has been beefed up at the big hotels and also in the shopping malls,” Mackney said. “I know that the police in Bali for instance have reported that they’ve gone on a higher alert and there is extra security at Bali airport and all the main tourist spots in Bali.” Security has been tightened across Indonesia, with 500 troops put on standby to support police in the capital, Jakarta. No arrests have yet been made but investigators think the suicide bombings were part of a sophisticated plot. Suspicion has fallen on fugitive Malaysian militant Noordin Mohammed Top. He is suspected of involvement in a series of attacks, including the twin blasts that killed more than 200 people died on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali in 2002. Noordin is thought to have been a key figure in Jemaah Islamiah, a militant Islamic organization, but is now believed to lead a splinter group. Relatives of the Australians killed in Friday’s blasts have traveled to Indonesia to claim their bodies as the investigation continues. (July 20th 2009, VOA News)
