American Expatriate Stabbed by Partner in Kuta
A 45-year-old American citizen identified as Sandy Florence Beck Samson was rushed to Sanglah General Hospital on Friday (15/5) morning after she was stabbed with a sharp implement. The woman was admitted at the hospital’s emergency unit room at 3 a.m., suffering from serious wounds to her abdomen, right chest, mouth, arms and legs. It was reported that the woman, who lived in the Jln Bunut Sari, Seminyak, had a fierce argument with her Indonesian partner, identified as David Valentino Retor, 22, who apparently tried to kill her. Seven months ago, she set up a bar called Mybar in Legian. She was reported to have asked David. to manage the bar. “We are now searching for the suspect who is from Manado, North Sulawesi.” explained I Made Karsa from the Bali Police’s criminal department. Nengah Wirata, the owner of the rental house where the woman stayed, added he had heard the woman crying and shouting loudly and found her covered in blood. Wirata rushed to call an ambulance and took her to the hospital.Sandy had been treated in the Sanglah General Hospital Intensive Care Unit for one week before she was medivaced to Singapore. (May 15th 2009, Jakarta Post)
Jetstar Increases Melb-Darwin, Darwin-Bali and Cairns-Darwin-Singapore Routes
Australia’s low fares airline Jetstar has announced it will increase capacity on its daily Melbourne-Darwin, Darwin-Denpasar (Bali) and Cairns-Darwin-Singapore services.Jetstar will use its larger Airbus A321 fleet which offers an increased seat capacity, replacing its existing 177 seat Airbus A320 aircraft operations between Cairns-Darwin-Singapore commencing from 10 June 2009 and on its Melbourne-Darwin and Darwin-Denpasar routes from 7 July 2009. The announcement coincides with Jetstar celebrating the milestone of achieving one million passengers through Darwin Airport since commencing services to the city on 1 May 2006. Jetstar’s Airbus A321s are seat configured in single class for up to 214 passengers, an increase of 37 seats against its A320 fleet. The upgrade in Jetstar’s aircraft fleet operating on the three routes equates to more than 1000 additional domestic and international seats to and from Darwin each week. Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Bruce Buchanan said the increase in capacity achieved through its larger narrow body aircraft was in direct response to anticipated future demand for these routes through the airline’s international flight hub in Darwin. (May 22nd 2009, TravelEblackboard)
Former Health Minister Suspect in Corruption Case
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has confirmed that former Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi is a suspect in alleged corruption in medical equipment procurement in 2003 causing a loss of 71 billion rupiahs to the state. “His (Sujudi`s) status in the case is now as a suspect,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said here Wednesday (20/5). Sujudi had reportedly returned 700 million rupiah to the state through the KPK. Budi said the KPK had asked the immigration office to prevent the former minister and other suspects in the case worth about 190 billion rupiah from traveling overseas. Two other suspects were PT Rifa Jaya Mulia`s president director, Rinaldi Yusuf, and PT Kimia Farma Trading`s president director, Gunawan Pranoto. Previously, the KPK had also searched several buildings belonging to the two companies. (May 21st 2009, Antara News)
Australian Tourists to Bali up 14 pct; Japanese Lead Visitor Numbers
The number of Australian tourists visiting Bali in the first quarter of 2009 rose 24.85 percent to 71,970 from 57,647 in the same period last year. “The Australian tourists accounted for 14.67 percent of the total tourists coming to the Island of Paradise in the first quarter which reached 490.454,” Head of the Bali Office of the Central Statistics Board (BPS) Ida Komang Wisnu said here on Sunday (17/5). The figure placed Australia in the second place after Japan with 83,470 tourists, he said. China came in third with 56,030 tourists, followed by Malaysia with 29,971 tourists, he said. He said 71,199 of the Australian tourists came to Bali via Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar and the remaining 771 through the city’s seaport. Last year, a total of 313,313 Australian tourists visited Bali, jumping 52.68 percent from the year before when the figure was 205,205, he said. He said Bali which was geographically not too far from Australia and was the “second home” for many Australian tourists. Only recently, Bali received an award as The Best Island in Asia Pacific 2009 from the Hong Kong-based DestinAsia Magazine. (May 16th 2009, Antara news)
Environmental Group Appeals to Pertamina to Replace its Aging Pipelines
In view of the frequent leaks of the pipelines of PT Pertamina in South Sumatra, Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) appealed to the state oil and Gas Company to replace its aging pipelines. “We are worried about the gas pipeline leaks in Sukaraja village, Abab subdistrict, Muara Enim regency, whose crude oil and gas outpourings had reached up to 15 meters into the air,” resources development manager of Walhi Hadi Jatmiko said here Friday (15/5). He said that Pertamina up to Friday (May 15) still did not manage to stop the oil and gas outpourings, although with the assistance of its partner PT Indojaya. While the height of the out-poors had lowered, the people living near the locations were still very worried, he added. According to Walhi, from 2000 to 2009 there were 35 outpours, and the local population were very worried for a possible explosion and environmental pollution. (May 15th 2009, Antara News)
Bali Again Wins Best Asia-Pacific Island Award
Bali has again received an award as The Best Island in Asia Pacific 2009 from the Hong Kong-based DestinAsia Magazine. “Bali has been honored as The Best Island in Asia Pacific 2009 by DestinAsia Magazine in Hong Kong,” Culture and Tourism Ministry’s director for promotion facilities Esthy Reko Astuty said here on Thursday (14/5). She said Bali won the honor through a vote for DestinAsian Readers` Choice Awards in a survey which sought readers` opinions on their favorite destinations, hotels, and airlines in the Asia-Pacific region and announced every February. According to her, readers in Asia Pacific were asked to nominate a winner in each category and provide a short explanation on the reasons for their choice. DestinAsia Magazine is a travel magazine published and marketed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan and several Middle Eastern countries. Astuty said with the award Bali must improve the quality of its tourism as main destination to maintain the image as the best island and being the best destination in Asia Pacific. “Having been named The Best Island in Asia Pacific region for four consecutive years, Bali proves to be still a `primadona` of tourism destinations in the Asia Pacific region,” she said. According to Bali Tourism Office records, Bali has received at least 25 awards from various international magazines and countries since 1998. Most of the awards were given to Bali for its unique destination and natural beauty found nowhere else in the world. Not long ago, Bali also received an award as The Best Spa of the World from Senses Wellness Magazine. (May 14th 2009, Antara News)
Government Blamed over Indonesia Plane Crash
The Indonesian government came under attack yesterday over shortfalls in its defense budget which have been blamed for causing the crash of a Hercules transport plane that killed 101 people this week. As the military mourned the loss of scores of soldiers, airmen and members of their families including 14 children in Wednesday’s (20/5) crash, politicians accused the government of recklessly failing to maintain basic defense spending. “The causes of the Hercules crash in East Java have yet to be revealed but this should not necessarily lead the government to ignore the fact that the defense budget is too small,” parliamentary defense commission deputy head Yusron Ihza Mahendra was quoted as saying. The government granted the military 33.6 trillion rupiah ($3.26 bln) for its 2009 budget, only around a quarter of the 127 trillion it requested, he said. The crash remains under investigation but Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has repeatedly complained that the military’s budget is insufficient to ensure minimum standards of aircraft maintenance. “Ideally, the maintenance cost should be 20 to 25 percent of the overall military budget but at present it’s below 10 percent,” he told reporters ahead of a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday. Witnesses said they heard thunder-like explosions before the plane plunged out of the sky as it prepared to land at a military air base in East Java with 112 passengers and crew on board. (May 23rd 2009, AFP)
Corby ‘Clutching Doll’ in Jail
Schapelle Corby has been clutching a doll in her Bali prison cell, fuelling fears over her mental condition. The 31-year-old was admitted to Denpasar’s police hospital for psychiatric treatment on Friday (22/5), the Daily Telegraph reports. Her doctor Danny Tong said she was “very depressed” and had become “very illogical” but was improving, “Her mother is here … this is the best medicine for anybody in the world,” he was quoted as saying. Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, and sister Mercedes visited her over the weekend.The report also said Ms Corby had been seen carrying a doll around her cell. Another doctor, Agung Hartawan, who treats inmates at Kerobokan jail, said she has become forgetful. “Sometimes she forgets to look after herself,” Dr Hartawan was quoted as saying. However, the Daily Telegraph reported only last month that Ms Corby puts make-up on every day to cheer herself up and was planning on starting a beauty salon at the jail. “I don’t think about out there anymore,” Ms Corby had said. The former Gold Coast beautician is serving a 20-year sentence after 4.1kg of marijuana was found in her boogie board case at Bali airport in 2004. She maintains that she is innocent. (May 25th 2009, AAP)
Automotive Industries lay off 20 pct Workers
Indonesian automotive industries have laid off about 20 percent of their workers due to the impact of the global financial crisis, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Vehicle Industries Association (Gaikindo), Bambang Trisulo said. “Automotive industries were forced to lay off their workers as a result of the drop in their car sales which until the first quarter of this year reached 20 to 25 percent,” Trisulo said here on Monday. He said that most of those laid off were workers hired on contract basis, while only a small number of regular employees had been laid off. Trisulo said that it was expected automotive sales would continue to drop until the end of the year. “That’s why we have revised downward our sales target this year to about 400 - 450 thousand units only,” he added. He said that vehicle growth was expected to begin in 2010 but it would be a small growth, about five percent. “In 2008 Gaikindo members sold 600,000 units. But because of the global crisis that deals a blow to the economy of the Indonesian people, we set our sales target for this year at 400,000-450,000 units,” he said. He predicted that domestic motor vehicle sales would recover in 2010 albeit at a slow pace. “But this will depend on how the next government implements its economic policies of boosting growth,” he said.( May 23rd 2009, Antara News)
Bali Govt Provides Rp38.5 Billion in Loans for Agribusiness Development
Bali’s provincial administration in cooperation with the Regional Development Bank (BPD) will make Rp. 38.5 billion unavailable as low-interest loans to support agribusiness, empowerment of cooperatives, small-and medium-scale businesses (UKMs). “The loans will be extended with a low interest rate for two years for agribusiness development in eight districts and a city in Bali,” chief of local UKM and Cooperative Office, I Wayan Suasta said here on Monday (25/5). Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting on the enlargement of the role of village cooperatives (KUD) in the development of agribusiness, I Wayan Suasta said some Rp2.5 billion of the funds had already been disbursed. He said the rest of the funds would be used for UKMs and cooperatives empowerment, while KUDs would have an opportunity to use the facility to engage in agribusiness. Agribusiness development in Bali, he said, had bright prospects, especially cow fattening in the districts of Badung and Bangli, food commodity development, horticulture, and other productive businesses for the welfare of local people.He added it was hoped the loans would be useful in helping to improve the people’s economy, and empower KUDs. (May 25th 2009, Antara News)
