Psychedelic Fish Discovered in Indonesia Classified as a New Species
A funky, psychedelic fish that bounces on the ocean floor like a rubber ball has been classified as a new species, a scientific journal reported. The frogfish - which has a swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes that extend from its aqua eyes to its tail - was initially discovered by scuba diving instructors working for a tour operator a year ago in shallow waters off Ambon island in eastern Indonesia. The operator contacted Ted Pietsch, lead author of a paper published in this month’s edition of Copeia, the journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, who submitted DNA work identifying it as a new species. The fish - which the University of Washington professor has named “psychedelica” - is a member of the antennariid genus, Histiophryne, and like other frogfish, has fins on both sides of its body that have evolved to be leg-like. Mark Erdman, a senior adviser to the Conservation International’s marine program, said Thursday it was an exciting discovery. (February 28th 2009, AP)
Tiger Airways Now Serving Jakarta
Tiger Airways has started selling seats between Jakarta and Singapore for a low SGD $38, inclusive of taxes and charges, with a boutique service catered to Indonesia. Rosalynn Tay, Managing Director Tiger Airways Singapore, said “We are pleased that we can soon operate to Jakarta. We believe that our Harimau service will be able to cater to the needs of Indonesians using our service for travel between Jakarta & Padang to Singapore. We appreciate the progress made and look forward to many passengers enjoying our Harimau service for their travels. Now, for just $38 you can jet between the two capitals for a lot less than before.” Tiger Airways will commence a daily service on 29 March 2009 with its Harimau service that includes priority boarding, refreshment on board, hot meals, beverages and other in-flight items available for purchase, and an in-flight magazine to enjoy on the direct flight. Rosalynn Tay said “Our new Harimau service gives travelers to Indonesia what they want, a great service at a fantastic price, it’s so easy to access our Harimau service. Simply log on to www.tigerair ways.com for those low, low fares”. (March 1st 2009, Asia Pacific News.com)
Southeast Asian box turtles are being wiped out from parts of Indonesia, where millions are butchered for their meat or sent to pet shops in the US and Europe, according to campaigners. The wildlife monitoring group Traffic said the massive illegal trade has caused the turtle to disappear from areas where they were once common, with an estimated 2.1 million creatures being traded each year. “The turtles are used for meat and in traditional Chinese medicine, with major markets in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia, mostly supplied from Indonesia,” the group was quoted by AFP as saying. “Box turtles are also in demand as pets in the US, Europe and Japan.” Traffic urged Indonesian authorities to crack down on illegal trade, and set limits on how many can be safely harvested each year. It said that Indonesia’s official annual export quota for the box turtle was just 18,000 a year but that unregulated trade could be between 10 and 100 times the legal level. “The current level of illegal exploitation will result in Southeast Asian box turtles being systematically wiped out across Indonesia, indications of which are already obvious at collection and trade centers,” said the report’s author, Sabine Schoppe. The study found at least 18 traders in Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan dealing illegally in box turtles, which are listed on the CITES convention that regulates international trade in wild animals and plants. (February 21st 2009, News.Yahoo.com)
Indonesia, Australia Agree Work and Holiday Visa Arrangement
Young people from Australia and Indonesia will benefit from a new reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement between the two countries, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Senator Chris Evans said. The arrangement, which was signed in Jakarta by Senator Evans and Andi Mattalatta, the Indonesian Minister for Law and Human Rights, allows university-educated Australian and Indonesian travelers who are aged between 18 and 30 to work and holiday in each other’s country for up to 12 months, an Australian embassy media release said here on Tuesday (3/3). “The work and holiday visa arrangement allows young people from our two countries who want to travel and experience a different lifestyle and culture to work and subsidize their holiday,” Senator Evans said. The work and holiday visa differs from a working holiday visa as it requires applicants to have the support of their government, hold or be studying towards tertiary qualifications and speak functional English or Indonesian respectively. Applicants must also must meet health and character requirements and have no dependent children. Work and holiday visa holders may do temporary or casual work for up to six months with any one employer. Indonesia has become the seventh country to agree to a reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement with Australia. There will be an annual limit of 100 work and holiday visas for both countries but this figure will be reviewed on an as-needs basis. “Indonesia is a key partner for Australia and this new arrangement is an investment in future relations with Indonesia. It will also help develop links between people in both countries,” Senator Evans said. He said that it will provide a further incentive for young people from both nations to deepen their understanding of our histories, cultures and economies. Thailand was the first South East Asian country to agree to a reciprocal work and holiday visa arrangement with Australia in July 2004. Australia also has reciprocal work and holiday arrangements with Malaysia, Chile, Turkey, Bangladesh and the USA.(March 3rd 2009, Antara News)
Indonesians Face Jail under Tighter Polygamy Rules
Indonesian Muslims contemplating an illicit second, third or fourth marriage could face jail under a proposed bill aimed at tightening the rules for polygamy, an official said Monday (2/3). The draft rules being mulled by the country’s religion ministry would force Muslim men wanting to take extra wives to get written consent from their existing spouse or spouses, and prove they have the financial means to support them, ministry official Muctar Ilyas told AFP. “The present wives must sign the letter of consent in front of an official so we know they’ve not been forced by the husband. We will report men who marry without their wives’ consent to the police on fraud charges,” Ilyas said. “Couples must register their marriages in the presence of an authorized religious official. If not, they can be jailed up to three months and fined up to five million rupiah (415 dollars),” he said. “Women are usually the ones to suffer in illegal marriages, especially if they have children. Without proper marriage documents, they cannot make claims to their husbands’ assets for instance,” he said. Opinions are strongly divided on the virtues of polygamy in Muslim-majority of Indonesia. Islam allows for men to take up to four wives. (March 3rd 2009, Antara News)
Indonesia Top Muslim Scholar Hopes Obama to Prioritize Dialog with Muslims
Muhammadiyah Chairman Din Syamsuddin expressed hope that US President Barack Obama would in the future prioritize dialogs with Muslim figures if he really wanted to improve Washington’s relations with the Muslim world. “I hope that a dialog with Muslim figures will always be a priority in the programs of US leaders visiting Indonesia in the future, if President Obama really wants to improve his country’s relations with the Muslim world,” Syamsuddin said in a statement released by the Center for Dialog and Cooperation among Civilizations (CDCC) here Friday (21/2). The Muhammadiyah chairman apologized for not attending a banquet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, February 18, because he had to give a speech before Asia-Pacific religious figures at the Interfaith Summit in Brisbane, Australia, the next day. Syamsuddin said he had decided to skip the banquet with Hillary Clinton because issues affecting Islam were not a priority during her visit to Indonesia. “In the past, when President George W Bush, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Prime Minister Balkenende and EU Secretary General Javier Solana were expected to visit Indonesia, I suggested to the US ambassador and our Foreign Ministry to put dialog with Muslim figures on their agendas,” Syamsuddin said. He said his suggestion was based on the widespread opinion that President Barack Obama wanted to improve US relations with the Muslim world as was expressed at the Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on February 5, 2009 and information from the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha. But in reality, he added, the US Embassy failed to set up a special meeting between Hillary Clinton and Muslim figures during the former’s two-day visit to Indonesia. (February 21st 2009, Antara News)
Australian Gets Eight Years for Child Sex in Bali
A court on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Thursday (26/2) sentenced an Australian man to eight years in prison for having sex with boys. The court in Buleleng district found Philip Robert Grandfield, 62, guilty of having sexual contact with five boys aged between 15 and 17 last year. Grandfield said he was relieved by the verdict but nevertheless would appeal. “I thought I might be sentenced to death,” he said. Grandfield had argued in court that the boys had voluntarily engaged in sexual contact with him and he did not realize they were underage. Prosecutors had sought a 12-year sentence for the former accountant. Grandfield is one of several Australians to have been arrested in Indonesia in recent years for pedophilia. Child rights activists said Australian pedophile rings had infiltrated Bali and were using the pretense of adopting or fostering poverty-stricken children to abuse them. They said Australians were also involved in the trafficking of Indonesian children for sex to foreign countries, including Australia. The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has warned that sexual exploitation and trafficking of children are growing problems in Bali, with many young sex workers found in the streets, clubs and hotels. (February 26th 2009, EarthTimes)
Two Illegal Loggers Killed in Tiger Attack on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island
A tiger mauled two people to death in Jambi on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, bringing to eight the number of humans killed by the endangered beasts in the province this year, an official said Tuesday (3/3). The two victims, identified as Musmuliadi, 31, and Musliadi, 30, were attacked on Sunday (1/3) night while working in an illegal logging camp in a forest in Jambi province, said the head of the provincial Natural Conservation Office, Didy Wurjanto. “The latest victims bring the number to eight people killed by the Sumatran tigers in Jambi since late January, while two others were injured,” Didy said, adding that it was not clear whether the same tiger was responsible for all the attacks. He said the latest two victims were from outside the area and had been hired to work as illegal loggers. Didy blamed the destruction of the tigers’ habitat by illegal logging and palm oil plantations for the attacks on humans. The forest has been “no man’s land” since it was abandoned by timber companies after logging rights expired in the area, making it difficult to monitor illegal logging and palm oil plantations, he said. Direct conflicts between people and animals are occurring because human development is encroaching on the habitat of wild animals, affecting their food sources, hunting grounds and breeding areas, conservationists said. Local and international conservation groups say there are less than 400 tigers left in the wild on Sumatra. Environmentalists blame illegal hunting, which claims an estimated 50 Sumatran tigers per year, and rampant deforestation in Sumatra for the big cats’ drastic drop in population. The conservation group of WWF said tigers were once widespread on the Indonesian islands of Bali and Java but those two subspecies became extinct in the 20th century. (March 3rd 2009, Antara News)
