Kobe Sturton is finally back in Nanaimo after spending three weeks in a hospital in Bali, Indonesia. The 31-year-old woman suffered serious injuries to her stomach and spleen when a car knocked her off the motorcycle she was riding, throwing her into the street - where she was struck by a second motorcycle. Sturton arrived in Nanaimo by helicopter on Sunday after a 23-hour journey from Bali, via Tokyo and Vancouver.
Film on Barack Obama’s Childhood Premieres in Jakarta
Film based on Barack Obama’s life as a child in Indonesia is being premiered in the capital Jakarta. ‘Obama the Menteng Kid’, based on a book, is a fictionalized biography of the boy who became the US president. The title of the film refers to the Jakarta neighborhood where the US President lived and went to school for four years. Scenes of a young Obama reciting the Koran with Muslim pupils have not been included. The scenes of the future US president - a Christian-were dropped after they were termed as “too political”. Producer Raam Punjabi said the film was meant to send a message of hope and not religion. “We wanted to make the movie from the point of view of the children. We did not want to enter into politics. We did not want to enter into religious matters,” the BBC quoted him as saying. “The message is about the friendship, about the determination, about reaching the sky & that is the sole message of this movie,” he added.
Tommy Agrees to Develop Father’s Grave into Tourist Destination
The head of the district where former President Suharto and his wife are buried has confirmed the local government will cooperate with the former first family to develop the Suharto cemetery complex into an international tourist destination. On Sunday ((27/6), the youngest son of the late president, Hutomo Mandala Putra, better known as Tommy Suharto, said he had signed off on the plan and would also develop a hotel in the area. “I will build a hotel so that visitors do not have difficulty finding accommodation,” Tommy said at the Lor In Hotel in Solo, which he owns. “They can stay longer there and not have to go back and forth to Solo because they are staying at our hotel.” Tommy said the new hotel would be managed by one of his companies, PT Hotel Anomsolo Saranatama, and would have affordable room rates.
Iranian Drug Smugglers Sentenced to Life in Bali Prison
An Indonesian court in Denpasar, Bali, sentenced 8 Iranians to life in prison on Tuesday (29/6) for smuggling drugs. The verdict against the suspects, who were accused of violating Indonesia’s narcotic law No. 35/2009, is far higher than the prosecutor’s demand of 18 years imprisonment issued earlier. The Iranians were arrested in December last year. Indonesian airport authority arrested Daryous Omid Ali in Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport after they suspected Daryous from his suspicious behaviour. The airport authority found 100 capsules containing crystal methamphetamine that came out from Daryouz’s stomach after they conducted a body search on him. The arrest on Daryouz led to the arrest of the other 7 Iranian smugglers who had managed to pass the authority’s detection system. The gang smuggled a total of 602 crystal methamphetamine capsules weighing a total of 4.7 kg.
Three Expatriate Students Arrested in Bali Drug Bust
Three foreign students studying hotel management in Bali have been arrested for possession of marijuana and hashish and are each facing the prospects of four years in jail. Speaking during a news conference on Wednesday (30/6), Badung Police Chief Adjutant Sr. Comr. Dwi Suseno identified the students as Patrick Leland Bird, 19, from the United States, Leon Vrielink, 21, from the Netherlands, and Mischa Karsen, 19, from Germany. The trio & two Indonesian friends, identified as Ari Ibrahim and Nandin, were allegedly arrested in their rented house on Jalan Belubuh in North Kuta on Monday (28/6) night. Dwi said police confiscated 820 grams of marijuana and 4.6 grams of hashish. He said the raid was the culmination of a month-long police operation undertaken after a tip-off. “Their urine tests were positive for drugs. They said the marijuana and hashish came from Lombok and Jakarta,” Dwi said. The students, studying international hospitality (hotel) management at Stenden University’s Bali campus, are currently being detained at Badung Police headquarters.
Indonesia Detains 83 Australia-Bound Afghans
Indonesia has detained 83 Afghan asylum-seekers including women and children bound for Australia after they were discovered on a beach, a report said Tuesday (29/6). The migrants were found on the beach in the east of the massive archipelago after failing to reach Australia by boat. Indonesia is a major transit route for migrants, mainly Sri Lankans and Afghans, seeking a better life in Australia. Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd suspended claims for asylum from Sri Lankans for three months and Afghans for six, as a way of tackling the problem in a nation that has undergone intense debate over immigration. Many asylum-seekers continue to pass through Indonesia with the help of people-smugglers before embarking on the dangerous boat journey to northern Australia.
Australian Man, 57, Arrested in Bali over Cocaine Haul
A Melbourne man has been arrested in Bali after police allegedly caught him carrying five packets of cocaine. Local police said Angus Mc Askall, 57, was arrested last Wednesday (30/6) during a routine police check. Kuta district police Chief Wam Boko said Mr Mc Askall was apprehended at the Papaya supermarket near the airport carrying 1g of cocaine. Mr Boko claimed Mr Mc Askall had hidden “five packets of cocaine” in his wallet. Mr Mc Askall is an Australian who has been a long-term resident of Bali, but was thought to have been born and educated in New Zealand. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday confirmed his arrest. “The Australian Consulate-General in Bali is providing the man with consular assistance,” a spokeswoman said. Indonesian authorities have not yet charged Mr Mc Askall. Mr Mc Askall is being held at the Kuta district police station while investigations continue.
‘Prince of Jihad’ Lands 5-year Sentence in Indonesia
An Indonesian court on Tuesday (29/6) sentenced an Islamist militant who called himself the “Prince of Jihad” to 5 years in prison for concealing information about terrorism. Mohammad Jibriel Abdul Rahman was arrested a month after the July 17, 2009, bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in the capital, Jakarta, that killed seven people and wounded more than 50. The South Jakarta District Court found him guilty of violating both anti-terrorism and immigration laws. A panel of 3 judges said the 25-year-old Rahman met with Noordin Top, the alleged mastermind of the hotel bombings, ahead of the attack but failed to inform police. Noordin was killed by police last year. Rahman also was convicted of using a fake passport to travel to Saudi Arabia in 2008 with Syaefudin Zuhri, a suspect in the twin bombings, allegedly to help arrange funding for the attack. Rahman, who calls himself the “Prince of Jihad” on his hard-line website, has denied any wrongdoing.
Raditya Rides to Victory at Reef Bali Pro Surfing Event
Made Raditya Rondi rode strong to claim his first victory of this season’s Indonesia Surfing Championship Pro Tour by winning the Reef Bali Pro 2010 at Kuta Beach on Sunday (29/6). In the finale of the tour’s third series, Raditya claimed victory over 2009 overall champion Lee Andrew Wilson by launching an aggressive attack on the peeling 3-foot waves and jumping to an early lead. Wilson put up a valiant effort, searching for the perfect wave with which to score a comeback, but Raditya kept upping the ante with each successive wave, leaving Wilson needing a score of 8.2 to win. His final wave only scored a 2.5 before time ran out. Raditya, who was third in the second series at Sanur, Bali, earned Rp. 12,500,000 in prize money and 3,000 championship points for his victory. He now sits second in the overall standings with 6,750 points, 350 points behind leader Pepen, who finished tied for third with Putra Hermawan in Kuta. Wilson, who has yet to win a series this season, climbed into the top five with 5,425 points. Febri Ningsih won the women’s division by knocking out 2009 champion Yasnyar Gea in the final. Dyah Dewi was third.
RI’s Population Increases to Nearly Quarter Billion
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state, is now estimated to have a total population of over 237 million, according to latest data of the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS).The data was collected from the just-concluded 2010 population census, which was carried out nation-wide in May 2010. The latest population figure keeps Indonesia in fourth rank of the world’s most populous countries, after China (1,338,410,000), India 1,182,867,000, and the US (309,636,000), according to data from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Speaking at the opening of a Family Planning National Working Meeting in February 2009, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said the pace of population growth in Indonesia had reached an alarming level. The minister said if the government failed to do something about the population growth rate, the country would face a runaway population boom in the next 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN) Chief Sugiri Sjarief admitted the past five years had seen stagnation in family planning programs. Indonesia’s population will boom and reach 255 million in 2015 missing the target of 237.8 million if it grows at its present rate, a family planning official said.
Obama Offers Education, Climate Change Cooperation with RI
US President Barack Obama has offered education & climate change cooperation with Indonesia as part of strategic cooperation between the two countries. Obama made the offer at a bilateral meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Metro Toronto Convention Center on Sunday (27/6) morning. “Together we will discuss climate change issues to help develop the study on this issue in Indonesia and to make it beneficial not only to Indonesia but also to the global region,” Obama said. In addition, Obama also offered education cooperation with Indonesia for its younger generation with a total budget of US$160 million. “This meeting is possible because the friendship between Indonesia and the United States is strong and that we want to make it even stronger,” Obama said, expressing his gratitude to President Yudhoyono for his cooperation. Meanwhile, President Yudhoyono said Indonesia and US wanted to develop comprehensive cooperation to face the challenges in the 21st century. “The challenges are among others global economic development and climate change issue,” President Yudhoyono said, adding that dynamic relations between Indonesia and the United States had important contribution both regionally and globally.
ILO Calls on Abolition of Child Workers in Indonesia
The International Labor Organization (ILO) says that it plans to abolish Indonesian child workers in the future. “Since early in 2000, important developments had taken place in efforts to abolish child workers in Indonesia,” Executive Director of International Affairs of the ILO in Jakarta Peter Van Rooij said in Jakarta. At a workshop observing World Day Against Child Workers at Borobudur Hotel in Jakarta, Peter said that progress had been made in reaching the government’s target of nine-year basic education for all children. Peter added that another important breakthrough was that the government has reduced the number of child workers with a program of conditional cash assistance to families, known as Hopeful Family Program (PKH). “We have conducted a household-based survey and found out that about 4 million children aged 5 to 17 are workers,” Peter said. The national survey on child workers conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) in Indonesia in association with the ILO in August 2009, found that some 4 million children aged 5 to 17 years old are economically active, and 1.7 of the children were classified as child workers.
