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Tan Malaka and Indonesia's freedom struggle 2007-01-29 04:18:30 In January 1946, over 140 Indonesia
n nationalist and workers' organizations came together to form the Struggle Front (Persatuan Perjuangan). The goal was to fight for complete independence from Dutch colonialism.The formation of the Struggle Front was in many ways the crowning achievement in the life of Indonesian revolutionary Tan Malaka. Thanks to political persecution by a number of imperialist governments, forcing him to work underground and in exile for much of his political life, Tan Malaka's role in the world working-class movement is not well known. Even in Indonesia, his place in the independence struggle is marked only by a small street sign in Padang. His three-volume autobiography, "From Jail to Jail," was only translated into English in 1991 and received little attention in the English-speaking working-class movement.
Prominent Muslims back Poso crackdown 2007-01-29 04:15:41 M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, JakartaMuslim leaders have thrown their weight behind the government's recent crackdown on militants in Poso, Central Sulawesi, suspected of fomenting sectarian conflicts in the region. State Islamic University rector and scholar Komaruddin Hidayat said the government should not hold back against militants who mingled with civilians, using them as human shields.
Read more:Muslims
Indonesian Rating Outlook Raised to Positive by Fitch 2007-01-29 04:14:08 By Arijit Ghosh Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia's debt rating outlook was raised to ``positive'' from ``stable'' by FitchRating
s, citing the government's pledge to cut corruption and bureaucratic delays. Fitch affirmed it long-term foreign currency debt rating of BB- rating, its third highest non-investment grade rating, for Southeast Asia's largest economy. The ``positive'' outlook means that the rating company is more inclined to raise its ratings.
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, Positive
, Indonesian
Suharto millions in Guernsey court 2007-01-29 01:02:30 A Guernsey court on Monday approved an application by the Indonesian government to freeze tens of millions
of dollars allegedly hidden illegally on the island by Hutomo Mandala Putra, the youngest son of the country's former dictator, Suharto
.Jakarta's action is an intervention granted by the Channel Island royal court in a case where Garnet Investment, incorporated in the British Virgin islands and owned by Mr Hutomo - known as Tommy Suharto - is suing a branch of BNP Paribas for refusing to release at least €36m ($45.6m, £23.5m) and perhaps as much as €75m from its account.Related : Chasing money in Guernsey"In its lawsuit, Garnet relates the following: On July 22, 1998, Tommy Suharto opened three accounts with BNP Paribas in Guernsey. This happened only about two months after Suharto resigned and the Clove Marketing Buffer Agency (BPPC) owned by Tommy failed to pay its debt of Rp1.749 trillion to the clove cooperative and growers. When winding up his obligation to the c
Survival of the biggest - hobbits wiped out by man 2007-01-29 00:06:58 MODERN humans wiped out the hobbit-sized people who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores, research suggests. Remains of at least 13 members of the little species, Homo floresiensis, who were about a metre tall, were unearthed in Liang Bua between 2001 and 2004. The hobbits
lived there from 95,000 to 12,000 years ago when a layer of volcanic ash filled the cave.It had been thought the eruption devastated life on Flores and led to the demise of the little people, as well as the pygmy elephants they feasted on. Studies of the volcanic ash by two team members, Chris Turney and Douglas Hobbs, however, showed it was from an eruption about 600 kilometres to the west, near Bali, and so was unlikely to have resulted in island-wide extinctions.
Search for Austrian tourist on Indonesian volcano 2007-01-28 12:10:47 Indonesian searchers Sunday combed a volcano on the island of Sumatra for an Austriantourist
reported missing after he set off to scale the mountain, police said.Police said Franz Resch, had set off to climb the jungle-clad 2,174-meter (7,260-foot) Mount Sibayak from the hill resort town of Brastagi last Tuesday and was reported missing Friday by staff at the hotel where he was staying. "We still have no report of the teams finding any trace of the tourist," said Second Inspector Harahap, on duty at the Tanah Karo district police in Kabanjahe, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of North Sumatra's capital Medan.
Read more:Search
, Indonesian
Four more busway corridors start operations 2007-01-28 00:00:06 The four corridors serve Ancol to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta, Rangunan in South Jakarta to Kuningan also in South Jakarta, and Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta to Kampung Melayu.Three previous corridors, which have been in operations, serve Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in Central Jakarta, Pulogadung to Harmoni in Central Jakarta and Harmoni to Kalideres in WestJakarta.
Over 9,000 Indonesian islands to be named 2007-01-27 08:41:49 Indonesia is to give individual names to each of the thousands of tiny islands in the country that remain nameless, a report said Saturday. The team will be led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and will include the defence and foreign ministers.In total, Indonesia consists of 17,540 islands, which combine to cover 1.9 million square kilometres (742,308 square miles).
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, Indonesian
'I trust the big names when I crave chicken' 2007-01-27 08:37:29 The recent regulation banning backyard poultry in Jakarta has received a warm welcome from many quarters. Poultry breeders, however, are unhappy with both the regulation and the media's coverage of bird flu, which they say are destroying their livelihood. The Jakarta Post asked a number of people for their thoughts on the issue." However, if I crave
chicken I go to a fast-food restaurant. I trust
the big names, rather than the small sidewalk cafes that also sell fried chicken."" I think there's something dodgy about this bird flu outbreak. I think it's a game that multinational pharmaceutical companies are playing. I believe they planted the virus so they can sell vaccines. I mean, it's all just dirty business."
"Mud Volcano" in Indonesia Caused by Gas Exploration, Study Says 2007-01-26 23:28:53 In a report released on January 23, a team of British researchers says the deadly upwelling began when an exploratory gas well punched through a layer of rock 9,300 feet (2,800 meters) below the surface, allowing hot, high-pressure water to escape. The research team, who published their findings in the February issue of GSA Today, also estimate that the volcano, called Lusi, will leave more than 11,000 people permanently displaced.Another unusual feature of the Indonesia
n eruption is that it involves a very thin, liquid mud, says Davies' colleague, Richard Swarbrick of Geopressure Technology Ltd. That means that the land around the volcano might collapse to form a crater, Swarbrick said.
Read more:Study
, Volcano
, Exploration
Food Tags Aid Ethical Eating 2007-01-26 23:21:14 Are you really sure that your specialty store wine comes from a small wine cooperative in Chile? Or that your Indonesian coffee beans weren't illegally grown? A new kind of digital tag could tell you yes or no, and even allow you to give some feedback about your satisfaction with the product.
Indonesia plans Islamic bond (sukuk) sale 2007-01-26 23:15:23 Indonesia aims to sell its first Islamic
bonds, or sukuk, in the domestic market this year, once a bill regulating the debt issue is approved by parliament, a senior finance ministry official said yesterday. Indonesia had said it will issue the bonds, one of the fastest growing asset classes in the Islamic financial industry, this year, but it has not given details.Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but its Islamic finance industry is relatively small and undeveloped compared with some other Muslim countries such as neighbouring Malaysia, due in part to a lack of regulatory reforms.Indonesia last sold US$2 billion (US$1 = RM3.50) worth of sovereign bonds in March 2006.
Read more:plans
, Indonesia
Indonesian Government Plans Bond-Switch Offer Tuesday 2007-01-26 08:01:56 he Indonesian
government plans on Tuesday
to offer to exchange government rupiah bonds maturing between 2008 and 2012 with more of its existing 2027 bonds, a finance ministry official said Friday. The 2027 bond is a reopening of the FR042 series, which the government issued last week with a 10.25% coupon, said Rahmat Waluyanto, director general of government debt management at the ministry. At 0730 GMT Friday, the 2027 bond was trading at 97.75-98.25.
Read more:Offer
, Government
Indonesia on highest alert over bird flu -minister 2007-01-26 07:59:43 Indonesia is doing all it can to fight bird flu, the welfare minister said on Friday, a day after officials announced the country's 63rd death from the virus.Indonesia, which has the world's highest
number of human fatalities from bird flu, has been trying to step up efforts to stamp out the disease after a flare up in cases this year following a brief lull."Even though our continued effort is giving some significant progress, we are still on highest alert," Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said at a ceremony to receive 100,000 sets of protective equipment donated by the United States."Indonesia is very serious in addressing this threat," he said.
Read more:Indonesia
Too early for military personnel to vote: Polling 2007-01-26 04:34:27 A polling says that it is too early for Indonesian military personnel to take part in the legislative and presidential elections in 2009, a top brass says.Citing the result of the survey carried out last year, Army Commander Gen. Djoko Santoso said that majority of 200 respondents said that "it is not the time yet" for the military to use their political rights.
Read more:Polling
Pertamina sets aside $315 mln over Karaha claim 2007-01-25 23:45:50 JAKARTA, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Indonesian state oil and gas firm, PT Pertamina
, has set aside
about $315 million to pay possible compensation to U.S. firm, Karaha Bodas, over a disputed geothermal energy project, a Pertamina executive said Thursday. Last October, the U.S. supreme court turned down an appeal by Pertamina, which was seeking to overturn an arbitration panel to award $261 million compensation to Karaha Bodas, controlled by Florida-based utility company FPL Group Inc (FPL.N: Quote, Profile , Research).
Read more:claim
Islam Debate: Daniel Pipes Versus Ken Livingstone 2007-01-25 23:37:42 Daniel Pipes, columnist, scholar of Middle Eastern history, counter-terrorism expert, founder of both the Middle East Forum (publishing the Middle East Quarterly) and Campus Watch, an author of 14 books, is well known in the US and the blogosphere, where he maintains his own weblog. Though not against Muslims, Pipes has been critical of radical Islam
and its incompatibility with democratic values. On April 4, 2006, Dr Pipes was invited by Ken Livingstone, left-wing mayor of London, to attend a conference on the subject of the "Clash of Civilizations". Popularized by Samuel Huntington in 1993 and again in a book of the same name in 1996, the notion of a clash of civilizations has become a popular means of explaining and perceiving the modern world, particularly after 9/11.
Read more:Debate
, Daniel
President: no single party has right to put nation under state of emergency 2007-01-25 23:33:11 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday that no single
party has the right to put the nation
under a state of emergency and return it to the old administrative system. "No single party has the right to put the nation under a state of emergency," the president said when receiving participants of the National Defense Forces (TNI) leadership meeting. The president was responding to a statement of certain groups that the reforms launched in the past couple of years had led to chaos in the community and that the government must return to the old administrative system.
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Key Bali bomb suspect Dulmatin 'wounded' 2007-01-25 10:56:17 A key Indonesian militant wanted for the 2002 Bali bombings was hurt in a gun battle in the Philippines last week, the Philippines military says. Dulmatin, believed to have built the Bali bombs, was caught up in fighting on the southern island of Jolo, Lt Almerante Mijares said. Abu Sulaiman, a leader of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, was killed in the same clashes.
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, suspect
U.S. Navy finds black box of Indonesian passenger plane, U.S. Embassy says 2007-01-25 10:51:47 JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) The U.S. Navy has picked up signals from the flight data recorder, or black box
, of an Indonesian
passenger plane that crashed into the sea on New Year's Day with 102 people onboard. The U.S. Mary Sears located signals ``on the same frequency of the black boxes associated with the missing airplane,'' a statement issued by the U.S. Embassy
in Jakarta said. It was unclear when the signals were detected.
Indonesia to file suit against Suharto over funds misuse 2007-01-25 10:49:37 Indonesian state prosecutors plan to file a civil suit against
former dictator Suharto
later this month over alleged misuse of charitable funds, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said Thursday.Suharto, 85, has so far escaped trial over allegations he amassed billions of dollars in state assets during the three decades he ruled Indonesia with an iron fist, including through foundations he ran. "The first step will be the Supersemar, but that is not the last one, we continue to study the cases and there are still six others (foundations)," he said.The Supersemar foundation, founded by Suharto in 1974, collects donations from businesspeople and other donors to provide scholarships for students.Almost 800,000 scholarships have been awarded by the foundation but, as a private foundation, its fund management has never been made public.
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Dengue fever surge kills 28, sickens hundreds in Indonesia 2007-01-25 04:45:04 dpa German Press Agency Published: Thursday January 25, 2007 Jakarta- While Indonesia
has scrambled to contain a resurgence of bird flu that killed five people, a least 28 people have died and hundreds were infected in an outbreak of dengue fever on Java since New Year's Day, a local report said Thursday. The mosquito-borne disease is at its worse during the current monsoon season, which creates pools of water that are ideal breeding places, The Jakarta Post reported. The worst-hit region has been West Java province, where 23 people died and 848 were infected since January 1, leaving hospital staffs scrambling to find enough personnel and space to treat patients.
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Southeast Asian neighbours form economic bloc 2007-01-25 04:43:36 SINGAPORE: Neighbours Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have a history of squabbling. Land, boundaries, workers and water have been among the points of contention. But singed by the competitive heat of fast-growing China and India and frustrated by the glacial pace of Southeast
Asia's economic integration, the three are trying to put old grudges aside for the sake of their own prosperity. Indonesia has created a special economic zone on its Riau islands between Singapore and Indonesia, while Malaysia has a multi-billion-dollar plan to develop industry in its southern Johor state bordering Singapore.
Read more:Asian
Police raids may invigorate JI: expert 2007-01-25 03:08:05 Terrorism experts warn Jemaah Islamiah (JI) could be re-energised by two recent deadly police raids in the violence-stricken Indonesian town of Poso, in central Sulawesi.The International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based think tank, warned the high death toll from the two raids had turned the wanted men into victims, and could spark an even wider jihadist war. It said police had become "Enemy No.1" to the group, since the raids."A jihad that has been largely directed against local Christians could now be focused on the police as a thoghut (anti-Islamic force) and give a boost to Indonesia's weakened jihadi movement," the ICG said on Wednesday."One danger is that the jihadis will try to take the anti-thoghut war outside Poso, targeting police in other cities."Another danger is that the JI faction that opposes bombings of western targets and sees Noordin Mohammed Top, South East Asia's most wanted terrorist, as a deviant, will see this jihad as legitimate."Two of those killed Read more:Police
Bali: Paradise with contradictions 2007-01-25 02:04:35 History of Bali, the holy act of Puputan, the marriage of the prince of Udayana and princess Mahendratta, daughter of the East Javan King Mpu Sendok, and how it influenced Balinese language and culture.Original article in German language, from the Panorama magazine
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, contradictions
Justice on trial in Indonesia 2007-01-29 10:31:45 Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, an airline pilot who in December 2005 was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison for his alleged role in the midair murder of Indonesia
n human-rights activist Munir Said Thalib, recently walked a free man from prison after serving only one year of his term.His case, which has been closely monitored by the United States and brought to the attention of the United Nations, had been widely viewed as a test case for Indonesia's rocky transition from authoritarian to democratic rule.To many, the pilot's release represents the latest setback to Indonesia's notoriously politically pliable judiciary, which has in recent years frequently burned foreign investors. It also raises hard new questions about President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ability to dismantle the country's long-standing culture of immunity for powerful figures.
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Indonesia could lose 2,000 islands to global warming by 2030 2007-01-29 10:26:31 Rising sea levels could inundate about 2,000 Indonesia
n islands by 2030, and rice shortages are expected next year due to wild weather blamed on climate change, the environment minister said Monday.The assessment by Rachmat Witoelar was the government's bleakest yet of global warming's potential effects on the mostly poor Southeast Asian nation of about 18,000 islands, most of them unpopulated.
We're the Tops; We're the Isle of Bali 2007-01-29 04:40:24 Bali rated as one of Australia's favourite Islands in Luxury Travel & Style Magazine's Gold List. (1/27/2007) Australia's Luxury Travel and Style Magazine has named Bali one of the world's best international islands in their prestigious 2007 Gold List.The Gold List, which was released in Luxury Travel and Style Magazine's 2007 Summer issue, is Australia's premier luxury travel award. What's more, a number of Bali hotels and resorts also featured in the Gold List in various international categories. The Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay, ranked 2nd in the "Best Overseas Resort" category, as well as 9th in the "Best Overseas Spa" category.The Four Seasons was also rated among the top 10 hotels in the international Travel and Leisure Magazine's 2006 annual survey, the same survey that named Bali
SBY not cause of disasters 2007-01-30 04:23:40 I refer to Ms. Dyana M's letter in the Jan. 27 Jakarta Post, wherein she implies that President Yudhoyono is somehow to blame for all past accidents and disasters. That is absolutely ridiculous.Similar calamities happened during the terms of all of Indonesia's previous leaders. The blame lies with the transportation companies, including airlines, shipping companies and the state railways. In many cases they violate safety standards and regulations. Railway tracks date back from the colonial period and are not well maintained. Staff are underpaid and thus unmindful of safety procedures.
Floods start hitting parts of Jakarta 2007-01-30 04:22:25 Water overflowed from rivers in the capital has began inundating parts of the city sparked by heavy been pouring upstream areas like Bogor and Depok in West Java.The worse inundation hit Cawang subdistrict in East Jakarta
where water level has reached some 1.5 meter above the ground, Elshinta news radio reported.
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