East Lombok police detain 60 Afghan immigrants

Antara News, Friday, December 31, 2010

East Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) (ANTARA News) - East Lombok Police detained 60 Afghanistan nationals who were about to cross to Sumbawa Island through Khayangan harbor by two buses, early Friday.

They would be checked for required travel documents such as passports and visas, Commissioner Darsono Serya Adji, East Lombok police resort deputy chief said here Friday.

From Sumbawa Island, the illegal immigrants planned to go to Komodo Isle, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province, he said. However, Commissioner Darsono suspected that their final destination would be Australia.

"The 60 people being detained, include children, and several of them had escaped," he said, adding that the foreigners had claimed that they were tourists wanting to go to Komodo Isle.

Thousands jobless due to Bromo volcanic ash rains

Antara News, Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Surabaya, East Java (ANTARA News) - More than 25,000 villagers in Mount Bromo area, East Java, have been made jobless as a result of volcanic ash rains from the mountain so far.

"Villagers in three sub-districts have been affected by Bromo volcanic ash," head of the local service of natural disaster management, Siswanto, said to ANTARA here on Monday.

After meeting with leaders of the districts of Probolinggo, Lumajang, Pasuruan and Malang he said those who lost jobs were from the agriculture, animal husbandry, tourism service sectors and others.

"Their exact number is still being calculated in each of the districts but aid in the form of 15 kilograms of rice, sugar and sidedish food per person per week has been disributed," he said.

Villagers outside the three sub-districts in the district of Probolinggo will be employed to functionalize transportation routes and water ways clogged by volcanic ash so far, he said.

"If the budget is still too short, we have already prepared a budget for 2011 as support. What is clear is the emergency response is focussed on people," he said.

ANTARA learned in Pasuruan volcanic ash spewed by Mount Bromo has crippled tourist industry in the region.

The volcanic ash has damaged infrastructures in the tourism areas.

The Penanjakan pass in Pasuruan which is the destination of tourists has been covered with ash up to 10 to 15 centimeter thick making the branches of the trees broken and some trees have even been unrooted.

A power outage once occured in Penanjakan and some villages in Sukapura, Probolinggo while many roads had been covered with ash making them slippery when rain comes.

The sea sand in the Bromo caldera is still closed practically making Bromo tourism activities along the way from Probolinggo crippled.

Iranian nabbed at airport for drug smuggling

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang | Mon, 12/27/2010

Customs and excise officers at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have arrested an Iranian for carrying one kilogram of crystal methaphetamine worth Rp 1.5 billion (US$166,000).

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, head of the intelligence and prosecution section at the customs office, said that the suspect, identified as Allahverdi Etamani, 51, arrived Saturday from Tehran on Qatar Airways QR 0670.

Customs Tactical Unit Team members at the international terminal were suspicious of spare engine parts in the suspect’s luggage, he said.

“Even the scanning device failed to detect strange objects hidden inside the spare parts,” Gatot said, adding that suspicious officers finally opened and examine four pipe-like spare parts and found the drugs inside.

He said the suspect, who works as truck driver in Tehran, admitted that he was asked by a man named Ali to take the drugs to Jakarta in return for US$2,000 if the mission was successful.

The suspect will be charged with violating Article 113 of the 2009 law on drug smuggling, Gatot said.

The Interdiction Task Force at the airport has foiled 60 drug smuggling cases since January with a total value of Rp 366 billion.

Jakarta Police Arrested 55 Foreigners for Drug Smuggling in 2010

Jakarta Globe, December 27, 2010

Jakarta. The Jakarta Police narcotics directorate arrested 55 foreigners in drug-related cases in 2010.

The Jakarta Police narcotics directorate displays drugs confiscated
from two Iranian smugglers on November 30. On Monday the Jakarta
Police announced they had arrested 55 foreign drug smugglers
in 2010. (Antara Photo)

Most of the suspects are from Iran, according to Adj. Sr. Comr. Gembong Yudha, the head of analysis at the narcotics unit.

The police arrested 21 Iranians, eight Malaysians, five Chinese and four Taiwanese. The rest are from Nigeria, Nepal, South Korea, Singapore, France, Lebanon, Italy, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Thailand and Pakistan.

Police confiscated 43.3 kilograms of methamphetamine, 8,000 ecstasy pills, 28 kilograms of ketamine and 5.3 kilograms of heroin.

The latest foreigner arrested for drug smuggling was a Thai woman who swallowed more than 1,200 ecstasy pills wrapped in plastic. She tried to smuggle them into the Indonesian resort island of Bali on December 20.

Customs officials said Ueamduen Sophawat, 24, appeared nervous and was found to have a hard stomach during a body search at Ngurah Rai International Airport as she arrived on a flight from Bangkok.

She was taken to hospital and 1,280 ecstasy pills were found in her stomach, Bali customs chief I Made Wijaya told a press conference.

Antara, JG

Some 7,324 inmates receive Christmas remission

Antara News, Saturday, December 25, 2010

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A total of 7,324 inmates throughout Indonesia received a Christmas remission this year, a prison spokesman said.

(ANTARA News/Fanny Octavianus)

Currently, 127,082 people were being jailed in Indonesian prisons, and they consisted of 77,444 inmates and 49,638 detainees, Chandran Lestyono, a spokesman of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry`s Directorate General For Penitentiaries said here Saturday.

Director General For Penitentiaries Untung Sugianto was scheduled to symbolically present the remission in the Christmas celebration 2010 at Bulak Kapal prison, Bekasi, West Java, on Saturday at around 10 am local time.

The recipients of a remission included Schapelle Leigh Corby and Renae Lawrence, both Australian nationals sentenced to 20 years in jail for drug trafficking. They respectively get a remission of 1.5 months.

"We have proposed that Corby and Renae be given Christmas remission as they have met all the requirements, and in fact our proposal has been accepted," Siswanto, the head of Kerobokan jail in Bali said.

Four other foreign prisoners also got Christmas remissions in Bali this year.

At present, 30 foreign inmates and 19 foreign detainees are being jailed in Bali`s biggest prison.

In Papua Province, about 564 of the total of 939 inmates in the province enjoyed the remission in this year`s Christmas celebrations.

Related Article:

564 inmates in Papua receive remission

Over Half of Child Prisoners Are in Adult Jails, Officials Admit

Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana | December 23, 2010

Denpasar. Fifty-seven percent of the more than 6,000 children incarcerated across the country are locked up alongside adult offenders rather than in juvenile detention centers, according to child welfare officials.

Teenagers locked up in a youth prison in Tangerang. Child welfare
advocates say law enforcement should be focused on rehabilitating
young offenders. JG Photo/YC Kurniantoro

Sutarti Sudewo , deputy minister for women’s empowerment and child protection, said the problem came down to a simple lack of space. She said Indonesia had 16 juvenile detention centers, which were only able to hold 2,357 of the country’s 6,273 registered young offenders.

Of the remainder, 3,576 are locked up in adult penitentiaries, while the rest are housed at the 15 children’s centers run by the Social Affairs Ministry or welfare homes run by charitable groups.

“To make matters worse, the government only has 34 certified social workers for children,” Sutarti said on Thursday during a seminar in Denpasar on children and the justice system.

The country has seen a significant increase in the number of juvenile detainees this year, from last year’s figure of 5,308. Sutarti said this was a point of concern.

“Everyone needs to be concerned about how and why there’s been this big increase in the number of children being jailed,” she said.

Apong Herlina, from the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), a nongovernmental group, said juvenile offenders should be subjected to restorative or reparative justice rather than criminal prosecution.

Restorative justice treats a crime as an offense against the victim rather than against the state, and allows for a variety of options for the offender to make reparations, including by apologizing, returning stolen items or doing community service.

“Law enforcement agencies from the police up to the judges must begin taking into consideration what is in these children’s best interests,” Apong said.

“Applying restorative justice in the case of juvenile offenders is particularly appropriate because these children need to be given the chance to better themselves in the future.”

She said several state institutions had signed a joint agreement on imposing restorative rather than criminal justice against child offenders, but the idea had not yet caught on with law enforcers in the field.

The institutions backing the idea include the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry, the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, the Social Affairs Ministry and the National Police.

“We’ve advocated on behalf of [many child offenders] and ensured they were all sent to either a juvenile penitentiary or a children’s shelter,” said Nyoman Masni, the KPAI Bali chairwoman.

“We’ve also ensured that these cases don’t disrupt their education and that they can continue their studies.”

Related Article:

Govt building 30 new penitentiaries, expanding 33 old ones

70% poor insurance cardholders denied quality health treatment

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/24/2010

The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says 70 percent of patients entitled to various government health insurance schemes for the poor have complained about the hospital services they have received.

Citing results of a recent survey by the anti-graft watchdog, ICW’s Febri Hendri said Friday that 70 percent of 986 poor patient respondents still found many things to complain about even though health insurance schemes, including Jamkesmas, Jamkesda, Gakin and SKTM, had been in place for some time.

“The complaints are about administrative services, nurses, doctors, facilities, down payment, costs and other hospital services, among other things,” Febri said in a press release as quoted by Antara.

The ICW’s Citizen Report Cards 2010 surveyed respondents about treatment received at 19 public and private hospitals in Greater Jakarta.

The survey also found that many poor patients were reluctant to use their state-supported health insurance cards for fear of being rejected by hospitals.

Many of the hospitals still reject poor patients, using excuses such a lack of available beds, insufficient medical equipment and a shortage of doctors or medicines to treat the patients, the ICW said.

Indonesian migrant workers continue to face ordeals

Antara News, Fardah, Saturday, December 18, 2010

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Over four million Indonesians have become migrant workers (TKI) overseas particularly in Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has recorded that per September 2010, Indonesian migrant workers` remittances totaled 5.03 billion US dollars, up 2.44 percent from 4.91 billion US dollars in the same period last year.

Difi A Djohansyah, a spokesman of the central bank, said in Jakarta recently that per September 2010, Indonesia sent 427,000 workers abroad, down 12 percent from 479,000 workers in the same period in 2009.

With the additional workers, the total number of Indonesian workers abroad in September 2010 reached 4.32 million people.

Poverty and inadequate numbers of jobs in the country are among factors which have forced them to work overseas.

There are many happy stories, but also some sad ones. Human tragedy and suffering sometimes befall migrant workers. Several of them came back home in coffins due to illness, murder or accidents, and some domestic helpers have become disabled due to torture by their employers.

One of the notorious incidents and its legal dispute is still going on, is the case of Nirmala Bonat (23) from Kupang, West Timor, who has suffered horrific injuries caused by her employer Yim Pek Ha in Malaysia in 2004.

Bonat`s employer had beat her and pressed a hot iron on her breasts and back as punishment for mistakes in ironing clothes. Following her rescue, Bonat was treated for second and third-degree burns and she is still fighting for her rights now.

Recently Sumiati binti Salan Mustafa (24) from West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), was reported of having been pressed with a hot iron and part of her lips was cut by her Saudi Arabian employer in Madina.

The violence happened despite the Saudi workforce minister`s regulation number 1/738 dated on 16/5/1425 H, that prohibit all sorts of human trafficking, working contract violation, and inhuman and immoral treatment.

Saudi Arabia currently employs 927,500 Indonesian migrant workers, making it the second biggest user of Indonesian manpower after Malaysia.

Non-governmental organization (NGO) Migrant Care Executive Director Anis Hidayah recently said the kind of maltreatment experienced by Sumiati had frequently happened to other migrant workers but it seemed that the government did not deem it as a serious problem needing concrete action.

On the occasion of Labor Day in Jakarta in May 2010, Migrant Care called on the government to set up a national commission for Indonesian migrant workers (Komnas BMI) to handle matters related to worker protection, supervision, mediation and coordination.

In response to the Sumiati case, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last November instructed State Minister for Women`s Empowerment and Child Protection Linda Ameliasari Agum Gumelar and her team to go to Saudi Arabia to deal with violence problems.

The joint team, consisting of officials among others from the foreign affairs ministry and the manpower ministry, as well as a representative of BNP2TKI (national agency for migrant workers` protection), was tasked to monitor the condition of the victims at various hospitals, the restoration of their health, advocacy and legal protection, and secure legal process, and meet the rights of the victims.

The Sumiati torture has also revived a call for s moratorium om Indonesian female domestic helper dispatches overseas.

Twelve Islamic organizations including the largest Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah as well as smaller ones such as Al Irsyah Al Islamiyah, Al Washliyah, Al Ittihadiyah, Perti, Persis, Syarikat Islam Indonesia, PITI, Rabithah Alawiyin, Parmusi and Mathlaul Anwar, have conveyed their concern after holding a meeting at the NU headoffice in Jakarta.

The Islamic organizations called for the government to stop temporarily sending workers to countries with which it had signed no memorandum of understanding or agreement on the protection of workers.

The authorities of NTB, a major migrant worker supplier, has positively responded the moratorium call.

Speaking in Surabaya, East Java, recently, President Yudhoyono urged regional leaders to create more job opportunities to reduce the number of informal Indonesian migrant workers.

The head of state said the government, however, could not stop its people choosing jobs and locations they want to.

Yudhoyono also ordered regional government heads to check the standards of Indonesian workers (TKIs) education and of the administration system of manpower supplier companies (PJTKI) to avoid dispatches of substandard workers abroad

The head of state instructed mayors and district heads to make sure that TKI also get appropriate and adequate trainings before being sent overseas.

"If the supplier companies are professional, there will be less problems to arise. Their services must be improved, because they don`t sent goods, but human beings who have heart, so there must be no negligence," he said.

To protect migrant workers, Hikmahanto Juwana, professor of international law of the University of Indonesia, recently suggested that the Indonesian government take fundamental and strategic.

He said that there were at least three fundamental and strategic steps the Indonesian government should take. The first step is that Indonesia`s representatives abroad should really monitor the legal process taken against employers who inhumanely abused Indonesian workers.

Second, the government should be serious in handling manpower suppliers (PJTKI) which acted as agents of the workers. PJTKI should not send a worker who had the potential to be maltreated by his or her employers.

The Third, the government must be able to negotiate and conclude a bilateral agreement with the recipient countries, which should accommodate regulations on the protection and rights of workers.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar recently suggested that all manpower recruitment agencies in the country should be required to equip migrant workers with cellular phones.

The "cellular phone solution" has been criticized by various parties, as the problems faced by migrant workers are too complexes.

As a temporary measure, the government would restrict the dispatch of migrant workers to Saudi Arabia by implementing tighter selection of workers to be sent to the country, he said.

Problems related to migrant workers in Malaysia, which has reportedly reached nearly three million, have also frequently occurred.

Thousands of them, mostly working in plantations, construction works and households, have been regularly deported by the Malaysian government citing them as illegal workers.

Another serious problem facing Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia, was criminalization charge, according to Mohamad Jumhur Hidayat, chairman of the National Agency for Protection and Placement of Indonesian Workers, in Mataram (NTB) last August 2010.

A number of Indonesian housemaids were brought to court for alleged violent crimes, while in fact they did it in self-defense against their employers.

"In the courts, the workers were often pronounced guilty. It`s a criminalization practice that we should be wary of," he said.

Over 300 Indonesian migrant workers are reportedly facing the death sentence in Malaysia.

Indonesia and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, last May 2010 signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) which serves as a prerequisite to revise the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2006 on the placement and protection of Indonesian migrant workers in the neighboring country.

Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Iskandar and Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein signed the LoI following a bilateral meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak at the latter`s office.

In fact, early January 2010, Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa had announced the government`s determination to improve its services to protect Indonesian migrant workers abroad in 2010.

"Indonesia`s foreign ministry along with other related government agencies will set up a better legal framework to ensure that migrant workers` rights are respected properly," the minister said in his annual press statement.

He said migrant workers were contributing significantly to the national economy during their employment abroad.

Last December 2009, Indonesia had declared its commitment to be a party to the UN convention on protection of migrant workers.

Perhaps Indonesia could learn from India, also a major migrant worker supplier, in protecting migrant workers.

Indian President Pratibha Patil last November in Dubai opened a counseling centre for Indians working in the United Arab Emirates.

The Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC), which is apart from giving assistance including counseling, provides a 24-hour helpline for workers and also manages a shelter for the runaway housemaids in the UAE, where an estimated 1.7 million Indians work.

Concrete actions are immediately needed to help around 0.1 percent (of Indonesia`s 4 million migrant workers), who are facing problems.

"However, we must not underestimate it although it`s just 0.1 percent. It should be handled properly. Ambassadors and consul generals must be responsible for TKI in the countries of their jurisdiction," he said.

Haiti cholera investigation announced by United Nations

BBC News, 17 December 2010

Rebuilding Haiti

• Tense time
• Candidate profiles
• Charity worker's diary
• Clinic on cholera front line

The United Nations has set up an independent panel to investigate the source of cholera in Haiti.

The move comes after accusations that UN peacekeepers from South Asia introduced the disease to the poverty-stricken country.

The UN has previously denied any connection.

More than 2,000 people have died and thousands more have been infected by cholera in Haiti since the outbreak began in October.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said the scientific panel was necessary to "find answers that the people of Haiti deserve".

"There are several theories of the origins of the cholera outbreak in Haiti - not all reports have reached the same conclusion," he said at a news conference on Friday.

"There remain fair questions and legitimate concerns which demand the best answers that science can provide," he added.

He said the panel would be "completely independent" and have full access to UN premises and personnel.

'South Asia strain'

Nepalese peacekeepers became the object of local suspicion partly because cholera is very rare in Haiti but endemic in Nepal.

In November, the US Center for Disease Control found that the cholera strain in Haiti most closely resembled a South Asian strain.

A leaked study by epidemiologist Renaud Piarroux on behalf of the French and Haitian governments also suggested the strain had been imported from South Asia.

Sources who saw the report said it had evidence the outbreak was caused by river contamination by Nepalese troops.

But Mr Ban said that initial reports by the UN suggested that peacekeepers from Nepal were not responsible.

The Nepalese army denies the accusation, but said earlier this month that soldiers were not tested for cholera before they went.

The UN has said that health officials now estimated that 650,000 people in Haiti could become infected with cholera over the next six months.

Nearly 100,000 people in the country have already contracted the disease.

Officers foil liquid shabu-shabu smuggling

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Banten | Fri, 12/17/2010

Customs and excise officers have foiled an attempt to smuggle Rp 2.5 billion (US$277,500) worth of liquid methamphetamine through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

Customs office chief Bahaduri Wijayanta said Friday the suspect was a 50-year-old Iranian who had arrived on an Etihad Airways flight from Tehran via Abu Dhabi on Dec. 9.

Terminal II officers became suspicious because the man was carrying 13 cosmetic bottles in his luggage.

“Initial suspicion lead officers to examine the liquid with a narcotest device in the laboratory, and the test results confirmed the bottles contained 2,135 ml of methamphetamine,” Bahaduri said.

“We failed to catch those waiting to receive the drug when investigating the case with the police,” he added.

The suspect, who said he sells clothes in Tehran, said he was asked by a man called Ibrahim to carry the drug to Jakarta. He was promised Rp 100 million if he delivered the methamphetamine to someone in Jakarta.

The suspect, who initially claimed he came to Jakarta for a vacation, accepted the offer to smuggle the drug because he needed money to pay debts.

“The suspect received instruction from the person who hired him to send the drugs through a cell phone,” Bahaduri said.

Since January, customs officers have foiled 59 drug smuggling attempts worth Rp 365 billion and arrested eight Indonesians, nine Malaysians, six Indians, one Nigerian, two Thais, one Mozambiquan, two Cambodians, two Taiwanese, two Chinese, an American, a Singaporean and 26 Iranians as suspects.

The smugglers are all accused of violating a 2009 law on narcotics, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

Two Indonesian migrant workers reportedly missing in Saudi

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 12/17/2010

Two Indonesian female migrant workers are allegedly missing in Saudi Arabia, with one of them having disappeared 11 years ago.

The workers are Ade Suryani and Jamilah, residents of Padabenghar village, Sukabumi, West Java. Both have been reported missing since 1999 and 2002 respectively.

“We have tried to coordinate with the relevant institutions, but apparently both names were not recorded,” village head Mamat said as quoted by metrotvnews.com.

Mamat claimed that he had also reported the two to the secretariat of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union and Migrant Care to assist the search.
 


Meanwhile, the chairman of the Sukabumi Migrant Workers Union, Jejen Nurjanah, said she would report the disappearance of the two workers to the National Board for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers, and the Sukabumi Manpower and Transmigration Subagency.

"But unfortunately, from the results of our preliminary research at the subagency, there is no data on the two missing maids," she said. 
 


"We're trying to coordinate with local governments so that cases like this do not happen again," added Jejen.

Garut bans migrant workers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 12/15/2010

The Garut administration has imposed a temporary ban restricting people from the city from working as maids in Saudi Arabia or Malaysia.

“I feel very sorry for the abused migrant workers. Our nation’s dignity has been trampled,” said Garut Regent Aceng H. M. Fikri in Garut, West Java, on Wednesday, Tempointeraktif.com reported.

Aceng said he had learned about the poor conditions faced by Indonesian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia during his recent hajj.

This year, the local government reported two cases of Indonesian migrant workers who were missing in Saudi Arabia.

From 2005 to 2010, 3,186 people from Gaurt went abroad to work as migrant workers, 95 percent of them traveling to the Middle East to work as domestic maids.

The suspension will apply to those working as domestic helpers or in the informal sector, Aceng said.

He said the suspension was a reaction to the poor treatment of Indonesian workers in both countries.

Indonesia seeks jail for 'blasphemous' American

RNW, 14 December 2010

Indonesian prosecutors on Tuesday sought a seven-month jail term for a US retiree accused of blasphemy after he allegedly pulled the plug on a mosque loudspeaker during a prayer reading.

Gregory Luke

The August 22 incident in the middle of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan resulted in retired Californian engineer Gregory Luke, 64, needing a police escort from his home on Lombok island as a mob tore it to pieces around him.

Prosecutors said Luke had blasphemed against Islam, the dominant religion in Indonesia, when he allegedly barged into the mosque to complain that a nightly Ramadan prayer reading was too loud.

"We recommend a sentence of seven months' jail as he is guilty of blasphemy and committing an act of hatred," prosecutor Baiq Nurjanah told a court in Praya, Lombok.

She said the maximum sentence of five years in jail was not being sought because the defendant, who runs a guesthouse for tourists on the island, had "expressed regret of his act".

Wearing a sarong, polo shirt and black Muslim hat, Luke asked the judges for the lightest sentence possible and apologised for his "wrongdoing".

"I apologise for my wrongdoing in the mosque. I've followed all the trial proceedings and listened to the witnesses' testimonies. I hope I can get the lightest sentence," he said.

Luke has previously denied pulling the plug on the loudspeakers used to broadcast the call to prayer -- a feature on most mosques in Indonesia.

In comments to the local media, he has said he went to the mosque to ask for the volume to be turned down when he was set upon by a group of local youths, who pushed him to the ground and pelted him with rocks.

A mob then chased him to his home and ransacked it as police looked on, apparently unable to intervene.

No one has been charged with any offence related to the mob attack on his house.

Related Articles:

Indonesia Jails American for Blasphemy

Sleep-Deprived American Takes on Indonesian Mosque, Loses

A Second Villa Trashed in Lombok after Alleged Insult to Islam

Indonesian Maid Breaks Her Back to Escape Abusive Employer

Jakarta Globe | December 14, 2010

Jakarta. An Indonesian maid jumped from the second floor of her employer's house in Medina, Saudi Arabia last Saturday in a bid to escape from alleged abusive conditions.

Indonesian maid Juju Nurhayati jumped off from the second
 floor of her employer's apartment to escape from
alleged abuse. (Photo courtesy of Metro TV)   

It was the second such incident in less than two weeks after an Indonesian maid in Jeddah died after falling off from the third floor of an apartment building in a similar attempt.

Juju Nurhayati suffered from a broken spine and ankles from the fall and is currently hospitalized at King Fahd's hospital, Didi Wahyudi, an Indonesian Consulate official involved in providing protection for citizens in Saudi Arabia, told The Jakarta Globe.

Juju came to Saudi Arabia seven months ago and worked with the family of Bahur Harja.

“She said she was abused by her employer so she tried to escape by jumping from the building,” Didi said. Juju was rescued by a neighbor who took her to the hospital.

Didi said Indonesian migrant workers should be taught to stand up for themselves if their employers abused her.

“They should be taught to scream as loud as they can, for a start. If they keep silent about the abusive treatment, how can we help them?” Didi said.

On Dec. 3, local newspaper The Saudi Gazette reported that an Indonesian maid fell to her death from the window of a third-floor apartment in Jeddah.

The police said she had attempted to escape using a rope of knotted clothes.

However, according to Didi the victim's identity has still not been verified.

“There's still confusion about her identity, and her nationality is not certain,” he said.

The maid's body is currently at the Forensic Medicine Administration to determine whether there are injuries other than those caused by the fall.

If the forensic examination concludes that no foul play was involved, the hospital will send a letter to the victim's consulate to begin funeral proceedings.

Jayawijaya region rich in medicinal plants

Antara News, Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - Located at an altitude of 1,900 meters above sea level, Jayawijaya district in Papua province is rich in medicinal plants.

The plants have for thousands of years been known by the Dani tribe in Baliem Valley as effective cures for various kinds of disease.

A lecturer at Santo Thomas Aquinas Agricultural Science College (STIPER). Yunus Paelo, said here on Tuesday a lot of plants in the mountains of Jayawijaya district had medicinal properties that could be developed for the local people`s welfare.

"The Dani ethnic community`s knowledge about the medicinal plants is in line with cultural development in the realm of medication," Yunus said, adding that many of the medicinal plants were endemic and only grew in the Jayawijaya mountain region.

He said among the medicinal plants growing in the region were Rhododendron macgregoriae which is effective to fight bacteria , Myrmecodia aureospinosa that can cure cancer and other diseases, and Pandanus conoideus which is popularly known as red fruit.

About the red fruit, Yunus said each fruit contains 35.9 percent of oil with 79.9 percent of oleic acid, 19.6 percent of palmitoleat acid, and 0.48 percent of stearat acid.

According to him, there were more than 70 kinds of medicinal plants with 62 genera and 37 families in the district.

Most of them were being cultivated by the local people and the rest was still growing in the wild such as Mucuna pruriens for Parkinson;s disease, Solanum nigrum for digestive problems, Rhododendron macgregoriae to fight bacteria, and many more.

Yunus expressed hope that the medicinal plants in Jayawijaya could be conserved, developed, and introduced to the public at large at home and abroad.

Women Looking for Missing Child Beaten by Aceh Mob

Jakarta Globe, Nurdin Hasan | December 14, 2010

Banda Aceh. Two women in Aceh are in critical condition after being beaten on Saturday by a mob of villagers who mistook them for kidnappers.

The victims were identified as Yuniarti, 45, a survivor of the 2004 tsunami in Banda Aceh, and her friend, Syafira, 40, a civil servant in Tamiang district.

Authorities said the women had gone to the Gempong Kuala elementary school in Langsa to visit a sixth-grader named Febi Gebriana who looked like Yuniarti’s missing daughter.

The child was last seen six years ago, before the Dec. 26 tsunami, which claimed the lives of over 160,000 people in Indonesia and thousands more in countries around the Indian Ocean. Yuniarti has been looking for her daughter since.

Yosi Muhamartha, chief of the Langsa District Police, said the women’s visit to the school seemed suspicious to the villagers, who were on edge over text messages warning about alleged kidnappings in Aceh.

Yosi said some residents brought Yuniarti and Syafira to the village chief’s office for questioning over why they wanted to visit a particular student.

The women, meanwhile, said they simply wanted to see Febi and had gotten permission from the school’s principal to do so.

A witness said hundreds of villagers soon marched into the office and attacked Yuniari and Syafira, refusing to stop even when police arrived and fired warning shots.

“The residents have been worried because of rumors about abductions,” Yosi said. “The angry mob didn’t care. They beat up the two women until they were in critical condition.”

The same witness said police were able to carry Yuniarti and Syafira away from the mob and into a waiting patrol car. Even then, the witness said, villagers chased after the vehicle.

The victims were rushed to a nearby hospital, but Syafira had to be transferred to a bigger hospital in Medan because she had a collarbone fracture  and wounds all over her body.

Yuniarti also sustained serious injuries and had to undergo intensive medical treatment at Langsa General Hospital.

Yosi said both women had “good intentions” when they visited the school and it was unfortunate that villagers resorted to violence when they confronted the victims.

The police chief said he suspected someone in the village persuaded other residents to attack Yuniarti and Syafira.

Some suspects have been questioned by the police in Langsa, but none have been arrested for the attack, according to Yosi.

Authorities have warned residents in Aceh against vigilantism, saying the text messages about kidnappings in the province were unfounded.

In Aceh’s western coast, however, villagers have formed patrols in their areas and begun conducting checks on passing cars at night, in response to the text-message warnings.

Yosi said police and regional government officials were working together to correct this misinformation.

“The rumor is baseless, started by some irresponsible people to create fear within the society,” he said. “So far, there have been no [recent] kidnapping cases in Langsa.”

People's welfare is key to Indonesia’s unity: VP

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/14/2010

Vice President Boediono says that the best approach to maintain the country's sovereignty is through the improvement of people's welfare.

Speaking during his visit to Indonesia’s border on Sebatik Island in East Kalimantan, Boediono said that people living in border areas would help the government to maintain the country's sovereignty should they prosper.

“Of course, the military and police will still be in charge in sovereignty's last defense,” he said.

“I believe that we can work together to preserve Indonesia’s sovereignty,” Boediono continued as quoted by Antara.

In the visit, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad and Deputy National Education Minister Fasli Djalal accompanied the Vice President.

RI reaches MDG targets

Antara News, Monday, December 13, 2010

Jakarta  (ANTARA News) - State Minister for National Development Planning/National Development Planning (Bappenas) Chairperson reported that Indonesia has reached a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2010.

According to the road map on accelerated achievement of millennium development in Indonesia of Bappenas obtained in Jakarta Sunday, the government grouped the achievement of MDG6 targets in three categories.

The three categories include significant progress, and targets which still needed hard work to achieve them.

The MDG targets which had been achieved covered MDG1 relating to extreme poverty, namely the parts of the population still living with a per capital income of less than one US dollar per day, had been reduced from 20.6 pct in 1990 to 5.9 pct in 2008.

MDG2, targets for gender equality in all kinds of education had been estimated to be achieved. The pure participation rate (APM) of women against men at elementary school/MI/Package A and junior high school/MTs/package B are respectively 99.73 pct and 101.99 pct in 2009, and literacy rate of women against men in people 15-24 years of age had reached 99.85 pct.

Indonesia also reached MDG targets, namely increased discovery of TBC cases from 20 pct in 2000 to 73.1 pct in 2009 of the 70 pct target, and lowered TBC prevalence from 443 cases in 1990 to 244 cases per 100,000 population in 2009.

In the meantime, the achievement shows a significant progress covering MDG1, namely the prevalence of malnutrition children under-five from 31 pct in 1989 to 18.4 pct in 2007. The 2015 target of 15.5 pct may also be reached.

In addition, MDG2, namely pure participation rate for basic education is close to 100 pct, and the literacy rate of the population reached more than 99.47 pct in 2009.

MDG3, namely APM ratio of women against men at senior high school/MA/Package C, and higher education in 2009 reached 96.16 pct, and 102.95 pct. In this way, the 2015 target of 100 pct may be achieved.

MDG4, namely the death rate of under-five children, had lowered from 97 per 1,000 births in 1991 to 44 per 1,000 births in 2007, and the target of 32 per 1,000 births by 2015 may be achieved.

MDG8, namely that Indonesia had managed to develop trade and open financial system, based on regulations, can be predicted and non-discriminative -- which was proven with the positive inclination in indicators relating to trade and the national banking system. At the same time, a significant progress had also been achieved in reducing the foreign loan ratio against the GDP from 24.6 pct in 1996 to 10.9 pct in 2009.

The debt service ratio had also been lowered from 51 pct in 1996 to 22 pct in 2009.

In the meantime, the MDGs target with an inclination of achievement and those still needed hard work covered MDG1, namely Indonesia managed to raise its rate for the target of lowering poverty and will give special attention to reducing poverty measured against the national poverty rate from 13.33 pct in 2010 to 8-10 pct in 2014.

MDG5, namely the death rate of mothers had been lowered from 390 in 1991 to 228 per 100,000 live births in 2007. Hard work is needed to reach the 2015 target of 102 per 100,000 live births.

MDG6, namely the number of HIV/AIDS sufferers increased, especially among high-risk groups of people using narcotic injections and prostitutes. The rate of increase is also particularly high in several areas with a low sense and understanding on the diseases.

MDG7, namely Indonesia has a high green house emission target but remained committed to increase the coverage of forests, eradication of illegal logging and implementing the policy framework on policies of reducing CO2 emission at least by 26 pct in the next 20 years.

Besides, now only 47.73 pct of households have regular access to good drinking water and 51.19 pct with access to good sanitation. Special attention is needed to reach the MDG targets by 2015.

In September 2000, at the UN millennium summit, 189 UN member countries agreed to adopt the Millennium Declaration which was later outlined in the practical frame of MDG targets, focusing on the development of man until 2015 and well measured indicators.

The UN member countries still have a period of five years for completion and trying to reach the eight MDGs relating to poverty eradication, basic education, gender consciousness, improved health of mother and child, reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases, conservation of the living environment, and global cooperation.

Kilograms of ‘shabu-shabu’ seized by Jakarta Police

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 12/13/2010

Two drug smugglers have been arrested by the Jakarta Police with almost five kilograms of crystal methamphetamine (shabu-shabu).

The suspects are Chong Sun Lee aka A Sun from Malaysia and Gajenara from India.

Jakarta Police drug commissioner Anjan P Putra said the seizure began with A Sun’s arrest with one kilogram of shabu-shabu at Mega Pluit Mall.

“We investigated further and found and confiscated another 2 kilograms of methamphetamine from room 3107 of the Puri Denpasar Hotel, which A Sun had rented,” Anjan said, as reported by tribunnews.com Monday.

Police later captured another suspect, Gajanera, and seized one kilogram of methamphetamine from room 212 of My Hotel.

Both suspects were charged with violating narcotics laws, and could face fines of up to Rp 10 billion (US$1.11 million) and the death sentence.