INDONESIA A NEWS

The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) has reacted strongly to Malaysian police attack on Indonesian karate referee Donald Peter Luther Kolopita in the wee hours of Friday last week. "This is an arrogant act of the Malaysian police against an Indonesian citizen. The government should lodge a strong protest to the Malaysian government," House Speaker Agung Laksono said Monday. The House Speaker said the Malaysian police action insulted the feeling and dignity of the Indonesian people, much more that the victim who was tortured by the four Malaysian police was already old. "Ironically, Malaysia did not explain the chronology of the incident. This is excessive arrogance," Agung Laksono said. He said that the Malaysian attitude humiliated the Indonesian citizen. Malaysia has also done the same thing towards Indonesian workers in that country. "Malaysia has repeatedly insulted and humiliated Indonesia. Unlike Australia which immediately gives a cla...

The reason of death of the woman, who spends time on Bali resort island, became virus of bird flu. Health officials in Bali have confirmed that a woman and her daughter died there from the deadly H5N1 strain of influenza. If confirmed, it would be the first time the H5N1 bird flu virus had killed in the popular holiday island destination, although the disease has long been endemic in poultry flocks there. It would bring the number of Indonesian fatalities to 82, out of 103 recorded human cases. Officials were also trying to determine if the woman's 5-year-old daughter, who was cremated after dying on Aug. 3, may also have had the virus. "Results of testing by the ministry's laboratory came back positive for the 29-year-old woman," said Nyoman Kandun, a senior Health Ministry official. The infection has not yet been confirmed by a second round of testing, usually used to confirm bird flu. According to the World Health Organization, at least 192 people - the majority of...

More than 70,000 members and supporters of the hardline Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) group on Sunday held a massive gathering at a sports stadium in the Indonesian capital. Almost all but one seated area of the stadium was packed with members and supporters of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, many of whom had come on board convoys of buses from other regions in Java and neighbouring Sumatra. The event, touted by the group's spokesman Muhammad Ismail Yusanto as an international conference entitled "It is now time for the Caliphate to reign," is hearing several speakers, including foreign invitees. Hizbut Tahrir advocate the return of a caliphate -- Islamic rule -- to govern the world. The organisation is banned in several Middle-eastern countries. But Yusanto said that two speakers -- Imran Waheed from England and Syeik Ismail Al Wahwah from Australia -- had been denied entry and deported from Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated country, when they arrived at Jakar...

China has banned all Indonesian seafood imports after checks turned up toxins, dangerous chemicals and pathogens, the government food regulator said. Shipments received before Friday would be carefully inspected, while all those shipped after that date would be returned or destroyed, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a circular posted on its Web site. The announcement comes as Chinese products from toothpaste to toys, tires and fish are under increased scrutiny and have in some cases been banned after being found tainted or otherwise unsafe. Martani Huseini, a senior official at Indonesia's Department of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said the move appeared to be in reaction to an import ban imposed last month on Chinese food supplements, cosmetics and medicines over safety concerns. Indonesia said it found that some Chinese cosmetics contained mercury and rhodamin, that medicines contained unauthorized chemicals, and that food su...