INDONESIA A NEWS

POLITICAL interference in the US Military Commissions will prevent Australians from hearing all the facts surrounding the 2002 Bali bombings with the trial of terror-mastermind Hambali likely to take place in secret, the former chief prosecutor says.Colonel Mo Davis's remarks came as new details emerged at the weekend about the role US Vice-President Dick Cheney played in the trial of David Hicks. Colonel Davis said there was intense political pressure to try Hambali, along with other so-called high-value detainees, before George W. Bush left the White House in January 2009. He said the fear that a new administration, especially a Democrat one, would be less inclined to proceed with trials was driving the pressure. As a result, there would be no time to declassify the evidence against Hambali, meaning Australians would have to take the details of his alleged crimes on trust. "For you in Australia, where Hambali had a direct impact on your lives, you folks need to be able to se...

After years of policy confusion and political gridlock, Indonesia's Parliament this month ratified a government plan to establish full free trade zones (FTZ) for areas of three islands located near Singapore. The move represents the latest bid by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's pro-business administration to attract more badly needed foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country. His government fast-tracked the policy for the island of Batam, the country's main industrial center, and also parts of Bintan and Karimun, in response to growing regional competition, including from nearby Malaysia's ambitious Iskandar Development Region project, which envisions the establishment of a massive new regional manufacturing hub also aimed at forging linkages with Singapore. So urgent were those competitive concerns that in June Yudhoyono's government issued a state emergency regulation to amend existing FTZ legislation. Indonesian law requires that any emergency law mus...

The chief pilot of an Indonesian passenger aircraft which crashed in March, killing 21 people, has been blamed in part by the country's transport safety committee.The commander of the Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 ignored 15 warnings and approached the runway at excessive airspeed while descending too steeply, the panel's report said.The aircraft "was flown at an excessive airspeed and steep flight path angle during the approach and landing, resulting in an unstabilised approach," the report said. The aeroplane, which was carrying 140 people, burst into flames after skidding off the runway on landing at Yogyakarta airport. Both pilots survived the crash, which happened less than three months after an Adam Air aircraft disappeared with 102 passengers and crew on board. The European Union banned all 51 Indonesian airlines from its airspace after the accidents, citing safety concerns. Failings reported The safety report said the chief pilot's failure to observe saf...

The Helsinki peace agreement made on Aug. 15, 2005, between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) left some "homework" for elected Aceh Governor Irwandy Yusuf and his North Sumatra counterpart Rudolf Pardede.This homework involves the lot of thousands of Javanese transmigrants stranded in North Sumatra and Riau in the late 1990s and early 2000s after fleeing violent attacks by armed groups. Unfortunately, Governor Pardede perhaps forgets his province harbors thousands of Javanese refugee families from Aceh living in very poor conditions. Aceh Governor Irwandy, a former GAM leader, also may not realize the Javanese transmigrants were evicted by units of armed men, who they believed were GAM combatants. This is especially relevant now as Irwandy is focussing on rehabilitating thousands of indigenous Acehnese villages and inviting foreign investors to help reconstruct Aceh. Irwandy presumably also doesn't realize under the Helsinki agreement, the Javanes...

They had been abandoned for months in Abu Dhabi due to the enforcement of new regulations for illegal foreign workers in UAE. The UAE government has given them amnesty in order to return to their home country.Jumhur Hidayat, Head of the Indonesian Workers Placement and Protection Agency, said that now the homecoming process in still ongoing in stages. "It's still in process. The return will be in stages," he told Tempo yesterday (7/10). "Perhaps the data regarding 160 people will be reduced or even increased, because the UAE government regulation will continues to be applied," said Jumhur.The UAE government issued a prohibition for employers to illegally employ foreign workers, including Indonesian female migrant workers. Employers who violate the new regulation will be fined and imprisoned. The effect of this is that a lot of employers have expelled female migrant workers from their houses.This is despite, according to Jumhur, the Indonesian workers having ente...

After a series of environmental, funding and supply contract problems, surging regional demand has given new impetus to Indonesia's US$6.5 billion Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which with 14 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves represents one of the largest gas fields in all Asia. Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said last week that the first LNG deliveries from the plant are now expected to start by the end of next year. The gas will help China, the second biggest investor in the ambitious project, to meet its surging energy demand while at the same time tap a valuable new fuel source to power Indonesia's domestic economy. The announcement comes amid surging global LNG prices, which have more than doubled over the past three years. The initial output of the two planned LNG production lines, or trains, as they are known in industry parlance, will be a combined 7.6 million metric tons per year, an output that has been fully contracted for the next 25 years. T...

Two former top officials at Indonesia's national airline have gone on trial in connection with the murder of a leading human rights activist.The ex-president and ex-deputy president of Garuda airlines are accused of helping Pollycarpus Priyanto, an off-duty pilot, kill Munir Said Thalib by poisoning him on a flight to Amsterdam three years ago.Indra Setiawan and his former deputy, Rohainil Aini could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.Priyanto was convicted of the actual murder and jailed for 14 years in 2005, but the conviction was overturned a year later by the supreme court a year citing a lack of evidence and witnesses. Prosecutors are now appealing that decision.Munir, and lawyer and one of Indonesia's most prominent human rights campaigners, died after ingesting a fatal dose of arsenic while travelling to the Netherlands on a Garuda flight.He had often targeted Indonesia's powerful military and secret service, leading to claims that he was killed because he e...

von welchen der eine oder andere Eurer Majest?t unausweichlich bevorzustehen scheint. Der erste und ungl?cklichste f?r den Staat w?re ohne Zweifel jener, wenn wir durch unsere ungl?ckliche Lage in einen neuen Krieg mit dem einen oder anderen der beiden Kolosse, die uns bedrohen, verwickelt w?rden. Von beiden stehen m?chtige Armeen an unseren Grenzen, mit beiden w?rden die ersten Feindseligkeiten den Krieg in das Herz der Monarchie f?hren,Die einzelnen Pers?nlichkeiten treten in dieser lyrischen Kunst nicht stark hervor, im Gegensatz zur chinesischen. Japan ist das Land der Gelegenheitsdichter. Wir besitzen Gedichte von Kaisern und Kaiserinnen,Sollte jedoch zwischen diesen beiden grossen Uebeln eines gew?hlt werden m?ssen, so bietet der Krieg mit Frankreich noch unendlich schrecklichere Resultate dar, als jener mit Russland. Meine innere Ueberzeugung entreisst mir das traurige Gest?ndnis: Ein neuer Krieg mit Frankreich und seinen Alliierten ist das Todesurteil f?r die ?sterreichische Mo...

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The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) said Al-Qiyadah al-Islamiyah, which first appeared in 2000, is a misleading sect. The decision was taken after MUI researched the organization for the last three months."Up to 2006, this sect wasn't brave enough to appear. But starting in 2007, they bluntly spread their lessons to the public," MUI Chairman, K.H. Ma'ruf, told the press yesterday (4/10). For a sect that is only seven years old, he viewed, its progress is rapid. The structure is in order and the leaders easily attract public sympathy. Al-Qiyadah's leader, Ahmad Moshaddeq, whose real name is Haji Salam, said he was an apostle since July 23, 2007 after ascetic meditation for 40 days and nights in Bunder Mount, Bogor, West Java. "They even changed Islam to existing apostle or prophet after Muhammad, that is Masih Al-Mau'ud," said Ma'ruf.For gaining devotees, according to Ma'ruf, Ahmad promised rewards of a motorcycle for those who can recruit 40 ...