INDONESIA A NEWS

NEW evidence links the most senior officials in Indonesia's Attorney-General' s Office to the dropping of a $3 billion fraud charge, allegedly in return for a $700,000 bribe. Despite revelations the businesswoman accused of handing over the bribe met junior Attorney-General Kemas Yahya Rahman and Director of Special Crimes Muhammad Salim, the Attorney-General' s Office is refusing to re-examine their decision to drop the case.A court order to reopen the investigation into how $3 billion in public funds were lost in a loan to tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim will be appealed, said the Attorney-General' s spokesman, Bonaventura Nainggolan.Only if "hard evidence" emerged that the decision was flawed would it be re-examined, Mr Nainggolan said. Indonesia's Anti-Corruption Commission revealed the new evidence while outlining its case against state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan and businesswoman Artalyta Suryani. Gunawan was arrested at a house owned by Mr Nursalim in Ma...

Have you ever noticed how some businesses seem to do extremely well, and go from strength to strength, whilst the majority just seem to muddle along? Since starting my own business I've met many small business owners and what I've noticed is that the vast majority of them seem to just about get by, but few reach the level of success that they're actually capable of. Some of them end up failing altogether, some lurch from project to project, and some do OK, but never really achieve the success or lifestyle they envisioned when they started their business. On the other hand, I know a handful of extremely successful service business owners, who are making high 6 and 7 figure incomes every year (and rising) - and yet they don't work longer hours, their products and services are not magnitudes better than their competitors and they aren't geniuses! So what is the difference between the successful businesses and the struggling businesses? In a word: Marketing Whilst there...

De Telegraaf writes about a book over orang-utans called 'Thinkers of the jungle' by the Dutch environmentalist Willie Smits.The book, containing many unique photographs of orang-utans, goes on sale on Wednesday in bookstores in The Netherlands. Smits first wrote the book in German, which caused considerable commotion in 2007. He says: "I hope that people become angry, because they'll be able to see with their own eyes the total lack of respect for nature." The author has worked thirty years in Indonesia, where he fell in love with the orang-utans. "In 1989 I found a half-dead orang-utan in a garbage dump. I helped that magnificent being to recover. I expressly use the word being because you can't call an anthropoid (ape) an animal. They are nearly a hundred percent human. Since 1989 I've met around 1,300 apes. They've become my friends." Among the pictures are those of orang-utans fishing. They stand on stones in the water holding a stick wa...

To this date, it still remains a mystery as to who were behind the bloody riots in Jakarta in May 1998, when thousands of people looted and burned shops mostly owned by Chinese Indonesians, while security officials were reluctant to prevent the looters from going on the rampage. Riot police, who in the days prior to the riots had been involved in clashes with student protesters demanding reforms, were already exhausted. Worst still, the police were also blamed for a shooting incident near the Semanggi clover bridge which killed four students, making them the target of public outrage. It was understandable the police appeared confused in handling the mayhem, paving the way for the military, then known as ABRI, to take over the responsibility of insuring security in the capital. But ABRI members did not make serious efforts to quell the two-day riots (May 13-14), which left more than 1,200 people dead and thousands of shops, houses and vehicles burned to ashes. Most of the victims were l...

Police are still studying the possibility that a terrorist network was involved in last Friday`s attack on Horale village by people of neighboring Saleman village, Central Maluku District, a spokesman said. Four people were killed and tens of houses and public and social facilities were burnt during the incident, Maluku Police`s chief information officer Adjunct Senior Commissioner J. Huwae said on Tuesday."Based on the results of direct observations at the location of the clash , police are now studying such a possibility, " he said.Maluku Police Chief Brig Gen Mohammad Guntur Ariyadi on Monday visited the location. Huwae further said judging by the conditions st the location and based on exhibits collected, the attack was carried out in a systematic way and by trained people.He added the results of the preliminary investigation would be made public on May 7.Police had so far questioned 27 people over the incident and seven of them had been named suspects in the case, he add...

Three prisoners on death row for the Bali bombing asked for a judicial review (PK) again. This time, the judicial review is being submitted to head of the Batu penitentiary, Nusakambangan, Central Java."Amrozi, Imam Samudra, and Muklas have signed the PK documents and given them to the staff of penitentiary, " said Achmad Michdan, attorney for the prisoners. "This is to optimize the judicial effort for Amrozi and his friends."Michdan explained the review submission through the head of the penitentiary is possible as the head is like "a father" for the prisoners asking for a judicial review for "his children". To date, it is the third judicial review submitted by these prisoners. On August 2007, the Supreme Court (MA) refused their judicial review. They submitted another proposal for a review in early 2008, but the Amrozi side canceled both.Michdan said MA did not examine the judicial review thoroughly. The first review was rejected without examin...

Amrozi, the convicted Bali bomber whose execution is imminent, is planning to take a second wife and hold the wedding reception at the prison island where he is being detained, his lawyer said Wednesday. "He wants to hold the reception on May 10, 2008," Mahendradatta, head of the lawyer team for Amrozi, was quoted by leading news website Detikcom as saying. But Amrozi apparently does not know the bride personally. The woman will be introduced to Amrozi several days ahead of the wedding, he said. Mahendradatta also said Amrozi planned to request a judicial review over the conviction himself without the assistance of his lawyers. Amrozi, along with his elder brother Ali Ghufron and militant leader Imam Samudra, were sentenced to death for key roles in the October 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali island that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. The Supreme Court has upheld the verdict and rejected their earlier request for a judicial review. The three have also officially ruled ...