INDONESIA A NEWS

Three youth reportedly kidnapped a 13-year old compatriot to Oyoun area and subjected him to severe physical assault and dumped him there. Security sources said the victim's father, who is a Kuwaiti citizen produce a medical report to substantiate the claim. The case has been registered and a search for the thugs is underway. Maid abducted, raped: Three unidentified men allegedly abducted and raped an Indonesian housemaid recently, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily. The housemaid told police the suspects forced her into their car on her way to a grocery shop. The men raped her successively and dumped her in Kabad, where she asked for help from passersby, who informed police about the incident. A case was registered in Abdullah Al-Mubarak Police Station and investigations are ongoing to identify the suspects. Bedoun flees abductors: A 16-year-old Bedoun escaped from hs abductors who, he said, took him by force in front of his family's house in Sulaibiya, reports. According to the vi...

Indonesia executed three convicted murderers, including a mother and son, the latest in a spate of state killings bucking a downward trend in the death penalty globally, officials and activists said on Saturday. Human rights groups speculated that by increasing killings, the Indonesian state was trying to demonstrate its authority over its 220 million people after 10 years of often chaotic democratic rule that emerged from decades of dictatorship. "It is likely the government want to improve its image ... as a strong institution, " said Zaenal Abidin, from the Legal Aid Foundation, one of several groups calling for last-minute stays of execution. A firing squad executed the mother and son early on Saturday in the industrial town of Surabaya on Java island, said their lawyer Soeteja Djajasmita. Sumiarsih, 60, and Sugeng, 44, were convicted of murdering five members of a single family 20 years ago during a dispute over money. The pair go by single names. Djajasmita said the pai...

THE Indonesian Supreme Court has rejected the Bali bombers' request for a final appeal against their death sentences, but they will be given a last opportunity to escape firing squads through a presidential pardon. The decision means Amrozi, Imam Sumudra and Mukhlas have no other avenues of legal appeal against their looming executions, but have one more chance to delay the process. They previously rejected asking the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for clemency, but officials said they would be asked again. They were sentenced to death nearly four years ago for their roles in the 2002 bombings in Kuta which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Despite stating they wanted to die as martyrs, their lawyers have constantly strung out the legal process. A plea to Dr Yudhoyono is almost certain to be quickly rejected, allowing the executions to be carried out within days.The development drew mixed reactions from family members of some of the Australian victims.David "S...

Tiny bits of bone, plucked from the ashes of a royal cremation, found their final resting place in the sea early Wednesday, empty of the soul that had been liberated by fire.It was the last step in an elaborate cremation ceremony three months in the making, the most spectacular royal funeral in Bali in at least three decades. In a roar of orange flames, the body of Agung Suyasa, head of the royal family of Ubud, was reduced to its earthly elements Tuesday in a mass cremation that included three royal figures and 68 commoners. In a Balinese tradition, the bodies of the commoners had waited to join Suyasa and two other members of his extended family in a royal cremation, although the pyres of the commoners were in a separate location. Some of them had waited months or even years, buried or mummified, for the spectacular rites that combine the energy, mysticism and creativity of this Hindu island. Deep in the night, the bones continued to burn, when all the crematory superstructure had be...

Tiny bits of bone, plucked from the ashes of a royal cremation, found their final resting place in the sea early Wednesday, empty of the soul that had been liberated by fire.It was the last step in an elaborate cremation ceremony three months in the making, the most spectacular royal funeral in Bali in at least three decades. In a roar of orange flames, the body of Agung Suyasa, head of the royal family of Ubud, was reduced to its earthly elements Tuesday in a mass cremation that included three royal figures and 68 commoners. In a Balinese tradition, the bodies of the commoners had waited to join Suyasa and two other members of his extended family in a royal cremation, although the pyres of the commoners were in a separate location. Some of them had waited months or even years, buried or mummified, for the spectacular rites that combine the energy, mysticism and creativity of this Hindu island. Deep in the night, the bones continued to burn, when all the crematory superstructure had be...

Foreign investors are shying away from Indonesia due to chronic power outages, the chairman of the country's business association said Tuesday as Jakarta prepared for two weeks of blackouts.Businesses are bracing for millions of dollars in losses when the capital and its densely-populated surroundings experience rolling power cuts of eight hours a day for two weeks from Friday.The cuts are officially due to maintenance work which will interrupt gas supplies to two state-owned generating stations in North Jakarta, but analysts have blamed the country's crumbling infrastructure.'If the power cuts continue foreign investors won't come to Indonesia. They will choose China instead,' Indonesia Business Association chairman Sofjan Wanandi told Agence France-Presse.'As long as our infrastructure is not ready, foreign investors will think twice before they invest in this country,' he added. Major blackouts have plagued the Java-Bali grid for the past six months, hitt...