Portal:Indonesia/Old news

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September 2006

September 15: Anif Solchanudin, a.k.a. ‘Shorty’, is sentenced to 15 years imprisonment because of his involvement in the 2005 Bali Bombings. Anif was proven to know about the bomb planning from the beginning and was even implicated in the preparation. (Tempointeraktif)

September 10: Bomb blasts in Poso, Sulawesi, killing a 20 year old woman. The bomb was hidden inside a flashlight and went off when the woman switched it on. It was the second blast in Poso in a week. Last Wednesday, a 50-year-old man died when a bomb exploded in an empty building. Poso was the scene of fighting between Muslims and Christians that killed around 2,000 people from 1998 to 2001 before a peace accord took effect. (Reuters)

September 9: Indonesia government seeks access to Hambali, an Indonesian citizen and Jemaah Islamiah activist, arrested in Thailand in 2003. Hambali was handed to the US terrorist detention camp, Guantanamo Bay, after a $10m payment to the Thai government for its role in arresting him. (BBC)

September 8: Six of the Australian Bali Nine drug smugglers were sentenced to death after appeals by their prosecutors against their jail terms by Indonesia's Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, is urged to appeal for clemency, but refuses as it is too early. (The Australian)

September 7: Thousands of Christians rallied through the street on Sulawesi island, Indonesia. Christians are demanding the government not execute three men, Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva, convicted in the killings of Muslims six years ago. Nearly 500 police officers were deployed to guard the demonstrators in the town of Tentena, 55 kilometers south of the provincial capital Poso. (IHT)

September 6: The Indonesian government may take over a natural gas field in the Natuna offshore area, in the South China Sea run by Exxon Mobil Corp., when its contract expires in January, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Tuesday (09/05). The Natuna D-Alpha block contains around 222 trillion cubic feet of gas, but the field contains about 70% carbon dioxide, making it expensive to develop and difficult to sell. (Reuters)

September 5: The Indonesian navy is increasing its alertness following the escape of East Timor`s rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado along with 56 other detainees from the Becore prison in East Timor recently. Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Sunarto Sjoekronoputro said "Indonesia must prevent Major Alfredo from coming into the country because if he managed to do this, it may leave a bad impression, as if Indonesia supported the rebellion." (ANTARA)

September 4: Hundreds of people rallied in Sidoarjo on eastern Java island to protest against an unending 3 months of flow of hot mud from PT Lapindo Brantas, an oil well company. More than 10,000 people have been displaced by the mud flow. (Reuters)

September 3: Indonesia president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, criticized western media as being biased against Muslims. "If non-Muslims are killed in fighting, then the Western media exaggerate the news. But this is not the case when Muslims are killed in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon," President Yudhoyono said when opening a two-day dialog among journalists from 44 countries in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Saturday (09/03) morning. (ANTARA)

September 2: Newmont executive, Richard Ness, takes the stand in Indonesia pollution trial to deny that the company dumped dangerous levels of mercury and arsenic-laced waste into Buyat Bay on Sulawesi island, sickening villagers and causing fish stocks to plummet. Ness faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted and his company a possible fine of US$68,000. (IHT)

September 1: Signs of four new Javan Rhino babies, the rarest animal, are found in Indonesia. There are only 26 - 58 rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park. "To discover that this population is breeding - and even slowly growing - gives us hope for the species' future," Arman Malolongan, director general of forest protection and nature conservation at Indonesia's forestry ministry said in a statement. (Reuters)

August 2006

August 31: Greenpeace called on Indonesia to halt land clearing fires, warning that thick haze threatened the health of millions of people and contributed to climate change. "Forest clearing for acacia pulpwood and oil palm plantations are the leading causes of the fires and also a factor in creating environmental conditions that perpetuate the problem.", said Greenpeace campaigner Hapsoro. (ANTARA)

August 30: Thailand to return 53 orangutans, which were smuggled and put in the private Safari World zoo to perform Thai boxing near Bangkok, to Indonesia next month. The orangutans will be shipped to a rehabilitation center on Indonesia's island of Kalimantan (Borneo). (JP)

August 29: Police in Jakarta seized 950 kg of crystal methamphetamine (locally known as shabu-shabu) imported from Hong Kong, the biggest victory against drug smuggling. Since 2000, the country's courts have given 32 death sentences for drug offences, though none has been executed. (The Australian)

August 28: Thick haze from ground and forest fires shrouded the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, causing air traffic disruption even as strong winds and rain cleared the air in other areas, officials said. In the provincial capital Pontianak, thick haze kept visibility below 300 meters in the morning. (ANTARA)

August 27: A mass culling of 2,000 fowls is planned in Garut, West Java to prevent the spreading of bird flu that has resulted 9 cases in that area. Two of them, a 17-year old man and a 9-year old girl have died recently. In total, 62 cases of bird flu have been reported, where 47 of them have died in Indonesia. (ANTARA)

August 26: Scores of Malaysian businessmen involves in forest fire in Indonesia's Riau province, which cause haze covers the province and neighboring Malaysia, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday. Kalla made the statement a day after his visit to the province. "Yesterday I got a report from the governor of Riau province, that they have arrested more than 20 people,...there are some Malaysian plantation businessmen," he told reporters here. (Xinhua)

August 25: Most Indonesians reject the implementation of Islamic law despite calls by radical groups to make a theocratic state, according to Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) survey, released on Thursday (24/08). Aceh province is the only region of Indonesia allowed to implement Sharia, and only because it was granted as part of a plan to end a decades-long civil war there. A few provincial districts on Java and Sumatra islands have adopted local regulations in the spirit of Sharia. (ANTARA)

August 24: Haze from fires raging jungles in Sumatra and Borneo islands thickened today as officials met to prepare a plan for battling the blazes. There are 380 hotspots in Sumatra alone. Although flights are not severely affected, visibility is reduced to 800-1,000m in Riau. Public health is in danger due to air pollution. (News.com.au)
August 23: The first local election to vote for government and other local position of Aceh province in 29 years will be held in Dec 11th, 2006. Former rebels are allowed to take part this political process. (AP)
August 22: Experts fails to uncover evidence of bird flu spreading between humans in a remote area in Indonesia where three people have been infected with the virus. WHO officials along with their Indonesian counterparts have been investigating an outbreak of deadly H5N1 in villages in West Java in the Garut district of Cikelet.
August 21: Indonesia delays death execution of the 3 Bali bombers, because of last appeal. The three death row prisoners, Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra, were due to face a firing squad on Tuesday (22/08). (BBC)
August 20: Protected Javanese long-tailed monkeys (trachyphitecus auratus), or locally known as Javan lutung, are threatened with extinction due to increasing illegal trade of the animal and conversion of forest land into farms. "The habitats of the animal are now found in limited areas in Java such as in the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, the Arjuna mountain, the Alas Purwo National Park, the Baluran National Park, the Sempu island and the Hyang hills," said Rosek Nursahid, the director of ProFauna International. (ANTARA)
August 19: Indonesia refused to disarm Hezbollah, despite its commitments to allocate US$ 40 million to dispatch 2,000 troops as part of the international troops UNIFIL. Defense minister Juwono Sudarsono has said that the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 does not stipulate disarmament by the UN peacekeeping troops. (ANTARA)
August 18: An Indonesian woman died of suspected bird flu in a village that has been hard hit by the disease, a hospital official said Friday, as health workers investigated a new possible cluster of the H5N1 virus. The virus has killed at least 140 people worldwide since 2003 — 45 of them in Indonesia, the world's worst affected country, according to the World Health Organization.(AP)
August 17: Indonesia commemorates its 61st independence day. It has been a tradition in Indonesia during the independence day to cut jail terms of well-behaved prisoners. Schapelle Corby, a convicted Australian drug smuggler, gets 2 months, Renae Lawrence from Bali Nine gets 1 month, while nine of the 2002 Bali bombing terrorists get 4 months, among others. (The Age)
August 16: An Islamic militant convicted in the 2002 Bali bombings will be released from prison Thursday and 10 other minor figures in the plot are likely to have their sentences reduced to mark Indonesia's independence day. (AP)
August 15: Tens of thousands rally in Aceh, Indonesia, celebrating a full year of peace but calling on Jakarta to honour the pact which ended three decades of separatist warfare. (AFP}
August 14: Indonesia's president warned more work was needed to solidify peace in Aceh as global leaders praised Indonesia and ex-rebels from the province for reaching the first anniversary of their conflict's end.(AFP)
August 13: The Indonesian authority has delayed the execution of three attackers on Muslims in eastern Indonesia. The death row was postponed after Pope Benedict XVI contacted the Indonesian president. (AFP)
August 12: A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia on Saturday, but officials said there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage. (Reuters)

August 11: More than 2,000 Christians in Indonesia rallied against a plan to execute three co-religionist found guilty of a series of attacks on Muslims in eastern Indonesia. Tibo, da Silva and Riwu was involved in the attacks on Sulawesi in 2002. (AAP)

August 10: An Indonesian appeals court has upheld a ruling by the Attorney-General's office to drop the corruption case against the former President Suharto because of his poor health. Suharto had been a president of Indonesia for 32 years. (AAP)

August 10: Indonesia has complained to Australia regarding the travel warning to Indonesia. It has been found that the travel warning is harming its economy, deterring new investment and decreasing the rate of international students. (AAP)