blog.indahnesia.com - Just a blog about Indonesia

Banyuwangi starts culling dogs from Bali

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:35:00 +0100

BANYUWANGI - The ministry of Agriculture in the region of Banyuwangi, East Java, is to cull some 40 dogs that were discovered after they were transported from the island of Bali. The animals are currently in quarantine in Ketapang. They are culled to prevent rabies from spreading to the region after all of Bali is now officially a rabies-zone. ...

List of most influential Muslems: Congratulations Indonesia!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:41:00 +0100

LIPPO CIKARANG - Congratulations! Indonesia did not win again. They did not loose either, but are just playing a small role in this case. Most likely that is the best solution as well. Huh? What? Not winning is still okay? For sure, since it is all about the small representation of Indonesians in the list of 500 most prominent Muslems in the world. ...

The new Gajayana between Malang and Jakarta

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:31:00 +0100

BLITAR - It has been a year ago that I used the Indonesian railroad services. That was a trip from Yogyakarta to Jakarta with a dirty, cold and old-fashioned train. Trains like that are still widely available on Java. It normally is really cold on board of one of these trains, which makes traveling with them not the best option available. ...

Release Papuan flag-raisers

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:46:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should exonerate three Papuan men convicted of rebellion on November 12, 2009, for raising a pro-independence flag, Human Rights Watch said today. ...

Tough laws needed to curb people-smuggling

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:35:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Indonesia has become a key transit point for illegal migrants in the region, but efforts to curb people-smuggling are being hampered by a dearth of stringent laws to punish offenders, officials say. Eko Daniyanto, head of the people-smuggling unit for the Indonesian national police, said international people-smuggling syndicates had operated in Indonesia since 2005. ...

''Dutch druglord in Indonesia executed soon'

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:06:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Dutchman Ang Kiem Soei, who is convicted to death in Indonesia for running an ecstasy factory, is most likely to be executed next month. He also was a part of an international organization of drug traders. Soei has been in prison for over seven years now and his legal options have run out. ...

Passengers Singapore Airlines can fly to Yogyakarta and Makassar

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:14:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Singapore Airlines will bring passengers that are flying to Jakarta to Yogyakarta and Makassar by cooperating with Garuda Indonesia. The airline has announced this earlier. Passengers that fly to Jakarta via Singapore will make a short stop before the last leg of their trip to Jakarta with Singapore Airlines. From there, passengers will use Garuda Indonesia planes and services to continue their trip. ...

Obama promises to visit Indonesia next year

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:53:00 +0100

SINGAPORE - At the sidelines of the APEC summit held in Singapore, president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with president Barrack Obama yesterday. Both heads of state spoke in a private meeting for less than one hour in the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, where Obama spends the nights during his visit. ...

Saving Bali's Serangan island

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:19:00 +0100

DENPASAR - The government of Denpasar is targeting to restore the badly damaged natural environment of Serangan island by establishing a turtle refuge as part of plans to create the island into a marine sports center. ...

This was in the picture! #9

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:17:00 +0100

MALANG - Two orang hutans are posing for the camera in a resort for their species on the island of Sumatra. The animals are still poached while government and NGO's are making efforts to prevent the species from becoming extinct. ...

Thank you for the emails

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:29:00 +0100

MALANG - After over one day without internet in Yogyakarta we left for Malang yesterday in the early afternoon. We used a travel (small bus that will bring you to your final destination right away, 100,000 Rupiah per person) to travel between these cities. We arrived here early in the evening. At that time I tried to connect to the internet but it still didn't work. I then suspected my modem was most likely not working anymore. ...

MUI: Muslems should not watch '2012'

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:36:00 +0100

MALANG - A chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the highest Muslim authority, called on all Muslims Monday to not watch 2012, saying that the Hollywood movie was misleading and against Islamic belief. Produced by Sony Pictures, Roland Emmerich's 2012 is a new movie about the Mayan doomsday starring John Cusack. ...

Garuda invited to resume flights to the U.S.A.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:34:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Bisnis Indonesia reports that the U.S. Government has invited Garuda Indonesia< to re-open its long-abandoned direct flights between the U.S.A. and Indonesia with assistance from the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). Garuda terminated its flights to Los Angeles in mid-1998 that operated on a route that traveled in both directions between Jakarta - Bali - Biak - Honolulu - Los Angeles. ...

What's in the picture? #9

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:41:00 +0100

YOGYAKARTA - What is in the picture below? It's just a cut-out of a larger picture that will be published on indahnesia.com tomorrow, but we give you some head start to guess what the picture might be. The exact name would be perfect, but a description of what you are seeing and where the location might is okay too. We will provide more details tomorrow when this picture is published in the picture gallery 'Seeing is believing'. ...

Promoting use of condoms difficult in Indonesia

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:24:00 +0100

JAKARTA - After she made a commercial to promote a brand of condoms, Julia Perez has now become an official ambassador of the condom brand Sutra during the National Condom Week that was launched in Jakarta a few days ago. Perez told that it was very hard to organise such a campaign in Indonesia. ...

Back in Yogya: crowds in the streets

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:15:00 +0100

YOGYAKARTA - I moved from Yogya some five months ago now. I don't have any feeling that resembled homesickness, but it is not bad at all to be back here again for a few days. A few days back already I woke up when the bus had already left the area of Semarang, which meant that it was less than three hours traveling before the bus would drop us at one of the big intersections along the southern ring road of the city. ...

Government to clean 11 rivers

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:20:00 +0100

JAKARTA - The central government has announced plans to restore some 11 heavily poluted rivers as part of the governments actions on climate change. A spokesperson for the Department of Environment said that the program would be one of the highest priorities of the newly installed government. ...

A bigger and much improved airport for Bali

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:00:00 +0100

DENPASAR - PT Angkasa Pura I (PAP), the State-owned company that manages Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport, recently outlined the major renovation and upgrading work at Bali's only airport soon to get underway. Quoted in Beritabali.com, the general manager of Angkasa Pura I, Heru Legowo, said the total cost of the planned modifications at Bali's airport is budgeted at Rp. 1.6 trillion (110 million euro). ...

Garuda shopping for more aircraft

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:43:00 +0100

JAKARTA - The Jakarta Post reports that Garuda Indonesia has allocated US$100 million (70 million euro) for expenditure in 2010 as the first of five yearly installments that will increase the airline's present fleet from 67 to 116 aircraft. Garuda's finance director Eddy Purwanto told the press, "We plan to spend $100 million in capital expenditure in 2010 to buy more planes as well as to fulfill Garuda's other operational expenditure." ...

Back to Yogya: twelve hours by bus

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:53:00 +0100

YOGYAKARTA - How to get to Yogyakarta? Of course the plane is a good solution from Jakarta, but we didn't want to. My plan was to catch the bus in the morning, so we would arrive in Yogya in the evening, but as we found out there were no morning buses departing for Yogya from Cikarang, so we just took the bus departing in the evening, because we wanted to go to Yogya anyway. ...

32 children die from malnutrition

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:28:00 +0100

MATARAM - At least 32 children have died of malnutrition in the province of West Nusa Tenggara this year alone. Some 675 children were recorded to be malnourished. 260 others are being treated in local health centers and hospitals in the province, while others have recovered already. ...

LIPI: Cut a tree, plant ten new trees

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:13:00 +0100

JAKARTA - In a survey that has cost some 250 million Rupiah (195,000 euro), the botanic garden in Cibodas and LIPI (the Indonesian Institute of Sciences), has concluded that for every tree that is cut down, at least ten new seedlings have to planted to replace it. The seedlings should be put in the earth before the tree is actually cut, realizing that Indonesians normally don't tend to clean up their work after they have started. ...

Counterfeit money network uncovered

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:43:00 +0100

BANDUNG - The local police of East Bandung in West Java have uncovered a counterfeit money network in the area. Five people involved were arrested by the police after an investigation. One of those arrested is currently seen as the mastermind of the group, but further investigation is still ongoing. The police investigated several reports of fake money circulating in the area before making the arrests. ...

Construction of Sunda Strait bridge starts in 2014

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0100

JAKARTA - Djoko Kirmanto, former minister of Public Works, has said that the government expected to start construction of the 40-kilometer long Sunda Strait bridge between the islands of Java and Sumatra at latest in 2014. The government is currently wrapping up a pre-feasibilty study and is to form a national team of representatives from related institutions. ...

W. Sumatra earthquake damages 65 cultural heritage sites

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:40:00 +0100

PADANG - Some 65 cultural heritage sites in the province of West Sumatra have sustained damage in the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit the province on September 30, 2009. The head of the cultural heritage conservation for West Sumatra, Riau and Riau Island, Fitra Alda, told that old and historically important buildings were damaged in the city of Padang. ...

20 percent of residents Mimika illiterate

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:07:00 +0100

MIMIKA - More than 22 percent of the population of the Mimika regency in Papua, or about 40,000 people there, are illiterate. Mimika, with a population of 175,000, ranks fifth in terms of the illiteracy rate in the province, after Wamena, Merauke, Paniai and Nabire regencies, said Yesaya Sombuk, head of Mimika Education Agency, on Tuesday. ...

The mess at PLN Cikarang #4

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:12:00 +0100

LIPPO CIKARANG - Just a few days after I had reported myself to the offices of PLN (the state-owned energy company_ two men reported to the house on a Friday afternoon. They were from PLN, at least that is what they said, because they did not bring a company car nor was there any logo on their clothes to prove they were indeed sent by PLN. ...

Status of Mount Batur volcano raised to 'careful'

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:27:00 +0100

DENPASAR - The Mount Batur volcano, located on the island of Bali shows signs of renewed activity. The first recorded eruption of the volcano was in 1804. Since then it erupted at least 28 times with intervals of between one and 39 years. Normally the 1,717 meter high volcano erupts in a strombolian eruption where lava just flows out of it's crater. The last eruption as on July 7, 2000. ...

Thirteen killed in Palopo landslide

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:29:00 +0100

PALOPO - A landslide that occurred in the district of Wara Barat of the city of Palopo in Central Sulawesi has killed 13 residents. Directly after the landslide occurred, other residents in the area scrambled to the location to look for victims under the debris, but only bodies were pulled from the rubble. ...

This was in the picture! #8

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:23:00 +0100

LIPPO CIKARANG - The right answer was not given this week. So what was on the picture then? The rectorate of the Andalas University. The Andalas University ('Universitas Andalas') is the oldest university in Indonesia outside of Java. The university consists of nine faculties, with most located at the main campus Limau Manis, twelve kilometers from the center of Padang, West Sumatra. The campus occupies five square kilometers, at an elevation of about 100 meters. ...