BALI – Indonesia, indeed the world, had never seen anything like it. In a sleepy Balinese village, panic flares as some 20 people are feared to have suddenly been infected with avian influenza. The village is quarantined as medical workers clad in full protective body gear swing into action. The military and police are drafted…
Read moreIndonesian grandmother spreads green ways in smoggy Jakarta
BANJARSARI, Indonesia: Harini Bambang Wahono’s classroom is a kaleidoscope of greens, a fitting colour scheme for the 77-year-old grandmother who has been teaching green ways for almost 30 years. A poster on the wall commands: "Reduce, recycle, reuse, replant" — the philosophy that Ibu Bambang, as she is known, seeks to spread throughout her Jakarta…
Read moreSoutheast Asia gears up for palm oil boom
JAKARTA, Sept 16, 2007 (AFP) – Southeast Asian nations are gearing up for a palm oil boom as interest in biofuels soars, but activists warn the crop may not satisfy a global thirst for energy that is both clean and green. They caution that oil palm plantations require massive swathes of land — either what’s…
Read moreSuharto win puts Indonesia court under scrutiny: analysts
JAKARTA, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) – A decision by Indonesia’s top court to award ex-dictator Suharto millions of dollars in a defamation suit calls the judiciary’s integrity into question and imperils press freedom, activists and analysts warned Tuesday. The Supreme Court ordered on Monday that US-based Time magazine pay damages to Suharto to the tune…
Read moreThree years on, killer of Indonesian activist still at large
JAKARTA, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) – Three years after the high-profile Indonesian activist Munir Said Thalib died on an Amsterdam-bound flight after imbibing a lethal dose of arsenic, the mystery of who ordered his death looms large here. Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said solving the September 7, 2004 murder of Munir, a 37-year-old…
Read moreDossier links Indonesian intelligence to activist murder
JAKARTA, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) – Indonesian state prosecutors have compiled an array of fresh evidence that implicates the powerful state intelligence agency in the murder of a rights activist, according to a document obtained by AFP. Munir Said Thalib, Indonesia’s most prominent rights activist, was poisoned as he travelled from Jakarta to Amsterdam in…
Read moreIndonesians told ‘inconvenient truth’ of climate change
JAKARTA, July 19, 2007 (AFP) – In a darkened auditorium on a weekday afternoon, Indonesians are warned that floods in their capital will become more catastrophic and the haze-inducing fires blazing through their forests are partly to blame. A message from Al Gore has arrived. For the first time in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most…
Read moreDr Love brings good sex to Indonesia
JAKARTA, July 17, 2007 (AFP) – When Singapore’s Dr Love invites you up to his hotel room, you don’t say no. And once you’re inside, he doesn’t disappoint. The doctor’s got plans for educating close to the entire world about sex. The starting point is his laptop — and Indonesia. Wei Siang Yu, nicknamed "Dr…
Read moreIndonesia’s new investment stance: a confusing step forward?
JAKARTA, July 15, 2007 (AFP) – Indonesia’s new list of foreign investment limits by sector has caused head-scratching among investors. But analysts and the government say that despite confusion, it is a step towards untangling the infamous bureaucracy of Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Indonesia is seeking to court foreign investment, with leaders insisting they are…
Read moreIndonesia winning plaudits in post-9/11 terrorism battle
JAKARTA, Sept 7, 2006 (AFP) – The Bali bombings brought the horror of September 11 to Asia, but Indonesia took a different approach to the United States in tackling the Al-Qaeda threat which has met with considerable success. The 2002 blasts on Indonesia’s palm-fringed island of Bali claimed the lives of 202 people, mostly western…
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