The Southeast Asian Times
NEWS FOR NORTHERN AUSTRALIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
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established 2000
Saturday, January 28, 2012
GATHERINGS:
An informed guide to happenings throughout the region.
 

Muslim MPs meet in Palembang
From News Reports:
Palembang, January 28: At least 32 of the 52 parliaments of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s member countries are attending its seventh Parliamentary Union conference in Palembang, southern Sumatra.
The meeting, which began on Tuesday, January 24, is scheduled to end next Tuesday.
Countries represented at the conference include Malaysia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Turkey, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Pakistan and Palestine.
The conference agenda includes discussion of political economy, legal affairs, including human rights, and the environment.
It will include the first meeting of women parliamentarians.
The Southeast Asian Times

Suspensions worry rights chairman
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 27: Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission chairman, Hasmy Agam, has complained that the rights of several students were impinged when they were suspended for allegedly tarnishing the image of universities and disrupting public order.
The suspensions also went against prime minister Najib Tun Razak’s readiness to change the Universities and University Colleges Act to accord with the Federal Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the right to freedom of speech, form associations and hold peaceful assemblies, he says in a statement.
“Student economic, civil and political awareness should be viewed positively to complement and enrich their education and formal training in universities,” he says.
“Any unreasonable restrictions in curtailing student rights will deny them the opportunities to enrich their education and experience, which is very important in their development as future leaders.”
Student Adam Adli Abdul Halim, 21, who lowered a flag carrying the image of the prime minister, was suspended for three semesters from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak, earlier this month.
The 18-month sentence was imposed after a 90-minute hearing of the university's disciplinary committee.
The university’s deputy vice-chancellor, Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar, as saying the five-member committee found the student guilty of two charges: -damaging the reputation of the university and endangering morals and public order.
The Teaching-of-English-as-a Second-Language, or TESL, student said he would not appeal the decision and instead take legal action against the university.
The third-year student lowered the flag carrying Najib Tun Razak's image outside The United Malays National Organisation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, December 17.
The Southeast Asian Times

Think tanks recognised
From News Reports:
Petaling Jaya, January 26: The United Nations has recognised the Malaysia-based Centre for Public Policy Studies, CPPS, and the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute, Asli, as among the world's best think-tanks.
Asli-CPPS had been ranked 16th among the world’s top think-tanks, The Star newspaper quotes Asli chief executive and director Dr Michael Ye Asli chief executive and director Dr Michael Yeoh as saying.
“Among the smaller think-tanks with smaller annual budgets of below US$5million we came out number fourteen globally,” he said.
“We are also the only Malaysian think-tank ranked in the top global 30 for transparency and governance.”
The rankings were published on Wednesday, January 18.
The United Nations University and the University of Pennyslvania surveyed 6,545 think-tanks from 182 countries over one year to compile the global rankings.
The Malaysian think tanks had proved independent, impartial in providing objective policy research, strategic analysis, and total commitment in upholding truth and justice, said Dr Yeoh.
The Southeast Asian Times

Marine secretariat agreed
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 25: The Malaysian and Indonesian government have agreed to establish a permanent regional secretariat to assess sustainable marine development, resources management, research and development projects and ways to improve the income of their coastal communities.
The agreement is part of the Coral Triangle Initiative and the regional secretariat will be established in Manado, Indonesia, reports The Star newspaper.
The agreement follows a meeting between Malaysia's Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Dr Maximus Ongkili and Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister, Sharif Cicip Sutarjo, in Jakarta.
The Southeast Asian Times


Awards honour pioneer reporter

From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 24: All the winners of this year’s Adinegoro Journalism Awards are expected to be named on Wednesday, February 1.
The awards, which honour pioneer Indonesian reporter Djamaluddin Adinegoro, who was born in West Sumatra in 1904 and died in 1967, are made for five categories.
These are: In-depth news, editorial, photojournalism, opinion caricature and television journalism with a special award for cyber work.
The awards are held every year for National Press Day.
This year’s award for caricature was won with a work titled Asing, or foreign, by Jitet Kustana published in the mass circulation daily Kompas and its sister English-language daily, The Jakarta Post.
The caricature depicts a fish on a plate with flakes of meat to imply that Indonesia is not a country of plenty.
It is intended to remind readers of the critical situation and reawaken their nationalism.
The work carries a rupiah 50 million, about US$5,509, prize and a trophy, which will be presented at a ceremony on National Press Day in Jambi, central Sumatra, on Thursday, February. 9
The Southeast Asian Times


Thailand recognises Palestine

From News Reports
Bangkok, January 23: Thailand has recognised Palestine as an independent state and informed the Palestinian delegation and all member states at the United Nations in New York, says Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi.
Thailand also has friendly ties with Israel and is a major tourist destination for Israelis.
The Southeast Asian Times



Minister issues Tet warning

From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 22: Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat has ordered the strict monitoring of imports and the slaughter of cattle and poultry for the lunar new year, or Tet, which begins Monday.
The minister reportedly told a meeting in Ha Noi that containers of decomposed animal organs had been intercepted on their way into Viet Nam.
He warned that the rampant slaughtering of animals and the selling of quarantine certificates would trigger the illegal sale of animals in the country, threatening the husbandry sector as well as transmitting disease.
The Southeast Asian Times

US blacklists Thai trade representatives
From News Reports:
Bangkok, January 21: The United States government has blacklisted prospective member of the Thai cabinet Nalinee Taveesin for helping the government of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, says a South African news website.
The report says Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a statement accusing Nalinee Taveesin together with two businessmen and a physician.
The blacklist is supposed an attempt to raise pressure on Zimbabwe’s "undemocratic" government.
The statement accuses Thai Trade Representative Nalinee Taveesin as having been part of business dealings on behalf of President Mugabe and his wife Grace.
The Southeast Asian Times

Farmers rally for massacre victims
From News Reports:
San Pablo City, The families of the 13 victims of the Mendiola Street massacre of January 22, 1987, when government anti-riot personnel fired on peasant farmers marching on Malacanang Palace, Manila, killing 13 and wounding numerous others, were to begin a two-day rally Supreme Court .with militant farmers organisations yesterday.
Their spokesman Orly Marcellana told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the families of the victims would continue to seek the re-distribution of estates to the farmers who worked it as well as justice for those who were slain.
Cory Aquino, the daughter of a landowning family, was president at the time of the massacre.
Farmer spokesperson Orly Marcellana said that at least 56 farmers had been victims of extrajudicial killings since her son, Benigno Aquino, had become president and his administration had not redistributed land.
Last year about 100 Philippine national police prevented peasant farmers from delivering petitions to the Supreme Court and Justice Department in Manila that called for investigation of the massacre.
The Southeast Asian Times


Senator McCain
drums for military alliance

From News Reports:
United States Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain has arrived in Manila with three other members of congress where they met Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario yesterday afternoon.
But The Philippine Inquirer reports that departmental spokesperson Raul Hernandez, did not provide details about the meet.
The United States Ambassador in Manila Harry Thomas Jr said the delegation, which was scheduled to leave the Philippines today, would “meet with government leaders, discuss cooperation and reaffirm the alliance” between the governments of their two countries..
The three congressmen with Senator McCain are Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island, and Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire.
The Philippine Inquirer says Foreign Secretary asked Washington to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations against China in the South China Sea during a meeting with Senator McCain in Washington last year.
The Senator said the United States government should help members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Asean, such as the Philippines develop and deploy an early warning system and coastal vessels in the disputed waters.
Washington should also turn to diplomacy to help Asean members sort out their own disputes and “establish a more unified front,” he said.
The newspaper quotes Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance, Bayan, Renato Reyes Jr. said: “the visit comes in the wake of the unveiling of a new United States defence strategy that would deploy more American troops in the Asia Pacific.”
Senator McCain “has been a vocal advocate of United States intervention in the Spratlys dispute,” he said.
“This visit is a reaffirmation of the defense ties that make us a colonial outpost of the United States.”
“Sadly, the government will again reaffirm the Visiting Forces Agreement, including the decade-long deployment of US troops in Mindanao.
“Predictably, the government will again lobby for more United States military junk and second-hand equipment like the naval ship we got recently.”
The Southeast Asian Times


Tamils want movie banned

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 17: Supporters of the Tamil political party Indiya Jananayaga Katchi and Tamil Nadu Parakavakula Munnetra Sangam want a Tamil film banned and it renowned director Shankar, 37, arrested.
The Tamil daily Malaysia Nanban says the protests against the film – staring tarring popular South Indian actor Vijay Nanban – because it supposedly defames the Parakavakula Community and SRM University chancellor and founder of both the university and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi, T.R. Pachamuthu.
Opponents of the movie have threatened to demonstration if their demands were not met.
The Southeast Asian Times


Restaurant caught cooking tiger

From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 16: Police have caught chefs cooking tiger bones in the Tay Bac Quan restaurant, the Thanh Xuan District, reports Thanh Nien or Youth newspaper..
The bones, from a tiger skeleton, weighed 150 kilograms, it says.
The newspaper says Vietnam Science and Technology Institute representative Dang Tat The, who accompanied police, confirmed that the bone belongs to a protected tiger species. nt.
Investigation revealed that the tiger was brought to the restaurant two days earlier and the restaurant owner, Nguyen Thi Thanh, 44, had it slaughtered.
It is believed that Viet Nam now has fewer than 50 tigers in the wild.
In July last year, rangers seized the carcasses of 15 endangered monkeys from two poachers in the Nui Chua National Park central Ninh Thuan Province.
The species is listed on both local and international endangered animal lists.
The Southeast Asian Times


Sister temples agreed

From News Reports:
Manado, January 15: Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple, Siem Reap, and Indonesia’s Borobudur temple in Central Java are to become sister sites, reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspaper says an Indonesian delegate I Gusti Putu Laksaguna announced the agreement between Cambodian and Indonesian tourism ministers during a bilateral meeting at the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, Asean, Tourism Forum at the Grand Kawanoa Convention Centre in Manado, North Sulawesi.
“The temples will become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces,” he said.
The delegate said that the Cambodian delegation had also asked that Indonesia open a direct flight to Siem Reap, an idea that the Indonesian delegation supported.
“Indonesia already has a plan to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta to Siem Reap, he told reporters in Manado.
The Southeast Asian Times


Indelible ink approved

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 14: The National Fatwa Council has declared the proposed indelible ink for Malaysia’s 13th general election
The decision will allow the Election Commission to immediately buy the substance, reports The New Straits Times.
The newspaper says 22 members of the council, Election Commissioners and chemists from the Islamic Development Department attended the muzakarah or meeting at which the decision was made.
Council chairman Dr Abdul Shukor Husin said the muzakarah had based its findings of the chemists.
“The indelible ink, if applied to Muslims, can absorb water and it does not pose any problem for them to perform their ablutions or prayers,” he said.
“The use of the ink will not interfere with a Muslim’s faith.
“So, as long as the same ink sent for analysis is used, we see no obstruction for Muslim voters to use it.”
Parliamentary Electoral Reform Committee chairman Dr Maximus Ongkili said the Electoral Commission could now proceed with the necessary preparations for the use of the ink in the next general election.
“This will include amendments to the election regulations, training of officers on the application of the ink as well as the procurement of the substance,” he said.
The use of indelible ink in the 2008 general election was dropped after police received reports of a plan to “sabotage” the election process in Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan.
The use of indelible ink was first proposed in June 2007 to safeguard against multiple or phantom voting.
The Southeast Asian Times


Student suspended for lowering PM’s flag

From News Reports:
Tanjung Malim, January 13: Student Adam Adli Abdul Halim, 21, who lowered a flag carrying the image of the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been suspended for three semesters from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Perak.
The 18-month sentence was imposed after a 90-minute hearing of the university's disciplinary committee, reports The Star newspaper.
The newspaper quotes the university’s deputy vice-chancellor Dr Junaidi Abu Bakar as saying the five-member committee found the student guilty of two charges: -damaging the reputation of the university and endangering morals and public order.
The Teaching-of-English-as-a Second-Language, or TESL, student said he would not appeal the decision and instead take legal action against the university.
The third-year student lowered the flag carrying Najib Tun Razak's image outside The United Malays National Organisation headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on December 17.
The Southeast Asian Times

US congressman meets Agent Orange victims
From News Reports:
Ho Chi Minh City, January 12: United States House of Representatives member Robert Earl Filner, 69, has met Agent Orange victims and their families in Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Da Nang, Quang Ngai, and Quang Ninh.
He will also assess programmes being carried out for victims.
The congressman told Sai Gon Giai Phong, or Liberated Sai Gon, newspaper that he was moved and impressed to see the physicians caring for the victims, and would raise his voice in the confress on their behalf.
The congressman met Viet Nam Association for Victims of Agent Orange chairman Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh and Ho Chi Minh Association for Victims of Agent Orange Major General Tran Ngoc Tho in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Democrat Party member became chairman of the House of Representatives Veteran Affairs Committee in 2007.
In December, United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility – a grouping that unites 182 governments in partnership with international institutions, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector to address global environmental issues –started to clean Agent Orange from the former Phu Cat airbase in Viet Nam’s central Binh Dinh province.
The work includes establishment for a landfill site that will be used to isolate 5,400 cubic metres of dioxin-contaminated soil.
The landfill site is part of a US$5 million project that the United Nations agency and the global group launched in July 2010.
Its purpose is to help remove dioxin contamination from three former United States military bases.
It is also intended to minimise disruption to ecosystems and health risks and will answer to Viet Nam’s Natural Resources and Environment ministry.
The first phase of the clean-up focuses on containment, isolating the toxic soil and sediment in the landfill and, thereby, reducing the exposure risk and eliminating risks to people and animals.
The second phase will be to permanently destroy the dioxin.
UNDP will support the completion of the first phase – the containment at the former Phu Cat airbase and pave the way for the second phase – dioxin destruction – by testing appropriate technology at the former Bien Hoa airbase.
Phu Cat is one of the three former military airbases that are still highly dioxin contaminated because of the quantities of herbicides stored or handled there during the American War.
The third is the former Da Nang airbase.
In November, newly-elected Australian Green Party Senator Lee Rhiannon told parliament of the need of justice for Agent Orange victims and identified the work of the newly-launched Agent Orange Justice - Australia Viet Nam Solidarity Network.
Agent Orange Justice was the Australian component of the international campaign to hold the United States government responsible for the disaster it created for millions of Vietnamese as a result of its 10-year spraying of the chemical weapon Agent Orange, the senator from New South Wales said.
The senator reminded parliament that August 10 marked the 50th anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare programme in Viet Nam.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange-Dioxin had started and international campaign that targets the United States government and the chemical companies which produced Agent Orange to pay to clean up the poisoned soil and wherever else this contaminant is found in Viet Nam's environment, she said.
The campaign was also calling for adequate compensation for about three million Vietnamese who were still affected by this chemical.
The US has so far refused to accept full responsibility.
Australian troops were also involved in the use of herbicides and insecticides in Viet Nam and some troops were exposed to Agent Orange.
The Southeast Asian Times

Malaysians fail in bid to vote absentee
From News Reports:
Kula Lumpur, January 11: High Court judge Rohana Yusuf has denied six Malaysians resident in Britain the right to be registered as absent voters in the next general election.
The judge ruled that the Election Commission's decision not register the six as absent voters accorded with the law, says The Star newspaper.
“I must say that this application is rather odd. It is essentially a challenge
of a decision by a body that simply complies with the law. In other words, it is
a challenge of a perfectly valid decision of the EC under the Regulation,” said the judge in her ten-page judgement..
“If the Regulation is not challenged and is thereby accepted as valid law, then I am unable to understand how a decision made pursuant to such law can be subject to a judicial review,” she said.
The six, Dr Teo Hoon Seong, electrical engineer Vinesh, entrepreneur Paramjeet Singh, Dr Yolanda Sydney Augustin, translator Sim Tze Wei and software architect Leong See See lodged their application in October.
They sought a declaration that as Malaysians staying abroad, they were entitled to be registered as absent voters and directed the Electoral Commission, named as the single respondent, to register them.
The Southeast Asian Times


Karangasem turns to spiritual tourism

From News Reports:
Candi Dasa, January 10: Spiritual tourism has become crucial to the economy of the Karangasem, eastern Bali, the island’s most impoverished regency, regency reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspaper quotes yoga instructor I Nyoman Kawi as saying he teaches in two five-star hotels for four days a week and at the Gedong Gandhi Ashram, Candidasa, with charging a fee for two days a week.
“Everybody can come to the ashram. There’s no need to pay,” he said.
“Maybe they began to feel a ‘magnetism’ to practice yoga on the eastern coast of Bali,” he told the newspaper arguing the regency’s administrators and tourism enterprises should design a master plan to develop spiritual tourism in the regency.
Karangasem was devastated when Mount Agung erupted in 1963, ultimately killing 1900 people. Karangasem was a kingdom before Bali was conquered by the Dutch.
The Southeast Asian Times

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10,000 villagers torch Bima regency office in mining protest
Villager and their supporters storm the regency office compound before burning the office and several other buildings in Bima on the east coast of Sumbawa, eastern Indonesia, in support of their demand that the regent, Ferry Zulkarnaen, permanently revoke the mining permit issued to Sumber Mineral Nusantara, a subsidiary of the Australian-owned Arc Exploration. The villagers torched the office and other buildings and forced the release of 53 people detained following a violent confrontations at the city’s port of Sape on Saturday, December 24
From News Reports:
Bima, January 28: An estimated 10,000 villagers and their supporters have torched the Bima Regency office on the east coast of Sumbawa, eastern Indonesia, in support of their demand that the regent, Ferry Zulkarnaen, permanently revoke the mining permit issued to Sumber Mineral Nusantara, a subsidiary of Australian-owned Arc Exploration.
They also secured the release 53 villagers or their supporters detained following a violent confrontations at the city’s port of Sape on Saturday, December 24.
At least two of the protestors died when police, including members of the elite Australian-trained Mobile Brigade, or Brimob, allegedly opened fire during the Christmas Eve-violence.
The regent has temporarily revoked exploration permits over 24,980 hectares of the Sape, Lambu and Langgudu districts after Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik asked the West Nusa Tenggara governor Mohammad Zainul Majdi to do so.
Sydney-based Arc Exploration has suspended explorations.
The Antara news agency reports that the protesters set the office afire after breaking through a police barricade that was supposed to stop them from entering the compound.
They also forced the release of 53 prisoners from the Raba jail.
“The people threatened to burn down the penitentiary if the 53 people detained in relation to the December 24 riot were not released,” the Antara news agency quotes eyewitness Didin as saying.
In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said: “The President has ordered the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister and the national police to prevent further destruction from happening.”
Earlier this month Police Mobile Brigade members Wahidin, 25, and Furqon, 27, had their training suspended for two months and were ordered to attend counselling sessions or serve two days in detention for their part in the deaths of the two protesters during the Christmas Eve- violence in Bima.
The police disciplinary court, which imposed the sentences, found them guilty of “failing to follow orders and aiming their firearms at the protesters.”
They were found not guilty of firing their weapons.
The sentences imposed by the tribunal, chaired by the police West Nusa Tenggara police community building affairs director, Senior Commander Suwarto, were lighter than that sought by the prosecutors.
The violence began when supporters of the Anti-Mining People’s Front occupied the Sape ferry terminal and halted work there on Monday, December 19.
The police reportedly fired directly into the protesters who, in turn, have been accused of carrying machetes and Molotov cocktails and having destroyed dozens of dwellings as well as public and commercial buildings.
Coordinator of a civil fact-finding team investigation the violence, Dwi Sudarsono, told reporters: “We have reports from families and relatives of the victims who said that more than five people had died in the incident.”
Arc Exploration owns 95 percent of the joint venture over 24,980 hectares; an Indonesian partner holds the remainder.
Opponents of the project argue that it will water away from irrigation and drive away traditional miners.
The company, which also has projects in East Java and West Papua, has issued a statement to the Australian Security Exchange saying it has conducted extensive consultation over its activities with local government officials since April this year.
The Southeast Asian Times

Britain to release key Batang Kali massacre documents
From News Reports:
London, January 28: Key British Foreign Office correspondence about past investigations of the slaughter by British troops of 24 unarmed Chinese workers at a rubber plantation in Batang Kali, Selangor, on December 11, 1948 have been provided lawyers for the families of the victims together with Cabinet Office guidance as to when inquiries should be held.
But the Guardian newspaper says the Foreign Office has so far refused to release any additional documents from its still unreleased colonial-era archive.
It quotes British lawyer John Halford, who is representing the families, as saying: “We are not asking for anyone to be prosecuted.
“The surviving soldiers are too old for it to be considered appropriate. But the families want the state to take responsibility for the actions. It's necessary to get to the bottom of what happened. Extrajudicial executions by British troops have not ceased.
“There should be some resolution. These were extrajudicial killings of civilians that were pre-planned.”
The Foreign Office said: "This event happened over 60 years ago. Accounts of what happened conflict and virtually all the witnesses are dead. In these circumstances it is very unlikely a public inquiry could come up with recommendations which would help to prevent any recurrence."
In September, High Court judges granted a judicial review of the British government’s refusal to investigate the massacre because it “raises arguable issues of importance.”
“After decades of seeking redress for the Batang Kali massacre victims, we can now, finally, see the light of justice at the end of the tunnel,” said the lawyer who represents the victim’s six surviving descendants, Quek Ngee Meng.
“We do not expect the British government to reverse its stance, but it should immediately and unconditionally release all documents relating to the massacre and the aborted attempt to investigate in the past so the court that hears this case, and the public, have a complete picture,” he said.
The review is expected to begin during the next northern spring.
In April, Quek Ngee Meng said the survivors and relatives face legal fees totalling ringgit 492,280 after the British Legal Aid Authority refused them help.
The last Malaysian adult witness to the massacre of 24 unarmed villagers by British troops in 1948 died in April last year.
Tham Yong, 78, saw 14 Scots Guards kill the villagers on December 12, 1948.
British colonial officials said at the time of the incident — at the beginning of a 12-year communist insurgency in the former Malaya — the men were shot because they were suspected guerrillas fleeing the scene.
The massacre occurred during a brutal guerrilla war that followed the British government's declaration of a state of emergency in its Malay-Peninsular colony in June 1948.
The Southeast Asian Times

Squatters stage “brassier” protest in support of ID cards
Squatters from Tanah Merah, North Jakarta, have hung hundreds of brassieres on the gates of the Home Ministry office on Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat, cental Jakarta, in support of their demand that they be registered as legal citizens of the city
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 27: Squatters living at Tanah Merah, North Jakarta, have hung their brassieres on the gate outside the Home Ministry office on Jalan. Medan Merdeka Barat, central Jakarta, in support of their demand that Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi resolve their conflict with the Jakarta administration over residency permits.
The Jakarta Post quotes their coordinator Aris as saying the minister had failed to enforce his own policy requiring municipal administrations to issue identity cards to all eligible residents.
“As the minister, Gamawan is senior to the governor and therefore should take action against the governor of Jakarta for declining to implement the order,” said the coordinator.
The newspaper says Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has refused Tanah Merah residents identity cards because they are illegally occupying a vacant lot that State-owned gas company Pertamina owns.
The Home Ministry issued a decree governing access to residential identity cards in June.
The residents of Tanah Merah have staged several rallies outside the ministry office and city hall to demand the same treatment as other urban residents.
Pertamina established the buffer zone in 1992 and squatters occupied in 1998. It is now densely populated and Central Statistics Agency figures show that more than 7,400 households or 27,000 people live on the 83-hectare plot.
The depot supplies Greater Jakarta.
The residents lack legal status and this has prevented them for applying for birth certificates, family registration and identification cards — documents essential to access even the most basic public services.
The residents argue that the Jakarta government should first recognise their existence with the establishment of neighbourhood and community units and then issuing identity cards and birth certificates.
A reference from a community unit representative is necessary to obtaining an identity card and only one of Jakarta’s five municipal governments can create such a unit.
The Jakarta Post quotes North Jakarta mayor Bambang Sugiyono as saying most Tanah Merah residents had acquired identity cards from the East or West Jakarta administrations.
Some had identification from nearby Tangerang.
“It is not true that they could not apply for ID cards because of the absence of community units,” he said.
The protesters have threatened more rallies outside the Home Ministry if the minister does not intervene with the Jakarta administration.
The Southeast Asian Times


Troops loyal to Somare “mutiny” in Port Moresby
From News Reports:
Port Moresby, January 27: About 20 troops raided Papua New Guinea’s Murray barracks in the early hours of yesterday morning where they detained the military’s senior commander, Brigadier General Francis Agwi, and demanded the reinstatement Papua New Guinea’s Supreme Court-recognised Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
Sir Michael, who declared himself the country’s legitimate prime minister, immediately appointed Colonel Yaura Sasa as the new commander of its defence forces.
“Colonel Yaura Sasa has been appointed by the legitimate government as the New Commander of the Defence and it is the duty of discipline forces to protect the Constitution," he said in an email that his daughter, Betha Somare sent to news agencies.
‘Should anyone be aggrieved they should go to the same court that has restored the Somare government.’’
The Somare-appointed commander told reporters: "I am calling on both Sir Michael Somare and Mr Peter O'Neill to recall the Parliament to sort out the current political situation.”
Later, Belden Namah, the deputy to parliament’s recognised Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, said police had arrested 15 of the “mutineers” and warned the others that "treason carries a death penalty.”
Mr O’Neill and Mr Namah are reported to have become rivals.
Australia’s Resources Minister Martin Ferguson, who is acting foreign minister while Kevin Rudd is travelling the world seeking support for the country’s bid to win a temporary place on the Security Council, said Australia accepted Peter O’Neill is prime minister.
Most of the former Australian colonies 6.5 million people live a subsistence village life despite its vast mineral wealth.
Sir Michael was disqualified from the Papua New Guinea parliament within hours of his return to the House of Representatives after a five-month absence in Singapore for heart surgery.
The Speaker ruled that parliament had not given Sir Michael leave to be absent from parliament to be in Singapore.
A Papua New Guinea MP is liable to forfeit their seat if they miss more than three consecutive sittings.
The former Prime Minister returned from Singapore to attend the special sitting of parliament called by his successor, Peter O'Neill, to unseat him.
Sir Michael, who was admitted to hospital in April, was ousted as prime minister in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, August 2.
He had declared that he was still Papua New Guinea's prime minister and would complete his term.
The Southeast Asian Times


Arroyo seeks dismissal of “Morong 43” damages claim
International Association of Democratic Lawyers President Jeanne Mirer and Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima agreed to act for the Morong 43 last September
From News Reports:
Manila, January 26: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 64, has asked a Quezon Court Judge Luisa Q. Padilla to dismiss the peso 15-million, about US348, 109, claim for damages the health workers known as the “Morong 43” say they suffered during their arbitrary arrest and detention during her presidency.
The damages are sought for physical and psychological torture and other indignities
But Mrs Arroyo argues her name is not the affidavits lodged in support of the claim lodged on April 4 last year.
“The claim does not contain any allegation of bad faith, malice or gross negligence on the part of defendant,” says the eight-page petition for its dismissal.
The plaintiffs cannot just sue the now member for Pampanga in the House of Representatives based on her past position as president or her alleged failure to stop any supposed abuses, it argues.
The basis of the complaint - her alleged failure to stop human rights abuses - was “a duty owed to the people in general and not to anyone in particular.”
The complaint was a “suit against the State.”
The complainants were protesting the Philippine government’s national security plan and it was only “incidental” that she was the president when the plaintiffs may have suffered the damages.
The petition cites the Administrative Code, which says that a public officer cannot be held civilly liable for his acts unless there is a “clear showing of bad faith, malice or gross negligence.”
The “Morong 43” argues that they have adequately explained that the cause of action in their suit against Arroyo and the implementation of the national security plan was with her knowledge.
They damages they suffered were a consequence of their illegal detention and torture as part of the implementation of the military’s United States-funded anti-insurgency operation Oplan Bantay Laya, which the former president knew about.
“It cannot be denied that acquiescence or inducing-directing others to illegally arrest, detain and torture others, constitutes bad faith and knowledge,” says their reply of Monday, January 16.
While the former president was not physically present when the alleged illegal acts were committed, she was aware of such acts and “she failed to stop such violations.”
Most of the 43 health workers have sued the former president and 10 others, including Defence Secretary Norberto Gonzales and senior military officers.
The health workers, who included 26 women and two physicians, were arrested as supposed members of the New People’s Army – the military wing of the Philippines Communist Party -at a guest house owned by Consultant to the Philippine General Hospital and professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine Dr Melecia Velmonte in Morong, Rizal Province, on February 6 last year.
They were charged with the possession of firearms and explosives.
They were freed after President Benigno Aquino assumed office without having stood trial.
Mrs Arroyo has been in custody since Friday, November 18, after she was accused of having sabotaged the 2007 Senate election – a non-bailable offence - after immigration officials prevented her from leaving for medical treatment supposedly not available in the Philippines.
She had been booked to fly to Singapore, but Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who has placed her on immigration watch list that that prevents her leaving the country, ordered immigration officials to stop the departure despite Supreme Court judges voting 8-5 to give her permission to travel.
Her husband Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo, 67, was also stopped from leaving but has since been taken of the watch list.
Mrs Arroyo appointed 12 of the Supreme Court’s 15 judges.
One of the judges, Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, is now on trial in the Senate where the charges against him have still to be clarified.
Earlier this month the director of the Veterans Memorial Medical Centre, Manila, where she is detained, Dr Nona Legaspi, announced that the former president was no longer ill and does not need further surgery.
The Southeast Asian Times

Lynas raised $225 million to complete Kuantan refinery
From News Reports:
Melbourne, January 26: Australia’s Lynas Corporation has reportedly secured sufficient money to commission the first phase of its rare earth refinery in the Gebeng industrial zone, Kuantan, Malaysia, with the issue of US$225 million worth of unsecured convertible bonds.
The bonds, subscribed through funds managed by United States-based investment firm Mount Kellett Capital Management, are also expected to provide working capital until the corporation achieves cash flow from sales.
Executive chairman Nicholas Curtis says in a statement that delays in procurement, additional engineering completion requirements and the arrival of the wet season had delayed completion of construction.
Malaysia's Atomic Energy Licensing Board will announce next week if it has approved a licence for the refinery.
Shares in Lynas are in a trading halt and were last priced at A$1.28.
In September Lynas Corporation reported an A$57.29 million net loss for the year ended June 30 compared with $43.04 million the previous year.
Its directors attributed the loss to higher operating costs at its flagship Mt Weld rare earths mine in Western Australia.
The corporation had planned to open its refinery in in late 2011.
But the Malaysian Government has appointed an independent committee of international specialist to review the safety of the proposed rare-earth processing plant.
The refinery is to process ores from Lynas's Mount Weld mine in Western Australia and Malaysian opponents of the plant argue the residues should be returned to their country of origin.
Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group now owns 9.9 per cent in the Lynas Corporation that is held mostly through Morgan Stanley, of which Mitsubishi owns 22 per cent.
Mitsubishi holds about 0.3 per cent of Lynas in its own right.
The Japanese trader Sojitz has agreed to buy of the rare earth that the corporation produces.
China produces 90 per cent of the world's rare-earths supply.
The Southeast Asian Times

Rescued baby pygmy elephant struggles to survive
Dr Diana Ramirez, second right, and her team of wildlife rangers examine and feed a pygmy elephant calf rescued from a moat at a plantation, about 40 kilometres from the Lahad Datu, the eastern coast of Sabah
From News Reports:
Lahad Datu, January 25: Sabah wildlife rangers have rescued an abandoned male pygmy elephant calf at a plantation, about 40 kilometres from the Lahad Datu, the eastern coast of Sabah.
The New Straits Times says plantation found the infant stranded in a deep moat.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Lauerentius Ambu issued a statement saying: “The baby elephant was found with very severe dehydration and many cuts and abrasion on the body.
Our veterinarian Dr Diana Ramirez and the rangers managed to give massive amounts of Intravenous fluids and treat the wounds.”
But although the elephant’s condition seemed to have improved “it is still not out of the woods yet.”
“It would still need critical and constant care for it to further improve and survive.
“Presently we have a veterinarian and four staff giving 24-hour intensive care. If the baby can survive for the next 72 hours, its chances of pulling through will be better.”
The statement says: “Elephants are one of the best mothers in the animal kingdom and will not be abandoned. The baby elephants are not only cared by the mother but also older siblings and other adult females in herd.
Wildlife Department veterinarian Dr Sen Nathan said the calf was likely to have been left behind by its herd after it was unable to pull itself from the moat.
The Borneo Pygmy elephant is threatened with extinction with only an estimated 2,000 left in the wild.
Agriculture and other activity is destroying its habitat more elephants killed and orphan elephants rescued.
The Star newspaper reports that the Terengganu Wildlife and National Parks department has deployed a team of six officers to capture wild elephants which have destroyed about 50 oil plam trees at villager Maizanah Abdullah's 2.8hectare plantation near Kampung Air Putih, Kemaman.
“We believe a group of wild elephants might have wandered into the village,” director Yusoff Shariff as saying.
“Initial investigations revealed that the elephants might have rampaged through the plantation late at night.”
The director said the animals would be relocated to the Ketiar Elephant Sanctuary in Hulu Terengganu once they were captured.
The elephants have been using the village on their way to nearby jungle.
Two years ago they destroyed about 200 palm oil trees.
Malaysian customs officers foiled an international syndicate’s attempt to smuggle about half a tonne of elephant tusks worth ringgit 2.4million into the country earlier this month.
The officers found the tusks when inspecting a shipping container; they had listed on their declaration form as carrying polyester and nylon strand matting.

Extinction threat
The World Wildlife Fund warns that the Sumatran elephant could be extinct in 30 years unless the clearing of Indonesia’s forests is immediately stopped. Wildlife Fund has warned.
The elephant sub species, found only on the island of Sumatra, has lost almost 70 percent of its habitat in the past few decades, says the WWF in a statement.
“In order to save this critically endangered species, WWF is calling for an immediate stop to the clearing of forests for conversion to plantations on the Indonesian island of Sumatra,” it says.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species has changed its rating of the elephant from “endangered” to “critically endangered.”

In September, Malaysian customs officers seized two tonnes of elephant tusks worth an estimated ringgit 3 million, about US $ 1.8million.
Earlier, customs inspectors seized 794 pieces of ivory tusk that weighed 1.9 tonnes and were concealed inside a shipping container that arrived in Hong Kong from Malaysia.
The 695 African elephant tusks recovered at West Port, Klang, were in two containers; they were wrapped in 92 plastic bags tucked into sacks filled with used plastic.
Port Klang, assistant director-general Zainul Abidin Taib as saying the seizure was the result of a tip from fellow customs officers in Penang.
“"The goods were declared as used plastics when it was listed on the shipping bill of lading,” he said.
Port Klang and Penang are transit ports for goods shipped from Africa to China and the tusks arrived from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, enroute to Hong Kong.
The assistant director dismissed suggestions of Malaysian involvement.
"The modus operandi of the smuggling syndicate is to avoid direct shipment of these illegal goods from African ports to China which is considered risky and may lead to thorough checking by Chinese port authorities," he said.
"The Chinese authorities would not inspect the goods believing that it has gone through strict inspection here."
Malaysian customs officers reportedly seized a container of 405 African elephant tusks declared as plywood at Pasir Gudang Port in July and 664 tusks in a container from the United Arab Emirates at Butterworth in August.
The Southeast Asian Times

King “swears in” Thailand’s prime minister and cabinet
From News Reports:
Bangkok, January 25: Newly-elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, 44, and the 16 members of her cabinet, have sworn an oath of allegiance before King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 84, at Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital.
The Bangkok Post says that after the “swearing in” the king told the prime minister and her ministers: “Since you have uttered your vow, it means you are determined to carry out your work which will bring happiness to the people. May you be faithful to your pledge to take the country forward and ensure its safety.”
The newspaper quotes the Royal Household Bureau as saying the king’s general condition was good and he had a healthy appetite after having been diagnosed with inflammation of the diverticulum or the large intestine. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control
The new cabinet includes Senator Dr Nalinee Taveesin who has promoted from Thai trade representative to Minister in the Prime Minister's Office despite the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control reportedly having black listed her for allegedly helping the government of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
The blacklist is a supposed attempt to raise pressure on Zimbabwe’s "undemocratic" government.
A United States Treasury Department statement accuses the new minister as having been part of business dealings on behalf of President Mugabe and his wife Grace.
The Southeast Asian Times

Appeal Court judges order sedition retrial for Karpal Singh
Veteran lawyer Democratic Action Party or DAP chairman and member for Bukit Glugor in the national parliament Karpal Singh, 71, has been ordered to again defend himself against a charge of sedition
From News Reports:
Putrajaya, January 24: Three Appeal Court judges have ordered veteran lawyer Karpal Singh, 71, to defend himself against an accusation of sedition against the Sultan of Perak, Azlan Shah, after they overturned the High Court’s 2010 decision to acquit him of the charge.
The Democratic Action Party or DAP chairman and member for Bukit Glugor in the national parliament immediately announced that he would appeal the judgement in Malaysia’s Federal Court.
Although the order from the three judges - Ahmad Maarop, Clement Allen Skinner and Mohamed Apandi Ali - was not appealable, it could be deemed unconstitutional if his right to challenge it was denied, he told reporters.
In a written judgement that took presiding judge Ahmad Maarop more than two hours two read in Malay, the Appeal Court ruled that High Court judge Azman Abdullah had erred in his judgment.
The appeal judges found that the Sultan’s powers could not be subject to judicial review, as Karpal Singh had argued; intent was irrelevant to a charge of sedition – and it was for the court’s to decide if an action was seditious.
They also found that whether Karpal Singh had intended sedition during a news conference on February 6, 2010 a statement he made there had caused tension between the ruler and his people.
Karpal Singh was charged with violation of Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act 1948 for having allegedly said that the Sultan’s removal of Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin as Perak Menteri Besar, or chief minister, could be questioned in a court of law.
His trial judge Azman Abdullah said the prosecution had failed to prove the ingredients in accordance with Section 3(1) of the Sedition Act 1948.
But presiding Appeal Court Judge Ahmad Maarop said in allowing the appeal by the public prosecutor: “After evaluating every word and sentence by the accused, who is a well-known lawyer and MP, we are satisfied that it was uttered to incite hatred among the subjects of the ruler.”
The news conference at the lawyer’s office in Jalan Pudu Lama, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, exceeded the boundaries of freedom of speech.
The Appeal Court fixed February 9 as the date for the preliminary hearing of the charge in the High Court, Kuala Lumpur.
Sedition carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail with a maximum fine of ringgit 5,000, about US$1,610, or both.
The public, including bloggers, were given an opportunity to put their views about whether the Sedition Act 1948 should be changed or abolished at a seminar organised by the Attorney-General's Chambers in Kuala Lumpur on September 26 and 27.
The Southeast Asian Times

Sister of earlier bird-flu victim dies of H5N1 infection
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 24: A girl, 5, whose brother, 23, died of bird flu on his way to hospital earlier this month, has become Indonesia’s second known victim of the deadly H5N1 virus this year.
Health Ministry disease control and environmental health director Tjandra Yoga Aditama said the girl, from Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, died on Monday after her admittance to the Persahabatan hospital, East Jakarta, on Tuesday, January 10.
The H5N1infection was confirmed at the ministry’s research centre on Friday, January 13, after several negative tests.
The girl’s condition deteriorated quickly before her death, said the director.
“Previously, she had shown good physical improvement. That’s why we took her out of the intensive care unit.”
The siblings, who were often together to watch pigeons near their residence, were believed to have been infected with the H5N1 virus from a sick pigeon.
Monitors were checking people who had lived with the siblings and their neighbours, said the director.
The Ho Chi Minh City Health department has reported Viet Nam’s first death from bird flu in almost two years but Thanh Nien, or Youth, newspaper quotes physician Le Minh Hung as saying: “Bird flu is still within our control.”
“Some healthcare teams have been sent to check on the situation in southern provinces,” he said.
The victim, who died on Wednesday, January 11, was a duck farmer from the Mekong delta province of Hau Giang.
The previous known death was in April last year.
In neighbouring Cambodia, the World Health Organisation reported that a boy, 2, from north-western Banteay Meanchey province died from the virus on Wednesday, January 18.
He was thought to have been exposed to sick poultry.
More than 3,000 birds have been culled in Viet Nam's Mekong Delta region in an effort to contain bird flu since the beginning of the year.
The Southeast Asian Times

McCain asked to help Viet Nam with access for exports
Former Republican presidential candidate and United States Senator John McCain in Ha Noi with Viet Nam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung
From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 23: Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked visiting United States Senator and former Republican presidential candidate John McCain and three fellow senators to persuade the Obama administration to apply the Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, to Viet Nam.
The system requires all World Trade Organisation member countries to treat imports from all member countries at least the standard of their “most favoured” trading partner.
The prime minister also asked Senator McCain and his fellow senators -Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut, Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island, and Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire-for more in help in dealing with the consequences of Agent Orange and climate change which is forecast to make Viet Nam more vulnerable to rising seas.
The Vietnam News Agency reports that the senator from Arizona, who was imprisoned in Ha Noi for almost six years during the American War in Viet Nam, had promised to have the United States government help Viet Nam protect the Mekong River from the impact of hydroelectricity stations and improve the skills of Vietnamese assigned to maintain marine security..
The senator and deputy chairman of the Armed Services Committee also met Viet Nam’s Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh during his three-day visit.
Senator Cain and his fellow senators arrived in Ha Noi from Manila where they met Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario who reportedly asked Washington to expand military and political support to Southeast Asian nations against China in the South China Sea during a meeting with the senator in Washington last year.
The Senator said the United States government should help members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Asean, such as the Philippines develop and deploy an early warning system and coastal vessels in the disputed waters.
Washington should also turn to diplomacy to help Asean members sort out their own disputes and “establish a more unified front,” he said.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or New Patriotic Alliance, Bayan, Renato Reyes Jr. said: “The visit comes in the wake of the unveiling of a new United States defence strategy that would deploy more American troops in the Asia Pacific.”
Senator McCain “has been a vocal advocate of United States intervention in the Spratlys dispute,” he said.
“This visit is a reaffirmation of the defense ties that make us a colonial outpost of the United States.”
“Sadly, the government will again reaffirm the Visiting Forces Agreement, including the decade-long deployment of US troops in Mindanao.
“Predictably, the government will again lobby for more United States military junk and second-hand equipment like the naval ship we got recently.”
The Southeast Asian Times

Tourist operators demand end to Bangkok travel warning
From News Reports:
Bangkok, January 23: Thailand tourism industry operators have threatened to march on the United States embassy if the Obama administration does not cancel its terrorism warning for Bangkok, reports The Nation newspaper.
“The operators will join forces to submit their demand to United States Ambassador Kristie Kenney to learn more about the impacts of maintaining the warning,” said Tourism Ministry spokesman Watchara Kannikar.
"They will also present information that they got in cooperation with the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the National Police Office and other security agencies, which shows that Thailand is not a terrorist target," he said after a meeting of the National Tourism Policy Committee.
The newspaper says the warning has prompted tourists from China and India to skip Bangkok.
The Thailand-China Tourism Association estimates that two million Chinese tourists will visit Thailand this year, reports The China People’s Daily.
They are expected to stay in the country at least five or six days and spend at least baht 5,000 each day.
The Southeast Asian Times

Elite police escape Bima violence with light sentences
Elite Police Mobile Brigade Wahidin, 25, and Furqon, 27, have had their training suspended for two months and ordered to attend counseling sessions or serve two days in detention for their part in the death of two protesters during a rally in Bima, Sumbawa Island, on Saturday, December 24 against the granting of mining permits to Australian-owned Sumber Mineral Nusantara
From News Reports:
Mataram, January 22: Two members of the elite Police Mobile Brigade Wahidin, 25, and Furqon, 27, have had their training suspended for two months and ordered to attend counseling sessions or serve two days in detention for their part in the death of two protesters during a rally in Bima, Sumbawa island, on Saturday, December 24 against the granting of mining permits to Australian-owned Sumber Mineral Nusantara.
The police disciplinary court, which imposed the sentences, found them guilty of “failing to follow orders and aiming their firearms at the protesters,” reports The Jakarta Post.
They were found not guilty of firing their weapons.
The sentences imposed by the tribunal, chaired by the police West Nusa Tenggara police community building affairs director, Senior Commander Suwarto, was lighter than that sought by the prosecutors, says the newspaper.
“They are guilty of breaching the disciplinary code, standard procedures, and disobeying orders,” said the tribunal chairman.
Fifty-two police officers were questioned about the deaths of at least to protesters during a rally against the granting of mining permits to Sumber Mineral Nusantara, , a subsidiary of the Australian-owned Arc Exploration.
The Sydney-based company suspended work immediately after the violence at the Sape ferry terminal, Bima,
Twenty of the officers questioned were elite Australian-trained Mobile Brigade, or Brimob, personnel.
The violence began when supporters of the Anti-Mining People’s Front occupied the Sape ferry terminal and halted work there since Monday, December 19.
The police reportedly fired directly into the protesters who, in turn, have been accused of carrying machetes and Molotov cocktails and having destroyed dozens of dwellings, public and commercial buildings.
Coordinator of a civil fact-finding team investigation the violence, Dwi Sudarsono, has told reporters: “We have reports from families and relatives of the victims who said that more than five people had died in the incident.”
Arc Exploration owns 95 percent of the joint venture over 24,980 hectares.
Its opponents argued that the project would drain water used for irrigation and drive away traditional miners.
The remainder is held by an Indonesian partner.
The company, which also has projects in East Java and West Papua, has issued a statement to the Australian Security Exchange saying it has conducted extensive consultation over its activities with local government officials since April this year.
The Southeast Asian Times

Prosecutors lodge appeal against Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 22: Prosecutors have lodged an appeal in the High Court against the acquittal of former deputy prime minister and finance minister Anwar Ibrahim, 64, for allegedly having sodomised his former aid Mohammad Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
High Court Judge Mohammad Zabidin Mohammad Diah found Anwar Ibrahim not guilty last month after saying he could not rely on the prosecution’s DNA evidence.
“The court is always reluctant to convict on sexual offences without corroborative evidence,” he said.
“Therefore, the accused is acquitted and discharged."
Anwar Ibrahim, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat or People’s The Justice Party member for Permatang Pauh, Penang, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of carnal intercourse against the order of nature with the complainant, then 24, at a condominium in Kuala Lumpur on June 26 2008.
He faced jail and a whipping if convicted.
A total of 27 prosecution witnesses were called to take the stand during an earlier 59 days of hearing.
Anwar Ibrahim spent six years in prison between 1998 and 2004 after being convicted of corruption and of sodomising his former family driver.
Three judges of the Federal, Malaysia's highest court, eventually partially overturned the sodomy conviction 2 to 1 after finding contradictions within the prosecution.
But the judges noted: “We find evidence to confirm that the appellants were involved in homosexual activities and we are more inclined to believe that the alleged incident at Tivoli Villa did happen.”
The Southeast Asian Times

Judges declare worker contracts, outsourcing invalid
Workers rally against contract employment at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 21: Indonesia’s Constitutional Court judges have unanimously declared rulings for temporary and outsourced workers based on the 2003 Labour Law invalid.
The judges found the law’s provisions governing contract workers and outsourced labour were invalid because they contravene the Constitution, which assures the protection of workers and their rights.
Their ruling means that millions of contract-based and outsourced workers regain their rights to monthly salaries, allowances, severance pay and social security benefits.
Presiding judge, the court’s chief justice Mahfud, said that every company carrying out short-term projects had an obligation to treat their contract workers and permanent staff equally.
And agencies which provided workers were obliged to ensure their rights were respect as guaranteed by the Constitution.
“The chapters on temporary work and outsourcing are not binding if the labour contract does not delegate the obligation to guarantee worker rights to other companies,” he said.
The judges annulled Chapters 59, 64-66 of the Labour Law at the request of Power Meter Readers Union chairman Didi Supriyadi after State-owned power company PT PLN in Surabaya, East Java, outsourced its employees to a partner company.
Many Indonesian companies have employed contract-based workers in construction projects and plantations while others outsourced a part of their work, such as security and cleaning services, to avoid providing health, meal and transportation allowances and social security benefits since the Labour Law was enacted.
The Jakarta Post quotes Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Separately industrial relations director general Myra Maria Hanartani as saying the ministry was preparing a circular to be disseminated soon to all companies, foundations and other institutions employing workers to comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision until the Labour Law was reviewed.
The government would use the Constitutional Court’s decision to ask the People’s Representatives Council to review the Labour Law, she said.
The newspaper also quotes Indonesian Employers Association or Apindo deputy chairman Djimanto as saying his members would obey the Constitutional Court’s decision but it would not automatically annul the existing labour contracts.
“The main problem is that many small companies offering construction and cleaning services face financial difficulties, said the deputy chairman.
“They can’t give optimal protection to their workers due to small profit margins. Cooperatives and labour-intensive industries also tend not to give protection to their employees to cut labour costs.”
An estimated 30 percent of Indonesia’s workers are either contracted or outsourced.
The Southeast Asian Times

Trial of reporter’s widow for murder delayed in southern Viet Nam
From News Reports:
Ho Chi Minh City, January 21: The trial of Tran Thuy Lieu, 40, in the Long An People’s Court for the alleged murder of her journalist husband Le Hoang Hung, 51, has been postponed and the police asked to continue their investigations, reports Thanh Nien or Youth newspaper.
The newspaper quotes the court’s deputy director, Le Quang Hung, as saying several details had yet to be clarified.
He did not elaborate.
In early December, the editor-in-chief of the Nguoi Lao Dong, or The Labourer, newspaper, Do Danh Phuong, has asked Viet Nam’s Supreme Court, prosecutors and police to launch fresh investigations into the death of his former veteran reporter.
The editor-in-chief made his request as judges in the Mekong Delta province prepared to try the dead man’s wife for his murder.
The newspaper suspected that she was not the only culprit and did not want any accomplices to escape, said the editor and chief.
Further investigation was necessary because of the contradictions in the prosecution’s indictment.
The indictment says Le Hoang Hung set her husband afire as he slept in his working room on the first floor of their house in Tan An Town on January 19.
He died in hospital from severe burns 10 days later.
He did not regain consciousness.
The reporter had written about the Mekong Delta – especially its corruption and crime - for his newspaper for almost 10 years and acting International Press Association director Bethel McKenzie immediately called for a swift investigation of the murder.
“Vietnam’s authorities must bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice and show that they will not be tolerated, in particular if they are aimed at silencing a journalist and thereby preventing the people from enjoying their right to information about issues of public concern,” she said.
But the dead man’s wife later told police that she had killed her husband after he assaulted her and accused her of having an extramarital affair.
In August it was revealed that her lover - a former senior marketing official who was the lover – was to be expelled from the Viet Nam Communist Party.
He had already been dismissed from his marketing job.
Earlier, the English-language Viet Nam News reported the woman –apparently a heavy gambler – had told the provincial police that she had not meant to kill her husband when she poured alcohol over him and set him alight.
She had meant it as a warning after they argued about money and the police investigation included questions about her alleged gambling in Cambodia and supposedly heavy losses before her husband’s death.
Police told Tuoi Tre the woman owed gamblers about VND1.5 billion, about US$77,000, to gamblers.
It also reported that it had been told she wanted to sell their house to settle the debt but her husband refused.
The attacker supposedly climbed into Le Hoang Hung’s room via a rope that was left behind but Cong An Nhan Dan, or The People’s Police, newspaper quoted Senior Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Tien as saying that it was unlikely a criminal would climb to the second story on a rope while carrying a bottle of petrol.
Police said the accused woman could have had more than one lover.
The Southeast Asian Times

Railway turns to concrete balls to stop roof-top passengers
Workers have installed concrete balls about a metre in diameter above railway tracks between Bekasi, greater Jakarta, and Tambun, West Java, in a bid to stop non-paying passengers ride on carriage roofs
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 20: State-owned Kereta Api Indonesia has installed grape-fruit-sized concrete balls above the tracks between Bekasi, greater Jakarta, and Tambun, West Java, in a bid to stop non-paying passengers ride on carriage roofs.
“We were unable to install them on the Bogor-Jakarta track because of the electricity cables above the train,” kompass.com quotes railway operations manager Akhmad Suyadi as saying.
The balls, hung in a goal-like frame where trains enter or leave a station or at crossings, are designed to knock off anyone sitting atop an accelerating carriage.
The balls are Kereta Api Indonesia’s latest initiative in an effort to remove rooftop passengers.
Operations manager Akhmad Suyadi said balls were intended to provide safety and comfort to passengers and not to cause harm.
The Southeast Asian Times

Assistant ranger accused of Thai elephant slaughter
From News Reports:
Phetchaburi, January 20: Chief assistant ranger Suriyon Phothibundit, who is suspected of having helped kill four elephants in the Kaeng Krachan National Park, western Thailand, and then hid the evidence, has surrendered to police.
The Thai News Agency says he surrendered after the Phetchaburi Provincial Court issued a warrant for his rest together with four officials - Surin Maikaew, Mana Nokkaew, Jinda Phuangmalai and Phol Thomya.
The news agency says the five officials are charged with destroying and hiding evidence; as possessing wildlife carcasses without permission as well as hiding wildlife and other animal carcasses for sale.
The chief assistant ranger denied the charges but admitted that he burned the dead elephants in accordance with Natural Resources and Environment Department regulations and procedures.
He said that he had done so on the advice of a National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation veterinarian after he found the dead elephants which had been shot during the New Year holiday.
He was denied bail.
The news agency uses National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation figures to argue that Thailand’s wild elephants are at an increasingly higher risk of extinction than ever before despite being officially protected.
The figures show that an average of three elephants have been hunted and killed in each of the past two years.
It quotes National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department director-general Damrong Pidech as saying evidence suggested national politicians and some civil servants were involved.
Meat from the slaughtered elephants was sent to restaurants in the resort island of Phuket for foreign customers, he said.
The Southeast Asian Times


.MEDIA CHECK . Thailand’s National Press Council is to iiiinvestigate electoral bribe allegations
........Open page here


What they're saying open page here

 

A cartoon goes inside the tour bus in Manila on the day that ended with the slaying of eight Hong Kong tourists ...Open page here

 

Bombed by the Americans for Christmas in 1972, Ha Noi Bach Mai hospital is still a war zone...Christina Pas reports...Open page here


Published by Pas Loizou Press Darwin Northern Territory Australia
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West Papua highway planned
From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 28: The Public Works Ministry will allocate rupiah 3.6 trillion, about US$399 million, to build a Trans-West Papua Highway, reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspaper quotes ministry national road construction development director Iqbal Pane as saying the highway would link isolated central-highlands to Wamena, Habema, Kenyam and Batas Batu as well as the Asmat regency on the south coast.
The Southeast Asian Times


Regulator sues AirAsia

From News Reports:
Sydney, January 27: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accused Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia of having failed to disclose the full price of fares on its website.
Documents the commission has lodged with the Australian federal court, Melbourne, says some prices on the airline’s website do not include all taxes, duties, fees and other charges.
“'Businesses that choose to advertise a part of the price of a particular product or service must also prominently specify a single total price,” says a consumer commission statement.
The regulator alleges the fares are for to flights from Melbourne to cities including London, New Delhi and Hangzhou in China, from the Gold Coast to Ho Chi Minh City and from Perth to places such as Taipei and Phuket, Thailand.
The allegation is listed to be heard on Thursday, March 2 and the consumer commission is seeking an injunction “to restrain AirAsia from engaging in misleading conduct in the future.”'
It also wants a federal court judge to order “that AirAsia publish corrective notices on its websites regarding the conduct.”
The Southeast Asian Times


Vinashin rejects hedge-fund claim

From News Reports:
London, January 26: The Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, has described Dutch-owned hedge fund Elliott Adviser’s claim to portion of a US$600 million syndicated loan to the State-owned Corporation as invalid, reports Bloomberg.
Only the arranger of the loan and its agent, Credit Suisse AG Singapore Branch, can enforce payment at the instruction of the majority of the creditors, the news agency quotes Vinashin as saying in response to Elliott’s lawsuit.
The response was lodged in London’s High Court on Monday, January 9.
Moody’s credit rating agency says Vinashin defaulted on the loan in December when the first payment of principal, $60 million, fell due.
Elliott was among investors in the loan that Credit Suisse arranged in 2007.
Other participants were said to include Credit Suisse AG, Dublin-based Depfa Bank and Malayan Banking.
Elliott is reportedly suing for par value of its investment, together with unpaid interest and default interest totalling $13.2 million.
In November, the former chairman of troubled State-owned Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, or Vinashin, Pham Thanh Binh, 58, and eight of its former executives were formally charged with deliberately acting against the country’s regulations for economic management.
Their loss from their alleged crime is estimated at more than dong 910 billion, about $43.3 million.
The nine are expected to stand trial in the People’s Court in the northern port city of Hai Phong although former Vinashin Financial Company director Ho Ngoc Tung, 53, and former Vinashin Ocean Shipping Company business manager Giang Kim Dat, 33, have fled Viet Nam.
The charge carries a maximum of 20 years jail.
Vinashin was all but bankrupt last July with debts totalling about $4.2 billion.
The Southeast Asian Times


Malaysia sets bird-nest limit

From News Reports:
Petaling Jaya, January 25: Visitors to Malaysia are now allowed only a maximum 1kilogram of bird's nest to take home, reports The Star newspaper.
“This is to ensure that no smuggling of this expensive commodity takes place,” the newspaper quotes Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar as saying.
In addition, domestic exporters of bird nest would now require veterinary, health certificates as well as a certificate from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to send their wares to China.
Previously only a Veterinary-Services-Department certificate was needed but the additional requirements had been added to arrest the decline in quality.
The Southeast Asian Times


Papua New Guinea tackles corruption

From News Reports:
Port Moresby, January 24: Parliament’s discussion of Papua New Guinea’s proposed first national anti-corruption strategy has revealed that almost kina 1 billion of public money is lost each year, reports the National newspaper.
The newspaper quotes Public Service Minister Bart Philemon as saying the losses would continue unless a 20-year strategy to stop the waste was introduced.
Government agencies had conducted investigations and inquiries into the misappropriation of public funds but nothing had been done to effectively address corruption and, as a result, national wealth had not trickled down to the people said the minister.
The unequal and inefficient distribution of services had occurred despite a record budget surplus of kina 60 billion in the past nine years.
Corruption was worse than the killer disease HIV/AIDS because it affected everyone in society, said the minister.
The Southeast Asian Times


$973.5 million loan for Viet Nam

From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 23: The World Bank will loan the Viet Nam government US$ 973.5 million for three poverty reduction and infrastructure projects.
The projects are the $613.5-million Da Nang – Quang Ngai Expressway; the $210-million Medium Cities Development project, and the $150-million 10th Poverty Reduction Support Credit.
“It’s the first time that the World Bank is financing an expressway in Viet Nam," said its country director Victoria Kwakwa.
"This is in recognition of Viet Nam’s need for modern infrastructure as it addresses emerging challenges of a lower middle-income country.”
The Southeast Asian Times


Court goers warned of loan sharks

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 22: A notice that warns the public not to be deceived by offers of loans by unlicenced money lenders for bail has been posted in the Kuala Lumpur court house.
The Bernama news agency quotes Kuala Lumpur court director Azizah Mahamud as saying the notice was posted to make the public aware of such activities and to prevent them from falling prey to unlicensed money lenders, like loan sharks.
"The notice has been put up at various locations since last week,” she said.
“We have also instructed all courts nationwide to put up the notice at their respective premises.”
The Southeast Asian Times


Judges to declare their assets

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, January 21: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has appointed a task force to devise the best way to have judges declare their assets as ordered by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria.
The task force will also monitor the process in accordance with the Civil Service General Orders and Practice Directions 1993, says The Star newspaper.
The newspaper says there is no mechanism for implementing such a declaration, although Section 3(3) of the first Judges Code of Ethics written in 1994 did call for a written declaration of assets to the Chief Justice. (It is now Section 9
The Southeast Asian Times


Malaysia developers blacklisted

From News Reports:
Port Dickson, January 20: The Housing and Local Government Ministry has blacklisted 1,049 developers, reports its minister Chor Chee Heung.
“The ministry will now be more cautious in the issuance of housing developer licences,” The Star newspaper quotes him the relaunch of the Taman Anggerik housing project near Port Dickson.
“Many people still want to become housing developers despite the high price of land and houses," he said.
In December, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the Malaysian government would carry some of the infrastructure costs for developers building for the middle class.
“We will calculate the amount of assistance we can provide,” he said.
In September, the Housing and Local Government Ministry promised priority to enterprises that revive Malaysia's abandoned housing projects.
In November, the Housing and Local Government Ministry announced that it had black listed 1,300 developers and 4,000 directors.
“The public can view the names of the blacklisted companies and directors on our website and they will not be given any contracts to develop further housing projects,” said Housing and Local Government Minister Kong Cho Ha.
“We have also allocated ringgit 200million under Budget 2010 to revive 54 abandoned housing projects throughout the country,’’ he said after visiting two abandoned housing projects.
The Southeast Asian Times

Rolls Royce turns to Thailand,
Viet Nam

From News Reports:
Hong Kong, January 18: German-owned British automaker Rolls-Royce wants to expand into Thailand and Viet Nam after it posed record sales last year with Asia its fastest growing market, says its chief executive officer Torsten Müller-Ötvös.
“The Asia-Pacific is the fastest-growing region,” he told Agence France Press in Hong Kong.
China and the United States had driven the sales surge although “We have seen growth literally in all markets – Korea, Japan,” he said.
Sales had grown 47 percent year-over-year; 17 percent in North America and 23 percent in the Middle East.
“We are now entering Thailand. We are looking also at Viet Nam, Indochina in a broader sense to see what kind of opportunities that we have here,” he said without elaboration.
The Southeast Asian Times


Vientiane economic zone approved

From News Reports:
Ha Noi, January 17: Viet Nam real estate developer, the Long Thanh Golf Investment and Trade Joint Stock Company, has been given permission to refashion its Vientiane golf course and real-estate complex into an exclusive economic zone.
The Lao Planning and Investment Minister Somdy Douangdy and the Viet Nam enterprises Chief Executive Officer Le Van Kiem signed an agreement for the development in Vientiane.
The real estate company is based in the southern Viet Nam province of Dong Nai.
Viet Nam's Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavath Lengsavad attended the signing ceremony, which was held in conjunction with the 34th session of the Vi?t Nam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee for socio-economic, scientific and technological co-operation.
Viet Nam is the major foreign investor in Laos but has been challenged by China.
The Southeast Asian Times


Qatar buys Raffles Hotel

From News Reports:
Singapore, January 16: The Qatar National Hotels Company has taken ownership of the 125-year-old Raffles Hotel Singapore and Le Royal Monceau Raffles hotel in Paris.
The cost of the purchases from Toronto-based Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, which had owned both hotels, has not been disclosed.
State-owned Qatari enterprises have lately bought stakes in European energy companies, Germany's major builder Hochtief AG and majority ownership in the French football team Paris Saint-Germain.
In April 2010, it was reported that the Qatar Investment Authority had bought the Raffles Hotel, Singapore, for US$275 million.
In December last year, Qatar's major State-owned investment fund announced that it was to establish a subsidiary in Indonesia to buy raw materials.
The Southeast Asian Times


World Bank questions Supreme Court

From News Reports:
Manila, January 15: The World Bank is questioning the Supreme Court's alleged misuse of a US$21 million loan to reform the judiciary but was instead spent for travel, reports ABS-CBN.
An example was the visit of Chief Justice Renato Corona and other Supreme Court officials to the University of Cebu last March.
ABS-CBN says the World Bank is also questioning the peso 170,000, or $4,000, travel allowance of two court officials each for a three-day trip to Sydney in addition to lavish accommodation and food.
It quotes Institute for Political and Electoral Reform executive director Ramon Casiple as saying Chief Justice Renato Corona should be held accountable.
The executive director also noted that the Supreme Court often got the services of the Prestige Travel Agency which Securities and Exchange Commission records show is owned by the family of lawyer Estelito Mendoza.
World Bank officials did not confirm the report.
The Southeast Asian Times


Gold shop asked to pay tax

From News Reports:
Ca Mau, January 14: The Hoang Khiem gold shop in Mekong-Delta Ca Mau Province has been asked to pay VND60 billion, about US$2.8 million, in allegedly evaded taxes, reports Thanh Nien, or Youth newspaper.
It says Dam Doi District Tax Agency director Le Thanh Du signed the request for the unpaid tax although he was suspected of helping the gold shop evade the taxes between January and November, 2010.
It says gold shop owner Nguyen Binh Khiem has refused to pay the disputed taxes reportedly discovered when inspectors audited the shop’s sale invoices and has sent an explanation to high-ranking agencies.
Thanh Nien says SJC Gold, Viet Nam’s major gold trader and a customer of the shop in the Dam Doi District, is also involved in the alleged evasion.
It says Public Ministry Security’s ant-economic crimes department officers are also investigating the origin of the gold recorded in the suspected sales.
The Southeast Asian Times


NGO money raising faces limits

From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 13: Proposed legislation now before the Indonesian parliament will prohibit international non-governmental organisations from soliciting financial donations from members of the Indonesian public.
“Foreign NGOs that violate the prohibition will face sanctions,” the Antara news agency quotes People's Representative Council member Abdul Malik Harmain as saying.
The proposed law would also prohibit the country’s NGOs from receiving foreign funding except with permission from the government, he said.
The agency says a number of Indonesian citizens who had been regularly making financial contributions to the international environmental NGO Greenpeace had stopped doing so.
In November, Greenpeace vacated its Indonesian headquarters on Jalan Kemang Utara, South Jakarta, at the order of the city’s administrators.
The administration’s building utilisation supervision office director Agus Supriyono had warned the office would be sealed if it was not vacated by last Monday because it had been registered as a residence and not a place of business.
The Southeast Asian Times


Maize farmers suffer losses

From News Reports:
Phnom Penh, January 12: Cambodian farmers and traders on the Thai border complain that their Association-of-Southeast-Asian-Nations, Asean, neighbour has banned the importation of maize leaving them with excess supplies and few buyers.
But the Phnom Penh Post quotes Jiranun Wongmongkol, commercial counsellor at the Thai embassy in the capital as saying that the private sector and not the Thai government must have been initiated the ban.
The Southeast Asian Times

Chinese arrested in call-centre raid

From News Reports:
George Town, January 11: Twenty-two Chinese nationals were among 37 people arrested when police raided a call centre in George Town, reports The Star newspaper.
The newspaper quotes Penang deputy police chief Senior Assistant Commander Abdul Rahim Jaafar as saying police estimated that the “Macau-scam” syndicate had swindled its victims of millions by calling people in China, telling them that they had summonses for defaulting on their bank loans or credit card payments.
Posing as court officials or police officers, syndicate members would tell victims to telephone the bank for more information.
They would then intercept the call by means of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology and tell the victim to pay a certain amount of money to avoid prosecution.
The 22 Chinese nationals were among six Taiwanese and two Malaysians at the call centre on the seventh-floor of a building in Jalan Kinta.
The police crippled an international “Macau-scam” syndicate operating in Bayan Baru in September last year.
The Southeast Asian Times


Singapore industry contracts

From News Reports:
Singapore, January 10: The Purchasing Managers Index has confirmed that Singapore’s manufacturing industries, especially electronics, have resumed their contraction.
The PMI registered an overall reading of 49.5 for December, up 0.8 points against November's reading of 48.7.
A reading below 50 signals contraction and above 50 means expansion.
The PMI reflects anticipated factory orders, based on interviews with purchasing managers at more than 150 industrial enterprises.
The Southeast Asian Times


Minimarts advised to hire guards

From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 9: A rash of armed robberies has prompted police chief Inspector General Untung S. Rajab to advise all minimart managers to hire security guards.
“We advise employers to hire guards to secure their business premises amid rampant robberies targeting minimarts,” tribunnews.com quotes him as saying.
“We cannot work alone because we cannot safeguard all minimarkets across the city,” he said.
The Southeast Asian Times

S
Tycoon pledges university $30 million

From News Reports:
Jakarta, January 8: Indonesian Singapore-based tycoon Tahir, 59, has pledged US$30 million to the National University of Singapore.
The chairman and chief executive of Indonesian conglomerate, the Mayapada Group, has pledged the money to the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine to advance research and education, reports The Jakarta Post.
A matching grant from the Singapore government is expected to take the total amount to the university to about $75 million, says the newspaper.
The Southeast Asian Times


British bank eyes Myanmar

From News Reports:
Hong Kong, January 7: Britain’s Standard Chartered bank, which earns more than two-thirds of its profit in Asia, will seek to return to Myanmar once the United States and British governments end sanctions against the country, reports Bloomberg. And the bank’s chief executive officer, Asia, Jaspal Bindra believes this could happen this year.
“We used to be in Burma for a long time, and we’ll be very happy to get back there,” the news service quotes the chief executive as saying.
“If I was a betting man, I would say in 2012 Burma will be off the sanctions list,” he said.
The Southeast Asian Times


Dismissed airline workers
seek pay

From News Reports:
Pekanbaru, January 6: The city’s Manpower and Transmigration Agency has demanded severance pay, holiday pay and four months of back pay for 116 workers who were dismissed by Riau Airlines.
The Jakarta Post quotes their coordinator, Dody Fernando, as saying the Riau-provincial- administration airline owed the workers rupiah 8.1 billion, about $US891,000.
“We just want our rights. The debt figure is not a fictitious or a one-sided claim. It is based on a recent agreement reached by the Industrial Relations Court,” he said.
The airline management has repeatedly promised to fulfill its obligation to its former employees but had not done so.
The Southeast Asian Times


Russian jets ordered

From News Reports:
Jakarta, December 5: The Defence Ministry has ordered six Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30MK2 jet fighters for Indonesia’s Air Force.
“We handed over the contract to Russia’s JSC Rosoboronexport yesterday, tempo.com quotes Deputy Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as saying.
“We have another contract still in progress.”
The Indonesia Air Force has 10 Sukhoi jetfighters – six Sukhoi SU-27SKM and four Sukhoi SU-30MK2 and plans to base one squadron of the aircraft at the Hasanuddin Airbase, Makassar.
The Southeast Asian Times

Fake notes found in Kupang
From News Reports:
Kupang, January 4: The Bank of Indonesia’s Kupang office reports that it has confiscated rupiah 146.5 million, about US$16,115, in forged bills, primarily in denominations of rupiah 50,000 and rupiah 100,000, in East Nusa Tenggara in 2011.
The report cites, Labuanbajo, the West Manggarai regency, site of the Komodo Dragon Park, as a place where counterfeited banknotes were rampantly found.
Six fake bank notes were discovered during Christmas.
The Southeast Australia