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Detained Indonesian fishermen protest in Darwin

Arrested subsubsistance wooden Indonesian fishing boats are towed into Dariwn harbour

From News Reports:
Darwin May 16: More than 200 Indonesian fishermen detained in Darwin have protested against their capture, says the country’s consul in the northern Australian city, Harbangan Napitupulu.
The diplomat said the outburst had occurred when he and two members of his staff inspected the detention centre with Australian fishery management authority director Peter Vensloves.
Some of the fishermen had been unable to control their emotions and banged the table, he said.
The diplomat said that on Wednesday the fishermen unfurled a banner protesting the confiscation of their fishing vessels.
The fishermen maintained that they had been working Indoensian waters.
More than 250 fishermen are in detention in Darwin at the moment, including 24 people under the age of 18.
The diplomat says at least half of them are “shocked and confused” about where they were detained.
The Southeast Asian Times

Judges confirm detention of Hindraf five legal

The Hindraf Five Uthayakumar, Ganabatirau, Manoharan, Vasanthakumar and Kengadharan

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, Mayb16: Three judges of the Federal Court have ruled that the detention of five members of the Hindu Rights Action Force is legal and they will have to remain in detention in accordance with the Internal Security Act for two years.
The judges, with Chief Judge of Malaya Alauddin Mohd Sheriff presiding, ruled that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his capacity as the then Internal Security Minister had rightly issued the detention order and had complied with the procedural requirements under the Act.
The detainees are lawyers Manoharan, 46, who is also Kota Alam Shah state assemblyman; Uthayakumar, 46,. Ganabatirau, 40, Kenghadharan, 40, and former bank officer Vasantha Kumar, 36.
The judges unanimously upheld the High Court’s decision to quash the five’s writ habeas corpus application to be released from ISA detention.
Alauddin, who presided together with Federal Court judges Arifin Zakaria and Hashim Yusoff, said the High Court had carefully evaluated the Internal Security
Minister’s affidavits when it ruled that their detention was valid and in accordance with the law.
The Southeast Asian Times

Students demand justice for slain May 12, 1998 victims

Students, who rallied outside the Attorney General’s Office, South Jakarta, carried a portrait of Trisakti University student Hafidin Alifidin Royan who was allegedly slain by soldiers on May 12, 1998

From News Reports:
About 2,000 students from universities across Indonesia have rallied outside the Presidential Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara, Central Jakarta, remember the four Trisakti University students allegedly shot by soldiers on May 12, 1998.
They included Garry Setiawan from the State University of Semarang, Central Java, who said he and many other students planned to stay outside the palace until President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed to their demands.
“We will not go home, before we have his promise,” he told The Jakarta. Post.
The student demands include the government resuming the prosecution of charges against former president Soeharto and his close allies.
Soldiers allegedly shot and killed four students - Hendriawan Lesmana, Hafidin Royan, Heri Hartanto and Elang Mulya - at Trisakti University during a student protest demanding the resignation of then president Soeharto.
The slaying were followed by two days of anti-Chinese riots in which at least 1,200 people were killed.
Trisakti University, who gathered outside the Attorney General’s Office, South Jakarta also sought prosecution of those responsible for shootings near Atma Jaya University, Central Jakarta.
Seventeen people were killed and 456 were wounded in the shootings between September 22 and September 24, 1999.
The Southeast Asian Times

Logging of sacred sites banned
From News Reports:
Port Moresby, May 15: The Kavieng District Court has banned logging on Tatau Island, New Ireland, province.
The ban was imposed last week after two clans on the island complained that logging was threatening some of their sacred sites, including their burial grounds and their source of food.
They claimed that logging was also endangering their environment, their river and marine life.
The landowners of Tatau Island belong to Damok and Barbar clans.
Restrained from logging are Tavak Investment Ltd, a purported landowner company owned by John Same and his brother Joseph Panga, the Niugini Forest Planning and Management Ltd and Vanimo Jaya Ltd.
The Southeast Asian Times

MPs wants to quiz Yudhoyono about price rises

From News Reports:
Jakarta, May 14: Seventy-five House of Representatives members want President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summonsed to answer questions about the continuing rise in the cost of basic commodities, reports The Jakarta Post.
“Their proposal will soon be processed,” the newspaper quotes Speaker Agung Laksono as saying.
The price rices could spark higher unemployment and more crime, he warned.
The speaker also argued against the export of unhusked rice even if production was above the target.“We must anticipate the national demand, particularly during the dry season when poor

Representatives of Indonesians opposed to their government’s plan to reduce its fuel subsidy gatherer outside the presidential palace, or istana, in Jakarta on Monday. The protesters also demanded that the cost of food be lowered

people are unable to buy rice,” he said.
The effort to summons the president coincides with a rally outside the presidential palace, or istana, to oppose the government’s plan to increase fuel prices with the lowering of subsidies and to demand lower food prices.
“We reject the plan to raise fuel prices and demand the government be more sensitive to the people`s current living conditions,” the Antara news agency quoted rally organiser Wardani as saying.
Protesters asked the government to put policies in place to reduce the price of basic necessities.
Similar rallies against the planned fuel price hikes were reported from Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru in Riau Province, Surabaya in East Java, West Sumatra, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan and Makassar in South Sulawesi.
In Cirebon, West Java, students blocked a major thoroughfare for about two hours.
The protesters said the government had failed to develop an alternative energy source despite the country's vast potential for wind energy, geothermal energy and biofuels.
The government has decided to raise domestic fuel prices from June in response to rising oil prices.
Deputy President Jusuf Kalla has deplored what he calls the violence and anarchy that he says has accompanied the protests.
On Monday, women demonstrators burned posters of both President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his deputy.
They did so after the president had failed to meet with them.
On the weekend, hundreds of poor people have rallied outside the private residence of deputy president in South Sulawesi against the Indonesian government’s plan to lower the subsidy for domestic fuel.
The newsagency quoted the protesters as saying that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s plan to allow the price of fuel to increase would add to the misery of the poor throughout the country.
The Southeast Asian Times

Strike prompts trade union chairman’s sacking
From News Reports:
Balikpan, May 14: State-owned Angkasa Pura I workers union chairman Arif Islam is reported to have been dismissed after hundreds of airport workers went on strike at Balikpapan’s Sepinggan international airport.
The company's general manager Winaya says the dismissal accords with the relevant labour law and ministerial decree that prohibits strikes at public service companies.
“We told them right from the beginning we will be strict. This is a company offering a public service, so disruption is not allowed. The strike is clearly disruptive,” he says.
The trade unionist argues the 2003 Labour Law validates the strike.
“This is a one-sided, authoritarian decision. I'm demanding justice,” he says.
Workers at five airports on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi started a series of rolling strikes for higher pay; pension payment and health insurance for retirees.
The workers say their employee has failed to honour a 2006 agreement that would have provided airport workers with salaries equal to those of civil servants or rupiah 1.2 million, about $129, for the lowest paid.
Hundreds of stevedores have gone at strike at the port of Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, for a 35 percent rise in their minimum wage.
The strike stopped the unloading of cement from two vessels as well as the distribution of containers.
The Southeast Asian Times

Writer’s appeal delayed after transcripts go missing

Tenaganita, or Women’s Force, Non Government Organisation director Irene Fernandez outside the magistrate's court in October 2003 with her supporters after she was found guilty for maliciously publishing false news

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, May 14: High Court judge Mohamed Apandi Ali has advised the officer in charge of documents to lodge a complaint with the police after transcripts of witness testimony were found to be missing.
The missing evidence has delayed the appeal of Tenaganita, or Women’s Force, Non Government Organisation director Irene Fernandez's appeal against her one-year jail sentence for publishing with malicious intent a memorandum that contained false news.
The New Straits Times says transcripts and an exhibit – apparently a newspaper report - are crucial to the appeal.
The newspaper quoted the judge as saying that he was informed by the registrar's office of the missing documents moments before he was due to hear the appeal.
“It is most likely that the documents went missing in the old courthouse in Jalan Raja,” he said
The appeal was “not only incomplete” but “cannot be completed.
“This is a rare occurrence.
“It will be interesting to find out what the legal implications are in this case, and the discretionary power given to me in such circumstances.”
Deputy public prosecutor Shamsul Sulaiman and counsel Puravalen have been ordered to attempt to explain the missing documents on Wednesday, June 11.
The hearing was adjourned until then.
Irene Fernandez was found guilty of publishing the memo entitled “Abuse, torture and dehumanised treatment of migrant workers at detention camps” on August 25, 1995.
She was arrested on March 18, 1996, and charged under Section 8A(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
She was sentence in 2003 and immediately appealed.
She is on bail and her passport had been surrendered to the court.
The Southeast Asian Times

Thai parliament elects chief whip as new speaker

From News Reports
Bangkok, May 14: Parliament has elected government chief whip Chai Chidchob as House of Representatives Speaker to replace Yongyuth Tiyapairat.
The candidate, whose election how has to be endorsed by the King, received 283 votes and Democrat Party candidate Banyat Bantadtan 158.
There were 12 abstentions.
But former parliamentary candidate Sakchai Techakriengkrai has accused Chai and his wife La-ong have been accused by of encroaching on public land in Buri Ram's Satuk
where they have a prawn farm.
The newly-elected speaker has also been accused of illegally issuing land

The Thai House of Representatives newly-elected Speaker Chai Chidchob

documents and illegally occupying land belonging to the State Railway of Thailand.
He may well have to follow his predecessor out office if the charges are substantiated.
Judges of Thailand’s Supreme Court are now assessing charges of electoral fraud against the former parliamentary speaker.
The executive member of the majority People Power Party, PPP, in the six-part ruling coalition is accused of vote buying in his northern Chiang Rai Province constituency during the December 23 general election.
He voluntarily suspended himself from Wednesday, February 26, after he was “red carded” following an Election Commission investigation.
It delivered the same verdict against his sister, La-ong Tiyapairat, also a member for Chiang Rai province.
The outcome of today’s hearing – sought by the Electoral Commission - could put both his political career and the new government in jeopardy.
If found guilty, the former speaker faces expulsion from parliament and a five-year ban from politics.
The PPP could be ordered dissolved if found guilty of complicity in the alleged fraud.
The Southeast Asian Times

Hindraf holds “illegal” rallies on peninsular Malaysia

Hindu Rights Action Force, Hindraf, member rallies against Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. Similar “illegal” rallies were held throughout peninsular Malaysia

From News Reports:
George Town, May 13: The Hindu Rights Action Force, Hindraf, held “illegal” rallies from north to south of the Malayan Peninsular Sunday with seven of its supporters detained in Penang.
The seven – accused of obstructing police - were later freed.
The rallies were held to demand the release of five senior Hindraf members of the Internal Security Act.
The rallies were held in Butterworth, Ipoh, Seremban and Johor Baru as well as Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
Last week, Malaysian Indian MP, Manoharan, 46, was sworn in while in jail where he is being detained in accordance with the Internal Security Act.
The lawyer, with four other senior Hindraf members - was jailed for two years after they organised a protest rally on behalf of Malaysia's two million Tamil Hindus on November 25 last year. The rally estimated at 10,000 was declared illegal and forcibly dispersed by police using water cannons.
Manoharan won the Kota Shah Alam seat in the Selangor legislative assembly during the March general election and had been asked that he be allowed free to take the oath.
Selangor Assembly Speaker Teng Chang finally administered at the Kamuntin Detention Centre, Taiping.
“I will continue to fight all forms of discrimination and marginalisation against any community and raise public interest for justice and equality,” he said in a statement delivered by his wife, Pushpaneela, after the ceremony.s
“But I’m sad that I have to serve my voters while in detention.”
Malaysia’s Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar has responded to the rallies to free the Hindraf five by saying: “The government at present has no intention of amending or repealing the Internal Security Act.
“The ISA is still relevant and it is not a punitive law but a preventive law in order to ensure that we protect security, peace and law and order. We must prevent events from happening,” he said.
The British colonial era law provides for immediately renewable two year of detention without trial.
The Star newspaper reports that the Malaysian Indian Congress chairman Bhulapan wants an Indian representative appointed in each parliamentary constituency.
The suggestion – from the Indian wing of the ruling coalition – is obviously aimed at countering Hindraf’s growing influence.
The Southeast Asian Times

Border guard investigated as suspected coal smuggler
From News Reports:
Ha Noi, May 13: Military prosecutors have been asked to investigate a senior border guard accused of helping smuggle coal from Viet Nam’s northern Quang Ninh province into China, reports Thanh Nien newspaper.
The investigation follows an effort to curb the illegal selling of coal from the country’s premier coal-mining province.
The newspaper says illicit mines have been closed and 104 coal-running ships confiscated.
Two of the vessels were apparently registered in the name of border guards.
The action has sparked death threats against provincial administrators.
The newspaper says transport company director Bui Huy Thuat, 50, of Ha Long, on famous Ha Long Bay, was arrested last week as the suspected owner of four ships used for coal smuggling.
The Southeast Asian Times

Thai police seize false Brunei passports
From News Reports:
Bandar Seri Begawan, May 13: Fake Bruneian passports were among 20,000 false travel paper seized in Thailand, report BrueDirect.com
The news portal says the passports were made by a 12-man Thai-Myanmar-Indonesian syndicate and the arrests were the second for this type of crime Thailand during the past month.
Countries represented by the false passports included Canada, France, Germany, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
At least 2,000 were ready for use.
The senior alleged counterfeiter , Somkhuan Muen-in, is known to Thai police as a people and arms smuggler.
The Southeast Asian Times

Planned fuel subsidy reduction sparks Indonesia protests

From News Reports:
Makassar, May 12: Hundreds of poor people have rallied outside the private residence of Deputy President Jusuf Kalla in Makassar, South Sulawesi, against the Indonesian government’s plan to lower the subsidy for domestic fuel, reports the Antara newsagency.
The newsagency quoted the protesters as saying that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s plan to allow the price of fuel to increase would add to the misery of the poor throughout the country.
They asked the government to cancel its plan.
The protesters – heavily monitored by police - then marched to the marketing office State-owned oil company, Pertamina, about 500 metres away.

Police prepare to fire tear gas at student protesters outside the Islamic Meheri University in Makassar, South Sulawesi. The students oppose the Indonesian government’s plan to reduce fuel subsidies – especially for cooking

Students rallied against the government’s plan earlier in the day with five arrested.
And student protesters greeted the deputy president, himself, when he arrived in Yogyakarta for the marriage of the governor’s daughter.
In Jakarta, police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira told reporters: “The police chief has instructed all provincial police chiefs to anticipate anything that could happen before the oil price hike and detect any possible unrest.”
Speculators who attempted to hoard fuel would be arrested, he said.
Chief Economics Minister Boediono has said he government will increase fuel prices to an amount that “is acceptable to the people” and provide compensation to the poor.
Several newspapers have said the government is thinking of reducing the subsidy by an average of 28.7 percent in June to control the budget deficit.
Indonesia’s petroleum sales have jumped sharply since the government’s plan to allow higher prices has become known.
Pertamina deputy director Hanung Budya told The Jakarta Post the major spike was in some parts of heavily-populated Java where sales were up 15 percent in the first week of May.
In places such as Bandung, West Java; Yogyakarta, Central Java; Kupang, West Timor, and Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi sales were up 7 percent.
Police were posted at petrol stations in many parts of the country Friday.
The newspaper says Pertamina is struggling to control the distribution of subsidised fuels in the panic buying that has followed publication of the government's plan.
of a plan to raise fuel prices.
The buying has been exacerbated by illegal hoarding.
“We cannot control the demand but we will tighten the distribution mechanism,” said Pertamina spokesman Wisnuntoro.
“We will make sure gas stations only sell products to motorized vehicles, while
industries will be required to show a special permit for every purchase.’
The state budget allocation for fuel subsidies is set at rupiah 126.8 trillion, about US$13.7 billion, or 12 percent of the government's total expenditure in 2008.
The government says it will also start limiting the sales of subsidised fuels by distributing a control card, known as a “smart card”, to motorists from September in addition to lowering the fuel subsidy.
The programme will be introduced in Jakarta and then to other regions in West Java, Central Java, East Java and Bali.
The Southeast Asian Times

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On line editor freed from Malaysia’s Sungai Buloh prison

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, May 11: Malaysia-Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, who was freed from jail on bail of ringgit 5,000, about US$1,562, last Friday says he was told that his safety could not be guaranteed in Sungai Buloh prison.
The journalists, who was charged with sedition after he published an article titled, Let's Send the Altantuya Murderers to Hell, on his Malaysia Today website on Friday, April 25, had earlier said that he would stay in jail until his trial which is due to start on Monday, October 6.
The journalist says Unit Tindakan Khas, or Special Action Squad, members Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 32, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 37, who are accused of murdering Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, nine months ago

Internet journalist Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, rejoins his wife Marina, 54, after he was freed from Malaysia’s Sungai Buloh prison on ringgit 5,000, about US$1,562, bail Friday. He had spent three nights in prison

and are detained in the same jail, shouted at him when he entered the prison and said that something would happen to him.
Political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, who is charged with abetting them, is also in the jail.
Their trial resumes tomorrow.
Asked if he had met Sirul and Azilah, Raja Petra said: “Ya! We were in the same block, the police block, which had about 18 policemen there all awaiting trial.”
“So anyhow, they saw me and they shouted at me and the prison guards were very worried, and they even shouted at the prison guard.
The prison guards had then told him: “So please, get out la, kita tak boleh tidur la (we won’t be able to sleep) because we have to watch out for you.”
“The prison authorities spoke to me and asked to allow my wife to bail me out because they say they cannot guarantee my safety in prison.”
Two police Special Action Unit officers were assigned to “look after me.”
“The prison administrators told me that the two had threatened that something was going to happen to me,” the journalist said.
But Prisons Department deputy director-general for operations Zulkifli Omar said the additional security for people who had attracted wide publicity was normal in prison.
“This is nothing new,” he said.
The journalist, who is the father of five, said conditions in the jail were much better than when he had been held in solitary confinement under the Internal Security Act.
But he had not eaten any food since he opted for trial for allegedly publishing a seditious article on his website.
“Since I cannot have food from outside, I did not eat at all,” he said.
“I want to go back and have breakfast now. I am dehydrated.”
The journalist said he would continue to update Malaysia Today and write articles.
The Southeast Asian Times

Gravediggers sought after theft of tsunami coffins
From News Reports:
Phuket, May 11: Police want to question two former grave diggers who are said to have confessed to stealing 11 70-kilogram aluminium coffins worth an estimated baht 400,000, about US$ 12,500, from storage at the Bang Maruan Cemetery.
Cemetery manager Nitinai Sornsongkram, 54, complained to police on Saturday, April 27, after discovering that 11 of 40 coffins intended for tsunami victims were missing.
The manager says: “I questioned the gravediggers and one of them confessed to taking the coffins and selling them as scrap.
“I didn’t want to file charges at first as we have been working together for a long time and I felt sorry for them.
“They asked for time to bring the coffins back, but they have not been returned so I will have to file charges against them.”
“I just didn’t imagine that they would dare do such a thing,”
The missing coffins were bought by Thailand Tsunami Victim Identification centre with about $2.7million provided by countries whose nationals perished in the disaster.
Scrap metal dealers say aluminium is worth about baht 70, about $2,18 per kilogram.
Police say a local scrap metal dealer has bought a large amount of aluminium that has already been smelted.
The remains of 390 tsunami victims at the Bang Maruan cemetery have still to be identified.
The Thai Disaster Victim Identification unit is administered by the Royal Thai police and is responsible for the identification of the remains of tsunami victims and their repatriation.
The Southeast Asian Times

Church worker assaulted in land dispute
From News Reports:
Port Moresby, May 11: Three men have been arrested and charged with grievous bodily harm after a Catholic church worker in East New Britain was allegedly attacked in a land dispute, reports The Nation newspaper.
Police say Norbert ToKivung, 48, sustained wounds to his wrist and lost some of his teeth in the attack.
They have accused Takubar Indigenous Land Rights Association President Peter Virit, his son Jack and Michael Parau with assault.
The land rights group is claiming ownership of the land registered with the Catholic Church.
Senior detective David Yapu said there were proper avenues to settle such disputes but there were now tensions within the community.
The newspaper quoted Archbishop Karl Hesse as saying that the church had not made any false promises but had instead helped people with the gift of land.
It was unfortunate that the Land Act has been misinterpreted and had caused a lot of misunderstanding and confusion, he said.
The Southeast Asian Times

Myanmar’s referendum begins to schedule
From News Reports:
Yangon, May 11: The devastation that followed Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Nargis after it swept through the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady delta southwest of Yangon nine days ago generating a three-metre high surge did not stop voting in a nationwide referendum to decide a draft constitution for Myanmar from beginning on schedule yesterday.
The referendum will be held throughout the country except in 40 towns in the surrounds of Yangon and seven of 26 in the Ayeyawaddy Delta, southwest of the city, designated as disaster areas.
Their votes will now be cast on Saturday, May 24.
About 27 of Myanmar’s 57 million people are eligible to vote.
Of these, seven million are in the greater Yangon region and six million in the Ayeyawaddy Delta.
The ballot is secret and the counting of votes open.
Polling booths were to close at 4pm and counting start immediately.
The 194-page 15-chapter 2008 Republic of Union of Myanmar Constitution was drafted by a 54-member State Constitution Drafting Commission in accordance with the detailed basic principles laid down by a National Convention.
The convention originally started in 1993 but first adjourned for eight years from April 1, 1996 to May 16, 2004 and formally resumed on May 17, 2004.
The referendum for the new draft constitution draft is part of the military government's seven-step roadmap announced in 2003.
The next step is to hold a multi-party democracy general election in 2010 to produce parliament representatives to surrender power to a democratically elected civil government.
The Myanmar government puts the cyclone toll at 22,500 dead with more than 40,000 missing with the figure rising. But a “guesstimate” of a possible 100,000 deaths offered by the United States highest-ranking diplomat in Yangon, charge d'affaires Shari Villarosa 100,000 is now being used by the corporate media although it has since been refined to could die.
The Southeast Asian Times

Syariah judge allows Chinese to return to Buddhism

From News Reports:
Penang, May 10: The Syariah High Court, Penang, has allowed Chinese convert Tan Ean Huang, 39, to renounce Islam and officially revert to her childhood Buddhism.
The New Straits Times reports that judge Othman Ibrahim said the court had no choice but to declare the woman, Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, no longer a Muslim as she had never practised the teachings of Islam.
The newspaper says Siti Fatimah, a hawker from Nibong Tebal opposite Penang island, filed her application in May last year and in her affidavit of renunciation said she converted to Islam in July 1998.
She had done so to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian in 1999 but he had left a few months later; she did not know his whereabouts and she never practised any of Islam’s teachings.

Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, or Tan Ean Huang, 39, after a judge of the Syariah High Court, Penang, allowed the Chinese convert to renounce Islam and return to her childhood Buddhism. The decision is likely to be appealed

The newspaper’s reporter says the judge, who chastised the Penang Islamic Religious Council for failing in its responsibility to ensure converts truly understood the teachings of Islam, was heard in absolute silence.
It was regrettable that the council had neglected its duties and did not act quickly enough to save Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's ‘Akidah’ or faith, he said.
“It is their obligation to encourage, support, help and ensure new converts understand and follow Islamic teachings.
“However, in this case nothing was done until the last moment when it was too late.”
Judge Othman Ibrahim said the council entered its representations only at the end of the hearing despite having been served notice at the start.
“From the evidence, it is clear that the plaintiff had not practised the teachings of Islam and had maintained her Buddhist faith.
“Although this court views seriously such matters, this court has no choice but to give her the right to return to her original faith,” he said.
The judge granted Siti Fatimah a declaration that she was no longer a Muslim, and ordered the defendant, the state Islamic Religious Council to cancel her certificate of conversion to Islam.
He refused to grant her application to change the religious status on her identity card from Muslim to Buddhist, saying that it did not come under the court’s jurisdiction and she had to pursue the matter with the National Registration Department.
The young woman told reporters after the decision was delivered: “It has been traumatic for me while my case was pending. Now that it is finally over, I hope to move on.
“I also hope to be able to find a boyfriend now that the issue surrounding my religious status is cleared.”
Tan Ean Huang is the eldest of eight children.
The Star newspaper says it is the first time a living Muslim convert has been allowed to renounce Islam since Penang’s Syariah Court Civil Procedure Enactment 2004 came into force on Jan 1, 2006.
Lawyer for the Muslim council Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz said the decision would be appealed within 14 days because her marriage had not been dissolved.
The Southeast Asian Times

Flooded tollway delays flights out of Jakarta

From News Reports:
Jakarta, May 10: Dozens of flights had to be delayed when a tidal flood closed the toll road to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Toll operator Jasa Marga closed the main access road to the airport about daylight Thursday after a six-metre-long dyke collapsed about 3am and the tollway was inundated with about 120centimetres of water.
“Our short-term solution is to strengthen the embankment with sandbags so that it can withstand the tidal flood,” the Jakarta Post quoted Jasa Marga corporate secretary Okke Marlina as saying.
said.
Jasa Marga began construction of the elevated lane in late March.
The rupiah 260 billion, about US$28.2

Would-be airline passengers ride an amphibious marine duck through the flooded Soekarno-Hatta International Airport tollway. The flood, the second for the year, was triggered by a high tide in nearby Jakarta Bay that swept through a protective dyke

million, project is expected to be finished this year.
Airport executive general manager Haryanto said the delays were inevitable and all airlines had agreed to accommodate late-arriving passengers.
“Passengers don't need to worry because tickets will not be expired and those who missed their flights today can get refunds,” he said.
Deputy Governor Prijanto said the city would build dykes to protect North Jakarta residents from high tides
Dozens of the city’s coast residents have to evacuate with each arrival of king tides.
On Lombok, tidal floods forced residents of Cemara village in the west of the island, from their homes
Mataram’s chief meteorologist Catur Winarti aid the high tides were caused by an Indian Ocean swell.
“The swell couldn't be predicted, but it usually lasts a week,” she said.
The Southeast Asian Times

Former Bank Indonesia governor’s house searched
From News Reports:
Jakarta, May 10: Corruption Eradication Commission officers have searched the Jakarta house of former Bank Indonesia governor Soedradjad Djiwandono as they investigate the embezzlement of rupiah 100 billion, about US$10.9 million, from the central bank.
They took a container of documents, computer disks and a laptop.
The banker had earlier spent the morning answering investigator questions.
Commission spokesman Johan Budi said Soedradjad was a witness in the investigation.
The investigators also questioned former House of Representatives financial affairs commission member Chandra Wijaya.
Indonesia’s Supreme Audit Agency said in 2006 that it had found that the money had been misappropriated from a fund disbursed from Bank Indonesia ‘s Banking Development Foundation between 2003 and 2004.
The agency reported that more than 10 incumbent and former lawmakers had received money from the fund.
About rupiah 68.5 billion was used to hire lawyers for Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance programme while the remaining rupiah 31.5 billion was allegedly given to MPs to have them vote according to the bank’s dictate.
The Corruption Eradication Commission has detained outgoing Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah; its legal affairs director Oey Hoey Tiong and its former communication bureau overseer Rusli Simanjuntak.
Former finance committee members Hamka Yamdhu and Anthony Zeidra, - is Jambi deputy governor – were both arrested and have been charged with receiving money from the fund.
Several retired and serving bank officials have been banned from travelling.
The Southeast Asian Times

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Malaysia’s workers petition parliament

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, May 9: Hundreds of people stood in solidarity with Malaysian-Trade Union-Congress delegates when they tried to deliver a 14-page petition for a ringgit 900 , about US$283 minimum wage and a ringgit 300, about $94, Cost of Living Allowance to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The trade unionists and their supporters gathered from as early as 9am before “strike force” police asked them to disperse two and a half hour later.
Malaysia Trade Union Congress president Syed Shahir Syed Mohammed said the delegates were unable to deliver the petition to the prime minister because he was in Dubai.

About 200 Malaysian-Trade-Union-Congress delegates delivered a petition demanding a minimum wage and cost-of-living allowance to Malaysia’s national parliament in Kuala Lumpur during the week

But the campaign would not stop until the trade-union demands were met.
The government's explanation that a ringgit 900 minimum wage would generate inflation was unacceptable, he said.
“How can inflation be used as an excuse when in 2007 a 7.5 to 40 percent increase in civil servants salary was announced. Do we see any inflation now? the MTUC president asked. This is a weak argument from the Government.,”
“This is a national issue that affects everyone and the Government should not delay it any further.
Prime Minister's Department Minister Seri Nazri Abd Aziz, who accepted the petition, assured the delegation that cabinet would discuss their petition.
Indonesian strikes
Workers at five airports on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have started a series of rolling strikes for higher pay; pension payment and health insurance for retirees, reports The Jakarta Post.
The newspapers voted to withdraw their labour after their State-owned employer Angkasa Pura I refused to meet their demands.
The first of the co-ordinated six-hour strikes disrupted Macassar’s Hasanuddin airport, south Sulawesi, which serves 8,000 to 10,000 passengers and 120 daily flights was among those affected.
The workers say their employee has failed to honour a 2006 agreement that would have provided airport workers with salaries equal to those of civil servants or rupiah 1.2 million, about $129, for the lowest paid.
Labour union secretary-general Sulistyani warned that 12-hour strike was scheduled for yesterday and a 24-hour strike for today if the agreement was not honoured.
The Southeast Asian Times

Vietnamese near death after kidney sale in China
From News Reports:
Ho Chi Minh City, May 9: To Cong Luan, 22, is comatose in Ho Chi Minh City’s Convalescence, Rehabilitation and Occupational Diseases Hospital after having sold a kidney in China, reports Tanh Nien, or Youth, newspaper.
His father, To Cong Son, has asked the municipal police Prosecutors’ Office to investigate, the newspaper says.
Records at the city’s major Cho Ray hospital, where the young man – a haemophiliac -was admitted last month, show that he apparently suffered severe loss of blood after the surgery to remove his kidney.
His girlfriend, Ho Thi Khanh Minh, 18, has been quoted as saying that he had gone to China to work as an electrician but had sold his kidney for about US $3,000.
In the Philippines, health officials say foreigners will be permanently banned from receiving kidneys for transplant to prevent the country from becoming a major Asian centre for the organs.
A temporary ban had earlier been imposed after it was found that poor villagers in Mindanao’s North Cotabato Province have been selling one of their kidneys for Pesos 200,000 to non-Filipinos.
The Minda News quoted municipal health officer Dr Glecerio Sotea Jr as saying the recipients are mostly Israelis and Arabs who then undergo kidney transplants at a Davao hospital that specialises in the surgery.
In Malaysia, The Star newspaper reports that Liew Leong Huat Eds is trying to raise ringgit 100,000 for a liver transplant in China because he cannot afford to have surgery done in Singapore.
The Southeast Asian Times

Malaysia Today editor released on bail
From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, May 9: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, 58, who has been incarcerated at Buloh prison since Wednesday after he refused to post bail will be released today.
Raja Petra who will stand trial for allegedly publishing a seditious article in the online newspaper’s April 25 edition agreed to post bail after a visit from his wife Marina Lee Abdullah, 54, yesterday.)
The journalist is the first online writer in Malaysia to be charged under the Sedition Act.
He is accused of publishing the article, “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell”
The article supposedly implicated Deputy Prime Minister Seri Najib Razak and his wife Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mogolian woman Altantunya Shaariibuu in 2006.
Raja Petra Kamaruddin had refused requests for visits from his lawyer J. Chandra, his wife Marina Lee Abdullah and his 19 year old daughter since he was taken into dention after he refused to post bail on Tuesday.
His wife Marina Lee Abdullah said that her husband agreed to see her yesterday and that he agreed to post bail.
“Raja Petra is fine except for a slight back ache after spending two nights in jail,” she said.
“He will be released from prison today after the necessary documents are delivered to the Buloh prison.
Judge Nurmala Salim has set five days from October 6 for the trial.
If convicted, he can be fined a maximum of 5,000 or jailed up to three years or both under Section 4(1)(c) of the Act.
The Southeast Asian Times

UN relief teams expected to arrive in Myanmar today

From News Reports:
New York, May 8: Members of a United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination or UNDAC team were to arrive in Myanmar today to coordinate relief efforts together with the national government.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes announced their despatch and told journalists: “We are faced here with a major catastrophe.”
The UN had been “intensely” discussing access for aid workers, visas and the easing of custom regulations with the Government since the tragedy struck, he said.
“The cooperation is reasonable and I think heading in the right direction.”
The relief Coordinator said the world organisation would allocate at least US$10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for the aid effort.
Almost 30 countries had pledged about $30 million and the UN was working with the Myanmar government to prepare a flash appeal to donors to be launched tomorrow.
Myanmar officials have declared five regions – Yangon, Ayeyarwady, Bago, Mon and Kayin – disaster areas.
Their combined population is about 24 million.
Humanitarian agencies and non-government organisations are distributing food, water purification

tables, plastic sheeting and health kits.
Estimates of the numbers killed when Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady delta southwest of Yangon on Saturday generating a three-metre high surge remain unreliable.
The Myanmar government figure is 22,500 dead with more than 40,000 missing with the figure rising.
But a “guesstimate” of a possible 100,000 deaths offered by the United States highest-ranking diplomat in Yangon, charge d'affaires Shari Villarosa 100,000 is now being used by the corporate media.
The source of the “guesstimate” is not provided but the second paragraph to an Agence France Presse reports best sums up the prevailing tone: “The dramatic warning came as global pressure mounted on Myanmar's ruling generals to open up to foreign aid, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling it a “critical moment” for one of the world's poorest nations,” it said.
The reports usually emphasise that aid from countries such as France cannot be delivered because of the military government’s alleged intransigence although Associated Press says neighbouring India was the first to send relief both by air and sea.
The agency also reports that India warned Myanmar of Cyclone Nargis two days before it struck.
The Southeast Asian Times

Indonesia suggests shooting poachers

An Indonesian frigate uses the Karunia Laut-1 for gunnery practise in the Java Sea off Surabaya almost five years ago after the fishing vessel’s 18 Thai crew were arrested for allegedly poaching off an island in the east of the archipelago. Indonesia’s fishery officals now want to shoot poachers on site

From News Reports:
Jakarta, May 8: The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry wants permission to shoot foreign poachers trying to flee or resist arrest in a bid to stop illegal fishing, reports The Jakarta Post.
Poachers had shown no fear of Indonesian sea patrols, which were either outnumbered or poorly armed, the newspaper quotes the ministry’s director general for monitoring and control, Aji Sularso, as saying.
“The illegal fishermen show no respect for our national law. The shoot-and-sink policy will be part of a show of force to deter them,” he told a forum to discuss poaching.
Foreign-flagged vessels were able to enter Indonesia's waters too easily, he said.
A ministry team had found as many as 17 foreign vessels poaching during one patrol of the Natuna Sea between Indonesia and Singapore.
Illegal fishing was so flagrant it was “threatening Indonesia's economic and territorial sovereignty” with yearly losses of about rupiah 30 trillion or US$3.26 billion.
Fisheries vessels are allowed to sail armed but maritime lawyer Hasyim Djalal said a shoot-on-sight policy should only be used as a last resort.
University of Indonesia law lecturer Hikmahanto Juwono warned such a policy could breach Indonesia’s Criminal Code and violate human rights.
The forum was told the poachers are from Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Viet Nam.
In Ha Noi, Tuoi Tre, or youth newspaper, reports that eight Vietnamese fishermen detained on Indonesia’s Natunana Island say they were taken prisoner when seeking shelter from a storm three weeks ago.
The newspaper quotes central Quang Ngai Province’s rescue committee as saying the fishermen, including their skipper, Dinh Van Hoanh, had reported that the crew of an Indonesian vessel abducted them for ransom on Wednesday, April 16.
It says the wife of the boat’s owner, Dinh Thi Phuong, said Captain Dinh Van Hoanh, her brother, had telephoned saying the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of US$7,000-8,000 for himself and $500 for each of the crew.
In Jakarta, Australia’s Ambassador to Jakarta, Bill Farmer, has issued a statement that describes the latest coordinated Australia- Indonesia patrols as “concrete evidence” of the seriousness with which both countries were addressing the threat of illegal fishing in the region.
Australian and Indonesian two-weeks of coordinated patrols targeting illegal fishing in the Arafura Sea north-east off Darwin on Friday, April 25.
Iceland and Indonesia have signed a letter of intent to develop the latter’s fishing industry.
Each will help the other increase the capacity of the fishing industry, improve research into fishing and improve their systems of integrated fishery management, says Antara.
The Southeast Asian Times

Editor charged with sedition refuses to pay bail

From News Reports:
Kuala Lumpur, Thursday 8: The editor of Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Kamarudin, 58, will stand trial for allegedly publishing a seditious article in the online newspaper’s April 25 edition.
The journalist is the first online writer in Malaysia to be charged under the Sedition Act.
He is accused of publishing the article “Let’s send the Altantuya murderers to hell” on the website www.malaysia-today.net.
The article supposedly implicated Deputy Prime Minister Seri Najib Razak and his wife Seri Rosmah Mansor in the murder of Mogolian woman Altantunya Shaariibuu.
The sedition is allegedly contained in nine paragraphs.

Malaysia Today editor, Raja Petra Kamarudin was taken into dention after he refused to post bail. The jounralist is charged with sedition