Hot News Today Indonesia

A Molotov cocktail and a bomb threat in two different places of worship shook Indonesia on Monday, November 14.

A Catholic church in Kota Batu, East Java, received a threatening phone call at 8:15 am, November 14. Security guard of Good Shepherd Catholic Church (Paroki Gembala Baik) Agus Susanto was on duty when he received the bomb threat. According to him, a woman’s voice spoke of Allahu Akbar detonating the bomb.

Per protocol, Susanto called the bomb squad, and the police led by Chief Superintendent Leonardus Simarmata arrived at the scene. They cleared the church of people to allow the bomb squad, which came at 11:37 pm, to search the area thoroughly. Three hours after, the squad found no bomb and the church was declared safe. 

However, the church’s pastor Michael Batu Agung expressed concern about the incident. He urged his parishioners to continue being vigilant. He also called for prayers of peace by the church and other religious groups. Simarmata, on the other hand, recommended implementing a one-way gate system to keep track of people’s movements and whereabouts.

Meanwhile, two motorcycle-riders reportedly threw petrol bombs (Molotov cocktails) at a Buddhist monastery in Singkawang, West Kalimantan, at 3:00 pm.

See: Bombing Attempt in Medan Can Be Linked to ISIS

The bombs hit the outer walls of the Budi Dharma Buddhist Vihara Monastery, causing only minor damage, said Police Chief Inspector General Musyafak in Tempo. Police noted no injuries or casualties. 

The attack felt similar to the bombing of a Protestant church in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, last Sunday, which killed one child and injured three others. However, Musyafak denied the connection between the incidents. Instead, he considered politics. 

“I suspect that they were trying to cause commotion ahead of the mayoral election,” he said, as reported by Tempo.

Musyafak assured the public that a special intelligence team has already been formed and that investigation and coordination with religious communities will continue.

Images Credits: ABC, Wikimedia

Comments

comments

le lundi, les Australiens et les Néo-Zélandais se sont réunis à Jakarta et dans toute l'Indonésie, pour l'Anzac Day pour commémorer ceux qui ont servi et est mort dans toutes les guerres, les conflits et les opérations de maintien de la paix.

militaires actuels et d'autres Australiens qui ont assisté aux services de l'aube à travers le pays se souvenaient ceux qui avaient été tués en défendant Java et Sumatra au cours de l'avance japonaise en 1942.

"Il est un fait triste de l'histoire que dans de trop nombreuses années, vous pouvez trouver une action ou une bataille qui a coûté des militaires et des femmes et de leurs familles grandement," ambassadeur australien Paul Grigson a dit comme il a assisté à un service de l'aube à Jakarta.

Sur cette 100 ^e anniversaire de l'Anzac Day, le rassemblement se souvenaient ceux qui étaient morts en Indonésie au cours de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, où les militaires ont été incarcérés pendant des années.

Parmi ceux rappeler à la cérémonie étaient 65 infirmières militaires qui ont été évacués de Singapour lorsque leur navire a été bombardé et détruit en 1942. Douze infirmières ont été perdus en mer tandis que 21 autres ont été exécutées par les Japonais sur l'île de Bangka, Sumatra.

Le reste a été retenu captif pendant 3,5 ans, avec seulement 24 retour à la maison en Australie après la guerre.

En Australie, des milliers de personnes ont rejoint commémorations Anzac Day dans des domaines tels Queensland, Gold Coast, Nouvelle-Galles du Sud, Australie-Occidentale et du Sud.

Commentaires

commentaires

Following recent bans of digital content services Netflix and Tumblr in Indonesia, entrepreneurs and netizens speak out about the government’s motivations.

In recent weeks, Indonesia has gained international media attention, being called out as the country that is blocking access to popular American media sites and services. Netizen chatter began in late January when Telkom, Indonesia’s largest network service provider, blocked the popular TV and movie streaming service Netflix. Although it was only a single internet service provider (ISP) that blocked the site, a more worrying conversation began to stir: Would other ISPs follow suit? Would Netflix be blocked all over Indonesia?

For now, none of the other telcos seem to have taken cues from Telkom. Representatives from the state-owned firm initially cited pornographic content and violence as the main reasons for blocking Netflix. Officials later revealed that Netflix was blocked because it didn’t have official documentation, nor did it have permission to do business in Indonesia. In the days that followed, Telkom opened up access to Netflix once again temporarily, but only to let users cancel their subscriptions. This indicated the service would soon once again be blocked.

In a similar situation, on February 17, the popular internet blogging service Tumblr was blocked in Indonesia, and accused of hosting pornography. Following hours of unrest from Tumblr’s Indonesian user base, the service was restored. The Ministry of Communication and Information sent a request to Tumblr, asking it to “self-censor its porn content.”

Two years ago, world-renowned forum Reddit and its image hosting counterpart Imgur were blocked for the same reasons. Popular video hosting platform Vimeo suffered the same fate shortly after.

The Tumblr incident marks the fourth major foreign internet company to be blocked in Indonesia. But the news raises more concerning questions from the public about net neutrality and government censorship. At the moment, there seems to be no consistency with regards to whom or what gets blocked. The government claims the Tumblr ban was part of a larger crackdown on pornography that included nearly 500 websites. However, none of the other sites had a user base as big as Tumblr’s.

The biggest problem with the government blocking services like Tumblr and Netflix is that the sites do not actually feature porn. They may provide or host content with nudity or explicit material, but nothing that can reasonably be called pornography – you wouldn’t be able to watch Naughty Nurses 12 or You’ve Got Tail on Netflix. Reddit, however, does directly host content that is qualified as porn.

Many have criticized the bans as nothing more than the government’s attempt to get big foreign companies to pay taxes in Indonesia. Some believe explicit content is merely an excuse to try and force companies to either exit the country or hand over the cash.

Tempo recently said the government also plans to block over-the-top (OTT) applications such as LINE and WhatsApp that are also unlicensed. Rudiantara, the nation’s ICT Minister, says his department is finalizing the rules that services classified as OTT apps will have to abide by in order to operate in the archipelago. The rules seem to cover more than just opening an office in the country and paying taxes, as the prominent messaging service LINE already has an office in Jakarta.

Rudiantara says companies would be required to create new business entities in Indonesia, and the government would also seek to place them in joint ventures with local telcos. Failure to comply would result in the service being blocked by cellular carriers, reports Bisnis Indonesia. Rudiantara’s reasoning behind the proposed regulation is that it gives the government a way to gain back tax money that Indonesia has been ‘losing’. The minister says that the value of digital ad revenues from Indonesia stood at US$430 million last year, and if the government had imposed even a 10 percent tax, that would have resulted in US$43 million for the state.

The government has also been facing pressure from local societies, such as the Indonesian Telematics Society (Mastel), which has been pressuring it to block foreign companies from using Indonesia as a place to “rake in profits”.

“[It’s all about] taxes of course,” says Aryo Ariotedjo, Managing Partner of Grupara Inc., a venture capital firm in Jakarta that backs early stage tech companies. “Netflix has the ability to disrupt the content industry in Indonesia, something that hasn’t been done yet. Allowing Netflix to do that without paying taxes would be much more costly for Indonesia,” Ariotedjo tells Indonesia Expat.

Shinta Dhanuwardoyo, a local tech leader and CEO of Jakarta’s famous interactive digital agency Bubu, has other ideas on how the Netflix issue should have been handled. “Rather than blocking the service, the government should deploy a rule regarding local content,” she says. “We need to see Netflix as a competitor that we can learn from. As Indonesians, we are the ones that have the local knowledge and insights.”

Dhanuwardoyo believes there are many local technopreneurs who can learn from foreign companies.

Indonesia banning and refusing to work with foreign firms could result in a slew of missed opportunities for local tech startups.

It’s difficult to interpret the government blocking Netflix and Tumblr as merely a “pornography issue”. The inconsistency with which Indonesia blocks websites also suggests that it doesn’t care about small foreign companies that turn little profit. Instead, some believe the government is only shaking down the rich ones. For Telkom, the swift blocking of Netflix seems strategic. By cutting the company’s service before it gained a foothold in Indonesia, Telkom may have been protecting its own digital content streaming investments.

At the moment, it looks like only the big start-ups – either those with large user bases, or those with potential to earn a great deal of money – are being targeted by the Indonesian government. Meanwhile, if sizeable foreign companies wanted to do business safely in Indonesia, they too would have to incorporate locally and pay taxes.

This may be unrealistic for some firms, which is why the Investment Coordinating Board has been working to revamp the Negative Investments List. It claims that the government wants to stay open to the idea of foreign ownership in the archipelago.

Comments

comments

Indonesia is facing a decline in the number of foreign tourists in April from the previous month by 1,52 percent, as reported by Badan Pusat Statisik (BPS) or the Central Bureau of Statistics.

In a new report, BPS revealed that about 901,095 foreign visitors paid a visit to Indonesia this April, indicating a decrease from the previous month of March, when the country managed to attract as many as 915,019 visitors.

The majority of these tourists, according to Head of BPS Suryamin, hail from countries in Asia. To be more specific, Suryamin mentioned the top five countries were: Singapore (139,850), Malaysia (120,476), China (107,050), Australia (96,687) and Japan (45,866).

But despite facing this decline, Suryamin says that the number of visitors from the aforementioned countries has actually increased when compared to last year’s figures:

“The number of foreign tourists from those five countries as increased fairly compared to the exact period the year before,” he said as reported by CNN Indonesia.

Compared to 2015, the number of foreign tourists this year rose by 7.51 percent from January to April. BPS reported that the year before, the country had approximately 3.27 million visitors while this year it has succeeded in welcoming 3.52 visitors in total. Suryamin added that the rise was due to Indonesia’s visa-free regulation that grants free passage to visitors from over 150 countries.

“There is an impact from the visa-free policy. In April, Indonesia normally faces a decline, yet this time it is facing an increase,” Suryamin said.

Comments

comments

Despite a series of diplomatic pressures and legal appeals, Indonesia has carried out its first executions since 2013.

This morning, four drug offenders were sentenced to death by firing squad on the island of Nusa Kambangan, Central Java. The convicts were identified as Freddy Budiman from Indonesia; Humphrey Jefferson, Ejike Eleweke and Michael Titus Igweh, from Nigeria; and Seck Osmane from South Africa.

Budiman was sentenced in 2012 after he was found guilty of smuggling 1.4 million ecstasy pills from China; Jefferson was found in possession of 1.7kg of heroin in 2003 and was sentenced a year later; Igweh was in possession of 5.8kg of heroin and was charged in 2002; while Osmane carried 2.4kg of heroin which sentenced him the death penalty in 2004.

Ten others who were also scheduled to face the firing squad this morning were unexpectedly saved from their fates, although authorities failed to give a specific reason for the reprieve. There have been reports that they will be executed at a later date due to a major storm hitting the island.

Indonesia’s capital punishment policy has sparked international debates among government officials and human rights organizations. Questioning Indonesia’s decision to terminate people’s lives for drug offenses, international rights groups have called out to President Joko Widodo to stop applying the death penalty at once.

“There is no evidence to support President Widodo’s position. The death penalty does not deter crime,” said Josef Benedict, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, as reported by The Guardian.

The United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has also expressed his concern of the country’s handling of drug offenses:

“I find it deeply disturbing that Indonesia has already executed 19 people since 2013, making it the most prolific executioner in Southeast Asia.”

Comments

comments

According to Indonesia’s health ministry, the Zika virus has infected more than 82 people in Singapore.

Indonesia’s health ministry has released a travel advisory, telling locals not to fly to Singapore. This is not because it’s full of dangerous haze created by companies in the archipelago, but because the much talked-about Zika virus has invaded the Lion City.

Kompas quoted the archipelago’s Health Minister Nila F. Moeloek, who said, “If you are planning to travel to Singapore, please consider your priorities. If it is urgent, you can go, but otherwise, please put the trip on hold.” According to Indonesia’s health ministry, the Zika virus has infected more than 82 people in Singapore.

Moeloek confirmed that there has been one confirmed case of the Zika virus in Indonesia. The victim was located in Jambi, and the infection was reported several months ago, during the initial wave of Zika concern. “We discovered it by accident. At that time, we were conducting research on dengue fever. But after further investigation, the results actually came back positive for the Zika virus,” Moeloek told Tempo on Tuesday, August 30.

The Zika virus grabbed media attention again in recent weeks, after 41 cases were reported in Singapore. Since then, the number of cases has grown. One of the first reported infections was a 48-year-old man who travelled to Singapore from Brazil. As a result, the Indonesian government says it wants to remain vigilant about Zika entering the country.

Image by Day Donaldson

The minister claimed the government would not let its guard down, even though there have not been any more reported cases of Zika yet in Indonesia. Moeloek said officials are on high alert, adding, “It is still not proven that the Zika virus causes microcephaly. But there has been a warning, especially for those who’ve just come back from Brazil. We are checking whether those who just returned from the Olympic Games have been infected by the virus.”

Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi told Kompas on Tuesday, August 20 that his team received word that one Indonesian got infected with Zika in Singapore. However, Marsudi added that this news had not yet been confirmed. “Our embassy in Singapore is currently trying to confirm the case of an Indonesian national who may or may not have been infected in Singapore. Currently, we are still waiting,” said Marsudi on Wednesday, August 31.

Health organizations around the world strongly suspect Zika to cause microcephaly in unborn babies when pregnant mothers are bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus. Babies with the condition are often born with abnormally small heads, and tend to have brain defects. Countries like Australia, Taiwan, and South Korea have advised women who are pregnant or may become pregnant to avoid visiting countries where cases of Zika have been reported, including Singapore.

In adults, the Zika virus usually has far less of an impact than it does on unborn babies. Similar to general infections, the patient will likely have a sudden fever, skin rashes, joint pains, and other symptoms. Patients will also likely have a strong headache. Unlike dengue, the patient’s eyes may turn red due to conjunctivitis when infected with Zika.

To pregnant expats who don’t urgently need to fly to Singapore, it might actually be wise to skip the Formula One race coming up in a couple weeks. If you do need to be a cowboy about it, perhaps it would be wise to bring lots of mosquito repellent.

Featured image via Agência Brasília

Comments

comments

Many people suffering from mental illness in Indonesia remain undiagnosed and untreated. The Get Happy Campaign aims to eliminate the stigma and encourage awareness on the country’s mental health problems.

A recent study from Human Rights Watch shows that an estimated 19,000 people suffering from mental problems in Indonesia are confined to their homes or at some informal institution where they do not get proper treatment. In some cases, they are even exposed to abuse.

Clinical psychologist Wulan Danoekoesoemo explained why mentally ill people in the country by and large choose not to seek professional help, as they often want to stay away from the stigma that comes with it.

A separate 2015 report from the Ministry of Health mentioned the government’s “negligible” budget allocation for mental health issues, and showed that a meager 10 percent of those suffering from mental illness actually have access to the appropriate services.

To make matters worse, there are only 48 mental health hospitals and 800 psychiatrists currently operating in Indonesia, where the population is approaching 260 million. With these figures in mind, coupled with society’s deep-rooted stigma on mental illness, it is no surprise that many Indonesians with mental health problems are mistreated, systematically abused and not cared for in general.

A non-profit organization called Get Happy wants to change this. In introducing the community-based organization, co-founder Caecilia Tedjapawitra explained that people with mental illnesses in Indonesia most often choose to suffer in silence instead of seeking medical help. The organization aims to provide free access to mental health education in the belief that it can help reduce, if not eliminate, the negative stigma related to mental health problems in the archipelago.

Tedjapawitra herself struggled with mental problems in the past. After sharing her story on social media, many people felt comfortable reaching out and sharing their own stories. This made Tedjapawitra realize that people will generally feel good when they are fully in touch with their mental problems, and know that there other people with the same struggles. Inspired by the idea, Tedjapawitra and her husband Andreas knew they needed to do something. They created an avenue where mental health issues can be freely discussed and addressed—thus, the inception of Get Happy.

See: BagiKata: The Healing Power of Online Listening

Tedjapawitra explained that while people find it easy to see and accept physical illnesses, they find it “harder to understand an illness you cannot see.” This could be attributed to cultural norms in Indonesia where people refrain from talking about their feelings publicly so as not to be labelled as someone who “washes their dirty laundry in public.”

Part of Get Happy’s programs are workshops that help raise awareness on mental illness.

As part of the campaign, Get Happy holds monthly workshops that encourage widespread awareness of mental illnesses. These workshops normally include informative sessions with experts and professionals that provide perspectives on healthy mental habits such expressing oneself, vocal exercises, drumming activities, and more.

Only eight months since it began, Great Happy has educated more than 500 people on the importance of good mental health via online and offline activities the group has organized.

Featured image via Efty.net; video via Get-Happy.org; photo via Wikimedia

Comments

comments

GrabCar is investigating a claim from one Indonesian user who says he had to grab the steering wheel of the vehicle after noticing the driver was falling asleep.

An Indonesian man named Irfan, a frequent user of the ride-hailing service GrabCar, recently posted on Facebook that he acted on instinct and took matters into his own hands by grabbing the wheel of his GrabCar ride after noticing that his driver was sleepy.

The social media post went viral in early October, and mentioned how Irfan and a couple friends hailed a GrabCar on Thursday evening, September 29, from Palmerah Selatan. After dropping his friends off, Irfan was on his way to Depok when he noticed the car was swerving, and nearly crashed into a parked vehicle close to Jalan Raya Pasar Minggu.

See: Grabbing the Ground Transportation Market in Southeast Asia

Irfan reported that the GrabCar was going at an estimated speed of 60 km/hour, nearly crashing into the park car when he screamed, jolting the driver awake. Fortunately, the GrabCar driver was able to narrowly avoid the collision.

But that was not the end of Ifran’s scary experience. When the car pulled up to the Pasar Minggu crossing, it once again almost collided with something, this time a motorcyclist. Ifran reprimanded the driver with a loud voice. It turned out that the driver’s head was facing downwards, visibly on the brink of falling asleep.

Fearing for his safety, Irfan knew he had to do something. He took over the GrabCar’s wheel from the driver who confessed that he has just taken some medicine for his cold and was exhausted from driving 15 passengers that day.

Ekhel Chandra Wijaya, GrabCar’s  public relations manager, said the firm is investigating the incident. Wijaya told the media on Monday, October 3, that Grab needed to corroborate the truth from both the passenger and the driver before he can comment on the issue.

Wijaya mentioned that GrabCar may temporarily suspend the driver or permanently cancel his contract with the company if the investigation proves him guilty of falling asleep at the wheel and putting the passenger’s safety at risk.

Featured image via AustusMediallc; image via Poster.co

Comments

comments

The Central Java Police department is offering a Rp.5 million (US$380) reward for anyone who reports illegal activities involving dirty cops in the province.

In recent weeks, the Indonesian government has passed several regulations to help fight graft across the country’s bureaucratic processes and law enforcement institutions. In line with his push to oust the nation’s corruptors, President Joko Widodo has signed the “Illegal Payment Cleansweep Taskforce” (Saber Pungli ) regulation into law. A website and hotline has been created for citizens to confidentially report instances of corruption.

Identifying cases of Pungli (which translates to “illegal payments”) is the overarching goal of the task force. The new policy supposedly gives this unit the freedom to collect intelligence, investigate and prevent illegal payments up and down the spectrum. If needed, it also gives them the power to arrest officials involved in graft.

On Tuesday, October 25, Inspectorate Supervisor Sr. Corm. Bambang Prayitno told reporters they are ready to give Rp.5 million (US$380) anyone willing to blow the whistle on police corruption. The same reward applies for citizens who are able to name civil servants illegally charging fees for administrative services. Prayitno has informed police officers that his institution will be imposing heavy penalties for those caught accepting illegal payments.

See: Is Sri Mulyani Indonesia’s Best Hope For Economic Reform?

Prior to that, Widodo instructed National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian to eliminate all illegal fee collections under his management. In a discussion related to extortion cases in Semang, Prayitno was quoted as saying his department will reward citizens who immediately report to the authorities that they were asked for a bribe.

The inspectorate supervisor encouraged people to file the reports, as doing so could be instrumental for real change. According to him, many police officers are involved in illegal fee collections and it’s time for a change.

While Sabarudin Hulu, head representative of the Central Java Ombudsman, commended the move, he also proposed that all whistleblowers receive protection from the police. Hulu explained that fear often prevents people from stepping forward and filing reports. The head representative said his office will help create a special service area to accommodate filing reports in strict confidence.

Image credits: The Advertiser, Indonesia-Investments

Comments

comments

Ojek driver scares female passenger with inappropriate advances online after getting her personal contact details with the motorcycle-hailing app.

As with any other modern-day innovations, the use of various app-based transportation-hailing services that have become household names apparently come with risks. The same holds true with app-based motorcycle taxi services including GrabBike and Go-Jek.

Locally known as online ojeks, these app-based ride-hailing services come with a sensitive criticism: drivers get access to all of their passengers’ personal contact numbers that could pose a problem with one’s privacy such as the incident that was recently reported in Bogor, Jakarta.

Bogor resident and the city’s 2014 Mojang Jajaka beauty pageant winner Fitri Fauzia claimed to have been allegedly stalked by an online ojek driver. The media recently caught sight of Fauzia’s Path account where she narrated an incident she had with an online ojek ride. The said ojek ride (from an undisclosed company) turned out creepy for the beauty pageant winner when the driver continued to send inappropriate messages to her through the social messaging app WhatsApp even after their transaction.   

See: Passenger Grabs Wheel from Sleepy GrabCar Driver

Fauzia recounted that she had to get to a train station in Jakarta to travel to Yogyakarta so she hailed a motorcycle with the online ojek from Bogor. She was however surprised that while she was already on the train, she still received a message from the unnamed driver of her earlier motorcycle ride.

The unnamed ojek driver told Fauzia he had her luggage keychain that may have fallen off during her ride with him. While Fauzia was happy with the driver’s intention to return her keychain, she was soon alarmed when he suggested to pick her up from the station when she got back in Jakarta the following Wednesday.

Fauzia got even more scared when the driver continued to send her messages, which she however ignored. The driver was constantly asking her how her day was and whether she’d already eaten. Fauzia creeped out the most when the ojek driver messaged her with a picture of a pair of wedding rings that was captioned “One day, I want one for me, and one for you.” The female passenger’s post on this incident had gone viral on social media just recently, earning thousands of views and comments from netizens.

Sadly, there’s nothing left to do but hope that such inappropriate advances don’t escalate into anything worse, with the lack of restraining order laws in Indonesia that protect people from stalkers.

To avoid these things from happening again, perhaps it would be smart to have ride-hailing apps develop in-app features that will enable passengers and drivers to communicate without having to disclose personal information like one’s phone number. That will eliminate the chances for any parties to be able to contact each other after a transaction is completed.

Just recently Grab introduced their GrabChat feature on their app. While it has been designed for users to save on call and SMS charges, it does not protect the users’ privacy as the passenger’s contact details can still be viewed by the driver.

Image Credits:  Hercampus, Tstatic

Comments

comments