Drugs Worth Police Secure Rp6, 5 M

JAKARTA - Jakarta Police Board managed to secure evidence in drug worth Rp6, 5 billion. Illicit goods consist of drug types of methamphetamine and ecstasy. Two suspects, TA (37) and ATG (35) also successfully picked up.
"The police are securing the TA at Hotel Le Grandeur, Mangga Dua, Central Jakarta, yesterday afternoon. From his hands secured approximately 12,000 grains of ecstasy, and 650 grams of methamphetamine type drugs," said Director of the Directorate of IV Drug Polda Metro Jaya Police Brig Pepari Arman told reporters in his office on Tuesday (16/11/10).
At home TA, continued Arman, located in the area of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, also seized a bucket of pants in women's powder containing crystal methamphetamine. "It is also found in 2 kg of shabu, in which 1 kg was removed by the wife of TA to the toilet," said Arman.

Indonesian Army Officers in Firing Line Over Attack on 4 Boys

The National Commission for Child Protection on Tuesday condemned the alleged beating of four minors by Army soldiers.

“It is not only against children’s rights, but also is against human rights as [the soldiers] are state officials and have an obligation to protect the country,” Arist Merdeka Sirait, the secretary general of the commission, known as Komnas Anak. “It is very saddening and it is a gross violation of human rights.”

Arist said the five Army soldiers involved in the alleged beating had been detained by the Military Police.

He said the four boys, the oldest among them 14 years old, were traumatized by the incident.

“However, they went back to school on Monday after we treated them,” he said.

The alleged beating took place in Cilodong, Depok, two weeks ago. Arist said the four boys were physically assaulted by five members of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) at night while they were returning to their homes after playing video games.

“They stopped the children and forced them to admit to things that they had not done. They also hit the children with clubs and forced them to undress,” he said.

Arist said the boys were forced to admit that they had been stealing bicycles in a housing complex in Cilodong. He said there had been an incident of a bicycle being stolen in the complex.

“Even if the children stole the bicycle, it does not mean that it should have been settled that way,” he said, adding that the children had not been involved in any thefts.

Arist said it was unfortunate that the soldiers, because of their status as servicemen, could not be charged with violating the Law on Child Protection regarding assault, which carries a minimum prison sentence of five years.

The servicemen will instead be dealt with by a military tribunal, where they could get off with a lesser sanction.

“However, the Military Police have promised to take this case seriously as the servicemen have admitted to their offense,” Arist said.

He said the case would go before a military tribunal after the soldiers had been held for 20 days pending the preparation of their case files.

Major Quake Hits Aceh

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Sumatra island early Wednesday, injuring at least four people, one of them critically, in Simeulue district, Aceh province.

A tsunami alert was issued in the province and in Thailand, though both were cancelled.

There are initial reports of widespread panic as locals on Simeulue Island fled to higher ground. Damage has occurred to a number of government buildings.

The quake struck at a depth of 46 kilometers off the northwest coast of Sumatra at 5:15 a.m., according to the US Geological Survey.

Indonesian geologists said it had a magnitude of 7.2 and the epicenter was 60 kilometers southeast of Sinabang, on Simeulue Island, Aceh province, which was devastated by a massive quake and tsunami in 2004.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a watch for tsunamis in Sumatra but said a destructive ocean surge was not expected.

Electricity was down in the Acehnese capital of Banda Aceh but mobile phones were working.

Residents of Banda Aceh said they felt the earth shaking powerfully for about a minute and many fled their homes or piled onto motorcycles to head inland in fear of a destructive tsunami.

“People panicked and ran out of the house, it lasted almost a minute,” a reporter in Banda Aceh said. “I saw a lot of people who live close to the sea using motorcycles to drive inland.”

Indonesia was the nation hardest hit by the 2004 tsunami, with at least 168,000 people killed when the sea surged over the northern tip of Sumatra after a 9.3-magnitude quake split the seabed to the island’s west.

A 7.6-magnitude quake killed about 1,000 people in the port of Padang, western Sumatra, in September last year.

Death toll reaches 32 after ship sinks in Riau

A search and rescue team has discovered the remains of five more victims from a ship that capsized and sank in waters off Takong Hiu four days ago, bringing the death toll from the accident to 32 as of Wednesday afternoon. Tanjung Balai Karimun Naval Base commander Liut. Col. Edwin said the bodies had been taken to Karimun hospital for identification. “We will continue our search for those still missing, for the next three days,” Edwin told The Jakarta Post. Following the accident, 255 passengers KM Dumai Express 10 have been rescued. Meanwhile, state-owned insurance company PT Jasa Raharja handed out insurance payments to the families of five passengers who died in the incident. The company will make payments of Rp 25 million (US$ 2,600) for up to 27 victims. The firm will also pay Rp 10 million for each passenger who were injured, and Rp 25 million to families of those still missing.

20 Still Missing After Suspected Asylum Seeker Boat Capsizes South of Indonesia

An urgent search and rescue mission was under way on Monday for about two dozen people missing after their boat sank in open seas between Indonesia and Australia. Merchant vessels that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late Sunday and were searching for others, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said. About 40 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it went down near the Cocos Islands, sparsely populated atolls about 2,400 kilometers northwest of the Australian coast and about 1,300 kilometers south of Indonesia. O’Connor said it was too early to say whether those on board were asylum seekers trying to reach Australia, though aspects of the emergency — such as an unseaworthy boat carrying so many people in waters sometimes used by human traffickers — signaled that may be the case. There has been a surge of boats carrying asylum seekers toward Australia. Some 35 boats carrying about 1,770 asylum seekers have arrived in Australia waters this year, mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka. Many of them pay thousands of dollars to people smugglers who put them to sea in leaky boats from Indonesia and sail south. Most end up caught by customs authorities and detained in an immigration camp on remote Christmas Islands while their refugees applications are assessed, a process that can take months or years. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received distress signals on Sunday from the boat, and the authority asked any vessels in the area to respond, authority spokeswoman Rhianne Robson said. A Taiwanese fishing trawler and the merchant ship LNG Pioneer arrived in the area late Sunday and deployed life rafts and began plucking people from the water. An Australian military plane and one from Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service were on their way to the area to search for more survivors. Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the chief of Australia’s defense forces, said the boat that sent the distress signal was intact when the rescue vessels first arrived. “Somehow or other during the process of the interaction between the ship and the trawler and also the stricken vessel, there’s been a capsize and people have ended up in the water,” Houston told reporters.

Family Killed in Holiday Period’s Deadliest Collision

Vehicles such as this Toyota Kijang must vie for space
with large buses on Java’s roads during Idul Fitri,
often with tragic results

A family of six died on Thursday when their Suzuki Carry van hit an intercity bus on the dangerous Pantura highway in East Java, local police said. The bus driver’s assistant also died in what appears to be the worst accident reported so far during the Idul Fitri holiday period, said First Insp. M. Fakih, the head of the Tuban Police accident unit. The deadly collision occurred in Sukolilo, in Tuban’s Bancar subdistrict, when the Suzuki Carry reportedly veered to the right without warning. The driver of the Jaya Utama bus, Nasri, 24, was unable to avoid the van. Mashuri, 47, and his family were believed to be on their way home to Malang after holidaying at his parents’ house in Kudus, Central Java. He died in the accident, along with his wife, Yuliati, 39, and children, Fita Anggraini, 19, Venny Anggraini, 16, Abu Bakar, 9, and Nasya, 7. The bus driver was identified as, Paiman, 40. The dead, along with dozens of injured bus passengers, were taken to the general hospital in Tuban. Fakih said the police were still investigating the accident, but he added that it was believed that Mashuri — who was driving the Suzuki Carry van — was extremely tired at the time when the accident occurred. Fakih urged all drivers to pull over and rest if they felt sleepy. Traffic has been particularly heavy on the main roads of Java Island over the past week, because millions of city dwellers have been heading to their hometowns to spend time with their families in the regions. The roads on Java Island are expected to be busy over the next few days, with people returning to major cities as the holiday period comes to an end.

Indonesia Quake: Java 'Always a Quake Risk'

Villagers stand near the ruins of their house in Tasikmalaya

Wednesday’s quake that left at least 33 people dead and more than 3,500 buildings damaged in West Java was a reminder that such powerful quakes are always a danger for the island and cannot be ignored, experts warned. “There is always the potential to be affected by huge quakes like the one today,” said Fauzi, the head of the Earthquake and Tsunami division at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), adding that the capital was at risk because, though not sitting on a fault line, it was relatively near the volatile tectonic fault zone off Java’s south coast. The quake, measured at 7.0 magnitude by the BMG, hit off the southern Java coast near the Tasikmalaya district at 2:55 p.m. and lasted for about a minute and a half, with the temblor felt across the island. Fauzi said that although the quake had been large enough to cause tsunamis, only small waves had occurred along the southern coast of West Java, including on the tourist beaches of Pangandaran, Pelabuhanratu, and Pameungpeuk. “There was a one-meter tsunami in Pameungpeuk,” Fauzi said, “the quake also triggered 10-centimeter and 15-centimeter waves in Pangandaran and Pelabuhanratu.” The head of the Pelabuhanratu Fishery Port, Arief Rahman, said 200 fishermen who were at sea when the quake hit were reportedly undisturbed. Fauzi said the quake, the result of tectonic pressure caused by the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates rubbing up against each other, was similar to a 6.1 magnitude temblor in West Sumatra in August, which shook the coast of Siberut and Mentawai islands. Jakarta, Fauzi said, would always be one of the cities on Java vulnerable to earthquakes. “The closest fault line near Jakarta is near Sukabumi,” he said, adding that the ocean off the southern Java coast was one of the most earthquake prone areas in the country along with the western coast of Sumatra. Earlier in the day, a magnitude-5.3 earthquake shook Mentawai islands but left no damage. Wednesday’s earthquake is the largest since the 7.2-magnitude temblor that shook southern Java in July 2006, triggering a deadly tsunami and killing 596 people and displacing 74,000. The death toll from Wednesday’s quake is expected to rise. At least 11 people were killed in Rawa Hideung, South Cianjur, after houses were buried in a landslide, while 4 were killed in nearby Tasikmalaya, 4 in Garut, 1 in Sukabumi, and 6 each in Bandung and Banjar. A man died of a heart attack in Jakarta because of the quake. Rustam Pakaya from the Health Ministry’s Crisis Center also said that some 40 others remained missing in Cianjur. The West Java disaster coordinating center said that at least 3,586 buildings had been damaged by the temblor, 2,895 of them severely. State electricity utility company PT PLN said five cities in West Java, including the provincial capital Bandung, suffered power disruptions. Murtaqi Syamsudin, PLN’s operations director for Java, Madura and Bali, said operations in a geothermal power plant in Salak, West Java, were disrupted, affecting power supplies in the Java and Bali areas. In the capital, tens of thousands of panicked Jakartans rushed out of high-rise buildings. Many headed home, jamming traffic in many of the city’s usual choke points, while others stayed on the streets until the situation had calmed.

Painless Idul Fitri Travel in Indonesia? Government Promises It Will Be

Whether by road, rail, air, or water you really will get where you need to go for Idul Fitri this year — and as painlessly as possible. That’s the pledge from Indonesian officials, who insist all transportation systems are all being readied. The holiday marking Ramadan’s end traditionally sees millions of urbanites head out of the city to celebrate with family and friends. It is often a massive headache for those unable to get tickets or who get snarled up in traffic jams. Officials said on Tuesday that flights were being added, ships checked, road repairs hurried along and security beefed up for the annual exodus, also known as mudik. Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said about 16.3 million people were expected to travel in the two weeks surrounding the Idul Fitri holiday on Sept. 21-22. With millions relying on sea or river travel during the holiday and public anxiety heightened by two maritime accidents that killed at least 28 people last week, the ministry is conducting another audit to clamp down on unsafe passenger ships. Sunaryo, the ministry’s director general of sea transportation, said the audit, which began on Sunday, covered safety equipment, the condition of the vessels and staffing. He said it would focus on ships plying the country’s busiest routes — between Java and Sumatra, Bali and Madura, and Bali and Lombok. In July, the directorate general found that 36 out of 39 ships it randomly audited did not meet safety standards. Bobby Mamahit, secretary general of the sea transport directorate, said they were also preparing measures to prevent scalpers from hoarding tickets and selling them illegally. The measures include providing more ships and allowing them to carrying up to 30 percent more passengers than usual. However, he said the ministry would tightly monitor its offices and harbor administrators to prevent overcrowded boats from leaving. Separately, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said all road repairs and upgrades along the busy main route on the northern coast of Java, blamed for serious traffic congestion, would be halted well before Idul Fitri. “Ten days before Idul Fitri, all works will be stopped even if they aren’t finished,” Djoko said. “I guarantee that all the roads will function well.” Meanwhile, to accommodate the expected 15 percent increase in air passengers, four national airlines have been given the nod to add an extra 188 flights. Officers from Central Java’s Demak Police and state railway operator PT Kereta Api conducted an unannounced inspection of 10 kilometers of track along the Jakarta-to-Surabaya route. The Transportation Minister also said he had asked for assistance from security forces to police departure and arrival points. “It is now clear that there will be an increase in our security efforts at bus and train stations, aiming at building safer conditions for citizens during mudik ,” Jusman said. The National Police will deploy more than 98,000 personnel to safeguard travelers, said Commander Gen. Iman Haryatna, the National Police’s head of security. “The only difference with previous operations is that this year the operation will be directly headed by the National Police chief, not me,” Iman told the Jakarta Globe. The 17-day operation will start seven days before Idul Fitri. Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono has said 8,000 officers would be deployed in the capital. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has estimated that 2.2 million Jakartans would travel home, beginning as early as Sept. 16.

Indonesian Search Team May Have Found Part of Missing Papua Plane

The team searching for a Merpati Nusantara Airlines flight that disappeared in Papua with 21 people onboard said they had spotted debris that looks like a plane’s tail in a forest near Bintang mountain on Tuesday. The search and rescue team could not yet confirm if it was the tail of the missing Merpati Twin Otter. Bintang mountain is located near Oksibil, the town where the plane was supposed to arrive at 2:05 p.m. local time on Sunday. The plane left Jayapura at 1:10 p.m., but lost contact with air traffic controllers at 1:35 p.m.. It has been speculated that the pilot may have lost visibility due to bad weather, but the chairman of the Indonesian Pilots Federation, Cpt. Monatar Napitupulu, said that there are a special set of standard procedures for pilots who fly in Papua. “No matter how close you are to the destination, if your visibility is decreasing you have to return to base,” Napitupulu told TVOne. The special rules are based on Papua’s unpredictable weather and landscape, which has led to a number of plane crashes in the region. Much of Papua is covered with impenetrable jungles and mountains and, in the past, some crashed planes there have never been found. On Monday, the Transportation Ministry said it was looking at a plan to change flight routes and to install a satellite system for all airlines operating in the province.

Fire on Gas Depot, Are This Terrorist Action?

"Pertamina Depot Makassar on Fire"

One person was killed and three were injured when a fire broke out at a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) depot belonging to state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina near a densely populated residential area in Makassar on Saturday (JUne, 13 2009). The victim was identified as fuel tanker driver Najamuddin, 40, of Takalar regency. Reports suggest he may have fallen asleep while waiting his turn to refill his vehicle, as his body was found inside the cab of his truck. Pertamina spokesman Basuki Trikora Putra told reporters in Jakarta the fire broke out as tankers were being filled with LPG. Witnesses said two tankers were being filled with LPG, when a LPG hose became loose and fell, hitting the ground, which was covered with an iron plate. The ensuing spark caused an immediate blaze at the local retail fuel unit. "The fire spread quickly because the gas gauge was open," Jupri, one of the drivers whose truck was being loaded, said. Jupri said he fl ed the blaze, but not before it burned his ears and part of his shirt. The fire, which started at about 9 a.m. and took over an hour and a half to extinguish, also destroyed a gas tube fi lling shed, four tankers and hundreds of 12 and 3 kilogram gas tubes. The fire prompted residents living in a residential complex opposite the filling station to flee their homes. Three LPG reservoir tanks, with a total capacity of 2,500 metric tons, posed the threat of a much larger incident. Tanks which can 1,000 metric tons of LPG had reportedly been fi lled the night before the fi re. Thankfully, these larger stores of the highly inflammable substance were not ignited by the blaze. Makassar Mayor Ilham Arief Siradjuddin said at the site of the fire that according to the municipality's spatial planning policy the fuel depot had to be relocated. This regulation was made following a previous fire at the same depot. The municipal administration ruled that the fuel depot is too close to residential areas, as well as the Soekarno-Hatta Port. The mayor however said that Rp 700 billion (US$69 million) would be needed to relocate the residents. This accident was the third accident happen on Pertamina depot all around Indonesia. Indonesia Police explain that all of that accident were not terrorist action. The government makes no comment about it. Issues said that the revolving accident happen because of the displeasure on Pertamina Director election this year. The big question is why a great and bonafide company like Pertamina with its ISO's Quality cannot avoid this to be happen? Are this a deliberateness? Only God know!

Author: Andi Hajramurni and Alfi an Idris,
The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today

Not Finished Yet: Air force helicopter crash kills 4

A 30-year-old military helicopter crashed in at the Air Force's Atang Sendjaja air base in Bogor, just south of Jakarta on Friday (June, 12 2009), killing four and injuring three. It was the country's second deadly air force accident this week. Rear Marshall Imam Sufaat, Chief of Operation Command at Atang Sendjaja airbase, said the crash occurred shortly after Friday prayers and during a test flight on Atang Sendjaja airbase’s runway. “It was caused by a malfunction in the helicopter’s automatic pilot system, which our technician was repairing and testing before the crash,” he told reporters at the Atang Sendjaja Hospital, Bogor, where crash victims were being treated. The Puma H-3306 helicopter was carrying seven officers when it went down near the Atang Sanjaya military airstrip near Bogor, West Java, air force operations commander Imam Supaat told local media. He said the helicopter was made in France in 1978. Two people died instantly and two died in the hospital, while three others were receiving treatment, said a hospital official, Eko, who used only one name as is customary in Indonesia. Indonesia's underfunded air force has been hit by a series of accidents in recent years, focusing attention on its poor safety record. On Monday, another helicopter crash in West Java killed three and last month a C-130 Hercules plane accident in East Java killed more than 100 soldiers and civilians, including villagers on the ground. Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono has said there is not enough money in the budget to properly maintain the military's aging fleet or to train personnel.

Author: Agencies, The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today

Again! Indonesia Air Vessel Crashes Down!

Bad weather was believed to have caused the crash of an Indonesian Army helicopter in West Java province on Monday (June, 08 2009), the sixth military aircraft accident this year. Three of its five crew and passengers died in the accident in the Cianjur regency, the latest tragedy to hit the Indonesian Military (TNI). Heavy rains in the area at about 2 p.m. seemingly led to the NB0-105 helicopter crashing to the ground in Kampung Rawabeber, Situ Hyang village, Pagelaran district. The crash claimed the lives of the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus) training center Col. Ricky Samuel and head of the training center's training section Capt. Agung Gunarto. Both officers were based in Kopassus' training center in Batujajar. The chopper’s co-pilot, First Lt. Agus Sudarso died while being transported to the Gatot Subroto Army Hospital in Jakarta. His body was then returned to the Cianjur General Hospital. Meanwhile, pilot Capt. Hadi Isnarto and a third passenger, First Lt. Agus Sudarso, also from Kopassus, were in critical condition. “They [the victims] were on a routine training flight,” Siliwangi Military command chief Maj. Gen. Rasyid Qurnuen Aquary told reporters. On April 6, a Fokker F-27 Troopship from the Indonesian Air Forces crashed at a hanger in the Husein Sastranegara Air Force Base compound, Bandung, killing six crew and 24 soldiers from the Air Force' Special Force (Paskhas). Bad weather was also believed to have caused the accident. The deadliest and latest tragedy happened in Magetan, East Java on May 20 when the air forces C-130 Hercules heavy transport aircraft broke into pieces, claiming 101 people, including 52 officers and soldiers. The first accident this year was in March when a Hughes helicopter crashed in Semarang, with no casualties. Two other minor accidents occurred in April and May. Politicians, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also a presidential candidate, have used the accident to criticize the government’s decreased military budget. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denied that his administration had cut the budget for the maintenance of military weaponry. Instead, the government was only postponing the purchase of new war equipment. Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua claimed the 1988-made chopper was still airworthy. “It was still very, very airworthy. So, it’s the bad weather,” Zebua told Antara. The helicopter had been conducting a training support mission when it was caught in hard rain and strong winds. The ill-fated helicopter was reportedly on its way from Pangalengan, Bandung to Batujajar training center in Cimahi. The utility helicopter was manufactured by state aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia under license from German firm Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm.

Author: Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today

Indonesia Hercules C-130 Crashes Down

"The Dead Body of Hercules Crashes Victim"

"Hercules Down Location"

"Indonesia Hercules C-130"

Indonesia Military Aircraft have been crashes on May, 20 2009. This Hercules C-130 with A1325 Military Series Number down at Geplak Village, Karas District, Magetan Regency, East Java, Indonesia at 06:30 AM on Indonesian time (GMT+7). Belong to the Government there was 98 dead victim (84 were the aircraft passenger and most of them were civilian, 11 were the Hercules crew include the captain pilot and the other 3 were the people who live at the location were the aircraft have been crushed down). Only 15 passenger were survived from this accident but all of the survivor were on sustained injuries including burn injuries and still on intensive treatment at dr Soedono Hospital, Madiun. This Aircraft was going from Halim Perdana Kusuma Military Airport, Jakarta and plan to land at Iswahyudi Military Airport, Madiun Regency-East Java before go to its operational base on Biak,Papua but when this craft get its 90% of its fly route there was a trouble with its engines, after wards the Hercules down on paddy field after previously hit 3 civilian house then smashed in pieces and burned. The information said that this Aircraft previously was belong to Pelita Air Services before donate to Indonesia Air Force on 1995. This Hercules was made in USA at 1980, Wow...the age was so old there! President explain that this accident was not related with the low budget of Indonesia Air Force have. The big question is why civilian can fly with military craft on military task? The rule said that "civilian should not use military facilities no matter what the reason!" Why the rule was broke down?