PM to attend Joko Widodo’s inauguration and hold talks on FTA, which opposition leader says will be good for jobs
Scott Morrison’s whirlwind trip to Indonesia is a “good thing”, his political opponent says, as Labor embraces bipartisan support for Australia’s latest free trade agreement.
Morrison travelled to Indonesia for Joko Widodo’s second inauguration as president, with talks between the two leaders planned at the presidential palace.
Continue reading...Maythem Radhi accused of being part of syndicate that charged 421 mostly Iraqi and Afghan refugees for place aboard Indonesian boat
An Iraqi man has been charged in Australia with people-trafficking in connection with the drowning deaths of more than 350 asylum seekers in the 2001 SIEV X tragedy.
Maythem Radhi, 43, was arrested at Brisbane airport late Friday after being extradited from New Zealand and has been charged with “organising groups of non-citizens into Australia”, police say.
Continue reading...Subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines seek information about flight crew training and 737 Max software MCAS
Lawyers representing families of passengers killed in a Boeing 737 Max crash in Ethiopia in March are set to issue subpoenas to Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, the two biggest US operators of the jet, according to documents seen by Reuters.
The subpoenas will be issued over the next couple of days, the lawyers separately told Reuters.
Continue reading...U-turn announced after environment minister said populations of the ancient lizard remained stable despite influx of visitors
Indonesian authorities have cancelled plans to close Komodo island to tourists, with the country’s environment ministry saying that Komodo dragons living there are not under threat from over-tourism.
In July, authorities in East Nusa Tenggara province said that the island would be closed for one year from January 2020 to stop tourists interfering with the natural behaviour of the largest species of lizard on earth. On Monday Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Indonesia’s environment and forestry minister, said the move was off.
Continue reading...Indonesian police fired teargas to break up a rally near parliament in Jakarta as several thousand protesters gathered to oppose a new law they say reduces the authority of the country's corruption commission.
More than 20,000 police and military personnel were deployed to maintain security in the capital, according to media.
Continue reading...Number of dead may be higher than official death toll and unrest in Wamena may have claimed as many as 41 lives
Witnesses to Monday’s deadly riots in West Papua claim Indonesian police gunned down Papuan students in the street during the unrest, and say Wamena has since become a militarised ghost town.
Witness testimony from Wamena, the largest town in Papua’s remote Baliem Valley, run in stark contrast to the Indonesian authorities’ official account.
Continue reading...Indonesian police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters as tens of thousands of students gathered in cities nationwide over a new criminal code. Revisions to the code include penalties for sex outside marriage, insulting the president's dignity, a four-year jail term for abortions in the absence of a medical emergency or rape and a prison term for black magic
Continue reading...Millions aged under five are particularly at risk from the slash and burn fires due to undeveloped immune systems
Indonesian forest fires are putting nearly 10 million children at risk due to air pollution, the United Nations has warned.
The fires have been spewing toxic haze over south-east Asia in recent weeks, closing schools and airports, with people rushing to buy face masks and seek medical treatment for respiratory ailments.
Continue reading...At least 40 injured in student protests over plans that include outlawing extramarital sex
Thousands of students have taken to the streets in Indonesia to protest against a “disastrous” draft criminal code that would include outlawing extramarital sex and a controversial new law that could weaken the nation’s anti-corruption body.
On Tuesday, the second consecutive day of protests, thousands of students gathered outside the parliament building in Jakarta, calling for the government to suspend its plans to ratify the draft code. Police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators.
Continue reading...Forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan have been spewing toxic haze across south-east Asia, forcing the closure of schools and airports, and prompting Indonesian authorities to deploy thousands of firefighters to tackle them. There has been an increase in reports of respiratory illnesses
• Red skies cover parts of Indonesia as rainforest fire haze crisis worsens – video
Continue reading...Apparent climbdown follows wave of anger and criticism over draconian draft laws
Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, has ordered his government to postpone the ratification of a deeply controversial criminal code that would outlaw living together outside marriage, extramarital sex and insulting the president.
The apparent climbdown came in a surprise address at the state palace on Friday afternoon, and follows an outpouring of anger and criticism about the draconian draft laws.
Continue reading...Australia’s funding cuts force hundreds of homeless refugees to plead to be taken into immigration detention
Once a military command post, the two-storey lime green building in Kalideres, West Jakarta, is now essentially a refugee camp.
More than 400 refugees are temporarily housed here in small dome tents squashed into every room and spilling out into the concrete car park. There is no running water, electricity, bathroom facilities or any certainty of food. A few days ago someone delivered biscuits, but there has been nothing since.
Continue reading...National agencies granted greater power to enforce existing laws banning practices such as shackling
Indonesia is stepping up efforts to protect people with mental health conditions by affording national agencies new powers to monitor and close down institutions found to be abusing patients.
The country’s human rights commission and its witness and victim protection unit are among the agencies empowered to monitor facilities to check they don’t contravene a 1977 government ban on “pasung” – shackling or detaining patients in confined spaces.
Continue reading...Masked motorcycle riders pull up around 4am at East Java building that has been the target of protests
Indonesian police are investigating allegations of masked motorcycle riders throwing bags of snakes into a West Papuan student dormitory in Surabaya and “deliberately spreading terror”.
The hostel was the site of anti-Papua protests last month, which then sparked rolling and often violent protests across Indonesia, including in the Papuan province.
Continue reading...Plan formally announced in August will see 1.5 million people move to new capital, but residents and conservationists have expressed deep concerns
Sugio’s orchard is his life’s work and a great source of pride for the 79-year-old resident of Tengin Baru village in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan. The orchard sits back from the main road, which in places is no more than a potholed track that cuts through jungles and villages. The plot of land is tranquil and filled with birdsong.
For 42 years Sugio has cultivated his hectare, diligently planting a variety of colourful fruits and vegetables. He points out corn, durian, rambutan, pepper and sweet potato plots; ducks and chickens wander around in the afternoon sun. “We have everything we need here,” he says. “Our family can’t even eat everything before it spoils, so we sell it at the market. Our life is already perfect.”
Continue reading...Residents inhaling smoke from peat and trees burned hundreds of miles away
An increase in Indonesian forest fires – the sharpest rise since 2015 – has infuriated neighbouring Malaysia, where residents are inhaling smoke from peat and trees burned hundreds of miles away.
More than 14 megatonnes of carbon dioxide were discharged from the blazes on 5 September, more than triple the average on this day over the previous 15 years, according to satellite data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.
Continue reading...Fishermen report seeing ‘snouts in the dark’ on Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes
A mystical Malaysian island is grappling with a “sea-borne invasion” of wild boar, which some believe are swimming kilometres across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes before destroying crops.
“The sea-borne invasion of wild boars leaves us in despair as the animal population is increasing,” said Norhizam Hassan Baktee, chairman of the Malacca agriculture committee, of the influx on the island of Pulau Besar.
Continue reading...At a pivotal moment in the region’s struggle for self-determination, there is seething anger as well as hope
At the base of the verdant mountains of Sentani, where dense, tropical jungle overlooks a sprawling teal lake, worshippers stream into church, men in suits and ties and sandals or batik shirts, women with colourful woven bags strung from their foreheads and slung over their backs.
Grey clouds hang low over the house of worship, a wood and tin shed with concrete floors and large open windows that let in the thick humid air.
Continue reading...At least one Indonesian soldier and six civilians have been reportedly killed in the restive region
Up to six protesters and one soldier have been killed in clashes across the restive West Papua and Papua provinces, although protesters and police dispute how many have died.
A source at one protest in the Deiyai Regency told The Guardian on Thursday that police had fired lived rounds into a crowd of demonstrators outside the regency offices on Wednesday. Six people were killed and two seriously injured, the source, who requested anonymity fearing reprisals, said.
Continue reading...Documents reveal ‘muted’ attempts to convince Indonesian officials to allow free vote to proceed
The US government knew for months that Indonesia’s military was supporting and arming militias in East Timor in the lead-up to the 1999 independence referendum but continued to push for stronger military ties, declassified documents have revealed.
The hundreds of documents provide a window into US policy on the months of terror inflicted on the Timorese and the “muted” attempts by the US to convince Indonesian officials to allow a peaceful and free vote to proceed.
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