Indonesian navy divers have found 74 bodies inside a ferry that sank off eastern Papua province nearly two weeks ago and many more were still believed to be trapped inside, a rescue official said on Tuesday. Bad weather had hampered the search for more than 100 people believed to have been trapped inside the ferry when it sank in rough seas on July 7, the official said.
Rescue workers recovered 10 more bodies after an overloaded ferry capsized in rough seas off Indonesia’s remote eastern province of Papua a week ago, officials said on Thursday. The discovery brought the total to 11 bodies and 15 survivors accounted for after the Digoel ferry capsized last Thursday night off the southern coast of Papua.
Indonesian ministers got a chilly reception on Monday when they showed up for work in casual wear after a presidential decree to turn down the cooling — only to find the order had been ignored. Vice-President Yusuf Kalla and 16 ministers showed up in batik and casual shirts or that outcast from decades ago, the safari suit.
Indonesian security forces and local militia leaders responsible for crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999 should face an international tribunal if Jakarta does not prosecute them effectively, a United Nations panel of legal experts has recommended.
At least 19 people were killed on Saturday in two bomb attacks in the Indonesian province of Central Sulawesi, police said. The successive blasts took place in the town of Tentena. The bombings are the most serious in a long series of bombings and other attacks in the region, many of them against Christians.
An Indonesian city mayor incensed by poor discipline among his staff has sent more than 100 officials to a police boot camp in a novel move that may help tackle the country’s rampant corruption, an official said on Monday. Fauzi Bahri, the mayor of the Sumatra city of Padang, dispatched 115 regional leaders to the 10-day course.
An earthquake measuring 6,9 on the Richter scale rocked parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The quake prompted residents in Nias island, where about 900 people were killed in a powerful quake on March 28, to run out of their homes in panic.
State leaders of countries in Asia and Africa gathered in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Saturday to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two continents for the second and final day of the Asian-African Summit. The meeting is also a 50th commemoration of the first summit, called the Bandung Conference.
Sudan defended its handling of the bloodshed in Darfur on Friday and said it will never hand over war-crime suspects for trial at the International Criminal Court. The comments by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mustafa Osman Ismael came as the United Nations warned of new clashes between rebels and Arab militiamen in the Darfur region.
African and Asian leaders, representing two-thirds of the global population, met in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday to discuss ways of achieving ”a new world order”. The talks were part of the Asia-Africa Summit co-hosted by Indonesia and South Africa. In his address, Mbeki urged leaders to use the summit to build and strengthen cooperation.
Indonesian scientists have placed 11 volcanoes under close watch after a series of powerful quakes increased the chances of a major eruption. Tens of thousands spent a third night in temporary camps after fleeing the slopes of Mount Talang on Sumatra island, where hot ash has been raining down since Monday, more volcanoes began rumbling into life.
Indonesia’s president said on Tuesday he had been told to slaughter 1 000 sheep to prevent a repeat of the disastrous quakes that have hit his country, but he rejected the advice as superstitious nonsense. ”I have received many SMSes which say: ‘Mr President, please slaughter 1 000 sheep’,” said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
A new police motorcycle squad has been formed in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to patrol the city’s mean streets during the week and perform circus-style stunts to entertain the public over the weekends. The 25-man squad is expected to combine duties policing Jakarta’s notorious traffic with displays of motorcycle prowess.
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/ 14 February 2005
A major Indonesian food manufacturer has secured a place in the <i>Guinness Book of Records</i> by producing the world’s largest packet and the largest serving of instant noodles. The giant packet, created by PT Indofood Sukses Makmur, was 3,4m long, 2,35m wide and 0,47m thick.
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/ 24 January 2005
Two magnitude-6,3 earthquakes in southern Asia struck eight hours apart on Monday, causing panic but little damage in a region still traumatised by last month’s quake-triggered tsunami that killed tens of thousands. Meanwhile, the number of relief camps in Indonesia’s Aceh province has dropped by about 75% in the past week.
Leaders at an international conference on aid to Asian tsunami victims welcomed the idea on Thursday of debt moratorium for countries hit by the disaster, but made no commitment to do so. Delegates appeared divided over the idea of postponing debt repayments.
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/ 26 December 2004
At least 500 people were killed and hundreds more were missing and feared dead on Sunday after a huge earthquake off northern Indonesia triggered giant tidal waves and flash floods across western Asia. The quake, which Indonesian seismologists said measured 6,8 on the Richter scale, struck in the Indian ocean, southwest of Aceh province on Sumatra island, and unleashed massive destruction throughout the region.
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/ 22 December 2004
A team of international scientists has found new fish and insect species, including a monster cockroach, living in caves in Indonesia’s remote East Kalimantan province, the group announced on Wednesday. The team said the area where the new species were discovered is threatened by environmental degradation.
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/ 21 December 2004
Indonesia’s efforts to stamp out counterfeiting have taken an unusual turn with police closing down two factories manufacturing fake Ecstasy pills after complaints from users of the party drug. Detectives swung into action on the resort island of Bali after hearing how people consuming the bogus tablets failed to experience the desired effect.
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/ 19 December 2004
More than 2 000 Indonesian women washed their laundry together at a city square on Sunday to post a record and donate the clothes to orphanages, a news report said. At least 2 013 housewives took part in the open-air event in downtown Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city.
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/ 30 November 2004
Baked chicken catered by a well-known polygamist should be boycotted at an Islamic conference being held in Indonesia, a former president’s wife said on Tuesday. Puspowardoyo, owner of the Indonesian restaurant chain Wong Solo, has four wives and is a vocal advocate for polygamy in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
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/ 15 November 2004
An elderly woman became on Monday the latest victim of a powerful earthquake and aftershocks in eastern Indonesia, as a relief official appealed for tents to house thousands left homeless.The latest death brings to 23 the number who have died since Friday when the quake measuring six on the Richter scale hit Alor island near East Timor.
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/ 12 November 2004
At least 16 people were killed and 100 injured, many seriously, on Friday after a succession of earthquakes measuring at least six on the Richter scale rocked an island in eastern Indonesia, police said. The quake, which was felt in the nearby country of East Timor, left hospitals struggling to cope with the wounded.
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/ 15 September 2004
A strong earthquake rocked Indonesia’s famous tourist island of Bali on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring at least two others, officials said. ”People rushed out of their homes, they panicked. The quake was very strong and lasted a long time,” said Budi Sunarso, of Bali’s geophysics agency.
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/ 10 September 2004
Police received a cellphone SMS before the Australian Embassy bombing, warning that foreign missions in Jakarta would be attacked unless the alleged head of the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group was freed, Australia’s foreign minister said on Friday.
‘Callous attack’ kills nine in Jakarta
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/ 7 September 2004
Police in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali said on Tuesday they had arrested two South African nationals for drug trafficking in an operation described as the biggest heroin bust in two years. Police found 2,3kg of the drug when they raided the hotel room where the two South Africans were staying last Tuesday, said Adjunct Commissioner Lennon, an officer in the Balinese capital of Denpasar.
Uncluttered by tenses, prepositions and grammatical quirks, Indonesia’s national tongue was once a gift to travellers who quickly grasped the basics. Now a bizarre passion for acronyms is threatening to engulf the language, leaving visitors and even locals lost in translation as more phrases are mangled into this ugly alphabet soup.
Opec is to invite producers from outside the cartel to talks next month on how to stablise sky-rocketing oil prices, the organisation’s President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said in Jakarta on Monday. The unusual move to throw open the Opec meeting in Vienna on September 14 to non-members comes just days after crude prices hit record highs, reaching ,77 a barrel in New York on Friday.
Rescuers continued searching on Sunday for five people missing after a landslide smashed into a passenger bus in Indonesia’s West Sumatra and killed 38 people, but had lost hope of finding survivors. The landslide completely buried the bus under soil, trees and bushes.
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/ 17 February 2004
An earthquake that struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island killed five people, damaged 60 homes and prompted many panicked residents to spend the night outdoors, officials said on Tuesday. Earlier this month, an earthquake in West Papua province with an estimated magnitude of 6,8 killed three dozen people.
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/ 7 February 2004
A major aftershock rattled the northwestern Papua town of Nabire on Saturday, one day after a powerful quake killed 24 people in the same town. The National Earthquake Centre at the meteorology and geophysics bureau said the aftershock measured 6,2 on the Richter scale.
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/ 6 February 2004
A series of powerful earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 6,9 struck Indonesia’s remote Papua province Friday, killing 26 people, injuring as many as 600 and destroying hundreds of houses, authorities said. The quakes hit hardest in the town of Nabire, damaging the local airport, a bridge, roads and buildings.