Anti Graft Body Detain Four Former Central Bankers

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Four former senior Bank Indonesia officials under investigation of the fund missappropriation case were taken into police custody on Thursday, one among them is President Yudhoyono's in-law Aulia Pohan.

Aulia Pohan was taken to Kelapa Dua detention facility in Depok, West Java at around 5:16 PM along with Maman Soemantri one fellow former deputy governor of the central bank.

The other two were Aslim Tadjuddin and Bunbunan Hutapea who were taken to police custody at the National Police Headquarters in Central Jakarta.

The four former officials were under investigation of the case that have brought former central bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah sentenced to five years in prison.
The scandal took place in 2003 when the central bank channeled around US$ 60 billion to lawmakers as the parliament drafting a bill on the central bank. The remaining sum were used to provide legal assistance for senior central bankers involved in legal battle over charges of mishandling trillions of rupiah of liquidity assistance for collapsed banks during the 1998 Asian monetary crisis.

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Corruption Court Draft Bill Prioritized

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Agung Laksono has asked the DPR Legal Commission to prioritize the Corruption Court draft bill.

“The house should commit to finishing the regulation,” said Agung yesterday (24/11).

The DPR Speaker said he was worried that the DPR could not complete the draft bill by December 19, the date set by the Constitutional Court.

This is because of the approaching legislative election in 2009.

“The election campaigns are getting intense,” said Agung.

EKO ARI WIBOWO

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President Yudhoyono Telephones President-Elect Barack Obama

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: President Yudhoyono made a telephone conversation with President-elect Barack Obama on Monday night from Seattle as the president heads back to Indonesia after attending two economic conferences in Washington DC and Lima.

President Yudhoyono congratulate Mr Obama on his election as the next US president at 4:15 PM PST, as the plane carrying the delegates made a brief stop in Seattle to refuel.

President Yuhoyono said the president elect who spent three years of his childhood in Indonesia conversed in Indonesian expressing his memories of Indonesian food and fruits and conveyed his intention to visit the country.

Barack Obama who was born in Hawaii, lived in Jakarta from 1967 to 1970 as his mother an American antroplogist moved to Indonesia with her second husband, an Indonesian student at the University of Hawaii.

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Kak Seto Rejects Harsh Punishment for Children

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The National Child Protection Commission chairman Seto Mulyadi said teachers must not mete out harsh punishment to students, whatever the deed. Punishment can be given out in many educational ways.

"One way would be not praise the student's work," Seto said during the launch of his book titled Anak-anak Tersenyumlah! (Smile, Children!) in Jakarta yesterday.


According to Seto, if students are punished with violence, they will grow violent. He admitted there are cases where, "If the student fights back, a teacher can be emotional and punish them even harder."



Violence among students at schools has been around for some time and does not seem to be declining at all, Seto said. He is convinced that only a few cases have been exposed publicly, while many cases of violence against students have remained unreported. "Violence still exists because teachers subconsciously grew up in a violent environment," he explained.


According to Seto, violence must be eradicated from early childhood, starting with teachers. They can simply praise, smile, and be proud of their students' achievement, Seto said.


Indonesian Teachers Association chairman Sulistyo previously asked the government to draft a Teacher Protection Law. According to Sulistyo, the regulation is expected to make teachers feel at ease when teaching. So far, many teachers have been charged with violating Law no. 23/2002 on Child Protection. "When a student gets just a little pinch from a teacher, parents already complain," he said yesterday.


According to Seto, the Child Protection Law is not intended to harm the teachers, hence a Teacher Protection Law is not necessary. Teacher protection, however, must be given to teachers as long as the protection still relates to the profession. "For example, dismissal, relocation or unfair treatment from their superiors," he said.

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Smokers Raided in Jakarta

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Around 30 people were caught violating smoking bans at Blok M Bus Terminal and Blok M Mall shopping center. They were caught in an Anti-cigarette Raid carried out by the South Jakarta Regional Environment Control Agency (BPLHD) yesterday.

The Jakarta administration is carrying out the raids in five areas of the capital city until November 27, beginning yesterday.

The smokers caught included bus passengers and drivers, and shoppers at Blok M. BPLHD officers only listed their identities, explained about the non-smoking areas, and confiscated the cigarette ends as proof. “We did not penalize them,” South Jakarta BPLHD chief, Joni Tagor told Tempo at the Blok M Bus Terminal area.

He said the Anti-cigarette Raid is still under the pre-judicial operation. Penalties will start to be applied in early December. Penalties for smokers will be according to Regional Regulation no. 2/2005 on Air Control and Pollution and Governor Regulation no. 75/2005 on Non-smoking Areas. “This will be a Rp 50 million fine or six months imprisonment,” said Joni.

Jakarta deputy governor Prijanto said Jakarta citizens should become aware of the smoking ban since it was first publicized. “First we publicly announce the penalties then we execute them,” he said yesterday.

Blok M Mall managers admit that many visitors are still violating the rules. “We have in fact prepared two smoking areas, one at the terminal lobby and the other in the basement,” said Blok M Mall marketing manager Dumaria Sinaga.

A mall visitor was shocked when he got caught. “This doesn’t usually happen,” said Samir Sana, 42, from Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta. He promised to obey the no-smoking area ban and smoke only in permitted smoking areas.

Environment Health researcher from the University of Indonesia’s Health Faculty, Emma Hermawati, who assisted in the operation, said most of today’s smokers in Indonesia are in the growing age. “Even fourth graders now smoke,” she said. Therefore, the campaigns will still continue until people become aware of the issue.

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Three Bali bombers executed

JAKARTA - Indonesia has executed three Muslim militants sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, the television network TvOne said on Sunday citing an unidentified source.

The TV station said Imam Samudra, Mukhlas and Amrozi were executed on Nusakambangan island in central Java after midnight.

The executions could not immediately be confirmed by officials.

Officials have previously said that after the executions the bodies would be taken by helicopter to the home towns of the accused -- brothers Mukhlas and Amrozi to Lamongan, in east Java, and Imam Samudra to Serang, west Java.

Zakiah Darajad, Saumdra's wife, had an open letter read by a relative at a news conference in Serang.

"(I) hope Allah gives the best to them and gives the worst to everyone that inflicted this unfair treatment," it said.

In a statement issued by their lawyers before the executions, the men said their blood would "become the light for the faithful ones and burning hellfire for the infidels and hypocrites."

In an interview with Reuters late last year, the militants said their only regret was that some Muslims were killed in the blasts.

The two explosions on Bali's Kuta strip on October 12, 2002 -- one at Paddy's Bar and the other at the Sari Club -- killed 202 people including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesian citizens, and dealt a severe blow to the island's tourist industry.

The attacks by the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) were intended to deter foreigners as part of a drive to make Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, part of a larger Islamic caliphate.

Although there have been no major bomb attacks since 2005, Indonesia is still considered at risk.

The Indonesian anti-terrorist unit, Detachment 88, was involved in a series of raids last year that authorities say rounded up the heads of JI and its military wing.

Ten 10 suspected militants were detained in July during raids in Sumatra and a large cache of explosives was seized.

In October, police said they had foiled a plan to attack a major oil storage facility in Jakarta.

Police are still seeking Noordin Top, a Malaysian considered a key figure behind a series of bombings, including a second set of blasts in Bali in 2005 in which more than 20 people were killed.

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Indonesian TV programs with live streaming

Do you want to watch Indonesian TV but you live in outside Indonesia?...

Now, you can enjoy Indonesian TV programs with live streaming TV. Anyway you can still wacth Indonesian TV . Beside that In many Indonesian forum, some people find how to wacth Indonesian TV channel via internet. Some many ways to wacth Indonesian TV online. Now You can wacth Indonesian TV channel with this blogs.

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