Friday, July 29, 2011

BEWARE OF HEPATITIS, THE SILENT KILLER by Fardah



     Jakarta, July 29, 2011 (ANTARA) - Indonesia just joined the world in observing  World Hepatitis Day on July 28 launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in partnership with the World Hepatitis Alliance.
         The first official World Hepatitis Day themed "This is Hepatitis" is observed  to increase people's awareness and understanding about viral hepatitis which kills more than one million people every year.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

WILL NTT FISHERMEN FINALLY BE COMPENSATED FOR TIMOR SEA POLLUTION? by Fardah



    Jakarta, July 28, 2011 (ANTARA) - Will it be good news for East Nusa Tenggara fishermen after they have waited for about two years to receive compensation payment for material losses caused by the Montara oil spill in the Timor Sea?
    Well, they have to wait at least until the Indonesian government and PTTEP Australasia, the Thai company operating the Montara oil field, sign a Memorandum of Understanding on compensation for pollution in the Timor Sea.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

PRESIDENT ORDERS CAREFUL PREPARATIONS FOR DRAFT STATE BUDGET 2012 by Fardah

      Jakarta, July 27, 2011 (ANTARA) - It has been a tradition that on every August 16 the President delivers a Draft State Budget and its Financial Note to the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Legislative Council (DPD) at the Parliament building, a day prior to the celebration of Indonesia`s Independence Day.
      As the day is less than two weeks away, the government has intensified discussions on the preparations for the Draft Revenue and Expenditure Budget (RAPBN) 2012 in cabinet meetings chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Monday, July 25, 2011

PEOPLE FORCED TO WAIT LONGER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY by Fardah



      Jakarta, July 25, 2011 (ANTARA) - Indonesian people - those in the low-income bracket in particular, have  to exercise a still undetermined additional amount of patience  before they can enjoy one of their constitutionally guaranteed basic rights as the government has asked for more time to  pass the Bill on the Social Security Executing Agency (BPJS).
         Every year, more than 150 million people or 44 families face financial problems due to medical costs burdening them, according to the Action Committee of Social Security in (KAJS) at an ASEAN Civil Society Conference in Jakarta last May 2011.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

JAKARTA TO TREAT PEARL LOVERS IN OCTOBER FESTIVAL by Fardah


      Jakarta, July 23, 2011 (ANTARA) - Pearl lovers should not miss an Indonesian Pearl Festival 2011 to be organized by the marine affairs and fisheries ministry in cooperation with the Indonesian Pearl Cultivation Association (ASBUMI) in Jakarta next October.
       The festival to be held from October 12 to 16, 2011, will offer among other things the precious and finest south sea pearl (SSP) which is also known as the Queen of Pearls.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

DRAGON BOAT RACE DRAWS JUST ONE FOREIGN PARTICIPANT by Fardah

      The annual race is held to promote tourism in West Sumatra, a province blessed with rich traditional culture and beautiful panorama such as stunning diving spots, canyons, and valleys.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

INDONESIA'S BIRDS FACING THREAT OF EXTINCTION by Fardah



          Jakarta, July 20, 2011 (ANTARA) - Indonesia is known as a "bird paradise" as the country has a total of 1,594 bird species including 381 endemic birds species, of the world's total 10,000 bird species.
         The country is the world's fifth richest country in terms of fowl possession, according to Ria Saryanthi, conservation program manager of Burung Indonesia (BirdLife Indonesia), early this year.    

Saturday, July 16, 2011

WAKATOBI POISED TO CELEBRATE INT'L SAIL EVENT by Fardah

      Jakarta, July 16, 2011 (ANTARA) - Wakatobi is expected to have a festive atmosphere as 1,000 bikers will tour the district and thousands of local people will offer traditional dances and food during a folk festival to mark the launch of Sail Wakatobi Balitong 2011 on Saturday (July 16).
      "The folk festival that we have prepared for the Sail Wakatobi launch tomorrow evening, will include the traditional `kande-kandea` and `Kabuenga`," Tawakal, the head of the Wakatobi Tourism, Art and Cultural Office, said in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, on Friday (July 15).
      "Kande-kadea" is the Wakatobi people`s tradition to welcome and offer honored guests with various traditional Wakatobi food.
Several ministers such as Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Leksono, Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik, Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam, and Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad will be present at the reception.

Beautiful girls and women from eight sub districts and 100 villages in Wakatobi District will offer various local food dishes to the honored guests who can choose the food according to their taste.

"In short, the kande-kandea to be organized to mark the launch of Sail Wakatobi this time will be the merriest ever held by the Wakatobi people in the history of "kande-kandea"," Tawakal said.

The folk festival will also include "Bangka Mbule-mbule" to be participated in by around 10,000 traditional fishing boats, and "Kabuenga" traditional ritual which is organized to help young people find their future husbands or wives.

A tour by 1,000 bikers from Indonesia and abroad is also organized to mark the launch of Sail Wakatobi Belitong.

The 1,000 bikers including Minister Fadel Mohammad, Minister Jero Wacik, Governor Nur Alam and Wakatobi District Head Hugua, will be led by Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono," Tawakal said.

Minister Fadel Muhammad had earlier said at least 40 countries will take part in Sail Wakatobi-Belitong 2011 in the second week of July.

"So far, 40 states have confirmed their participation but we hope the number will eventually rise to 70," Fadel said recently when seeing off task force members of the Surya Bhaskara Operation, a civic mission organized as part of the Sail Wakatobi-Belitong activities.

The marine affairs and fishery ministry`s director general of marine and fishery sources supervision concurrently the Sail Wakatobi-Belitong organizing committee secretary, Syahrin Abdurrahman, said the Sail 2011 event has six main activities.

The activities are a yacht rally, a civic mission of Bhakti Surya Bhaskara Jaya, national and international seminars on marine and fishery sources management, archipelagic youth marine cross, marine and fishery product exhibitions.

The Sail Wakatobi-Belitong 2011 will be organized for six weeks, since the second week of July until the fourth week of August in Wakatobi and Belitong District, Bangka Belitung Province, Sumatra.

A number of big ships will participate in the Sail, and one of them will bring along a group of doctors who will give free medical services to Wakatobi residents.

Coordinating Minister for People`s Welfare Agung Laksono had earlier said that the budget allocated for Sail Wakatobi Belitong was estimated to reach Rp60 billion.

The funds would also be used to improve some infrastructures in Wakatobi and Belitong.

Minister Agung said Sail Wakatobi Belitong was important to promote marine tourism, conduct a civic mission, develop the youth in the framework of the national character building, and to speed up the development in the regions.

Fadel, who has stayed on Wangi-wangi Island, Wakatobi District, since few days ago, has called for acceleration of infrastructure development in the district to support the implementation of Sail Wakatobi Belitong 2011.

"I want the development be accelerated," Minister Fadel said in Wangi-wangi on Friday.

The construction works of main roads, power installation and a plane runway must be completed soon, he stated. "It`s very important. We want the development in Wakatobi to progress," he said.

Having underwater panoramic beauty and breath-taking diving sites, Wakatobi is a biodiversity hotspot especially known for various species of coral reefs.

The district is situated geographically at the world`s coral reef triangle center and has around 942 fish species and 750 coral reef species.

Thanks to its rich marine sources, it has become a location of researches conducted by European and American universities over the past tens of years.

To optimally develop the marine sources, the marine affairs and fisheries ministry plans to set up a world-class School for Marine Conservation (SMC) in Wakatobi.

"We want to build an international standard school in Wakatobi," Marine Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad said in Wangi-wanig on Saturday.

The planned school is expected to become a benchmark of similar marine schools in Indonesia, and will have three departments, namely Conservation Management, Biodiversity, and Ocean Engineering.

SMC would be able to accommodate 400 students, around 2,000 training course participants, and have 50 lecturers, the minister said.

Since 1996, Wakatobi has had a conservation area or a national park covering a total area of 1.39 million hectares. The national park has 25 clusters of coral reef, 600-km long coastal line, 112 species of coral reef from 13 families, and 93 species of fish.

Indonesia is one of the world`s largest maritime countries with about 5.8 million square kilometers of marine territory. It is the biggest archipelagic country in the world, with around 70% its territory is waters and it has 17,480 islands.

The government plans to increase the nation`s marine conservation area to 20 million hectares by 2020, from the present 13.5 million hectares. ***4***

(F001/A/HAJM/14:10/f001)
(T.F001/A/F001/F001) 16-07-2011 14:38:36
Daerah : Jakarta (JKT)
Kembali

WAKATOBI POISED TO CELEBRATE INT'L SAIL EVENT by Fardah

     Jakarta, July 16, 2011 (ANTARA) - Wakatobi is expected to have a festive atmosphere as 1,000 bikers will tour the district and thousands of local people will offer traditional dances and food during a folk festival to mark the launch of Sail Wakatobi Balitong 2011 on Saturday (July 16).
      "The folk festival that we have prepared for the Sail Wakatobi launch tomorrow evening, will include the traditional `kande-kandea` and `Kabuenga`," Tawakal, the head of the Wakatobi Tourism, Art and Cultural Office, said in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, on Friday (July 15).

Friday, July 15, 2011

MT LOKON ERUPTION FORCES MASS EVACUATION By Fardah

      Jakarta, July 15, 2011 (ANTARA) - A major eruption of Mount Lokon in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, on Thursday evening (July 14) has struck local villagers with panic and forced them to leave their houses immediately, causing an almost 100 percent increase in the number of refugees.
        Some 4,446 people were taking refuge on Friday (July 15) following the latest eruption, a significant increase from 2,510 people a day earlier.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

HUNT FOR NAZARUDDIN CONTINUES by Fardah

     Jakarta, July 13, 2011 (ANTARA) - Former Democrat Party treasurer M Nazaruddin,who is wanted as a suspect in a corruption case, has been on the run for more than 50 days so far.
      Nazar left Jakarta for Singapore on May 23, 2011, just a day before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) imposed a travel ban on him.

Monday, July 11, 2011

TRADITIONAL MARKETS NEAR BORDERS GET GOVT'S ATTENTION by Fardah

     Jakarta, July 11, 2011 (ANTARA) - Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu recently traveled to border areas in East Nusa Tenggara and Papua Provinces to inspect traditional markets there.
      The visits to the country`s remote borders demonstrated that Minister Pangestu does not only think globally, but also acts locally and cares for the welfare of the people at the grass root level.

Friday, July 8, 2011

HAZE COMES BACK IN SUMATRA AND KALIMANTAN by Fardah



          Jakarta, July 8, 2011 (ANTARA) - Haze has come back  on Sumatra and  Kalimantan Islands over the past few weeks, affecting the environment, the local inhabitants' health and air traffic.
         In fact, in March 2011, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta had predicted that forest fires might occur in the dry season,  in June or July 2011, especially on Sumatra and Kalimantan Islands which are prone to forest and plantation fires.      

Thursday, July 7, 2011

FASHION BOOSTS RI'S CREATIVE INDUSTRY by Fardah

      "Fashion is a sub-sector that contributes the biggest value to the creative industrial exports reaching around US$72 billion in 2010," Trade Minister Marie Elka Pangestu said at the opening of the Indonesia Creative Products Week (PPKI) 2011 here on Wednesday (July 6).

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

CHILD FRIENDLY CITIES MUST HAVE NURSING MOTHERS' ROOMS by Fardah



    Jakarta, July 5, 2011 (ANTARA) - Shy to breastfeed your child in public? It should not be, because it's a human right and legal in many countries.

         But, having nursing mothers' rooms in many public places will certainly be helpful for breastfeeding mothers and support the Child Friendly City/District Program.

Child Friendly Cities Must Have Nursing Mothers' Rooms by Fardah

    Jakarta, July 5, 2011 (ANTARA) - Shy to breastfeed your child in public? It should not be, because it's a human right and legal in many countries.
         But, having nursing mothers' rooms in many public places will certainly be helpful for breastfeeding mothers and support the Child Friendly City/District Program.
           Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari Gumelar recently inaugurated a nursing mothers' room at Tirtonadi bus terminal in Surakarta, Central Java Province.

Friday, July 1, 2011

GOVT INTENSIFYING EFFORTS TO PROTECT MIGRANT WORKERS by Fardah

      Jakarta, July 1, 2011 (ANTARA) - Things have been developing very fast regarding efforts to protect TKIs overseas, since the beheading of Ruyati, an Indonesian migrant worker (TKI) in Saudi Arabia last June 18, for murdering her employer.
      Over the past few weeks, the government has been spending much energy, time and money on preparing policies and steps for the protection of around five million Indonesians working overseas.