SAUDI URGED TO LOWER EXORBITANT DIYAT TO SAVE WORKER'S LIFE by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 31, 2014 (Antara) - Diyat or blood money of Satinah, Indonesian migrant worker facing death penalty in Saudi Arabia for murdering her employer, has become a dilemma because the amount is considered too high and difficult to pay.

         Satinah, 41, who claimed to have been treated badly while working with the Al Gharib family, was sentenced to death in 2011, after she admitted to killing her 70-year-old employer, Nura Al Gharib, and robbing 37.9 Thousand Saudi riyals from the victim.

         Under Saudi law, the execution could have been avoided if the offender could pay compensation, called Diyat, to the families of the victims.

PROS AND CONS OF JOKOWI'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDACY by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 31, 2014 (Antara) - Many Indonesians have hailed the presidential candidacy of Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who has been idolized for his down-to-earth style of governance.

         When the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP)'s central executive board member Puan Maharani, daughter of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, announced Jokowi's candidacy for the presidency on March 14, the main Jakarta stock index rose more than three percent.

          Megawati, PDIP general chairperson, stated that she chose Jokowi after she had monitored him and his style of leadership since his time as mayor of Solo, and later governor of Jakarta.

SAIL RAJA AMPAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT "HEAVEN ON EARTH" by Fardah

      Jakarta, March 28, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia will offer an opportunity for nature lovers to visit Raja Ampat, often called "Heaven on Earth", "Miracle of Papua", "Underwater Paradise on Earth", or "Real Wonder of the World" for its mesmerizing marine panorama.

        In June this year, the Indonesian government will organize Sail Raja Ampat as part of its annual international maritime event, to bring the sail's participants and guests to the country's most exotic location.  
   Since 2009, Indonesia has organized the annual Sail Indonesia event on five earlier occasions - Sail Bunaken 2009, Sail Banda 2010, Sail Wakatobi- Belitong 2011, Sail Morotai 2012, and Sail Komodo 2013.

INDONESIA REAFFIRMS TOTAL, ABSOLUTE COMMITMENT TO NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT by Fardah

   Jakarta, March 28, 2014 (Antara) - At the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in the Hague recently, Indonesia reaffirmed its total and absolute commitment to the pursuit of nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

        According to Indonesia in its progress report presented during the summit, it realizes that the goal of a world free of nuclear weapon is the best way to stop proliferation and to ensure that nuclear and radioactive materials are not diverted for terrorist acts.

         Indonesia called upon all nations to promote universal adoption and full implementation of multilateral treaties whose aim is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

MIGRANT WORKERS VULNERABLE TO BE RECRUITED AS DRUG COURIERS by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 26, 2014 (Antara) - Just for a mere Rp3 million (less than US$300), 29-year-old Siti Kamidah, an Indonesian migrant worker, was willing to be a drug courier.

         She just arrived in Jakarta from Hong Kong on February 20, and proceeded to a cargo warehouse at Soekarno-Hatta international airport to collect illicit drugs hidden in two electronic massage devices. However, she was later arrested by officers of the National Anti-Narcotic Agency (BNN), according to Liputan6.com.

         Siti Kamidah is just one of many Indonesian migrant workers who have been recruited as drug couriers by overseas syndicates.

VISUALLY IMPAIRED DEMAND RIGHTS TO VOTE BY SECRET BALLOT by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 26 (Antara) - Within the next 15 days, Indonesian people will cast their votes in the legislative elections, but those with visual impairment have considered the upcoming elections discriminative towards them.

      The visually impaired are disappointed because the General Elections Commission (KPU) does not provide braille templates to be placed over ballot papers for the elections of House of Representatives (DPR) and Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) members this year.

      The braille templates will only be available for the presidential and Regional Representative Council (DPD) elections.

BALI STRIVES TO LURE MORE CHINESE TOURISTS by Fardah

   Jakarta, March 24, 2014 (Antara) - As more and more high-spending Chinese tourists travel abroad, Indonesia does not want to miss the opportunity of enjoying the share of the Chinese tourist boom.

         Over the past several years, the world had experienced a sharp, upward trend in overseas travel among the Chinese people. Around 3.62 billion journeys, or 200 million more than last year, are expected to be made by the Chinese people this year, CNN reported.

INDONESIA RESPECTS UKRAINE'S SOVEREIGNTY CONCERNING CRIMEA ISSUE by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 21, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia is a friend to both Russia and Ukraine, but, above all, it always upholds its 1945 Constitution that respects a country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

         "We always uphold the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity. And this also applies to Ukraine. We cannot accept any move that violates sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa stated, referring to the Crimea issue, at the presidential office, Jakarta, on March 19.

INDONESIA HOPES TO SEE PEACEFUL, FAIR PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNS by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 20, 2014 (Antara) - As part of the 21-day campaign period for the parliamentary elections on April 9, 2014, campaign activities have been going on relatively peacefully throughout the country over the last four days.

          This is in line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's hope voiced late last year when he wished there would be peaceful, successful, democratic, fair, and orderly legislative and presidential elections in 2014, as those held in 2004 and 2009, when Indonesia had its first and second direct and democratic elections.

PRESIDENT CAME, RIAU FOREST FIRES (ALMOST) GONE by Fardah

      Jakarta, March 20, 2014 (Antara) - After more than two months of haze from forest, plantation and peat-soil fires chocking the people of Riau Province, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally decided to step in to end the annual fire problem.

        He cancelled his pre-election campaign agenda in Magelang (Central Java) for his Democratic Party, and decided to personally supervise the efforts to put out the fires razing Riau's forests and plantations.

          The president, while meeting with fire fighters in the Riau Province on March 15, asked for an increase in fire fighting operations and urged fire fighters to extinguish the blazes within three weeks. "The intensity of the operations must be increased and I hope they will finish in three weeks," he stated.

Roundup - INDONESIA'S PRE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES SMOOTH AND PEACEFUL ON SECOND DAY by Fardah

  Jakarta, March 17, 2014 (Antara)- A number of prominent politicians including Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and Prabowo Subianto led campaign activities to support their respective parties' legislative candidates on Monday, the second day of the campaign period.

        The official pre-election campaign period is between March 16 and April 5, which will be followed by the legislative elections on April 9. A total of 12 political parties kicked off the 21-day nationwide campaign on Sunday to win the votes of 185.8 million voters.

INDONESIA JOINS INTERNATIONAL TEAM IN SEARCH FOR MISSING MALAYSIAN PLANE by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 8, 2014 (Antara) - Since Saturday, March 8, when the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing mysteriously, the search involving a number of countries has continued and even been expanded up to the Malacca Strait.

        The Boeing 777-200 was carrying 227 passengers, including two children, and 12 crew members. They were made up of 153 Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, five Indians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, four French, three Americans, two each from New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada and one Russian, one Italian, one Dutch and one Austrian.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE EXTENDED AS FOREST-FIRE SMOKE CHOKES RIAU'S PEOPLE by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 12, 2014 (Antara) - Hundreds of people poured onto Pekanbaru's streets on Monday (March 10) to protest against the forest-fire smoke that has been choking the people of Riau annually for the past 17 years.  
   "The haze problem has been endemic for 17 years, but there is no solution in sight. Therefore, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should be held responsible for the problem," Herry Budiman, the rally's field coordinator stated.

        Forest, plantation and peat-soil fires, mostly lit deliberately to illegally clear land for farming or plantation areas, occur every year in Riau Province, Sumatra Island, and have taken a toll on the health of residents, businesses, tourism industry, transportation, and school activities.  

INDONESIA, POLAND STRENGTHEN ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION by Fardah

    Jakarta, March 9, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia and Poland used the recent visit of Polish Secretary of State of Water Resources Stanishlaw Gawlowski, who led a Polish Green Technology Mission to Indonesia, as a momentum to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the environmental field.

        Indonesian Environmental Affairs Minister Balthasar Kambuaya and Gawlowski during their meeting in Jakarta on March 4, 2014, agreed to explore cooperation in green technology, water resources management and waste treatment that are expected to be useful for the two nations. 

RACING AGAINST TIME TO SAVE RIAU'S BIOSPHERE RESERVE FROM FIRES by Fardah

    Pekanbaru, Riau, March 7 (Antara) - Sumatra's Riau Province is badly hit by forest and plantations fires, and the largest number of the hotspots detected were inside the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu (GSK-BB) biosphere reserve.

         Of the 11,138 hectares of forest area that were razed by fires across the Riau province, about 3,000 hectares were located inside the GSK-BB biosphere reserve, Brigadier General Prihadi Agus Irianto, the head of the Riau Haze Disaster Response Task Force, said in Pekanbaru in Riau on Tuesday (March 4). 

SCHAPELLE CORBY'S SISTER INTERVIEW TRIGGERS CONTROVERSY By Fardah

    Jakarta, March 5, 2014 (Antara) - News about Schapelle Leigh Corby, an Australian tourist, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 4.2 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia  through Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport in October 2004, is often controversial.

         In 2012, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decision to cut her sentence by five years on humanitarian grounds sparked a political uproar at home. The reduction of Corby's sentence triggered a perception that the government had bowed to pressure from Australia.

INDONESIA STRIVES TO BE MALARIA-FREE BY 2030 by Fardah

     Jakarta, March 4, 2014 (Antara)- The Indonesian government has been working to become a malaria-free country by 2030, as part of the "Toward Malaria-Free Indonesia" program launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 1998.

         Malaria is caused by five species of parasites from the genus Plasmodium that affects humans. Plasmodium parasites are transmitted to humans by the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.

      Children under five years of age and pregnant women are most vulnerable to the effects of malaria, as their immune systems are less able to fight the infection.