INDONESIA TO JOIN GLOBAL EFFORTS TO QUELL EBOLA CRISIS by Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 30, 2014 (Antara) - Although no Ebola case has been reported in Indonesia so far, the country has been cautious and has adopted all the necessary measures to prevent the infection from spreading in the country.

         Preventive measures are crucial as some 200 thousand Indonesians Muslims are visiting Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage, which is also observed by millions of Muslims from across the world, including from Africa, which is being hit by the Ebola outbreak.

        Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Iyad Ameen Madani, during his meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Bali, in August 2014, requested Indonesia to hold a meeting of the OIC member countries' health ministers to discuss the ongoing Ebola crisis. Indonesia is currently the chair of the OIC Health Ministers High Level Meeting.

GOVT VOWS FOR RETURN OF DIRECT REGIONAL HEAD ELECTIONS by Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 30, 2014 (Antara) - Some parties have challenged a decision of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) to endorse  a bill on indirect regional head elections, taken in a voting.
         After a long debate and voting, the DPR passed a bill on regional head elections which stipulates that regional heads - governors, mayors and district heads, are elected by the Regional Legislative Assembly (DPRD), or indirect elections, in contrast to direct elections by the public that had been held over the past decade.
         "The result of voting showed that 135 DPR members voted for direct regional head election and 361 voted against it," Deputy Chairman of the DPR Priyo Budi Santoso who chaired the prolonged plenary session, said at the wee hours on September 26, 2014.

INDONESIA, PORTUGAL VOW TO BOOST ECONOMIC TIES, PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE CONTACT by Fardah

 Jakarta, Sept 29, 2014 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a historical visit to Portugal on September 18-20, 2014, less than a month before he ends his term in office after leading Indonesia for a decade.

        "Both countries have established new ties and found the spirit to further strengthen their cooperation," President Yudhoyono said in Lisbon.

        He observed that the bilateral ties between Indonesia and Portugal are "growing stronger," particularly after Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva's Indonesian tour in 2012.

         President Silva praised Indonesia for holding an important position among the global communities.

YUDHOYONO ADMINISTRATION TURNS INDONESIA INTO ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS COUNTRY by Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 27, 2014 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was once described as a "different kind of leader" by the President of the World Resource Institute (WRI), Andrew Steer.

         Steer had spent eight years in Indonesia and seen firsthand how the country had approached its economic and environmental challenges.

         "We live in perilous times," Steer said. "We need innovative and out-of-the-box thinking. Today, we have a leader who is an out-of-the-box thinker."
    Steer had made the statement while presenting Yudhoyono with the first-ever "Valuing Nature Award" in New York in September 2012.

LEADING INT'L POSITIONS WAITING FOR YUDHOYONO by Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 27, 2014 (Antara) - Last year, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was considering opening a fried rice restaurant or becoming a chili farmer after his presidential tenure ends in October 2014.

       "I and Madame Ani, my beloved wife, often discuss this matter," he told the Indonesian press in Budapest on March 7, 2013.

        "I even thought of opening a fried rice restaurant. Suddenly, two weeks later, I had an idea to plant chili, instead," he said when visiting Hungary.

        And now, with less than one month before he will end his second term after leading the country for a decade, he has been offered leading positions at important international bodies, including the United Nations.

        "It is true that the UN offered President Yudhoyono a position, as the end of his term nears, in recognition of his performance during his time in office," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said recently.

INDONESIA STRIVES TO PRESERVE LOCAL LANGUAGES by Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 25, 2014 (Antara) - Having a population of 253 million, more than 1000 ethnic and sub ethnic groups, Indonesia is linguistically a very diverse country, with a single national language - Bahasa Indonesia, and some 746 local languages.

         According to the the National Language Center at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia has more than 746 ethnic languages across the country.

         The ethnic languages in Indonesia belong to both the Austronesian or Malay language families, and non-Austronesian or Trans New Guinean language families.

LEGAL ENFORCEMENT, PREVENTIVE MEASURES NECESSARY TO TACKLE FOREST FIRE PROBLEM by Fardah

     Jakarta, Sept 25 (Antara) - Indonesia faces a perennial annual problem of forest and plantation fires, and this year, they started as early as February in comparison to the previous years when they usually occurred in the June-October dry season.

        Wild fires have been viewed as humanitarian and environmental disasters since they destroy the flora and fauna, while the haze emanating from them paralyzes transportation, affects businesses, prevents children from attending schools, hinders education, and takes a toll on the public health at large.

         Recently, some 1,236 hotspots of forest and plantation fires were detected in the six provinces of South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Sumatra, Riau, and Jambi, spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho informed the press on Sept. 19, 2014.

TEAM EXPECTED TO BE FAIR TO BOTH PRO-INDONESIA, TIMOR LESTE FIGHTERS by Fardah

 Jakarta, Sept 18, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia and its neighbor, Timor Leste, the world's smallest nation, have committed to overcoming the past and to strengthen bilateral relations in various fields, particularly the development sector.  
    "Both governments are strongly committed and eager to overcome issues from the past and build a better future," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said when visiting Dili, Timor Leste's capital, in August 2014.

          A key to maintaining good ties is mutual respect, according to President Yudhoyono, who had twice visited Timor Leste during his administration. The first visit was in May 2002.  

INDONESIA LOOKING FOR BEST OPTIONS FOR REGIONAL HEAD ELECTIONS by Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 18, 2014 (Antara) - A controversy over a Bill being discussed in Parliament suggesting indirect elections of governors, district heads and mayors, is raging in Indonesia.

        The country has been conducting direct elections of president, legislators, and regional heads since 2004. During 1999-2004, the nation carried out indirect elections of regional heads through the Regional Legislative Elections (DPRD).

        Members of the country's political parties are at present divided between those who support reverting to the old system of indirect elections by DPRD and those who want to maintain direct regional head elections (Pilkada).

INDONESIA URGED TO PROTECT YOUNGER GENERATION FROM ILL-EFFECTS OF TOBACCO by Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 15, 2014 (Antara) - Some 73,956,480 people died of tobacco-related diseases since the first Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) working group was formed on October 28, 1999, according to the Death Clock, which keeps track of tobacco-related deaths.

        The first meeting of the working group on the future World Health Organization (WHO) FCTC was held on October 28, 1999.

        The WHO FCTC is the world's first modern-day global public health treaty. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003, and it came into effect on February 27, 2005.

ARREST OF FOREIGN TERROR SUSPECTS PROMPTS INDONESIA TO TIGHTEN SECURITY by Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 15, 2014 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has announced rejection of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in the country and arrested local terror suspects who have declared their supports to the foreign group.

        Recently, two alleged ISIS supporters were arrested by Depok Resort Police Office in Beji Sub-district, Depok District, West Java Province.

          Firman Hidayat (36) and his father, Muhammad Firdaus (60), both Indonesians, were detained following a tip-off from a witness who saw an ISIS flag on a wall of their house, spokesperson of Jakarta's Police Office (Polda Metro Jaya) Senior Commissioner Rikwanto told the press on August 22, 2014.

JOKOWI AND PRABOWO, RECONCILE OR NOT TO RECONCILE By Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 13, 2014 (Antara) - There is no doubt that the July 2014 presidential election was the most closely contested in Indonesia's history with two pairs of candidates - Prabowo Subianto and Joko "Jokowi" Widodo - going head to head.

        Emotions were flying high, not only for presidential candidates' campaigners, but also volunteers and supporters who battled fiercely on the Internet to win votes for their respective candidates.

         The public had believed that once the campaigning period ended and they headed to polling stations across the country to cast their votes on July 9, 2014, the tension would ease and their normal life would return.

INDONESIA BRACES FOR FOREST FIRES AS HOTSPOTS EMERGE IN 15 PROVINCES by Fardah

  Jakarta, Sept 13, 2014 (Antara) - The ongoing drought hitting some parts of Indonesia have triggered the spreading of hotspots of forest and plantation fires in 15 provinces across the country.

         The 15 provinces affected by hotspots include East Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, South Sumatra, East Java, Riau, Aceh, Lampung, and Bali, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

MP3EI, EXTRAORDINARY PROGRAM TO BOOST EQUITABLE, BALANCED ECONOMIC GROWTH by Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 12, 2014 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, as the leader of a growing economic nation, has frequently promoted the need to achieve economic growth in equity.

          "It is clear from our deliberations that our ultimate goal of the post-2015 Development Agenda is to end world poverty and to improve the well-being of our citizens," the president said in New York, September 2012.

         He believed that an optimal balance should exist among economic growth, social equality, and environmental sustainability.

MANADO-DAVAO-RAJA AMPAT CONNECTIVITY EXPECTED TO BOOST TOURISM AND BUSINESS by Fardah

  Jakarta, Sept 11, 2014 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has encouraged domestic airlines to serve on the flight route connecting the scenic locations of Davao in Mindanao, Philippines, and Indonesia's Manado in North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat District in West Papua.

        The flight route is expected to boost the tourism industry, particularly in North Sulawesi and West Papua, Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan recently stated.    

INDONESIA SEES KAZAKHSTAN AS GATEWAY TO CENTRAL ASIA by Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 10, 2014 (Antara) - Despite huge geographical distance, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have a lot in common as both countries have a moderate Muslim majority, rich cultural diversity and abundant natural resources.

         Indonesia and Kazakhstan established diplomatic relations about 21 years ago following Indonesia's recognition of the proclamation of independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan on December 16, 1991.

         Since then, the two countries' top officials have exchanged many visits. The then President, Soeharto, paid a state visit to Almaty in April 1995, reciprocated by a state visit from President Nursultan Nazarbayev to Jakarta just over three months later, wrote Foster Gultom, Indonesian ambassador to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, in the Jakarta Post in an article in 2013.

INDONESIA, SINGAPORE SET NEW MILESTONE IN BILATERAL TIES by Fardah

 Jakarta, Sept 4 , 2014(Antara) - As immediate neighbors, Indonesia and Singapore fully realize that it is crucial to agree on border lines that geographically separating them, to prevent unnecessary territorial claim in the future.

        Before his tenure ends on October 20, 2014, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid a three-day state visit to Singapore, from September 2 to 4, 2013, at the invitation of Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S CADRE NAMED SUSPECT BY ANTI-GRAFT BODY By Fardah

    Jakarta, Sept 5, 2014   (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reportedly shocked over the naming of Jero Wacik (JW), senior cadre of the Democratic Party (PD), as a suspect in a graft case by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

        JW, who is concurrently the energy and mineral resources minister, was named a suspect in a corruption case of allegedly misusing his position as minister to extort money worth Rp9.9 billion from various sources during the period 2011-2012.

        His fate might follow those of other prominent PD cadres, including Andi Mallarangeng, Anas Urbaningrum, Angelina Sondakh, and Nazarudin, who have ended up in the KPK's prison.

BALI OPTIMISTIC OF ACHIEVING 3.5 MILLION TOURIST TARGET by Fardah

 Jakarta, Sept 4, 2014 (Antara) - Bali, one of the world's most famous tourist destinations, has set a target of attracting at least 3.5 million foreign tourists, or a 10 percent increase, in 2014 from last year's target of 3.18 million.

       Some tourism stakeholders in Bali are optimistic that the target, which was set based on certain considerations, including national security, sanitation, traffic, and services, could be achieved.