INDONESIA TO COMMEMORATE ASIA-AFRICA CONFERENCE TO REVIVE BANDUNG DECLARATION by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 29, 2015 (Antara) - Some 109 world leaders and representatives of 25 international organizations will attend the 60th Asia-Africa Conference (AAC) and the 10th New Asian African Strategic Partnership (NAASP) in Jakarta and Bandung on April 19-24, 2015.

         "'Strengthening Cooperation' is the theme for this special commemoration," Foreign Affairs Minister Retno LP Marsudi told the press after attending a coordinating meeting on the upcoming event at the presidential palace on January 9.

         Indonesia will invite 109 heads of states and representatives of 25 international organizations, as well as the UN Secretary-General, to the commemoration events.    

INDONESIA, CHINA TO INTENSIFY SUSTAINABLE TRADE by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 28, 2015 (Antara) - China has considered Indonesia to be a good friend, good neighbor, and good partner (3Gs) that plays a strong role in the region.

           China, one of the world's economic engines, hoped that Indonesia will become its largest trade partner in the Southeast Asian region, moving up from its fourth rank after Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fu Ying, informed Indonesian journalists in Beijing, in 2012.

        Indeed, since the two nations declared a strategic partnership in Jakarta in 2005, China and Indonesia have been witnessing rapid growth in bilateral trade and economic ties.

        The commitment was reaffirmed during the first high-level economic dialog between the two countries held in Beijing, on January 26, 2015, which is expected to serve as a forum to further strengthen economic relations between the two nations.

JAKARTA BRACES FOR FLOODS PREDICTED TO PEAK IN FEBRUARY by Fardah

    Jakarta, Jan 27, 2015 (Antara) - The Jakarta authorities have been working hard to make sure it is ready to handle floods forecast to occur during the peak of the rainy season in February 2015.

        Serious preparations are crucial because Jakarta is notorious for flooding during rainy season. The capital city  having population of some 10 million, is often paralyzed by floods.

       "We have made various preparations, such as the recovery of water pumps, and strengthening of river embankments on the northern coast, including in Kelapa Gading and Sunter," Saefullah, the
Jakarta administration secretary, stated on Jan 27, 2015.

INDONESIA HOPES TO LURE TWO MILLION CHINESE TOURISTS IN 2015 by Fardah

   Jakarta, Jan 25, 2015 (Antara)-  Almost one million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia last year, and for this year, Indonesia has set a target to double the number of Chinese visitors.

         China is currently the fourth largest tourism source country for Indonesia, by contributing a total of 883,725 Chinese tourists between January and November 2014. The first largest tourism source country is Singapore (1.32 million), followed by Malaysia (1.12 million), and Australia (996,032).

         "If our expectation in 2014 was to receive one million Chinese tourists, we are optimistic that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia will reach two million by the end of 2015," Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said recently.

         Minister Yahya made a Chinese tour on January 11-13, 2015, to promote Indonesian tourism, and held bilateral talks with the officials of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

PEOPLE COME OUT TO DEFEND KPK FOLLOWING ARREST OF ITS LEADER by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 24, 2015 (Antara) - The crocodile has returned and tried to attack the gecko once again, but this time, the gecko is not alone, for the people have voluntarily come to defend it.

        That is how people perceived it when they heard the breaking news about the arrest of Bambang Widjojanto, deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) by the National Police's Crime Investigation Department (Bareskrim) on January 23, 2015.

        Bambang Widjojanto was detained in Depok Street, Friday at 7.30 am while taking his child to school, for allegedly forcing a witness to provide a false testimony under oath during his tenure as a lawyer when he was handling a dispute regarding the regional head elections in West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, in 2010.

DPR REINSTATES PUBLIC'S DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS IN REGIONAL HEAD ELECTIONS by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 23, 2015 (Antara) - The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) has finally agreed to place the reins of democracy in the hands of the public by allowing them to once again elect regional heads directly in the local elections.

          Two government regulations in lieu of Law (Perppu) Number 1 of 2014 on regional head elections and Perppu Number 2 of 2014 on regional governments were passed into laws by the DPR during a plenary meeting held on Jan. 20, 2015.

          The two Perppus were introduced by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono just before his term ended in October 2014, to annul Law Number 22 of 2014 on the election of provincial governors, district heads, and city mayors by the regional legislative assemblies rather than directly by the public.

INDONESIA TO INTENSIFY TOURISM PROMOTION TO LURE MORE TOURISTS by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 21, 2015 (Antara) - The Indonesian Government plans to boost tourism promotion, provide visa-free facilities, and ease permits in a bid to attract more tourists in 2015.

       The plan is in line with a directive issued by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who has voiced the need to revamp existing tourist attractions and to intensify promotional activities.

        "We have a huge tourism potential, but the number of tourists is only seven million. This figure is very small as compared to those of neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand," President Jokowi stated recently.

        Tourism Minister Arief Yahya has set a target to achieve US$12.05 billion in foreign exchange earnings from tourism by the end of 2015.

INDONESIA DECLARES STATE OF DRUG EMERGENCY, SHOWS NO MERCY by Fardah

    Jakarta, Jan 20, 2015 (Antara) - The recent execution of six drug offenders by the Indonesian authorities has triggered criticism from a number of countries, particularly the Brazilian and Dutch governments whose citizens were among the inmates facing a firing squad.

        The six drug convicts, including five foreigners, were executed early on January 18 morning, after their demand for clemency was rejected by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

        The five foreigners were respectively Dutch citizen Ang Kim Soei, 62, Malawian Namaona Denis, 48, Brazilian national Marco Archer Cardoso Mareira, 53, Nigerian Daniel Enemua, 38, and Vietnamese national Tran Thi Bich Hanh 37.

        Following the execution, Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia to demonstrate their protest.

INDONESIA SAYS DRUG-RELATED DEATH PENALTY CRUCIAL FOR NATIONAL SURVIVAL by Fardah

 Jakarta, Jan 19, 2015 (Antara) - Every day, some 30-40 people, mostly youngsters, die due to illicit drugs in Indonesia, which has seen the number of drug users on the rise, particularly among juveniles.

         At least 4.5 million Indonesians are drug addicts, and around 70 percent of them is the younger generation. Of the number, 1.2 million users could not be rehabilitated due to their dire conditions.

         "Most of drug addicts are students and other members of the  younger generation. They constitute 75 percent of the total number of drug addicts, which is 4.5 million people throughout Indonesia,"  Adjunct Senior Commissioner Maria Sorlury of the National Anti-Narcotic Agency (BNN) said last year.

        Given this alarming trend, the government has determined to impose capital penalty on drug offenders.

FLOODS BADLY AFFECT PARTS OF INDONESIA DURING CURRENT RAINY SEASON by Fardah

Jakarta, Jan 17 , 2015(Antara) - Ninety-nine percent of the natural disasters hitting Indonesia in 2014 were hydro-meteorological in nature -- floods, landslides, and whirlwinds.

        The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recently released data showing that 496 instances of whirlwinds,  458 floods, and 413 landslides affected Indonesia last year.

        The disasters claimed the lives of 355 people and forced 1.7 million to be evacuated. They also left 25,000 destructed houses in their wake.

        Currently, a number of provinces are experiencing flooding and landslides since the rainy season peaks between January and February.     

INDONESIAN GOVT BOOSTS DEPLOYMENT IN POSO TO HUNT TERROR SUSPECTS By Fardah

     Jakarta, Jan 17,2015 (Antara) - Following the central government's directive to crush "Islamic State members" in Indonesia, hundreds of military and police personnel are currently combing the mountainous area of Poso in Central Sulawesi, to catch armed civilians hiding there.

          Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo had stated earlier that the government with the help of Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) intends to nab the Islamic State (IS) members,  who have entered Poso.

         The IS was formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.

         "President Jokowi's instruction is to sweep clean, for which all the TNI forces have been deployed. How come (we have done) nothing against them for the last decade? Starting next month, we are going to the field and crushing (them)," Minister Kumolo had said in Papua in late December 2014.

          He added that his Ministry had traced 100 foreign fighters from the IS, who have entered Poso.

INDONESIANS URGED NOT TO BE PROVOKED BY CHARLIE HEBDO by Fardah

    Jakarta, Jan 16, 2015 (Antara) - French weekly Charlie Hebdo's decision to publish more cartoons of Prophet Mohammed despite an attack on its Paris office that killed 12 people has been viewed by many Muslim leaders as provocative and foolish.

         The leaders, however, urged Muslims not to get provoked and respond to it wisely by refraining from anarchic acts.

         Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said press freedom should respect other people's beliefs, including Islam that bans any kind of pictorial depiction of Prophet Muhmmad.

         The minister told the Indonesian Muslims not to be provoked by the magazine that often ridicules Islam.

INDONESIA JOINS GLOBAL OUTRAGE AGAINST PARIS ATTACK by Fardah

    Jakarta, Jan 9, 2015 (Antara) - The Indonesian government, legislators, and ulemas have joined global outrage against Wednesday's (Jan 7) deadly attack on the Paris office of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people, including its editor and cartoonists.

         "Indonesia strongly condemns the attack. Our deepest condolences go to the families of the victims," Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said when delivering her first annual press statement in Jakarta on January 8, 2015.

          The Indonesian government never condones any kind of violence and will support the French government's efforts to arrest and bring the perpetrators to justice, the minister stated.

HUNT FOR MISSING FUSELAGE OF AIRASIA FLIGHT INTENSIFIED By Fardah

  Jakarta, Jan 6, 2015 (Antara) -- Authorities are intensifying efforts to track down the fuselage and black box of AirAsia flight QZ8501 before the plane's "pinger" exhausts after some 30 days.  
    On the tenth day of the search, a joint team led by the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) deployed all forces and equipment needed for the mission, Basarnas Chief Vice Marshal F. Henry Bambang Soelistyo said in a press conference on January 6.

         At 6.05 a. m. local time on Tuesday (January 6), a number of divers began the search under the sea to look for the plane's fuselage, where more than 100 bodies are believed to be trapped.

         "Our priority is to dive into the search area we predicted is the location of the fuselage of the aircraft," Soelistyo stated recently.  

WORLD LEADERS OFFER CONDOLENCES TO PRESIDENT JOKOWI OVER AIRASIA CRASH by Fardah

     Jakarta, Jan 1, 2015 (Antara) - Following the discovery of bodies and debris of AirAsia flight QZ8501 in Java Sea, several world leaders, including from Malaysia, Iran, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and Russia, have offered condolences to Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

         The Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control over the Java Sea early Sunday (Dec. 28) morning, shortly after taking off from Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, East Java province, en route to Singapore.

         The ill-fated plane had 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, a Malaysian, a Singaporean, a British, and a French national on board.

         "The government representing all Malaysians expresses its sadness and condolences to the families of the victims of the tragedy, although some have yet to be found," Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.