INDONESIA, MALAYSIA, PHILIPPINES ENHANCE COOPERATION IN COUNTERTERRORISM by Fardah

 Jakarta, June 23, 2017 (Antara) - The neighboring countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have agreed to collaborate to address the common threats of terrorism and violent extremism confronting the region, as terrorism is an extraordinary crime that transcends borders.

        The nations are committed to effectively addressing existing and emerging transnational challenges and threats that have the potential to undermine the stability and well-being of countries in the region.

        The commitment was stated in a joint statement issued during the Trilateral Meeting on Security held in Manila on June 22, 2017, and attended by Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anifah Hj. Aman, and Filipino Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alan Peter S. Cayetano.

        During the meeting, the ministers raised concerns over the recent incidents of terrorism and violent extremism in their countries and reaffirmed their commitment to working together to jointly develop and implement counterterrorism measures and strategies.

        They deliberated and agreed to task their senior officials to consider the proposed plan of action, in the context of several measures and to report thereon at their next meeting.

        The measures include enhancing efforts and cooperation to address the root causes and underlying conditions of extremism, including those not limited to poverty, narcotics or illegal drugs, crime, and social injustice.

INDONESIA DECLARES WAR ON DRUGS, NEEDS TO PLUG SMUGGLING FROM MALAYSIA By Fardah

Jakarta, April 16, 2016 (Antara) - The Indonesian government has declared a war against drugs and the authorities have intensified security measures to thwart illicit drug smuggling into the country.  
    In the latest success, the Indonesian army personnel safeguarding the country's border with Malaysia managed to foil an attempt to smuggle two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine into the Panga Bintawa of Entikong check-point area, West Kalimantan Province, on April 13, 2016.

         "The Indonesian border security task force personnel have captured two suspects," the Chief of Rem 121/ABW military command Brig. Gen. Widodo Iryansyah said on April 14. 
    The suspects, identified as Ewd, 26, and Fb, 41, were questioned and confessed that the two kilograms of the crystal meth caught from them was smuggled from Tebedu, Malaysia, into Entikong.

        Furthermore, the Indonesian police disclosed that some 800 kilograms (kg) of crystal methamphetamine had been smuggled from Malaysia into Indonesia since 2012 by an international drug syndicate involving two Indonesian prisoners.

         Prisoner Ricky Gunawan alias Ricky Bom-bom is lodged in the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, while Anciong alias Karun is lodged in the Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary in Medan, North Sumatra.   

INDONESIA CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH MALAYSIA OVER MH17 TRAGEDY by Fardah

     Jakarta, July 23, 2014 (Antara) - Yuli Hastini, 44, was traveling home to Solo, with her Dutch husband, Johny Poulissen (47), and two children, Arjuna Marten Poulisse (5) and Srikandi Poulissen (3).

        They were going on the trip to enjoy Idul Fitri Holiday and, most importantly, to visit the grave of her mother who had died late last year while Yuli was away.

        Before her departure to Indonesia, Yuli had told her sister, Woro Pamiluti, via phone that she hoped to visit her mother's grave because she had not attended her funeral last year.

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.

INDONESIAN MIGRANT WORKERS EVACUATED AMIDST SABAH STANDOFF by Fardah

   Jakarta, March 5, 2013 (Antara) - A standoff between Malaysian security forces and armed Filipinos, which was initially considered as a bizarre incident, has continued since last month without a peaceful solution in sight so far.
    The Indonesian authorities have been following closely the incident which claimed at least 27 lives mostly the armed Filipinos in Sabah, because thousands of Indonesian workers are being employed mainly in oil palm plantations in the Malaysian state.

Year-ender - UPS AND DOWNS OF MALAYSIA-INDONESIA RELATIONS By Fardah

    Jakarta, Dec 26, 2012 (ANTARA) - Indonesia and its immediate neighbour, Malaysia, have maintained close relations, as reflected in increased political and economic cooperation between the two countries and regular meetings between their leaders.

    However, there have been some thorny issues between the two nations this year.

         Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited Kuala Lumpur on December 18 to attend the 9th Annual Bilateral Consultation with Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Najib Abdul Razak, where they reaffirmed their bilateral ties.

HABIBIE RESPONDS INSULT BY MALAYSIA'S EX-MINISTER WITH SMILE by Fardah

      Jakarta, Dec 16, 2012 (ANTARA)  - Former Indonesian president BJ Habibie's recent visit to Malaysia as an official guest of the Selangor State Government to deliver a speech on democracy, has angered a former Malaysian information minister.

         Following the visit, the ex-minister, Zainuddin Maidin, wrote an editorial in the Utusan Malaysia daily where he called Habibie a "traitor to his nation" and compared him to top Malaysian opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim. He also called them both "dogs of imperialism".  

INDONESIAN GOVT URGED TO PROTECT MIGRANT WORKERS By Fardah

   Jakarta, Nov 16, 2012 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government has been urged to offer better protection to the nation's migrant workers overseas, in the wake of two cases of alleged rape involving Indonesian female workers in Malaysia this month.

        The latest rape case occurred on November 9, when a 25-year-old Indonesian restaurant waitress from Central Java, identified as SM, claimed that she was gang-raped by three Malaysian Police officers at Perai police office, Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Penang State.

SLAIN MIGRANT WORKERS NOT FORGOTTEN ON MAY DAY by Fardah

       Jakarta, May 2, 2012 (ANTARA) - The three Indonesian migrant workers who died after being shot in their heads and chests by five Malaysian policemen in March 2012 were remembered by workers observing May Day on May 1.
       In the May Day rally in Jakarta, workers grouped under the Indonesian Workers Council expressed their condolences over the shooting of the three workers by the Malaysian police.

GOVT CRITICIZED FOR BEING TOO SOFT IN HANDLING BORDER INCIDENT by Fardah

Jakarta, Aug 23, 2010 (ANTARA) - Being kind to neighbors is a noble deed but when it concerns national sovereignty, dignity is at stake and firm action seems to be valued more.

At least that was the lesson learned from the recent border incident between Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Indonesian government recently sent a protest note to Malaysia about the incident that happened last August 13, when three Marine and Fisheries Ministry (DKP) officers based in Riau Islands Province were detained and taken to Malaysia by a Malaysian police boat crew.

NEIGHBORING MALAYSIA QUICK IN HELPING EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS By Fardah

     Jakarta, Oct. 10, 2009 (ANTARA) - You can love and fight your immediate neighbors but if you get into some trouble at home and shout for help, it is surely they who will be the first to hear and come to rescue you.

     That's what happened in December 2004 when Aceh and Nias Island, both in the northern part of Sumatra Island, were engulfed by a gigantic tsunami, and more recently, on September 30, 2009, when a magnitude-7.6 eartquake devastated West Sumatra.

Yudhoyono To Visit KL Amidst "Cultural Dispute" by Fardah

       Jakarta, Sept. 12, 2009 (ANTARA) - As immediate neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia  often have a love-hate relationship as demonstrated by their ongoing territorial and 'cultural' disputes.        Indonesia and Malaysia have so far been negotiating on their overlapping claims to the oil-rich  Ambalat Block in East Kalimantan waters.  
   Recently, tens of Balinese artists in Denpasar staged a demonstration protesting a Malaysian tourism advertisement featuring the Balinese 'pendet' dance.  

PRESIDEN MENGERTI PENJELASAN MALAYSIA TENTANG TAYANGAN PERISTIWA DILI

     Tokyo, 27/9/1992 (ANTARA) - Mensesneg Moerdiono mengatakan Presiden Soeharto mengerti penjelasan pihak Malaysia tentang penayangan peristiwa Dili di RTM (radio dan televisi Malaysia) bahwa hal itu sama sekali bukan kebijaksanaan Malaysia melainkan kecerobohan RTM.
        Mensesneg Moerdiono mengatakan itu kepada wartawan di atas pesawat khusus MD-11 Garuda Indonesia yang membawa rombongan Kepala Negara dari New York ke Tokyo, Minggu sore.