News Feature - Turning Indonesia Into "Fortress" of "New World" by Fardah Assegaf

  Jakarta, May 9, 2009 (ANTARA) - It was the land of the Aborigines who are believed to have migrated from some unknown point in Asia to Australia 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

          Later some European explorers and traders including from the Netherlands charted the coastline of Australia which they named  New Holland beginning in the 1600s, until eventually  Captain James Cook of Britain claimed the continent for the British Crown in 1770.

World Soon To Watch Ocean Conference in Manado by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 25, 2009 (ANTARA) -  Manado, a pleasant city with a population of over 417,000,  will be in the international spotlight  during the upcoming World Ocean Conference(WOC) and Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit to be held May 11-15, 2009.    
      About 2,900 participants from 121 countries are expected to take part in the WOC, the CTI Summit, and associated events. They will stay among other things in  18 star-rated hotels and 24 non-star hotels.

INDONESIA'S 2009 POLLS, A GAMBLE FOR CANDIDATES, VOTERS ALIKE by Fardah

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Effective Coordinated Patrols of Malacca Strait To Broaden Membership by Fardah Assegaf

    Jakarta, March 7, 2009 (ANTARA) - Previously holder of a dubious title as the number one piracy hot spot, the Malacca Strait is currently being looked at as an example of a success story on how to protect security in the world's busiest sea lane.
     Late last year,  Efthimios Mitropoulos, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) expressed his optimism  that  his organization could take lessons from the reduced piracy and robbery in the Malacca Strait  to  the Gulf of Aden which lies between Somalia and Yemen and has witnessed increasing  number of piracies in the recent year.

Feature - DESPERATE WILD SUMATRAN ANIMALS KILL PEOPLE TO DEFEND THEMSELVES by Fardah Assegaf

    Jakarta, Mar 5, 2009 (ANTARA) - In desperate need of living space, endangered Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris Sumatrae) again killed several people in inhabited parts of Sumatra Island's interior lately.
     The latest attack happened at Balai Makam village, Bengkalis District, Riau Province, on Wednesday (Mar 4) at dawn when wild Sumatran  elephants killed Jalinus (83), a local villager, in a horrifying way.

ROHINGYA REFUGEES' PLIGHT NOW IN INT'L SPOTLIGHT

By Fardah Assegaf
     Jakarta, Feb. 9, 2009 (ANTARA) - Weakened , starved and emaciated by their ordeals at sea,  Rohingya refugees in Indonesia's western most province of Aceh and in Thailand might never have imagined that their plight would  come into the international spotlight. Now their unfortunate fate has attracted the attention of  among others Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda and famous Hollywood actress Angeline Jolie.
     Over the past one month, Aceh Province has received nearly 400 Rohingya refugees. Some 193 Rohingya boat people got stranded in Sabang, Aceh on January 7, 2008, and another 198 Rohingyas reached the coast of Aceh after 21 days at sea, with some of them in a critical condition on February 3, 2008.