WHILE PARLIAMENT GOES INTO RECESS, CONTROVERSY ON NEW BUILDING PROJECT DRAGS ON By Fardah

        Jakarta, April 9, 2011 (ANTARA) - Indonesian lawmakers might be relaxing right now as the House of Representatives (DPR) as of Saturday (April 9) has gone into recess amidst a controversy regarding their plan to construct a 36-story new parliament building.
        In a consultative meeting held on Thursday (April 7), the DPR decided to go ahead with the plan to construct the new tower despite objections from some factions, and more importantly from a number of NGOs and ordinary people.

RI ENTERS 2011 CAUTIOUS OVER NATURAL DISASTERS by Fardah

       Jakarta, Jan 5, 2011 (ANTARA) - Less than a week into the new year of 2011, floods have been reported happening in several cities in Indonesia claiming a four-year old girl`s life in Madura, East Java.
      Four fishermen were drowned in a climate-related sea accident in Jepara waters, Central Java, last Tuesday (Jan 4), two of them were found dead, and the two others were still missing.

Year-ender: PRODUCTIVE YEAR IN INDONESIA- PALESTINE TIES By Fardah

       Jakarta, Dec 27, 2010 (ANTARA) - Since the signing of several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) by Indonesia and Palestine on concrete cooperation in October 2007, a number of training programs have been organized for Palestinians in Indonesia.
        Indonesia, as a staunch supporter of the Palestine people`s struggle , has been translating its support into action by trying to train Palestinians in various sectors as part of its capacity building assistance.
      "As preparations for a Palestinian state, Palestine needs to learn how to build institutions, and the most important part in this case is preparing human resources," Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdawi said in an interview with ANTARA here recently.

STAGNATION IN CORRUPTION ERADICATION EFFORTS By Fardah

       Jakarta, Dec 22, 2010 (ANTARA) - Despite the country`s efforts to fight corruption and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s commitment to eradicating graft , there appears to have been no significant downturn in corruption during the past year.
       According to Transparency International`s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2010, issued last October, Indonesia`s score remained 2.8 on a scale of 10, the same as last year.
       Among a total of 178 countries rated, Indonesia was in 110th place while in 2009 it ranked 111th among 180 countries.

Indonesian migrant workers continue to face ordeals by Fardah

    Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Over four million Indonesians have become migrant workers (TKI) overseas particularly in Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.
    Bank Indonesia (BI) has recorded that per September 2010, Indonesian migrant workers` remittances totaled 5.03 billion US dollars, up 2.44 percent from 4.91 billion US dollars in the same period last year.
     Difi A Djohansyah, a spokesman of the central bank, said in Jakarta recently that per September 2010, Indonesia sent 427,000 workers abroad, down 12 percent from 479,000 workers in the same period in 2009.
     With the additional workers, the total number of Indonesian workers abroad in September 2010 reached 4.32 million people.  Poverty and inadequate numbers of jobs in the country are among factors which have forced them to work overseas.

Year-ender: POLEMICS ON YOGYAKARTA'S SPECIAL STATUS DRAGS ON By Fardah

    Jakarta, Dec 15, 2010 (ANTARA) - Not long after being  hit by Mount Merapi's eruption,  Yogyakarta, a former sultanate given special region status since the country's independence  in 1945, is currently undergoing another ordeal but this time socio-political in nature.

           A government-proposed Bill on the Special Status of Yogyakarta has caused Yogyakarta's people to react strongly against the government's intention in the Bill  to revoke  the rights of Yogyakarta's Sultan to be automatically appointed as the province's governor.