BENGKULU PROMOTES GIANT RAFFLESIA FLOWERS TO ATTRACT TOURISTS by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 10, 2014 (Antara) - Bengkulu Province is one of few habitats of the world's rarest gigantic Rafflesia species that are  found only in southeastern Asian forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

         Rafflesia is the official flower of Indonesia's Bengkulu province, Sabah state in Malaysia, and also Surat Thani Province in Thailand.

         The Bengkulu administration is currently making a map of the Rafflesia habitats in the province and promoting the flower species to attract more tourists.  Four species of Rafflesia exist in Bengkulu forests. They are Rafflesia arnoldii, gadutensis, hasselti, and bengkuluensis.

INDONESIA'S PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS RUN PEACEFULLY, PDIP LIKELY TO LEAD by Fardah

     Jakarta, April 9, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia's parliamentary elections, the largest and most complicated single-day poll in the world, were peaceful on Wednesday, as the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) took an early lead in the voting.

         More than 185.8 million voters spread across thousands of islands, which stretch some 4,800 km from east to west, were registered to vote in over than 545 thousand pooling stations during the elections, in the world's third largest democracy, following India and the United States.

DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTION SUPPLIES IN PAPUA CHALLENGING by Fardah

     Jakarta, April 8, 2014 (Antara) - Some 185.8 million out of Indonesia's population of about 240 million will go to polling stations to cast their votes for the legislative elections across Indonesia on April 9, 2014.

         Distribution of election materials, such as ballot papers, ballot boxes and ink, is a challenge for the world's largest archipelago consisting of thousands of islands.

        Election officers, with the assistance of the Indonesian military personnel, had used air, water and land transportation to deliver the supplies as the General Elections Commission (KPU) had set the deadline of April 8 as the date by which all materials must arrive in polling stations.

GARUDA INDONESIA SETS AMBITIOUS TARGET IN 2014 by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 3, 2014 (Antara) -  Having a population of around 245 million people and comprising about 1,300 islands stretching from Sabang to Merauke, Indonesia was a very promising market for the airline industry.

         "The market potential that had not yet been exploited was large," National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia's President Director Emirsyah Satar stated in Jakarta on April 2, 2014.

         Indonesia's air traffic passengers rose to 94.9 million last year or 39 percent of the total population of the country, which was 244.5 million.

SAIL RAJA AMPAT EXPECTED TO ACCELERATE DEVELOPMENT IN PAPUA By Fardah

    Jakarta, April 2, 2014 (Antara) - "Don't die before going to Raja Ampat islands," West Papua Governor Abraham Octavianus Aturury said when promoting Sail Raja Ampat before a number of foreign ambassadors and diplomats in Jakarta recently.

         Raja Ampat is recognized as the most beautiful diving site in the world, and it was extraordinarily rich in marine flora and fauna.  
    It has 1,320 fish species; 75 percent of the world's coral species, 10 times the number of corals in Caribbean; five species of rare turtles; 57 species of mantis shrimps; 13 species of marine mammals; and 27 species of rare fish.

INDONESIANS ENTHUSIASTICALLY PARTICIPATE IN EARLY VOTING OVERSEAS by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 1, 2014 (Antara) - Indonesia will organize parliamentary elections simultaneously throughout the  country on April 9, but its citizens overseas cast their ballots earlier, namely on March 30 to April 6, 2014.

        A number of Indonesians enthusiastically cast their votes for legislators in eight cities abroad on Sunday, March 30 and Monday, March 31. 
    On Sunday, early voting was organized in Beijing and Shanghai in China, Hong Kong, Copenhagen in Denmark, Santiago in Chile, and Brasilia in Brazil, while it was conducted on Monday in Kabul in Afghanistan and Quito in Ecuador.