Court took evidence of 'liar': Corby mum

22:50 AEST Fri May 27 2005

Schapelle Corby's mother has accused the Indonesian justice system of accepting the evidence of a "liar" to convict her daughter.

Corby, 27, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a Bali court for trying to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana into Indonesia.

Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, told the Nine network that she screamed at the judges after the verdict, saying they would never have another night's sleep.

"(I said) you bloody things, you bloody judges won't have another night's sleep," she said.

"Youse (sic) took a word of a bloody liar, one of you people, a customs officer. A liar.

"Our people, our witnesses swore on the bible to tell the truth and they did, but you take a word of one liar. They didn't use our witnesses at all.

Taken from Nine MSN News/AAP

Explanation of last 2 pictures

I put up the last two pictures to show the almost ironic clothing differences in Indonesia. Indonesia, being the world's most populous Muslim country, is often seen as being really strict. Apparently in the Qu'ran or something it says women shouldnt show off too much skin. But you can see all sort of fashion in Indo. The last pic (with the Miss Universe person) and the other competitors was to show the difference between conservative dressing and non-conservative dressing. It's sort of like it's world aparts.

I read somewhere that Turkey (also a very Islamic country) and the German contestant (who is also Muslim) are going to wear two piece swim suits.

In my opinion, people should be able to wear what they want to wear (as long as its appropriate) to things. But I guess its what is deemed appropriate is the thing that people argue about.

I remember my cousin telling me that at the swimming pool there was a Muslim girl who was a very good swimmer, and straight after she got out of the pool from doing her laps, her mum quickly covered her with a towel, and when the swimmer approached the pool the mum would cover her daughter as well. Which to me is kinda weird, but I guess it's the only way not to show off too much of your skin at the pool! When my cousin, my family and my auntie and uncle went to Busselton for Christmas one yr, we met this couple & their kid who were Indonesian and Muslim. It was a really hot day (as it always is on Christmas) and the male just took off most of his clothes and went for a swim, while the Muslim lady had to roll up her clothes so she wouldn't get wet. I felt so sorry for her cos it would've been so nice to have a proper dip in the ocean on such a sweltering hot day.

Miss Indonesia in her one piece swimsuit. Photo from Yahoo!/Associated Press

Islamic women (and men) protest that Miss Indonesia is showing off too much skin. Photo taken from Yahoo!/Associated Press

Some Australians are going to start boycotting going to Indonesia (Bali in particular) if Schapelle Corby is found guilty. Photo taken from Yahoo!/Associated Press

Indonesian conjoined twin girls separated in Singapore go off ventilators, feeding tubes

SINGAPORE (Agencies) - Two 15-month-old Indonesian twin girls formerly fused at the stomach and hips are breathing without ventilators and being fed orally, two days after surgery to separate them, doctors said on Monday.

Previously conjoined twins Anggi and Anjeli were separated in marathon 10-hour surgery involving 16 doctors at Singapore's Gleneagles Hospital on Saturday.

The twins were born fused at the stomach and hip, and they had three legs. Following the surgery, the girls have one leg each and will later be fitted with artificial limbs.

"The twins are very stable. Angeli has also been taken off the ventilator," said lead surgeon Dr. Tan Kai Chah in a statement on Monday. Her sister's ventilator was removed on Sunday.

"We have started to orally feed them water and glucose," Dr. Tan said in a brief statement.

Hospital officials said the discounted cost of the operation was 450,000 Singapore dollars (US$273,000), which was shouldered by an Indonesian sponsor.

Without the discount, it would have cost 700,000 dollars.

It was the third successful separation of conjoined twins in the wealthy city-state, which has emerged as a center for advanced medical operations in recent years.

Taken from The Jakarta Post

Asia tsunami quake stronger than first thought

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The earthquake that triggered Asia's deadly tsunami in December was more powerful than scientists originally estimated, according to new studies published in Friday's edition of Science.

"The Earth is still ringing like a bell today," nearly six months after the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, Roland Burgmann, professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, told the journal.

The quake generated a tsunami that killed about 300,000 people in states around the Indian Ocean.

"We've never been able to study earthquakes of this magnitude before, where a sizable portion of the Earth was distorted," said Burgmann, one of the authors of the study.

According to the study, researchers now believe the quake had a magnitude of 9.15. Initial measurements put the quake at 9.0 on the Richter scale, making it the fourth-largest quake since 1900.

Burgmann said adjustments in the earth's mantle could have triggered a magnitude 8.7 earthquake in the same area on March 28.

The quake also set records for the longest fault rupture and the longest duration of faulting, the researchers reported.

Burgmann and other scientists who studied data from the quake found it caused deformations of the earth's crust as far away as 2,800 miles -- five or six times the deformations caused by previous big quakes, the study said.

In another study published in Friday's edition of Science, Yale University professor Jeffrey Park said the quake's rupture moved giant slabs of rock a record distance, equivalent to moving from Florida to New England.

Park warned the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake would continue to affect the region for many years and could trigger more large quakes.

Taken from Yahoo! News/Reuters

Ignoring Indonesia

Despite worldly pretensions, the College ignores vast parts of the globe

Published on Friday, May 20, 2005
By Sahil Mahtani

A typical New England drizzle had me running along Oxford Street before I set foot inside the labyrinthine Museum of Comparative Zoology. The museum is quite a world unto itself, with its desolate corridors, dusty books, and distressing posters of magnified frogs. Wandering, I soon found the Professor of Icthyology, who bid me into his office, where I was to sit my Indonesian language placement exam.
Despite blustering worldly pretensions, Harvard University does not teach the language nor culture of the world’s fourth most populous nation: Indonesia. Search the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Courses of Instruction and you emerge with three courses marginally related to the country—and not even one for the Indonesian language. We teach Bretton and Sumerian, Old Church Slavonic, and Pali— but have omitted Bengali, Javanese, Telugu, and Indonesian—which combined, are spoken by a total of 480 million people around the world. Though it’s true that Indonesia is an archipelago, we’re in trouble if the only Indonesian-speaking professor at this University is one whose specialty is fish.

This argument travels well beyond Cambridge. Since Sept. 11, it is fair to say that many Americans have appreciated their crisis in eastern-literacy—hence the national enrollment spike in Arab language courses. But note that this upsurge only stood at 11,000 students as of 2002, and crucially, such interest does not seem to have extended to other substantial areas of the Muslim world, such as Pakistan and Indonesia.

Which is a pity, because Indonesia has four characteristics that make it one of a kind: it is a secular and moderate democracy, as well as the largest Muslim country on earth. All this should make it America’s new best friend in our color-coded terror era, for the country stands on America’s side of the church-state divide, and is a prime example of Islam’s potential to adapt to the 21st century. A stronger relationship with Indonesia would send the most powerful message yet to the silent, global, Muslim majority that America has distinguished between Islam and Islamism, and stands in solidarity behind the former. This ought to be a small step towards the long-term goal of alleviating rampant anti-Americanism across the globe.

But this is all stargazing unless there is increased scholastic activity within the United States itself. Currently, there are only three universities in America that teach Indonesian literature—and Harvard is not among them. Of over 3,500 American universities, there are fewer than 20 that teach the Indonesian language. Increased diplomatic contact does not arise in a vacuum—it requires strong domestic advocates. This already exists in Indonesia—a better relationship with the last superpower has obvious, tangible benefits. In America, such contact can most easily start in our universities, with their significant base of curiosity and knowledge of the outside world. To this end, Harvard’s East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department, or even the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences ought to hire a preceptor to teach Indonesian—just one. That is all it takes; cultural understanding can arise when we begin to speak the same language.

The vast resources of this University have not extended to disseminating the culture of a nation of 240 million people—a nation quite nearly the size of the United States. This is unfortunate, and also unnecessary, considering how much we stand to benefit. But mostly, this is just shameful, since such a program exists at a certain other contemptible university—in New Haven.

Taken from The Harvard Crimson Online

Indonesia Quake Shook The Whole Earth

Last Updated: 5/19/2005 3:28:31 PM

New research finds the quake caused the ground everywhere in the world to move at least four-tenths of an inch.

Washington, DC -- Seismologists say the December earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami shook every inch of the Earth's surface.

Research published in the journal Science finds that the quake caused the ground everywhere in the world to move at least four-tenths of an inch. The researchers say the surface waves from the Sumatra quake triggered a swarm of 14 earthquakes in Alaska. And they say for weeks afterward, the planet would periodically tremble for 17 minutes at a time.

The magnitude of the quake is estimated at 9.1 TO 9.3 making it the strongest in 40 years. But 40 years ago, scientists worldwide didn't have the instruments to gather such comprehensive data.

The earthquake and resulting tsunami killed more than 176,000 people in eleven countries.

Associated Press (Taken from WMFY News)

Awww

This 11 month chimpanzee, Kito, at Taman Safari in Bogor, Wester Java is been taken care by zoo keeper Sri. Kito is being taken care at Taman Safari, a rehabilitation center, after his mother refused to take care of him. Aww, poor chimp.

(AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, taken from Yahoo! News Photo)

Indonesia willing to transfer beauty student prisoner to Australia

JAKARTA (AP): Indonesia said on Wednesday it is willing to make a prisoner transfer deal with Australia, possibly paving the way for an Australian beauty student - on trial in Bali for drug smuggling - to serve her sentence in her own country if convicted.

On Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was discussing a transfer deal with Indonesian authorities.

A Bali court is expected to deliver a verdict in the case of Schapelle Corby on May 27.

Corby, 27, was arrested in Bali in October when airport authorities found 4.1 kilograms (9 pounds) of marijuana in her surfboard bag. Defense lawyers claim she was the unwitting victim of an Australian gang that used her luggage to transport marijuana on a domestic flight but failed to remove it before sheflew on to Indonesia.

Drug smuggling is punishable by death under Indonesian law, but prosecutors are seeking a life sentence in this case.

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said that he had not received a formal letter from Australia regarding a prisoner transfer, but that his government would consider it.

"In the practices of international relations, the handing over of convicts to their original country is not a strange thing," Hassan said. "We are open, but what is needed is an agreement on transfer of prisoners that is effective in general."

Downer has said his proposed prisoner transfer arrangement was not aimed specifically at Corby, because no verdict has yet been delivered in her case.

However, the government of Prime Minister John Howard has been under intense pressure to act Corby's behalf. The case has received massive media attention in Australia, where most respondents to television station polls saying they believe Corby is innocent. (**)

Taken from The Jakarta Post

indonesian flora & fauna

I was just reading something from Tourism Indonesia and I thought this was really fascinating.

"In Irian Jaya, though there are major areas of dense forest and swamp not unlike those of Sumatra and Kalimantan, the large mammals of Asia, such as the tiger, rhinoceros and elephant, are absent. Instead, a whole range of Australian-derived species occurs. These include wallabies, carnivorous mice (thought to be related to the extinct Tasmanian Wolf), bandicoots, flying possums like the Sugar Glider which uses the membrane stretched between its legs to glide from tree to tree, tree-kangaroos, which are quite at home in the branches but find walking difficult, and the Spiny Anteater, related to the Duck-billed Platypus, which lays a single egg and then carries the hatched young around in a marsupial pouch."

I'm pretty interested to see how a spiny ant eater is related to a platypus... wouldn't it be more related to an echidna??? i didnt even know that there was something like a tree kangaroo... would they be like koalas, but they jump from tree to tree?

Indonesian takes part in Miss Universe contest for first time in years

Sat May 14, 7:00 PM ET (Taken from Yahoo! News/AFP)

JAKARTA (AFP) - An Indonesian is taking part in the Miss Universe contest for the first time in years but she is toeing the line and promises to wear a one-piece swimsuit instead of a skimpy two-piece bikini, a report said.

The government of president Suharto banned Indonesians from participating in the Miss Universe pageant, arguing that such a contest was against the country's cultural values.

The autocrat resigned under pressure in 1998 after 32 years in power.

The ban was backed by conservative Muslim leaders who condemned the contest because it requires participants to show their bare skin.

Artika Sari Devi, who won the Miss Indonesia beauty pageant this year, was quoted by the Jakarta Post as saying that she planned to join the swimsuit session but with a more modest outfit.

"I will wear the one-piece swimsuit instead of the skimpy two-piece one," she told the Post.

"It's a great opportunity to compete in such an international competition. Wish me luck," she said.

Another Miss Indonesia took part in the Miss Universe event in 1996 as an observer but drew fire at home.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country with some 90 percent of its 210 million people following Islam but magazines showing scantily-dressed women and pornographic video discs are widely available.

Indonesia Finds Bird Flu in Pigs

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian researchers have found a strain of bird flu in pigs on the densely populated island of Java, raising fears the virus could more easily spread to humans, the government and scientists said Saturday.

The scientist who made the discovery identified the strain found in the pigs as H5N1, the same version of the virus that has jumped from chickens to humans elsewhere in Southeast Asia, killing 36 in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four from Cambodia.

Until now, human infections have been traced to direct contact with infected poultry or poultry waste, and millions of chickens and other fowl have been slaughtered in attempts to stem the disease. But last fall, the World Health Organization urged scientists to examine other mammals, in particular pigs.

Pigs, which are genetically similar to people, often carry the human influenza virus. Experts worry that pigs infected with both bird flu and its human equivalent could act as a "mixing bowl," resulting in a more dangerous, mutant virus that might spread to people more easily - and then from person to person.

They fear that could fuel a devastating flu outbreak, vastly exceeding the current annual death toll from human influenza, which kills 500,000 to one million people around the world each year.

Last year, Chinese scientists announced they had found the virus in pigs. But some experts were skeptical, saying it was unclear whether the animals were truly infected or merely had traces on their skin or snouts.

C.A. Nidom, the university researcher who discovered the infection in pigs, said he had found the virus in the blood of 10 pigs out of 20 he checked. A laboratory in Tokyo conducted the tests, he said.

"I found it in the snout to begin with, but I was doubtful whether this meant they were truly infected," he said in a telephone interview. "So I then proved it by finding a matching strain in the blood."

Dr. Nana Supriatna, an expert at the Ministry of Agriculture, confirmed the discovery but declined to give any more details. He said officials were meeting Saturday to discuss the development.

Nidom said the samples were taken from pigs living 100 yards away from a chicken farm on Java island that was struck by bird flu last year. None of the pigs showed any signs of illnesses, he said.

"I was just curious to see how far this virus could go," said Nidom, who works at a state-run university in the Javanese city of Surabaya.

Indonesia has yet to report any case of humans contracting bird flu, but has reported scores of outbreaks at chicken farms around the sprawling archipelago. Java island is home to more than half of the country's 210 million people.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online. Taken from RedNova News

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Sumatra Island

Sat May 14, 2:31 AM ET (Taken from Yahoo! News/AP)

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A magnitude 6.9 undersea earthquake rocked Indonesia's Sumatra island on Saturday, triggering panic across a large swathe of the region.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said it was unlikely that the quake would trigger a tsunami.

The temblor was centered 31 miles southwest of the city of Padang on west Sumatra.

Frightened residents ran from their shaking houses in several cities on the island, said Budi Waluyo, a spokesman for the agency.

Temblors have been a daily occurrence in the region since a monster 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the region on Dec. 26 and triggered a tsunami, killing as many as 180,000 people in Indonesia and 10 others countries across the Indian Ocean.

Who is to blame for the culture of corruption in Indonesia?

By Indira Husin

My mother-in-law was holding up some fine lace fabric and a beautiful sarong when my husband and I visited her last week as part of our obligation after recently getting married.

The materials, apparently, were from the neighbor, a Navy General's wife, whose daughter was getting married in the near future.

For the wedding reception, the General wanted all of his closest neighbors to wear something nice and so he gave them some high-quality fabric to be made into matching dresses -- a bit too much like military conformity for my tastes.

Jokes then poured in, which were basically about how a Navy general, whose monthly salary should be no higher than Rp 5 million, can afford such a lavish wedding reception (in a grand ballroom at a fancy hotel with over 1,000 guests).

Our gossip extended to the General's obvious wealth: A house worth approximately Rp 1 billion, an apartment worth Rp 500 million nearby, fancy cars and a foreign education for his kids.

How on earth can a military man afford all of the luxury, we smirked, and then mentioned the "C" word to answer our own question.

At one point, however, I began getting really tired of such talk, which we, regular folks -- who are allegedly free from corruption -- discuss almost daily.

We complain about the entrenched corruption, collusion and nepotism in the country. We whine about how those things are the source of all the bad things that have happened in the country, and then blast the government for doing nothing to fix the situation.

I think that, one way or another, we also are responsible for the omnipresent and ongoing corruption in the country. We are all guilty of merely complaining, but never taking any action to stop it.

My mother-in-law gossiped away about the General, but still she accepted the lace finery without objection. Perhaps if she and the other neighbors refused to accept such gifts, or at least publicly shamed the family about the lavish party or any other ostentatious display of their wealth, they might feel embarrassed about it.

Then again, maybe they would not be embarrassed, but perhaps they would not be flaunting it in everybody's face so much.

I, too, admit guilt for my contribution in keeping corruption alive and well in this country.

I cut corners and pay scalpers to renew my ID card and driving license, or to buy concert tickets. I also bribed a public official to get my passport done quickly.

I have been itching to ask my cousin, who is the same age as I, about how he has been able to afford to buy a house in the middle of the city and a nice car -- on his civil servant salary.

But I have kept my mouth shut ever since that same cousin gave us a very large wad of cash as a wedding gift.

Worse still is when it comes to our parents' wealth, which none of us have ever dared to question, as we enjoy the comfortable lifestyle it affords.

I have never heard children of military officers, civil servants, diplomats or state-owned company employees -- the jobs said to be most prone to corruption -- refuse all the luxuries their parents provide them with.

So, the next time we want to complain about corruption, or shame people who are obviously involved in and/or benefiting from it, I think most of us need to look in the mirror first. Otherwise, it is best to just shut up because we are all guilty of seeing it, but doing nothing about it.

Taken from Jakarta Post (May 15/05)

wayang skotlandia

i thought this article was cute.

Wayang Skotlandia: Bima Meets Cuchulain (from Gamelan Naga Mas)

Wayang Kulit, shadow puppet theatre, is an art form intimately associated with the Southeast Asian island of Java, Indonesia. Puppet theatre in Europe is thought of primarily as a children’s art form, but Wayang Kulit is enjoyed and appreciated by adults and children in Java. It is Java’s most important living repository for classical rhetoric, philosophy, traditional etiquette, music and theatre. The solo puppeteer, or dhalang, is a total artist who weaves tales, manipulates puppets, sings songs, provides percussive effects with a wooden knocker and metal plates, utters the occasional incantation, and entertains audiences of all ages with the rough humour of the clowns. Puppets, made from carved and painted buffalo hide, are back lit, casting their filigreed shadows on a white cotton screen. The performance can be watched from both sides of the screen—Wayang Kulit is thus both shadow theatre and puppet theatre simultaneously. Performances tend to be lively social events, with eating and drinking, socialising, gambling and cavorting, as well as spectating.

Musical accompaniment for Wayang Kulit is provided by a Gamelan, or gong-chime musical ensemble. Gamelan is both the name of a set of instruments and of a form of music. A Gamelan orchestra is composed of a variety of metallic xylophones, gongs, sound kettles, drums and other instruments. Gamelan music, figuratively compared to the sound of rippling water, is highly stratified and polyphonic, but not based on Western harmonies. There are two basic tunings—the pentatonic slendro scale and the heptatonic pelog tuning. This performance uses the pelog tuning, a scale usually associated with dance and theatre.

Wayang Kulit might be closely associated Java, with a classical reputation and ancient origin. But that does not make it the exclusive cultural possession of Indonesia nor does it mean that Wayang Kulit has not changed over the centuries. It is a living, vital art form that has made a significant contribution to world theatre, inspiring European and American theatre artists including Edward Gordon Craig and Julie Taymor, as well as generations of Asian playwrights and designers. This production is an attempt to synthesise Indonesian, British and American sensibilities about theatre and event. Wayang Skotlandia (Scottish Wayang), as we have imagined it, uses two puppeteers (traditional Wayang Kulit uses only one), and a variety of rod, shadow and other puppets from Indonesia as well as puppets newly designed by Joko Susilo for this production. It both builds on tradition and departs from it. The puppetry is strongly influenced in particular by techniques of Wayang Sandosa, an experimental shadow puppet form developed at the arts conservatory of Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia Surakarta (Central Java). The social atmosphere is purposefully relaxed, with Indonesian food for purchase, casual seating, and a bar (for adults only!).

The story is an intersection of two imaginary worlds, the world of Celtic legend and the world of Javanese myth. The core of the Celtic part of the play is the story of the marriage of Cuchulain, the Celtic world’s great culture hero. (Our telling is based primarily upon Lady Gregory’s Cuchulain of Muirthemne and T.W. Rolleston’s Myths and Legends of the Celtic Race.)

The Javanese myth concerns Bima, the second-born of the five Pendhawa brothers, The Pendhawa are the central protagonists of the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata, which has been known in Java for 1500 years or more, is one of the two great pan-South and Southeast Asian epics. (The other is the Ramayana.) The Mahabharata’s core story concerns the conflict between the warring clans of the Kurawa and the Pendhawa, which ends eventually in the cataclysmic Bratayuda war. In preparation for this war, both sides seek out numerous weapons and boons. Puppeteers are free to weave their own, new stories about such preparations for war, and compose other incidental events that might befall the principal characters of the epic, remaining true to the contours of the characters and situations, but introducing new twists and variations on familiar themes. These newly created plays are known as lakon carangan, or branch plays. (Canonical tales are known as lakon pokok or trunk plays.) The Javanese tale dramatised in this play, Bima’s search for enlightenment and mastery of self, is one such lakon carangan, though closely based on the canonical play Dewa Ruci (The Subtle God).

Suharto to leave hospital

Wednesday May 11, 09:17 PM Taken from Yahoo! News/AAP

Former Indonesian president Suharto, hospitalised last week for serious internal bleeding, will return home on Wednesday.

But a senior doctor says the 83-year-old still requires intensive medical treatment.

Suharto, forced out in 1998 after 32 years in power when chaos engulfed Indonesia, was taken to Jakarta's Pertamina hospital last Thursday.

Doctors say he suffered digestive bleeding that had affected his kidneys, lungs and heart.

Doctors say the internal bleeding that has been the main concern has stopped but doctors had wanted the former president to stay in hospital longer.

However, they say due to his request to go home, treatment will be followed up at his residence.

Gado Gado

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)
3 large potatoes, boiled
250g (8oz) frsh bean sprouts
500g (1lb) green beans
3 carrots
1/2 small cabbage
1 green cucumber
small bunch watercress
3 hard boiled eggs
Peanut Sauce

Peel potatoes and cut into slices. Wash bean sprouts, pinching off any brown 'tails'. Pour boiling water over the bean sprouts, then rinse under a cold tap. Drain. String beans and cut in diagonal slices or bite-size lengths and cook in lightly salted boiling water until just tender. Beans should still be crisp to bite.

Scrub carrots and cut into thin strips, cook until tender, then drain. Slice cabbage, discarding tough centre stem. Blanch in boiling salted water for a minute or two until tender, but not limp. Drain and refesh under cold water. Score skin of cucumber with a fork and cut into very thin slices. Wash watercress and break into sprigs, discarding tough stalks. Chill until crisp.

Put watercress on a large platter and arrange the various vegetables in separate sections on top. Surround with slices of cucumber and put wedges of hard boiled egg in centre. Serve cold, accompanied by peanut sauce which is spooned over individual servings.

Taken from Betty's Kitchen

Pisang Goreng (Banana Fritters)

Ingredients
1 ripe black-skinned plantain or 4 small finger banana (make sure that the banana is sweet)
1 egg
1 tsp. sugar
6 Tbs. flour
Water
A pinch of salt
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Instructions:
Place flour in a deep mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour, and add egg, sugar and salt. Add water little by little. Whisk vigorously until batter is evenly smooth for coating and not too thin. If it is too thin, add more flour.

Peel plantain or banana and cut in half lengthwise and then cut again with 4-inch width. Dip into batter to coat generously.

Heat oil in a wok or deep fryer until moderately hot. Place coated plantain or banana in the wok or deep fryer and fry slowly until golden brown and crispy. This usually take approximately 10-15 minutes. Remove bananas from oil, drain on paper napkins and dry well.

Serve while still warm

Makes 4 servings.

Taken from Kokkie Blanda's Indonesian Recipes

Aussies flock to Bali despite drugs cases

By Jakarta, Indonesia. May 5, 2005 - 12:04PM. Taken from The Age.

Death sentences, drug mules, child abuse, chaotic court scenes - Bali has copped some dreadful media coverage in Australia, yet tourists are turning up in record numbers.

The piles of bulky surfboard bags and queues of travellers fronting customs at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport point to a seasonal visitor surge that is just getting under way as Indonesia's monsoon season retreats.

But in the wake of the Schapelle Corby drug smuggling trial and the arrest of the Bali nine for alleged heroin trafficking, nervous glances punctuate the long arrivals queues.

A new scanner is being installed beside old x-ray baggage machines.

"I just threw some drug traces through it and they picked it up just fine," an Australian technician installing the scanner tells a gaggle of excited Indonesian police and customs officials.

"We can try it again now with some other materials."

Drugs are on the minds of even the most innocent passengers at Ngurah Rai these days.

Since the arrest of accused marijuana trafficker Corby last year and the recent swoop on a gang of alleged Australian heroin smugglers, most know about Indonesia's death penalty for drugs.

"You have an Australian woman here in trouble, yes," says a Japanese surfer with spiked, punk hair as she waits to feed her board through the x-ray slot, just as Corby did moments before marijuana was allegedly found in her bag last October.

The Australian media blitz surrounding Corby and the Bali nine, as well as allegations of sexual assault on Australian children at a plush resort hotel, have worried some Balinese.

They fear another tourist exodus like the one that followed the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

Some locals ask about reports of death threats against Indonesian diplomats in Australia, as well as pro-Corby petitions and websites.

Most of all they are worried about a tourist boycott.

A Tasmanian travel agent recently threatened to stop selling Bali holiday packages if Corby is convicted by the Denpasar District Court.

But I Gede Witana, an adviser to the Bali government and professor of tourism at Udayana University, believes fears of a backlash are exaggerated.

"It seems Australians are immune to issues about Bali," he says.

"There's something special and unique in Bali, especially for Australian tourists.

"If you look at Corby's drug case, it hasn't affected tourism at all."

Tourist numbers are back to even higher levels than before the Bali bombing, and a large component of that figure continues to come from Australia, Witana says.

"Before the bombing we had 1.42 million tourists, but in 2004 we had 1.46 million, and Australian tourists are 27 per cent of those," he says.

But amid the deluge of negative press, Australians are taking extra precautions.

"Every aperture of our luggage has a padlock on it, which we wouldn't have done before," says Ken Postill, of Sydney, who brought his wife Joanne and two young children to Bali for a holiday.

The Postills, who arrived two days after the Bali nine were arrested, say they had received emails asking them to support Corby by signing a petition.

They were also urged to boycott Bali.

"Everyone said 'don't go, don't go'," Joanne says.

"But we wanted to bring the kids here as an eye-opener, to give them a bit of a culture shock."

Perth resident Quentin Burr, who brought his 15-year-old daughter on a 12-day holiday to Bali, believes Corby has been unfairly treated.

But he says he never considered boycotting the Indonesian island.

"I think Schapelle got a bum deal, police didn't even fingerprint the bag," he says while strolling along Kuta beach.

"But the Balinese need us, they're still suffering a bit after the bombing, so we just made sure we padlocked our luggage and took extra precautions."

Joanne Postill says her family decided against using hotel childcare in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations.

"I couldn't leave the kids to go out at night. I'm not prepared to take that risk," she says.

But hotel and tour operators say it is business as usual.

"Australian bookings are still strong," says Chrissie Lincoln of The Villas in trendy Seminyak.

"We haven't even had any inquiries about these issues."

- AAP

Travelling to Indonesia

Interesting stuff on travelling in Indonesia from the Lonely Planet can be found at here.

Something I found interesting was that they have snow in the mountains in Irian Jaya! How awesome is that for such a humid place?

Polio in Indonesia; First Time in Decade

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago (Article from Yahoo! News and Associated Press)

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia has detected its first case of polio in a decade, prompting the government to launch a massive vaccination campaign that is expected to inoculate more than 5 million children, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

A 20-month-old girl was diagnosed with polio on April 21. Authorities said they believe she came in contact with a migrant worker or tourist who had contracted the disease outside the country. The case — the first since 1995 — prompted government health workers to do house-to-house vaccinations in four neighboring villages. They hope to vaccinate 5.2 million children under age 5 by July.

"A case of polio has been detected in Indonesia," said Dr. Bardan Rana, a WHO medical officer investigating the case. "This is an imported case. Somebody must have brought it in, spread around and then the person came in contact with the child."

Indonesia is the latest polio-free country to find a new case. Since 2003, 15 other previously polio-free countries have reported new cases, after a vaccine boycott in Nigeria was blamed for causing an outbreak that spread the disease to other countries.

Rana said he expected to see a few more cases in Indonesia but said that the government was doing everything necessary to contain the disease found in the West Java village of Girijaya.

"The surveillance has been very good," Rana said. "The immediate response was very good. It was done in a very short time."

Hard-line Islamic clerics in northern Nigeria led the 2003 immunization boycott, claiming that the polio vaccine was part of a U.S.-led plot to render Nigeria's Muslims infertile or infect them with AIDS. Vaccination programs restarted in Nigeria in July 2004 after local officials ended the 11-month boycott.

Polio then re-emerged in Sudan, where it had been eradicated in 2001, and the strain was traced to Nigeria. The disease has infected 149 people in Sudan.

The Nigerian polio strain then spread to Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, but vaccination campaigns averted major outbreaks in those countries.

The virus also spread to other African and Middle Eastern countries — Benin, Chad, Cameroon, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Togo and Yemen.

Polio is still endemic in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt.

Last year, some 1,267 people were infected in the world — with 792 of those in Nigeria. The total new cases of April 29 stood at 110, according to WHO.

When WHO launched its anti-polio campaign in 1988, the worldwide case count was more than 350,000 annually.

Polio is a waterborne disease that usually infects young children, attacking the nervous system and causing paralysis, muscular atrophy, deformation and sometimes death.