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)