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Apr 14 2009

Indonesia President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is selected as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine (TIME’s The 100 Most Influential People)

SBY

TIME’s The 100 Most Influential People award is given to the world figures who have been successful in their respective fields.

Presidency spokesperson Dino Patti Djalal said, President SBY has received a notification letter from TIME. “Mr President expressed his highly appreciation for the award as international recognition for all Indonesian people,” said Dino at the presidential office, Jakarta.

SBY is in the list of “TIME 100″ together with former Prime Minister (PM) United Kingdom Tony Blair, former U.S. Foreign Minister Madeline Albraight, former Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former U.S. President George Bush. The list of complete figures  will be published on 1st of May 2009.

In the TIME poll sites, the main candidate amongst 100 other influentials is U.S. President Barack Obama. TIME has noted that Obama succeeded defeat Hillary Clinton and John McCain, by win 53 percent of the vote in the presidential election. Other candidates are Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone. Both are founders of the social network Twitter that has reached 6 million users and keeps growing. Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian opposition leader also in the list.

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Apr 09 2009

Many Indonesian people lose their right as voter in the legislative election today

Published by kristinabudiati under Politic Edit This

Indonesia Poll

Due to poor quality of data collection for the Permanent Voters List (DPT) in Indonesian’s legislative election 2009, many Indonesian people who have a legal right to vote can not join in the legislative election today.

This for a democracy rather unfortunate situation not only occurs in remotes areas  with lack of transportation or communication, but also in the capital city Jakarta and it’s surrounding areas. It is caused by the government’s poor system for registering the voters and on top of this the updating of these lists is erratic. Migrant people moving around in indonesia is in effect excluded from participating in the election. After moving from one place to another it can take several years to be registered in the new place as a voter.

Ironically, Indonesian people who can not join as voters is not only common people, but also important people such as politician candidate like Zulfan Lindan the secretary general of Partai Nasionalis  Banteng Kemerdekaan (PNBK) political party who also competes as legislative member due to his name is not in DPT’s list.   He is just one sample from many other important people in the community such as: political party’s activist, head of community, and many more…

“The loss of critical voters is very large, this condition can decrease the quality of elections 2009’s result,” said Edy Suandi Hamid, Rector of Islamic University of Indonesia, in Yogyakarta.

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Apr 06 2009

A fokker 27-3 belongs to Indonesian Air Force exploded in Bandung, West Java

Fokker 27-3

A Fokker 27-03 plane which belonging  to the Indonesian Air Force carried 18 members of  sky divers team including 6 crews exploded shortly before landing in Husein Sastranegara Airport at around 13:00 West Indonesia Time. The plane struck the  Aircraft Services (ACS) Building owned by PT Dirgantara Indonesia.

Mujiono, an employee of Nusantara Turbin Propulsi (NTP), a subsidiary of PT Dirgantara Indonesia said that accident occurred about 10 minutes after the big rain.  At that time, he was in the hangar located in the East end of the runway, about 200 meters from the ACS building.

“The plane came from the East and prepare to land. Suddenly I saw its position was shaky and unbalanced.  It slamed the ACS building and then exploded, and shortly after I saw the huge fire ball came out,” said Mujiono to reporter from Tribune.

According him, the fire keeps continue during the heavy rain. All passengers in that plane were killed, and until now only 8 bodies have been identified. The reason for the crash was landing failure caused by lightning.

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Apr 04 2009

Indonesia Batik at glance

Published by kristinabudiati under Culture Edit This

Indonesia map in hand painted batik
Batik is a method of decorating fabrics practiced for centuries by the natives of Indonesia using a wax-resist dyeing technique used on textile. Remnants of clothing found in Java indicate that the same or similar patterns have been in use for about 1,000 years and are passed on in families. Certain designs were traditionally reserved for royalty and high officials. Motifs are geometric or are based on conventionalized natural objects. Cotton cloth is generally used, and some silk. Batik was first brought into Europe by Dutch traders. In the 19th century Western artisans adopted the art.
Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta, has special meanings which are rooted to the Javanese idea of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown and white, which represents the three major Hindu Gods and certain design, can only be worn by royals. Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique design. Design similar to Indonesian batik are also found in several countries of West Africa, such as Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Mali, and in Asia, such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma, which shows the influence of the Indonesian batik internationally.

Although the word’s origin of Batik is Javanese, its etymology may be either from the Javanese amba’ (’to write’) and titik (’dot’ or ‘point’), or constructed from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian root *beCík, meaning ‘to tattoo’ from the use of a needle in the process. The word is first recorded in English in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelt battik. It is proved in Indonesian Archipelago of the Dutch colonial period in the various forms mbatek, mbatik, batek and batik

Batik Making

Batik has been both an art and a craft for centuries. In Java, Indonesia, batik is part of an ancient tradition, and some of the finest batik cloth in the world is still made there. Contemporary batik, while owing much to the past, is markedly different from the more traditional and formal styles. For example, the artist may use etching, discharge dyeing, stencils, different tools for waxing and dyeing, wax recipes with different resist values and work with silk, cotton, wool, leather, paper or even wood and ceramics.

Melted wax (Javanese: malam) is applied to cloth before being dipped in dye. It is common for people to use a mixture of beeswax and paraffin wax. The beeswax will hold to the fabric and the paraffin wax will allow cracking, which is a characteristic of batik. Wherever the wax has seeped through the fabric, the dye will not penetrate. Sometimes several colours are used, with a series of dyeing, drying and waxing steps.

Thin wax lines are made with a canting (also spelled tjanting or tjunting), a wooden handled tool with a tiny metal cup with a tiny spout, out of which the wax seeps. Other methods of applying the wax onto the fabric include pouring the liquid wax, painting the wax on with a brush, and applying the hot wax to pre-carved wooden or metal wire block (called cap) and stamping the fabric.

After the last dyeing, the fabric is hung up to dry. Then it is dipped in a solvent to dissolve the wax, or ironed between paper towels or newspapers to absorb the wax and reveal the deep rich colours and the fine crinkle lines that give batik its character. This traditional method of batik making is called Batik Tulis (Hand Painted Batik).
The invention of the copper block or cap developed by the Javanese in the 20th century revolutionized batik production. It became possible to make high quality designs and intricate patterns much faster than one could possibly do by hand-painting. This method of using copper block to applied melted wax pattern is called Batik Cap (pronounced like “chop”).

Source: Wikipedia and Britannica

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Apr 03 2009

The most modern recycling factory in Indonesia is developed near Jakarta

recycling factory

During this week the local government of Jakarta and Tangerang (one of satelite areas of Jakarta) begin renovate and develop dump side called Bantar Gebang (located in the Eastern part of Jakarta) by establish a waste recycling factory that able to process garbage into composts, plastic grains, and electricity power. This factory will become the most modern one in Indonesia .

The recycling factory which is managed by two companies (PT Godang Tua Jaya and PT Navigat Organik Energi Indonesia) will able to process 4,500 tons of garbage that come every day from Jakarta. The investment value of this factory is about Rp 700 billion. Before this factory was built, local goverment had applied sanitary land fills as city waste system management.

This environmentally friendly factory equipped with a liquid waste processing system. It will also utilizes methane gases resulted from garbage for electric power. Electricity that is generated from it can be up to 26 megawatt and will be purchased by PLN (The Indonesia National Electric Power Plant) as additional support for electricity demand in Jakarta area. In addition, the expansion of garbage disposal area is not necessary anymore. This factory also open employment opportunities for 1200 local people to work as garbage sorters.

This program will be continued and developed to some other areas in Jakarta and Tangerang. The Government will also seek international support through the mechanism of carbon credits in order to obtain support to develop similar facilities to other places in Indonesia.

Bantar Gebang Dump Side

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Apr 02 2009

Bali has established one island management

Bali Provincial Government  has started the socialization the regulation draft of regional spatial and area planning in 20 years.  This is a manifestation of local government to restore Bali’s spritual and ecology life after industrials destruction.

The preparation of draft regulations have been focusing for dividing the area of The Gods Island into protected and development zones.  Protected area is highly supervised area for its licenses and usages, such as sacred areas, protected forests, buffer areas, and coastlines.Development area is for investments purposes, such as residentials, agricultures, plantations, fisheries, and tourisms.

The Chairman of Bali Tourism Board Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya stated, this regulation must be seen as an effort to  put Bali back as one of the most unique tourist destinations in the world.

Bali

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Mar 31 2009

Air temperature in some areas in Indonesia increase more than one degree

Global warming

In six measured areas in Indonesia the temperature has risen more than one degree in the period 1983 to 2003. This alarming fact comes from climate data recorded by the Indonesia Meteorology, climatology, and geophysics body.
The highest rise in temperature is recorded in Wamena City, Papua where it increased 1,38 degrees from an average of 25,97 degrees. The change of temparature in those areas is mostly caused by human activities such as burning of forests,  industry and transportation. 

In other areas assessed the temperature rose nearly as much:
1.    Bawean Island, East Java (increased 1,15 degrees centigrade).
2.    Waingapu, East Nusa Tenggara (increased 1,11 degrees centigrade).
3.    Kupang City, East Nusa Tenggara (increased 1,35 degrees centigrade).
4.    Jayapura City, Papua (increased 1,22 degrees centigrade).
5.     Merauke, Papua (increased 1,15 degrees centigrade).

Contrary to this the temperature in Tarempa Island, Natuna showed the decrease of air temperature 0,26 degree centigrade. The reason is not yet known and not yet validated by Mann-Kendall system.     

This change of temperature is indeed a serious problem. According the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if temperature changes 2 degrees centigrade from 1990 to 2050 the condition will be hard to be handle, therefore there is no other way than slowing down the increase of air temperature. 

The rapid change of temperature brings negative impacts such as diseases in large scale, unpredictable weather such as high frequency of storms and strong winds, raising level of sea water, and problems with food production due to crop failures.

Indonesia start facing longer drought season and shorter wet season but with high intesity of rain that can cause floods and landslides.  Agriculture sector also get hard impacts caused by change of  planting pattern which sometimes shifts forward, and sometimes shifts back from normal schedule. 

It is a paradox, that Indonesia which is a country with thousands of low islands which will be affected by climate change and rising sea level does only little to prevent emission of green house gasses. Indonesia is the third biggest emitter of carbon dioxide only surpassed by China and USA. Most CO2 emitted by Indonesia comes from the burning of forests and peat soils which is neither productive nor beneficent to the country. A World Bank report indicates that more than 2.000 Indonesian islands will disappear into the sea before 2050. And this is a very optimistic guess, because the sea level is raising much faster now than only a few years ago.

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Mar 27 2009

Dam burst in Jakarta killed 47

Situ Gintung Victim

The Situ Gintung dam wall located at Cirendeu, Ciputat, South Jakarta collapsed at 2 am on Friday 27 March following massive rains accompanied by hail storm had battered that area since Thursday afternoon.

The dam was built by the Dutch 76 years ago to protect the low-lying resindential area from flood from Sungai Pesangrahan (Pesangrahan River). The volume of the dam was 2 million m3 which was apparently not enough to hold back the volume of water created by the torrential rains.

The dam burst did not only destroy hundreds of homes but also killed 47 people (according last report from Metro TV). 28 of the victims have been identified.

Today, the Vice President Yusuf Kalla and Minister of Welfare Aburizal Bakrie visited the disaster area and they will immediately investigate the causes of this disaster.
It is suspected that lack of maintenance of the old dam wall has caused it to give in to the unusual water pressure.

Location of Situ Gintung


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Mar 25 2009

The Peaceful meaning behind the celebration of The Silent Day

Published by kristinabudiati under Culture Edit This

Balinese Hindu People

Once on year 77 A.D, King Kaniska I from India had a deep thought: “what after I succeed beat my enemies and grabbed the power? What does life mean if there are always hatreds and betrays everywhere?  Is there anything more beautiful in life than the peacetime as shown by my enemy from Saka Tribe?”

And then, King Kaniska firmly believed there is no other happiness than the peacetime, and it can be realized if there are no violences.  Thus, he decided to end wars and finally created peace situation along his life through culture diplomacy.  Hereafter, on March 21 78 A.D he determined to adopt Saka’s calendar system to kingdom’s calendar system as regard to Saka Tribe.

This decision had spread to Dvipantara (Indonesia) and Balinese Hindu people in Bali Island celebrate it as The Silent Day. It is known also as The Saka New Year. In this year , The New Year Saka 1931 will fall on Thursday, March 26.
The essence of celebrating The Silent Day is to keep peaceful situation. There are no honoured results without any peaceful process that based on the integrity.    Especially in this political campaign moment the peaceful situations are really needed for unity of this nation, despite all politic manoeuvres have been battled.

The meaning of the peacetime is not only about stop all wars but also to avoid other violence conditions such as poverties, diseases, hatreds, agitations, culture’s dominations, injustices, insults, deforestations, and environmental degradations, and other physically and mentally ones.

Balinese Hindu people celebrate The Silent Day through several processions such as ceremonies and fasting that symbolize something. Melasti procession that takes place before The Silent Day symbolises an ending of human being’s sins and miseries.  Peacetime can not be reached if there are still many miseries and sins around.  And the most important, the peacetime can not be realized without life’s harmony.

In the Silent Day, there are four things or ‘Catur Brata’ that should be conducted:
1.    Fasting; do not eat and drink and switch off all lights
2.    Off from work activities
3.    Off from travelling
4.    Off from entertainments or enjoyments

Without those activities in one day, Hindu people are expected to do mediation in order to reach wisdom of life.
The Silent Day Message

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Mar 24 2009

Mental Hospital provides special wards for Indonesian politician candidates who get depression

Published by kristinabudiati under Social Edit This

Power and Money

It  becomes a prediction that many of Indonesian politician candidates will get depression or mentally illness after the legislative general election on April 9.  They can not bear the shame feelings caused by failure, and furthermore they have wasted a lot of money during the candidacy procress.

Based on mental tests in the psychiatric hospitals or health clinics, the potential of mental ilnness that can attack politician candidates is relatively high. As an aswer for this condition, some Mental Hospitals have been preparing their special wards for them.

Although the public campaign was just started on March 16, the politician candidates have started the competion since The General Election Commision (KPU) announced the temporary candidate list (DCS) nine months ago.
They have been competed long drawn out. They have been trying hardly to get people’s sympaty in order to get smoothly way to the representative house.

Moreover, they have to work harder this time because the competition now is more open than five years ago. Competition happens not only between parties but also occurs in the internal party, so the fund as the ‘nutrition’ takes very important role beside personality and popularity of candidates in their area.

The long period of competion potentially triggers mental illness. And also the limit of available seats in city/ district level of house representative only around 40 to 45 seats, while more than one thousand candicates have been struggling to get it.

If they are not strong enough mentally, depression will easily attack them.  For instance in Ponorogo, East Java some time ago, the candidate of Regency Head who failed in election must be treated in the mental hospital due to severe depression.

The mental hospital Surakarta, Central Java has prepared nine special rooms with VVIP and VIP’s facilities. In those rooms are provided sofa, television, spring bed, freezer, refrigerator, AC, and bathroom. It also has a water park as a psychological therapy for patients.

The price of VVIP’s room is Rp 200,000 (about 20 USD) per day, and for VIP range from Rp 125,000 to Rp 150,000 per day (about 13 USD to 15 USD). The price includes treatment services and accommodation, but for medicine is excluded, patients have to pay extra for that.  For support this new facilities, a number of special teams consist of psychotherapies and professional nurses have been established.

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