Six drug dealers get 20 years in jail

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 10/18/2010 9:02 PM | National

The Banten District Court sentenced six drug dealers each to 20 years in jail for selling almost 798.5 kilograms of ganja.

The drug dealers are identified as Jaka, Sofian, Armilah, Suraidi, Samat, and Sulkarnain.

The court also ordered each of the convicted drug dealers to pay Rp 2 billion in fine.

State prosecutors demanded a death penalty to the drug dealers.

VP: Radicalism threatens national interests

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 10/16/2010 6:55 PM | National|

Vice President Boediono said radicalism was a real threat to national interests and should therefore be shunned.

"Radicalism is a real threat. It can disunite the people," Boediono said in remarks to open a Global Peace Leadership Conference in Jakarta Saturday.

He said radicals were people trapped in the shallow-minded idea that human beings should be differentiated according to their race, skin color, language or religious belief. "Unfortunately such differentiations often trigger conflict in society," Boediono said as quoted by the Antara news agency.

He called on people to begin to realize the beauty of differences in society, including differences in religious beliefs. He also stressed the need for people to respect each other in the spirit of equality.

"For example, although the majority of Indonesians are Muslim, our state ideology tells us to respect people holding different religious beliefs. If we deviate from or contradict our basic ideology, the nation will come to ruin," the vice president said.

An instance of religious intolerance happened last September in Bekasi, West Java. Two members of the Huria Batak Christian Protestant (HKBP) church in the town, Asiah Lumbuan Toruan, 49, and pastor Luspida, 40, were attacked by eight people on motorcycles while the two were walking towards the location where they would attend a religious service.

Asiah suffered a stab wound to the right side of his abdomen, while Luspida suffered a bump on her head. After the attack the two were immediately taken to a nearby hospital for treatment while police detained nine suspects.

Regarding the motive behind the attack, former Jakarta Police chief, now proposed to be the chief of National Police, Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo stated the suspects thought the church people had violated the law that prohibits the holding of a religious service at a location not covered by an official permit for the purpose.

Timur said he would act firmly based on the law against the ones who had stabbed one of the church-goers.

Meanwhile, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah (the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia), has urged the police to investigate the recent attack on members of the HKBP church.

The same call was issued by the chairman of the Democratic Party faction in the West Java Legislative Council (DPRD), HM Achdar Sudrajat. He regretted the incident and also asked West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan to ask for a clarification on the incident from the Bekasi mayor.

Indofood to clarify Indomie noodle raid in Taiwan

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/11/2010 10:26 AM | Headlines

Publicly-listed food giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur said Monday it would clarify with the Taiwan health authority following a raid against its Indomie noodle in the country.

"We will check the situation in Taiwan and will take necessary measures to protect our consumers," Indofood Consumer Brand Product (ICBP) director Taufik Wiraatmadja said as quoted by kompas.com

ICBP also believed that Indomie noodle exported to Taiwan had met the local authority food safety requirement. Reports said the noodle contained banned preservatives in Taiwan.

Rains forecast in the whole Jakarta in the afternoon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 10/07/2010 9:18 AM | Jakarta

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Rains will likely shower nearly all parts of Jakarta and its surrounding cities on Thursday afternoon, according to data at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

Rainfalls on mild and middle intensity will start showing Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi at noon, except Seribu Islands and North Jakarta, which will be rainy in the morning.

In the afternoon, Seribu Islands will be cloudy, while rains will fall in North Jakarta, Central Jakarta, East Jakarta, Depok, Bekasi and Bogor, as well as South Jakarta, West Jakarta and Tangerang, tempointeraktif.com reported.

In the evening nearly all parts of Jakarta and its surrounding areas will be cloudy, except South Jakarta and West Jakarta, which will be rainy at middle intensity. Bogor, Depok and Bekasi will also be cloudy, while rains will fall in Tangerang at middle intensity.

Govt finally apologizes over train crash

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/04/2010 12:49 PM | National

The government through state-run railway company PT Kereta Api apologized on Monday over 
two train accidents in Central Java on Saturday.

The government was concerned and expressed condolence over the two collisions where 35 passengers were killed.

The apology was disclosed by Director General of Railway at the Ministry of Transportation Tunjung Inderawan in press conference in Central Jakarta on Monday.

Before the start of the press briefing Tundjung asked everybody present to pray for the victims of the train collisions in Petarukan village, Pemalang, and Purwasari railway station, Solo.

“I in the name of the government am concerned (with the incidents) and apologize over them to all the public, railway customers, especially the victims and their families,” Tundjung said as quoted by kompas.com.

“This is beyond human's will and a temptation for for all of us. I hope this will not discourage our determination to improve the railway service in Indonesia,” he said.

Tundjung, who at the press briefing was accompanied by PT Kereta Api's president Ignatius Jonan, said that the Pemalang crash caused 34 fatalities, while the Solo one caused one death.