British grandmother gets death for drugs in Indonesia

Google – AFP, Gde Putra Wicaksana (AFP), 22 January 2013

Briton Lindsay Sandiford (R) attends her trial at a Denpasar court on

Indonesia's Bali island on January 22, 2013 (AFP, Sonny Tumbelaka)

DENPASAR, Indonesia — An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a 56-year-old British grandmother to death for smuggling cocaine into the resort island of Bali.

Lindsay Sandiford sobbed as she heard the verdict, which stunned her defence team after the prosecution had recommended a lenient sentence of just 15 years imprisonment.

"We found Lindsay Sandiford convincingly and legally guilty for importing narcotics... and sentenced the defendant to death," judge Amser Simanjuntak told Denpasar district court.

Sandiford's lawyer said it was likely an appeal would be launched against the stiff sentence, which came despite the prosecution noting she had admitted her crime and behaved politely in court.

Lindsay Sandiford (C) is escorted from

 a holding cell to the court room before

 her trial in Bali on January 22, 2013 (AFP,

Sonny Tumbelaka)

"We object to the sentence. We never expected that our client would get the death penalty," said counsel Esra Karokaro. "We will discuss it first with her, most likely we will appeal."

Sandiford, in spectacles and with her hair tied back, hung her head low and cried as the verdict was read out, while her sister Hillary Parson who attended the trial also sobbed.

A British embassy representative who attended the hearing declined to comment.

Sandiford was arrested at Bali's international airport in May with 4.79 kilograms (10.6 pounds) of cocaine stashed in her suitcase.

Police said she was the ringleader of a drug importing ring involving three other Britons and an Indian who have also been arrested.

Sandiford argued that she was forced into transporting the drugs in order to protect her children whose safety was at stake.

But the court rejected that argument and said there were "no mitigating circumstances" to allow for leniency.

"All evidence was incriminating against the defendant," said another judge on the panel, Bagus Komang Wijaya Adi.

The court said that in fact Sandiford had not admitted her crime and that she had undermined Indonesia's hard-line stance on drugs.

"Her action was against the government's effort to combat drug use in the country and she insisted that she never committed the crime," judge Amser Simanjuntak said.

Briton Rachel Dougall (R) appears in court

 for sentencing over drugs charges at a

court  in Bali on December 20, 2012 (AFP/

File, Sonny Tumbelaka)

British human rights charity Reprieve said last month that Sandiford "was exploited by drug traffickers, who targeted her because of her vulnerability and her fear for the safety of her children".

Two other Britons arrested in connection with the case received light sentences last month.

Rachel Dougall was sentenced to 12 months for failing to report Sandiford's crime and Paul Beales received four years for possession of 3.6 grams of hashish but was cleared of drug trafficking.

A fourth Briton, Julian Ponder, is expected to hear his sentence at the end of this month after prosecutors recommended a seven-year jail term.

Indonesia enforces stiff penalties for drug trafficking, but death penalty sentences are commonly commuted to long jail sentences.

Two members of an Australian drug smuggling gang known as the "Bali Nine" who were arrested in 2005 are currently on death row, while the seven others face lengthy jail terms.

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Indonesia's World-Class Pianist ... at 14

Jakarta Globe, Katrin Figge, January 15, 2013

Janice Carissa Kurniawan, 14, started playing the piano as a child and has
 since performed around the world. She plays her first recital in Indonesia
tonight. (Photo courtesy of Sienny Debora)

   

Related articles

• Practice Makes Perfect for Surabaya’s Piano Prodigy

At first sight, Janice Carissa Kurniawan looks like a regular teenager: the bubbly, charming 14-year-old is a 9th grade scholarship student at Cita Hati Christian Junior High School in Surabaya. She likes to hang out with her friends at a mall on the weekends, hoping to catch a movie.

But as soon as her fingers touch the keys of a piano, Janice drifts off into another world — the world of music.

She has spent two hours every day playing the piano for as long as she can remember. On some days — especially prior to a concert — she practices up to eight or nine hours. Janice has already performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York, and will have her first solo piano recital in Indonesia at Soehanna Hall in South Jakarta tonight at 7:30 p.m., organized by the Jaya Suprana School of Performing Arts.

Janice’s mother Sienny Debora, the founder of music school Studio Musik Sienny and a piano teacher for 36 years, realized very early that her daughter had a special gift.

“When she was only 4 years old, she could already follow the melody of very complex pieces that even my advanced students had trouble with,” she recalled.

Janice’s musical talent was certainly harnessed by growing up in a musical family — not only does her mother play, but so does her older brother Ryan and her aunt Ivon Maria, who also serves as a mentor to her.

At first, Janice also played the drums and other percussion instruments, but in the end, the piano won her over.

“Before I actually learned to play and knew how to read notes, I always ran to the piano and hit the keys,” Janice said in flawless English. “That always made me happy.”

When she was 8 years old, she won the IBLA International Piano Competition in Jakarta. It was then that Janice realized she wanted to become a professional pianist and stopped regarding music as a mere pastime. Instead she looked at it as something that could be her calling.

“I realized that this is what I was meant to live for,” she said.

As the winner of the competition, she was invited to travel to the United States and play a month-long tour, which took her to Carnegie Hall, Radford University in Virginia and other venues in Minnesota and Arkansas. It was a journey she still remembers fondly today.

“There was this dinner, and I was sitting next to Mark Stodola [the mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas], but I didn’t realize it was him, so I only had eyes for the food,” Janice said. “And when he told me who he was, I was embarrassed. But hey, I was only 8 years old, so I hope that’s OK as an excuse.”

After returning from America, Janice thrived during her piano lessons. More concerts followed — most notably a tour in Italy in 2008, and in Poland in 2011 and 2012.

Two years ago, she was invited to the Presidential Palace in Bogor to perform for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his ministers. In the same year, she also performed a duet with her brother at the Sydney Opera House.

In 2010, the siblings also entered the first edition of the Trans TV reality show “Indonesia Mencari Bakat” (“Indonesia’s Got Talent”) together. Janice also had the chance to take master classes with renowned pianists from all over the world.

“It’s a great opportunity, because I get to learn something new each time,” Janice said.

Janice has been inducted into the Indonesian Record Museum (MURI) five times already for her efforts on the piano.

Even though she is still very young — or maybe because of that — Janice has never suffered from stage fright. She also isn’t nervous about her recital tonight.

“Whenever I see a concert hall full of people, I get this feeling that I need to get out there and play,” she said. “So, I am excited, but in a good way.”

She has chosen pieces from Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Nikolai Kapustin, Carl Vine and Jaya Suprana for her debut — a colorful mix of classical music from baroque to contemporary.

When asked who her favorite composer is, Janice had to think hard about an answer.

“I love all the composers, they all have something unique to them,” she said. “But I think I like Franz Liszt the most. Whenever I play his pieces, I can feel in my soul what he was trying to say through his music.”

Janice knows that constant practice is the key to a successful career in music.

“If I take a break for only one day, my hands will feel different the next time I sit at the piano,” she said. “It’s already a little bit messy.”

Looking ahead, Janice doesn’t know yet where her path will take her once she has graduated from high school.

“It’s three more years, and I should decide what to do next soon,” she said earnestly. “Three years sounds like a long time, but in reality, time flies.”

While she still wants to be able to travel and perform all over the world, Janice thinks that she will always keep her base in Indonesia.

“It’s my country, and I love it,” she said. “This is my home. And there are so many young and talented kids who are now interested in classical music, who haven’t been discovered yet. But maybe I will study in Europe or the US first. I am still trying to find the perfect school.”

Her mother supports Janice and shares the same dreams with the young girl: seeing her perform in great concert halls in front of enthusiastic audiences. But if, for whatever reason, Janice should change her mind about becoming a pianist, Sienny said that she wouldn’t mind either.

“So far, she has never once said that she was bored with the piano,” Sienny explained. “But if she was, that would be fine with me too. I want her to follow her heart and do what’s best for her.”

While the majority of her life is focused on the piano, Janice also allows herself some time outside of the music world to explore her other passions.

“I am interested in photography, I love to take pictures,” she said, but added that nothing could ever replace her love for the piano. “It’s the biggest part of my life, and I could never let that go.”

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"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

"..... DNA - A Quantum Force 

Now we get to the core truth, don't we? So I will tell you. The ninety percent of DNA which is quantum, is filled with information, both esoteric and timeless. It is a quantum blueprint for everything you are and have been since you arrived on the planet the first time. DNA contains instruction sets for your life; everything from your full Akashic Record - every single lifetime you have had - to the benevolent creator's fingerprint within the seeds of creation itself. Every single talent you ever had is there, even if you don't have any of those today... the record is there. Every predisposition of weakness and strength are there. Biologically, every single instruction to every single stem cell is there. . ..."

"..... DNA is a Dynamic Molecule, not a static one.

Humanity is stuck in the 3D portion of their biological thinking. In your 3-D life, you simply accept the chemistry you're given. You act as though the three percent gene producing part is all there is. You believe it is a chemical protocol that is unchangeable and simply "you." You don't see it for the way it's designed. It's dynamic and always has been. It's not set, but will continue to simply repeat what it does unless there is another quantum influence on it.

Therefore you live with the 3 percent as though it were all there is, and since it just "came with your body" and seems to control everything, you never talk to it. Many of you come in with pre-dispositions based upon the karma which is put upon you from your past lives. You don't come in clean [without karmic energy]. Instead, you arrive with pre-dispositions, fears and phobias. Some are positive. Perhaps you come in as a prodigy continuing your last life... the 8-year-old who can paint like a master and do brushstrokes that take 30 years to develop. What does that tell you about what must be in the DNA?

Perhaps you come in as the composer, the pianist, the prodigy, the violinist, just waiting until your hands can go on the fingerboard or can reach up and fret the notes. Perhaps you come in knowing how to play the piano, just waiting for your hands to get big enough to do what you used to do... without any lessons. How do you explain that, dear ones? The answer is that all this is contained in the dynamic quantum instruction sets of your DNA... the part you never talk to it. .."

For the Sake of the Next Generation, Stop Blaming the Victims of Rape

Jakarta Globe, Sohaila Abdulali, January 09, 2013

Sohaila Abdulali is the author of the novel "Year of the Tiger."

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Thirty-three years ago, when I was 17 and living in Bombay, I was gang-raped and nearly killed. Three years later, outraged at the silence and misconceptions around rape, I wrote a fiery essay under my own name describing my experience for an Indian women’s magazine. It created a stir in the women’s movement — and in my family — and then it quietly disappeared. Then, last week, I looked at my e-mail and there it was. As part of the outpouring of public rage after a young woman’s rape and death in Delhi, somebody posted the article online and it went viral. Since then, I have received a deluge of messages from people expressing their support.

It’s not exactly pleasant to be a symbol of rape. I’m not an expert, nor do I represent all victims of rape. All I can offer is that — unlike the young woman who died in December two weeks after being brutally gang-raped, and so many others — my story didn’t end, and I can continue to tell it.

When I fought to live that night, I hardly knew what I was fighting for. A male friend and I had gone for a walk up a mountain near my home. Four armed men caught us and made us climb to a secluded spot, where they raped me for several hours, and beat both of us. They argued among themselves about whether or not to kill us, and finally let us go.

At 17, I was just a child. Life rewarded me richly for surviving. I stumbled home, wounded and traumatized, to a fabulous family. With them on my side, so much came my way. I found true love. I wrote books. I saw a kangaroo in the wild. I caught buses and missed trains. I had a shining child. The century changed. My first gray hair appeared.

Too many others will never experience that. They will not see that it gets better, that the day comes when one incident is no longer the central focus of your life. One day you find you are no longer looking behind you, expecting every group of men to attack. One day you wind a scarf around your throat without having a flashback to being choked. One day you are not frightened anymore.

Rape is horrible. But it is not horrible for all the reasons that have been drilled into the heads of Indian women. It is horrible because you are violated, you are scared, someone else takes control of your body and hurts you in the most intimate way. It is not horrible because you lose your “virtue.” It is not horrible because your father and your brother are dishonored. I reject the notion that my virtue is located in my vagina, just as I reject the notion that men’s brains are in their genitals.

If we take honor out of the equation, rape will still be horrible, but it will be a personal, and not a societal, horror. We will be able to give women who have been assaulted what they truly need: not a load of rubbish about how they should feel guilty or ashamed, but empathy for going through a terrible trauma.

The week after I was attacked, I heard the story of a woman who was raped in a nearby suburb. She came home, went into the kitchen, set herself on fire and died. The person who told me the story was full of admiration for her selflessness in preserving her husband’s honor. Thanks to my parents, I never did understand this.

The law has to provide real penalties for rapists and protection for victims, but only families and communities can provide this empathy and support. How will a teenager participate in the prosecution of her rapist if her family isn’t behind her? How will a wife charge her assailant if her husband thinks the attack was more of an affront to him than a violation of her?

At 17, I thought the scariest thing that could happen in my life was being hurt and humiliated in such a painful way. At 49, I know I was wrong: the scariest thing is imagining my 11-year-old child being hurt and humiliated. Not because of my family’s honor, but because she trusts the world and it is infinitely painful to think of her losing that trust. When I look back, it is not the 17-year-old me I want to comfort, but my parents. They had the job of picking up the pieces.

This is where our work lies, with those of us who are raising the next generation. It lies in teaching our sons and daughters to become liberated, respectful adults who know that men who hurt women are making a choice, and will be punished.

When I was 17, I could not have imagined thousands of people marching against rape in India, as we have seen these past few weeks. And yet there is still work to be done. We have spent generations constructing elaborate systems of patriarchy, caste and social and sexual inequality that allow abuse to flourish. But rape is not inevitable, like the weather. We need to shelve all the gibberish about honor and virtue and did-she-lead-him-on and could-he-help-himself. We need to put responsibility where it lies: on men who violate women, and on all of us who let them get away with it while we point accusing fingers at their victims.   

Sohaila Abdulali is the author of the novel “Year of the Tiger.”

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Archangel Michael: The Declaration of Human Freedom

“… No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give. …”

Jakarta Planning to Build Sister City Relationship with Jerusalem

Jakarta Globe, Lenny Tristia Tambun, January 03, 2013

Jakarta governor Joko Widodo. (JG Photo/Safir Makki).

              

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In a symbolic gesture of camaraderie, the Jakarta administration announced on Thursday that it plans to form a sister city partnership with Jerusalem in the near future.

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said that his government will solidify the partnership plan in various areas, though it will mainly focus on staff exchange between Jakarta and Jerusalem.

“I met with the Palestinian Ambassador, [since] we have a partnership with Palestine. We want to speak more concretely about what will be implemented soon,” Joko said at City Hall on Thursday.

At the meeting, the Jakarta administration and its Palestinian counterpart agreed to increase capacity building and implement an exchange program in order for the two to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses.

“Yes, we [will] send people [to Palestine]. We [will] have an exchange program to learn, for instance, about fire safety, democracy, urban planning and public works,” the governor said.

Joko added that he will follow-up the plan with concrete action.

“The [Palestinian] ambassador wanted a solid partnership and we will follow-up. [We] don’t want it to be only on paper,” Joko explained.

“I told the ambassador that it will be implemented after my 100 days in the office. I want to concentrate more on [my] 100 days of work,” Joko said, referring to the 100 days since he took office in October of last year.

The Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Fariz N. Mehdawi, noted that Jakarta is a big city and faces great developmental challenges ahead.

“Of course I support Jokowi to succeed in his mission — he has challenges. But I’m certain he will live up to his promise and not disappoint … I hope the best for him,” Fariz said, referring the Jakarta governor by his nickname.

The most important thing, Fariz added, is to discuss the future relationship between Palestine and Indonesia.

According to Fariz, Palestine now is undergoing capacity building training in which more than 500 Palestinians are coming to visit Indonesia — most of them to Jakarta — to receive instruction. The participants will meet Joko and other regional heads, along with Jakarta Fire Agency and Disaster Mitigation Agency officials.

“Experts will discuss how to run partnership programs between the two capital cities,” he said.

Indonesian city bans women straddling motorbikes

France24, 2 january 2013

An Acehnese woman rides on the back side of a motorcycle in Banda Aceh
 on January 2, 2013. A city in Indonesia's Islamic law stronghold of Aceh will
 ban women from straddling male drivers on motorbikes, its mayor said on
Wednesday, dubbing the position "improper".

AFP - A city in Indonesia's Islamic law stronghold of Aceh will ban women from straddling male drivers on motorbikes, its mayor said on Wednesday, dubbing the position "improper".

The move comes after leaders from the country's only province ruled by strict sharia law drafted a series of new bills including banning women from wearing tight trousers, stoning adulterers and flogging homosexuals.

Acehnese women ride a
motorcycle  down a street
in Banda Aceh on January 2,
 2013. 

Under the new law, women in Lhokseumawe city, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, will have to sit "side-saddle" with their legs dangling off to one side.

"Women sitting on motorbikes must not sit astride because it will provoke the male driver. It's also to protect women from an undesirable condition," mayor Suaidi Yahya told AFP.

"It's improper for women to sit astride. We implement Islamic law here."

Women are allowed to straddle motorbikes if they are driving, as long as they are dressed "in a Muslim way", Yahya said.

The mayor plans to publicise the ban in coming weeks and will discuss sanctions with local Muslim clerics before issuing a formal regulation.

Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, but most practice a moderate form of Islam.

Aceh began implementing sharia law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001. The province now regularly canes people caught gambling or drinking alcohol.

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Archangel Michael: The Declaration of Human Freedom

“… No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give. …”