Indonesian Government Officially Bans ISIS

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Aug 04, 2014

The coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Djoko Suyanto,
 center, said on Monday that there is no place for ISIS in Indonesia. (JG Photo/
Ezra Sihite)

Jakarta. The Indonesian government on Monday officially banned the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, saying the militant outfit should not be allowed to spread its teachings in the archipelago.

“The government bans ISIS from developing in Indonesia, because it goes against the ideology of Pancasila, the unitary Indonesian nation-state and pluralism,” Djoko Suyanto, coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, said during a press conference at the president’s office on Monday. “Every attempt to promote ISIS should be prevented, Indonesia should not be the place to spread [this ideology].”

The announcement came after a limited cabinet meeting about ISIS led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Djoko was accompanied by high-ranking officials when declaring the ban, including Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Marciano Norman, Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin, military chief Gen. Moeldoko and Gen. Sutarman, the chief of National Police.

“The activities of ISIS and now IS [Islamic State, as the movement officially calls itself] have since the beginning been monitored by some ministries, [including] the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and the National Police,” Djoko said.

He said that ISIS should not be understood as a religious movement, but as an ideology that runs counter to Indonesia’s state ideology of Pancasila. The National Police and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Djoko added, would lead the law enforcement effort against ISIS activities in Indonesia.

The minister also said that regardless of the situation in the Middle East, support from Indonesia should be in the form of humanitarian aid and diplomacy, not by sending people to fight, which would only make matters worse. “Let’s not get influenced, and not be easily provoked to join ISIS,” Djoko said.

The government also said it would be monitoring Indonesians who plan to travel to countries in the Middle East and South Asia where there is armed conflict, to ensure they will not be joining or working for ISIS. “The Foreign Affairs Ministry will take the lead, the National Police and the BNPT will be the clearing house to monitor Indonesian citizens who travel to the Middle East, South Asia and other conflict regions,” Djoko said.

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Crossing the Line: The religious affairs minister appeals to Indonesian Muslims to refrain from joining the radical group

Jakarta Globe, Aug 01, 2014

A video uploaded  to YouTube recently purporting to show an Indonesian ISIS
 member calling for support and jihad in the nation with the world’s largest Muslim
population. (JG Photo)

Jakarta. Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin appealed to Indonesian Muslims not to support the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

He called on local Muslims to be wary of ISIS’s request for support, stating that it is a radical movement that employs violent means to establish an Islamic state in Iraq and Syria.

In a press release on Friday, Lukman said that supporting ISIS runs counter to Indonesia’s state ideology of Pancasila.

He said Indonesians guilty of supporting ISIS, or pledging allegiance to the radical group, which seeks to establish an Islamic Caliphate in parts of the Middle East, will be considered as having pledged “allegiance to a foreign country.”

This can result in the revocation of the offenders’ citizenship.

Lukman also denounced ISIS affiliates in Indonesia that seek to recruit support while renouncing the state ideology.

“To say Pancasila is thogut, or pagan, which needs to be resisted, is crossing the line,” the minister said.

Lukman called on all Muslim leaders and organizations in Indonesia to guide their members to an understanding of Islam as rahmatan lil alamamin (a blessing to all humankind), adding that the unity of the nation must be preserved.

“Islamic teachings are about inviting and embracing all creeds graciously with wisdom, not through terror and violence,” said the minister, who is a member of the moderate Islamist United Development Party (PPP).

Meanwhile, senior figures in some of the country’s largest Muslim organizations have criticized ISIS.

Hasyim Muzadi, former chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim association, spoke out against ISIS’s influence in Indonesia.

“ISIS is an extremist movement that has no respect for national sovereignty,” he said, as quoted by Tempo.co on Friday.

Similarly, Ahmad Syafii Maarif, former chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, said the jihadist group was committing “terror in the name of religion.”

“Do not bring it here, Indonesia is a safe country,” Maarif said as quoted by metrotvnews.com on Thursday

The religious affairs minister also called on law enforcement agencies to be prepared to take action against the spread of ISIS in Indonesia.

The jihadist group has sought to gain support in Indonesia, which has the most number of Muslims in the world, by various means. More recently, a recruitment video was uploaded to YouTube showing an Indonesian member calling for jihad and support in his home country.

While Lukman anticipates an increase in support for ISIS in this country, Ansyaad Mbai, the head of the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), reported on Friday that there was currently only an estimated 30 Indonesians who have joined ranks of ISIS in the Middle East, as quoted by Kompas.

He said the 30 people were from various regions, including Jakarta, East Java and West Nusa Tenggara.

National Police chief Gen. Sutarman, meanwhile, gave his assurance that hard-line groups in Indonesia affiliated with ISIS will be dealt with.

Further Coverage

Editorial: It’s Very Dangerous for Us to Stay Silent

Related Article

Indonesian Muslims Denounce ISIS Ideology

Asian Muslims Start Ramadan, but World Cup Fever Undiminished

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Jun 29, 2014

Muslims attend an evening mass prayer session called ‘tarawih’ to mark the
 holy fasting month of Ramadan in the Al Akbar Mosque in Surabaya, East Java
on June 28, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Sigit Pamungkas)

Jakarta. Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday but in Indonesia even threats by hardliners to raid “sinful” bars could not stop football fans heading to nightspots to watch the World Cup.

Across the Muslim world, the faithful fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious during the holy month, which ends with the Idul Fitri holiday.

Ramadan got under way in Asian countries including Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population at around 225 million people, war-torn Afghanistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Hardliners in Indonesia have pledged to raid bars that continue to sell alcohol, which Muslims are banned from drinking under Islamic law, or stay open too late. Authorities order bars and other nightspots to close earlier during the holy month.

Radical group the Islamic Defenders’ Front would “monitor any sinful activities in entertainment places, cafes and bars during Ramadan”, said Salim Alatas, the group’s chief in the capital Jakarta.

“If law enforcement officials do nothing about immoral activities, we will do anything we can to stop them, using our own methods.”

But the threats did little to deter people in the football-crazy nation, where most practice a moderate form of Islam, from heading out to catch the latest World Cup action.

Bars that remained open in the Jakarta were packed with locals and expatriates late Saturday and early Sunday.

“For me, the fasting does not really affect my enthusiasm to watch the World Cup,” said Intania Permata, a 22-year-old student, who was watching the Brazil versus Chile nail-biter at a South American bar and restaurant.

Endika Setiadi Putra, 27, said that with the World Cup now in the knockout stages, the excitement would keep drawing people to watch the matches in bars even during Islam’s holiest month.

“If it is the weekends, most people will go out [to watch the matches],” Putra told AFP.

Diet dilemma for footballers

The holy season also presents a dilemma for Muslim players in the World Cup, as choosing to fast will affect the strict diets they usually have to follow.

The problem is most pressing for the team from Muslim-majority Algeria, who face a tough match against Germany on Monday.

For many other Indonesians, the start of Ramadan was a time to be with their families or take part in special prayers, with thousands heading to Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest in Southeast Asia, on Saturday evening.

Politics was in focus in war-torn Afghanistan, with conversation at “iftar” meals after sunset expected to focus on the disputed vote count from the country’s presidential election.

Results are due out during the holy month, but Abdullah Abdullah has cried foul in the race against Ashraf Ghani, alleging massive fraud. The inauguration of the new president is scheduled for August 2, shortly after Ramadan finishes.

Sri Lanka’s Muslims, who account for about 10 percent of the country’s 20 million population of mainly Buddhists, are set to observe a low-key Ramadan after a spate of recent religious attacks.

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, which groups nearly 50 Muslim organizations, said authorities had promised tighter security but many were still afraid of Buddhist extremist attacks after four people were killed in religious riots this month.

In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, the country’s Muslim minority was observing its first Ramadan since the signing of a peace deal between the government and the largest Islamic rebel group after decades of conflict.

Von Al-Haq, military spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the former rebels would seek to use the holy month to try to persuade breakaway groups still fighting the government to lay down their arms.

Ramadan begins when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. The holy month was also starting across the Middle East, as bloody conflicts rage in Iraq and Syria.

Agence France-Presse

Sudanese woman on death row gives birth

A Sudanese woman sitting on death row has given birth. The 27-year-old was sentenced to be hanged for converting from Islam to Christianity.

Deutsche Welle, 27 May 2014

Little over a week after receiving the death sentence, Sudanese inmate Meriam Ibrahim Ishag gave birth to a girl. The death row inmate, jailed for refusing to deny her Christian faith and convert to Islam, was eight months pregnant.

The woman's husband, Daniel Wani, saw them on Tuesday. In addition to his weekly permitted visits to the prison, located in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, Wani has not yet received special permission for an additional visit.

"I'm disappointed really," Wani told news agency AFP. "We weren't able to speak. There [was] a guard sitting there beside us."

The 27-year-old mother would continue to care for the newborn for the next two years, according to news agency DPA. Rights activists have told reporters that the inmate has already been caring for her 20-month old son in prison.

The case emerged last year when relatives of her father's family complained that she had been born Muslim but was married to a Christian man.

On May 15, a Sudanese court handed down the death sentence to the pregnant woman. Ishag was raised as a Christian in Sudan, where Sharia, or Islamic law, has applied since the early 1990s. Judge Abbas Mohammed al-Khalifa said that she would be hanged for not declaring Islam to be the religion of her birth.

One of Ibrahim Ashag's lawyers, Al-Shareef Ali al-Shareef Mohammed, has vowed to appeal the sentence before Sudan's constitutional court if necessary. According to Mohammed, Ishag's Muslim father had left her mother when she was a child and her mother - an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia - had raised her as a Christian.

Under Sudanese President Omar Bashir, sharia prohibits Muslim women from marrying non-Muslims. Children must follow their father's religion.

kms/jm (AFP, dpa)

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Darsem binti Dawud arrives home safe

The Jakarta Post | Wed, 07/13/2011

Darsem binti Dawud arrives at the Foreign Ministry’s office in Jakarta with
 her son on Wednesday. The Indonesian government paid blood money
 worth Rp 4.6 billion (US$540,000) to free Darsem from the death penalty
in Saudi Arabia. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)

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SBY receives visit from Saudi Ambassador in RI

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 06/28/2011

Saudi envoy: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) accepts
Saudi Arabian envoy Ambassador Abdulrahman Mohammed Amen Al
Khayyat (left) at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday.
(Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received a visit by Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia Abdulrahman Mohamed Amen Al-Khayyat at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

The agenda of the meeting, which comes amid mounting protests following the execution by beheading of Indonesian maid Ruyati binti Satubi in Saudi Arabia, remained unclear prior to its commencement.

Presidential special staff on international affairs Teuku Faizasyah confirmed the meeting between Yudhoyono and Al-Khayyat.

"Yes, the meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m.," he told The Jakarta Post.

The Saudi Embassy in Jakarta in its press release earlier accused Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa of lying when he said the former had apologized for and regretted the beheading of Ruyati.

Ruyati was executed after being found guilty of killing the wife of her Saudi employer, Khairiya binti Hamid Mijlid.

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Commentary: Cairo riots jolt our memories of Soeharto’s fall in 1998

Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/02/2011

For residents of Jakarta who followed the massive riots and demonstrations before Soeharto’s fall in 1998, watching TV reports on the ongoing demonstrations in Cairo may revive a sense of bitter, painful and sorrowful nostalgia. Even now many Indonesians still have to live with the trauma caused by the violence. But we know that the sacrifices of those who lost their lives and futures in the struggle to regain the people’s sovereignty is very fruitful.

We know for sure that the bumpy road the Egyptians have to pass through is still very long, and the journey will be very exhausting, life threatening and demand huge sacrifices. Many nations and multinational corporations do not want to see a democratic Egypt, because for them dealing with dictators is much cheaper and more profitable.

Jakarta and many other cities experienced lootings, killings and torture by Soeharto’s ruthless security forces 13 years ago. We do hope that the Egyptians do not experience the barbaric acts of organized groups in Jakarta who burned alleged looters to death and raped Chinese-Indonesian women.

And just as Soeharto did to no avail in 1998, President Hosni Mubarak is now trying to buy time. What the Egyptians need to know is that Mubarak’s ousting does not mean much if they do not patiently and stubbornly fight to restore the huge damage caused by Mubarak, his cronies and families. Now opposition groups are united but after their president’s departure they will fight each other and often act more brutally than Mubarak.

Soeharto and the gang robbed the state and many Western banks were willing to offer their deposit boxes as safe havens. Most of them still remain untouchable. Soeharto also ensured that the nation inherited unbelievable practices of corruption, abuse of power and violation of human rights.

Western countries condemned the corruption, collusion and nepotism (KKN) practices under Soeharto.

But then they pretended like idiots when Indonesians demanded the scrapping of billlions of dollars granted by Soeharto to Western companies. They said that they should honor the contract although they knew very well Soeharto received bribes for the contracts.

The dictator has ruined almost everything and we have to build our nation from zero, if not minus. They were the laws, they acted like gods. The nation was their absolute property. The killing of innocent victims, who had to lose their lives just because of their belief in the principle of democracy and human rights, or just because Soeharto and his cronies wanted to butcher people for reasons that remain unexplained, remains a dark case.

Very few international media and genius Western scholars believed that Indonesians — most of them uneducated Muslims — could turn their country into a full democracy. Now we are the world’s third largest democracy after India and the United States.

The leaders of Malaysia and Singapore at that time laughed at the nation’s determination to become a full-fledged democracy. “You cannot feed your people with democracy, ha ha ha ha ha,” they jeered at us. Do they still laugh at us now?

In 1999 we proved our determination: We held a very democratic election. But our leaders fought each other just to grab power for themselves. In 2004, we had the first presidential elections and also in 2009. They won international applause. But our leaders again betrayed the trust of their people.

Soeharto resigned on May 21, 1998. Vice President B.J. Habibie — Soeharto’s golden boy — took over his position and led the transitional government until September 1999. The Egyptians will likely have to follow our path.

But if former president Soeharto were still alive, he would be among the first of foreign leaders to offer his courtesy to host embattling Egyptian President Mubarak. In May 1998, just several days before his fall on May 21, Mubarak offered Soeharto to stay longer in Cairo. Soeharto was determined to attend an international summit in Cairo although the situation in Jakarta had become chaotic. Mubarak consoled Soeharto with the words “Don’t worry, be happy”.

As a journalist who covered the Cairo meeting, I still remember Mubarak’s preach about the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis. According to Mubarak, “The crisis had shown the social cost of global integration and the contagious effect of weakness from one economy to another.” Now Mubarak has to abide by his own advice on the globalization of democracy.

We do hope that Egypt will soon join Indonesia in the top list of the world’s democracies. The price it has to pay indeed will be very expensive.

But are Western countries ready to accept the decision of Egyptian voters on who should lead them? If they decided overwhelmingly on a fundamentalist Muslim as their president, the world should accept their choice. Like it or not it is not your business.

Hajj Nurse In Trouble For Mixing With Men

Jakarta Globe, Bilhuda Haryanto | October 17, 2010

Jakarta. An Indonesian nurse who was working with the hajj organizing committee will be deported from Saudi Arabia after being found in a room with three Arab men.

Some female members of the Indonesian pilgrimage group became suspicious on Friday when they heard giggling coming from the drivers’ quarters. Dessi NRP, 25, from Palembang, South Sumatra, was later discovered without her compulsory head scarf.

Women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to be alone with men who are not their husband, while head scarves, known as the hijab, must be worn at all times outside of private homes.

“When everyone was observing Friday prayer, she entered the drivers’ room, saying she needed to use the bathroom,” Subakin Abdul Munthalib, the chief of the Indonesian Hajj Organizing Committee for Medina, said on Sunday.

“She then told the men that she had a headache and asked one of them to give her a head massage before resting her head on the man’s thigh.”

Dessi said she was in the room because she had a headache and needed to use the bathroom and did not do anything wrong.

After the incident, deemed embarrassing to the Indonesian hajj organizers, Subakin asked the nursing agency that employed Dessi to send her home.

“She is assigned to serve as an officer at the hajj committee in Medina,” he said.

“She’s supposed to abide by the law enforced in Saudi Arabia. It’s different with the law in place in Indonesia.”

Restrained by religious, family and tribal traditions that dictate who a woman may marry, many are choosing to appeal to Saudi Arabia’s courts in order to overturn what many women see as unfair or illogical opposition to marriage by fathers and other male relatives. (AFP Photo/ Amer Hilabi)

Love mountain: Many large villas dot the hills of North and South Tugu villages, in the mountainous Puncak area, Bogor, West Java. While the area is known as a weekend getaway for wealthy Indonesians, it is also a popular spot where Arab tourists marry Indonesian women unofficially for a short period of time.

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SBY receives five Indonesians from flotilla attack

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 06/08/2010 3:34 PM

Official welcome: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right) receives four members of the Indonesian Committee for Palestine Solidarity (KISPA): Ferry Nur (second right), Okvianto Baharudin (third right), Hardjito Warno (fourth right) and Muhendri Muchtar (left); as well as a TVOne journalist, Muhammad Yasin (second left) at his office in Jakarta, on Tuesday. The five were part of the 12 Indonesians who were onboard the humanitarian aid ship heading for Gaza when it was attacked by Israeli commandos. Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received here Tuesday five out of the 12 Indonesians who were onboard the humanitarian aid ship heading for Gaza when it was attacked by Israeli commandos.

The President received four members of the Indonesian Committee for Palestine Solidarity (KISPA): Okvianto Baharuddin, Ferry Nur, Muhendri Muchtar Kalus and Hardjito Warno; as well as a TVOne journalist, Muhammad Yasin at his office in Jakarta.

Okvianto was one of the two Indonesians injured in the attack, which Israel claimed was a defensive measure.

The other is Surya Fahrizal, who has more severe injuries and is still being treated in Amman.

The five Indonesians arrived in Jakarta on Monday, leaving most of their counterparts in Amman.

"I'd like to welcome you, humanitarian fighters, back to the country. You've endured an unforgettable experience, but believe your humanitarian mission is a noble thing," Yudhoyono said before asking the five to share their stories of the flotilla attack.

"And I would like to express thanks, gratitude and appreciation to the government of Palestine, to President Mahmoud Abbas, and to the government of Jordan, King Abdullah, for all their assistance and support for our brothers," he added.

The five Indonesians were accompanied by Indonesian Ambassador to Jordan Zainulbahar Noor, Indonesian Ambassador to Turkey Awang Bahrin and Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Fariz Mehdawi, among others.

Honeymoon tourism in Puncak

Theresia Sufa , The Jakarta Post, Bogor | Fri, 03/12/2010 11:20 AM

Love mountain: Many large villas dot the hills of North and South Tugu villages, in the mountainous Puncak area, Bogor, West Java. While the area is known as a weekend getaway for wealthy Indonesians, it is also a popular spot where Arab tourists marry Indonesian women unofficially for a short period of time.

Mention the villages of North Tugu and South Tugu in the Cisarua district, Bogor regency, and most people will promptly associate them with the Puncak tourist zone, Arab visitors, and contract-based or unregistered marriages locally called nikah siri.

The two neighboring villages, only separated by the Puncak highway, have become a money circulation center where tourists, mostly Arab visitors, exchange their dollars in 17 moneychangers to the average sum of US$1,000 per person a day. In North Tugu, during the Arab tourist visit season, the money exchanged in seven changers may reach Rp 7 billion ($700,000) a day.

May, June and July is the peak season for Arabs tourism. Not surprisingly, all local shops, salons, money changers, travel agencies, villas, rental cars and car wash stations use Arabic characters for their names and notices.

Then vice president Jusuf Kalla once jokingly said the Arab tourist arrivals for unregistered marriages would result in good-looking offsprings and future TV drama stars. At that time, Kalla suggested promoting Puncak for tourists from Middle East countries. He later retracted his statement, saying it had been misunderstood.

Arabs are renowned for coming to Puncak — which they refer to as Jabal (mountain) — for holidays and “dates” with Indonesian women.

In fact, transactions with prostitutes and contract marriage arrangements start as soon as the Arab visitors set foot in Jakarta International Airport.

Now the dangdut or jablai, the local term for working girls, not only include women from Cianjur, Cimahi and Garut, West Java, but also from Jakarta and Cengkareng, Tangerang.

While in previous years Puncak foreign visitors always used airport taxis, today rental car drivers from Tugu villages are picking up Arab tourists at the airport and helping them pick out girls they like. These rental cars are known as “Arab taxis.”

Ready to go: Several drivers sit in a car rental shop in North Tugu village. They are on standby, ready to take Arab tourists around or pick them up from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

“A driver introduced me to an Arab tourist at Soekarno-Hatta, who was attracted to me. He asked if I was ready to accompany the Arab to Puncak, I accepted the offer as I needed some money, just as long as he wouldn’t be rough with me,” Alia said.

The 30-year-old, who met The Jakarta Post at a small salon in a villa in Sampay, North Tugu village, said she worked in karaoke parlors in the area of Cengkareng, employed to keep guests “company”.

“I’ve a child with my Indonesian boyfriend but now he’s left me. So I’m serving karaoke guests in Cengkareng, who sometimes take me to Jakarta. I have to work as a prostitute to raise my child, but I make fairly large sums of money,” continued Alia, as she had her hair styled before a mirror.

Alia claimed she had been married to an Arab tourist but only for a short time.

“I do not want to be in another one of those contract marriages as I’ve gained no benefit and I don’t want to be bound by vague ties. I will accompany the Arab man I meet at the airport for the two months he’s here, and get paid Rp 400,000 a day for it.”

— Photos by JP/Theresia Sufa

Bellydancers to Shake Up Jakarta

The Jakarta Globe, Ade Mardiyati

Bellydance Jakarta, catering to women of all shapes and sizes, wants to put Indonesia on the map as a center for Middle Eastern dance. Aside from mastering the techniques, students also learn the history and tradition of the iconic dance. (Photo courtesy of the group)

Jakarta’s first center for Middle Eastern dance will present its fourth annual recital, “A Journey Through Shimmering Sands” on Sunday, in Pusat Perfilman Usmar Ismail theater.

Founded in 2006, Bellydance Jakarta has been a popular venue for women of all ages, backgrounds, shapes and sizes to learn the iconic Middle Eastern dance, along with the associated history and culture.

“There are many bellydance classes now at gyms, dance workshops and other places, but they don’t know what its all about,” Christine Yaven, founder of Bellydance Jakarta, said in an e-mail. “We are the only Middle Eastern dance center in Indonesia to perform authentic bellydance.”

Christine said many classes only teach sexy movements and pass it off as the real deal. At Bellydance Jakarta, students are not only taught the dance movements but also how to interpret the complex Arabic music rhythms as well as lyrics and cultural accuracy.

From there, she said, one can master the elegant, sophisticated and sensual dancing.

More than 60 women will be performing the famous Egyptian Candelabra, Melaya Leff from Alexandria and modern bellydance.

“The root of bellydance is folkloric Middle Eastern dance,” she said. “That’s why each year we try to incorporate at least one or two folkloric dances in our recital.”

This year’s exhibition will also present Hawaiian Hula and Bollywood dances, a collaboration between the school and another two groups, Hula Dance Jakarta and Bolly Groves. The event will also feature a fashion show to transport the audience back to the 1940s and 1950s.

Bellydance Jakarta’s last three showcases sold out an garnered an enthusiastic response from the audience, including the counsellor of the Egyptian Embassy.

This year’s event, however, will be somewhat different from past recitals, Christine said.

“Our students’ dancing skills [back then] were still quite rudimentary,” said Christine, who holds dance certificates from Egypt, the United States and Canada. “We also held the events in hotel ballrooms, so it was more a dinner and dance.

“This year, the students that have been with me for two years or more have really come into their own, and we decided to perform in a theater instead.”

She added that no guest dancers from the Middle East had been invited to perform.

“Bellydance Jakarta is fast gaining a reputation in South East Asia as an authentic, reputable Middle Eastern dance center,” she said. “ And my goal is to put Indonesia on the map in the bellydance world.”

The show took months of preparation to master the techniques. The students, Christine said, have volunteered time and energy to make this year’s show the best one yet.

“Our recitals are always to showcase our students’ hard work,” Christine said. “This is a celebration of how far they have come in their journey of Middle Eastern dance.”

A Journey Through Shimmering Sands
Sunday, 4 p.m to 7 p.m.

Pusat Perfilman
Usmar Ismail
(near Pasar Festival)
Jalan H R Rasuna Said
Kuningan, South Jakarta

Ticket prices:
Nefertiti: Rp 180,000
Cleopatra: Rp 150,000
Isis: Rp 120,000
Seats are assigned on a first-come first-serve basis

For more information,please call 021 3354 2239 or 0817 981 3346 or e-mail bellydancejakarta@yahoo.com.

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Businessman to develop Islamic resorts

Indra Harsaputra and Achmad Faisal, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Tue, 09/01/2009 5:45 PM

A Sumenep legislative council member confirmed reports that two islands off Madura had been sold to a businessman who intends to develop them into resorts.

Councilor Badrul Aini said Tuesday that businessman Zainal Seniya bought the islands and had leased them to Canadian and Singaporean investors.

“Both Sitabok and Seradeng islands will be developed into maritime resorts equaling Bunaken [North Sulawesi],” Badrul said.

Local cleric Dailami Abu Hurairah, who is close to the businessman, said the two islands would be Islamic resorts and target Middle East tourists.

“We have been involved in the project and will help operate the maritime resorts, which will follow an Islamic concept,” Dailami said.

He said many Middle East tourists felt uncomfortable with major tourist destinations like Bali, which do not promote Islamic values.

Deputy Sumenep Regent Mochammad Dahlan said the two islands belonged to the state and had not been sold to anyone.

Ancol gets boost from year-end holidays

The Jakarta Post,  Jakarta  |  Mon, 01/05/2009 11:05 AM  

Publicly listed PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol (Ancol), the country's largest amusement park operator, cashed in hefty earnings during the Christmas and year-end holidays, boosting its full-year revenue by 14.7 percent. 

PJA president director Budi Karya Sumadi told The Jakarta Post recently the company's revenue last year was likely to reach Rp 875 billion (US$77.4 million) as against Rp 763 billion in 2007. 

"We have cashed in around Rp 60 billion alone from visitors during the Dec. 18 to 31 period," he said. 

"We estimate that we pulled in net profits of at least Rp 130 billion to Rp 135 billion last year," he said. 

In 2007, the company generated Rp 140.8 billion in net profit. 

The Ancol leisure complex, also known as Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, was opened in 1966, and has since remained the largest integrated tourism area in Southeast Asia 

Last year, the tourism facilities contributed more than 60 percent to the revenue of the company, which also runs a property development business. 

During the first nine months of 2008, the Ancol complex recorded 8.5 million visitors and was targeting to attract 13.5 million by the end of the year, which would have represented 10 percent growth from a year earlier. 

He forecast the number of Ancol visitors would increase by between 10 and 15 percent this year. 

According to Budi, Ancol has always benefited from the holiday season as leisure-hungry citizens flock to recreational sites. 

During the Idul Fitri holiday last October, for example, Jaya Ancol generated more than Rp 40 billion in revenue in less than a week. 

Last year, around 95 percent of Ancol visitors were locals, while only the remaining 5 percent were foreign tourists from Malaysia, Singapore and the Middle East. 

According to Budi, Ancol is now continuing to expand its business in merchandise sales and culinary outlets to boost sales growth. 

Ancol is 72 percent owned by the Jakarta administration, with the remaining 18 percent owned by PT Pembangunan Jaya and 10 percent by the public. (hwa)