Indonesia to demolish football stadium where crush killed 133

Rfi – AFP, 18 October 2022 

Gianni Infantino vowed to help the Indonesian government "reform and
transform" the country's football ADEK BERRY AFP

Jakarta (AFP) – The Indonesian football stadium where a stampede killed 133 people will be torn down and rebuilt, President Joko Widodo said Tuesday, as the head of FIFA pledged to help "reform and transform" the sport in the country. 

Gianni Infantino met Widodo in the capital Jakarta, just over two weeks after the tragedy, and a year before the Under-20 World Cup is due to be held in the Southeast Asian nation. 

More than 40 children were among those killed in the city of Malang, East Java on October 1, in what Infantino described as "one of the darkest days for football". 

After supporters invaded the pitch at the end of a league match between Arema FC and rivals Persebaya Surabaya, police fired tear gas into packed stands, sparking a stampede. 

"For Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, we will demolish and rebuild it according to FIFA standards," Widodo told reporters. 

He said the replacement stadium will have "proper facilities that can ensure the safety of both players and supporters". 

"We will reform and transform football in this country," Infantino added, flanking Widodo. 

His assurances came as hospital officials said a 33-year-old man had died from injuries sustained in the crush, bringing the confirmed death toll to 133. 

"What I can guarantee to all the people of Indonesia: FIFA is here with you, FIFA is here to stay, FIFA is here to work in a very close partnership with the government, with the Asian Football Confederation and with the federation of Indonesia," Infantino said. 

The main focus would be improving stadium operations and fan behaviour, he added, as well as creating programmes for football in schools. 

"We will bring our experts, we will help and invest and we will make sure that Indonesia shines on the global football stage." 

Widodo said he agreed with FIFA "on a thorough transformation of Indonesian football to ensure all aspects of the matches follow the international safety standards". 

Safety review

The gates at the 42,000-capacity Kanjuruhan stadium, which was opened in 2004, were big enough to fit only two people at a time and some were not open when the disaster struck, officials have said. 

Infantino said FIFA would work with the Indonesian government to ensure the Under-20 World Cup can go ahead safely. 

The youth tournament is scheduled to take place in May-June 2023, in multiple cities across the archipelago nation. 

Three police officers are among six people who have been charged over the tragedy. 

An investigating task force has called on the country's football association chief and all of its executive committee members to resign. 

It also found that more than three hours of footage from CCTV in the main lobby and parking area of the stadium had gone missing. 

Representatives from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have been in Jakarta since last week to investigate what happened, along with the national FA and the government. 

Widodo has suspended all football matches until the probe is complete and ordered a safety review of all stadiums.

Indonesia boosts Christmas security over potential terror threat

Yahoo – AFP, December 17, 2019

Despite being a Muslim-majority nation, many Indonesians are happy to take part
in Christmas festivities regardless of their religion -- although conservative Islamic
groups frequently target public displays (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Jakarta (AFP) - Muslim-majority Indonesia will deploy nearly 200,000 security personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks, police said Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million has significant numbers of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups.

On Tuesday, authorities said some 192,000 police and military personnel would be deployed to secure Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations across the country -- including in easternmost Papua, a predominantly Christian region.

The deployment, which comes after a recent spate of attacks, is more than the 167,000 personnel deployed last year.

"As many as 10,000 personnel will be deployed in Jakarta" alone, said National Police spokesman Argo Yuwono

"Based on intelligence data, there are potential risks... so we're taking preventive measures but we are also ready to take proactive action," he added.

Many past attacks in Indonesia, which has dozens of groups loyal to Islamic State's violent ideology, have been against police and other state symbols.

Authorities routinely arrest suspected IS-linked militants ahead of alleged planned attacks.

In October Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered beefed-up security after two militants from an IS-linked terror group stabbed his chief security minister. He survived the assassination attempt.

Last month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in Sumatra, killing himself and wounding six civilians.

Hundreds of suspects were rounded up after the attacks, which came more than a year after a suicide bomber family killed a dozen congregants in attacks at churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya.

On Tuesday the country's new chief security minister Mahfud said high security was also meant to ensure Christian communities could celebrate Christmas without being targeted by groups keen to disrupt the festivities.

"We need to anticipate as early as possible things like intolerant incidents and burning down houses of worship," the minister, who goes by one name, told reporters.

Conservative Muslim groups frequently raid shopping malls and other public places to protest against Christmas displays or seasonal attire worn by Muslim employees.

Amnesty Considered for Members of Santoso's Group: Chief Security Minister

Jakarta Globe, Robertus Wardi, July 21, 2016

Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government may offer amnesty to
 the remaining members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) after the death of
its leader Santoso in a shootout with soldiers and police in Poso, Central Sulawesi
earlier this week. (Antara Photo/Reno Esnir)

Jakarta. The government may offer amnesty to the remaining members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin, or MIT, after the death of its leader Santoso in a shootout with soldiers and police in Poso, Central Sulawesi earlier this week.

The National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) are currently hunting for another 19 group members of the group and the amnesty will be offered if they surrender and refrain from putting up any resistance.

"If they would come out from the mountains, we will consider [giving them amnesty]. They are also Indonesian citizens," Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said in Jakarta on Thursday (21/07).

Luhut said that while the 19 remaining members are known to still be in the Poso region, the amnesty could be a preferred option to get them to surrender.

This option is realistic, as it will not require additional state expenses to look for the remaining members of the group and that it will also save their lives.

"It does not mean that we cannot adopt a tough approach. Santoso was killed for not responding to the soft approach," Luhut said.

Police carry a body bag at a local hospital in Palu, Indonesia's Sulawesi province,
on July 19, 2016, after a firefight between suspected Muslim extremists and
security forces in the village of Tambarana (AFP Photo/Olagondronk)

Related Article:

Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant killed

Malaysian Employers Puzzled by Indonesia's New Rule on Live-In Maids

Jakarta Globe, June 01, 2016

Indonesian maids relaxing on their day off in Victoria Park, Hong Kong in this
 November 2012 file photo. In the wake of President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's
move to step up protection of Indonesian domestic workers abroad, several
 of the affected countries have been trying to resolve issues of employer
responsibilities and maid's welfare. (JG Photo/Jurnasyanto Sukarno)

Jakarta. In the wake of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's move to step up protection of Indonesian domestic workers abroad, several of the affected countries have been trying to resolve issues of employer responsibilities and maids' welfare.

Last month, Indonesia announced a ruling that will stop women from working as live-in maids in foreign countries, including Malaysia. The new ruling also requires domestic workers abroad to enter into formal contracts with their employers.

"Once the maids become formal workers, their employers will no longer have to take care of their lodgings, security and other things. They have to take care of all their expenses [themselves], and whatever happens to them has nothing to do with their employers," Malaysian Maid Employers Association president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein, as reported by Malaysian news outlet Bernama on Wednesday (01/06).

He added that if the domestic help sector was formalized, the current high recruitment costs for maids must be lowered.

According to the report, the government has set recruitment costs for Indonesian maids at 7,800 ringgit ($1,800), but agents have been charging employers as high as 12,000 ringgit, with an additional annual levy of 600 ringgit and a medical examination costing 100 ringgit.

Datuk Raja Zulkepley Dahalan, president of the Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap), meanwhile stated that the plan would have social implications and cause more complications between the two countries.

He suggested that the government should consider only allowing 50 to 100 reliable and financially strong agencies to control the hiring process. According to him, these agencies would be able to provide housing and other services for the domestic workers.

"I understand that around 350,000 employment agencies are registered with the government, while there are another 27,000 that are unregistered. These agencies should be responsible for the welfare of the maids as they have the capacity to provide them with the maximum protection," the Pikap president told Bernama.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng also stated that the plan would affect the Malaysian economy, as it could force many women out of the workforce, or even result in men having to become stay-at-home dads.

"In many households, both parents work so they need live-in maids to help them. So without live-in maids, it will only force the women to leave the workforce and stay home," the minister told the Malaymail Online news outlet last month.

According to Migrant Care data, there were 6,5 million Indonesians working abroad in 2014, with 2,5 million of them employed in Malaysia mainly as maids, construction workers and laborers.

Crackdown on bad behavior by Chinese air passengers

Want China Times, Li Hsin-tung and Staff Reporter 2015-08-14

Passengers boarding a plane at Chongqing Jiangbei International
Airport, July 27. (File photo/Xinhua)

The Chinese authorities have decided to reign in disorderly behavior among air passengers, announcing new safety rules that ban travelers from occupying seats not assigned to them.

The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) of China reiterated its determination to crack down on illegal or unsafe behavior by air passengers in a statement released Aug. 12.

The CAA highlighted 11 types of bad behavior, such as blocking security checks and boarding gates, attacking or threatening attacks on crew members and occupying seats not assigned to them, for which people will face fines of up to 3,000 yuan (US$469) and even detention.

According to the CAA, airport authorities across the country reported 16 violations between late July and early August, including passengers opening airplane doors, fighting in the terminal and smoking during flights.

One man was detained for five days for making a hoax bomb threat when going through a security check at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in northeastern China Aug. 5.

Another man was arrested and detained for five days after pushing a staff member when going through security checks at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in central China Aug. 11.

A report about a 12-year-old girl being denied boarding Aug. 6 after she insulted flight attendants also sparked discussion in China.

The amount of problematic behavior, which is rising along with the growing number of overseas trips made by Chinese travelers, has led to calls for stricter regulations.

According to China's three major state-owned carriers–Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines–the number of passengers on their international flights between January and June is estimated to have grown by 20%-40% from last year.

Related Articles:

China to 'blacklist' its unruly tourists: report

China desperate to improve image of its overseas tourists

AirAsia, Indonesia and Effective Crisis Management

Jakarta Globe, Bloomberg, Dec 31, 2014

President Joko Widodo on board a Hercules plane taking part in the
search for AirAsia Flight QZ8501, on Tuesday.(Antara Photo/Andika Wahyu)

In his run for president this year, Joko Widodo pledged to bring greater openness and accountability to Indonesia. As his administration faces its first international crisis, the mysterious crash of an AirAsia jet, he’s proving to be a man of his word.

You can tell a lot about a nation from its response to great tragedy, whether it’s Japan’s 2011 Fukushima crisis, Malaysia’s lost Boeing 777 in March or South Korea’s deadly ferry accident in April. So far, Joko has performed admirably.

Since news broke on Sunday that an Airbus A320 flying from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore vanished with 162 people on board, Joko has coordinated search-and-rescue efforts, demanded a review of air safety regulations and called on weather agencies to provide timelier information. His government is giving steady updates, and Joko has sought help from Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and, remarkably, China and the US in finding Flight QZ8501.

In contrast, last spring, Malaysia was widely criticized for the secrecy and paranoia that surrounded its search for a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people aboard. Welcoming US and Chinese military ships into Indonesia’s orbit speaks to Joko’s confidence as a leader.

Let’s hope this is a harbinger of future competence. Joko is the fifth president since dictator Suharto was ousted in 1998 but the first true political outsider to run Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Because he’s not a member of a dynastic family or the military, he isn’t beholden to vested interests looking to siphon the benefits of Indonesia’s 5 percent growth. That gives him latitude to dismantle the kleptocracy that Suharto built during his 32-year reign and raise Indonesia’s competitiveness.

As governor of Jakarta, starting in 2012, Joko brought a surprising level of transparency. He moved budget procurement and tax collection processes online. He’s now working to make national government services electronic to reduce opportunities for graft and improve efficiency. Opening up the process of granting licenses for developing infrastructure, mines and plantations alone would do much to clean up the nation’s political and business climate.

Indonesia’s aviation industry also has long cried out for greater oversight. Its carriers, air traffic controllers and the skies around the archipelago of 250 million people are notorious for their regulatory laxity. As recently as 2009, state carrier Garuda was banned from European Union airspace. That laxity is a product of decades of cronyism and institutional neglect.

While Joko’s predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made inroads against graft, Indonesia’s still ranks behind Djibouti and Argentina and a sober 22 rungs below India in Transparency International’s latest corruption perceptions index. The daylight Joko wants to shine on the government is needed to attract more foreign investment and ensure that scarce revenues are spent on education, health care and poverty programs.

The openness and assertiveness with which Joko has responded to Flight QZ8501 gives me reason to hope that Indonesia will be prepared for whatever comes its way.

William Pesek is a Bloomberg View columnist based in Tokyo and writes on economics, markets and politics throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

President Joko Widodo, center, talks to the head of Indonesia’s national search
 and rescue agency, Soelistyo, left, and Chief of the Sea Security Coordinating
 Agency, Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, right, shortly before a news conference
 about missing Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ 8501 in Jakarta, on Dec. 29, 2014.
 (EPA Photo/Bagus Indahono)

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Jokowi Breaks Silence on Killings in Paniai, Pledges to Resolve Shootings

Fact-Finding Team: The president will set up an independent probe into the deaths of five civilians at the hands of the police

Jakarta Globe, Banjir Ambarita, Dec 28, 2014

President Joko Widodo says the killing of five young civilians by security
forces in Papua earlier this month is deplorable. (Antara Photo/Prasetyo Utomo)

Jayapura. President Joko Widodo has told a crowd in Papua that the shooting of five young civilians in the province earlier this month is unacceptable, and that the government will soon form a fact-finding team to investigate the case.

Joko, who is in Indonesia’s easternmost province to attend Christmas celebrations, said the incident, which occurred in the town of Enarotali in Paniai district on Dec. 8, was deplorable.

Security forces opened fire on about 800 peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. Five protesters were killed and at least 17 others — including elementary school students — were injured, according to a report from Human Rights Watch.

Joko, who addressed a crowd of hundreds at Mandala Stadium in Jayapura, the provincial capital, on Saturday, said he empathized with the grieving families.

“I want this case to be solved immediately so it won’t ever happen again in the future,” the president said. “By forming a fact-finding team, we hope to obtain valid information [about what actually happened], as well as find the root of the problems.”

Joko added he wanted peace in Papua.

“I want my visit to Papua to be useful, I want to listen to the people’s voices, and I’m willing to open dialogue for a better Papua,” he said.

Joko said the government needed to listen to Papuans in order to solve the long-running conflict in the restive region.

“I think that the people of Papua don’t only need health care, education, the construction of roads and bridges, but they also need to be listened to. That is what I will do in dealing with the problems in Papua,” he said.

Hostilities between Papuan civilians and the security forces have frequently turned deadly since Indonesia annexed the region in 1969.

The president had earlier faced strong calls from Papuans to abandon his plan to celebrate Christmas in the troubled eastern province due to his previous muted response to the Paniai shootings, which were one the worst acts of state violence in years.

Victims and activists have said the incident was prompted with the beating of a 12-year-old boy from Ipakiye village, five kilometers from Enarotali, when the boy confronted a group of men in an SUV for driving at night with their headlights off.

The beating resulted in villagers marching to the capital to demand an explanation the next day. At around 10 a.m. the crowd spotted the same SUV and began attacking it. Police then opened fire on the unarmed crowd, witnesses said.

But the National Police chief, Gen. Sutarman, gave a different account of what happened, claiming the victims were planning an attack against the local military base, where locals suspected the SUV driver was hiding.

Police stopped the crowd from advancing by setting up a barricade, he said.

“Amid the protest, some [unknown] gunmen fired shots from the hills far away, causing the 200 or so people to riot,” the police general claimed.

He also denied that a high school student was among the five people shot dead by officers, despite photographs obtained by HRW clearly showing young men in school uniforms among those shot.

The coordinator of the Papua Peace Network, or JDP, Rev. Neles Tebay, welcomed the president’s plan to form a fact-finding team, having previously criticized the police for being “very secretive” about their investigation.

“The president is willing to identify the problem, so surely this is a good commitment,” Neles said on Saturday.

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Police Out in Numbers as Jokowi Visits Papua

INTERPOL rejects claim attributed to Malaysia that checking INTERPOL's databases may have slowed immigration checks

Interpol, 28 March 2014

LYON, France – Malaysia’s decision not to consult INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database before allowing travellers to enter the country or board planes cannot be defended by falsely blaming technology or INTERPOL. If there is any responsibility or blame for this failure, it rests solely with Malaysia's Immigration Department.

INTERPOL’s SLTD database takes just seconds to reveal whether a passport is listed, with recent tests providing results in 0.2 seconds.

The fact is that the US consults this database more than 230 million times per year; the UK more than 140 million times; the UAE more than 100 million times and Singapore more than 29 million times. Not one of these countries, or indeed any INTERPOL member country, has ever stated that the response time is too slow.

The truth is that in 2014 prior to the tragic disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370, Malaysia’s Immigration Department did not conduct a single check of passengers’ passports against INTERPOL’s databases.

Consequently, two individuals possessing stolen Austrian and Italian passports were able to board MH 370. Had Malaysia consulted INTERPOL's SLTD database, the fact that both passengers were using stolen passports would have been discovered almost instantaneously.

Malaysia’s Immigration Department owes it to all passengers boarding flights originating in, or passing through, Malaysia to make sure that passports registered as stolen or lost in INTERPOL’s databases cannot be used to board any flight.

In this regard, despite this unjustified attack on INTERPOL, we remain ready, willing and able to help Malaysia better safeguard its citizens and visitors from those seeking to use stolen or fraudulently altered passports to board planes.

INTERPOL has no idea why Malaysia’s Home Minister chooses to attack INTERPOL instead of learning from this tragedy.

After years of witnessing countries fail to consult INTERPOL’s SLTD database prior to allowing travellers to cross borders and board planes, INTERPOL created I-Checkit which will allow airlines and cruise lines to ensure that no passenger can use a stolen or lost passport registered in INTERPOL’s database to board one of their planes or ships.

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Thai police target 'passport ring' in vanished flight probe

Missing jet reveals uncomfortable Malaysian truths

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Archangel Michael: Spring Means the Time of Rebirth and Awakening – The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 22, 2014 - New

....SB: That’s very good, Lord. Thank you. I’m going to move quickly to Flight 370, and then hopefully a short talk on global citizenry.

Ashira said that Flight 370 had exploded, but he didn’t say what the cause of the explosion was. Others have said that a secret naval weapon was used to cause it to disintegrate. And recently a prominent channel said the plane was suffering from hydraulic failure, was in an uncontrolled state, at risk of imminent destruction; whisked out of the air in mid-flight, was taken aboard an enormous spaceship from Sirius claimed to be part of the Federation fleet under the Ashtar Command whose full report is available from a certain website.

Now, Ashira said they took a few people up who still wanted to remain in form, but the rest — they passed on. What is the truth, Lord?

AAM: This is not an action — let us put it this way — this is not an action that your star brothers and sisters have been deeply involved in. This is an action of what we would refer to, or Gabrielle would refer to, as of violence, of sabotage, of subterfuge. And it has continued.

So there are lies upon lies upon lies. And what is occurring … this is a terrible situation. And it is painful to so many. But what it is also doing for humanity, it is bringing up what we would call shared compassion and grief. Because if you were to look at the grief and the confusion and the compassion component of what is being felt and emanating from the hearts of the collective, individuals all over the planet, it is out of alignment with the situation even including those who have been on the plane and who have suffered and the families that are left suffering the loss of their loved ones.

So it has amplified and shown the global community, in a time when there has been much strife and conflict on the ground, the other side of the scale, where you are seeing the global community coming together in compassion and sending healing for many. It is also bringing together the global community in saying, “We require, we demand truth.” Because there have been such significant untruths, every step of the way. And now what is occurring, among what you think are responsible agencies of many countries, is that they are looking for scapegoats. They are looking for situations to hang this on.

The truth will come out, but the function of this act of violence has been hijacked in many ways not by your star brothers and sisters but by the Company of Heaven to teach several very important, critical, timely lessons. The ship has not been taken on board a mothership elsewhere. That is false hope.

SB: Where is the ship, Lord? Is it blown to smithereens, or is it at the bottom of the ocean?

AAM: For all intents and purposes, it is not intact. We cannot give you the totality because that would be breaking our agreement.

SB: And then of course you couldn’t tell us what nation did it, either?

AAM: It is not so much a nation as individuals acting independently.

SB: All right. I’m not sure whether I should go further in trying to get more details, or…. whether….

AAM: Please do not.....

Thai police target 'passport ring' in vanished flight probe

Google – AFP, 9 March 2014

People stand beside the arrival board showing the missing Malaysia Airlines

 Boeing 777-200 plane (on top and in red) at Beijing Airport on March 8, 2014 

(AFP/File, Mark Ralston)

Bangkok — Thai police said Sunday they were investigating a "passport ring" as details emerged of bookings made in Thailand with stolen European passports for the vanished Malaysia Airlines flight.

Two European names -- Christian Kozel, an Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi of Italy -- were listed on the passenger manifest of the flight MH370, but neither man boarded the plane, officials said.

Both had their passports stolen in Thailand over the past two years.

Malaysia has launched a terror probe investigating the suspect passengers and the United States has sent in the FBI to assist.

Flight information seen by AFP shows that tickets were booked in Maraldi and Kozel's names on March 6, 2014, and issued in the Thai city of Pattaya, a popular beach resort south of the capital Bangkok.

The e-ticket numbers for their flights are consecutive and both were paid for in Thai baht.

Each ticket cost THB 20,215 (US$625).

Kozel was booked to travel from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, then on to Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Maraldi was booked on the same flights until Amsterdam, where he was to continue to Copenhagen.

Interpol confirmed that "at least two passports" recorded in its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database were used by passengers on board the flight, which was carrying 239 people.

"The Austrian and Italian passports were added to Interpol's SLTD database after their theft in Thailand in 2012 and 2013 respectively," it said in a statement.

A senior Thai police official told AFP that authorities were probing a passport racket on the resort island of Phuket, where Maraldi's passport was stolen.

"A police team combined with local police and immigration are working to track down a passport ring," southern police commander Panya Mamen said.

A district official in Phuket said that Maraldi had presented himself to police there on Sunday.

"An Italian tourist, Luigi Maraldi, has met southern police commander today in Phuket to say he was not on the plane and his passport had been stolen since last year," district police lieutenant colonel Akanit Danpitaksart told AFP.

He said they had no information on Kozel's passport but Austrian foreign ministry spokesman, Martin Weiss, said Sunday that it had been stolen on a flight from Phuket to Bangkok.

Related Articles:

Thailand exposed as crime hub over MH370 stolen passports

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Security Tight in Nusa Dua for APEC Summit

Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana,  October 1, 2013

Tourists in Nusa Dua, which will host the APEC summit, watch military helicopters
patrol the area on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Denpasar. Bali on Monday started implementing maximum security across the island as it gears up for the arrival of heads of state and prominent business leaders from across the world for the 2013 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit set to commence this week in Nusa Dua.

Lt. Col. Kadek Arya, the deputy commander for the event’s VVIP security detail, said on Monday that entry into the Nusa Dua resort area would be tightly controlled, with visitors required to show their identity cards and report the purpose of visit to security officers and police posted at the entrances.

Additionally, guests will also be required to have in hand a special ID issued both by the organizers of the APEC summit and the Bali Tourism Development Center, which operates the Nusa Dua area.

Arya also said that vehicles would also be barred from the resort area throughout the APEC summit, which starts today and runs through Oct. 8.

Only vehicles categorized as VIP or VVIP, or those with special stickers issued by organizers, will be allowed into the Nusa Dua premises.

“The stickers will have to be places on each car’s windshield,” Arya said.

He added that the Indonesian Military (TNI) had also issued a warning against all kinds of air activities by both residents and tourists, which on a normal day would include paragliding, parasailing, kite flying and model airplane flying.

“The prohibition applies for the Nusa Dua area as well as the airport and its surrounding areas,” Arya said.

Col. Wing Handoko, a spokesman for the Udayana Military Command, which oversees the TNI’s operations throughout Bali, said high security would also be in place at every entry point into Bali, including Ngurah Rai International Airport, Gilimanuk and Padangbai seaports, and dozens of traditional fishing ports.

Wing said that with world leaders including US President Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping due to arrive for the main summit this weekend, the situation in Bali remained safe.

He said there had been a text message circulating among the public calling for organized protests against the summit.

“It is not clear who the sender is and we see that as mere provocation. However, we are working with the police to track down [the original sender],” he said.

Wing added that protests would be allowed, but only in designated areas.

The TNI and police will deploy a combined 11,000 personnel to Bali for the APEC summit, working in collaboration with the island’s traditional village watchmen known as pecalang .

Interfaith youth help with Easter security in Kupang

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Fri, 04/22/2011

Youth from various religious backgrounds will help with the increased security efforts for Easter celebrations in the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang, the police say.

"There will be around 200 youth of different religions helping secure the Easter celebrations," East Nusa Tenggara Police spokesman Comr. Antonio Pah said on Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The youth, according to Pah, will cooperate with the police, the army and local transportation agency officers to ensure safe celebrations.

He added that the total number of personnel deployed for Easter security in Kupang reached 559, including the youth. Among their tasks are organizing traffic around the churches and securing church attendants.

"Churches will also be sterilized by the Gegana bomb squad," Pah said.

Frans Lebu Raya, the governor of East Nusa Tenggara, urged people to play a role in creating a peaceful Easter atmosphere. "The people also have to participate in securing Easter celebrations this year," he said.

Muslim youths guard Christmas celebration in Kupang

Antara News, Friday, December 24, 2010

Kupang, E. Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Muslim youths in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, joined security personnel to secure Christmas and New Year`s eve celebrations, a police spokesman said.

A total of 530 security personnel consisting of policemen, servicemen and members of the society, including Muslim youths, had been deployed to guard the celebrations, Kupang police chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Bambang Sugiarto said here Friday.

Those involved in this joined security scheme had agreed to set up security checks in 14 security-prone locations with each secured by four guards, he said.

Besides this, 116 churches in the East Nusa Tenggar province`s capital of Kupang would also be secured by policemen and servicemen to ensure that they were free from security disturbance, he said.

The security personnel would effectively work from Friday to December 31, he said.

"This security measure has been taken in response to the national police chief`s order," he said.

The security threats and situation that need to be anticipated included acts of terrorism, conventional crimes, traffic jams, use of fire crackers, and natural disasters, he said.

The same security procedures were also taken by policemen in the West Java town of Cirebon.

Each church in the town would be guarded by ten policemen to secure Christmas eve and celebrations, Cirebon police chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Herukoco said.

At least 600 security personnel had been deployed to secure Christmas and New Year holidays in the city, he said.

In Tasikmalaya, West Java, 17 churches were also secured by 481 security personnel ahead of Christmas eve.

The presence of policemen and servicemen was expected to create a secure and peaceful condition for church goers, Tasikmalaya district police`s spokesman Commissioner Yono Kusyono said.

Indonesia has been fighting terrorist cells since 2000. On December 24, 2000, a string of attacks on churches were carried out by terrorists on Christmas eve in several Indonesian cities.

The attackers targeted a number of churches in the Indonesian cities of Batam, Pekanbaru, Jakarta, Sukabumi, Pangandaran, Bandung, Kudus, Mojokerto, and Mataram.

Two years after the Christmas eve bombings, terrorists attacked Bali Island in 2002, claiming 202 lives, including 88 Australian holiday makers.

The latest deadly incident happened on July 17, 2009 when two suicide bombers attacked JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in South Jakarta.

Protect and secure

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 07/30/2010 4:57 PM

Protect and secure: Army soldiers stand on guard during a roll call at the Halong naval base in the Maluku capital of Ambon. Military and police troops regrouped Friday in a show of their readiness to maintain security and order during the Sail Banda international yacht regatta. – JP/Nurhayati

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Japan, RI in promoting peace and security

The Jakarta Post, Kojiro Shiojiri, Jakarta | Sat, 07/24/2010 9:45 AM | Opinion

It’s no big secret that Indonesia and Japan are good friends. We have a long history of cooperation, and in many ways, we have been making positive and constructive contributions to the region and to the world. But I believe that there are still much more we can do together.

While we are quite used to hearing about Indonesia and Japan cooperating in the economic field, we should not shy away from more active cooperation in dealing with common threats to the peace and security of our region and the world.

There are many things that can be achieved if Indonesia and Japan work together to deal with issues like international terrorism, post-conflict nation building, maritime security and disaster management.

I would like to suggest a way forward in this regard, i.e., building up concrete successful examples of our cooperation in these fields. In doing so, we should start shifting from merely working side by side, to working as an integrated team, thinking together, acting together and sharing responsibilities together in dealing with common threats to the security and prosperity of the international community.

Some things are already happening to this end. One example is in the area of disaster relief. In Banda Aceh, Yogyakarta and Padang, Japan has always been working side by side with Indonesia to help alleviate the damage and suffering of natural disasters. But now, Indonesia and Japan are working together as co-hosts of a multilateral disaster relief exercise called ARF DiREx 2011.

The exercise will be held in Manado in March 2011, with participation from many countries, with the aim of improving the disaster preparedness of both civilian and military authorities of countries in the region.

This is a concrete example of how Indonesia and Japan have started to “think together” and “share responsibilities together”, in addition to just “acting together” in response to a certain event.

Another example is the change in the quality of our navy-to-navy cooperation that is starting to be observed.

In the past, most of the visits made by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) vessels to Indonesia have been ceremonial in nature, such as the participation by JMSDF (Kashima, Yugiri and Shimayuki) in the Sail Bunaken international fleet review in August 2009.

However, the recent visit by JMSDF destroyers Sawagiri and Ohnami to Jakarta was qualitatively different.

As these were destroyers dispatched for anti-piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden, the JMSDF crew was able to share practical and operational knowledge and experience in countering piracy with the Indonesian Navy.

As both Japan and Indonesia are archipelagic states, we share a common interest in the safety of navigation of the seas. The benefit to both sides of information sharing and enhanced cooperation in this filed is clear.

These are just examples, but notice the qualitative change in the nature of our cooperation. We are not just participating in your party as a good neighbor, but we are starting to plan a party together for everyone in the community to benefit from.

Just imagine what we can achieve, if we started to think and act together, in a number of other areas like Middle East Peace, peace keeping, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Why do we want to do so?

First and foremost, because Japan and Indonesia share a common interest in the security and stability of our region, and in effectively addressing the new threats we face.

Second, because of the fundamental values that Indonesia shares with Japan, such as democracy and human rights, tolerance and the rule of law. We also have a strong cultural affinity towards each other.

And third but not least, because the importance of Indonesia as a player in the international community is increasing. Indonesia, as a member of the G20 and a leader of ASEAN, has the strong enthusiasm and commitment to contribute to the peace and the stability of the world community.

The point I want to make is that no matter how much the strategic environment in our region might change in the near future, these attributes of Japan-Indonesia relations will never change. This means that the reasons for Indonesia and Japan to cooperate will continue to exist well into the foreseeable future.

To put it in simple terms, we, Japan and Indonesia, are “Strategic Partners for Good”. This partnership is not just in words, but actual and genuine. Our relations have entered a new era in which we must further deepen our cooperation under a new sense of mission. In this new era, let us think, act and take responsibility, together!

The writer is Japan Ambassador to Indonesia.

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