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Indonesian
Expat Newsletter .
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'Saddam is not a bestseller yet because many
Indonesians understand he is not a completely pure Muslim.
He has done bad things'
T-shirt Seller Bapak
Sharuyl
(Who sold 100.000 Osama shirts last year, but only 400 of
Saddam so far)
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Monday, February 24th
2003 |
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TOP STORIES
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Indonesian sex slaves freed after
SOS note hits jogger's head
KUALA LUMPUR - A crumpled note saved four Indonesian
teenagers forced into prostitution, the Malay Mail reported.
They had scribbled an SOS in Malay to say they were being held
in apartment 706 in a building in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, and
thrown the note out of the window.
It hit a passing jogger. The
girls, aged between 13 and 16, are from Kalimantan.
Rent a mob for as low as $4 a head
Hundreds of students protest against the government in
Jakarta yesterday, wearing standard-issue headbands.
Gang Macan (Tiger Lane), a densely populated alleyway in
North Jakarta, was notorious for its tiny brothels and deadly
fights between vicious gangs. A fire in 1995 took care of all
that. These days the neighbourhood provides
a service high in demand in
Indonesia today - mob rental.
Cannibal heads for movie fame
An Indonesian film producer has approached alleged cannibal
Sumanto, who is awaiting trial for eating the corpse of a
90-year-old woman, to make a movie about his life. The man
confessed to eating parts of the corpse to obtain supernatural
powers. Sumanto has also told police that he killed and ate
two men who attempted to rob him when he was working as a
labourer in Lampung province, Sumatra. In a recent interview
with Tempo Sumanto said his goal in life was to
eat the bodies of at least seven women
to master the mystic art of "saipi angin", or "running with
the wind".
T-shirt
seller finds silver lining in war clouds -
The man responsible for the
hot-selling Osama designs is
ready to offer Saddam T-shirts to anti-war protesters.
(Straits Times)
 Indonesia's
football blues
Indonesia is a nation of over 200
million people, obsessed with the game. But in spite of this
footy fanaticism, the beautiful game is in an appalling mess.
The Menteng Stadium, home to top Jakarta side Persija, is
rusty and ramshackle and looks like it was abandoned 30 years
ago.
Indonesia, or the Dutch East
Indies as it was then, actually made it to the World Cup
finals in 1938 for
the first and only time.(bbc)
Singer's dancing draws flak from religious leaders
MUI chairman AmidhaN: 'A report of a man
raping a girl after watching Inul dance is evidence that the
way she dances is not fit for public viewing.' The 24-year-old
singer - whose genre is dangdut or local renditions of popular
Bollywood hits - rose from obscurity after VCDs of her
performances began to circulate. From earning 3,500 rupiah (70
Singapore cents) a show in the 1980s when she performed in
villages, she recently claimed her monthly income had swelled
to 700 million rupiah. At least until tax officials knocked on
her door and her manager quickly rectified the figure.
Religious leaders in East Java have now
advised her to change the way she dances. (STraits
TImes)
LATEST NEWS:
Surabaya council chief, deputy chief detained on graft
charges
(JP): Prosecutors
detained on Monday Surabaya council chief Mochamad Basuki and
deputy chief Ali Burhan for alleged involvement in a graft
case, Antara reported. "We have authorities to detain
the suspects because we've secured sufficient evidences that
they have corrupted some Rp 2.7 billion (US$1=RP 8,930)," said
Surabaya prosecutors office chief Luhut Pakpahan, saying that
the office could only save Rp 1 billion of the statebudget.
Basuki and Burhan were charged with corruption following
reports from the East Java provincial audit body that some Rp
22.5 billion have been embezzled by the city council.
Investigation revealed both suspects have embezzled some Rp
2.7 billion of the total losses, Pakpahan said. Indonesian
prosecutors rarely detain officials during the legal
proceeding. Earlier, however, prosecutors managed to detain a
deputy chief of Medan council in North Sumatra for the same
charges.
Indonesia issues volcano alert
- Indonesia
has the world's highest density of volcanoes with 500 located
in a so-called "Ring of Fire" along the 4 800km-wide
archipelago. Of these, 128 are active with 65, including Lokon,
listed as dangerous.
Fishermen find treasure South China Sea
(JP): Expecting
to get fresh fish, five fishermen accidently found treasure on
their casting nets when they were fishing at the South China
Sea, Antara reported on Monday. The fishermen, who were from
Bangka island, discovered tens of metal boxes containing
antique ceramic dishes and bowls, believed to be a hundred
years old. They have to dive some 90 kilometers beneath sea
level as their casting nets were stuck on the treasure. They
declined to identify the exact spot. They did not haul out the
entire treasure but only took some samples of the antique
ceramics, which were encrusted with corals, and put them on
display. "We are ready to cooperate with any firm licensed by
the Indonesian government to haul out the treasure from the
seabed," said one of the fishermen who asked to remain
anonymous.
ELSEWHERE IN ASIA
Want a Thai massage? Go to a petrol
station - BANGKOK -
Traditional Thai massage services at petrol stations are
proving a real hit. Not only is there a long queue for
a good rubdown, the good
business is also spilling over into
 sales
of petrol and at the convenience stores.
99-year-old man skis down Mont Blanc -
CHAMONIX (France) - In a feat that would challenge many people
half his age, a Japanese man celebrated his 99th birthday by
skiing down western Europe's
highest mountain, Mont Blanc.
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BUSINESS
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Mixed Investment News
(laksamana)
Get moving on
reforms, Indonesia
Foreign investors have been
shocked by actions that to them were inexplicable - such as
the extraordinary saga involving Canadian insurer Manulife
Financial and the reluctance to get tough with former bank
owners who broke banking laws and who owe the state
billions. Locals have long been cynical of the courts, but
now the world shares the cynicism of the Indonesian poor and
that is
toxic to the investment climate.
(Straits Times)
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ARTICLES |
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The sister who is Mister in
between
Indonesia's transvestites
lead
twilight lives. Herald
Correspondent Matthew Moore writes from Jakarta.
Compared to many other countries, Indonesia's transvestites
enjoy a surprising level of acceptance, living in poverty or
wealth beside conventional families and appearing in
sitcoms, advertising campaigns and theatrical shows.
Indonesian military and police
lock horns again
The question of who is responsible for
domestic security arises again with a general making
a case for the army.
=============================
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======================================================
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==========================
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==========================
A critical view
on the news in Indonesia.
http://www.jakartaeye.org
==========================
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==========================================================
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(c) 2001 Bartele Designs -
http://www.bartele.com
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