Haze remains, govt prepares

evacuation in Central Kalimantan

The government has prepared seven locations in Central Kalimantan to be
evacuated due to smog, according to Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar
Parawansa on Saturday.
President Joko [Jokowi] Widodo has instructed us to evacuate to locations inside
the province, said Khofifah as quoted by Antara news agency.
According to Khofifah, the locations, including the ministrys auditorium and halls
at Panti Budi Luhur institution, were all air-conditioned and able to accommodate
hundreds of people. The ministry also prepared public field kitchens, water tank
vehicles and rescue vehicles.
One thousand air purifiers were also set to arrive to be installed in residents
homes to decrease the number of evacuated victims.
Thick haze was still blanketing several parts of Indonesia on Saturday.
Morning visibility in Kualanamu International Airport in North Sumatra reached
between 350 meters and 800 meters, causing planes to be delayed or even
canceled.
Low visibility between 100 meters to 300 m still exists in Riau regency, including
in Pelalawan, Dumai, Pekanbaru, Rengat, Bengkalis, Siak, Meranti and Indragiri
Hili.
According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), 197
hot spots were detected throughout Sumatra on Saturday morning, with South
Sumatra being the major contributor with 180 hot spots.
Beringin Airport in Muara Teweh, Central Kalimantan, was currently closed due to
the areas 150 m visibility. It has not been operational since Sept. 4., affecting
flights from Susi Airs scheduled planes and chartered aircraft from Airfast, Air
Born and Hevilift.

MOTORCYCLE ROBBER IN INDONESIA

The word 'begal' has gained instant notoriety in Indonesia, especially in the areas
in and around Jakarta. A dangerous contingent whose identity remains unknown
hitherto feloniously robs motorcycles and other goods belonging to the victim
exploiting violence method which evidently resulted with casualties.
This group has been scaring off many people around Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang,
Bogor and Depok area since early 2015. Those who use motorcycles at night
time are lingered with the fear of being attacked and robbed violently.
Based on the data collected by the police, the 'begal case frequent occurrences
are around the South Jakarta area with as many as 17 robbery cases being
reported. In Central Jakarta, 8 cases have been reported. In Tangerang, 2 cases
have been reported, whereas in Depok there are at least 5 cases that have been
reported.
It has been speculated that this 'group' performing violent robbery consisting
individuals from motorcycle gang who frequently hang out at night and race with
each other.
The hitherto hotly- discussed issue about the widespread of motorcycle robber all
across the Jakarta area and the areas just outskirt of it has caused some
nationwide panic which calls for an immediate response from the local
authorities.
This morning, a man named Acam Mulyadi from Bekasi, West Java was shot dead
by a motorcycle robber (begal) in his house. As shown on Liputan6 Siang SCTV
on Saturday (07/03/2015), Acam was immediately rushed into the hospital at
Pondok Kopo, Jakarta but it was too late. He died due to the bullet that was shot
directly into his chest.
Acam was shot by the 'begal' group who went to steal his motorcycle at his
house this morning. The tragedy starts with Acam finding out that there are a
few men this morning at his house trying to steal his motorcycle, he screamed to
the top of his lungs when he saw those men who tried to take his bike away.
Learning that the victim had screamed, the 'begal' group panicked and shot him
to death. (Akp/Ein)

FOREST FIRES IN INDONESIA

This is the moment desperate evacuees took to their motorbikes in a desperate
attempt to escape the acrid haze and choking pollution caused by thousands of
forest fires in Indonesia.
For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming in
Indonesia have choked vast expanses of Southeast Asia, forcing schools to close
and scores of flights to be cancelled.
Warships have even been put on standby to evacuate victims from haze-affected
provinces, especially children and women, while pollution caused by the fires has
killed at least 10 and caused respiratory illnesses in half a million.
Two warships were deployed to Kalimantan yesterday and another carrying
medical workers and health equipment expected today.
Military spokesman Tatang Sulaiman said the warships, which will be standing by
in Banjarmasin, the capital of south Kalimantan, could serve as evacuation
centers and hospitals for those affected by the haze.
Tatang said there was no immediate plan to bring people onboard but that could
change if hospitals on land reach capacity or become overwhelmed.
'The ships are sent just in case children or pregnant women must be relocated
from the local health facilities, it does not mean everyone would be put into the
ships,' Tatang said.
So far health facilities on the ground in Kalimantan are still trying their best, we
are just getting ready by deploying warships,' Tatang said.
'For now the ships will be standing by. We will begin evacuation when there is an
instruction from the government,' navy spokesman Muhammad Zainuddin told
AFP.
The government has deployed around 30 aircraft to fight the fires and for cloud
seeding with 22,000 troops on the ground to combat the blazes.
The fires have killed 10 people so far, with some of the victims dying from
fighting the blaze and from respiratory illnesses caused by the pollution.

At least half a million people have suffered from respiratory illness since the fires
started in July and 43 million people have been affected in the islands of Sumatra
and Kalimantan.
More than 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) of land has been burned and
six provinces severely affected by the haze, according to Indonesia's forestry
ministry.
Other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Japan have sent
assistance to help Indonesia fighting the forest fires.
With Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Thailand already affected, the Philippines
Friday said the haze had now spread there, disrupting air traffic and prompting
warnings for residents to wear face masks.
(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3287801/Indonesia-shrouded-acridhaze-forest-fire-prepared-evacuate-thousands-path-choking-pollution.html)

Four Priorities for Indonesian President Joko Widodo as He Arrives

in Washington
Trade and investment will be high on the agenda, though the environment and
security will likely also feature
When U.S. President Barack Obama welcomes Indonesian President Joko Widodo
at the White House on Monday, certain similarities between the two leaders will
be undeniable. Both are of the same age (54 years old), both were political
outsiders whose meteoric rise to power sparked hope and expectations for
change. And for both men, this initial optimism faded somewhat after
underwhelming starts to their respective first terms.
Jokowi, as the leader of Southeast Asias most populous country is affectionately
called, departed for the U.S. on Saturday, just days after completing his maiden
year in office. Trade and investment are high on the agenda. Apart from his
meeting at the Oval Office, he is set to meet the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
fund managers in Washington, and later tour Silicon Valley to see Apple CEO Tim
Cook and other tech giants executives. The main focus of this visit is to
increase the bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and America, Jokowi said
in Jakarta before leaving for the U.S. Mainly in investment and trade, and also in
digital economy and creative economy.
But the upbeat note aside, a plethora of problems back home are overshadowing
his trip. Here are four challenges that Jokowi is facing:
1. Environment
The months-long forest fires that are raging in Sumatra and Kalimantan, and
more recently in eastern Indonesia, have gone from bad to worse, producing
haze that affects millions of people in the country and other Southeast Asian
nations: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and even the Philippines.

Indonesia is the third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after the U.S. and
China, primarily because of peatland degradation, forest fires and deforestation.
But the recent blazes blamed on farmers, palm-oil and pulpwood companies
clearing peatland forests have taken it to a staggering new level. According to
research by Professor Guido van der Werf, since September, daily emissions from
Indonesias forest fires have exceeded those of the U.S. economy.
With the multinational efforts putting down the fire failing to contain them and
children dying because of haze, Jokowi has instructed his ministers to prepare
the mass evacuation of residents. But he is accused of not acting fast enough to
tackle the annual manmade disaster. The lack of Indonesian leadership in the
haze issue is telling, says Natalie Sambhi, Indonesia analyst at the Australian
Strategic Policy Institute.
2. Human rights
Obama, who spent some of his childhood years in Jakarta, has repeatedly praised
Indonesia, including when he first met Jokowi soon after his election victory last
year. Indonesia, the country with the worlds largest Muslim population, Obama
said, is an example of democracy, tolerance and pluralism.
But one year on, Jokowi has lost much of his pro-human-rights, reformist luster,
thanks to his hard-line stance on the death penalty for drug convicts and his
frequent silence on the ongoing intolerance toward the countrys religious
minorities.
This month, a hard-line Muslim mob besieged and burned down a church in Aceh
Singkil district, saying it lacked a building permit. Local authorities later tore
down nine other churches and planned to demolish one more. A mayor in the
town of Bogor issued a circular last week banning a religious celebration of
Shiite Muslims.
Jokowi is also reluctant to address the countrys past human-rights abuses,
including the 1965 mass killings. While Indonesians enjoy freer discussions about
the pogrom, which killed between 500,000 to 1 million communists and
suspected communists, than previously, there is a new, chilling trend of official
obfuscation regarding the slaughter.
Earlier this month, 77-year-old Tom Iljas, a former political exile who resides in
Sweden, was detained and deported from Indonesia after attempting to visit a
mass grave where his father, a victim of the massacre, was believed to be
buried. Police in Salatiga seized and burned copies of a campus magazine that
published stories of the killings. The Ubud Writers and Readers Festival was
forced to cancel events related to the 1965 tragedy after local authorities
threatened to revoke its permit.
3. Economy

The global economic slowdown has weakened the economic growth in Southeast
Asias biggest economy. Indonesia rupiah has seen its value sharply fall against
the dollar, making it one of the worst performing currencies in Asia.
Jokowis Cabinet reshuffle in mid-August won praises for including respectable
figures in his economic team, such as Harvard-educated private-equity executive
Thomas Lembong as Trade Minister (replacing Rachmat Gobel, who once said
imported secondhand clothes could transmit the AIDS virus) and senior
technocrat and former central banker Darmin Nasution as the Coordinating
Minister of Economy. Jokowis new economic team has launched a series of
economic packages the fifth installment was revealed last week. Though a bit
late, the Cabinet reshuffle is a step toward the right direction, says Metta
Dharmasaputra, executive director of Katadata, a business think tank in Jakarta.

Although Jokowi has repeatedly assured overseas business and political leaders
that Indonesia welcomes foreign investment, his economic policies tend to lean
toward protectionism, from laws governing mining and technology, a rise of
import duties on a range of consumer goods to more restrictions on hiring
foreign professionals. It is possible that Jokowi wants to clear this mixed signal
during his U.S. visit at the end of this month, Metta tells TIME, including the
possibility for Indonesia to join Trans-Pacific Partnership that is spearheaded by
the U.S., a longtime business and trade partner of Indonesia.
4. Foreign policy
Jokowis presidential candidacy may have won support from international
celebrities such as Sting, Guns N Roses guitarist Ron Bumblefoot Thal and
Jason Mraz, but in his foreign policy the President tends to look inward rather
than outward. Jokowis foreign policy is driven primarily by domestic concerns
and less by international status, as it was under [Yudhoyono], Sambhi says.
The South China Sea issue is likely to be a subject of discussion with Obama.
Indonesia, which is not a claimant in the territorial dispute, is reluctant to take a
leadership role to mediate the conflict between China and smaller ASEAN
countries like Vietnam and the Philippines. While Jakarta is wary of Beijings
encroachment in the Indonesia-administered Natuna area off Borneo, it also
wishes closer investment ties with China. (China won the high-speed rail project
between Jakarta and Bandung, following a murky bidding process, which angered
Japan.)
The complicated relationship with Beijing constrains Jakarta from taking a strong
position on the South China Sea, says Sambhi. And you can see that in its lack
of engagement with ASEAN. It prefers to deal with China on a bilateral basis and
let other ASEAN states do the same. (http://time.com/4086496/four-prioritiesindonesia-president-joko-widodo-obama/)