No Extended Holiday for Indonesian Civil Servants

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- Edwar Mursalli, an official of Tanjungpinang’s City office warned all the civil servants that there would be no extended holiday after the Eid-ul-Fitr this year, that’s Antara has reported.

“We have announced and issued an official letter to all civil servants that the holidays for Eid-ul-Fitr would be only from September 18 to 23, 2009,” he said to Antara.

With such a policy, it is hopefully that all civil servants would start working again on September 29, 2009.

Those absent on that day would get administrative sanction from the city government of Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands Province.

“The year holiday for Eid-ul-Fitr is felt too long, and therefore it’s appropriate to improve the service to the public,” Mursalli added.

Further Mursalli demanded to the city government to publish the names of those who are absent on the day in local newspapers.

“Press has significant role in monitoring the working ethic of those civil servants. For that reason, we demanded to the press so that the name of those civil servants who are absent on that day to be published,” he remarked.

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Massively Sporadic Attacks Hit Afghanistan

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- More than 14 civilians and five foreign troopers have died following a series of attack in some corner of Afghanistan on Saturday (12/9/2009).

A roadside bomb killed three US service members in western Afghanistan, while another bomb killed two more in the east, a NATO spokesman told Aljazeera.

The interior ministry has also confirmed that six civilians were killed in a roadside bomb in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on the same day.

Two suicide bombings took place in a detention center for the National Directorate of Security in the provincial capital.

The attack also resulted in local policemen died while they were on patrolling in Nangarhar Province in the east of the country.

Six guards from a local security firm were killed when the attackers fired on an office in Kunar Province.

Seven Afghan soldiers were also killed in a long gunbattle with suspected Taliban Mujahideens in Farah Province, western Afghanistan.

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Two Injured as Militants Fire on Freeport’s Employee Bus

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- A group of Papuan militants fired on a bus of security officials of Freeport Ltd. on Saturday (12/9/2009) at 8:50 am local time.

Two security officials were injured following the raid that happened at mile-43, Jayapura, Papua Province, Indonesia.

Further information on the raid states that the bus was carrying 12 security and two cleaning service officials from Dani Leu.

The two injured security officials were Jelke Pangkarago and Anselmus Gau. Both are now receiving treatment at Kuala Kencana Hospital in TImika.

The route of Freeport’s employee bus has become the main target for Papuan militants so far.

Since the beginning of July 2009, there have been three people killed following the raids at the Timika-Tembagapura route.

The onset for such a militancy is of course the feeling of injustice the local inhabitants receive because they gain very very little benefit from the existence of Freeport company in their land.

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Malaysia Asked to Stop Ousting Indonesian Migrant Workers

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- The city government of Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands Province, asked the Malaysian government to stop ousting Indonesian migrant workers from September 17, 2009 until the day of Eid-ul-Fitr (September 22, 2009).

The sounding came upon consideration of the absent of ships or any other transportation mode sailing from Riau Islands Province during that time.

“Ships carrying migrant workers will be off during that time, so we asked the Malaysian government to stop sending homes those workers during that time,” said the Head of Tanjungpinang’s Labour Department, Said Parman, to Indonesia’s state-run news agency, Antara.

Further Parman added that the number of ousted Indonesian migrant workers during the Holy month Ramadhan gets higher than in the other days, counted at 600.

“The Malaysian government used to oust Indonesian migrant workers once in a week, but now, they multi-doubled the frequency, up to four times in a week,” Parman added.

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No Funding from Foreign Countries for the July’s Jakarta Bombing

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- Indonesia’s Center for Reports and Analysis of Money Transaction (Pusat Pelaporan dan Analisa Transaksi Keuangan-PPATK) has found no foreign funding to underpin the July’s Jakarta bombing – that’s News-Fact.Blogspot.com understands.

Further PPATK confirmed that almost all the funding for the action was only from Indonesia.

“No funding from foreign countries, most of them are through Automatic Teller Machine and cash payment,” Yunus Husein, the head of PPATK, told TempoInteraktif.com.

PPATK’s report was gained from in-depth analysis and investigation on money transaction carried out by those ‘terrorist’ suspects.

With such a finding, Indonesian National Police’s claim that there is foreign funding for the action has been automatically tackled.

However, Indonesian National Police insisted that there ‘should be’ funding from foreign countries, especially from the Middle East.

In its probe to the July’s Jakarta bombers the police had once arrested a Saudi Arabia national, expected to be the mediator for the Indonesian bombers and the funding.

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Villager Gives Back Ancient Frog Statue to Radya Pustaka Museum

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- Edi Rustopo, a villager of Sukoharjo District, Central Java, gave an ancient frog statue to Radya Pustaka Museum on Thursday (10/9/2009).

The statue, which is expected to be 100 years old, was unearthed by Rustopo nearby the back door of Wayang Orang Building, in the city of Surakarta, in 1981.

“For about 20 years I have saved the statue,” Rustopo said to Indonesia’s state-run news agency, Antara.

His initiative to gave the statue to the museum came out of his wife telling that the museum is currently searching for 40 missing statues.

“She suggested me to give the statue to the museum soon,” Rustopo’s remarks.

The museum then calls on everyone to give any ancient statues that have been missing to the museum.

“Every single ancient statue is too much valuable for the history of this nation (Indonesia),” Winarso Kalinggo, the museum official, said.

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Ex-Governor of South Sumatra Province Charged with Four Years of Jail

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- Syahrial Oesman, ex-governor of South Sumatra Province, Indonesia, is being charged with four years of jail over his involvement in the ‘function shifting of Pantai Air Telang forest reserve into Tanjung Apiapi Harbour.

Syahrial Oesman, as reported by Indonesia’s state-run news agency, was accused of engaging in corruption in the project.

“Demanding the court to state that the suspect, Syahrial Oesman, has been alleged in corruption case,” Zet Tadungallo, of prosecuting attorney, told Antara.

Zet Tadungallo and his team also sued Syahrial for IDR 200 millions of fine as subsidizer for four months of jail.

Syahrial Oesman was said to ‘know and order the tunneling of some funds to the members of Commission IV of Indonesian House of Representatives, with aim of easing off the way to turn the forest reserve into harbour.

During the hearing season, Syahrial denied that he has ordered the ‘tunneling of funds’ to the members of Indonesian House of Representatives.

Syahrial’s lawyer, Ignatius Supriadi, further told that his client did not know about the ‘tunneling.’

He blamed Syahrial’s officials for orchestrating the ‘tunneling,’ indeed.

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Aceh Jolted by 5.3-Richter-Scale Quake

News-Fact.Blogspot.com- 5.3 at Richter Scale Earthquake is reported to have just recently hit Aceh Province on Tuesday (08/9/2009) at 10:39 am local time.

The head of Aceh Province’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Syahnan, told Antara that the epicenter of the quake was expected to be at 5.43 northern longitude and 93.14 western latitude at the depth of 132 kilometers.

With such an assessment, the center of the quake was presumably at 243 kilometers away, southwest of Banda Aceh.

No tsunami potentials has been released following the earthquake yet.

The quake was the first in September 2009, after another quake hit off Aceh in August 2009 at average of 5 Richter Scale strong.

Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency is now finding link between the quake, and two other quakes that jolted Central Java on Monday (07/9/2009) and West Java on September 2, 2009 ago.

Many geologists believe there is a link amongst the series of earthquakes hitting off Java and Sumatra islands, Indonesia in the recent time.

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