Jakarta Informer

Jakarta’s controversial Buddha Bar must immediately close, the Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Wednesday. The court also ordered the owners, Nireta Vista Creative, as well as Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and the Jakarta Tourism Agency to pay a fine totaling Rp 1 billion ($111,000) to the plaintiffs, the Anti-Buddha Bar Forum, for mental distress. [...]

Indonesia issued a red alert on Sunday after the Sinabung volcano on the island of Sumatra erupted, spewing smoke and ash 1,500 metres into the air and sending thousands of people fleeing from their homes. A thick blanket of acrid black smoke is shrouding the area, disaster officials said, although no casualties have yet been [...]

Security around the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta as well as the residence of Ambassador Datuk Syed Munshe Afdzaruddin has been beefed up in anticipation of demonstrations to protest against the detention of three Indonesian maritime officials by Malaysian authorities. The three men have since been released and returned to Indonesia. “We are on the alert [...]

Radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was charged with planning terrorist attacks, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death. He was arrested on Monday for allegedly helping to set up and fund a terror cell that was plotting high-profile assassinations and attacks targeting foreigners at luxury hotels in the capital. Investigators have collected [...]

A court in Jakarta has upheld an Indonesian government ban on the Australian feature film Balibo, saying it could incite political tensions. The film Balibo shows Indonesian Special Forces murdering five Australian-based newsmen during Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor in 1975. The account contradicts Indonesia’s official explanation that they were accidentally killed in crossfire. It [...]

Australia might be asked to fund detention centers in Indonesia to help Jakarta deter asylum-seekers from using the nation as a staging point. Jakarta’s plan, which would lock up all asylum-seekers currently free in the community, comes amid pressure from Julia Gillard for a regional solution to the politically explosive problem. The Australian has learnt [...]

Another accident involving Transjakarta bus occurred in Central Jakarta, Friday (7/23). A motorcyclist identified as Nabrudin (48) was hit by a Transjakarta bus of B 7034 BI plying the route of Kampung Melayu-Ancol at 12 am in the area of Manggarai. Nabrudin, who was riding Yamaha Jupiter B 6425 PLH, was intending to U turn [...]

The jerseys worn by Dutch fans at the World Cup final were orange but Spain’s red may better describe the feelings of replica soccer kit workers trying to raise wages in Indonesian factories. The workers in a garment factory near the capital Jakarta making the Dutch, English and Australian replica shirts and the Australia team [...]

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rebuked his country’s police force at a ceremony to commemorate its 64th anniversary yesterday, saying he has received millions of public complaints about the force that has been tainted with allegations of graft. His comments came in the wake of a firebomb attack on the office of a news magazine [...]

Jakarta Traffic Police chief Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono announced Tuesday the city would increase the frequency of Car Free Day events to twice a month starting July to meet the rising demand from residents and improve air quality. The event will be held on the second and fourth weeks of the respective months. “Except in [...]

At 8am on a sunny Wednesday, industrialist Muhsin headed out for a workout: a swim and a few laps around a running track. His chosen location? Indonesia’s most luxurious cemetery. The 1,240 acre San Diego Hills Memorial Park, which opened in 2007, was inspired by the Forest Lawn chain of US cemeteries, the final resting [...]

The death toll from last week’s strong earthquakes that struck Indonesia’s eastern province of Papua has risen to 17. This was a statement from the National Disaster Management Agency today. The series of quakes on Wednesday, the strongest of which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale, also left 15 people injured, about 3,500 houses damaged [...]

A Balinese teenager captured stark naked in the act of sexually penetrating a domestic cow claims he believed the animal was a young and beautiful girl. The young man has been identified as Ngurah Alit, 18, an unemployed youth from the seaside village of Yeh Embang in Jembrana. Village head Ida Bagus Legawa stated that [...]

In a bid to clamp down on incidents of sexual harassment on its buses, the TransJakarta management on Thursday launched separate lines for male and female passengers, but critics call the system ineffective. TransJakarta control manager Gunardjo said his company had posted signs directing passengers to queue in different lines according to gender at 140 [...]

To support the service of East Jakarta Administration Office of Prime Services, PT Aetra donated one unit of drinking water tap. Thus, people who want to administer their affair in that office located in Blok B2 of East Jakarta Mayoral office can directly drink the water produced from the tap. This facility was given by [...]

A two-year-old toddler in South Sumatra, Indonesia, has become addicted to cigarettes, smoking around forty a day. The parents of Aldi Rizal say their boy started smoking cigarettes at 18 months old when his father, Muhammad, introduced him to the habit. They say Rizal screams, slams his head against the floor and even gets sick [...]

The South Jakarta District Court turned down a pretrial motion by graft suspect, high-ranking policeman Susno Duadji who challenged his arrest on the grounds that police had enough preliminary evidence to detain the suspect. “The South Jakarta District Court considers that (incoming) report to police and testimony by a witness can serve as preliminary evidence [...]

Yahoo! has announced that it has acquired Koprol, an Indonesian Internet service that lets people use mobile telephones to instantly connect with nearby people and places. “Users are increasingly relying on mobile devices to communicate and access the Internet and they are looking for seamless integration between those devices and PCs,” said Rose Tsou, senior [...]

The body of former first lady Hasri Ainun Habibie, the wife of former president B.J. Habibie arrived in Jakarta on early Tuesday morning where she will be buried on the same day. News portal kompas.com reported that the body arrived at Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport in East Jakarta at 4:58 a.m. State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, [...]

Singer Kelly Clarkson won her fight against Jakarta’s cigarette company Djarum that was sponsoring her gig in Indonesia. The sponsorship of the company for the event has now been canceled. Kelly Clarkson was under pressure to cancel her 29th April concert as posters of the cigarette brand would promote smoking but she has refused to [...]