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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's counter-terrorism police Densus 88 arrested 16 suspected militants in different regions of the country over the past several days.
The new arrests brought the number of terrorist suspects rounded up by police to about 300 since May suicide attacks by two families at churches and a police headquarters in Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya, killed 14 bystanders.
Five suspects were arrested Sunday in three locations in West Sumatra province – Padang, Bukittinggi and Payakumbuh – provincial police spokesman Senior Commissioner Syamsi told BenarNews.
Two guns were seized from the suspects, said Syamsi who uses one name.
Syamsi said those arrested are suspected of having links to the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a militant network blamed for a series of deadly terrorist attacks in recent years and was outlawed last month by a Jakarta court.
"They are part of JAD," Syamsi said.
A neighborhood chief in Padang, Susi Khastri, said one of the suspects, identified only by his initial J, had rented a house and lived with his wife and two children for three years.
"Nothing suspicious about them. They sell salt. They were often visited by some people, but that's normal," she said.
East Indonesia Mujahidin Network
Police also arrested a suspect believed to be a member of the East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) militant network, identified as M (alias Ato), in East Luwu district in South Sulawesi on Monday, provincial police spokesman Dicky Sondani said.
He said the arrest came after police apprehended two suspects in East Luwu last week and confiscated 15 kilograms of explosive materials.
"They were plotting to blow up a number of places in Indonesia," Dicky told BenarNews, without giving more details.
Separately, police nabbed two suspects Bone district, about 450 km (280 miles) from East Luwu.
Dicky said they all had ties to Santoso, the MIT leader who was killed a police anti-terrorism operation in 2016.
Densus 88 also arrested six suspected militants linked to JAD in several locations in Bengkulu on Sumatra island, local police spokesman Sudarno told local media. He  did not give details on the arrests.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, a primary school teacher could face up to seven years in jail if convicted on charges filed Monday that he had six images and 16 videos of the Islamic State terror group on his mobile phone.
Muhamad Naseefullah, 47, (alias Heawian Einie) allegedly belonged to a WhatsApp group called the rise of the soldiers of Allah. The group allegedly was linked to a failed terror plot against an October 2017 beer festival in Kuala Lumpur that was cancelled following objections from Muslim groups.


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BENARNEWS- Supporters of hardline Indonesian cleric Muhammad Rizieq Shihab have set up a think-tank named after him in a sign of his growing stature at home as he fights legal troubles from a self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia.
The Habib Rizieq Shihab Center, which was inaugurated in Jakarta over the weekend, aims to be a scientific and strategic research hub based on Islamic values for the benefit of Muslims and the country in general, said its chairman, Abdul Choir Ramadhan. "Habib" is an honorific used to address a Muslim scholar believed to a descendant of the Prophet Mohammad.
"The center is named after him because of his stature and as a show of our admiration for his struggle to uphold Islamic values," Ramadhan told BenarNews. He said the center was self-funded but did not rule out public donations.
Rizieq, founder of the vigilante group Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), shot to political prominence after he led a campaign in 2016 and 2017 to oust then-Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, over allegations that he had insulted the Koran in off-the-cuff remarks.
The center's launch coincided with the 20th anniversary of the FPI's founding. The group is notorious for past anti-vice raids targeting places accused of harboring sex workers and drug users, as well as nightspots that remained open during Ramadan.
Rizieq has been in a self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia following attempts by Indonesian police to question him last year over allegations he had engaged in a lewd online chat with a female supporter and a separate charge of insulting the Indonesian state ideology of Pancasila.
Investigations into the cases were stopped this year with police citing a lack of evidence.
The cleric's supporters said the cases against him were fabricated by the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo because of Rizieq's role in inflaming Muslim sentiment against Ahok, an ally of the president.
Ramadhan said Rizieq had doubts about returning home any time soon, saying the political climate is unfavorable.
"The investigations may have been dropped, but they can always reinstate them any time," Ramadhan said.
For the ummah's benefit
On Saturday, Rizieq delivered a speech through a telephone link during the ceremonial launch of the center.
"I hope that the HRS Center will become a place for the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of the Muslim ummah (society) and the country," he said in the message posted on YouTube.
"This is in line with the principles of my struggle that I have always adhered to: That the Scripture must be above the Constitution, and that the Constitution should not deviate from the Scripture," he said.
"The institutionalization of Sharia is inevitable for Islamic values are an inseparable part of our nation building," he added.
Emrus Sihombing, a political analyst at Pelita Harapan University, described the center as a positive move.
"If the center is indeed engaged in scientific and strategic studies for the benefit of the ummah, it's very good for public discourse because there will be debates on the merits of their ideas," he said.
"It will be a lot more productive," he said.  "He is a leader who commands the strong loyalty of people who subscribe to his views."
Rizieq played a key role in last year's conviction and imprisonment of Ahok on blasphemy charges.
Conservative Muslim groups held protests against Ahok in 2016 and 2017 in the run-up to a gubernatorial election in which he was a front-runner after an edited video made it appear that he had said the Quran deceived people.
Ahok lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election to former Education Minister Anies Baswedan, who courted support of FPI and other conservative Muslim groups despite his liberal credentials. Ahok later was sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy.
Ramadhan said the HRS Center would conduct studies, hold seminars, provide training as well as publish books to influence public discourse on Islam, including in the aspects of law, governance and public policy.
"We want to promote ideas of a system of governance based on Islamic values," he said.
"There's no contradiction between Pancasila (the state ideology) and Islamic teachings."


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BENARNEWS- A court in Indonesia's North Sumatra province on Tuesday sentenced a woman to 18 months after her complaint over noise from a mosque triggered arson attacks on Buddhist temples in 2016.
Meiliana, a 44-year-old Buddhist of Chinese descent who goes by only one name, was found guilty by judges at Medan District Court of showing hostility to religion, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison under Indonesian law.
"[The defendant] is proven guilty beyond reasonable doubts of having publicly and deliberately expressed a feeling or carried out acts of hostility, abuse or blasphemy toward a religion in Indonesia," chief judge Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo said.
Meiliana wept after the verdict was read. Her lawyer Ranto Sibarani said she would appeal.
In 2016, Meiliana came to a neighbor in Tanjung Balai city and complained that the noise from calls to prayers blasted through mosque loudspeakers was "hurting her ears" and asked that the volume be turned down.
"Your mosque is deafening. I have no peace every day," she said, according to the indictment.
Meliana has denied saying those words.
A mosque official later visited Meliana and asked her if she had made a request.
Meliana's husband later apologized for his wife's action but rumors soon spread among locals and on social media that she had asked the mosque to stop azan, or calls to prayers.
On July 29, 2016, locals threw rocks at Meiliana's house.
A riot then spread across the town, with mobs burning temples and other buildings owned by the local ethnic Chinese.
The North Sumatran branch of the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa in January 2017 that Meiliana's words were blasphemous.
At least eight rioters have been sentenced to jail terms of between one and two months in prison.
But pressure from Muslim groups mounted on the police who arrested Meiliana in May.
The head of the Islamic Ummah Forum in North Sumatra, Indra Suhari, said the sentence was too lenient.
"We are disappointed," he said.
Bonar Tigor Naipospos, deputy chairman of Setara Institute, a human rights organization based in Jakarta, said Meiliana did not receive a fair trial.
"It's similar to the Ahok case. Most blasphemy cases result from a combination of pressure from the public and intolerant groups, and MUI fatwas have been a determining factor," he said, referring to former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, who was sentenced to two years for blasphemy for remarks deemed insulting to Islam.
The defendant, her lawyer, judges and prosecutors were subjected to psychological pressure by the presence of members of intolerant groups during the trial, he said.


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BENARNEWS- Civil society groups in Indonesia, including at least one leading Muslim organization, on Thursday challenged a court's decision this week to sentence a woman for committing blasphemy by complaining about noise coming from a neighborhood mosque.
On Tuesday, the court in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province, sentenced Meiliana, a 44-year-old Buddhist of Chinese descent, to 18 months in prison after finding her guilty of showing hostility to religion and blasphemy.
"Jailing someone for 18 months for something trivial is a clear example of an increasingly arbitrary and repressive application of the law in this country," said Usman Hamid, director of Amnesty International Indonesia.
Usman called the verdict a blatant violation of freedom speech.
"The High Court in North Sumatra must reverse this injustice by annulling the sentence and acquitting Meiliana without conditions," he said.
In 2016, Meiliana approached a neighbor in Tanjung Balai city and complained that the noise from calls to prayers blasted through mosque loudspeakers was "hurting her ears," and asked that the volume be turned down.
"Your mosque is deafening. I have no peace every day," she said, according to the indictment.
Meiliana has denied saying those words and her husband apologized.
Later, angry locals threw rocks at Meiliana's house and mobs burned temples and other buildings owned by local ethnic Chinese. At least eight rioters have been sentenced to jail terms of between one and two months in prison.
'Blow to the spirt of tolerance'
The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) said the blasphemy law always had been used against minority groups.
"The verdict has dealt a blow to the spirit of tolerance in society as well as to minority groups that should be protected," ICJR Executive Director Anggara Suwahju said.
"Therefore revisions to the Criminal Code currently being debated in the House of Representatives should do away with this blasphemy provision, " he said.
In addition to the groups speaking out, a petition demanding Meiliana be released has garnered more than 71,000 signatures.
Robikin Emhas, a deputy chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama executive board, the country's largest Muslim organization, said what Meiliana did does not constitute blasphemy in Islam.
Her criticism was constructive in a diverse society, he said.
"Protesting a call to prayers which is too loud is not an expression of hostility. Besides, she did not say rude words," Robikin told BenarNews.
He said the blasphemy law was introduced to maintain harmony among followers of different religions in Indonesia and should not be used to muzzle differences in opinions.
"What is needed is prudence in appling the law. Amicable discussion should be prioritized. The court is only a last resort," he said.
Abdulrahman Dahlan, the secretary of the fatwa commission at the Indonesian Council of Ulema, said criticism was not blasphemy. Despite that statement, he refused to blame a fatwa issued by the local ulema council chapter declaring Meiliana's action blasphemous.
"I didn't pay close attention to the case. But if it's only criticism, I think it's not blasphemy," he said.
Haedar Nasir, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic organization, said the case should serve as a lesson on the importance of tolerance, adding it should have been settled amicably out of court.
"Not everything should be settled in court," he said.
Meanwhile, lawmaker Arsul Sani urged Meilinana to appeal to get justice.
"I think we have to respect the process. There are still legal avenues such as appeals to the High Court and then the Supreme Court," he said.
He said lawmakers were open to public input on revisions to the criminal code.
"I hope civil society can come forward and convey to us what their objections are," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Australia warned that it obtained information about potential terrorist attacks targeting Indonesia and asked its diplomats to not attend a scheduled Thursday event in Surabaya, the second largest Indonesian city where suicide bombings occurred three months ago.
"We continue to receive information indicating terrorists may be planning attacks in Indonesia," Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in an advisory posted on its Smarttraveller website on Wednesday.
"Due to heightened security concerns, staff at the Australian Consulate-General in Surabaya will not be attending an event at the Airlangga University in Surabaya on 23 August. Australian officials in Surabaya are currently adopting enhanced security measures and limiting their movements," the message said.
On Thursday, the American embassy in Jakarta followed up with its own alert about a security threat at Airlangga University. The embassy cited media reports indicating the potential threat of terrorist attacks in Surabaya and other parts of Indonesia, "including the potential targeting of Western interests at Airlangga."
"Out of an abundance of caution the U.S. Consulate General in Surabaya is closing its American Corner at Airlangga University on August 23," the embassy said in an advisory posted on its website.
A security analyst at the Indonesian Center for Radicalism and Deradicalism Studies (PAKAR), Adhe Bhakti, said the threat emerged in online chatter among supporters of the extremist group Islamic State (IS).
"There was some kind of a call to conduct amaliah (code for a terror attack) in Surabaya with Australian officials who were scheduled to attend an event at a university there," Adhe told BenarNews, without giving details.
The Reuters news agency, citing two security sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that Australia's elevated security measures were linked to a posting circulating on social media that called on Indonesians in Surabaya and surrounding East Java province to harm Australian officials.
Earlier this month, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop opened Australia's first consulate-general in Surabaya.
In mid-May, suicide bombers attacked three churches and a police headquarters in the city. At least 12 people were killed as well as 10 members of two families who were blamed for carrying out the bombings that were linked with a pro-IS Indonesian militant network, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), according to police.
Since then, Indonesian authorities have arrested more than 300 suspected militants and killed 21 others across the country.
Meanwhile, a pro-IS group calling itself the Hacking Division of the Anshar Caliphate Army issued a one-minute audio message on social media in which it threatened to attack the Indonesian government. The message in English with Indonesian subtitles was read by a male voice that sounded computer-generated.
The message vowed to avenge actions taken by Indonesia against Anshar's "brothers," such as the blocking of their social media accounts.
"We will reply to everything you have done. We will fight and terrorize you in the real world and the virtual world. We will attack and terrorize you in cyberspace."
The recording's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
On Thursday, Indonesian National Police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal declined to comment on the message, saying he had not heard it. Elsewhere, a spokesman for the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) could not be reached for comment.
Local supporters of IS, which was banned in Indonesia in 2014, have directed threats at the government in the past.
In April 2015, a pro-IS group threatened to storm Nusakambangan, a prison island off Central Java, to free the leader of JAD, Aman Abdurrahman, who was being held there, in an audio message posted on YouTube.
The threat never materialized.
Aman was freed from custody in August 2017 but was immediately rearrested for his involvement in a series of attacks in the country in recent years.
In June 2018, a Jakarta court sentenced him to death for masterminding terrorist strikes, including a gun and bomb attack in central Jakarta that killed four perpetrators and four bystanders in January 2016.
An expert on terrorism at Malikussaleh University in Aceh, Al Chaidar, said the latest threat could be just a bluff.
"There have been many threats that did not materialize," he said.
But, he added, Indonesian security authorities should remain vigilant and not underestimate the threat.


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BENARNEWS- The death toll from a series of powerful earthquakes that devastated the Indonesian island of Lombok this month has risen to at least 555, an official said Friday.
About 77,000 houses were damaged, forcing nearly 400,000 residents to live in temporary shelters, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).
A week after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake killed 20 people, a temblor measured at 6.9 struck Lombok on Aug. 5, causing widespread devastation.
Two more earthquakes hit two weeks later, causing more deaths and damage.
Military helicopters have been deployed to distribute aid supplies after complaints that assistance was slow to come to affected areas.
"The extent of the destruction and damage to infrastructure such as roads and bridges are slowing aid distribution," Sutopo said.
Food, sanitary facilities, tents, and blankets are among items the displaced people need most, he said.
The government estimates that the cost of the damage caused by the disaster exceeds 7.45 trillion rupiah (U.S. $510 million).
It has so far released nearly 1 trillion rupiah ($68 million) in emergency funds, on top of 100 billion rupiah ($6.8 million) from BNPB, Sutopo said.
A reserve disaster fund of 4 trillion rupiah ($274 million) has been earmarked for rehabilitation and rebuilding, he added.
Sutopo defended the government's handling of the aftermath of the disaster following criticism that its emergency response was inadequate.
"No country has handled an emergency response perfectly. There are always inadequacies. After the Katrina disaster in 2005, coordination at the federal and state level was chaotic," he said.
The powerful hurricane killed more than 1,800 people in the southeastern United States, amid widespread accusations of a bungled government response.
In response to the criticism, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Thursday issued an executive order to speed up disaster response coordination between Jakarta and the provincial government.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area known for seismic upheavals and volcanic eruptions.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's upcoming presidential election will not only be fought through rallies on the campaign trail but in cyberspace, where online influencers will play a role in helping shape the outcome, analysts told BenarNews.
With close to 150 million Indonesians having access to the Internet, politicians are increasingly using social media to get their message across to the masses. In recent years, electoral campaigning in Indonesia has featured so-called "buzzers" – people with thousands of followers on social media – who are paid to post content in support of politicians, experts said.
"Social media influencers play an important role in advertising in the digital era when the influence of traditional media, such as television and newspapers as well as formal institutions is diminishing," Mohammad Rinaldi Camil, a researcher at the Center of Innovation Policy and Governance, told BenarNews
"At the same time, peer-to-peer influence is on the rise."
Mohammad said a study by him found that some buzzers were paid between 50,000 rupiah (U.S. $3.50) to 250,000 per post on Twitter.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is seeking a second five-year term in a presidential election scheduled for April 17, 2019. His opponent in the campaign is Prabowo Subianto, whom he defeated narrowly in the 2014 polls.
Many months before Election Day, a hashtag war between supporters of both candidates is already being waged on Twitter and Facebook.
Jokowi's opponents use the hashtag #2019gantipresiden (#2019changepresident) to drum up support for Prabowo, a 66-year-old former army special forces commander who has been linked to alleged human rights abuses. Prabowo has denied those allegations.

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Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo gives his State of the Nation address at parliament, in Jakarta, Aug. 16, 2018. [AP]

 
The president's supporters have responded with #diasibukkerja (#heisbusyworking) and #2019tetapjokowi (#2019stilljokowi).
Mardani Ali Sera, an opposition politician who popularized #2019changepresident, said the movement which started on Twitter was growing "massively" both online and offline.
"The hashtag has dominated conversations on social media for three months. So the brand is very strong," said Mardani, a politician from the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party.
The movement's growth has been organic, he said.
"Surveys have shown that conversations on social media are an indicator of public sentiment in the real world," Mardani said.
About 143 million Indonesians had access to the Internet in 2017, according to the Association of Indonesian Internet Providers.
A recent study by We Are Social, a global advertising agency, found that Indonesians with access to the Internet spend more than eight hours a day online, including 3.5 hours on social media.
Political advertising on social media has become an industry involving huge amounts of money, according to social media expert Nukman Luthfi.
"Young people nowadays spend less time watching TV or reading papers. For that reason money that was usually spent on TV and newspaper advertising has shifted to social media," he told BenarNews.
Guilty of spreading misinformation
Netizens don't just share facts about their favorite politicians, but also misinformation, or fake news.
Earlier this year, a court in Pekanbaru on Sumatra island sentenced Muhammad Abdullah Harsono to two years and eight months in prison after finding him guilty of spreading misinformation on Facebook that could cause social and religious discord.
Police said Muhammad was among four people arrested last year on suspicion of involvement in an online fake-news factory called Saracen. Authorities did not identify Saracen's paymasters.
But the group received millions of rupiah as payment after spreading misinformation and hate speech against Jokowi's government, police said without elaborating.
In 2016 and 2017, large protests by Muslims against Jakarta's Christian governor, Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, began with a Facebook post suggesting that he had insulted the Quran for remarks he made during a meeting with residents in Kepulauan Seribu district.
An edited video posted on Facebook made it appear that Ahok had said the Quran deceived people while he was talking about how his opponents used a verse in the scripture to discourage people from voting for him.
Ahok lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election to former Education Minister Anies Baswedan, who courted support from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and other conservative Muslim groups despite his liberal credentials.
Ahok soon after was sentenced to two years in prison for blasphemy. He is due for release in January.
Social media expert Nukman said Jokowi's decision to pick Ma'ruf Amin, a senior Muslim cleric known for conservative views on LGBT and other issues, as his running mate could pacify his opponents who have tried to paint him as being not Islamic enough.
"Using the religious card to attack Jokowi won't sell anymore," he said. "So I think the conversations online in the lead-up to the election will focus on the economy and human rights to some extent."


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian man labelled a "global terrorist" by the U.S. government last week is still in Syria where he is a trusted aide to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, terrorism experts said.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday declared Mohammed Karim Yusop Faiz (alias Muhammad Saifuddin or Abu Walid) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist along with a Malaysian and a Filipino.
The department alleged that the trio, who appeared in an IS propaganda video in 2016 showing them beheading three captives, had recruited foreign fighters to pledge their allegiance to al-Baghdadi.
Sofyan Tsauri, a former terrorism convict, said Faiz was known to be close to al-Baghdadi, whose whereabouts are unknown.
"Saifuddin has even been a figure trusted by al-Baghdadi to be an influential leader of ISIS followers in Southeast Asia," Sofyan said, using the other acronym for IS.
"He's a pious person, can memorize the Quran and has good religious knowledge, a convincing track record, allowing him to get an important position within ISIS," he said.
Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy and Analysis of Conflict, a Jakarta-based think-tank, said the Treasury sanctions against Faiz and those of Malaysian Mohamad Rafi Udin and Filipino militant Mohammad Reza Lahaman Kiram, would not affect their reputation within the militant group.
Jones said Washington should have included the three men on its list of global terrorists in 2016 immediately after they appeared in an IS video in which they declared support for Isnilon Hapilon, the leader of the Islamic State branch in the Philippines who would later lead a five-month battle with the Philippine military in the southern city of Marawi.
Philippine security forces killed Hapilon in October last year, effectively ending the Marawi siege that killed 1,200 people, most of them militants.
The Treasury sanctions against the three men would require U.N. member states to prohibit their travel and deny them access to the international financial system, among other measures.
Jones said she believed three were still alive in Syria.
"But Rafi isn't as important as Walid," she said, using Faiz's other alias.
Inspector-General Hamidin, deputy for international cooperation at Indonesia's National Agency for Counter-Terrorism, said the government continued to monitor Indonesians suspected to be fighting alongside terrorist groups overseas.
"He has been overseas for quite some time and it is our job, whenever there are Indonesians who have become part of ISIS, to watch their domestic networks," he told BenarNews.
On Aug. 22, in his first purported audio recording in almost a year, IS leader al-Baghdadi urged his followers to keep fighting despite recent defeats, according to the Associated Press. The 54-minute audio, titled "Give Glad Tidings to the Patient," was released by the extremist group's central media arm, the al-Furqan Foundation.
The secretive militant leader has frequently been reported wounded or killed during the past few years. He was last seen in public in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, but U.S. officials believed he was still alive. Reports said IS had lost about 90 percent of lands it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, where al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014.
'In the land of the prophets'
Faiz's mother, Sa'adah, said she did not remember the last time she had contact with her son, whom she calls Udin.
"I don't know where he is. People say he has become a terrorist. They say he is a butcher and likes to kill people. But I have never seen proof, and I don't want to know," she told BenarNews on Monday in Klaten regency, Central Java, about 552 kilometers (345 miles) east of Jakarta.
"I only remember when he called on Eid al-Fitr and said that he was in the land of the prophets. But I have totally forgotten what year that was," she said. "It was a long time ago."
The U.S. Treasury, in a statement published on its website, said Faiz appeared in the IS video where he also took part in the execution of a prisoner. The statement did not give the current location of the three militants.
After the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, Indonesian security officials believe that Faiz travelled to the Philippines together with Bali bombers Dulmatin and Umar Patek, members of the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.
In 2005, Faiz was arrested by Philippine police and charged with possession of illegal weapons and explosives. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Faiz returned to Indonesia in 2013 upon his release and later married the widow of Urwah, one of the suicide bombers who attacked J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta in 2009.
He then left for Syria with his wife in 2013 or 2014, counter-terrorism chief Hamidin told BenarNews.
"He was said to be a religious teacher for people from Southeast Asia – Malaysians and Indonesians who were there [in Syria]," Hamidin said.


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BENARNEWS- The U.S. military killed Indonesian Islamic State leader Bahrun Naim in Syria in June, a Pentagon spokesman told BenarNews on Friday.
The tech-savvy militant was a financier of terror networks in Indonesia and a master recruiter who convinced at least 100 of his countrymen to join the so-called caliphate and groomed women to become suicide bombers, according to Indonesian and U.S. officials and experts.
"We have come to learn U.S. forces killed Bahrun Naim in Syria in June," Lt. Col. Koné Faulkner, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense, told BenarNews.
Faulkner provided details about the time and place of Naim's death after Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu announced it earlier in the week.
Reports of Naim's death had circulated in regional media on at least three occasions over the past two years, sourced to online chatter and social media posts, but Indonesian police declined to confirm them, citing lack of proof.
Confirmation of his death came in a letter from U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Ryamizard said.
"I ... expressed thanks for Mattis' letter to me informing about the killing of terrorist figures Bahrun Naim and Abu Ghaida some time ago in a U.S. military operation," said a transcript released by the Indonesian Defense Ministry of Ryamizard's remarks prepared for delivery to senior Pentagon officials in Washington.
Ryamizard said the information was passed along as a result of intelligence cooperation.
"Once they were shot, Secretary Mattis sent a letter to me two weeks ago, reporting about those two leaders. That's intelligence cooperation," he told BenarNews in an interview in Washington on Wednesday.
A day later, Hamidin, an official with Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), said that the agency had not received any information about Naim's death from the United States.
Defense Ministry spokesman Totok Sugiharto said the information had likely been delivered directly to the Indonesian defense minister "because Ryamizard and Mattis are very close."
Information about the identity of the second man slain, Abu Ghaida, was not immediately available.
'The bomber should be a woman'
Naim was killed 16 months after the United States Treasury Department declared him a "global terrorist."
"Naim is a Syria-based Indonesian national and ISIS official who has served in a variety of roles including leading an ISIS unit, recruiting, and overseeing and funding ISIS operations in Indonesia and elsewhere," the department said in March 2017, using another acronym for IS.
Naim declared his allegiance to the extremist group in August 2014 and had recruited more than 100 of his countrymen by January 2016, the declaration said. He was born in Surakarta, in Central Java province, and would have turned 35 on Sept. 6, according to the Treasury.
The U.S. alleges that he organized and funded a terrorist attack, which killed four civilians and four extremists in central Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2016, transferring nearly U.S. $72,000 to an Indonesian associate. The attack was the first terrorist act claimed by IS in Indonesia.
Naim used the online payment system PayPal and digital currency Bitcoin to transfer terror funding to Indonesia, Kiagus Ahmad Badaruddin, chairman of Indonesia's Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), told a press conference in Jakarta in January 2017.
More recently, Naim began an effort to recruit women as suicide bombers, "because they are less likely to attract suspicion," according to a report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).
Among them was Dian Yulia Novi, who was arrested after failing to detonate a rice-cooker bomb during a changing-of-the-guard ceremony outside the Presidential Palace in Jakarta in December 2016. Dian was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in August 2017.
Shortly after their arrests, she and her husband Nur Solihin gave a chilling television interview, describing a marriage carried out to facilitate an attack they said was being directed from Syria.
"All of it, from the target, the hour, the time, the person who arranged it was Bahrun Naim. I myself didn't know the details at first ... but when the time drew near, he informed me," Nur Solihin said during a 23-minute interview by TVOne.
"It was Bahrun Naim who said the bomber should be a woman," he said.
Dian said she was informed by Bahrun Naim via Telegram chat that the target would be guards outside the Presidential Palace. He instructed her to mingle with spectators who typically gather to watch the changing of the guard, then run toward the guards and blow herself up, she said.
At the time Dian Yula Novi was widely described as the first would-be suicide bomber in Indonesia. Suicide bombings have since been carried by Indonesian women who brought their children along for the death mission.
In May 2018, in Indonesia's second city of Surabaya, a couple and their four children aged 9 to 18 carried out triple suicide bombings at churches in Surabaya, and a family of five detonated bombs at a police station, killing the whole family except an 8-year-old daughter.
"This may be the first time in the world, parents took their children to blow themselves up. These kinds of attacks are unprecedented," IPAC Director Sidney Jones told BenarNews at the time.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia and Australia hammered out a free-trade deal and agreed to bolster strategic ties on Friday as Canberra's new leader, Scott Morrison, made his first overseas trip since taking power last week.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo hailed Australia – Indonesia's next-door neighbor to the south – as "an important partner" after wrapping up the trade agreement with Morrison at the presidential palace in Bogor, near the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
"We reaffirmed the importance of economic openness and efforts to strengthen economic ties that are mutually beneficial," Widodo told reporters.
He made the statement after completing "substantial negotiations" with Morrison on the free-trade deal, which was years in the making and expected to be signed by the end of 2018, pending legal fine-tuning.
Under the agreement, live cattle, meat and dairy products from Australia will enter Indonesia duty-free or at reduced tariffs, a prospect that has been cheered by farmers Down Under.
Australian investors will also be allowed to own majority shares in universities and build hospitals in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy and home to more than 260 million people. Jakarta currently limits foreign ownership of educational institutions to 40 percent.
For its part, Indonesia is seeking the elimination of tariffs for 95 percent of its exports to Australia.
Morrison, 50, became prime minister last week after inter-partisan warfare ended Malcolm Turnbull's short tenure as Australia's leader.
Relations between Indonesia and Australia, two of the world's largest economies, are often testy, but bilateral ties improved under Turnbull, with the two nations agreeing to restore full military cooperation in 2017.
History of spats
The two nations in the past few years have been embroiled in spats over issues such as Australia's perceived interference in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony occupied for more than a decade by Indonesia but which voted for independence in 1998. 

A diplomatic rift also took place in 2013 after reports surfaced that Australian intelligence services had spied on then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his inner circle.
Jokowi said he agreed with his new Australian counterpart on "the importance of respect for rule-based international order," an apparent reference to China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea.
Indonesia is not a party in the dispute over the South China Sea, where more than $5 trillion of global trade flows through each year, but fellow members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – have overlapping claims in the mineral-rich sea region, as do China and rival Taiwan.
The overlapping claims are considered a flashpoint in the region and while claimants have agreed to refrain from any actions that would complicate the matter, China has been expanding and militarizing territories it occupies.
Jokowi said Indonesia and Australia had also agreed "to continue cooperation in the area of security, including cyber-security."
Morrison said the economic partnership called the Indonesia-Australian Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement was "much more than a trade deal."
"It's not just a transaction," Morrison told reporters in Jakarta. "It's a partnership."


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BENARNEWS- Nations need to work together in warding off the terrorist threat and ASEAN states should be united in facing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu told BenarNews in a wide-ranging interview here.
The Indonesian defense chief was on a three-day visit to Washington this week, where he met with his American counterpart, James Mattis, at the Pentagon to reaffirm bilateral military cooperation, U.S. officials said. The two men discussed how to work with regional partners in combating transnational security threats including piracy, trafficking, and illegal fishing, the U.S. Defense Department said.
"Terrorism isn't just a threat to one country, but a threat to humankind, so it is every country's enemy. Where there's a concentration of terrorists, we have to face them together," Ryamizard told Benar on Wednesday at the residence of Indonesian Ambassador Budi Bowoleksono in Washington.
"We are dealing with third-generation terrorists," Ryamizard said. "The first generation was al-Qaida, the second generation [was] Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Now that they are being destroyed there, they are returning to Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines."
During the 20-minute interview, he also responded to questions on how his country – the largest and most populous one in Southeast Asia – was dealing with regionwide tensions with China and territorial disputes in the South China Sea, as well as other issues.
Ryamizard revealed that Jakarta would purchase five U.S.-made Hercules military cargo planes, and that Mattis had notified him about the recent killing of a top Indonesian Islamic State operative, Bahrun Naim.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
BenarNews: Did anything new in the bilateral relationship come out of your meeting with General Mattis?
Ryamizard Ryacudu: I have met General Mattis five times since he took office, in Indonesia, in Hawaii and then in Singapore twice, and here.
So we have become so close. There are no new things, apart from building on what we have discussed in previous meetings and concretizing the plans.
BN: Will you be purchasing any new military hardware from the United States?
RR: Yes. We just bought Apache helicopters. In the future, we will buy five more Hercules aircraft.
We already have 28 Hercules aircraft, but most of them are too old and need to be updated. There are still many [aircraft] dating back to the Sukarno era in the 1960s, which are still in good condition and well maintained, but they are too old and need to be replaced.
BN: What is Indonesia's role in the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region?
RR: Indonesia's role hasn't changed, I think. With the Indo-Pacific, the emphasis is on our surroundings.
Me and my colleagues in ASEAN have often met and believe that we have to be ready for all possibilities. [We are] ready to maintain regional security, with or without help.
ASEAN is home to 600 million people. Our armed forces have 2.6 million personnel combined. With this strength, I have told my colleagues, we have the capacity as long as we are united in facing [security issues].
As for assistance from other countries, the U.S. or any other, thank God we will accept it, even more so when dealing with common enemies, the terrorists.
BN: Indonesia has so far been described as a non-party in the South China Sea dispute, but last year Indonesia renamed a part of the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea. Does this mean Indonesia will take a more active role on the issue of the South China Sea?
RR: When I was new to the job, four years ago, I saw there were tensions.
Everyone was wary, worried about inflaming and provoking tensions.
[The year] 2015 was the same. I said "it doesn't have to be that way." I came to the Chinese delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and told them: "You are always being seen as an enemy."
I appealed for openness, including through joint patrols. They agreed. First with Indonesia, and later with everyone else.
When that happens, there's openness. And with openness, tensions will subside.
 
BN: Will trilateral patrols in the Sulu Sea continue? What is the outcome?
RR: As for the Sulu Sea, I took the initiative for trilateral cooperation to eradicate piracy, which has dogged ships carrying commodities. Coal [shipments] to the Philippines have been affected.
The trilateral patrols have been conducted for two years and today there's no more [piracy]. And I hope there will be no more in the future.
It will continue. Air [patrols] ... also and in the future, patrols on land.
BN: Where will land patrols be conducted, in Kalimantan or the southern Philippines?
RR: Kalimantan is our training ground.  To the southern Philippines later. We are ready to face them anywhere.
BN: Is there a plan for new bilateral cooperation on fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia? Are there specific U.S. concerns about counter-terrorism efforts in the region?
RR: Terrorism isn't just a threat to one country, but a threat to humankind, so it is every country's enemy. Where there's a concentration of terrorists, we have to face them together.
Yesterday, we dealt with Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In Asia, they are concentrated in Indonesia and the Philippines.
We have to deal with this otherwise we'll be in trouble later. If we take no action, more people will be recruited and they will become stronger and better armed.
BN: What about intelligence cooperation on counter-terrorism?
RR: Yes, intelligence is of the utmost importance. The U.S. and other big nations have strong intelligence. We have to know their [terrorist] strength. If we don't know their strength, there will be many victims. That must not happen.
BN: With the introduction of a new anti-terrorism law that gives a bigger mandate to the military in fighting terrorism, has it been implemented?
RR: Terrorists are enemies of all, so it's impossible to rely on only the police to fight them. Everyone must get involved. Soldiers and police must work together.
Since the new terrorism law was passed, the TNI [Indonesian armed forces] has been involved immediately.
BN: What is your assessment on the threat of domestic terrorism after a series of suicide bombings in Surabaya in May?
RR: We are dealing with third-generation terrorists.
The first generation was al-Qaida, the second generation [was] Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Now that they are being destroyed there, they are returning to Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines.
There are 3,500 from foreign countries who are helping them, and now they are returning. They come back with battlefield experience. We have to deal with them professionally.
We're facing terrorists who don't make sense. Why? Look, a mother killed herself with her two daughters, that doesn't make sense. A mother practically kills herself carrying her child, nursing them, nurturing them with love.
Even a mosquito can't land on her child. Look at tigers. Does a tiger bite its child, kill its child? No. But these people? The human brain can't grasp it. We're facing a group of terrorists that make no sense. This is our common enemy.
We work with psychologists. Everyone is involved. We discuss things. They [terrorists] have been too indoctrinated. Nowadays, an increasing number of children and girls are being recruited.
BN: A transcript of your speech released by the Indonesian Defense Ministry says you thanked Mattis for a letter informing him that Bahrun Naim and Abu Ghaida had been killed by a U.S. military operation.
RR: Secretary Mattis sent a letter to me two weeks ago, reporting about the two [IS] leaders. It is part of intelligence cooperation.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police shot dead two alleged militants and arrested five more in separate incidents while hunting for suspects in the shooting of two traffic officers in West Java province late last month, authorities said Tuesday.
Members of Densus 88, the nation's elite counter-terror unit, killed the two suspects Monday as officers tried to arrest them during a raid, according to Inspector Gen. Setyo Wasisto, the national police spokesman.
"During the arrest, they resisted by firing at the police using a handgun which had been seized from an officer," Setyo told reporters in Jakarta, referring to the two slain suspects.
During a routine patrol on Aug. 24, two police officers stopped to check on three men who were sitting on the side of a toll road in Cirebon regency. One of the three opened fire, hitting both officers, one of whom died at a hospital days later, while the other was in serious condition, investigators said.
On Sunday, three suspects were arrested, leading to the arrest of two more suspects, Setyo said.
Two other suspects, identified as Rajendra Sulistiyanto and Ica Ardebaron, were killed the following day in the Central Java town of Tegal, Setyo said.
According to him, Rajendra was a member of the Cirebon branch of the pro-Islamic State militant network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which Indonesian authorities have blamed for a series of terrorist attacks in the country in recent years.
The authorities have arrested more than 350 suspected militants and killed 23 others across the country since mid-May, when suicide bombers attacked three churches and a police headquarters in Surabaya, the nation's second largest city, officials said Tuesday. However, they declined to provide information on how many of those arrested suspects were still in jail.
The Surabaya bombings killed 14 bystanders, as well as 10 members of two families who were blamed for carrying out the bombings that were linked to JAD, police said.
In August, the national police deployed 170,000 personnel to secure the Asian Games, the largest sporting event after the Olympics that was hosted by Indonesia this year.
A terrorism expert at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, Zaki Mubarak, said that a flurry of arrests in recent months were linked to the regional sporting event in Jakarta and Palembang, which ended on Sunday.
"There must have been a threat to the Asian Games and the police were aware of that," he told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia will raise import taxes on more than 1,000 mostly consumer goods, officials said Wednesday, as the government took steps to shore up the nation's battered currency, the rupiah, which dropped this week to its lowest level since the Asian financial crisis two decades ago.
Tax on 1,147 imported items, ranging from coffee to luxury cars, would be raised to between 7.5 and 10 percent – up from the previous 2.5 to 7.5 percent, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.
"The government must take action to curb vulnerabilities in the balance of payments," Sri Mulyani told a news conference. She said the government's move was necessary after imported goods spiked more than 50 percent in July and August this year.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who is seeking a second term in an election scheduled for next year, has come under increased pressure to intervene after the rupiah slumped to almost 15,000 against the U.S. dollar. The Indonesian currency has lost about 9 percent of its value this year.
Jokowi blamed the weakening rupiah on "a barrage of external factors," including Washington's decision to hike interest rates as well as financial-market meltdowns in Turkey and Argentina, which have spread through emerging markets in Asia.
"Investment and exports must increase, so that we can resolve the current account deficit" Jokowi told reporters Wednesday. "If those things are addressed, the rest will be resolved."
Indonesia's current account balance – the broadest measure of the country's international trade – showed a deficit of U.S. $5.5 billion, equivalent to about 3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, in the first quarter of this year, economic analysts said. Those numbers contributed to the financial mayhem, they said.
Bank Indonesia, the central bank, has spent billions of dollars and raised interest rates four times since May to halt the rupiah's fall. Its repeated interventions in the foreign exchange market had depleted its foreign exchange reserves by more than $13 billion from January to July, analysts said.
Reviewing, postponing big projects
The government also stepped up its efforts to stabilize the currency by deciding to review and reschedule major infrastructure projects, including power plants, which require large amounts of imported materials.
Jokowi has touted his government's drive to upgrade the country's dilapidated infrastructure, such as roads, airports, sea ports and power plants as one of his successes since taking office in October 2014.
Some analysts, however, said it would be too early to say whether the rupiah rout would hurt Jokowi's re-election chances.
"So far the rupiah situation has not significantly affected the overwhelming majority of Indonesians, at least not for now," Mohammad Faisal, research director at Center for Reform of Economics, told reporters.
"Subsidies and social safety assistance are also helping cushion the poor from the impact of any price increase," he said. "As long as the prices of staples are under control, we won't see widespread panic."
But, Faisal said, the government should refrain from controversial moves that could have political repercussions.
"I think as long as the government isn't doing anything counter-productive, there will be no significant impact on Jokowi's popularity," he said.
Not like 20 years ago: Minister
Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said there was no reason for alarm because the country's economic fundamentals remained sound.
"Don't compare the current situation to the 1998 crisis," he said, referring to the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis that crippled Indonesia's economy and led to the downfall of then-president Suharto after 32 years of iron-fisted rule.
In 1998, the rupiah dropped from 2,800 to the dollar to 14,000, a 400-percent fall, and inflation hit 77 percent then, compared with the current rate of about 3 percent, Darmin said.
Officials said the new policy posed no risk of violating World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments since the new policy would not single out countries but would, instead, target types of products, including big foreign luxury cars.
Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters that his office would stop import permits this month for luxury vehicles, including stretch limousines, with engine displacements of 3 liters or greater.
Among the products that would be affected by higher import taxes are cosmetics, clothing, soap, some construction materials and consumer electronics. Imports of the 1,147 items cost U.S. $6.6 billion in 2017, but reached U.S. $5 billion in the first eight months of this year alone, officials said.
Indra Fajar, who makes a living selling used electronic goods, said he had not seen a drop in sales but was worried about the future.
"If the government raises import taxes, prices of imported goods will be more expensive and that means fewer sales," he told BenarNews. "I'm not sure what's going on, but it doesn't look good."


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BENARNEWS- Military abuses during anti-insurgency operations in Indonesia's Aceh province more than two decades ago amounted to crimes against humanity, the country's National Commission on Human Rights said Thursday.

Members of the army's Special Forces Command (Kopassus) were involved in rape, killings, enforced disappearances and torture between 1989 and 1998, an investigation team from the commission, known as Komnas HAM, found.
"We have enough preliminary evidence that crimes against humanity, such as rape and other forms of sexual violence, murder, deprivation of freedom, forced imprisonment and forced disappearances occurred," team member Mohammad Choirul Anam told a news conference in Jakarta.
The alleged crimes occurred when Aceh was effectively under martial law after being designated as an "Area of Military Operations (DOM)" to end a separatist insurgency, investigators said.
Anam said Komnas HAM had submitted the results of its probe to the Attorney General's Office on Aug. 28 for prosecution.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Santos Gunawan Matondang and the Attorney General's Office could not be reached immediately for comment.

[https://www]

Officials of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) show copies of an investigative team's report on the so-called Rumoh Geudong case, during a news conference in Jakarta, Sept. 6, 2018. [Tria Dianti/BenarNews]

 
The seven-member Komnas team questioned 65 witnesses during the course of its investigation, which started in 2013, Anam said.
"The crimes were borne out of the policy to impose a military emergency in Aceh at that time," he said, adding that those responsible include policymakers as well commanders on the ground. He did not elaborate and did not name names.
Many of the victims – suspected members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and their relatives – were held in a house in Pidie regency that has become known as Rumoh Geudong.
Under the martial law regime imposed on Aceh by the government of then-president Suharto, Kopassus members made up the majority of the elite Joint Intelligence Unit (SGI) with monitoring posts scattered across Pidie, including the notorious Rumoh Geudong.
"It is believed that most of the victims lived in Pidie," Anam said.
Jakarta and GAM signed a peace pact in 2005, ending more than three decades of separatist conflict that killed more than 15,000 people, mostly civilians.
The peace deal was spurred by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that left more than 170,000 dead in Aceh, a devoutly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
The Komnas HAM investigation found that Rumoh Geudong did not only serve as a monitoring post, but also a place where detainees were tortured, killed and raped, Anam said.
In February this year, U.S. Defense and State department officials told BenarNews that Washington had started taking steps to resume training Kopassus after suspending military ties nearly two decades ago over human rights concerns.
"We are going through the process of what is called 'remediation,'" Lt. Col. Chris Logan, spokesman for the Pentagon, said during a phone interview when asked to confirm reports that the U.S. military was restoring training with Kopassus. "[T]hat is the desire in the States. But there are regulations we have to follow to be able to work with them."
The Pentagon comment came after U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Jakarta.
A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta told BenarNews days after Mattis' visit that Washington supported "Indonesia's efforts to promote human rights and the rule of law."
"We continue to discuss the importance of accountability of past abuses," the spokesman said, explaining that Washington was committed to deepening defense cooperation with Indonesia and was "seeking opportunities for further engagement in various areas."
Washington cut ties with Kopassus
Under the so-called "Leahy Laws," which the U.S. Congress began to implement in 1998, Washington cut ties with Kopassus the following year over allegations that its forces had killed civilians and committed rights abuses in Indonesian-occupied East Timor as well as the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and West Papua.
The laws attach human rights conditions to congressional appropriations of U.S. military aid to foreign countries.
The newest case against Kopassus would join two other cases of gross human rights violations that had been proposed by the commission for prosecution.
The other cases are the May 3, 1999 shootings of protestors in North Aceh that killed dozens of people and the killings of 16 civilians in South Aceh during a military operation to capture rebels in 2003. None of the cases has been resolved.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's government has been accused of dragging its feet in solving past human rights cases, including the anti-communist purge in 1965-66 during which an estimated 500,000 people were killed.
"We hope the attorney general will respond swiftly and then we can proceed to the next stage, the establishment of a human rights tribunal," Anam said.


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BENARNEWS- Local officials and rights activists on Friday slammed a regency of Indonesia's devoutly Muslim Aceh province after it banned unmarried couples from dining together in restaurants and advised eateries not to serve unaccompanied women after 9 p.m.
On Aug. 30, the Islamic affairs office of Bireuen regency issued a circular warning that a man and a woman sitting at the same table in a restaurant while unmarried was haram, or forbidden in Islam. But Acehnese and other Indonesians criticized the directive after a copy of the circular gathered traction on social media this week.
"It will make life more difficult for women and the local people in general, many of whom make a living working in myriad coffee shops and other eateries in Bireuen, which has a vibrant nightlife," said Kautsar Yus, a member of the provincial legislative council from the Aceh Party.
"This kind of thing will only cause indignation at home and abroad, creating the impression that Aceh is a sinister place, when in fact it is not the case," he told BenarNews.
The circular also warned establishments against employing lesbians, gays, bisexuals or trans-genders.
Kautsar said the directive would be hard to enforce and was unlikely to be obeyed by establishments, because many youths often spend long hours at coffee shops.
However, the head of Bireuen's sharia office, Jufliwan, said the guidelines were intended to protect the honor of women.
"If they want to eat or drink, they can go with their kin," Jufliwan said.
He said the order would serve as a preventive measure, and violators would only be reprimanded.
"We will advise them in a good manner. If they are unaccompanied, they are prone to street harassment," he said. "This is for their own good."
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia with authority to implement Sharia, the Islamic law, as mandated by its status as a "special region" with a degree of autonomy.
Sharia police in Aceh began educating the public about a broadening of the Islamic penal code in 2015. Gambling, alcohol consumption and sex out of marriage are among offenses punishable by caning in the region.
Canings have drawn international criticism and recently became a contentious issue in Southeast Asia. By contrast, in Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday attacked the practice of caning in public, saying the public caning of two women in Terengganu state this week had "tarnished Islam's reputation."
The two women were arrested and sentenced after they were found guilty of attempting to commit same-sex relations.
In April, Aceh officials agreed to move public canings of Sharia law violators indoors, to avoid public spectacles that draw hundreds of jeering spectators.
Authorities undertook the move following widespread criticism after two men were lashed 83 times each in May last year. The two men were found having sex, authorities said. 

But public lashings were still being carried out in July. Banda Aceh police said that they were still awaiting "technical guidelines on how to implement it in prisons," away from public view. 

'Careful consideration of the impact'
The head of the Islam Rahmatan lil'alamin Forum, Teuku Muhammad Jafar Sulaiman, described the Bireuen regency's ruling as "a form of discrimination and inhumane."

"Why is it always women who are targeted? A careful consideration of the impact should be made before responding to a phenomenon in society," he said. "It is impossible to implement because it is the nature of people to socialize."

Muazzinah Yacob, a rights activist in Bireuen, questioned the legal basis for the directive.
"Has a study been conducted that indicates that unaccompanied women cause social unease?" Muazzinah told BenarNews.
"God forbid that this is just another sensational ruling without substance because Islamic sharia should be a blessing for the universe," she said. "[It's] not a tool of arbitrariness for the power holders."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's military is seeking government money to form a special forces unit to combat terrorism, but expanding the armed forces' role in this way could lead to human rights abuses, activists and observers warn.
The military (TNI) is planning to revive a special unit deployed three years ago to fight Islamic militants in the jungles of Central Sulawesi province, but is waiting for the Ministry of Defense to draft a presidential decree needed for its authorization, officials said.
Observers including Muhammad Choirul Anam, a member of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), say there needs to be a public debate before the president issues a decree on the military's role in combating terrorism.
"What is the scale of the involvement? For what kind of threats? And what is the time-frame?" Choirul told BenarNews. "Those are things that should be clarified so that the fight against terrorism is in line with respect for human rights principles."
The unit, comprising members of elite units from branches of the armed forces, would be given a new name – the Special Operations Command, or Koopsus –and its mission would be to go after terrorists.
Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, who commands the TNI, said it was asking for 1.5 trillion rupiah (U.S. $101.6 million) in government funding to set up the unit.
The money, part of the 2019 budget proposed by the defense ministry, is needed to build infrastructure, procure weapons and other equipment for Koopsus, Hadi said.
"Special forces are different from other forces. They need special equipment," Hadi told reporters in Jakarta last week.
Toughened laws
The ministry is drafting the so-called presidential regulation (Perpres) that would clarify the military's expanded role in counter-terrorism, an Indonesian defense official who declined to be identified said without going into details.
The re-emergence of the special forces unit came about through Indonesia's recent move to toughen its anti-terrorist laws, including by formalizing a role for the military in counter-terror operations on home soil.
Until now, the Indonesian national police's elite wing, Detachment 88 (Densus 88), has been the country's lead security unit in pursing terrorists.
On May 25, the Indonesian parliament (DPR) voted to pass the amended laws following a spate of deadly terrorist-related incidents earlier in the month. These included a prison riot in Depok, West Java, and a series of suicide bombings at churches and a police headquarters in Surabaya.
Authorities blamed the attacks on Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local network of Indonesian militants affiliated with the extremist group known as Islamic State (IS).
On Thursday, a court in West Jakarta convicted and sentenced Wawan Kurniawan (alias Abu Afif), a 43-year-old JAD leader, to 11 years in prison for conducting exercises to train militants for a plot to attack police stations in Riau province, on Sumatra island, officials said.
He has not been charged but authorities believe that, while an inmate incarcerated at the facility in Depok, he instigated the riot at the Mobile Brigade lock-up that led to the deaths of five policemen and a prisoner on May 9.
'Decree will regulate it'
When the laws were amended in late May, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said there should be no doubt about giving the military a role in fighting terrorists.
"Furthermore, the presidential decree will regulate it," Jokowi said then.
As he responded to concerns raised by rights activists about potential abuses at the time of the bill's passage, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said the military's counter-terror role would be regulated through the presidential decree.
Starting in early 2015, TNI commandos were involved in efforts to help hunt down IS-linked members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) group and its leader Santoso – who was Indonesia's most-wanted militant until he was killed in a firefight with security forces in July 2016.
Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo – Hadi's predecessor as the TNI chief - deactivated the special unit after he took over as commander of the armed forces in July 2015, amid criticism about the lack of a legal basis for the military's involvement in counter-terrorism.
During the run-up to the amendment's passage, activists expressed fears that a renewed domestic role for the military could bring back the prominent and, at times, repressive internal security role that it played during the 32-year dictatorship of President Suharto.
TNI's involvement in counter-terrorism falls under the category of "military operations other than war," details of which are to be spelled out in the presidential decree.
Pushback
Rights activists are warning against giving the armed forces law enforcement powers.
"Any presidential regulation on the role of the TNI in counter-terrorism should explicitly state that any military involvement should be auxiliary to the police," said Al Araf, the director of Impartial, a local human rights group.
"Terrorism is a law enforcement issue, not a military matter. In developed countries where terrorist attacks have occurred recently, this remains the case," he told BenarNews.
Since Jokowi came to power in October 2014, the military has been given a greater role in civilian matters, including involvement in the war on drugs and the deployment of non-commissioned soldiers at the village level, Araf noted.
Soldiers have been deployed to support a government program to create more rice fields as part of a food self-sufficiency drive, a move that harkens back to the Suharto era.
Connie Rahakundini, a military analyst at the University of Indonesia, said the armed forces should instead focus on terrorism threats coming from outside the country.
Coordinated sea and air patrols involving Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to fight Islamic extremists should be expanded to include all the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, she suggested.
"The TNI should be more outward looking in line with Indonesia's ambitions in becoming a global maritime fulcrum," she told BenarNews.
"It is better to concentrate its resources on threats from outside the country, as the region is facing the threat of terrorism and extremism."


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BENARNEWS- The United States and Indonesia on Friday signed a memorandum for strengthening bilateral cooperation and information-sharing in fighting terrorism, as America's top ambassador on counterterrorism wrapped up a five-day visit to Southeast Asia.
U.S. Ambassador at Large Nathan A. Sales signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Jakarta with Suhardi Alius, the chief of Indonesia's counter-terrorism agency, the BNPT, officials said. Sales, the U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism, traveled to Singapore and Malaysia prior to visiting Indonesia.
"His trip was focused on working with the three countries to strengthen legal frameworks, investigate and prosecute terrorism cases, increase regional cooperation and information sharing, and address critical border and aviation security gaps throughout the year," U.S. State Department officials in Washington said Friday in response to questions from BenarNews.
"Cooperation between domestic law enforcement and judicial authorities throughout Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, resulted in high numbers of terrorism-related arrests and, in many cases, successful prosecutions."
In an interview with the Straits Times in Singapore earlier this week, Sales stressed the need for countries to improve collecting and sharing travel data in an effort to detect and capture terrorists including Islamic State (IS) fighters returning home as the organization loses ground in Iraq and Syria.
"Our adversaries are not going to unilaterally disarm, they're going to continue to fight. That's why regional cooperation is vitally important to address this threat," he told the Straits Times.
Referring to the ambassador's interview with the Singaporean newspaper, State Department officials said countries were "now required to collect such data and more aggressively track terrorist travel under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2396, which was passed in December of 2017."
In July, Indonesian officials sentenced a former government official who traveled to Syria with his family in 2015 to join IS on charges of conspiracy and helping to fund terrorism. After two years in Syria, Dwi Djoko Wiwoho decided to return to Indonesia where he was arrested for his role with IS.
In Malaysia, officials and a counter-terror experts have told BenarNews that IS fighters and their families are desperate to return home because of terrible living conditions and constant fears.
"The desire intensified after the fall of Mosul, Raqqa and Aleppo. The international NGOs did inform police but police were careful because of safety concerns," Ahmad El-Muhammady, an adviser to the Royal Malaysia Police on rehabilitation programs for terrorist detainees, said in June.
"Today the scenario is different. Many are dead and many foreign fighters have returned home, including Malaysians."
Counter-terror officials fear some of those returning will continue their terrorist ways. IS-linked fighters have been blamed for the May 2017 launch of a five-month battle with Philippine troops in the southern city of Marawi.
Southeast Asian nations can improve collecting and sharing travel data to track militants' movements in and out of war zones, Sales told the Straits Times.
"It helps us find hidden connections between known terrorists and their unknown associations, and look for suspicious patterns of travel and identify people who might have otherwise escaped our notice," Sales said.
Meanwhile, an official with Indonesia's BNPT said his country would welcome U.S. support.
"Cooperation with the U.S. includes sharing information about people who are connected to terrorist organizations and the terrorist organizations themselves. All are general in nature, the same as with other countries," Hamidin, who uses only one name, told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- Observers and labor activists have urged the Indonesian government to take action against the perceived influx of illegal foreign workers into the country as unease grows over allegations that Chinese workers are stealing menial jobs from Indonesians.
Local media have reported that foreigners, most of them Chinese nationals, have been caught working illegally in parts of the country. In the latest case, police rounded up dozens of Chinese who had worked in several factories in East Java province despite having entered the country on tourist visas.
"All this time supervision has been very weak," Hadi Subyan, a labor observer at Airlangga University in Surabaya, told BenarNews.
He said that despite that fact that there are 40,000 companies operating in East Java, only 300 people are tasked with supervising them.
"How is that possible?" he said. "Worse still, supervision is being done at the provincial level, instead of the regency level, making them out of touch with the conditions on the ground."
The president of the Indonesian Labor Union Confederation, Said Iqbal, urged the government to repeal a presidential decree on foreign workers issued in 2018, which officials said was aimed at attracting foreign investment and improving the economy.
"The government should be able to put things in order and take action because this is a threat to local workers, especially if the foreigners are recruited to do menial jobs."
The decree stipulates, among other things, that employers can hire foreign workers by applying for a permit as late as two days after they have started working on jobs that are considered urgent.
Said said the provision had been used by companies to recruit foreign workers on the pretext of urgency.
"What's happening is foreign workers are flooding Indonesia, instead of investment," he said.
Chinese investment
Opposition politicians and government critics have capitalized on the issue of Chinese workers to attack the government of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ahead of next year's election.
A deputy chairman of Gerindra, the main opposition party, Fery Juliantono claimed in April that the presidential decree on foreign workers was Jokowi's ploy to facilitate the influx of Chinese workers.
Devi Asiati, a labor researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the growing number of Chinese working in Indonesia, both legally and illegally, was spurred by the increase in Chinese investment in Indonesia.
In 2016, China was the third largest investor in Indonesia, with investment valued at U.S. $2.6 billion. Singapore and Japan invested $9.17 billion and $5.4 billion, respectively.
But China jumped into the number two spot in 2017, with investment at $5.5 billion, according to Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data.
"There has been growing Chinese investment in extractive resources such as mining, oil, gas and plantations," Devi said.
Arrests in Surabaya
The immigration office in Surabaya arrested 53 foreigners this week, including 41 Chinese nationals, for allegedly working illegally.
"They were arrested because their visas were for tourism," Surabaya immigration chief Romi Yudianto told the news website Detik.com.
Romi said one of the Chinese nationals worked as a technician in a factory making surfboards, even though only skilled foreigners are allowed to work in Indonesia.
In a separate incident, local workers besieged a lodging where Chinese workers were staying at a power plant project site in Serang, Banten province, on Sunday, after a scuffle between a local and two Chinese workers, Serang police chief Komarudin told CNN Indonesia.
Fears of foreigners taking over jobs from locals are often inflamed by baseless rumors spreading on social media and online messaging platforms that millions of Chinese have flooded the country.
Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri said that the presence of Chinese workers should not be a cause for concern, as there are far more Indonesians working in Hong Kong than Chinese nationals working in Indonesia.
He said only about 126,000 foreign nationals were working in Indonesia as of March, including 24,000 Chinese.
"The number is still proportionate, compared to Indonesia's population of 263 million," he said last month.
"By comparison, there are 160,000 Indonesians working in Hong Kong," he said.


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BENARNEWS- A Polish national who was arrested last month on suspicion of helping separatist rebels in Indonesia's Papua province has denied that he took part in a conspiracy to overthrow the government, his attorney said Wednesday, as police extended his detention for 40 days for further investigation.
Police arrested and detained Jakub Fabian Skrzypski, 39, in Papua's Wamena regency on Aug. 26, accusing him of conspiracy to supply weapons to the rebels.
"He rejected all the accusations," Skrzypski's lawyer, Latifah Anum Siregar, told BenarNews. "He rejected the conspiracy charges."
Latifah said her client had "never campaigned for the Papuan separatists nor did he support Papuan independence."
"He has never been involved in any military training and is not an arms dealer or any such thing. He has never owned weapons or ammunition," she added.
Skrzypski could face life or 20 years in prison, if found guilty, Latifah said, describing the accusations as "reckless."
Latifah said she last met Skrzypski on Friday, and described her client as "depressed."
Papua is one of Indonesia's poorest regions despite its rich natural resources. It has been the scene of a low-level armed separatist conflict since the 1960s. Human rights groups have accused security forces of committing rights abuses during counter-insurgency operations.
Police have said that Skrzypski, despite being a foreigner, could be charged with involvement in a conspiracy to overthrow the government.
"We are still delving into the case," national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said, adding that the Pole would eventually be tried in Papua.
Dedi said Skrzypski was not a journalist and had only posted stories about Papua on Facebook and other social media networks.
"He's just an ordinary tourist, but he communicated with the Violent Criminal Group and offered to supply weapons and ammunition, but that has not happened and chances of that happening are slim," Dedi said, using the law enforcement term for the rebel group.
"He also told stories about Papua to his compatriots back in Poland in the hope that they would go viral," he said.
Dedi said Skrzypski had received consular assistance from the Polish embassy in Jakarta. The embassy did not respond to an email sent by BenarNews.
Last week, the police spokesman told reporters that police seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a mobile phone and documents, which included information about the types of weapons and ammunition needed by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) rebel group.
Foreign journalists have been largely banned from reporting from Papua, with the government citing concerns for their security for the restrictions.
Other arrests
In a separate development, security forces in Papua's Mimika regency arrested eight people during a raid on the headquarters of a local pro-independence organization, the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) on Saturday, police said.
The raid followed the arrest of a man who allegedly had 153 rounds of ammunition at the Mimika airport near the Freeport gold and copper mine, Dedi said.
KNPB campaigns for a referendum on self-determination in Papua.
Police have also arrested a man named Simon Magal for communicating with Skrzypski through his mobile phone.
The London-based human rights group, Tapol, said Magal was preparing to leave for Australia to start his post-graduate studies there.
"Arresting Simon on accusations of treason because he met Jakub and talked to him on Facebook is excessive," Tapol coordinator Adriana Sri Adhiati said.
Adriana said the arrest of Skrzypski and Simon could undermine Indonesia's efforts to strengthen its democracy.
New military units planned for Papua
On Wednesday, Usman Hamid, Amnesty International's Indonesia director, told a parliamentary hearing that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo should make good on his promises to solve cases of human rights violations in Papua. These included the shootings of high-school students during a rally in Paniai regency in 2014, which killed four people.
According to Amnesty, at least 95 people were killed in 69 cases of extrajudicial killings in Papua in recent years, but only 25 cases were investigated.
"Our findings show that police and soldiers have used excessive force, used firearms and deployed excessive numbers of personnel, resulting in the death of 95 people," Usman told lawmakers.
Meanwhile earlier this month, Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) chief Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto told a parliamentary hearing that new military units would be established in the eastern parts of the country, including Papua.
The military is proposing 107 trillion rupiah (about U.S. $7.2 billion) for the 2019 budget, including 1.5 trillion rupiah to "create new organizations in the eastern regions, namely South Sulawesi, Sorong (West Papua province) and Papua," Tribunnews.com quoted the armed forces chief was quoted as saying.
He said the money would be used to build physical infrastructure, such as office buildings, housing for soldiers and harbors. In May, the military inaugurated four new units in Sorong.
Military officials in Jakarta could not be reached immediately for comment.
In Papua, a member of the province's representative council, Laurens Kadepa, rejected the military's plans.
"The plan is not making sense. Many Papuans in the villages are still traumatized by the presence of the military," he said.
A Wamena resident, Peter John Jonga, told BenarNews that Papuans should have a say in the plans.
"If there's a special unit, Papuans won't accept it because they feel that they will be watched more closely and lose their freedom," he said.


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BENARNEWS- After arresting four suspects in June, Indonesian authorities are hunting for additional members of a suspected human-trafficking ring that allegedly sent at least a dozen women and girls to China, a police official said Thursday.
Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo, spokesman of the national police, said the four people, including a Chinese national, were arrested in June after a woman escaped from an apartment building in Jakarta where victims were kept before being flown to China.
"We are tracking down this ring, including how long they have been operating and where their victims are," he told BenarNews.
The woman told investigators she was subjected to violence by people who abducted her, Dedi said.
The suspects told investigators they had lured 12 women by offering them jobs as waitresses and shop attendants in China. After arriving, the women were "sold to Chinese men for sham marriages," Dedi said.
Police continue to search for other members of the syndicate, Dedi said.
"We are trying to find out who helped them, including those who helped lure the families of the women into allowing them to travel to China," he said. "Some of the victims are underage."
Indonesian police are working with Interpol, Chinese police and the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, as well as the International Organization for Migration to track down the other women who are believed to be in China.
"We have received information some of them have escaped, but we have not received details on where they are now. We hope they can report to the Indonesian Embassy," Dedi said.
The Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers (BNP2TKI) urged Indonesians to be cautious about job offers.
"Don't be fooled by offers of big salaries. Those who want to work overseas have to have skills and necessary documents," BNP2TKI chairman Nusron Wahid told BenarNews.
Other cases
Police arrested five people last week who allegedly trafficked a 16-year-old girl from West Java to Malaysia. The suspects could face 15 years in prison if found guilty of human trafficking.
The girl was lured by a Facebook post that promised a job in Malaysia with a salary of 7 million rupiah (U.S. $473) per month. Once she arrived, she was forced to work long hours and was not given food by her employer, investigators said.
Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation of more than 32 million people, relies heavily on foreign domestic helpers from neighboring countries, such as Indonesia.
Meanwhile, police in Aceh province last week rescued two women, ages 24 and 20, and arrested a woman suspected of being involved in a ring that sent women to Malaysia to become sex workers.
At least 101 human-trafficking cases involving 1,417 victims, mostly women, have been reported to police since 2011. Since then, more than 170 people have been arrested on charges of labor trafficking, sex trafficking and organ harvesting, according to police records.
"The human trafficking networks do not necessarily link to each other. Some are related, they know each other, but some are not," said Panca Putra, deputy director of the national police General Criminal Investigation division.
Since last year, the government delayed issuing more than 10,600 passports for people suspected of planning to work illegally overseas or were victims of trafficking, according to Zaeroji, director of immigration enforcement and monitoring at the Law and Human Rights Ministry.
"We hope that in the future the system will be connected online to the Population and Civil Registry Office so we can verify immediately if information in passport applications is true or not," said Zaeroji, who like many Indonesians uses one name.


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BENARNEWS- In what could be seen as a sign of the growing inclusion of religion in government affairs, the mayor of an Indonesian city told senior civil servants to pray at their neighborhood mosque every morning or face dismissal, an official at the mayor's office said Friday.
Harnojoyo, who recently was re-elected as mayor of Palembang on Sumatra island, launched an initiative called "Dawn prayer assembly movement," as part of his pledge to make the city more religious.
The mayor, who like many Indonesians uses one name, issued a directive on Wednesday requiring senior staffers to perform dawn Islamic prayers, known as subuh, in their local mosques, said spokesman Abu Bilal.
"The mayor hopes that by praying together with neighbors, officials will be able to listen to people's aspirations better," Bilal told BenarNews. "This is part of efforts to make Palembang a Darussalam."
Darussalam is an Islamic term which literally means abode of peace, but also refers to a place where Muslims have a privileged status to practice their religion.
The order affects all 16,000 of the city's civil servants. Sanctions, which could be in the form of a reprimand, demotion or dismissal, apply only to about 1,600 officials, Bilal said.
A mobile phone app is being developed so morning activities can be monitored with the help of Google Maps, Bilal said.
While announcing the directive on Wednesday, Harnojoyo pledged to visit 107 villages in the city and pray at local mosques.
"All officials in the village must come. If not, heavy sanctions will be meted out. There are many who want their jobs," Harnojoyo told local media.
Bilal said the mayor starts his day at 3.30 a.m. by visiting a village, praying with locals and having breakfast with them.
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Saifuddin declined to comment on the mayor's move, saying he was studying the directive.
Local leaders in other parts of the country, including in Aceh and Depok, near Jakarta, have launched similar initiatives.
Islamic teachings call for praying together as a congregation being preferable to praying alone.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-majority country, about 85 percent of its population of 260 million.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who is seeking a second five-year term in next year's election, has picked a senior Muslim cleric known for anti-gay and anti-pluralistic views as his running mate. His choice of Ma'ruf Amin has been seen as an attempt to fend off accusations from conservative Muslims that he is not Islamic enough.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian government imposed a three-year moratorium on new palm oil plantations, an official said Friday, amid charges by environmentalists that companies supplying some of the world's biggest brands are responsible for forest destruction.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on Wednesday issued an executive order establishing the moratorium and calling for a review of existing plantation permits, according to Prabianto Mukti Wibowo, deputy for natural resource management at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy.
"Governors and regents are ordered to re-evaluate permits and delay the opening of palm oil plantations to reduce conflicts," Prabianto said.
The order is aimed at improving the sustainability of palm oil plantations and protecting the environment, he said.
Jokowi took action after Greenpeace on Wednesday said 25 palm oil groups destroyed 130,000 hectares (321,000 acres) of Indonesian rainforest since 2015, about 40 percent of which was in the eastern province of Papua. The environmental group said the area destroyed was almost twice the size of Singapore.
Twenty of the palm oil groups supply 12 global brands including Unilever, Nestle and Colgate-Palmolive, according to the report, "Final countdown: Now or never to reform the palm oil industry."
It documented what Greenpeace said was "evidence of exploitation and social conflicts, illegal deforestation, development without permits, plantation development in areas zoned for protection and forest fires linked to land clearance."
Greenpeace said the destruction has halved the Bornean orangutan population in just 16 years. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that there are now about 104,700 Bornean orangutans in the wild.
The government hopes the temporary ban will improve productivity of small plantation holders and help clarify land ownership, Prabianto said.
Request for 25 years
Indonesian environmental group Walhi welcomed the moratorium, but called on the government to extend it to 25 years to allow for reforestration.
"Walhi is calling for legal action to be taken against big corporations for their violations," director Nur Hidayati said.
She also said the government must have enough manpower to ensure that the moratorium is enforced, saying that there was a gap in its monitoring capability.
Palm oil plantations in Indonesia covered an area of 22 million hectares (54 million acres) as of 2017, a sharp rise from 16 million hectares (39.5 million acres) the previous year.
The chief of the Association of Indonesian Palm Oil Producers (GAPKI), Joko Suriyono said he hoped that the moratorium would end regulatory overlaps that have hurt businesses.
"With this decree, all parties should sit together to solve the lingering problems," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Campaigning for next year's presidential and parliamentary elections in Indonesia has begun, with analysts saying they expect smear tactics and vote-buying to mar the period leading to the 2019 vote.
The six-month campaign kicked off on Sunday with the two presidential candidates signing a pledge for a peaceful race and releasing white doves.
Incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo faces former special forces commander Gen. Prabowo Subianto in the election scheduled for April 17. It is a repeat of 2014 electoral battle, when Jokowi narrowly defeated Prabowo.
"God willing, it will be peaceful," Prabowo, 66, told reporters on Monday.
About 187 million Indonesians are eligible to vote in the presidential and parliamentary elections, which will be held simultaneously for the first time.
With many voters undecided, analysts expect contestants and their supporters to employ smear tactics and buy votes.
"Money politics, fake news and hoaxes will still happen, especially during the later days of the campaign when they resort to whatever ammunition at their disposal," Wawan Mas'udi, a political analyst at Gajah Mada University, told BenarNews.
Former Gen. Wiranto, the coordinating minister for politics and security, warned politicians against capitalizing on religious, ethnic and racial prejudices to attack opponents.
"We have to avoid such things to maintain our unity as a nation," he said Monday.
A day after the campaign began, pollster Indonesia Survey Circle launched its survey results showing an increase in political intolerance over the past three years.
The national survey, which was carried out in August, involved 1,520 voters and focused on public perception of democracy, corruption and intolerance.
The survey showed 59 percent of Muslims objected to a non-Muslim becoming president. Non-Muslims, on the other hand, were more tolerant to the appointment of Muslim leaders, it said.
Presidential campaign
Jokowi has picked conservative cleric Ma'ruf Amin, 75, as his running mate, while Prabowo is teaming up with former Jakarta deputy governor and wealthy businessman Sandiaga Uno.
Analysts said Jokowi's choice of Ma'ruf is intended to fend off accusations by conservative Muslims that he is not Islamic enough. In 2014, he had to deal with a smear campaign accusing him of being an ethnic Chinese communist.
"This is a celebration of democracy," Jokowi said last week before the campaign began officially. "The most important thing is, we should not let the election divide us. It should not cause neighbors to stop talking to each other or make us feel that we are no longer brothers and sisters."
At least three recent polls show Jokowi favored by 52 percent to 53 percent of voters, while Prabowo was favored by 30 percent to 35 percent.
Parliamentary election
Sixteen political parties are contesting the parliamentary election to fill 575 seats in the House and 136 in the Senate. Almost 8,000 candidates will appear on ballots across the country.
Some analysts said newly established parties, such as the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) and the Working Party (Partai Berkarya), would find it difficult to see their candidates get elected.
The Working Party was founded by Tommy Suharto, the youngest son of former dictator Suharto, who served as president from 1967 to 1998. Tommy Suharto was sentenced to prison in 2002 on charges he ordered the killing of a judge who previously convicted him of corruption. Suharto was released in 2006.
As campaigns heat up, police said they were deploying more than 270,000 personnel backed by the military, to maintain security.
The Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) urged people to report any campaign violation they see.
"We will take action on any violation," Bawaslu member Rahmat Bagja said.


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BENARNEWS- A powerful earthquake collapsed buildings, cut off power and spawned a tsunami that swept away houses, killing several people in Indonesia's Sulawesi province Friday, authorities said.
The quake struck at 5:02 p.m. local time about 27 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Donggala regency in Central Sulawesi, according to local seismologists. The Colorado-based U.S. Geological Survey said it registered a 7.5 magnitude, a temblor capable of producing widespread, heavy damage.
"Initial reports showed that several people were killed after being hit by debris from buildings," disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told reporters.
"The tsunami also hit houses and buildings on the shore, but we are still collecting information on casualties and damage," he said.
He said the tsunami destroyed homes in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, and the town of Donggala.
Damage to mobile phone networks and a power outage hampered rescue operations, he said. "We received reports that some people were missing after their homes were swept by a tsunami."
Another temblor with a lower magnitude damaged homes and killed one person about three hours earlier, officials said.
Dwikorita Karnawati, who heads Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency, BMKG, told Reuters that the tsunami measured up to two meters.
"The situation is chaotic. People are running on the streets and buildings have collapsed," she said. "There is a ship washed ashore."
The latest quakes came almost two months after a series of powerful temblors devastated the Indonesian island of Lombok, killing at least 555 people.
About 77,000 houses were damaged, forcing nearly 400,000 residents to live in temporary shelters, officials said.
Hundreds of people displaced by the Lombok earthquake staged a protest on Wednesday, complaining that they had not received aid money to build their homes, as promised by the government.
Indonesia straddles the so-called Ring of Fire, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean known for seismic upheavals and volcanic eruptions. 

On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis. That quake killed at least 230,000 people in a dozen countries.


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BENARNEWS- At least 384 people have been killed as the full extent of the destruction became clearer a day after two earthquakes and a subsequent tsunami hit Indonesia's Sulawesi island, officials said on Saturday.
About 540 others were hospitalized with serious injuries and 29 were listed as missing in Palu, the main city in Central Sulawesi province, National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
"We expect the number of casualties to increase because those figures were only from Palu," Sutopo said.
There had been no information on casualties from the neighbouring regency of Donggala, which was also hit by Friday's earthquake and tsunami, he said.
Friday's 7.4-magnitude earthquake, which followed a 5.9-magnitude temblor three hours earlier, triggered a tsunami warning, but it was lifted about half an hour later.
But mobile phone footage soon emerged showing waves as high as three meters (ten feet) slamming into houses and buildings in Palu's coastal area.
People were heard screaming in fear as the waters swept away homes and vehicles.
The head of Indonesia's Meteorological, Geophysical and Climatological Agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said late Friday that the warning was lifted after the tsunami had hit and that waters onshore had receded.
Sutopo said the death toll included those killed by collapsed buildings and the tsunami.

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Residents try to salvage belongings from homes which collapsed after earthquakes and a tsunami hit Palu, Sulawesi on Sept. 29, 2018. [AFP]

 
Power and mobile phone networks were cut in much of Palu, while roads and bridges were damaged or collapsed, making efforts to help and recover victims more difficult, Sutopo said.
Most of 560 inmates in a jail in Palu escaped after its walls collapsed due to the earthquake, prison governor Adhi Yan Ricoh told the Antara news agency.
He said guards were overpowered by the inmates because they were outnumbered.
"Apart from that, the guards were also too busy trying to save themselves," Adhi was quoted as saying.
Capturing the escapees is not a priority at the moment as authorities were still struggling in the aftermath of the disaster, Adhi said.
Palu's Mutiara airport was closed for several hours due to damage to its control tower and runway, with only helicopters able to land there, Air Force spokesperson Novyan Samyoga said.  It reopened Saturday.
An air traffic controller working at the airport was killed in the earthquake, the state-owned air navigation company AirNav Indonesia said.
Komang Adi Sujendra, director of Undata General Hospital in Palu, appealed for the construction of a field hospital after buildings were damaged.
"We need medical workers, drugs and blankets," he said in a video message circulated by the Indonesian Medical Association.
Palu's Pantoloan Port stopped operations after its quay cranes were toppled in the earthquake, the Transportation Ministry said.
President Joko Widodo appealed for calm, saying he was monitoring the rescue and relief effort closely.
He said he had dispatched his top security minister, Wiranto, the disaster agency and the military to Central Sulawesi "to handle the emergency relief effort as quickly as possible."
"May we together overcome and pass this tribulation," he said.

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People walk past dead bodies (with blue covers) a day after two earthquakes and a tsunami hit Palu, Sulawesi, Sept. 29, 2018. [AFP]

 
Friday's quakes came after at least 555 people were killed and more than 400,000 were made homeless in August in a series of powerful quakes that devastated the island of Lombok.
Indonesia straddles the so-called Ring of Fire, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean known for frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. 

On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake occurred off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis. That quake killed at least 230,000 people in a dozen countries.


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BENARNEWS- The final death toll in the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Sulawesi island could be in the "thousands," Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said Sunday, as a national disaster agency spokesman said 832 bodies had been recovered.
Rescue workers sifted through the ruins of buildings in Central Sulawesi after a powerful quake pummeled neighborhoods in the province on Friday, spawning a tsunami that swept away dozens of homes. Local seismologist said the shallow quake carried a 7.4 magnitude, but the U.S. Geological Survey said it had registered a 7.5-magnitude, a temblor capable of producing widespread damage.
"The number of dead victims stood at 832," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, told reporters.
"The number of casualties is expected to increase because many victims have yet to be identified and many others are still buried under the rubble," he said, adding that at least 540 people were seriously injured and 16,700 were displaced.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla warned that the death toll "could be in the thousands."
"We still don't know the extent of the disaster there," he told reporters.
Most of the victims were found in the city of Palu, but 11 deaths have been recorded in neighboring Donggala regency, Sutopo said, adding that rescuers faced extreme difficulty trying to reach the area because debris littered the roads.
He said officials were still awaiting report from other affected areas, including the Sigi regency near Palu.
"During the Aceh tsunami, in the first hour the death toll was at seven, and in the afternoon it was 40," he said, referring to the Indian Ocean tsunami which was spawned by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004.
That tsunami killed at least 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including about 170,000 in Aceh alone.
On Sunday, rescuers rushed to a badly damaged shopping mall in Palu after reports that lightning struck the collapsed third floor of the building, Metro TV reported.
Rescue chief Novri, who goes by one name, said workers were still unable to get in.
"We're working very hard to get at the victims. They can survive for seven days as long as they are hydrated and don't suffer fractures," he said.
"Hello, anybody there? Can you hear us?" rescuers shouted, hoping for a response.
A woman was rescued from the collapsed Roa Roa hotel in Palu on Sunday, more than 48 hours after the quake, Retno Budiharto, leader of the rescue mission, told local station Kompas TV.
The woman, identified as Fitri, was found between concrete rubble and her bed on the second floor of the seven-story hotel, where up to 60 people were believed to be still trapped, rescue officials said
"Fortunately she was lying on the mattress, so she survived," Retno said.

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People survey damage outside a shopping mall following earthquakes and tsunami in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Sept. 30, 2018. [AP]

 
Meanwhile, residents looted a damaged shopping mall on Sunday, ignoring warnings about the danger posed by an unstable building, authorities said.
Television footage showed people coming out of the mall with goods in their hands.
Widodo visits victims
President Joko Widodo flew to Palu and visited a devastated neighbourhood.
He said roads were badly damaged, power lines were toppled, fuel was scarce and the airport wasn't fully operating.
"I appeal to the people to be patient," he said. "We are working to address this."
Foreigners in affected areas
A total of 71 foreigners were known to be in the quake-affected areas, Sutopo, the disaster-agency spokesman, told reporters.
Three French nationals and a Malaysian remained unaccounted for, while 31 Thais and 21 Chinese were safe, he said.
Sutopo said there were many people on the beach when the tsunami slammed into Palu.
"There were no sirens," he said. "Many people didn't know about the threat and they carried on with their activities on the beach."
The Meteorological, Geophysical and Climatological Agency (BMKG) issued a tsunami warning after the quake, but it was lifted about half an hour later.
But videos taken by mobile phones soon emerged on social media, showing waves smashing houses and sweeping away vehicles in the coastal area.
BMKG has defended its decision after criticism that the warning was lifted too early, saying that it was based on a reading of a tide gauge in Mamuju, located about 230 kilometres (143 miles) away.
Friday's quakes came after at least 555 people were killed and more than 400,000 were made homeless in August in a series of powerful quakes that devastated the island of Lombok.

Indonesia straddles the so-called Ring of Fire, an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean known for volcanic eruptions and deep seismic shift of the tectonic plates that often produce major earthquakes.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia on Monday said it would welcome foreign emergency aid as hopes of finding survivors in the rubble of crumbled buildings faded three days after earthquakes and a tsunami devastated Central Sulawesi.
President Joko Widodo authorized foreign aid after offers of assistance poured in from 18 countries, including the United States, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to Wiranto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.
"The president has decided to accept assistance from foreign countries," Wiranto told reporters. "We have received offers of assistance from many friendly countries and we appreciate that."
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) put the death toll from Friday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake and subsequent tsunami at 844, with 90 others listed as missing.
Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, the armed forces commander, said the dead would be buried in a 10-by-100-meter grave to avoid the spread of disease.
All but 11 of the casualties were from Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, while other hard-hit areas, such as Donggala regency, remained isolated due to damaged roads, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
An Indonesian aid group, Aksi Cepat Tanggap (ACT), said information collected by its volunteers showed that at least 1,203 bodies had been recovered.
Sutopo acknowledged reports of a higher death toll, but said those figures were just "an estimate."
Officials said almost 60,000 people were displaced across the city of Palu, with many sleeping in the open, fearing another earthquake.
The European Union said it had released an initial 1.5 million euros (U.S. $1.7 million) in emergency humanitarian assistance.
The U.S. Department of State said Washington "stands ready to assist in the relief effort."
Malaysia will contribute 500,000 ringgit (about U.S. $120,000) to help quake victims, Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian NGOS were coordinating with the Indonesian Red Cross to facilitate delivery of supplies to disaster victims in the neighboring nation, and the nonprofit group Mercy Malaysia was assembling two rescue teams, its president, Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, told BenarNews.
"We have sent two individuals to assess the situation," he said. "They will have to look for an air route or by land to get to the affected areas."
Indonesia did not accept foreign aid after a series of powerful quakes devastated the island of Lombok in August, saying that local capacity was adequate.
The Lombok quakes left 564 people dead, 1,584 injured and more than 445,000 displaced, according to the BNPB.
Heavy equipment on the way
Nugroho Budi Wiryanto, operations chief for the National Search and Rescue Agency, said a fuel shortage and lack of heavy equipment had hampered the recovery of bodies.
Wiranto said the problem had largely been overcome, with 20 excavators and bulldozers on their way to the affected areas.
But a volunteer who was helping with the rescue effort at a collapsed eight-story hotel in Palu said hopes of finding more survivors were fading.
"On the first day we could hear voices from 8 or 9 people from the building's ruins," Thalib, who goes by one name, told the news broadcaster TVOne.
"On the second day, there were only voices from three people and on the third day only two people, including the one who was rescued," Thalib said. No voices were heard on Sunday, he said.
Officials estimate that up to 60 people were still trapped in the crumbled hotel building, including several paragliding athletes who were staying there at the time of the earthquake.
After reports of looting by hungry survivors in Palu, aid supplies started arriving Monday and were being distributed to those in need, Sutopo said.
Rescuers were also being dispatched to Donggala and Sigi districts, which were hard-hit by the twin natural disasters but had been inaccessible to air workers, he said.
'No one has come here to help.'
Some residents in Palu were angry about what they said was a lack of aid three days after the disaster.
"My wife could not be saved. I picked up her body myself," Mahmud, a resident of a housing complex in Balaroa, told Metro TV.
"No one has come here to help," he said. "No one has given us aid, not even a bottle of water."
President Widodo, during his tour in Palu on Sunday, acknowledged that rescuers were facing challenges. "We have to do many things soon, but conditions do not allow us to do so," he told reporters.
Hundreds of people jostled on the tarmac of Palu's Mutiara SIS Al Jufri airport, desperate to get out of the city, local television showed.
They wanted to board a Hercules cargo aircraft that delivered aid supplies, but priority was given to injured people and pregnant women.
"We don't believe we will receive assistance if we stay here," one man told TVOne.
Lombok update
On Monday, BNPB said survivors of the Lombok earthquake were still in urgent need of food, clean water, sanitary kits, health care and temporary shelters almost two months after the powerful temblor struck.
Out of 150,000 homes damaged in the disaster, 22,000 were ready to be rebuilt, while others were still subject to verification, disaster agency officials said.
Last week, hundreds of survivors rallied in Lombok, accusing the government of reneging on its promise to rebuild homes.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area known for seismic upheavals and volcanic eruptions.
About 230,000 people in a dozen countries died after a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island spawned a devastating tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004.


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BENARNEWS- Flattened homes, collapsed bridges and crumbled buildings.
There was devastation as far as the eye could see in Wani II village in Donggala regency, near the epicentre of Friday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake.
A ship sat next to a house after being washed ashore by the force of the subsequent tsunami.
Villagers, desperate for help, could be seen scavenging and trying to salvage items from the debris.
"Where can I get food? Everything is shut down," village resident Muhammad Iksan said.
"Even if there were open shops, no one has money," he said.
Locals said they had chipped in to hire an excavator to clear rubble from the road through the village of about 700 households.
At least 10 residents died in the disaster, while four were still missing, said Andi Abdullah, a local man. But rescue personnel had yet to arrive to take an official count.
"We can't do everything by ourselves," Andi said. "We hope rescue teams will come and help us evacuate victims."
"Come quickly to our village. Don't just pay attention to Palu. We also need help here," Sukri, another villager, told BenarNews.
Death toll
The death toll from the twin disasters that devastated parts of Indonesia's Sulawesi island rose to 1,374, an official said Tuesday, as authorities struggled to bring aid to survivors.
At least 799 were injured and 113 others were reported missing after Friday's disaster, Willem Rampangilei, head of National Disaster Management Agency, told a news conference in Palu.
The agency's spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said more than 61,000 were displaced.
Most of the casualties recorded thus far were in the city of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, while the extent of the disaster in other affected areas, such as Donggala and Sigi, had yet to be fully revealed.
Across the affected areas, anger was growing at the slow pace of aid. Indonesian boats carrying food and water had yet to arrive, officials said. TV news footage showed widespread looting.
Police had arrested 45 people accused of looting shops in Palu, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.
Goods stolen include flat-screen television sets, shoes, clothes and even an ATM machine, he said.
Officials said food, fuel and heavy machinery were being sent, and that power and communications were slowly being restored. Widespread fuel shortages were reported by multiple agencies and news photographs showed hundreds of people queuing at a gas station.
"Food supplies are being sent by air and sea and now also by land," said Wiranto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs. "The volume is growing."
Sutopo, the disaster agency spokesman, acknowledged that aid had not reached many displaced people.
"Food is limited, fuel is limited and clean water and clothing are insufficient," he said.
He said reports that food trucks had been stopped by quake survivors before reaching worst-hit areas were true.
"Police have been assigned to guard food convoys," he said.

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A man walks near collapsed homes in Wani II village of Donggala Regency, days after a powerful earthquake and a tsunami struck Central Sulawesi province, Oct. 2 2018. [Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews]

 
Man pulled alive from collapsed building
Rescuers pulled a man alive from the ruins of an office building where he was working in Palu, a video released by the National Search and Rescue Agency showed.
Sapri Nusin, a manager at a finance company, was trapped under a concrete slab but was fully conscious when rescued.
"Can you stand?" a rescuer asked the survivor. "Yes, but I'm very thirsty," he replied as rescuers took him into an ambulance.
The Indonesian Red Cross said its volunteers had recovered the bodies of 34 students who were buried by a mudslide while taking part in a Bible camp at a church in Sigi regency.
The church had earlier reported that 86 students were missing after Friday's earthquake, said the relief agency's spokeswoman, Aulia Arriani.
"The hardest part was wading through the mud for one and a half hours carrying dead bodies," she said, citing the account of the search team.
She said that volunteers estimated that 50 percent of houses in Sigi were damaged by the earthquake.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, a magnitude 6.3 quake rattled Sumba island, about 2,000 km (1,250 miles) south of Central Sulawesi province.
The quake caused minor building cracks, but there were no report of casualties, according to Martina D. Jera, head of the disaster management agency in East Sumba regency.
At least 26 countries have offered emergency assistance, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo said. Indonesian President Joko Widodo authorized the acceptance of international aid on Monday.
Australia said it had provided AU$500,000 (U.S.$360,000) through the Indonesian Red Cross and the United States announced on Monday that it had released $100,000 in initial disaster assistance.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area known for seismic upheavals and volcanic eruptions. About 230,000 people in a dozen countries died after a magnitude 9.1 earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island spawned a devastating tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004.
Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta contributed to this report.

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Graphic shows the epicenter and impact zone of the earthquake that struck Central Sulawesi on Sept. 28, 2018. [Vincent Meadows/BenarNews]



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BENARNEWS- Mahmud Arif appeared dazed as he recalled the horrifying scene after a massive earthquake struck Indonesia's Sulawesi island on Friday and caused the soil in his neighborhood to erupt into torrents of mud.
Arif was at work in Petobo village when the massive temblor churned the soil and unleashed horror.
"I rushed home, but when I got here, the whole housing complex just disappeared," he told BenarNews. "I couldn't believe it, but it's true."
Arif witnessed a phenomenon that seismologists describe as soil liquefaction, when violent shaking turns otherwise solid soil to behave temporarily as viscous liquid, swallowing homes and buildings.
"Houses here were just sucked into the mud," he said Wednesday. "Some houses disappeared, others moved hundreds of meters away."
Officials estimate that more than 500 people were buried after entire houses were wiped clear when the magnitude 7.4 quake obliterated Petobo, one of the villages that suffered the most destruction from the temblor that also spawned a tsunami and killed at least 1,400 people on the island.
The tsunami that smashed coastal villages did not strike Petobo, which was inland. But liquefaction created massive rifts in the earth in the village, bringing down power lines and flipping cars in some areas where the ground rose several feet.
In Balaroa village, about 13 km (8 miles) from Petobo, a neighborhood looks as if it had been bombed – heavily.
"Here everything is destroyed," Warno Ishak, a 46-year-old resident of a housing complex, told BenarNews. "No house is intact after the earthquake."
Aerial photographs showed the housing complex leveled.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, told reporters in Jakarta that there was no estimate on how many people were buried in Balaroa and Petobo, both in the outskirts of the devastated city of Palu.
But he said more than 1,700 houses in Balaroa were destroyed or swallowed by the mud.
"Victim recovery has been difficult there," Sutopo said.
The death toll from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the province rose to 1,407 on Wednesday, he said, adding that 519 bodies had been buried.
Most of the casualties recorded were in the provincial capital Palu, while the scale of the disaster in other affected areas, such as Donggala and Sigi, remained unclear.
More than 2,550 were hospitalized with serious injuries and 113 remained missing, Sutopo said.
"We expect the figures will continue to increase," he said.
More than 70,000 people have been displaced and nearly 66,000 houses were damaged.
At Palu's Mutiara airport, dozens of injured people were awaiting evacuation to the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi province. Many were lying in army camp beds and some wore leg and arm casts.
Hospitals in Palu are struggling to cope with the number casualties amid a lack of electricity and fuel.
"They need treatment but because there's still no electricity, they can't be treated in Palu," said Bambang Sadewo, a military officer supervising the evacuation.
About 15 aircraft were scheduled to carry the injured on Wednesday.
The ground 'moved like a blender,' survivor says
Rifki, one of the patients awaiting evacuation, said he and his wife had been severely injured in the quake.
"The ground below us suddenly moved like a blender and crushed our feet," he told local news channel Metro TV. "There's no way we can get treatment here. There are no facilities or drugs. We have been given only painkillers."
By noon Wednesday, the grim task of pulling bodies from the rubble continued.
Rescuers said they had found 10 bodies under the ruins of a collapsed eight-story hotel, Metro TV reported.
Aid has begun to arrive, however the pace remained slow because of damaged infrastructure.
Longki Djanggola, governor of Central Sulawesi, said "fulfilling the needs of the people is paramount."
"Food supplies, rescue teams, heavy machinery have come gradually, and we're coordinating with the central government," he said.
But desperation is growing among those who have not received aid, such as the villagers in Donggala, the area closest to the earthquake's epicenter.
"Don't just pay attention to Palu. We need help too," Sukri, a resident of the Wani II village in Donggala, told BenarNews on Tuesday.
News footage showed survivors emptying shops of food and water in Sulawesi, even as Indonesian soldiers have been ordered to fire on looters, a colonel told AFP news service.

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Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo stands in the location where a housing complex once stood in the Petobo neighborhood of Palu town in Central Sulawesi province, Oct. 3, 2018. [Yayank Stiv/BenarNews]


Foreign governments pledge assistance
On Tuesday, senior security minister Wiranto said aid was being sent by air, land and sea.
He said 26 countries have offered assistance after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo authorized the acceptance of international aid.
U.S. President Donald Trump offered to provide immediate assistance and pledged to work with the government of Indonesia, according to a White House statement released Tuesday.
Trump spoke with Widodo, the statement said, adding the American leader shared his condolences. 

"He offered his support to the victims and their families and acknowledged the Indonesian government's leadership in response to the crisis," it said.
At least 150 people remain unaccounted for and believed to be beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, AP quoted officials as saying.
Almost 200,000 people need urgent help according to the United Nations.
The Geneva-based International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) tweeted Wednesday that its team members were first to reach Petobo village.
"Volunteers have recovered 14 bodies and are battling debris and thick mud to find survivors," IFRC said. It also posted its drone video from Petobo showing hundreds of homes buried in mud.
At a collapsed church in Sigi Biromaru district, south of Palu city, rescuers described struggling through thick mud to retrieve the bodies of more than 30 children from a bible study group, IFRC spokesman Matthew Cochrane said in a statement issued Tuesday.
"It took them 1 ½ hours to carry each of the bodies out to nearby ambulances, having to wade through incredibly deep mud," Cochrane said.
'We won't accept that'
Local media quoted Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla saying the government would reject any assistance that involved foreign military personnel.
"We won't accept that. They (the United States) wanted to send a hospital ship. Our hospital ship is enough," Kalla said, according to Kompas.com.
Australia will send more than 50 medical professionals to Central Sulawesi as part of an AU$5 million (U.S. $3.6 million) aid package, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
"We will be working very closely with the Indonesian government to make sure that the support we are providing is highly targeted" she said.
Australia earlier said it had provided AU$500,000 (U.S. $360,000) through the Indonesian Red Cross, while the United States announced on Monday that it had released $100,000 in initial disaster assistance.

Germany said it was providing 1.5 million euros (U.S. $1.7 million) in emergency aid for the disaster region.
Elsewhere on Sulawesi island, the Mount Soputan volcano erupted on Wednesday, sending ash almost 20,000 feet (about 3.7 miles) into the sky, the disaster management agency said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, it said.
The alert level for the volcano remained at one level below normal but "residents should be wary of the threat of mudflows, which can happen after an eruption," agency spokesman Sutopo said.
The volcano lies about 900 km (562 miles) away from the area affected by the earthquake and tsunami. There was no evidence that the quake and volcanic eruption were linked, a geophysicist told reporters.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, visiting the quake-hit zone for a second time on Wednesday, praised the emergency relief effort.
Jokowi said about 40 percent of electricity in Palu had been restored and promised that more fuel would be distributed.
"All post-disaster work, including aid delivery and victim recovery, has been going well," he said. "God willing, the government is handling everything with speed."

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Rescuers search for bodies at the Petobo neighborhood in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Oct. 3, 2018. [Yayank Stiv/BenarNews]



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BENARNEWS- Foreign cargo planes with relief goods began arriving in Indonesia on Thursday, while officials warned the death toll could climb as the fate of residents in outlying districts remained unknown almost a week after a quake and tsunami obliterated Sulawesi island.
The death toll from the Sept. 28 double disaster rose to 1,424 on Thursday while about 2,550 people have been hospitalized after suffering serious injuries, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Most of the casualties are in the provincial capital Palu, a coastal city of about 374,000 people, but reports have emerged of dozens of bodies being recovered in the neighboring regencies of Sigi and Donggala.
With many people who lived in houses swallowed by mud in several neighborhoods still unaccounted for, the death toll is expected to climb, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Eleven countries are sending aircraft to deliver supplies and take part in the relief effort to alleviate the suffering of more than 70,000 displaced by the disaster.
Five aircraft were scheduled to arrive on Thursday, while 15 were expected in the coming days, Indonesian Air Force chief Yuyu Sutisna said.
An Australian Air Force plane carrying clothes, bedding, tools, tarpaulins and food arrived on Thursday, while two Singapore Hercules C-130s were on standby in the port city of Balikpapan on Borneo island, Yuyu said.
The United States will send three Hercules C-130 cargo planes, he said.
"The arrival of the aircraft doesn't mean that the problem of logistics is over, because the slots at the airport in Palu are very limited," he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) to play a major role in coordinating and extending assistance for Indonesia.
"It is heartbreaking to learn about the news and, as neighbors, we do not want to be sitting and watching from the sidelines," Mahathir said during a speech in Putrajaya, Malaysia's administrative capital.
The European Union has pledged around 8 million euros (U.S. $9.2 million) in humanitarian aid to Indonesia and offered water purification equipment, emergency shelters, generators and other essential supplies, officials said.

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Palu residents carry chicken they bought from a market which reopened days after a powerful quake and tsunami battered Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, Oct. 4, 2018. [Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews]

 
Shops reopen, provide semblance of normalcy
In Palu, about 1,500 km (937 miles) northeast of Jakarta, some shops in the Masomba traditional market reopened on Thursday, providing a semblance of normalcy amid widespread devastation.
"I'm grateful that the market is open, though many shops are still closed," said Jumyati, a 41-year-old housewife.
"I just bought rice, fish and some spices. It's enough for home cooking," she said.
Palu has been the focus of rescue efforts since the quake spawned a tsunami and caused the earth to turn into mud, swallowing homes and causing buildings to collapse. 

International aid agencies said delivery of relief goods had been hampered by broken roads, downed power lines and crippled communications.
"We went to Sigi today, and this is what the road to that area looks like," Iris van Deinse, who works for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), posted on her Twitter page. "The ambulance couldn't get through and the team needed to walk."
She posted photos of cracked roads and a delivery truck partially swallowed by the ground that rose several feet into the air.
Reports of more bodies found in remote areas were starting to trickle in.
Power out
Parts of Palu were without electricity almost a week after the disaster.
At a camp for the displaced outside a mosque in the city's west, survivors told BenarNews they had received food but little else.
"When it gets dark people just go to sleep, because there's little else they can do without electricity," said Muhammad Fadlin, 32, a fisherman whose house was destroyed in the quake.
Mangge Alfian said he was selling fish in the Lere market near the coast of the Gulf of Palu when the magnitude 7.4 quake struck.
He ran as fast as he could to his house nearby to save his wife and his daughter, but found other houses in the neighborhood obliterated.
"I panicked and got into a neighbor's car," he said, teary eyed.
He later learned a tsunami following the quake destroyed the neighborhood.
"When I heard the news, I resigned to myself. I don't know the fate of my wife and child. I was told that my dead bodies were found there," he said.
"If they're dead, I let them go."
On Wednesday, the Geneva-based IFRC tweeted that its volunteers were the first aid workers to reach Petobo village where they recovered 14 bodies after going through debris and thick mud.
Elsewhere, survivors have started to rebuild their lives.
Residents in the Kabonga Besar village in Donggala regency were hopeful things would get better, even though shops remained closed and essential goods were hard to find.
"We have ordered rice, cooking oil, sugar, eggs from Makassar and once they arrive we will start selling," said Mastur, a shop owner at the Pasar Ganti market.
Resident Mirsan said he was grateful to receive aid, but did not want to be reliant on handouts.
"I hope the market will open soon," he said.
Meanwhile, police said they had arrested 42 people who took advantage of the chaos by allegedly looting shopping malls.
They are accused of stealing bags of cacao, food, boxes of ceramics, corrugated roofing materials and other goods, police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.
Authorities also are cracking down on social media users who spread unfounded rumors about impending disasters.
Police have arrested nine people since Tuesday for spreading messages that big earthquakes would strike in other places, including Jakarta, said police spokesman Setyo Wasisto.
Television news reports early this week showed footage of people looting a mall, but recovery was evident on Thursday as banks reopened and a major mobile phone network was back in service, Reuters said, adding fuel shipments have started arriving.
International charity group Oxfam said it was working to provide clean water, hygiene kits and shelter packs to about 500,000 people.
"In many areas of Palu and surrounding towns, there is no running water and few working toilets and sanitation is a serious concern," Ancilla Bere, Oxfam manager in Indonesia, told BenarNews.
Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta and Ali Nufael from Kuala Lumpur contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Survivors of earthquakes and a tsunami that devastated Indonesia's Sulawesi island have started complaining about diarrhea, skin rashes and respiratory infections due to squalid conditions in makeshift shelters, health workers said Friday.
Ros Wati, who lives in a tent at a camp for displaced people in Dolo, Sigi regency, has had itchy skin for three days, with rashes spreading all over her body.
"I was given medicine two days ago but there has been no improvement," Ros, 40, told BenarNews. "Maybe the drug isn't right."
Saripah, another survivor, has had diarrhea for four days, but she couldn't find a toilet.
"I'm not the only one who has diarrhea here," said Saripah, who uses only one name like many people do in Indonesia. "Other people are also suffering the same thing."
The death toll from the Sept. 28 earthquakes and subsequent tsunami stood at 1,658, according to security minister Wiranto.
But officials warned that the number was likely to increase as many bodies had yet to be recovered.
 
Wiranto said 683 people were listed as missing, a sharp increase from the earlier figure of 113 released by the National Disaster Management Agency.
More than 1,000 people in the village of Balaroa in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, may still be missing after their homes were swallowed by mud during the earthquakes, said Yusuf Latief, spokesman for the National Search and Rescue Agency.
In Dolo, about 2,200 km (1,300 miles) northeast of the nation's capital, Jakarta, a village suffered the same fate, according to local accounts.
Health personnel from the Central Sulawesi provincial police were struggling with a shortage of medical supplies as they worked at a makeshift clinic in Dolo. Authorities have not reported an epidemic.
Five doctors, two nurses and several non-medical volunteers were working at the nine-square-meter (96.8-square-foot) tent, treating up to 100 people a day, said Muhammad Rustam, an orthopedic doctor.
"Most patients complained of skin problems, diarrhea and upper respiratory infections," Rustam said, adding that children were especially vulnerable to respiratory infections.
"We are doing our best to serve all the residents who have sought refuge here, but there are limits to what we can do," he said.
Another doctor at the clinic, Sudarman, said dust and a lack of hygiene at the camp were to blame for the ailments.
"But some people have pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and high levels of uric acid," Sudarman said.
"Many residents complained that their conditions have gotten worse, but how can we give the best treatment for them when medicines are in short supply?" he said.
Aid has arrived in the area, but it is not enough, said another villager, Siti Aisyah.
"Many people have infants here, but there's no food for infants, so they have had to eat what's available," she said.
Three doctors and six nurses from the international NGO Project HOPE have worked at the government-run Dolo community clinic, known locally as Puskesmas, for two days.
The clinic's building was not damaged by the earthquake but the staff have not returned to work, with many still traumatized, said Alia Artanti, a doctor working for HOPE.
"We received 70 patients yesterday and 60 patients today," she said.
"Many patients complained about respiratory problems, but there were also those with anxiety and high blood pressure," she said.
With electricity still down, workers have to rely on a generator, but fuel is scarce, she said.
Across the quake-hit region, emergency relief efforts are gathering pace.
"Aid continues to come in but not all displaced people have received assistance properly because of damaged infrastructure," National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said.
"All parties are trying to fix this," he said.

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Indonesian military personnel unload aid from a British Air Force cargo plane at the Sepinggan airport, in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan province, Oct. 5, 2018. Gunawan/BenarNews

 
More aircraft arriving
Australian and British cargo aircraft arrived at the airport in Balikpapan on Borneo island on Thursday and Friday, carrying clothes, bedding, tools, tarpaulins and food.
More foreign aircraft carrying relief aid were scheduled to land in at Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan in the coming days, the Air Force said.
Eleven countries, including the United States, were sending 20 transport planes to the quake-hit region.
"The United States and Indonesia are strategic partners and friends, and we are assisting in the relief effort," Pooja Jhunhunwala, a spokeswoman at the U.S. State Department, told BenarNews. "We continue to consult closely with the government of Indonesia to determine priority needs and how the U.S. government can help most effectively."
U.S. companies and business groups have also mobilized in the affected areas to support with transportation, in-kind donations, and fundraising for relief efforts, she said, emphasizing that the United States would send three C-130 Hercules transport aircraft to support humanitarian aid efforts.
Washington, she said, had a team of disaster experts "on the ground in Indonesia coordinating U.S. humanitarian response efforts, conducting damage assessments, and working closely with local authorities."
At least 26 countries have offered to send aid, but Indonesia only accepted assistance from 17 of them, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Indonesia only accepts aid in the form of air transport, tents, water treatment facilities, generators and field hospitals from foreign countries, the agency said.
A week after the disaster, hopes were fading for any survivors.
Workers from the France-based International Emergency Firefighters (IUP) said there were no signs of life under the rubble of the Mercure hotel in Palu.
"We tried to save time by using various equipment to listen and we also used a scanner," IUP member Philippe Besson said on Metro TV. "We tried everything but there was no response."
200 Bible camp students missing
The scale of the destruction in some affected areas has only now begun to emerge.
In the village of Jo Oge, 200 students who were attending a Bible camp were still missing after their church was swept away by mud, said Ruslan, the head of Biromaru sub-district.
"The latest information I received was that 40 bodies have been found, while only one managed to escape," Ruslan told TVOne.
A 4-km (2.48-mile) stretch of road in the area remained impassable, he said.
Electricity and mobile communications have been restored in parts of the quake-hit region.
In Donggala regency, one of the areas hardest-hit by the disaster, Muslims flocked to the Grand Mosque, which was partly damaged, to perform evening prayers as lights turned on.
"Thank God electricity is back," said the imam, Ilham Kawaroe, wearing a white skullcap and a white robe.
"After the earthquake only one row was filled, but now the mosque is alive again," he said.
The disaster has displaced more than 70,000, according to officials, but the United Nations estimated that about 200,000 people needed urgent humanitarian assistance.
More than 1.5 million people were affected by the series of natural disasters, U.N. officials said.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said that in Banawa, Donggala regency, every home along the shoreline was wiped out by the tsunami.
"The team has described Banawa as the worst affected area they have so far seen," IFRC said.
"The survivors have been evacuated – or have travelled independently – to neighbouring houses in the hills, where they are in need of health care, tents, blankets, baby food, and diapers," it said.
Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta and Gunawan in Balikpapan, Indonesia contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- An estimated 5,000 people were believed to be missing in two villages where homes were swallowed by a devastating earthquake in Indonesia's Sulawesi island, national disaster officials announced Sunday as they dramatically revised the number of victims unaccounted for nine days later.
At least 1,763 people were killed in twin temblors and a tsunami that struck the area on Sept. 28, said the National Disaster Management Agency, which was working to verify reports that some 5,000 residents of Balaroa and Petobo – villages located on the outskirts of Palu, in Central Sulawesi province – were still missing in the disaster's wake.
"The 5,000 figure is based on information from village chiefs. Exactly how many, we don't know," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta.
"It has to be verified. It could be that they have sought refuge elsewhere," he added.
The two villages were obliterated by the disaster, with witnesses reporting that houses were swallowed by mud and dislodged by hundreds of meters.
The National Search and Rescue Agency, a different agency, had estimated earlier that more than 1,000 people were missing in Petobo alone, after the soil there turned to liquid during one of the earthquakes through a phenomenon known to geologists as soil liquefaction.
Sutopo said the government had set Oct. 11 – this coming Thursday – as a deadline for completing post-disaster search operations.
But when asked whether the operation to search for survivors or bodies would end on that date, Sutopo replied, "not stopped. It is hoped that the search can be completed on Oct. 11."

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A woman holds a stuffed rabbit after it was found at her destroyed home, where she said she had lost her three children in earthquakes and a tsunami that battered Palu, in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, Oct. 7, 2018. Reuters

 
However, Wiranto, Indonesia's security minister, said the government was considering ending search-and-recovery operations in the Petobo and Balaroa areas by declaring them as mass graves and leaving them untouched.
"We have to make a decision as to when the search for the dead will end. Then, we later must decide when the area will be designated a mass grave," Agence France-Presse quoted him as telling reporters late on Friday, adding  that government officials had been discussing the possibility with local leaders and clergy.
On Sunday, Muhammad Syaugi, the chief of the National Search and Rescue Agency indicated that hopes were fading for finding more survivors.
"This is day ten. It would be a miracle to actually find someone still alive," he told AFP.
Local businesses stir back to life
Meanwhile, a semblance of normalcy returned to Palu on Sunday, as shops and gas stations reopened and electricity was restored to much of the capital of Central Sulawesi.
Matahari, a major national retail chain, was offering a 50 percent discount on products as it opened its doors to customers. Shop attendants wore bright red shirts and welcomed visitors with big smiles.
"Our facilities were badly damaged but we have been trying to reopen our businesses to speed up Palu's recovery," said James Riyadi, chief executive of the Lippo Group, which operates Matahari, the Siloam Hospital and other businesses in the area.
Several traditional markets, grocery shops and mom-and-pop stalls had also reopened.
Shops selling mobile phones and construction materials were attracting buyers as survivors of the disaster started to rebuild their lives.
"It seems that the economy is running again in Palu because the shops are open," Dika Winata, a South Palu resident, told BenarNews.
Tauhid Wijaya, another local, said some shops were selling goods at higher than usual prices.
"I just bought a bottle water and it's 3,000 rupiah [19 U.S. cents] more expensive than before," he said. "It's expected because of the situation. People will still buy anyway."
A shop owner in South Palu, Jaka Marten, said he had reopened his business two days ago.
"Business has been brisk. Customers just keep coming," he said.
Motorists were also flocking to gas stations in parts of the city.
"Thank God there are no long queues. We fill up as soon as we come," said Muhammad Sigit, 26.
"Fuel isn't rationed anymore so we can buy as much as we want," he said.
The state-run electricity company, PT PLN, said all seven of its substations in Palu, Sigi and Donggala regencies, which were damaged in the disaster, had been repaired.
"Right now we are focusing on fixing all power infrastructure in Donggala, but it will be gradual because access is still difficult," said Syamsul Huda, PLN's business director for Sulawesi.
East Palu resident Adriansyah, 29, who had been forced to live in a temporary shelter after the disaster, said that he and his family had moved back into their home after the power was restored.
"There have been two outages today, maybe they are still fixing things," he told BenarNews.

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Rescuers stand beside a toppled mosque in the earthquake-hit Balaroa neighbourhood of Palu, Central Sulawesi, Oct. 6, 2018. [AP] AP

 
International relief effort
Meanwhile, foreign aid was pouring into disaster-stricken zones of Sulawesi. At least 10 countries – including the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Britain, France and Germany – have sent search-and-rescue teams or provided military cargo planes to assist Indonesia in the recovery efforts.
On Friday, the American government announced an additional $3.6 million in humanitarian assistance to Indonesia to help people affected by the disaster.
The funding brought the total American aid package to $3.7 million, USAID spokesperson Clayton McCleskey said.
The U.S. Agency for International Development was airlifting 2,210 rolls of heavy-duty plastic sheeting from its emergency warehouses in Dubai and Malaysia, enough to provide 110,500 people with temporary shelter, McCleskey said.
A team of disaster experts from USAID was also in Indonesia to assess damage and work with local authorities and humanitarian organizations, he said.
The latest natural disaster to hit Indonesia occurred almost two months after a series of powerful temblors devastated Lombok island, killing at least 555 people.
Indonesia straddles the so-called Ring of Fire, an area in the Pacific Ocean basin known for seismic upheavals and volcanic eruptions. 

On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude-9.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, unleashing a series of devastating tsunamis. As a result, at least 230,000 people were killed in a dozen Asian countries.


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BENARNEWS- Education officials began the grim task of figuring out how many children would be coming back to class as students started returning to their schools on Monday, 10 days after a massive earthquake and tsunami battered Indonesia's Sulawesi island.
Rescuers have recovered 1,948 bodies of people who were killed in the magnitude-7.4 quake and tsunami on Sept. 28, Willem Rampangilei, chairman of the National Disaster Management Agency, told reporters.
"I don't want to be absent from classes for too long, especially because I'm in the final year," Aisya, a student at the state-run SMAN 4 senior high school in the provincial capital Palu, told BenarNews.
She said she received a WhatsApp message asking her to come to school even though there were no classes.
"Many teachers and students were affected by the disaster. Some may have left Palu," said Syam Zaini, the school's principal.
As of Monday the official number of missing people stood at 835, Rampangilei said. But other officials estimated that 5,000 people were unaccounted for and may have been buried in villages where houses were swallowed by torrents of mud in a process called liquefaction, in which the temblor turned water-logged soil into quicksand.
Teachers and students asked each other whether their families were safe. Some children came without wearing their compulsory uniforms.
At one elementary school, no pupil or teacher showed up. The building near the coast was badly damaged by the tsunami and was covered in mud.
At another school in Palu, principal Kasiludin said authorities told all teachers to show up for work, beginning on Monday, to count the number of students.
"We won't force the students to come back because many are traumatized," he told Reuters news agency. "But we must start again soon to keep their spirits up and so they don't fall behind."
At least seven students and one teacher from the school died, he said.
Across the city, nine schools were destroyed, 22 teachers were killed and 14 were missing, according to the disaster agency. At the SMP Negeri 15 Palu middle school, fewer than 50 of its 697 students showed up, it said.
From neighborhoods to memorial parks
Rampangilei said the government expected to end the emergency search operation on Thursday, amid fading hopes of finding any more survivors.
"The emergency response period will end on Oct. 11 and whether this will be extended will depend on the local capability and capacity to care for the displaced and other people affected," he said.
"We will evaluate and we'll discuss this with the local government, because they are the ones who will decide, whether it needs to be extended," he added.
Rampangilei said the local government should discuss the plan to end the search with community leaders.
"What should be considered is that there are many bodies buried in those locations and it's been 14 days," he said.
"Our main consideration is health. We should not create new health problems," he said.
The government of Central Sulawesi province said that three areas – Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge – where houses were swallowed when the ground became like quicksand – would be turned into memorial parks.
"Monuments will be built in those locations and at the end of the emergency response period there will be a mass prayer gathering," it said.
Also on Monday, rescuers called off the search at Hotel Roa-Roa, according to the news agency AFP.
The hotel emerged as an early focus of efforts to extract survivors, with seven people pulled alive from its ruins in the immediate aftermath. Rescuers said 27 bodies were recovered from the 80-room hotel, including three pulled from the debris on Sunday.
Among the confirmed dead were five paragliders who came to Palu for a competition, including an Asian Games athlete and a South Korean, the only known foreign victim in the disaster, AFP said.
Returning to work
Civil servants also began returning to work in Palu, a coastal city of about 374,000 people, and other affected areas such as Sigi and Donggala regencies.
Some residents were applying for new identification cards at the Population and Civil Registry Office in Palu.
"My wallet was gone, along with my ID card during the earthquake," Irfan, one of the applicants, told BenarNews after having his photograph and fingerprints taken.
Arief Edie, an official at the Home Affairs Ministry, said the government would make it easy for residents affected by the disaster to obtain new ID cards, family records and death certificates.

"The government is present to provide public services," he said, adding that people would not be charged.
At the provincial health office, civil servants have started doing administrative work.
"Most of the civil servants were badly affected, but about 40 percent of the staff have returned to work," provincial health chief Reni Lamajino said.
"About 70 percent of community health clinics (Puskesmas) have been activated," she said.
Meanwhile, dozens of victims have been treated at the KRI Dr Soeharso 990, an Indonesian naval hospital ship, which has docked at Palu's Pantoloan port since last week.
The ship, which has 40 beds, has 93 medical personnel, Antara news agency reported.
The head of the provincial social affairs department, Ridwan Mumu, said the government had begun discussing the idea of turning the three villages into monuments and open green spaces.
"One thing is for sure, there have been suggestions that there should be no settlements," he said.

Ridwan said survivors whose relatives were believed buried there should let them go. 

"This is all for public good. We should not insist on continuing the search under the current circumstances," he said.
Aid has been pouring into the region, including from foreign countries, but it had not reached some of the more remote areas. Officials said helicopters had been running supply drops to more isolated areas outside Palu.
The search continued on Monday, with six more bodies found in Balaroa, said Iwan Setiawan Abbas, who led the search effort in the area.
"Yesterday we found 15 bodies and the previous day 28 bodies," Abbas said, as he surveyed a tangled mess of concrete and steel bars.
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- The death toll from an earthquake and tsunami that devastated Indonesia's Sulawesi island has surpassed 2,000, authorities said Tuesday, as rescuers kept searching for thousands of other victims feared buried in mud.
At least 671 were listed as missing, but many more people have been buried when houses in three villages – Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge – were swallowed in mud and rubble caused by the quake on Sept. 28, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
"According to the chiefs of Balaroa and Petobo villages, there are about 5,000 people who have not been found. But this still needs verification," agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
At least 2,000 houses in the villages were sucked under by torrents of mud when the magnitude 7.4 quake generated a process called liquefaction, where water-logged soil is turned into quicksand, officials said.
Local TV news footage on Tuesday showed volunteers using hydraulic jackhammers to break up concrete while others clawed through debris in search of bodies in a former residential area. 

But recovering the remains of missing residents whose bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition could lead to outbreaks of infectious disease, officials warned.
Sutopo said a meeting with local government officials resulted in an agreement that the three villages would be off-limits to settlement and be converted into memorial parks where monuments to remember the dead would be built.
Sutopo said rescuers would mark the end of efforts to retrieve bodies in the three villages by holding prayers on Thursday, as he explained that the terrain composed of rubble and twisted metal made it difficult to carry on with recovery operations.
"Whether this will be extended will depend on the local capability and capacity to care for the displaced and other people affected," agency chief Willem Rampangilei told reporters, referring to the plan to end search operations on Thursday.
An estimated 5,000 houses will need to be built for the surviving residents of the three villages, Sutopo said.
The economic cost of the disaster was estimated at 10 trillion rupiah (U.S. $657 million), officials said.
Foreign rescue groups told to leave Palu
Adding to the confusion on Tuesday, the disaster agency released a circular ordering foreign aid groups to pull their workers from the quake zone.
"Foreign citizens who are working with foreign NGOs are not allowed to conduct any activity on the sites affected by disasters," according to the circular, which was posted on Twitter by Sutopo.
"Foreign NGOs who have deployed their foreign personnel are advised to retrieve their personnel immediately."
It also said that foreign groups wishing to provide aid could do so through the Indonesian Red Cross. It's not immediately clear how many foreign workers would be affected by the order, which analysts see as an effort to protect the government's image as it manages the disaster.
The Foreign Ministry defended the restrictions, saying they were intended to ensure assistance was given based on real needs in the affected areas.
"If not, we will be in a situation where the presence of foreign aid workers, who have good intentions, may hamper the rescue and recovery work carried out by the national team," ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said.
Indonesia has accepted aid from 18 countries, despite the government's previous reluctance to welcome foreign assistance, partly because of fears it would be seen as incapable of handling disasters.
A South African aid group, the Gift of the Givers, arrived with 27 rescue and medical specialists but they spent the past three days in a hotel compound in Palu after being told not to leave the premises, Sky News television reported.
"It is very difficult to tell international teams arriving here, when you have already encountered massive costs, massive cargo and then say to international teams that they will be recalled," team leader Ahmed Bham said.
"It doesn't make sense at all. If you need boxes moved or aid carried, just let us know. We will distribute it," he said.
"We have good medicines with us, we have the stuff they need here."
Hours after the circular came out, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert announced that Washington would be providing $3.7 million in assistance to deliver essential relief items, including blankets and solar-powered lamps, to the devastated areas.
"USAID is also airlifting heavy-duty plastic sheeting to Indonesia to provide for emergency shelter needs of up to 110,500 people," she said in a statement, referring to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The U.S. agency has also deployed a team of disaster experts to coordinate humanitarian efforts, Nauert said, adding that the Department of Defense had also provided three C-130 transport planes that helped deliver up to 63 metric tons of disaster-relief supplies into the affected areas.
"We have no reports of U.S. citizens who have been injured or killed by the earthquake or the tsunami," she said.

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Earthquake survivors carry relief goods delivered by an Indonesian Army helicopter in Poroo, Central Sulawesi, Oct. 7, 2018. [AP]

 
Foreigners continue search
Despite the restrictions, some foreigners were involved in the search effort in Palu and the neighboring Sigi regency on Tuesday, local search workers said.
"Our goal is the same regardless of nationality: to find victims and help people," an Indonesian rescue worker who gave his name as Ival told BenarNews.
Mohamad Reza, a resident of Balaroa village, which was obliterated by the earthquake, said foreign aid workers were very much welcome.
"We support the presence of foreign rescuers, because they are helping our local volunteers. Look, how many bodies they have helped recover," he said.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that an immunization drive would be conducted in eight regencies in Central Sulawesi, including Palu and Donggala, with camps for the displaced being a priority.
It said 15 hospitals and 50 primary health care centers in the quake-hit region had started operating.
"The most common diseases are diarrhea, fever, influenza-like illnesses and trauma injuries," the WHO said.
"The risk of increased transmission of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue, chikungunya and malaria is anticipated as above-average rainfall is expected in affected areas in the coming weeks," it said.
New quake rocks Palu
As health workers struggled to prevent the spread of diarrhea among the 74,000 people displaced by the disasters, a new earthquake with a magnitude 5.2 rocked Palu, the city that bore the brunt of last month's temblor, officials said.
Seismologists said Tuesday's quake struck at a depth of 10 km (six miles) with the epicenter 5 km (3 miles) northeast of Sulawesi, one of Indonesia's five main islands.
"The quake was felt strongly for five seconds," Nugroho told reporters.
In the village of Silae, several homes damaged by the earlier earthquakes collapsed, but no one was hurt, witnesses told BenarNews.
"We were so afraid we ran out of the house," said Raden Jaka, a resident of Silae.
Anwar Saing, 45, who sought refuge in a camp near the Darussalam Grand Mosque in western Palu, told BenarNews that his house was not badly damaged by the earthquake.
"Fortunately for us only the kitchen is damaged," he said. "We've stayed here for too long. It's time to go home."
Indah Yanti, a resident of Donggala Kodi, was not so lucky. She will have to stay in a tent.
"Go home where? My house was destroyed," she said.
Indonesia, located in the tectonically active Ring of Fire – an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean – frequently suffered earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in the nation's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis.
Ahmad Syamsudin in Jakarta contributed to this story.


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BENARNEWS- Australia will send experts to train Indonesian law enforcement personnel in cyber security,  Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said Thursday.
Ryamizard and his Australian counterpart, Christopher Pyne, discussed counter-terrorism and what role Canberra might have in the Southeast Asian intelligence-sharing group called "Our Eyes" during their talks on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Bali.
"Australia has better technology," Ryamizard said. "They will send trainers from Australia to train our cyber security personnel."
Pyne said Australia already was engaged in analysis of shared information with Indonesia, but his meeting with Ryamizard focused on cyber security and about disrupting the financial affairs of terrorists operating in the region.
In January, six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines – launched the "Our Eyes" initiative, which officials said could lead to a more accurate and quicker response to cross-border security threats.
The concept for "Our Eyes" comes from the "Five Eyes" intel-sharing alliance involving Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the United States.
Indonesia proposed the initiative in October 2017 at the ASEAN Defense Ministers meeting in the Philippines shortly after that country defeated Islamic State-linked militants who occupied the southern Philippine city of Marawi.
Pyne praised Indonesia for its success in preventing IS cells from making inroads like they did in Marawi and said the two nations would cooperate to further degrade the extremist group.
"Particularly as foreign fighters are returning to Southeast Asia, that will be critical," he said.
Malaysian and Indonesian nationals were among foreign fighters killed in Marawi. Officials said ASEAN nations should be wary of fighters returning from Syria and Iraq now that IS has been defeated there.
Sustainable development goals
Along with the IMF meeting, Bali on Thursday hosted ASEAN leaders who renewed their commitment to achieving sustainable development goals for their countries. 

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres joined the Southeast Asian leaders.
Guterres spoke about the importance of the special report released Monday by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that declared the potential disaster "is running faster than we are – and we are running out of time."
The report details devastating consequences if the world fails to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius.
Guterres called for ambitious, urgent action with "unprecedented changes in all aspects of society to cut carbon emissions by half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050 – especially in key sectors, such as land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities."
Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said sustainable development must be an integral part of his policies. 

Indonesia faces a daunting task of rebuilding communities after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Sulawesi island. The natural disasters killed more than 2,000 people and rescuers said about 5,000 people are unaccounted for or missing.
Jokowi said sustainable development policies have allowed Indonesia to protect coastal areas, develop infrastructure, reduce inequality and improve education participation.
"The advent of technology has helped narrow the gap in access to education," he said, expressing high hopes that the nation can achieve its development goals by 2030.


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BENARNEWS- United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres toured areas in the Indonesian city of Palu devastated by an earthquake and tsunami two weeks ago, as the government declared the end to the search and rescue effort on Friday.
The death toll from the September 28 earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Central Sulawesi province, of which Palu is the capital, stands at nearly 2,100, with more than 10,000 others injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.
But there are fears that thousands of people may still be missing in at least three villages – Balaroa, Petobo and Jono Oge – after their homes were swallowed by mud in a phenomenon known as soil liquefaction.
Guterres was briefed by the head of the disaster agency Willem Rampangilei before visiting Balaroa, one of three villages in Central Sulawesi province where many were believed to be buried after their houses were swallowed by the earthquake.
The U.N. chief was accompanied by Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva during the visit.
Guterres later inspected a makeshift hospital near the ruins of the general hospital in Ulujadi, which was destroyed in the earthquake, and talked to injured survivors being treated there.
"Here in Palu, I saw first-hand the destruction caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami. To the many people I saw and spoke to: your strength and resilience are remarkable. The U.N. is with you to support government-led rescue and relief efforts," Guterres said on Twitter.
"I was deeply saddened to see so many people suffering in Palu amidst so much destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami. I commend Indonesians for their strength and resilience and the government for the relief efforts. You can count on U.N. support," he said.
 
National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said Guterres was "impressed" by the government's response to the disaster.
Sutopo said electricity had been largely restored and fuel was available in 33 of 36 gas stations in the disaster-hit region.
Kalla thanked the United Nations and the World Bank for the organizations' support in the aftermath of the disaster.
"The support of the United Nations and the World Bank has provided a boost to the spirits of the people of Central Sulawesi," Kalla said.
The World Bank has offered immediate assistance to help rebuild critical infrastructure damaged by the earthquake and to increase social protection programs to help those most affected.
"We at the World Bank have done rapidly an assessment of how serious the damage is so we can provide it to the government. It is very large, over $531 million of infrastructure, housing damage," Georgieva said
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on Friday that it had pledged up to 1 billion dollars in loans to Indonesia to rebuild the quake-hit region.
ADB President Takehiko Nakao, who met Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bali, said that the bank would provide an emergency budget support loan of up to U.S. $500 million.
Nakao also said that ADB stood ready to provide additional financing of about $500 million to support reconstruction of critical infrastructure such as water supply and sanitation, schools, roads and bridges.
The billion-dollar loan would be on top of ADB's regular sovereign lending program to Indonesia, which averages 2 billion dollars annually, the bank said.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the recent disasters that hit Indonesia were a reminder of the need to build resilience to natural catastrophes and tackle climate shocks that exacerbate them.
"Indonesians are a resilient and compassionate people, and they will rise from this challenge stronger than ever," he said at the opening of the IMF-World Bank meeting in Bali.

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Muslims hold a mass prayer in Palu on October 12, 2018, following the September 28 earthquake and tsunami that killed 2,000 people and left thousands more missing, presumed dead. [AFP]

 
Search called off
Central Sulawesi governor Longki Djanggola announced the end of the search for victims on Friday, exactly two weeks after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami slammed the region.
"The search ended as of today. We hope the people can accept this," he said.
The head of Palu's search and rescue agency, Basarano, said about 130 personnel would be on standby across the city.
"If there are reports that bodies have been found, our personnel will collect them, but we no longer actively search, unless there's an instruction from the highest level of leadership," he said.
In a press briefing in Jakarta on Thursday, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo was asked about the fate of some 5,000 people he earlier said had been reported missing.
"The data still needs to be verified again, because maybe some of them are among the displaced, or left Palu," he said. "If a victim is found dead, he or she will be declared dead, but if they are not yet found, their status will be given as a missing person," he added.
As of Thursday, the official toll of people missing was 680, while 82,775 people were listed as displaced and 18,353 had left the province in the wake of the disaster, according to agency figures.
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.




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BENARNEWS- LGBT people in Indonesia are facing renewed pressure after a ride-sharing company's message of support triggered an anti-gay response in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.
In a message on Facebook that has since been deleted, Brata Santoso, a vice president at the ride-sharing company Go-Jek, wrote about a campaign called GOingALLin to celebrate Coming Out Day on Oct. 11.
"I'm happy to say that Go-Jek is taking diversity to the next level by the adoption of non-discrimination policy toward the underrepresented group, ie LGBT," Brata wrote, referring to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"In the spirit of Coming Out Day, we wanted to give space for the brave ones who embrace diversity and share what freedom, self-acceptance, authenticity, equality and tolerance really means to them," Brata wrote.
A screenshot of the message went viral on social media and led to calls to boycott the app using the hashtag #uninstallgojek on Twitter.
Since then, the company released a statement that the post was Brata's personal opinion.
"Go-Jek strives to hold up high the culture and values of Indonesia," it said.
On Thursday, a Go-Jek spokesman said the company required that Brata take part in social activities "to make him more sensitive," Tempo.co news website reported.
A day earlier, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin urged Indonesians to treat the LGBT community with empathy and respect, but he called their behavior deviant.
Conservative Muslims have accused Lukman of supporting the LGBT community because of his moderate views and because he attended an event in 2016 organized by the Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists where LGBT members were honored.
"It is our obligation as religious people and religious leaders to provide guidance to them with empathy so that they cease doing what they do," he said in a video message posted on the ministry's official Twitter account.
Homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia except in Aceh where Sharia law is in force.
That could change.
Under a draft revision to the criminal code being debated in the House of Representatives, a person engaging in "a lewd act" with another person of the same sex who is younger than 18 could face 12 years in prison. If the act involves violence, the penalty is up to 15 years.
The draft stipulates that a lewd act committed in public between two people of the same sex is punishable by up to 18 months in prison. It also says sex between a man and a woman who are not married to each other is punishable by up to five years.
Pressure on LGBT community
Police have raided places frequented by gay people and briefly detained hundreds suspected of being homosexuals. Officer filed charges against some of them for committing prostitution or pornographic acts.
The government of Cianjur regency, in West Java province, issued a circular urging Muslim preachers to talk about the dangers of homosexuality during their Friday sermons.
"It's one of the efforts to prevent the spread of LGBT in our area," said Gagan Rusganda, a spokesman for the regency office.
Arus Pelangi, an LGBT advocacy group, said anti-gay sermons would endanger members of the community.
"Such calls will only increase the persecution of LGBT people. Even without it, LGBT people are already threatened," Arus Pelangi chairwoman Yuli Rustinawati said.
The mayor of Balikpapan, in East Kalimantan province, said he would issue an anti-gay regulation in response to the emergence of a Facebook group "Pin Gay Balikpapan." He said such a decree did not require the approval of the city council.
Meanwhile, Cholil Nafis a leader of the Indonesian Council of Ulema, said he supported the crackdown.
"We are facing an LGBT emergency, because people with the disease now feel normal," Cholil said.
"Sermons calling for avoiding LGBT are necessary. We have to counter this," he said.
Slamet, an activist for Gaya Nusantara advocating for LGBT rights, said the reactions by officials were political posturing during the election season.
"This is just a repeat of old stuff, because I think they know that LGBT isn't a disease or deviance," he said. "The political undertone is very strong, because people are passionate about the LGBT issue."
Most of the country sees the LGBT community as a threat, according to a survey last year by a Jakarta-based firm, Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting. The survey showed 85.4 percent of the nation felt threatened by LGBT people – a figure that increased to 87.6 percent three months later.
Additionally, 79.1 percent of respondents objected to having LGBT neighbors. Despite those concerns, 57.7 percent of Indonesians believed that LGBT members had rights and about 50 percent believed the government was obligated to protect them, according to the survey.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian officers shot and killed two suspected militants in North Sumatra province, a police spokesman said, as a think-tank warned that Islamic State (IS) losses in the Middle East had not dampened local supporters' determination to carry out attacks.
Members of Densus 88, the nation's elite counter-terror police unit, killed the suspects during a clash in Tanjung Balai regency late Thursday, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said. They were identified as Hendry Syahli Manurung, 26, and M. Rival Alwis, 22.
"The suspects attacked officers by firing at them, leading to a gunfight," Dedi said, adding that police seized five pipe bombs, a knife, a handgun and two bullets.
The men were identified as members of a local branch of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a network of Indonesian militants affiliated to IS. Dedi said they allegedly plotted with accomplices, who have since been arrested, to attack the regency's police headquarters and a Buddhist temple.
More than 350 arrested
Last month, national police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said at least 352 JAD-linked militants had been arrested since May after suicide bombers attacked three churches and a police headquarters in Surabaya, the nation's second largest city. The Surabaya bombings killed 14 bystanders, as well as 10 members of two families who were blamed for carrying out the bombings.
East Java JAD members were encouraged to undertake suicide attacks, but the Surabaya families planned the attacks on their own without reference to any central leadership, according to a report from the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).
Announcing the ongoing arrests, Tito said, "Some of the suspects have been brought to court while 171 have had their files submitted to prosecutors."
He said the suspects would have fair trials and if they believed they were victims of wrongful arrests, they could file pre-trial motions.
"The media can even enter the courtrooms, sit near the defendants and broadcast trials live," he said.
Along with the arrests since the Surabaya attacks, police said at least 25 suspects were killed in a series of raids.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has suffered a series of deadly attacks since 2000 when coordinated Christmas Eve bombings at churches in several cities killed 18 people.
Warning
IPAC warned that support for IS will continue despite the group's losses in Iraq and Syria.
"The main lesson to draw from the Surabaya bombings is not that the use of children is the new modus operandi or that terrorists have grown more proficient," IPAC director Sidney Jones said.
"Defeats of ISIS in the Middle East have not weakened the determination of ISIS supporters to wage war at home since they can no longer get to Syria" she said, using another acronym for IS. "JAD cells are likely to act on their own, if and when they have the opportunity or the resources to do so."
"The government needs to pay particular attention to JAD members who are about to be or have been released, because this is the pool from which new leaders will be drawn," Jones told BenarNews.
The report notes that unlike other militant groups, JAD prefers released prisoners because they are seen as having been tested.
Commenting on the IPAC report, Dedi Prasetyo said police and the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) monitor former terrorism convicts.
BNPT's deputy for international cooperation said the government had prioritized de-radicalization efforts.
"I think soft approaches are the best way to eradicate terrorism," said Hamidin, who uses one name.
"We have established an education center in North Sumatra," he said, referring to the de-radicalization center in Medan.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia and Saudi Arabia agreed to increase joint efforts against radicalism and terrorism, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Tuesday while calling on the Middle Eastern oil power to investigate the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi thoroughly and transparently.
Retno met with her Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, for bilateral talks as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Jakarta. She said the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) was drafting a memorandum of understanding with the Presidency of State Security, Saudi's anti-terrorism agency.
"We agreed to increase cooperation in combating radicalism and terrorism in view of the increasing threat of radicalism and terrorism," Retno said after a meeting with al-Jubeir before he was to leave Jakarta.
Neither side released details of the MOU and an Indonesian official said it was being drafted. The officials did not reveal when the document would be completed and signed.
Meanwhile, Retno expressed concern about the killing of Khashoggi, who was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
"We call for an investigation to be carried out transparently and thoroughly," Retno said, echoing remarks made by Indonesian President Joko Widodo during his meeting with the Saudi foreign minister on Monday.
Saudi officials initially denied any knowledge of what had happened to the dissident journalist, saying Khashoggi left the consulate after picking up papers for his forthcoming marriage.
Al-Jubeir referred to Khashoggi's death as murder for the first time on Sunday. Two days earlier, Saudi officials admitted that the Washington Post columnist had died at the consulate, but blamed his killing on a fistfight.
"I emphasized to the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia that he had promised two days ago that he was determined to reveal all the facts," Retno said.
Al-Jubeir said King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Salman were committed to ensuring that the investigation is "thorough and complete and that the truth is revealed."
"Those responsible will be held to account and that procedures and mechanisms are in place to ensure that something like this can never happen again," he said during a press conference in Jakarta.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that 15 people in three groups had arrived at the Saudi consulate on Oct. 2.
"The information and evidences uncovered so far show that Jamal Khashoggi was brutally murdered," Erdogan said, according to news reports. "Covering up such a brutal act would wound the conscience of all mankind."
Trade and investment talks
In Jakarta, Al-Jubeir said his country was committed to enhancing its relationship with Indonesia.
"We believe the size of trade and investment between our two countries is not commensurate with the size of our respective economies, so we are rolling up our sleeves to try to move toward more investment and more trade," he said.
Retno recognized those efforts, but said she had concerns.
"Although, there is an increase in cooperation in the investment sector, we also realize that there are some aspects that have not achieved significant progress," she said, citing a delay in a project involving Saudi oil giant Aramco upgrading the Cilacap refinery in Central Java.
Government officials last year announced that the project, expected to be completed in 2021, was delayed until 2023, according to the Jakarta Post.
In addition, Retno thanked the Saudi government for improving the welfare of about 600,000 Indonesian workers in Saudi Arabia.
"We welcome efforts to improve the protection of Indonesian citizens by Saudi Arabia, among others regarding the rules on working hours, minimum wages and respect for workers' rights," she said.
Al-Jubeir said he and Retno discussed ways to resolve conflicts in the Islamic world including conflicts tied to Israel.
"We believe in sovereignty of nations and in the rule of law, in the international legal system and we believe in solving conflicts through peaceful means," he said.
Saudi King Salman met with Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo during a March 2017 visit to Jakarta and signed 11 MOUs, including some focused on countering world-wide terrorism.
Intelligence sharing
University of Indonesia terrorism analyst Ridlwan Habib said intelligence sharing is a step in the right direction.
"There needs to be an understanding of terrorism networks in both countries," he said.
Saudi Arabia could learn about a more humane approach in fighting terrorism from Indonesia, Ridlwan said while noting there are ideological differences between terrorists in the two countries.
"The terrorist ideology in Saudi Arabia is more hardline and militant than Indonesia, so maybe to some extent a soft approach won't be effective," he said.
Indonesian House member Bobby Rizaldi said the government should be wary of Saudi-funded educational institutions. He pointed out that Aman Abdurrachman, who was sentenced to death in June for masterminding a series of attacks in recent years, was a graduate of the Saudi-funded Islamic and Arabic College of Indonesia in Jakarta.
"Many schools established by Saudi Arabia are influenced by Wahhabism. It is necessary to anticipate creeping radicalization," he said.
Popular in Saudi Arabia, Wahhabism stresses the literal interpretation of the Quran and its followers see other religions, including other strains of Islam, as infidels.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian officials on Wednesday debunked a Malaysian opposition leader's claim that last month's ferocious earthquake and tsunami on Sulawesi island were God's way of punishing gay people, while the mayor of a devastated town slammed him for lacking common sense.
A day earlier, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had linked the natural disasters that killed at least 2,250 people to the LGBT issue, while questioning Malaysian government officials in parliament about a state-run program to "rehabilitate" members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"LGBT people are everywhere, but how come other places have not been hit by similar disasters?" Mastuki, a spokesman for Indonesia's Religious Affairs Ministry, told BenarNews as he rejected Zahid's statement that disasters were linked to LGBT behavior.
Hidayat, mayor of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province that was hit hardest by the Sept. 28 double disaster, said Zahid was entitled to his opinion but called the politician's remarks thoughtless.
"This is a disaster for us. If it is associated with the existence of the LGBT community, it is far from common sense," Hidayat told Benar. "Our citizens are now back on their feet again, so such things do not affect them."
Adrian Amarta, a Palu resident, agreed with Hidayat.
"What does LGBT activity have to do with natural disasters? Nothing, right?" he said.
In Jakarta, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, shrugged off Zahid's comments by saying that everyone could interpret a disaster based on their beliefs.
"To geologists, an earthquake and tsunami in Palu were caused by the movement of tectonic plates, while to spatial planners the disaster was caused by planning that did not pay attention to disaster mitigation aspects," Sutopo said.
"Some religious people interpret it as punishment and a warning from God, so that people refrain from committing a sin," he told Benar.
What Zahid said
Zahid, 65, made the comments while asking questions about Mukhayyam, a program by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) that aims to "reform" gay people in the country with about 20,000 transgenders.
"If we look at the situation in Malaysia, it is worrying, because of what happened in Palu, Indonesia, when an earthquake and tsunami happened," said Zahid, a deputy prime minister in Malaysia's previous government who heads the opposition Barisan Nasional bloc.
"It was reported that there were about 1,000 people in their community that were involved in LGBT activities. This resulted in the destruction of the whole area," he said. "This is God's punishment."
He added that he wanted to know about how effective the state program was "so we can avoid God's punishment toward all Malaysians including those who reject LGBT."
Last week, Malaysian authorities arrested Zahid and charged him on suspicion of committing a raft of corruption-related offenses, including abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering amounting to U.S. $27.56 million.
'Please respect us'
Before the disaster in Sulawesi, conservative Muslims in Palu had expressed concerns about what they saw as a growing LGBT community in their city, with more than 1,500 people joining a Facebook group called Gay Kota Palu.
Footage from PaluTV, a local television station, showed a female Muslim student saying that LGBT behavior was rampant because the city had grown increasingly secular.
Gay people in Palu are mainly active on social media and sometimes hold secret meetings, said a resident, Muhammad Fadli.
He said one of his friends had joined a gay group whose members came from different parts of Central Sulawesi.
Harlin Apik, a member of the LGBT community in Palu, described the Malaysian politician's remarks as being uttered out of ignorance.
"I am [fatherless]. I paid for my own education. My mother hopes that I'm doing fine in Palu. I work hard even though I'm part of the LGBT community," Harlin said.
"I live by the blessings of my mother and God," he said.
Most LGBT people in Palu live alone and are devoted to their parents.
"Please respect us as disaster victims," he told BenarNews. "Please do not add to our trauma."
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia may review China-backed infrastructure projects if opposition leader Prabowo Subianto is elected president next year, officials with his campaign team said Wednesday.
Incumbent President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who is seeking re-election, has embraced China's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" initiative and has made upgrading the country's dilapidated infrastructure a priority during his first term in office. Jokowi will face Prabowo, a former Army special forces commander with a checkered human rights record, in the presidential election scheduled for April 17 next year.
"Some projects may be evaluated for necessity, but not necessarily be cancelled," said Andre Rosiade, a spokesman for Prabowo's Gerindra Party, responding to questions from BenarNews about whether Prabowo would review Chinese-backed projects if he won the presidency.
"Mr. Prabowo isn't anti-foreigner and is ready to work with foreign countries, but the welfare of Indonesians is his priority."
Andre did not say which project would be reviewed.
"We will not review a project just because it is funded by a certain country. Projects that will be reviewed are those that cause losses to the state and undermine the nation," said Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, Prabowo's campaign spokesman.
"Mr Prabowo is against corruption and manipulative practices, but he can work with investors from any country," he said.
Indonesia is building a 140-kilometer (87-mile) high-speed railway and several power plants on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands with funding from China.
The railway, which links the city of Bandung in West Java and Jakarta, costs U.S. $5.9 billion and is being built by a consortium led by China Railway International, according to information from the Indonesian government's National Investment Coordination Board.
Jokowi launched the project in early 2016 to much fanfare but construction was delayed for about two years due to problems in freeing land, among other issues.
China is also funding the development of "economic development corridors," which involve the construction of industrial estates, power plants, roads and sea ports worth U.S. $51 billion in North Sumatra, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi and Bali, according to the National Investment Coordinating Agency.
"Indonesia and China have a good relationship, but I think there are certain projects that we want to look at," Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is Prabowo's brother and campaign manager, told the South China Post on Monday, referring to One Belt, One Road.
"I'm sure there are some projects that are very good, and I'm sure some projects are not necessary."

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Indonesian President Joko Widodo (left) and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping walk to their meeting at the Great Hall of People in Beijing, as China was touting its new One Belt, One Road endeavor as "a project of the century," May 14, 2017. [AFP]

 
Beijing's geopolitical plan
Last year, Jokowi attended a two-day One Belt, One Road forum, during which Beijing laid out its plans to invest more than U.S. $1 trillion in its grand strategy of building a network of ports, roads, railways and other logistics-related projects stretching through Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
A so-called Maritime Silk Road is part of China's multi-pronged strategy to boost its global trading links by developing overland and maritime routes connecting the world's most populous nation and economic powerhouse to markets in Europe.
China and Indonesia established diplomatic relations on April 13, 1950. In 2003, bilateral trade reached U.S. $3.8 billion, but that figure multiplied almost 10 times to U.S. $36.1 billion in 2010, according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Canada-based independent think-tank. 

But Jakarta booked a trade deficit of U.S. $ 14 billion in 2016, with the trade imbalance favoring Beijing. Trade between the two nations peaked at U.S. $58.8 billion last year, with Indonesia importing about U.S. $35.7 billion of goods from China, mostly electronics, including phones and computers, according to official figures. Indonesia exported mostly coal briquettes, steel and palm oil.
Indonesia ranks fourth among China's largest trading partners in Southeast Asia, after Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
Jokowi said in 2017 that he believed the One Belt, One Road initiative would strengthen economic relationships between China and Indonesia, and his government was focusing on its infrastructure development.
Chinese regional rival India has expressed misgivings about China's geo-political strategy, saying initiatives must be based on universally recognized international norms, transparency and equality.
Tread carefully, analyst says
Ari Kuncoro, an economist at the University of Indonesia, warned that abandoning a project after construction had started would be costly.
"Any decision to review should be made carefully," Ari said. "A project should only be postponed when import content is so high that it hurts the local currency."
"Cancelling a projects that are already underway means that cost that has already been incurred can't be recovered," he said.
The Indonesian government has already decided to postpone some infrastructure projects that use heavily imported materials for up to six years as part of attempts to shore up the rupiah, which has tumbled almost 10 percent this year and weakened past 15,000 per U.S. dollar for the first time in 20 years.
Agung Pribadi, a spokesman for the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said several power plant projects had been postponed but he did not give details.
Officials at the state electricity company PLN could not be reached for comment.
"With the United States isolating itself, I think the new Silk Road makes sense," Ari said.
"Indonesia has a population of 260 million people and it's close to Singapore, so when the ports in Singapore are overwhelmed, we can take some of the excess traffic," he said.
But Indonesia should avoid being just a market for Chinese exports.
"We should not accept such a situation," he said.


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BENARNEWS- A $1.6-billion hydroelectric power plant being built by China in Indonesia's North Sumatra province will divide the habitat of the world's rarest great ape, increasing the risk of the critically endangered primate's extinction, scientists and environmentalists said.
PT North Sumatra Hydro Energy (NSHE), an independent power producer in which China's ZheFu Holding owns a majority stake, is building the 510-megawatt hydropower dam in the Batang Toru rainforest of Sumatra.
The power plant could stabilize electric supply in the northern part of the island, officials said.
But the project – part of Beijing's One Belt, One Road grand plan – could split the habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan, underscoring how China's global infrastructure drive can threaten the environment, scientists and conservationists told BenarNews.
"The development will significantly increase the likelihood of extinction of Pongo tapanuliensis," said Erik Meijaard, director of conservation at Borneo Futures and professor at the Center of Excellence for Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland, using the scientific name of the orangutans.
Meijaard said construction would destroy some of the most critical low-altitude habitats of the orangutans, cutting the connection between the eastern and western block of the habitat.
"So instead of one connected population there will be two smaller populations," Meijaard, who is one of the scientists who carried out initial research on the Tapanuli orangutan, told BenarNews.
Small populations have a higher chance of extinction than large ones, he said.
The Batang Toru Ecosystem is the only known home to an 800-strong Tapanuli orangutan, which was discovered in 1939, identified as a distinct species last year and recently listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
But NSHE denied that the project would threaten the habitats of protected animals.
It said the plant would only cover an area of 122 hectares (301 acres), or only 0.07 percent of the Batang Toru Ecosystem.
"The company freed 669 hectares, all of which were bought from local people. At the end of the construction, the remaining unused land of 400 hectares will be replanted with trees that could be sources of food for wild animals," said Agus Djoko Ismanto, a representative at NSHE.
A small part of the project area is the home range of up to seven orangutans, he said.
"The company has been monitoring wild animals since before the land clearing, including the existence of protected species such as orangutans, Sumatran tigers and pangolins," Agus told Benar.
"Our finding shows that the project location is not the main habitat of orangutans. Their habitat is in the forest at 600 meters above the sea level," he said.
Conservationists predict that the project will have an immediate impact on 10 percent of the orangutan's dwindling habitat.
The project is backed by the China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, also known as Sinosure, a major Chinese state-owned enterprise, and the Bank of China. Beijing-based Sinohydro hydropower engineering company has been awarded the contract to build the plant.
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Like building a Berlin Wall
According to Meijaard, while the company claims that only a small amount of forest will be lost, the area is where some of the highest densities of the orangutans were found before project activities started.
"Any road developments into forest areas in Indonesia lead to encroachment, increased hunting and poaching, people settling along the road et cetera. These indirect impacts will be much more than the direct ones," he said.
Dividing the orangutan population into two would be "a bit like building a Berlin Wall through the middle of Jakarta, with no one able to cross from the north to south of the city or vice versa," he said.
Twenty-five members of the Alliance of Leading Environmental Researchers and Thinkers (ALERT) sent a letter to Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in July, urging him to stop further developments in the orangutan habitat.

"An action of this nature would bring you the enduring gratitude of many Indonesians and overseas citizens eager to see global conservation leaders emerging in our increasingly self-interested world, at a time when leaders of many other nations seem to have lost sight of the importance of a healthy environment for our citizens and children," the letter said.
The power plant is one of the priority projects under the Jokowi government's drive to upgrade the country's dilapidated infrastructure.
But the project has attracted criticism from environmentalists worldwide, as China's aims to link Beijing with Asia, Europe and Africa by building massive highways, railways, ports and other infrastructure under its One Belt, One Road initiative. 

"I think this crystallizes, in a way that people can understand, what a tsunami of 7,000-plus projects will mean for nature," professor Bill Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Australia, told AFP news service. "This issue is becoming in some ways the face of the 'Belt and Road' initiative."

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This handout picture shows an aerial view of land cleared as a staging area for the building of a hydroelectric dam in the Batang Toru rainforest on Sumatra island, Aug. 20, 2018. [AFP]

 
Agung Pribadi, a spokesman for the Energy and Mineral Resources, defended the building of the hydroelectric plant, scheduled to be competed in four years.
"NSHE has conducted an environment, social and health impact assessment, including a study on the population of orangutans, which has been approved by the lender," Agung told BenarNews.
"We expect the Batang Toru plant to strengthen electricity supply in the northern part of Sumatra. This plant produces renewable energy," he said.
Agung said small-scale protests against the project had been linked to land compensation, employment opportunities and the possible impact on the environment.
"The majority of the local population supports the project. Only a small number of people still have negative views," he said.
 
 
Bali project
Yuyun Indradi, a campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told BenarNews that the controversy over the power plant highlighted problems with China-funded projects in Indonesia.
"China has been investing in dirty energy, including coal-fired powered plants in Java, Bali and Sumatra," he said.
Greenpeace said the Celukan Bawang coal-fired power station in Bali, a $700-million project built by China Huadian Corporation, was "poisoning" the resort island.
The project has been riddled with problems, such as inadequate land compensation and the impoverishment and health issues it is causing, Yuyun said.
In August, a court threw out a lawsuit brought by Greenpeace and local people against the Bali governor and the company, ruling that the local government's decision to issue a permit for the project was lawful.
The plaintiffs have brought the case to the State Administrative Court but a decision is still pending, Yuyun said.
"The government at every level has ignored the socio-economic, environmental and health impact caused by the Celukan Bawang power plant. The local people have been left to fend for themselves," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Thousands of Muslims rallied in several Indonesian cities on Friday to protest the burning of a banned hardline Islamic group's flag that was inscribed with a declaration of faith, police said, while organizers seeking to promote moderate Islam canceled a demonstration outside Jakarta.
There were no reports of violence during the protests, police said, as authorities deployed 7,000 security personnel, but observers said the flare up of religious fervor indicated that political Islam had started making inroads in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
"Anyone who insults shahada must be condemned and be punished for blasphemy," protest leader Yusuf Martak told one of the rallies.
The protests came after members of Banser, a paramilitary group under the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, burned a black flag with a shahadah - an inscription that proclaims the Islamic faith - during a rally on Monday in Garut regency in West Java province.
Banser members said the flag belonged to Hizbut Tahrir (HTI), an outlawed Islamic group seeking to establish a caliphate in Indonesia.
The two-minute video, which went viral Monday on social media, showed unidentified men wearing Banser uniforms setting fire to the flag. Some Muslim leaders called the burning an insult because the flag, with its Islamic tenet, belonged to all the faithful.
Religious blasphemy carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison under Indonesian law.
On Friday, about 1,000 people calling themselves the National Front for the Defense of Tawhid, marched through Jakarta's main roads while carrying black flags and chanting slogans demanding the government disband Banser.
They later picketed the coordinating ministry for political, legal and security affairs, but failed to meet Minister Wiranto who was out of town.
Protesters in Jakarta, including children and women wearing headscarves, began marching after Friday's prayers and took turns giving speeches demanding legal action against the flag burners.
"Disband Banser, otherwise this regime of Joko Widodo is an oppressor of Muslims," one protester shouted.
An online petition calling for the group to be disbanded garnered almost 150,000 signatures as of late Friday.
Muslims believe that the black banner with the white shahada inscription, also known as al Raya (the banner), is one of the flags flown by the Prophet Muhammad. But variants of the black banner have been used by militant groups including the Islamic State.
Similar rallies occurred place in Bandung and Ciamis in West Java province, as well as in the devoutly Muslim province of Aceh, police said.

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Muslim protesters hang banners, including one calling for Muslim paramilitary group Banser to be disbanded, during a rally in Jakarta, Oct. 26, 2018. (Arie Firdaus/BenarNews)

 
Presidential decree
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo issued a decree in 2017 banning organizations the government deemed to threaten the country's unity.
Hizbut Tahrir, whose members say they campaign to establish a caliphate through peaceful means, was the first organization to be banned under the decree. Critics said the ban violated the freedom of assembly guarantee in the constitution.
One of Friday's rallies targeted the offices of Nahdlatul Ulama, the mother organization of Banser, in Central Jakarta.
Yaqut Cholil Qaumas, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama's pro-government Ansor Youth Movement, has apologized for the uproar caused by the flag burning.
But Jafar Shodiq, deputy chairman of the Islamic Defenders' Front, said Yaqut should be held legally responsible for the incident.
"Yaqut has to face trial," he said, warning that his group would stage another demonstration next Friday if its demand was not met.
Jokowi's running mate, Muslim cleric Ma'ruf Amin, is the supreme leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, which boasts 40 million members. Analysts said Jokowi's pick of Ma'ruf was intended to boost his Islamic credentials.
In recent years, Middle Eastern-style Muslim garb has become much more common in Indonesia, including in Jakarta, where Muslim groups held protests focused on blasphemy in 2016 and 2017 against former Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian.
Ahok was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison after an edited video made it appear like he was saying that the Quran deceived people.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama's youth wing cancelled a unity rally planned for Friday in the city of Yogyakarta, southeast of the capital Jakarta, over fears of clashes with people angered by the flag burning.
Organizers had hoped 100,000 people would attend the rally.
"We want to prevent clashes and provocations," organizer Abdul Rohman said.
On Wednesday, Widodo called on police to investigate the incident. Police have detained three Banser members and a man who carried the flag linked to HTI.
Kusumasari Ayuningtyas in Yogyakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Debris and body parts were found after a Lion Air jetliner with 189 people on board crashed into the sea on Monday minutes after takeoff from Jakarta's international airport, according to officials who said there likely were no survivors.
It's not clear what caused the crash, officials said.
The pilot of the new Boeing 737 MAX 8 asked to return to the airport before radio contact was lost with the control tower at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport about 13 minutes after the plane took off, the airline said. Flight JT-610 was bound for the city of Pangkal Pinang, on the island of Bangka Belitung off Sumatra when the crash occurred.
"We've scoured the surface of the sea and found no survivors," Muhammad Syaugi, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told BenarNews by phone late on Monday.
The aircraft's fuselage was believed to have sunk to the bottom of the sea, at a depth of about 30 meters (98.4 feet) and off the coast of Karawang regency about 70 km (43.4 miles) from Jakarta, he said, adding his agency had dispatched divers to find the plane's main section and "retrieve bodies."
"My prediction is no one survived, from looking at the body parts that have been found," Syaugi told reporters earlier during a news conference, which was broadcast on local television stations. "We are focused on retrieving bodies."
Search teams found several body parts, as well as a crushed mobile phone, a torn bag, life vests and a large piece of wreckage believed to be from the doomed aircraft in waters off Karawang, he said. Investigators said they were focused on retrieving the cockpit voice and data recorders.
"There was no sign of burning, only broken parts," Bambang Suryo Aji, director of operations for Indonesia's national search and rescue agency (Basarnas), referring to the recovered debris. He said four ships were involved in search and rescue efforts.
An Air Lion official told the Associated Press there were two foreigners on the plane – its Indian pilot and an Italian passenger.
The plane, operated by the Indonesia-based budget carrier, was scheduled to land in Pangkal Pinang at 7:20 a.m. (local time).
The crew of a ship belonging to the state-owned company Pertamina first found the debris near its offshore site, according to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait said the plane was carrying 181 passengers and eight crew members.
"Our pilot worked according to procedure and when he saw a problem he requested to return to base, but we know how it ended," Sirait told a televised news conference.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 had had a technical problem on a previous flight but that was resolved before Monday's flight, he said.
The plane was built in 2018 and the airline took delivery of it in August, Lion Air said.

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Putri (center), a woman whose husband and child were on board the crashed Lion Air flight, is consoled at Pangkal Pinang airport in Bangka Belitung province, Oct. 29, 2018. [AFP]

 
Boeing Company, in a statement posted on its website, said it would provide technical assistance to government investigators.
"We extend our heartfelt sympathies to the families and loved ones of those on board." it said.
Washington will also assist Indonesia in its probe, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
"The United States extends its deepest condolences to those who lost family and loved ones," Nauert said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Indonesia in this time of sorrow."
Conditions were considered safe
At the headquarters of the National Search and Rescue Agency in Jakarta, a woman cried inconsolably as she arrived to get news about four of her relatives who were on the plane.
"They were supposed to attend a family event," the woman, who gave her name as Veny, told BenarNews.
The weather conditions were considered safe when the plane took off, according to Dwikorita Karnawati, the director of the Meteorology, Geophysics and Climatology Agency.
"It was a bit cloudy but there were no clouds that could have endangered flights. When there is a significant weather condition, we usually issue a warning, so that flights can be postponed," she told BenarNews.
According to Nufransa Wira Sakti, a spokesman for Indonesia's Finance Ministry, 21 staffers were aboard the crashed airliner.
Sony Setiawan, another employee with the ministry, missed the flight because of a traffic jam.
"My knees became weak and I cried when I heard the news," Sony told CNN Indonesia. "My friends were on the plane."
With a population of 260 million and a growing middle class with disposable income, Indonesia is a lucrative market for budget airlines
The world's largest archipelagic country, Indonesia has seen a boom in low-cost carriers since the early 2000s following the liberalization of the airline industry.
Lion Air is the largest among budget airlines operating in the country.
Lion Air made news in 2013 when one of its Boeing 737s, with more than 100 people aboard, crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island. There were no fatalities in the accident in which the aircraft was split in two.
In June, the European Union removed Indonesian airlines from its list of carriers that do not meet international safety standards.
The blanket ban preventing Indonesian carriers from operating in Europe was imposed in 2007 after a string of deadly air incidents.
Several Indonesian airlines, including flag carrier Garuda, were removed from the list in 2009 after steps were taken to improve safety.
Before Monday's crash, Indonesia's last major commercial aviation accident occurred in 2014, when an Air Asia Airbus A320-216 plunged into the Java Sea during bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board.
The following year, a C-130 Hercules belonging the Indonesian Air Force crashed into the city of Medan on Sumatra island, killing 121 people on board and 22 people on the ground.
The Boeing 737 Max 8 was delivered to Lion Air in mid-August and put in use within days, according to the Associated Press. Malindo Air, a Malaysian subsidiary of Jakarta-based Lion Air, was the first airline to begin using the 737 Max 8 last year, it said.
Boeing has received 4,783 orders for the 737 MAX, of which 219 had been delivered by the end of September, according to Reuters. It said Southwest Airlines has received 23, making it the biggest operator of the type to date, followed by Air Canada with 18, American Airlines with 15 and Lion Air with 13.
Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- More than 75 percent of Filipinos would prefer that the United States remain the world's leading superpower over its Asian rival China, while Indonesians favor that scenario by a ratio of almost two-to-one, researchers at an American think-tank found in a recent survey.
The survey by Pew asked, "Thinking about the future, if you had to choose, which of the following scenarios would be better for the world?" Those questioned were allowed to respond: the U.S., China, both, neither or don't know/refuse to answer.
"In Indonesia and the Philippines, the prevailing view is that the level of U.S. global engagement is about the same as a few years ago," Pew reported in its study.
In the Philippines, 77 percent of respondents selected the United States while only 12 percent picked China. The United States was the only nation whose respondents, 88 percent, gave the superpower a higher approval rating while China was not among the 26 nations participating in the survey.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the figures were 43 percent for the United States compared with 22 percent for China.
"In Indonesia, those who say the U.S. considers their country's interests are more likely to say that they prefer the U.S., but these differences do not appear in the Philippines, where 74 percent say the U.S. considers their country's interests," Pew senior researcher Jacob Poushter told BenarNews in an email.
While those surveyed preferred the United States as the world leader, more respondents in both countries saw China increasing its world power from 10 years ago than they saw from the U.S. during the same period.
In the Philippines, 37 percent of the respondents saw China's role on the world stage becoming stronger compared with 35 percent for the United States, while Indonesians gave the nod to China, 44 percent to 39 percent. Pew researchers said many respondents tended to evaluate the U.S. role on the world stage through comparison with other nations.
"In both countries, there is little relationship between views about China's growing power and preferring the U.S. or China as the world leader," Poushter said.
By comparison, U.S. respondents had a much stronger reaction to China, with 72 percent seeing the Asian power as becoming stronger on the world stage.
The Indonesian results were based on face-to-face interviews with 1,098 people between July 6 and Aug. 12. Pew said the results had a margin of error rate of 4.5 percentage points.
The Philippine results were based on face-to-face interviews with 1,181 people between May 28 and July 7, with a margin of error rate of 4.2 percentage points.
The Pew Research Center, which is not associated with the U.S. government, describes itself as "a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It does not take policy positions."
It lists its duties as conducting public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research.
Previous results
Both Indonesia and the Philippines continue to see the United States as the world's leading economic superpower, although its lead over China has slipped since 2015, when Indonesians surveyed favored the United States over China by 47 percent to 19 percent and Filipinos favored the United States by 66 percent to 14 percent.
Two years later, those figures in Indonesia were 39 percent favoring the United States and 22 percent favoring China, while in the Philippines, 49 percent favored the United States to 25 percent for China.
Pew researchers this year found that Indonesians favored the United States 30 percent to 27 percent, while Filipinos responded at 40 percent for United States to 31 percent for China.


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian jetliner had logged "unreliable" altitude and airspeed readings on its previous flight, the night before crashing into the sea with 189 people aboard, the airline's CEO said Tuesday as he confirmed a report by an aviation safety website.
Lion Air Flight 610, a new Boeing 737 Max 8, took off from Jakarta on Monday morning and was heading to the mining region of Pangkal Pinang when its pilot sent an emergency call to the control tower two minutes after takeoff. He asked for permission to return to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, but the twin-engine plane went down 11 minutes later, officials said.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait confirmed to BenarNews that the plane had experienced some issues on its previous flight, as reported by aviation-safety.net.
"Yes, that was on the previous flight, but the problems were resolved that night," he said. 

"Let's wait for the result of the investigation by KNKT," he said when asked whether the plane might have experienced similar issues on the ill-fated flight, using the Indonesian abbreviation of the National Transportation Safety Committee.
On the night before the crash, while the same plane was flying from Bali to Jakarta, that flight showed "erratic values in altitude and airspeed immediately after take-off," according to aviation-safety.net. 

"Airspeed unreliable and alt disagree shown after take off," read a technical log for that flight, obtained by the website, referring to abnormal variations in speed and altitude.
Aviation-safety.net said the Lion Air flight that crashed also showed erratic altitude data varying between 4,500 and 5,350 feet.
"The values then rapidly decline until contact is lost at 06:32 hours," it said.
Indonesia's search and rescue agency said the reason for the crash was "still a big question."
The plane's emergency beacon did not emit a distress signal, even though it was certified to work until August next year, the agency said in a statement Sunday.
Conchita Caroline, a television presenter who was a passenger on that plane when it took off from Bali on Sunday night, recounted the experience in a lengthy Facebook post.
"It took a long time to take off, the engine died several times and the air conditioning was dead," Caroline said, adding that the cabin crew did not provide a clear explanation.
She said the passengers complained about insufficient air and stifling heat, but some were only allowed to get off the plane after they protested. The 737 took off after a delay of more than an hour, she said, but added that she heard an unusual sound from the engine.
"Thank God we landed safely," she said. "It was a big relief."
Arthur Tampi, chief of the national police's medical department, said the hospital had received 24 bags containing only body parts.
"None of the corpses are intact," he told a news conference Tuesday.
Police have begun taking DNA samples from relatives of the victims, he said.
"It is unlikely that we'll find all the bodies, but death certificates will be issued for all the victims," he said. 

National Search and Rescue head Muhammad Syaugi said searchers were working around the clock.
"We are doing what we can. The weather is good. It's only a matter of time," he said, adding that the search operation would last for seven days.
Divers, as well as ships with side-scan sonar and multi-beam echo-sounders, have been deployed to pinpoint the location of the fuselage, where many bodies might still be trapped, he said.
Searchers are also looking for the aircraft black boxes – the cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder – which could shed light on the cause of the accident. 

Minister orders inspection of 737 MAX 8 fleet

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he had ordered Lion Air and national airline Garuda Indonesia to inspect their Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet, but stopped short of grounding the aircraft.

"The result of the inspection will be submitted to the National Transport Safety Committee to help determine the cause of the accident," Budi told Metro TV on Tuesday.
Lion operates 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8s while Garuda has only one, the ministry said.
"We have inspected Garuda last night while Lion is still in progress," transportation ministry official Capt. Avirianto told CNN, adding that the ministry hopes to inspect at least three of Lion Air's planes Tuesday night and the other eight soon. 

It was not clear whether the Garuda plane passed the inspection.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of the National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC), told reporters the Boeing 737 MAX 8 was delivered to Lion Air in mid-August.
The first version of the Boeing 737 made its first flight in April 1967 and more than 10,000 have been produced. The 737 MAX 8 is its latest modern variant.
 
Putting a spotlight on aviation safety
The Lion Air crash has again put a spotlight on Indonesia's record for aviation safety.

"There will be questions about fleet maintenance and aviation safety in general. Indonesia has made great progress in aviation safety since 2007, and this has been recognized by FAA and ICAO," aviation observer Dudi Sudibyo told BenarNews.
"Airlines and the government should learn from this tragedy and try to improve further," he said.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic country, has experienced a boom in low cost-carriers following the liberalization of the aviation industry in the early 2000s.

In 2013, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali, nearly splitting the fuselage into two, though there were no fatalities.
The next year, an Air Asia Indonesia plane plunged into the Java Sea during bad weather, killing all 155 passengers and seven crew on board.
In June, the European Union lifted a ban of Indonesian airlines from its list of carriers, which was imposed in 2007 following a string of deadly air incidents.

Several of the Indonesian airlines, including flag carrier Garuda, were taken off the ban list in 2009 after steps were taken to improve safety.

Relatives await news
Meanwhile, family members of those on board flight 610 and scores of other distraught relatives gathered on Tuesday at the police hospital in Jakarta. Many told reporters they were desperate for information.
Eny Yola could not stop crying as she awaited news about her 26-year-old son, Rionanda Pratama, a medical doctor, at the central police hospital in east Jakarta.
"He was in Jakarta to take part in a seminar at Harapan Kita Hospital," she told BenarNews.
"When he was inside the plane before departure he called asking his father to pick him up at the airport at 7:30," she said, sobbing. "We waited until 9, but he didn't show up and then we saw the news at the airport."
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Tia Asmara in Jakarta contributed to this report.


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BENARNEWS- Search teams believe they pinpointed the location of the black box of a Lion Air jetliner that crashed off the West Java coast earlier this week with 189 people on board, Indonesian authorities said Wednesday.
Searchers detected pings believed to be from the flight recorders of the Boeing 737 Max 8, which plunged into the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta's main international airport on Monday morning, officials said. But strong currents hampered efforts to deploy a remotely operated sub to get close to the black box, they said.
Also on Wednesday, a navy ship equipped with sonar technology located an object on the seabed measuring 22 meters (72.1 feet) long and which could be the plane's fuselage, according to authorities heading up search efforts involving hundreds of personnel. The large object was 32 meters (104.9 feet) underwater, officials said.
"I'm sure it will be found soon and the big part of the aircraft will also be found not far from the area," Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, the commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces, told a news conference in Jakarta.
Separately, Lion Air chief CEO Edward Sirait told BenarNews that the airline had suspended the carrier's director of technical operations, Muhammad Asif, on orders from Indonesia's transport ministry. He gave no further details.
On Tuesday, Siriat confirmed a news report that the same plane had developed technical problems with altitude and speed readings during a flight that immediately preceded Monday's crash, but, he told BenarNews, "the problems were resolved that night."
The black box, which consists of flight data and voice cockpit recorders, could help investigators shed light on what caused the new plane to crash after the pilot had radioed in a request to return to Soekarna-Hatta International Airport, according to officials. The aircraft had been in service since August and was built in 2018.
Hadi said the recovery at sea of a mass of items belonging to passengers and crew, including clothes, indicated the fuselage was nearby and many bodies could be trapped inside the plane's main section.
"We will lift the fuselage using a crane, which can lift up to 100 tons," he said.
All 181 passengers and eight crew members aboard the doomed plane, flight JT 610, were presumably killed by the force of the crash, officials said. By late Wednesday, at least 53 bags containing dismembered body parts had been pulled from the sea, National Search and Rescue Agency chief Muhammad Syaugi said.
Anthur Tampi, the director of the national police's health department, said the body of only person had been identified, although police took DNA samples from more than 170 relatives of the crash victims. The one who was identified based on fingerprints was Jannatun Cintya Dewi, a 24-year-old employee of Indonesia's energy ministry, according to Reuters.
Only two of the 189 people aboard the flight, which was bound from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang off Sumatra, were foreigners, an Italian passenger and Bhavye Suneja, the plane's Indian captain. Suneja had logged at least 6,000 hours in the cockpit, LionAir said.

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A crew member aboard a rescue ship scans the sea with binoculars during a search operation for the Lion Air plane crash in waters off Tanjung Karawang, Indonesia, Oct. 31, 2018. [AP]

 
'Relieved of his duties'
Earlier on Wednesday, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi told reporters that Asif, Lion Air's technical director, had been ordered suspended, pending an investigation into the crash.
"To facilitate the investigation, the technical director has been relieved of his duties so that the investigation can proceed well," Budi said.
He said the country's aviation authorities would intensify inspections on Indonesia-based airlines to ensure they complied with government safety standards.
"In the coming days, we will conduct ramp checks. Lion Air will be subjected to more ramp checks, about 40 percent of its fleet, randomly," Budi said, adding that other Indonesian carriers could expect random checks to 10 to 15 percent of their fleets.
In addition, experts from U.S. aircraft maker Boeing were expected to arrive in Jakarta late Wednesday to assist with the investigation, said Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT).
"It is their obligation as the manufacturer of the aircraft to help KNKT in our investigation," he said.
Meanwhile, the captain of a tug boat told a local TV news station that he saw the Lion Air plane plummet into the sea and disintegrate on impact.
"The aircraft crashed with a loud explosion," Rahmat Slamet told TVOne. "I didn't see the body of the plane on the water but saw the tail as it was sinking."
Rahmat said he was about a mile from the crash site and ordered his crew to put on life vests and rescue victims. He said he also radioed authorities at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port about the emergency.
"As we approached the location, debris such as seats, life vests, tubes and things belonging to passengers came to the surface," he said.
Questions about air safety
The accident has raised questions about Indonesia's aviation safety, after the European Union lifted a ban on the country's airlines. It was imposed in 2007 following a string of deadly air incidents.
Monday's crash was the second deadly accident in 14 years involving a plane from budget carrier Lion Air.
In 2004, an MD-82 from its fleet overshot the runway of the airport in Solo, Central Java. It crashed into a cemetery, killing 25 people.
In 2013, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island, nearly splitting the fuselage into two. There were no fatalities.
Indonesia has experienced a boom in low cost-carriers following the deregulation of its aviation industry in the early 2000s.
Last year, the International Civil Aviation Organization ranked Indonesia's aviation safety as above global average, with a compliance rate of 81.15 percent.
The crash was the first reported one involving a Max 8 since the upgrade of Boeing's workhorse 737 entered commercial service starting in May 2017.
Boeing said the 737 Max family was the fastest-selling plane in the company's history, and that it had received 4,700 orders for these models from more than 100 customers across the globe.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian divers on Thursday recovered what they believe is the flight-data recorder of a Lion Air jet that plunged into the Java Sea with 189 people aboard, officials said, a finding that could help investigators piece together the crash's cause.
Navy divers retrieved the box from a depth of 30 meters (about 100 feet), said Muhammad Syaugi, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, director of the National Transport Safety Committee, said the device was "most likely the flight data recorder."
"We're still looking for the cockpit voice recorder," he told reporters.
"It was covered in mud, but is still intact," diver 1st Sgt. Hendra told a local TV news channel.
The black box consists of a cockpit voice recorder, which records conversations between pilots, and a similar looking flight-data recorder, which tracks electronic information such as airspeed, pressure altitude and vertical acceleration.
Ony Soeryo Wibowo, another investigator, said they still hadn't determined if the box pulled from the sea on Thursday was the flight data or cockpit voice recorder, according to the Associated Press.
"Their forms are similar," AP quoted him as saying.
The new Boeing 737 MAX 8, which had joined the Lion Air fleet in August, crashed on Monday morning minutes after take-off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, bound for Pangkal Pinang in Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung province off Sumatra.
All 181 passengers and eight crew members are presumed dead.
Search chief Syaugi said navy divers also recovered a part of the aircraft measuring about 1.5 meters (about 5 feet) in length and half a meter in width, the biggest piece from the wreckage to be found so far.
He said bigger parts of the aircraft were also spotted but were too heavy to lift.
"We lowered an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) and saw many debris and several bodies. There were also the aircraft's two wheels and the side of the aircraft's body," he told a news conference.
Dismembered bodies

Senior Commissioner Musyafak, director of the Said Sukanto central police hospital, said 48 bags with dismembered body parts had been examined and lab tests would be carried out to match them with DNA samples taken from the victims' families.
The DNA identification effort could take about a week, said Musyafak, who goes by one name.
On Thursday, Lion Air said the remains of one of the passengers, Jannatun Shintya Dewi, had been flown to her hometown Surabaya, capital of East Java province, for burial.
Airline representatives handed over Jannatun's remains to her family on Wednesday after police confirmed her identity through a DNA match, the company said in a statement.
"Lion Air has expressed their deepest condolences to all the family and friends of the late Jannatun Shintya Dewi," it said. 

Lion Air said it was supporting her family with necessary expenses and offered them a "waiting allowance" of about U.S. $331, grief money of about U.S. $1,700 and more than 1.2 trillion rupiah (about U.S. $83,000) to compensate for her death.
'We will ask for an explanation'
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Thursday he would ask Boeing investigators currently in Indonesia to "clarify details" regarding the 737 MAX 8, one of the most-advanced planes built by the U.S. aircraft maker.
"We will ask for an explanation from Boeing about the aircraft. Perhaps there's a mismatch between its technology and the pilot's competence," he told a news conference.
Authorities have not pinned the blame on the aircraft model, which has been in commercial use only since mid-2017.
Budi said the ministry had also ordered Lion Air to suspend the airline's director of maintenance and engineering, the managers of quality control and fleet maintenance, as well as the release engineer, and appoint other people to their posts.
"The goal of the suspension is to allow them to focus on supporting the investigation," he said.
The minister said that an inspection of Lion Air's Boeing 737 MAX 8 fleet following Monday's crash had found no technical problems, but more checks were needed.
The government was also considering raising the minimum ticket price for low-cost carriers, taking into account a recent increase in oil prices, Budi said.
Lion Air has confirmed reports that the aircraft logged "unreliable" readings of altitude and airspeed on its previous flight, the night before it crashed.
But the company said the issues had been resolved before Monday's flight.
Robbi Gaharu, who boarded the same plane on Lion Air's Bali-Jakarta route on Sunday, told CNN that the aircraft dropped sharply in altitude and said the passengers felt like they were falling into "a really, really deep hole."
"I thought maybe it was caused by turbulence. After 10 minutes in the air, the plane dropped as if it was losing power," said Gaharu, a management consultant and frequent flier. "People panicked. It dropped about 400 feet."
A spokesman for the airline, however, declined on Thursday to comment about a report that the pilot of the Bali-Jakarta flight had made a distress call about technical problems minutes after take-off from Denpasar, according to Reuters.
Monday's crash was the second deadly accident in 14 years involving a plane from budget carrier Lion Air.

In 2004, an MD-82 from its fleet overshot the runway of the airport in Solo, Central Java. It crashed into a cemetery, killing 25 people. Nine years later, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island, nearly splitting the fuselage into two. There were no fatalities.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's government announced Friday that it would send 30,000 workers to Saudi Arabia under an agreement signed in October, despite the kingdom's recent execution of an Indonesian woman convicted of killing her Saudi employer.
Indonesia imposed a moratorium on sending workers to Saudi Arabia in 2011 following reports of mistreatment of domestic laborers by their employers.
On Oct. 29 Saudi authorities put to death Tuti Tursilawati for killing her employer in 2010, prompting a protest by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi who said her government was not notified in advance.
Tuti said she killed her Saudi employer in self-defense because he sexually assaulted her. She then fled but was allegedly raped by nine men in Mecca.
Putri Kanesia, an activist with the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS), a local right group, urged the government to cancel the agreement with Saudi Arabia, saying the Saudi government had not shown willingness to uphold universal human rights principles.
"We have the rights to be angry with the Saudis, because Tuti had been victimized," she said.
Tuti was the sixth Indonesian worker to be executed for murder in Saudi Arabia since 2008 while another 21 are to be executed, according to Migrant Care, an Indonesian labor protection group.
About 700 Indonesians are employed in Saudi Arabia – mostly as domestic helpers, according to officials.
Indonesian rights and labor activists have urged the government to scrap the Oct. 11 agreement to send up to 30,000 workers to Saudi Arabia during a six-month trial period, provided their rights are protected in accordance with laws and regulations of both countries. A time frame for the trial period has not been established.
On Friday, dozens of rights activists rallied outside the Saudi embassy in Jakarta to protest the execution.
Meanwhile, the leader of an agency protecting workers, said the Indonesian government must keep workers safe.
"Those are two different things," Nusron Wahid, head of the National Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Workers, told BenarNews, referring to the execution and the labor agreement.
"The law in Saudi is like that. If someone kills, they will be killed," Nusron said.
Earlier this week, Indonesian Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri told local news website KBR that the government was drafting a plan to better protect overseas workers.
"Basically, it provides for workers to work for a company instead of individual employers," he said.
No obligation
Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the Foreign Ministry's director for protection of Indonesian citizens, said the Saudis did not have an obligation to notify Indonesia prior to the execution.
Only the convict's heir, the prosecutor and the prison's chief warder are notified prior to an execution, he said.
"In addition, we have not signed a notification agreement with Saudi Arabia," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Some distraught relatives of passengers and crew killed in last week's Lion Air crash in Indonesia demanded on Monday that the airline be held responsible for the disaster.
During a meeting at a hotel in Jakarta, officials from the national search and rescue agency, the transport ministry, the police and crash investigators briefed about 100 relatives of victims on the ongoing operation and probe into the Oct. 29 crash off the West Java coast.
Hours after Monday's meeting, investigators told reporters that the Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX 8 had problems with its airspeed indicator on its last four flights, including the day it crashed, presumably killing all 189 people on board.
But at least one of the relatives berated Lion Air and its co-founder, Rusdi Kirana, who was at the hotel meeting but did not address the relatives publicly or respond to reporters' questions.
A man whose son, Johan Ramadhan, was among the passengers thanked those involved in the search and rescue mission, but slammed the airline's officials.
"I don't want to incite trouble, but I think Rusdi Kirana has failed!" said Johan's father, Najib Furqoini, his voice mixed with anger and grief.

Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi moderated the meeting while Rusdi stood next to him. Rusdi bowed his head after angry family members demanded that he identify himself. He immediately left after the meeting.
"I was never contacted by Lion Air. I lost my son, but Lion Air has not expressed any sympathy at all, never mind calling," Najib added, as other families nodded in agreement.
Rusdi, who founded the airline with his brother in 1999, is now Indonesia's ambassador to Malaysia. He is a deputy chairman of the National Awakening Party, a member of the ruling coalition.
Muhammad Bambang Sukandar, whose 29-year-old son Pradana was also on the plane, reeled off a litany of complaints against the airline, which is notorious for frequent delays.
He questioned why the aircraft was cleared to fly despite having experienced technical problems during its previous flight the night before.
"They said it had been repaired but was it really all clear? Lion Air must take full responsibility," he said.
Airspeed indicator malfunctioned: authorities
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) said later in the day that the new aircraft, which crashed into the Java Sea minutes after take-off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, had problems with its airspeed indicator. 

"It had the problems on its four consecutive flights," one of the investigators, Nurcahyo Utomo, told a news conference.
"We're trying to find out whether it was the indicator, the measuring instrument or the computer system that was broken, or if any component was removed or replaced," he said.
Last week, Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait confirmed an aviation website's report that the 737, which crashed on Oct. 29, had logged "unreliable" altitude and airspeed readings on a flight from Bali to Jakarta that immediately preceded the doomed flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, in Kepaluaun Bangka-Belitung province.
"Yes, that was on the previous flight. But the problems were resolved that night," Sirait told BenarNews last week.
KNKT chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said the aircraft hit the sea at a rapid speed and disintegrated on impact.
"The engines hit the water at a high RPM (revolutions per minute), so there was no problem with the engines," he told reporters.
Search teams have recovered the aircraft's two turbines and the broken landing gear, as well as other smaller debris.
Soerjanto said KNKT would release a preliminary report on the crash in a month.
He said KNKT, assisted by investigators from Boeing and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), had downloaded 69 hours of data spanning 19 flights from the aircraft's flight data recorder, which was recovered from the sea a few days ago.
The flight data recorder contains information such as airspeed, pressure altitude and vertical acceleration.
Soerjanto expressed hope that the voice cockpit recorder (CVR), which records conversations between the pilots, would soon be found.
"Data from the CVR is very important to establish the cause of the accident," he said.
Earlier, search officials said they had detected a "ping" from the CVR's underwater locator beacon, but the signal was fading.
Muhammad Syaugi, the National Search and Rescue Agency chief, said he suspected the CVR was buried under thick mud.
Syaugi said 164 bags of body parts had been recovered so far.
Police have only been able to identify 27 victims to date, Cahyo Putut Widodo, the head of the DNA lab at the national police's health department, told local news channel TVOne.
Diver dies
Meanwhile, a volunteer diver taking part in the search operation died on Friday, authorities said.
Syahrul Anto was found in the sea unconscious and was declared dead in hospital, Bayu Wardoyo, the head of the Indonesian Rescue Diver Team, told BenarNews over the weekend.
Bayu said Anto was a senior diver who also took part in the search for the wreckage of an AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea in December 2014. All 162 people on board were killed in that crash.
Syahrul might have had decompression sickness, a navy officer told local television.
Last week's crash was the second deadly accident in 14 years involving a plane from budget carrier Lion Air.

In 2004, an MD-82 from its fleet overshot the runway of the airport in Solo, Central Java. It crashed into a cemetery, killing 25 people.
Nine years later, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island, nearly splitting the fuselage into two. There were no fatalities.


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BENARNEWS-Ministers from nine Asia-Pacific countries emphasized the importance Tuesday of working with the private sector to fight online terrorist propaganda, as a Twitter executive told the group the social media platform had suspended 1.2 million accounts worldwide for promoting terrorism.
Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who co-hosted the sub-regional meeting on counter-terrorism in Jakarta along with Indonesia's security ministry, praised Twitter for attending the meeting in what he said was a first. Tech companies supplying social media and messaging platforms needed to be more responsible, according to Dutton.
At a similar meeting in Australia in August "it was very hard even to get the companies to turn up to be a part of the conversation and that was incredibly disappointing, so it was good to see Twitter here today," Dutton said.
"We don't accept crime on our streets, we shouldn't accept that online either," he told a news conference after the meeting.
Ministers and senior officials from Australia, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand attended the meeting in the Indonesian capital, after which they issued a joint statement.
"[T]he terrorist threat in the region continues to evolve, particularly in relation to the misuse of technology and the internet by terrorists to recruit, communicate and spread violent extremism," their statement said.
"Ministers recognised the importance of harnessing opportunities to strengthen cooperation between government and the private sector to combat the use of social media platforms by terrorist networks."
Wiranto, the Indonesian security minister, said the meeting discussed cooperation between governments and technology companies in the fight against terrorist activities and online propaganda.
A working group consisting of senior officials from the nine countries would formulate an action plan and monitor joint activities, Wiranto said.
Agung Yudha, Twitter's head of public policy in Indonesia, told the meeting that the company had suspended more than 1 million accounts across the globe for promoting terrorism.
Agung was referring to a Twitter announcement in April that it had suspended 1,210,357 accounts between Aug. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2017 for policy violations "related to the promotion of terrorism."
During the period of July 1 through Dec. 31 of last year alone, as many as 274,460 accounts were suspended for promoting terrorism, according to Twitter.
Dutton described the figures cited by the social media giant as "incredible."
"It's a significant figure. But it may just be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the quantum that we need to deal with, not only today but as the use of social media increases as years go by," the Australian minister said.
"Those companies also have a specific obligation to engage with and assist law enforcement organizations, particularly where encrypted messages or services are being used to carry messages conveyed and used in the planning of a terrorist attack or other serious criminal enterprise," he added.
Legal umbrella to counter terror
Militants use social media networks and messaging services not only to promote terrorism but also to teach militants how to make bombs, according to Wiranto.
He said the working group would look at how legislation in each of the nine countries could be used as an umbrella for countering terrorism-related online activities, since each country had different rules about blocking social media accounts.
"But we all share the same commitment, that we will not tolerate the use of social media to commit crime, especially terrorism," he said.
Indonesia has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks in recent years, including suicide bombings on churches and the police headquarters in the city of Surabaya in May.
Those bombings killed 14 bystanders, as well as 10 members of two families who were blamed for carrying out the attacks.
Ministers and officials from the nine countries first met last year in Manado, the capital of Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, after the siege of Marawi in the southern Philippines by militants linked to Islamic State.
The five-month siege, which ended in October 2017, left 1,200 people dead, most of them militants.
"We agree to exchange information and share experience so that participating countries share the same understanding of the anatomy of foreign terrorist fighters and their networks," Wiranto said.
"No country can fight terrorism alone," he said.


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BENARNEWS- American plane maker Boeing has sent airlines an advisory after Indonesian transportation safety officials notified the company about a problem with a sensor on a Lion Air 737 Max 8 that crashed off West Java last week.
Boeing manufactures the Max 8 model, which first entered commercial service last year. But problems with a faulty sensor on the new Lion Air plane did not go away after it was discovered and fixed ahead of a flight the night before it crashed into the Java Sea, Indonesian officials said Wednesday.
The plane had shown erroneous inputs from one of its angle of attack (AOA) sensors during a flight from Bali to Jakarta on Oct. 28 that immediately preceded its doomed flight the next morning, officials said.
"There are indications that the replacement of the AOA did not resolve the problems, but may have instead worsened them," Nurcahyo Utomo, an investigator with Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT), told a news conference in Jakarta on Wednesday. "Was it fatal? That's what we are looking into."
"It's not only about the component but how it was installed," he said. "Was it done correctly?"
Even though the faulty AOA sensor was replaced before the plane took off from Bali to Jakarta, the problem persisted during the Lion Air flight JT 610, Nurcahyo said.
The plane crashed minutes after taking off from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport en route to Pangkal Pinang, in the Bangka-Belitung islands off Sumatra. The pilot had radioed the tower a request to return to the airport shortly before the jet crashed, officials said. All 189 people on board were presumably killed.
Boeing said the AOA is the angle between the oncoming air or relative wind and a reference line on the airplane or wing.
In response to the finding by Indonesian crash investigators, Boeing issued a bulletin "directing operators to existing flight crew procedures to address circumstances where there is erroneous input from an AOA sensor," said a statement posted on the company's website.
Separately, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sent out a statement saying it planned to issue an airworthiness directive in connection with Boeing's bulletin.
"Boeing has released a Flight Crew Operations Manual Bulleting regarding the potential for erroneous angle of attack inputs on 737 Max aircraft," the FAA said Wednesday in a message posted on Twitter.
"The FAA has alerted affected domestic carriers and foreign airworthiness authorities who oversee air carriers that use the 737 Max of the agency's forthcoming action," the agency added.
On its website, Boeing said the 737 Max is the company's fastest-selling aircraft in its history. The aircraft maker said it had received 4,700 orders from 100 customers worldwide.
Nurcahyo, the Indonesian air crash investigator, said the manner in which the pilots responded to the problem on the Bali-Jakarta flight would be among recommendations submitted to Boeing and that would be shared with airlines, so other pilots could take similar action should such a situation arise again.
Indonesian investigators, who have been assisted by experts from Boeing and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), previously said data from the aircraft's recovered flight recorder had revealed speed indicator malfunctions on its last four flights.
Nurcahyo said KNKT had recommended actions to be taken by Boeing.
"The draft has been submitted and we have agreed to publish it immediately regarding the existence of a new procedure," he said.
The replaced AOA sensor would also be sent to a factory in Chicago that manufactured the device for inspection, the Indonesian investigator said.
 
Weak signal
Meanwhile, search teams continued to scour the crash site in the Java Sea for the missing cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which records conversations between the pilots and air traffic control.
Nurcahyo said a ping signal had been detected but it was very weak.
"Probably because it is buried in thick mud," he said.
The search has been complicated by the existence of an oil pipeline on the sea bed, officials said.
Muhammad Syaugi, the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), said the search operation had been extended for another three days, and it would consist of 220 personnel from the agency, including 60 divers, as well as four ships.
At least 186 bags of body parts have been handed over to the police for identification, but only 44 victims of the crash have been identified," said Asep Winardi, the head of disaster victim identification with Jakarta police.
Last week's crash was the second deadly accident in 14 years involving a plane from budget carrier Lion Air.

In 2004, an MD-82 from its fleet overshot the runway of the airport in Solo, Central Java. It crashed into a cemetery, killing 25 people.
Nine years later, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island, nearly splitting the fuselage into two. There were no fatalities.


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BENARNEWS-The information chief of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency was upbeat on Monday as he described the details of a personal disaster – his battle with an advanced lung cancer.
In a country where volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods and forest fires are frequent, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho's job is considered stressful enough even for a healthy person.
But Sutopo has insisted on carrying on with his day-to-day duties, fielding phone calls and text messages from reporters, as well as hammering out lengthy press releases – often from a hospital while undergoing chemotherapy.
"When I work I forget all the pain, even more so when my press conferences are attended by many journalists," Sutopo told BenarNews during a visit to his spacious office in Central Jakarta.
His desk is stacked with paperwork and books with themes ranging from disaster management to religion.
"But when I don't do anything, just sitting, I feel excruciating pain. I can hardly sleep at night," said Sutopo, who has lost 20 kilos (44 pounds) in less than a year.
Diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in January, doctors said Sutopo, 49, could survive up to three years with treatment. The diagnosis shocked the man who has led a healthy lifestyle, including abstaining from smoking.
"The first thing in my mind was my two children," he said.
"But I have come to terms with it. What I'm experiencing now has been ordained by God. I just have to live with it," said Sutopo, a devout Muslim. "I hope that any good deed that I'm doing will be rewarded in the hereafter."
Sutopo said the cancer had spread to the bones in his back. He has to undergo a regular procedure to remove fluid and blood from his lungs.
"It's extremely painful," he said.
On the job
The year 2018 has been an especially busy one for Sutopo, as earthquakes devastated parts of Lombok and Sulawesi islands between July and September, killing more than 3,500 people.
He has had to write press releases and update his social media feeds from his hospital bed.
"I have written about 500 press releases this year, so it's more than one press release a day," he said.
A network of local disaster agency officials and volunteers across the country have helped Sutopo by sending information on casualties, aid needs and photos and videos from disaster zones.
"Many of the 3,000 reporters on my list told me that the information I gave them was more than they expected. I try to give them as much information as possible, including videos and photos, so they don't have to ask more questions," he said.
Sutopo has an undergraduate degree in geography from Gadjah Mada University and a doctorate in environmental management from the Bogor Agricultural University, but had no background in communications or the media when he took the job.
He started off as a civil servant at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology, where he did research on hydrology and artificial rain. In 2010, Sutopo was assigned to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) as director of disaster risk mitigation, before taking the job as its head of information and public relations.
Warding off fake news
Apart from battling cancer, Sutopo said he often had to contend with sifting out fake content disseminated via social media.
Sutopo's Twitter feed regularly debunks hoaxes and fake news circulating online about disasters, including videos of old volcanic eruptions being passed off as new, and chain messages that warn of impending earthquakes.
"As more and more Indonesians have access to the internet, fake news and hoaxes have become more prevalent in recent years," he said. "They used to spread only via text messages, but now they become viral via WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook."
Following a series of eruptions of the Mount Agung volcano on Bali island last year, alerts were raised to the highest level, leading many to put off traveling to Bali, where the economy depends on tourism.
"What I did was post photos showing people doing yoga or pre-wedding photos with erupting Mount Agung in the background, to show that Bali was safe, and only a small area was off-limits," he said.
"People were scared because media reports made it as if that the whole of Bali was affected by the eruptions," he said.
However, the internet and social media have also made it easier for him to spread awareness about disaster management, he said.
"Social media has been very effective in amplifying my messages," said Sutopo, who has written several books about disaster management.
'Undying spirit'
Sutopo recently benefitted from social media when he met one of his favorite singers.
Twitter users began using the hashtag #SutopoMeetRaisa to draw attention to his wish to meet the Indonesian pop star. The Jakarta Post reported that the pair met recently in a building where Sutopo had gone to do an interview and Raisa was promoting her new song.
Raisa told him to stay healthy and keep inspiring people, Sutopo told the newspaper.
Weeks earlier, Raisa responded to the hashtag with a tweet of her own, the Post reported.
"My Twitter today has #RaisaMeetSutopo all over it. I've read all the stories in your tweets, friends, and it made me feel like I've known Pak Sutopo for a long time. He's loved by many. Keep your spirit and keep on inspiring, Pak Sutopo "
Sutopo also has the support of Indonesia's leader.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo called him an inspiration to the nation.
"I appreciate Mr Sutopo's dedication. And I was made aware about his condition today. His dedication to his work is extraordinary," Jokowi told reporters after a meeting with Sutopo in October.
"It's really inspiring to us all that while he is in ill health, he has an undying spirit to do the work that he has been doing for years," Jokowi said.


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BENARNEWS- Police in Bogor, Indonesia, said Tuesday they would not issue a permit for a two-day Muslim gathering billed for this weekend as a discussion on ushering an Islamic caliphate into the country, saying such a meeting was illegal.
A little-known group that calls itself Khilafatul Muslimin and says its leader is a caliph who oversees chapters across Indonesia and other countries is organizing the meeting. It is planned for Saturday and Sunday at the Az-Zikra mosque in Sentul, a suburb of Jakarta near the city of Bogor.
A Singapore think tank has described the group as a supporter of the extremist group Islamic State (IS), and two mosques in Jakarta have turned down requests to host the meeting whose theme is "Indonesia: Ushering in the rise of Islam."
The gathering would not be allowed, Bogor police chief Andi Muhammad Dicky told BenarNews.
"The event has to do with the intention to change the system of government, from democracy and Pancasila to the caliphate," Dicky said. Pancasila is the Indonesian state philosophy, which rests on pillars that include national unity, the belief in one God, democracy and social justice.
He said police feared potential clashes between participants and people opposed to the event.
"We will disband the event if the organizers go ahead with it," Andi warned.
In response, Khilafatul Muslimin spokesman Jamaludin, who uses one name, said similar events had been held 10 times before without any issue in different places, such as Bandung, Klaten and Sidoarjo.
Asked if the meeting would be held without a police permit, he said: "We still don't know."
"This is the consequences of a struggle," he told BenarNews.
"It's about devotion. We are not afraid," he said when asked if group members worried that they would be accused of treason.
Jamaludin said his group was not Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a local branch of an international Islamic group campaigning to establish a caliphate.
The government outlawed HTI last year after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo issued a decree banning organizations that were deemed as a threat to national unity and Pancasila.
'Not just a dream'
In a statement posted online, Khilafatul Muslimin said the gathering was intended to address "accusations and slander by the enemies of Islam" about the caliphate. It invited representatives from the military, police, government and Muslim groups.
"For people who believe, the rise of Islam is not just a dream and an imagination, but has become a conviction," the statement from Khilafatul Muslimin said. "This conviction has crystallized into a determination to immediately prepare in welcoming it. The Prophet also narrated that at the end of time there will be a caliphate based on the prophetic tradition."
Khilafatul Muslimin appointed Abdul Qadir Hasan Baraja as caliph, or leader, and has 21 branches across the country and in several neighboring countries.
"Talking about the rise of Islam, means talking about the Islamic caliphate, because there is no other interpretation for the rise of Islam except the rise of the Islamic caliphate," its statement added.
In May 2015, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore described the group as one of 18 in Indonesia supporting IS, in a report on counterterrorist trends and analysis.
Since 2014, Indonesian officials have dealt with the threat of terrorism from home-grown militants inspired by IS.
As many as 700 of an estimated 800 people from Southeast Asia who fought for IS in Syria and Iraq were Indonesian, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said recently.


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BENARNEWS- A married couple went on trial Thursday, charged with involvement in the back-to-back suicide bomb attacks on three churches and a police headquarters that killed 24 people in Indonesia's second-largest city in May.
Agus Satrio Widodo, 35, a suspected leader of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) militant group in Jombang, East Java, and his wife, Damayanti, are accused of hiding some of the unused explosives intended for the attacks.
Agus faces the death sentence, while Damayanti could be sent to prison for up to 20 years, if found guilty of involvement in criminal conspiracy to conduct an act of terrorism, according to the indictment read out by prosecutors at a West Jakarta court.
"The defendants feel there are errors in the indictment," Faris, a lawyer for Agus and Damayanti, told BenarNews. He did not elaborate.
After the bombings, anti-terror officers raided the couple's rented house in Sidoarjo, near Surabaya, and found seven pipe bombs and 40 cups of explosive materials, according to the indictment.
Agus and an alleged accomplice, Ilham Fauzan, who was killed in the police raid, tried to disassemble the bombs, while Damayanti cleaned up materials such as bolts, screws and fuses and put them in a plastic bag, prosecutor Amril Abdi said during the trial.
The Surabaya bombings killed 14 bystanders, as well as 10 members of two families who were blamed for carrying out the bombings. Authorities blamed the East Java-based militant group JAD for the attacks.
The trial was the first for suspects accused of involvement in the bombings that spurred the Indonesian parliament to introduce new anti-terror laws.
Affiliated with Islamic State
Agus and Damayanti were arrested by members of the Densus 88 anti-terrorism unit on May 14, hours after the church bombings and before the attack on the police headquarters in Surabaya.
The sucide attack at the gate of the police headquarters was carried out by Tri Murtiono, his wife and three children. One of the children survived after being thrown by the force of the explosion.
A day earlier, Dita Supriyanto, his wife and their four children blew themselves up outside three Surabaya churches.
Authorities said Dita was the head of JAD for Surabaya.
"The acts of terrorism carried out by Dita and Tri were part of JAD's mission in East Java," prosecutor Amril told the court.
In July, the South Jakarta District Court declared JAD "an outlawed organization" after ruling that it was affiliated with the Islamic State (IS). The hearing marked the first time in a decade that Indonesia had prosecuted a terror group.
The verdict would make it easier for law enforcement officials in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation to arrest suspects connected to the organization or to prosecute other terror groups, analysts said.
JAD militants have carried out a series of attacks in the country since 2014, including one that killed four people in January 2016 in Jakarta. That attack in the nation's capital was the first terror strike claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.

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Alleged terrorists Syamsul Arifin (left) and Agus Satrio Widodo talk to their attorneys during trial in the West Jakarta District Court, Nov. 15 2018. [Lutfi A.B/BenarNews]

Accused of pledging allegiance to IS
According to the indictment, Agus pledged allegiance to IS in Batu, Malang during a 2015 JAD meeting that was also attended by Zainal Anshori, who was then the JAD chief for East Java.
Zainal was later appointed as JAD's national-level leader, replacing Abu Musa, who left for Syria, court documents said.
Zainal is serving a 7-year prison term after being convicted of involvement in terrorism in February.
JAD's main ideologue, cleric Aman Abdurrahman, was sentenced to death by a Jakarta court in June for his role in the terrorist attacks carried out by the group.
A third defendant on trial in the same courtroom, Syamsul Arifin, who is the alleged head of JAD for East Java's Blitar regency, was charged with conducting armed training and a conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts.
Syamsul, who could also face death sentence if found guilty, "conducted physical training and encouraged members to carry out terror attacks," the prosecutor said.
Syamsul held military training several times during 2015 in several locations in East Java, according to the indictment.
"The defendant was told by Zainal Anshori about plans to form a special team tasked with carrying out acts (of terrorism) silently like Kopassus (the Indonesian army special forces)," the prosecutor said.
The team was to receive training from Saiful Muthohir, 43, an alleged bomb expert. But such a team never materialized because Saiful, alias Abu Gar, was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison in November 2016, the indictment said.


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BENARNEWS- Community radio broadcasters from Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere in the region pledged Monday to give voice to marginalized communities and work together to create programming to counter extremism, sectarian violence and fake news.
Asia-Pacific members of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) from 11 nations upheld a collective commitment to support establishing community radios in conflict areas as a means of peace building and reconciliation, as they wrapped a four-day meeting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
They also agreed "to create spaces on the airwaves for indigenous peoples, refugees, displaced people, the stateless, the trafficked and diverse and marginalised voices," the group said in a statement.
The decision by community radio operators to serve as messengers of peace was timely given that religious issues often lie at the heart of conflicts in their communities, according to Sinam M. Sutarno, chairman of the Indonesian Community Radio Network.
"Our current challenge is religion-based identity politics and we must counter it with moderate (religious) interpretations, and adopt a humanist, local cultural approach that calls for acceptance of differences," Sinam told reporters.
Counternarratives
Rofahan, an Indonesian community radio activist at his pesantren (Islamic boarding school), expressed concern during the conference about the emergence of community radios that broadcast intolerant sermons, which, he said, could lead to radicalism among listeners.
He said he and other pesantren radio activists tried to offer counternarratives by broadcasting sermons with messages of tolerance.
"But there lies the difficulty, when we are dealing with something that is based on religion, it becomes very sensitive, so we must be careful not to create new conflicts," he said.
Rofahan said he realized that the issue of radicalism and intolerance was a sensitive topic in relation to religion.
"Even a small issue will be brought to the realm of religion," he said.
Charlie Saceda, emergency media and communication coordinator of PECOJON, a Philippine-based peace journalism network, said media outlets in the Philippines often grappled with misinformation as more and more people fall prey to fake news on social media.
"In the Philippines we have free Facebook but it is only limited to seeing posts. So, it's hard to verify fake news because you have to pay to access the links," he said.
Community radio stations need to reach larger audiences, Saceda said.
"If your community radio is very powerful, it can reach other communities. Community radios can remind people not to react to fake news right away and instead find out what really happened," he said.
Meanwhile, in Japan, community radio stations invited their listeners to send messages of encouragement to victims of bullying, many of whom are migrants, said Kim Chiaki from FM YY in Kobe, Japan.
He said community broadcasters focused on providing motivations to the victims, rather than trying to confront bullying head-on.
"This culture of bullying is very difficult to eliminate, so we choose to encourage those who are bullied so that they can rise up and so that people can accept differences," Kim said, through an interpreter.
Issue of radicalism
Budi Hermanto, an activist on the Indonesian Community Radio Network (JRKI), said that radicalism had only emerged recently as a topic among community radio broadcasters.
"Before, community radio activists often talked about or campaigned for tolerance, but did not actually discuss radicalism," Budi said.
Budi said he believed none of JRKI members was spreading intolerance and radicalism in their programming.
"But it's true that some community radio stations that are not part of the JRKI network broadcast intolerant sermons," Budi said.
In their statement at the end of the meeting, participants also said they would continue to develop programs to support disaster planning, mitigation, response and recovery.
They also committed to zero tolerance to violence against women in their radio stations, networks and communities, and to developing programming that addresses violence against minorities.
The meeting, which ended Monday, was attended by community radio broadcasters and media practitioners from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and East Timor.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld the conviction and increased the prison term for an environmentalist found guilty of spreading communism during an anti-mining protest last year, his defense attorney said Tuesday.

The Banyuwangi District Court in East Java province in January convicted Hari Budiawan (alias Budi Pego) of spreading the outlawed teachings of Marxism and Leninism by waving a hammer-and-sickle flag during an anti-mining protest in April 2017.
Budi, 38, has maintained there were no pro-Communist banners at the protest.
The East Java high court upheld Budi's 10-month sentence in March, but the Supreme Court increased the prison term to four years in an Oct. 16 decision that was not made public at the time. Budi was notified of the Supreme Court's verdict by mail on Nov. 16, defense lawyer Hari Kurniawan said.
"We regret the decision," Hari told BenarNews, adding that he likely would seek a case review for Budi, who is not in jail.
Supreme Court spokesman Suhadi told BenarNews the judges reached the decision independently.
"The public has the right to judge its fairness. But the judges' decision must be respected," Suhadi said.
Communism has been outlawed in the nation since the mid-1960s, after a failed coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) led to nationwide killings that targeted suspected PKI members in 1965 and 1966.
Protest
Budi and other residents protested against a gold mine operated by PT Bumi Suksesindo, saying it caused mudflows that polluted the coastal area.
He has described the charges against him as fabricated.
"The police and members of the TNI (Indonesian National Army) were aware of all our banners, because they were there when we made and installed them," he said at the time of his arrest. "They even photographed every banner we wrote."
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation activist Asfinawati, who uses one name, expressed concerns about the decision.
"This is a real threat to the protection of human rights in Indonesia, especially for people who want to participate in the protection of the environment," she told BenarNews.
It was not the first time the Supreme Court has increased a prison term or overturned a not-guilty verdict following an appeal.
In a recent case that has sparked public outrage, the court sentenced to six months a teacher who made public a recording of her school's principal engaging in a lewd conversation with her.
The top court overturned a lower court ruling that cleared the teacher, Baiq Nuril, of defamation charges and ordered her to pay a fine of 500 million rupiah (U.S. $34,000), or spend an additional three months in jail.
Nuril was found guilty of distributing or transmitting content that violates morality as stipulated in the Information and Electronic Transaction Law.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's opposition presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto said Wednesday he planned to seek close relationships with both the United States and China if elected, praising the two world powers for cultural influences and economic progress.
Prabowo, a former Army special forces commander, will face incumbent Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the election scheduled for April 17, 2019.
"We want to be friends with both the United States and China. We have to respect both powers," Prabowo said, speaking at the annual Indonesian Economic Forum in Jakarta.
The candidate said he believed that the United States had been "a benevolent world power."
"There are instances of mistakes. Every imperial power experienced what we call over-extension, but let us be very objective," he said.
"To be frank, most of us like Burger King, most of us wear jeans, we like rock and roll. This is the soft power of the United States," he said.
Prabowo paid tribute to China's influence on Indonesian culture and praised the country for its success in lifting millions of its people out of poverty.
Despite the tribute, Prabowo's aides last month said that Indonesia might review China-backed infrastructure projects if elected.
"Some projects may be evaluated for necessity, but not necessarily be cancelled," said Andre Rosiade, a spokesman for Prabowo's Gerindra Party, responding to questions from BenarNews.
Jokowi's stance
Jokowi has embraced China's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" initiative and made upgrading the country's infrastructure a priority during his first term in office.
Last year, Jokowi attended a two-day One Belt, One Road forum where Beijing laid out its plans to invest more than U.S. $1 trillion to build a network of ports, roads, railways and other logistics-related projects stretching through Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
The president also sought closer economic relations with the United States.
A year after taking office in 2014, Jokowi made his first U.S. visit in an effort to formally raise bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.
'Big-push strategy'
In Wednesday's speech, Prabowo painted a bleak picture of Indonesia's economy, likening it to an underfed person.
He said Indonesia must overcome significant challenges including a rising cost of living, rising government debt, stagnant growth at about 5 percent and rampant corruption. Politicians across the country, he added, had been caught red-handed accepting bribes.
Prabowo said his "big-push strategy" was aimed at turning Indonesia into a prosperous nation that was self-sufficient in providing food, energy and water to its people.
He cited indicators to show that Indonesia was lagging behind its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Indonesia's tax revenue to gross domestic product ratio is 10.3 percent, much lower than neighboring countries Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, he said.
Prabowo said he was open to foreign investment.
"To achieve food and energy self-sufficiency, we need science and technology from foreign countries," he said.
Maintaining close ties with China and the United States would be in Indonesia's interest because the two countries are global economic powers, according to Lana Soelistianingsih, an economist at the University of Indonesia.
"China dominates global trade and 30 percent of the world's GDP comes from the United States. Whoever is elected president, I am sure he will maintain good relations," she told BenarNews.
Lana said Indonesia should take advantage of a potential trade war between China and the United States to export products to both countries.
"For example, if China refuses a certain product from the United States, this is an opportunity for Indonesia to enter the Chinese market," she said. "We must be creative in tapping this opportunity."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian human rights groups warned on Monday that a mobile application released by the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to monitor "deviant" faiths could worsen the persecution of religious minorities.
The Smart Pakem app,  released on Friday, contains a list of religious groups in the Jakarta area that are considered to have strayed from mainstream Islam, including Ahmadiyah and Gafatar, and allows members of the public to report on the activities of such groups.
"The application could lead to the persecution of people who are considered to have different beliefs. Because of that, we urge the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to delete it," Muhammad Isnur, coordinator of the Indonesan Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), told BenarNews.
Isnur said minority religious groups had already been persecuted, forced from their homes and in some cases killed for beliefs that are considered "misguided."
In most cases, they were victims of false and misleading information, he said.
"It is not impossible that some people will use this application to make false reports that could lead to violence against people," Isnur said. "This is dangerous."
'Information is needed'
The Jakarta Prosecutor's Office said that the application was intended to keep tabs on and facilitate the supervision of activities by different religious groups.
"[N]owadays there are many religiously-motivated conflicts, so information is needed on various religious beliefs and faiths," the head of intelligence at the prosecutor's office, Yulianto, was quoted as saying by Detik.com.
The app also features fatwas issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), as well as a list of non-religious organizations and their legal status.
"This application accepts public complaints if it finds indications of religious groups or mass organizations that are deviant," said Nirwan Nawawi, a spokesman for the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.
The application was available for download on Android mobile phones and had garnered 11 reviews.
One user criticized the application, calling it "provocative."
"I do not understand why the prosecutor's office deals with religious issues. Why is the Ahmadiyah not Islam? I think it is more relevant if this application contains articles on perpetrators of attacks against Ahmadiyah," one user wrote in a comment posted in the application.
In one of the worst recent attacks against minority religious sects, three people were killed in 2011 when a crowd of hardline Muslims armed with machetes stormed into a house in Cikeusik, West Java, where Ahmadiyah followers were staying.
The attackers received sentences of 3-6 months in prison.
A pretext for violence?
Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but the government recognizes only six official religions: Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism. More than 87 percent of Indonesians are Sunni Muslims.
Indonesia's criminal code outlaws deviations from the central tenets of these religions, as do numerous local laws and regulations, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
The Ahmadis on Lombok island have been expelled from their homes and forced to seek refuge in a government building for years.
Members of the tiny Shia community have also been forced from their homes on Madura island off the coast of Java, following the objection of local Sunni Muslims.
They have lived in temporary shelters in Sidoarjo regency in East Java province for more than six years after an attack against them.
The spiritual movement Gerakan Fajar Nusantara, or Gafatar, was founded in 2011 but banned the following year. Its three top leaders were convicted of blasphemy in 2017 and given prison terms ranging from three to five years.
On Monday, Indonesia's National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) said it had written to the Prosecutor's Office asking it to immediately remove the application.
"There is potential for friction in society if this application is misinterpreted and used as a pretext to commit violence against certain religious groups and citizens," Komnas HAM Chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik told BenarNews.
A Komnas HAM member, Choirul Anam, said the app was "counter-productive to the government's efforts to build democracy."
"The state shouldn't meddle in the religious affairs of its citizens," Choirul said in a statement.


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BENARNEWS- A Lion Air jetliner that crashed into the sea with 189 people on board was not airworthy and should have been grounded prior to its deadly flight, Indonesian investigators said Wednesday.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plummeted into the Java Sea about 11 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Oct. 29. Everyone on board was presumed dead.
"In our view, the plane was not airworthy and the flight (from Bali to Jakarta) should have not been continued," crash investigator Nurcahyo Utomo told a news conference as Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) released its preliminary report on the probe.
"Several problems occurred at the same time, including a severe one where the aircraft was about to experience a stall or a loss of the lift," Nurcahyo said. "There should have been special treatment if a problem occurs several times in a short period of time."
KNKT said in its report that the aircraft had shown incorrect airspeed and altitude readings on the previous flight from Bali to Jakarta, the night before it crashed.
The pilots turned off the stabilizer trim switches after the aircraft experienced the automatic nose-down trim and flew the remainder of that flight without the autopilot, the report said.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait debunked the report about the plane's airworthiness.
"The aircraft was airworthy, according to documents from our technicians," Sirait told a news conference.
"With regard to this statement, we will seek clarification from the KNKT in writing," adding that the company was not ruling out legal action.
The report said maintenance logs for the aircraft recorded airspeed and altitude reading problems on each of the four flights that occurred over the three days before the flight that crashed.
But the issues persisted despite the logs indicating that that various maintenance procedures were performed, including the replacement of an Angle of Attack sensor, it said.
The report did not determine the cause of the crash. A final report on the investigation is expected later next year.

Nurcahyo said the pilots of the doomed flight struggled to regain control of the aircraft.

The crew tried to pull the aircraft back up repeatedly as the aircraft's automatic nose-down trim was activated, Nurcahyo said. 

"This sequence repeated for the rest of the flight until the flight data recorder stopped recording," Nurcahyo said.

A feature in the Boeing aircraft, known as the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), has been installed by Boeing on its latest generation of 737s to prevent the aircraft's nose from getting too high and causing the aircraft to stall. 

Investigators are looking into the possibility that the system might have forced the nose down after receiving erroneous information from sensors.
'A deadly game of tag'

Peter Lemme, an aviation expert and a former Boeing engineer, likened the pilots' struggle to pull the aircraft's nose back up to "a deadly game of tag." 

"The prior flight showed similar behavior. But on that flight, the flight crew appear to have quickly cutout the electric trim altogether, and completed the flight trimming the stabilizer with the wheel," Lemme wrote in his blog on Nov. 23.

Nurcahyo said the KNKT did not have enough information about the feature.

"This is another issue we will discuss with Boeing when we visit their facility. Why was this information not in the manual and why did the FAA (U.S. Federal Aviation Authority) approved the manual?" he said. 

In its preliminary report, KNKT recommended that Lion Air "improve the safety culture" and empower pilots to make a proper decision on whether to continue a flight.
It also urged the airline to ensure that all documents are properly filled. 

Boeing said after the preliminary report was released that safety was its top priority.
"As our customers and their passengers continue to fly the 737 MAX to hundreds of destinations around the world every day, they have our assurance that the 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies," the company said.
Boeing said it was "taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident."

Last month's crash was the second deadly accident involving a Lion Air plane in 14 years.

In 2004, the budget airline's McDonnell Douglas MD-82 overshot the runway of the airport in the central Java city of Solo and crashed into a cemetery, killing 25 people.

Nine years later, a Lion Air Boeing 737 carrying more than 100 people crashed into the sea while trying to land on Bali island, almost splitting the fuselage into two. There were no fatalities.


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BENARNEWS- Hundreds of officers were deployed Friday to capture more than 100 inmates who used barbells to smash windows and metal bars to escape from a prison near the capital of Indonesia's Aceh province, police said.
The prisoners escaped Thursday night from the prison's main hall and warehouse, and fled through rice fields in front of the complex in Lambaro, Aceh Besar regency, about 2,500 km (1,553 miles) from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, local police and justice officials said.
The inmates were out of their cells to take part in an evening Muslim prayer session in the prison's mosque when they escaped, Banda Aceh police chief Trisno Rianto told reporters.
As of Friday afternoon, 26 of 113 inmates who escaped had been recaptured, including 25 drug convicts, Trisno said.
Aceh police spokesman Ery Apriyono said one of the fugitives, identified as Anwar, was captured at a bus terminal in Lhokseumawe, in North Aceh regency, about 300 km (186 miles) from  the prison.
The head of the Justice Department in Aceh, Agus Thoyib, said officials were investigating the escape.
"Maybe they had planned it in advance because they had barbells to smash metal bars and windows," he said, adding that 10 guards were working that night at the prison, which holds about 700 inmates. Officials did not release details about normal staffing numbers.

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Rep. Nasir Djamil, (center) and the head of the justice department in Aceh Agus Toyib (right), discuss the prison breakout, Nov. 30, 2018. (Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews)

Meanwhile, Aceh provincial police chief Rio S. Djambak urged the fugitives to surrender within three days and urged their relatives to turn them in.
Ery warned that police would take stern action if the escapees did not turn surrender.
Sri Puguh Budi Utami, director of corrections at Indonesia's Justice Ministry, said the escape might have something to do with stricter rules following the appointment of a new prison governor.
"We are investigating whether the stricter operational procedure contributed to the jailbreak. Even so, inmates are still allowed to pray in a congregation, as per the request of the Aceh government," she told an Indonesian media website.
The devoutly Muslim Aceh is the only province that imposes sharia, or Islamic law.
A woman whose husband was serving nine years for a drug conviction said inmates had been treated inhumanely, including being subjected to isolation in the past few months.
"Even visiting hours have been reduced, while in the past we could stay longer," the 38-year-old woman who declined to be identified told BenarNews.
Agus refuted the woman's accusation.
"The prison governor and his staff have acted very humanely and paid attention to the rights of the inmates," he said.
Elsewhere, House of Representatives member Nasir Djamil called for a review of security, noting that the prison was hit by a riot in January.
"We have asked for an evaluation of supervisory and correctional work in the penitentiary," he told reporters after a meeting with Aceh justice department officials.
In May, five police and an inmate were killed after a riot broke out over a food complaint at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention facility in Depok where convicted terrorists were held. The riot began on May 8 and the last officer held hostage was released May 10.
Last year, more than 400 inmates escaped from a prison in Riau province after a Friday prayer session.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police said Tuesday they were investigating reports that separatist rebels had killed 31 construction workers in the restive eastern province of Papua.
Local police and officials said they had received information that as many as 31 workers who were building bridges in the Yall area in Papua's Nduga regency were killed on Saturday and Sunday.
"We cannot confirm the figure yet," national police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told reporters in Jakarta, adding that police and military personnel were sent to the regency to retrieve the bodies of victims and hunt the attackers.
Iqbal said the police had identified the rebel group who carried out the attack, but he declined to give details.
"What is clear is that the police will pursue and crack down on this group," he said.
Jayawijaya regency police chief Yan Pieter Reba said he was informed that 31 workers had been killed.
He said the workers were attacked after one of them took photos of a ceremony held by a group of separatist rebels to mark what they considered as Papua's independence day.
"They [the rebels] were angry and killed the workers in their camp," Reba told reporters.
He said 24 workers were killed in their camp, while eight others fled to a local councilor's house but were chased by the attackers.
"The information we received is that seven of them were also killed and one person managed to flee," he said.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the government was still trying to verify the information but emphasized that infrastructure projects in Papua would continue despite the incident.
"We know Papua is, indeed, a very difficult region and there are still security disturbances like that," Jokowi told reporters in Jakarta.
"I have ordered the police and military chiefs to investigate it. Things are still unclear because there is no cellular signal there," Jokowi said.
The alleged killings were first reported by a local priest, Wilhelmus Kogoya, said Papua police spokesman Ahmad Kamal.
Alimin Gwijangge, deputy chairman of the Nduga regional council, confirmed the killings to BenarNews in a phone interview and said the bodies had yet to be collected.
He said he was in Timika at that time but immediately returned to Nduga after hearing about the killings.
"The OPM group led by Egianus Kogoya killed the workers," he said, using the Indonesian abbreviation for the separatist Free Papua Movement.
The group, according to Gwijangge, has been operating in the Yall area of Nduga.
Attempts by BenarNews to contact separatist rebels were unsuccessful.
At least 139 police and soldiers in 25 vehicles were sent to the Yall area to retrieve the bodies and hunt for the attackers, Jayawijaya deputy police chief Andreas Tampubolon said.
But difficult terrain and bad weather prevented the vehicles from reaching the scene of the killings, he said.
"We anticipate the worst," Tampubolon said.
Col. Jonathan Binsar Sianipar, the local military chief, said another group of rebels attacked a military post in Nduga on Monday, killing a soldier.
Indonesia's minister of Public Works and Housing, Basuki Hadimuljono, said he had ordered the suspension of construction work in the area, on recommendation from the provincial and military chiefs.
The speaker of the House of Representatives, Bambang Soesatyo, urged security forces to immediately arrest the perpetrators.
"I strongly condemn the killings," he said.
Papua, located at the far eastern end of the Indonesia, is one of the archipelago's poorest regions despite its rich natural resources.
It has been the scene of a low-level armed separatist conflict since the 1960s. Human rights groups have accused security forces of committing rights abuses during counter-insurgency operations.
Foreign journalists have been largely banned from reporting from Papua, with the government citing concerns for their security for the restrictions.


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BENARNEWS- A small boat carrying 20 members of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslim community landed in Indonesia's Aceh province on Tuesday, local officials said.

The arrival of the Rohingya was the first one reported on Sumatra island in several months, but came amid recent reports of boatloads of Rohingya trying to sail away from Myanmar or neighboring Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have been sheltering in camps in the southeast.

The group of Rohingya who landed at Kuala Idi, a port in East Aceh regency, in a motorized wooden boat, were all males aged 20 or under, officials said.   

"Most of them are still teenagers. They were in good condition when they landed in Kuala Idi. No one was seriously ill," Abdul Musafir, the head of the local search and rescue agency, told BenarNews.

Local people immediately gave the visitors food, water and clothes, while health officials examined their health at a naval post.

According to one of the Rohingya who spoke some Malay, the group set sail for Malaysia 15 days ago from Myanmar's Rakhine State, Musafir said.

"But there was no explanation why they later landed in Kuala Idi. Immigration officials are interviewing them," he said.

The head of the local fishing community, Razali M. Ali, said the 20 Rohingya sailed in without assistance from Acehnese fishermen.

The engine on their boat was working properly and the Rohingya had reserves of fuel and food, he said.

"It seems they have had enough preparation. But it's not clear why they made a stop in Kuala Idi," Razali told BenarNews.

Later on Tuesday, Musafir said the 20 Rohingya were moved to an immigration office in Langsa, the main town in East Aceh, for further handling.

The Rohingyas' boat arrived in rainy weather on Tuesday morning, officials said.

"Navy post officials were initially suspicious because the boat was different from fishing boats here," said Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wahyu Kuncoro, East Aceh's police chief.

"It is believed that they had run away from their country, Myanmar, to avoid conflict by leaving their families. They say they will go home if the conflict is over," he added.


In the past, Acehnese fishermen have rescued Rohingya boat people in the Malacca Strait after their boats drifted due to engine problems.

In April, 76 Rohingya, including 25 women and eight children, became stranded in Aceh's Bireuen regency after drifting at sea for nine days.

In May 2015, more than 1,000 Rohingya were rescued from boats by Acehnese fishermen after spending several weeks at sea.

Most of the Rohingya who ended up in Aceh have since left for Malaysia in search of work, while some have obtained asylum in third countries.

Myanmar considers the Rohingya illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and systematically discriminates against them, denying them citizenship although many of their families have been in that country for generations. They also do not get access to basic services, such as education and health care.

In recent years, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled or attempted to flee persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar on boats organized by human traffickers and bound for other Southeast Asian nations.

About 720,000 Muslim Rohingyas fled Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh following a military crackdown that began in August 2017. U.N. human rights investigators accused Myanmar's military of committing ethnic cleansing.


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BENARNEWS- A separatist group claimed responsibility Wednesday for attacks that left at least 20 people dead in Indonesia's eastern Papua province, alleging that the people they killed were soldiers disguised as construction workers.
The attacks at the weekend and on Monday in the Mbua area of Nduga regency were led by the Egianus Kogoya, the local leader of the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the insurgent group's spokesman Sebby Sembom said.
The fatalities were soldiers under the Indonesian Army's Combat Engineering Detachment (Denzipur) who had enlisted to build roads and bridges in the area, Sebby told BenarNews in a phone interview.
"It was a gunfight, not an execution. TPNPB has long been monitoring workers in Kali Awarok and Kali Yigi [districts]. They were members of Denzipur, not civilian workers," Sebby said, without elaborating.
"All leaders and soldiers of the TPNPB National Command have a code of ethics in the revolutionary war. We will not fight against civilians," he said.
Gen. Tito Karnavian, the Indonesian national police chief, told reporters in Jakarta that 19 construction workers and a soldier were killed.
Police in Papua had earlier said that rebels killed 31 workers who were building roads and bridges as part of the Trans-Papua highway project – part of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's efforts to improve infrastructure in the province, where road access is limited due to jungle-clad terrain.
Authorities did not explain what caused the discrepancy in the reported number of fatalities.
Reinforcements
The Papua military garrison has sent soldiers as reinforcements to support the local police. Military officials told reporters they believed that 20 rebels were involved in the attacks.
"The TNI soldiers were already in Wamena after being flown from Sentani on a Hercules plane," Maj. Gen. Joshua Sembiring, the Papuan military commander, told reporters.
At least 169 soldiers and police had been sent earlier to Nduga to retrieve the bodies of the dead and hunt for the suspects behind what police had described as the worst attack launched by an armed group in Indonesia in recent years.
As of Wednesday, however, attempts to collect the bodies were not successful due to difficult terrain and bad weather, police and military officials said.
On Tuesday, Col. Muhammad Aidi, a military spokesman, said security forces had rescued 12 people from Mbua, including three employees of the state-owned construction company PT Istaka Karya who suffered gunshot wounds.
 
Jokowi's statement
In Jakarta, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he had ordered the military and the police to hunt those responsible for the "barbaric attacks."
"I emphasize that there is no place for armed criminal groups in Papua and throughout the country," he said during a news conference at the State Palace on Wednesday.
Former Gen. Moeldoko, the presidential chief of staff, called the killings an act of terrorism by the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which has fought for the mainly Melanesian region's independence since the 1960s. The TPNPB is the OPM's armed wing.
Despite the attacks, Moeldoko said security forces should not take disproportionate actions.
"Please act professionally and proportionally. Don't get tempted to act in revenge," he said.
Widodo said that the construction of the 4,600-kilometer (2,875-mile) Trans-Papua road would continue.
"We also will never be afraid. And this makes our determination even stronger to continue our great task of developing the land of Papua," he said.
However, construction work on the Trans-Papua road in Nduga has been suspended pending a review on security measures, said the head of Jayapura's XVIII National Road Implementation Center, Osman Marbun.
"We are suspending the construction of the bridges, but other development activities elsewhere in Papua are still running, according to schedule," he said.
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Human rights
Meanwhile, Ahmad Taufan Damanik, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), urged the authorities to resolve the case according to the rule of law and human rights principles.
"The government needs to make prevention efforts by involving various institutions and communities so that such events will not happen again," Ahmad Taufan told reporters.
Papua, located at the far eastern end of the Indonesia, is one of the archipelago's poorest regions despite its rich natural resources. The area where the violence took place was at about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet) above sea level.
Human rights groups have accused security forces of committing rights abuses during counter-insurgency operations.
Foreign journalists have been largely banned from reporting from Papua, with the government citing concerns for their security for the restrictions.


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BENARNEWS- Suspected insurgents fired at security forces in Papua who were retrieving bodies of 16 slain construction workers, the military said Thursday, while a rebel spokesman confirmed that they took casualties in launching one of the bloodiest attacks in the province.
Soldiers traded shots with the guerrillas, but were unsure if there were injuries on the rebel side during the gunfight that took place Wednesday on Puncak Kabo hill in Nduga regency, local military commander Col. Jonathan Binsar P. Sianipar said.
"When we were moving 16 bodies to the helicopter landing site, we were fired on by the separatist group," Sianipar said in a statement issued by the military's regional command.
Government forces did not suffer injuries, Sianipar said.
In addition, Puncak Kabo's thick forest and rough terrain hampered attempts to remove the bodies, he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, soldiers and police managed to reach Puncak Kabo, where workers who were building roads and bridges were killed over the weekend, the military said.
All the bodies were recovered later in the evening despite difficulties faced by the security forces, regional military chief Maj. Gen. Yosua Pandit Sembiring told reporters.
A search was ongoing for several people still missing, he said. Police earlier said that 31 workers and a soldier were killed, but military officials on Thursday were still trying to verify what caused the discrepancy in casualty figures.
Biggest attack
The West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), has claimed responsibility for the killings, alleging that the people they killed were soldiers from the military's engineering detachment, and not civilian workers.
Officials said the attack was the worst carried out by separatist rebels in the last 10 years in Papua, located at the far eastern end of Indonesia and one of the archipelago's poorest regions despite its rich natural resources.
Eleven civilians and 11 security personnel were killed in 19 cases of armed violence in the province, from 2014 through 2017.
Armed with 'military-grade' weapons
Egianus Kogoya, the leader of the rebel group claiming the attack, commands around 50 members armed with military-grade weapons, authorities said.
Egianus is the son of Silas Kogoya, the TPNPB leader in the 1990s.
In a video posted on YouTube, Egianus said that the weapons the group used were seized from Indonesian security forces.
Sebby Sembom, a rebel spokesman, confirmed Egianus' claim.
"We seized all (weapons) from the TNI-Polri (soldiers and police). We killed them and seized their weapons," he told BenarNews. He declined to say how many weapons Egianus' group had.
Papuan military spokesman Col. Muhamad Aidi acknowledged that Egianus' group had dozens of standard-issue military weapons, including rifles.
"Some of the firearms were seized from soldiers and police," he told reporters, adding that some of their weapons also came from outside the country.
The Egianus group is one of the many TPNPB guerrilla factions, mostly operating in Papua's central highlands.
"The attack carried out by TPNPB had been prepared. We declared a war in early 2018," Sebby told BenarNews in a phone interview.
He claimed that during the attack on Dec. 2, no TPNPB member was killed, but several were injured by gunfire.
 
Agreement between insurgents and workers
Nathal, a former employee of PT Istaka Karya, a state-owned construction company that builds roads and bridges in Nduga, told reporters there was an agreement last year between construction workers and the rebel group.
Under the deal, workers would vacate their camps starting Nov. 24 each year to allow separatists to celebrate their independence day in the area on Dec. 1.
"At that time in November 2017, an agreement was made that every Nov. 24, the dorms or camps must be vacated because Dec. 1 is their independence day," said Nathal, referring to the insurgents.
"I'm sorry, why were they still in the camp, even though it was clear that the camp had to be vacated starting Nov. 24?" said Nathal, who uses only one name, like many in Indonesia.
Another worker named Makbul told reporters that a gunfight between rebels and soldiers during an attack, which killed a soldier at a military post on Monday, lasted from 5 a.m. until around 7 p.m.
"The post was attacked because four people who escaped the shootings (on construction workers) fled to the TNI (military) post," Makbul said.
A video seen by BenarNews showed the bodies of the victims lying on a rocky road, while charred heavy equipment, some still burning, could be glimpsed nearby.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia has proposed a series of new projects for Chinese investment as the sprawling Southeast Asian nation looks to boost its participation in Beijing's One Belt, One Road international expansion program, a senior official said Friday.
The new projects would include power plants as well as industrial parks with manufacturing facilities on the major islands of Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali as well as Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of Borneo.
The projects could be valued at as much as U.S. $60 billion (872 trillion rupiah), said Ridwan Djamaluddin, a deputy minister at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs.
"This is not only part of One Belt, One Road, but part of Indonesia's vision to be the global maritime fulcrum," he told BenarNews without providing details, noting that the new proposals were "currently in the discussion stages."
Iwan Unsi, deputy director of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said Indonesia welcomed the prospect of increasing the size of Chinese investments in infrastructure projects, which already run in the 11-figure range in dollar terms.
"The projects are very significant because they concern electricity, energy and infrastructure, especially in four provinces – North Sumatra, Kalimantan North, North Sulawesi and Bali," Iwan told BenarNews without elaborating.
Previously, Indonesian and Chinese officials agreed to construct a high-speed passenger train and power plants as part of One Belt, One Road (OBOR).
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who is seeking re-election in April 2019, has embraced Chinese investment as he set upgrading his country's infrastructure as a first-term priority.
Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi's opponent in the upcoming election, has stated that he would pursue close relationships with both China and the United States, if elected president. However, in October, aides to Prabowo said Indonesia might also reconsider China-backed infrastructure projects should he take over as president next year.
Last year, Jokowi attended a two-day One Belt, One Road forum in China where Beijing laid out its plans to invest more than $1 trillion as part of its strategy of building a network of ports, roads and railways stretching through Southeast Asia, South Asia and beyond.
A "Maritime Silk Road" is part of China's plan to boost its global trading links by developing overland and maritime routes connecting the world's most populous nation to markets in Europe.
Railway project delayed
The railway linking the city of Bandung in West Java and the capital Jakarta, which has seen projected costs rise to $5.9 billion (85.6 trillion rupiah), is being constructed by a consortium led by China Railway International, according to information from the Indonesian government's National Investment Coordination Board.
Jokowi launched the project in early 2016 to much fanfare but construction was delayed for about two years.
Bank Central Asia economist David Sumual acknowledged that several projects funded by China, including the Jakarta-Bandung high speed train, have faced obstacles and delays, but said Beijing was largely not to blame.
"The obstacles are not with China but in Indonesia because of land acquisition issues. Speeding up land acquisition remains our homework," he told BenarNews.
Previously approved projects involving China include a hydroelectric project in North Kalimantan – located in the Indonesian section of Borneo – estimated to cost $25 billion (363 trillion rupiah) and a series of coal-fired power plants estimated to cost $12 billion (174 trillion rupiah).
In addition to China, Indonesia is seeking investments from European countries and the United States, Sumual said. To make that happen, the government has offered tax-exempt facilities to attract foreign investors.
Another economist said Indonesia's efforts to attract Chinese investments were to be expected even though she warned against moving forward on the passenger rail project.
"It is only natural if Indonesia is now oriented toward China because China is one of the world's largest economies," said Enny Sri Hartati, an economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF).
"China is the number 2 export destination for Indonesia, but most of our exports are limited to commodities," she told BenarNews. "Any investment should increase added value for our products."
Enny suggested that Indonesia focus on cargo delivery over passengers.
"What Indonesia needs now is infrastructure to improve the mobility of goods, so as to reduce logistics costs," she said.
Trading partners
Sino-Indonesian trade grew nearly tenfold from 2003 to 2010 alone, when the volume reached $36.1 billion (524 trillion rupiah), according to the International Institute for Sustainable Development, a Canada-based independent think-tank.
Last year, bilateral trade totalled $58.8 billion (853 trillion rupiah), with the balance favoring China.
In 2017, Indonesia imported Chinese goods, mostly electronics, valued at about $35.7 billion (518 trillion rupiah), and it exported $23.1 billion (335.5 trillion rupiah) in goods to China, according to official figures. Indonesia sent its trading partner mostly coal briquettes, steel and palm oil.
The Chinese-driven OBOR project represents an opportunity for Indonesia, said Lana Soelistyaningsih, an economist at the University of Indonesia.
"Today there are not many countries that are bilaterally willing to give project loans like China is doing. What we need now is money. China has it and is ready with the capital," Lana told BenarNews.
"Now the choice is up to the government. If you only see the negatives, the government will not be able to move. But if the negative aspects can be mitigated, it's fine," she said.
In an interview with Reuters this week, Djamaluddin, the deputy Indonesian minister, conceded that his government needed to watch out for a potential scenario where China could attach strings to loans associated with Indonesian projects.
"We are fully aware that we must not let this cooperation end badly," Djamaluddin told Reuters.
"Other countries have been forced to pay back loans and some have let go of their assets. We don't want that."


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BENARNEWS- President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's government has often argued that far eastern Papua province was long neglected, while officials pushed for a massive infrastructure strategy to connect the jungle-covered region as a way to winning the hearts and minds of locals.
Now, that thinking is being questioned after separatist rebels attacked workers who were building roads and bridges in Nduga regency as part of the Trans-Papua Highway project, killing at least 20 people, including a soldier on Dec. 2.
The killings, whose details remain sketchy, represented the single most-serious attack by the separatist rebels in many years.
"I don't think Jokowi asked the West Papuans what they wanted, which was a mistake," said Damien Kingsbury, a professor at Australia's Deakin University who specializes in politics and security in Southeast Asia.
"Had he done so, they would probably have answered they do not want their environment destroyed by new roads and bridges, or the influx of outsiders that implies," he told BenarNews.
Jokowi's approach to Papua had failed after the government reneged on its promise to open up Papua to outsiders, including to foreign journalists, according to Kingsbury.
The Trans-Papua Highway stretches more than 4,300 km (2,687 miles) from Sorong, the largest city in West Papua province, to Merauke regency, and is scheduled to be completed in 2019, a presidential election year. It is part of the Jokowi administration's drive to improve infrastructure in the Papua region, where road networks are limited.
In response to the killings, authorities have sent more about 300 police and soldiers to Nduga to hunt the suspects.

A defiant Jokowi has vowed to go ahead with the infrastructure projects in Papua despite the setback.
"We will never be afraid. This (attack) has only strengthened our resolve to carry on with our great task of developing the land of Papua," he told reporters at the State Palace in Jakarta on Wednesday. "There's no place for armed criminal groups in Papua and throughout the country."
Papua is one of the archipelago's poorest regions despite its rich natural resources. The area where the violence took place was at about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet) above sea level.
Jokowi has visited Papua at least eight times since taking office in 2014, a sign that he is paying close attention to the country's easternmost region.
He has repeatedly emphasized that lower transportation costs due to better infrastructure will make things more affordable in Papua, which makes up the western half of the island of New Guinea.
"While his attention has been appreciated, Jokowi has also been accused of having a poor attitude to human rights abuses and state violence in the region," Arie Ruhyanto, a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, said in a piece published on Conversation.com on Wednesday.
"Jokowi has also focused on developing security, deploying thousands of additional soldiers to the region," he said. "Although aimed at strengthening national defence, there are ongoing concerns about human rights abuses in the region."
Rebels reject infrastructure projects
In a phone interview with BenarNews on Wednesday, Sebby Sanbom, a spokesman for the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, made it clear that the separatist group rejected the government's infrastructure projects.
"This attack is a message to the colonial government of Indonesia that we are fighting for the freedom of the West Papua Republic. We are not asking for the Trans-Papua roads or other development," Sebby said.
Sebby has said that those killed during what he described as an "exchange of fire" were not civilian workers, but soldiers from the army's engineering detachment. 

He said the group that carried out the attack was led by Egianus Kogoya, the local leader of TPNPB.
On Thursday, Sebby told the Jawa Pos news website that the insurgent group had 29 regional commands and 2,500 personnel.
He described the separatist army as "world class."
"They (the Indonesian military) may have more personnel, but nature is with us. Forests and valleys are with us and we will not surrender," Sebby told Jawa Pos.
In a phone interview with the Associated Press on Friday, Sebby demanded that the government hold negotiations on self-determination, and he warned of more conflicts.
"Trans-Papua road projects are being carried out by Indonesian military and that is a risk they must bear," Sebby said. "We want them to know that we don't need development, what we want is independence."

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Guerrillas from the West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the military wing of the Free Papua Movement, stand in formation in Indonesia's Papua province, in this photo provided by the group's spokesman, Sebby Sembom, January 2018.

A self-motivated faction

Kingsbury, the Australian university professor, said attacks such as the one on Dec. 2 were easy to pull off.
"It's not hard for the rebels to obtain weapons, with even members of the security forces contributing to the black market in their sale."
"An attack such as this takes minimal planning," he said.
Kingsbury said the group responsible for the attack appeared to be a self-motivated faction that supported the TPNPB but was not under its direction or control.
Meanwhile, there are fears that the security forces could respond disproportionately to the killings, which could lead to more human rights abuses, analysts said.
"Any security and law-enforcement operation must be conducted proportionally and must not lead to casualties among civilians," said Al Araf, executive director of Imparsial, a Jakarta-based human rights watchdog.
Al Araf said focusing on the economy while neglecting other issues was a mistaken approach.
"The economic gap is not the only factor, there are also the historical aspects, human rights violations that have never been resolved and the marginalization of the Papuans," he told BenarNews.
"Development is important, but the government needs to adopt an approach that is more inclusive and give Papuans a leading role to find solutions," Al Araf said.
The killings occurred after police arrested more than 500 activists in rallies across Indonesia on Dec. 1, the date regarded by most Papuans as their independence day from the Dutch.
Papua declared its independence from rule by the Netherlands on Dec. 1, 1961, but it was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the region and annexed it following a contentious referendum in 1969. During the plebiscite, according to rights groups, security forces selected only more than a thousand people to agree to the region's formal absorption into the archipelagic nation.
Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimuljono defended the construction work on the Trans-Papua highway, saying ordinary Papuans supported it.
"The project has been communicated well to the local people," he said. "Residents supported it and even told us that they would guarantee the security."


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BENARNEWS- Political leaders in Indonesia's troubled Papua province urged the National Human Rights Commission on Monday to send a team to investigate violence in Nduga regency that killed about two dozen people this month.
The heads of the Papuan Representatives Council (DPR Papua) and Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) made the calls after security forces allegedly killed four civilians during an anti-insurgency operation last week that followed the slayings of 19 construction workers and a soldier by separatist rebels.
"We ask the National Human Rights Commission to conduct a thorough investigation. They must investigate not only this December incident, but also what happened last July," Yunus Wonda, chairman of the council, told BenarNews.
The Indonesian military and police had deployed helicopters in Nduga in July after suspected separatist rebels reportedly killed three civilians during an attack on security personnel being deployed to safeguard a local election.
DPR Papua will set up a special committee to conduct an inquiry into what happened, Yunus said.
"We currently cannot get there because the area is still closed," he said.
Timotius Murib, chairman of the people's assembly, said the MRP has formed a committee to investigate the Dec. 2 and 3 attacks by separatist rebels that left the construction workers and a soldier dead.
The West Papuan National Liberation Army (TPNPB), an armed separatist group, claimed responsibility for those killings. Sebby Sanbom, a spokesman for the rebels, said last week that an "exchange of fire" took place and those killed were soldiers from the Indonesian army's engineering detachment, not civilian workers.
"Because this MRP is a representative body for Papuan Indigenous People, we don't see the Nduga case as a separate issue, but part of what has happened so far in Papua," Timotius told BenarNews on Monday.
The Papua office of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has been tasked with monitoring a police investigation into the killings, Komnas HAM Chairman Ahmad Taufan Damanik said.
"It does not have to be the form of an investigation team, but National Human Rights Commission officials in Papua are directly monitoring the progress of the investigation," he told BenarNews.
On Sunday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement deploring the killings of the construction workers and pressing police to investigate.
"A Papua militant group's attack on a worksite raises grave concerns that require a full investigation," the statement quoted Elaine Pearson of HRW as saying. "Militants and responding security forces should not inflict harm on ordinary Papuans."
'Four civilians killed'
Meanwhile on Monday, a local youth leader alleged that security forces shot dead four civilians on Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, including at least one clergyman, while troops were trying to retrieve bodies of the workers killed by TPNPB guerrillas in the Mbua, Yall and Yigi districts of Nduga.
"Two [were killed] in Mbua and two in Yigi. One [of those killed] in Mbua is my uncle. His name is Yulianus Tabuni," Samuel Tabani, a Papuan youth leader who once ran for office as the regent of Nduga, told BenarNews.
"My uncle was a member of the church assembly in Mbua," Samuel said.
He said relatives told him that government forces had pressured several pastors in the area to give them information about the rebels.
Rev. Benny Giay, who chairs the Kingmi Papua Synod, said church members notified him that Yulianus had been killed.
The synod has around 60,000 members in Nduga.
"Members of the Evangelical Tent Church (Kingmi) reported that Yulianus was shot dead by security forces in the church while they were evacuating victims of the Nduga incident, but we don't know why," Benny told BenarNews.
Papua police spokesman Commissioner Ahmad Mustafa Kamal said officers were trying to verify the information about the alleged killings of four civilians.
"We also don't know if they were members of the KKB," he told BenarNews, using a law enforcement term for the separatist group.
"They might have attacked [security forces], and there was an exchange of gunfire. Some of them might have been shot. We don't know. There needs to be identification," he added.
Displaced people
In related news, hundreds of families were reported to have fled to the forest for fear of becoming victims of anti-insurgency operations by government forces.
Some of those who fled were members of the synod, Benny said.
About five clans had fled to the forest since a manhunt for the insurgents was launched, he added, citing reports from his congregation in Mbua.
"It is estimated that more than 1,500 people have been displaced," Benny said.
He said he feared that the displaced people would suffer starvation and health problems.
However, Lt. Col. Candra Dianto, the local military commander, said residents who fled had come home on Sunday with assistance from troops.
"They have returned to their respective villages because they feel it is safe," he said.
Body found
On Sunday, the decomposed body of a worker believed to be among those attacked by the rebels was found in Puncak Kabo, near the scene of the Dec. 2 and 3 killings, police said.
The body of the man identified as Matius Palinggi had gunshot wounds and was found about 1.5 km – less than a mile – from where the corpses of 16 other victims of the shooting were found. Security forces were still looking for the bodies of four others who were still missing.
The killings occurred after police arrested more than 500 activists in rallies across Indonesia on Dec. 1, the date regarded by most Papuans as their independence day from the Dutch.
Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, is rich in natural resources but one of the country's most impoverished regions.
Papua declared its independence from rule by the Netherlands on Dec. 1, 1961, but that was rejected by the Dutch and later by Indonesia.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the region and annexed it following a contentious referendum in 1969. During the plebiscite, according to rights groups, security forces selected only more than 1,000 people to agree to the region's formal absorption into the archipelagic nation.


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BENARNEWS- Former Jakarta Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted for blaspheming Islam, may be released in January after getting a Christmas sentence reduction, an Indonesian corrections official said Tuesday.
Ahok, a member of Indonesia's ethnic Chinese minority, has been serving his sentence at the Mobile Brigade Police headquarters in Depok, south of the capital Jakarta, after he was found guilty in May 2017. Officials said he did not serve time in a regular prison due to security concerns.
"If he gets a one-month sentence cut on Christmas, he is expected to be free on Jan. 24, 2019," said Ade Kusmanto, spokesman for the Law and Human Rights Ministry's directorate-general of corrections.
Ade said Ahok's attorney had filed a Christmas remission application for the former governor.
"We are considering the proposal and can grant it if Ahok consistently adheres to the rules and behaves well," Ade told BenarNews, adding that a decision on granting a petition to slash his sentence would be made by the corrections office on Dec. 25, Christmas Day.
Generally, inmates who behave well get sentence cuts on Indonesia's national day, Aug. 17, and on major religious holidays. Ahok has so far received three and a half months in sentence cuts, Ade said.
In 2016, Muslim groups started holding large protests to demand Ahok be tried for blasphemy after a video and an incomplete quote attributed to him posted on Facebook made it appear like he was saying that the Quran deceived people.
Many political analysts saw Ahok's conviction as skewed against him. The court convicted him of blasphemy, even though the prosecution had dropped that charge, citing insufficient evidence.
Ahok's six-month trial in 2017 took place in the heat of a gubernatorial race in Jakarta and amid a series of massive street demonstrations staged by conservative Muslim groups who clamored for the governor to be ousted from office.
He lost a runoff vote to former Education Minister Anies Baswedan, despite being the initial favorite in a three-way, first-round race.
Ahok's attorney, I Wayan Sudirta, said his client was in good health.
"Pak Ahok has become more patient. His emotions are sound and he is forgiving," said Wayan Sudirta, using the Bahasa Indonesian honorific for "father."
"The point is he's become a better person, better physically and mentally," he told BenarNews.
Wayan declined to say what Ahok was planning to do after his release.
There have been local media reports that he might join the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
An aide to Ahok, Ima Mahdiah, said he had received invitations to speak in parts of the country, as well as overseas.
"[He will talk] about his life experience and his time as governor," she said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia's Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered lawmakers to increase the minimum marriageable age for girls, in a ruling that could pave the way for ending rampant child weddings in the country.
The court gave the legislature and government three years to revise a 1974 marriage law that sets a minimum age for girls to be wed, according to the court's ruling read out by Chief Justice Anwar Usman.
The court ruled on a petition filed by three former child brides, and said such marriages could deny children rights to health and education. Every year, one in seven Indonesian girls gets married before age 18, according to the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The petition was filed by former child brides Endang Wasrinah, Maryanti and Rasminah who argued the marriages were a form of discrimination and child exploitation.
Endang welcomed the ruling, but told reporters that the law should be revised sooner rather than later.
"I don't want any other woman to experience what I did. I should have gone to school, been pampered by my parents and instead I became a parent and had to take care of children," said the 40-year-old who was married at 14.
Under the 1974 law, a girl can get married if she is 16 or older, though parents can apply for an exemption to a religious court for younger girls, while males must wait until they are 19 before they can marry. In its ruling, the court did not recommend a minimum age for marriage.
Lia Angie, a child rights activist with the Indonesian Women's Coalition (KPI) who accompanied the plaintiffs, questioned why three years was needed to revise the law.
"During that period many more girls will be married off," she told BenarNews.
Lia urged the parliament to revise the law immediately and set the same age for women and men.
"They don't have to wait for three years if it can be done in less than one year," she said.
The same court rejected a similar petition in 2015, arguing that Islam and other religions did not set a minimum age for marriage and that puberty usually was an indication that girls were ready to wed. It determined that if a minimum age were set, there would be no allowances for future revisions.
On Thursday, Judge Anwar said the law was not in harmony with a protection law defining a child as any person 18 or younger.
Another member of the bench, Judge I Dewa Gede Palguna, said such marriages often meant that girls could not complete the compulsory 12 years of school.
"Married women have difficulty accessing education," he said.
In Indonesia, 1.4 million women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married before the age of 18, according UNICEF's 2016 State of the World's Children report.
UNICEF said that while education and economic progress should have reduced the prevalence of child marriage in Indonesia, the number of child brides held steady between 2008 and 2015. Many girls are married off by their parents because of poverty and a lack of access to education.
Lia, the child rights advocate, also called on President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to issue a regulation in lieu of law on ending child marriages.
Meanwhile, Nasir Djamil, a member of the House of Representatives, welcomed the court's decision.
"Of course, we will respond immediately because this is an urgent matter. We don't have to wait for three years," he told BenarNews.
Another legislator, Arsul Sani, said the debate on revisions to the marriage law was likely to be on next year's agenda.
"I personally will fight for it to be included in the national legislation program," he told BenarNews.


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BENARNEWS- The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) commander on Tuesday inaugurated a military unit in the Natuna islands near the South China Sea that will be tasked with warding off threats such as illegal fishing and transnational crimes.
Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto announced the formation of the unit, currently comprising a few hundred personnel including members of army engineering corps.
"The Natuna Integrated TNI Unit is part of our strategic plans to develop our strength to provide deterrence against threats, especially at the borders," Hadi said in a statement released by the military.
The South China Sea unit in the Riau Islands province will be equipped with a surface-to-air missile defense system, the military said. Other facilities include a port, a hangar to support military aircraft and a hospital.
The unit will become part the Regional Defense Joint Command and will eventually include army, air force and navy personnel.
Clashes
Indonesian navy patrols have clashed with Chinese fishing boats in waters off Natuna in recent years as the nation increased its crackdown on illegal fishing in region and accused the Chinese of fishing in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone.
China responded by calling the waters traditional fishing grounds. Tensions between China and its neighbors have risen as the superpower has sought to assert its control of the South China Sea in the face of competing territorial claims from countries in the region.
China claims most of the sea as its own while Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims to territories.
Muhammad Arif, a researcher at the Jakarta-based nonprofit Habibie Center, said he sees the military unit as part of the Indonesian government's response to threats in the area.
"Such threats need to be addressed both militarily and diplomatically and require a change in TNI's deployment in the border area near the South China Sea," he told BenarNews. "This shows that the TNI is serious about protecting Indonesia's territorial borders and responding to instability in the region."


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police arrested four suspected terrorists in two locations last week as they ramped up security ahead of Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Members of the nation's elite counter-terrorism police force Densus 88 arrested two people in Sleman regency, Yogyakarta, on Dec. 11 on suspicion of plotting to launch an attack in the West Java regency of Indramayu during the holiday period, national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said.
Three days later, police apprehended two brothers in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, over their alleged involvement in a terrorist network, Dedi said, without providing details. Police did not release the names of any of the suspects.
South Sulawesi police chief Inspector Gen. Umar Saptono said the brothers were suspected to be part of the terrorist network led by Abu Khanza, who was arrested in December 2017 after he was accused of involvement in a plot to attack police stations on Sumatra island.
The police spokesman said terrorism remained a serious threat during the upcoming holidays, especially on Java island.
"Our priority is to anticipate terrorist attacks on Java, and then several areas on Sumatra," Dedi said.
Almost 100,000 police and military personnel are being deployed across the country to provide security at bus terminals, train stations, shopping centers and churches during the festive season and April 17 elections, he said.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has been hit by a spate of bomb attacks blamed on Islamist militants.
In 2000, at least 18 people were killed and 118 injured when bombs went off at churches on Christmas Eve in a coordinated attack blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group.
Zaki Mubarak, a terrorism analyst at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) in Jakarta, warned of potential terror attacks on Christmas and the New Year's Eve.
"But the threat is not as big as in previous years," he told BenarNews.
Dedi said Muslim and Hindu organizations are expected to help provide security at churches during Christmas services. About 10 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people are Christians.


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BENARNEWS- Muslim residents were behind the cutting of a wooden cross on a Catholic man's grave, a community leader in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta acknowledged Wednesday, in an incident that has drawn accusations of religious intolerance.
Photos of the grave with the cross sawed off at the top have circulated on social media, but locals insisted that the family of the deceased, Albertus Slamet Sugihardi, consented to the decision. BenarNews could not reach the dead man's relatives to verify this claim.
Bedjo Mulyono, an influential community leader in Purbayan in Yogyakarta's Kota Gede district, said Albertus' Muslim neighbors helped wash his body and arranged his funeral on Monday, but they had requested that there should be no Christian symbols if he was to be buried in a local cemetery.
"It is unfortunate that people have been spreading the photos with such misleading information," Bedjo told BenarNews. "We got along well and did not have a problem, but suddenly we have become notorious and are being accused of intolerance."
After Albertus' death was announced, he immediately contacted a nearby church to plan the Catholic man's funeral service, Bedjo said.
"I worked with other residents to prepare for the funeral, such as digging the grave and bathing the body while Catholic religious leaders were preparing worship," he said.
Albertus was buried in the local Muslim cemetery, making him the only Christian to be laid to rest there.
"But there are conditions," Bedjo said, "that there must be no Christian symbols."
He said the cross was cut when the funeral procession was finished and after the interment.
Residents and Albertus' family members witnessed the cutting of the cross-shaped headstone, Bedjo said.
Albertus' widow could not be reached for comment.
Living in harmony
Only three Christian families live in Purbayan village, home to about 700 people, and they have good relations with their Muslim neighbors, Bedjo said.
"There is no discrimination," he said. "The three families who are of different faith also mix well with other residents."
Bedjo explained that Albertus also often helped local Muslim women form a choir and coached them, while his wife, Maria, was actively involved in village activities.
"We are very close here. If it was not good, of course we wouldn't have helped the funeral procession," he said.
Albertus' family was also shocked by the controversy, Bedjo said.
However, the incident underscored the weakening of religious tolerance in Yogyakarta, known as the country's cultural heart, said Halili, a researcher for the Setara Institute, a local human rights group.
"The Purbayan case indicates social and religious inclusion is poor," Halili, who goes by one name, said in a statement. "The government needs to take action to promote inclusion and education, and create social development programs that are more inclusive and conducive to the promotion of intolerance."
Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the governor of Yogyakarta, denied that the incident represented a case of religious intolerance because, he said, the locals and the deceased's family had agreed about not putting a Christian symbol on the grave.
"Rather than burying the body in Mrican, they agreed to bury him there," the sultan told reporters, referring to a Christian cemetery about 6.2 miles away (about 10 km).
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, has seen cases of religious intolerance targeting Christians and other minority religious groups, including Shias and Ahmadis.
Christians often complain that they have difficulty building new churches, and in some cases are prevented from holding services in their churches because locals say they were built without a permit.


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BENARNEWS- Calls are growing in Indonesia – the world's largest Islamic majority country – for its government to speak out against China's treatment of minority Muslims, amid reports that 1 million ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang province have been sent to re-education camps.
Parliamentary leaders, Islamic officials and rights activists on Thursday lent their voices to calls for increased pressure on China to address the allegations of human rights violations.
"The DPR (House of Representatives) calls on the government to send a strong message to the Chinese ambassador," House Speaker Bambang Soesatyo told reporters. "We urge the government, in this case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to support the efforts of the United Nations in solving the issue and freeing Muslims there."
Indonesia should take the lead in speaking out for the Uyghur minority in China, Deputy House Speaker Fadli Zon said.
"Even though Indonesia is the fourth-most populous country, with the largest number of Muslims in the world, our foreign policy under Mr. Jokowi has a very low profile," Fadli said, referring to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
China rejected allegations raised in August by a U.N. panel that the Uyghurs were being held in what resembled a "massive internment camp" in the Xinjiang region where Beijing has spent decades trying to suppress pro-independence sentiment.
On Monday, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy Chinese ambassador in Jakarta to seek clarification on the issue. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the ambassador stated that China was committed to respecting the Uyghurs.
"There's willingness on the part of the Chinese embassy to expand communication with various civil society groups to inform them about the situation regarding the Uyghur community in China," Arrmanatha told reporters.
Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst at Malikussaleh University in Aceh province, said members of the banned Indonesian militant group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), were promoting solidarity among their followers with Uyghur Muslims in China and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
"Their members often call for jihad to those countries," he told BenarNews.
On Thursday, China's embassy issued a statement on its website insisting that Uyghurs enjoyed freedom of religion.
The statement said authorities in Xinjiang had established "professional vocational training institutions" that provided education and training on China's common language, legal system and vocational skills to lure Uyghurs from radicalism and extremism.
"Drawing on the anti-terrorism experience of the international community, China has taken a series of de-radicalization measures. In some places, certain residents there have a limited command of the country's common language and a limited sense or knowledge of the law," the statement said.
Muslim leader speaks
Anwar Abbas, the secretary general of the Indonesian Council of Ulema – the nation's leading group of Muslim scholars – said Indonesia should leverage good relations with China to speak about the Uyghurs.
"The Indonesian government should ask China about the problems, are they religious or ethnic issues?" Abbas said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Indonesians should understand that China was having a difficult time treading between respecting human rights and fighting extremism.
"If there is religious discrimination, it's a violation of human rights," he told reporters.
"We should understand, there's a problem of radicalism (among Uyghur Muslims). It has even spilled over to Indonesia," he said, referring to the alleged involvement of some Uyghurs in Indonesian militant groups.
Previously, Kalla said China's treatment of Uyghurs was a domestic problem and Indonesia should not interfere.
In September, Amnesty International said China engaged in systematic repression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region involving mass internment, intrusive surveillance, political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation against Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia on Friday completed the process to acquire a majority stake in the world's second largest copper mine, located in easternmost Papua province and operated by U.S.-based mining giant Freeport-McMoRan, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo announced.
The deal means that the government, through its holding company PT Indonesia Asahan Alumunium (Inalum), now has a 51 percent stake in the gold and copper mine operated by PT Freeport Indonesia since 1973. The government, which signed a tentative deal with Freeport in July, spent U.S. $3.85 billion to increase its stake in the mine from less than 10 percent.
"Today is a historic moment," Jokowi said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. "We will use the majority ownership for the prosperity of the people as much as possible."
Freeport-McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson, who was present for the announcement, expressed relief that the deal was completed.
"I thank you for supporting this solution. We strive to fulfill President Jokowi's wishes and as a result we are given the authority to operate until 2041 with a stable fiscal policy," Adkerson said.
"The next step is the transition from an open pit that we have operated since 1990, transforming into the largest underground mine in the world."
In August 2017, the company said it was giving up majority ownership in exchange for being allowed to operate the Indonesian mining complex until 2041.
Papua benefits
As part of the deal, the government awarded Papua province and Mimika regency, where the Grasberg mine is located, a 10 percent stake in the project.
The stake was a first step for the Papua government to offer financial aid and educational opportunities to its residents to meet Jokowi's goal of bringing prosperity to the region, Inalum President-Director Budi Gunadi Sadikin said.
"This is just a start. It will be repeated in all other contracts which will involve local communities," Budi told local media.
"Freeport McMoRan is the best operator of underground mining. This is our chance to learn as much as possible so that in the future Indonesians can become the best operators," he said.
Freeport Indonesia operates six mines in Papua, the largest of which is Grasberg, according to the company's 2017 financial report. The company's revenues totaled $4.44 billion, up from $3.29 billion in 2016.
Jokowi has visited Papua, one of the poorest regions in Indonesia where literacy rates are low, at least eight times since taking office in 2014. The president's nationalistic stance is popular in the province amid calls for the country to have more control of its vast resources.
Calls for military to leave
The president's announcement came just hours after Papuan leaders on Thursday night called on the government to withdraw troops from Nduga regency, where separatist rebels were blamed for killing at least 19 construction workers earlier this month. The leaders said residents were traumatized by the presence of soldiers.
"We ask President Jokowi to immediately withdraw the troops from Nduga," Papua Gov. Lukas Enembe said.
Enembe said he and other leaders want the troops out so the people in the majority Christian province can celebrate Christmas peacefully.
Responding Friday, Papuan Military Regional Command spokesman Col. Inf. Muhammad Aidi said troops were in the region to carry out the country's duty to protect people.
"If Gov. Lukas Enembe is to support the independence of the Papuan separatist movement and reject the national strategic program policy, then he has violated the law and should be prosecuted in accordance with the law," Aidi said, adding, "most of our soldiers are also Christians."
"I want to emphasize the violence that took victims and resulted in the trauma of the people in Nduga is not because of the presence of the military and police officers in the area," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Thousands of people rallied in several Indonesian cities on Friday to protest China's mass detention of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang autonomous region, calling on Jakarta to take strong diplomatic action against Beijing.
About 1,000 people from various Islamic organizations protested outside the Chinese embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, demanding freedom for the Uyghurs who have been thrown into internment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in China's northwest.
Rallies protesting Beijing's crackdown were also held in other Indonesian cities, including Bandung, Banda Aceh, Medan and Makassar.
The protestors also called on the government of Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to take firm
action against Beijing, including expelling its ambassador to Jakarta.
"Stop violence and oppression against Uyghurs," they shouted. "Get rid of communists from Indonesia."
The embassy appeared to be closed during the protest, with barbed wire erected by police in front of the building.
About 800 police and soldiers were deployed to provide security during the protest. There was no violence.
Since April 2017, Chinese authorities have detained at least 800,000 – and possibly more than 2 million – Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities in the camps for indefinite periods of time, according to a U.S. government assessment, a State Department official said lately.
U.S. lawmakers Marco Rubio and Chris Smith, who head the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China, recently called the situation in Xinjiang "the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today."
The top United Nations human rights official, Michelle Bachelet, said earlier this month that her office was seeking access to the Xinjiang region to verify what she called "worrying reports" about the situation over the re-education camps.
Yusuf Muhammad Martak, who was among the protest leaders in Indonesia, said Beijing was violating human rights and international law by sending Muslims to the reeducation camps in the name of fighting extremism.
"We strongly condemn the suppression of Uyghur Muslims," ​​he said, speaking at the rally.
Novel Bamukmin, a spokesman of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a hardline Islamic group, urged rally participants to boycott Chinese products.
"If they harass our brothers and sisters, we don't want their ambassador. All people from China will be expelled from Indonesia," he warned.
Ridwan Abu Ridho, one of the protestors, criticized Widodo for staying silent about the plight of the Uyghurs.
"There has not been a single word from Jokowi for the freedom of our Uyghur brothers and sisters. We can't accept that the president remains silent while Muslims are being treated like that," he told BenarNews.

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Protestors perform a theatrical depiction of alleged torture of Uyghur Muslims during a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Jakarta, Dec. 21, 2018. [Rina Chadijah/BenarNews]

 
On Monday, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy Chinese ambassador in Jakarta to raise concerns about the issue. Three days later, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the ambassador had made assurances that China was committed to religious freedom.
On Thursday, the Chinese embassy issued a statement on its website insisting that Uyghurs had not been mistreated.
The statement said authorities in Xinjiang had established "professional vocational training institutions" that provided education and training on China's common language, legal system and vocational skills to lure Uyghurs from radicalism and extremism.
But according to reports, those held in the camps were detained against their will, subjected to political indoctrination and rough treatment at the hands of their overseers, as well as endured poor diets and unhygienic conditions in the often overcrowded facilities. The atmosphere was more like a prison than any kind of school, multiple sources said.
In Friday's protests, about 1,000 Muslims in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, walked for about 5 km (3.1 miles) from the city's Nurul Iman mosque to the governor's office.
"If all diplomatic efforts do not produce results, then the Chinese ambassador should not be in this country," said the chair of the West Sumatra Indonesian Muslim Preachers' Association (Ikadi), Urwatul Wusqa.
Parliamentary leaders and Islamic officials have also urged the government to increase pressure on China to address the alleged mistreatment of the country's Muslim minority.


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BENARNEWS- At least 20 people were killed and 165 were injured in Pandeglang and Serang regencies in Banten province and South Lampung in Lampung province when a tsunami struck around the Sunda Strait Saturday night, Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said in a statement.
The cause of the tsunami is being investigated by Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics and Geology Agencies. Investigators said it could have been caused by underwater landslides tied to the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau or tidal waves linked to a full moon, according to the statement issued by information chief Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.
The victim toll could increase as at least two people are missing and dozens of buildings were damaged by the storm, according to the statement.
The Associated Press reported that a survivor posted details about the tsunami on Facebook.
"I had to run, as the wave passed the beach and landed 15-20m (meters) inland," Øystein Lund Andersen wrote on Facebook. "Next wave entered the hotel area where i was staying and downed cars on the road behind it. Managed to evacuate with my family to higher ground trough forest paths and villages, where we are taken care of (by) the locals. Were unharmed, thankfully."
September tsunami
An earthquake and tsunami struck Central Sulawesi province on Sept. 28, killing more than 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000.
Investigators called off the search two weeks after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami slammed the region. At the time the search ended, officials reported 680 people were missing and nearly 83,000 were listed as displaced.


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BENARNEWS- Nearly 300 people died and dozens were missing in a tsunami apparently triggered by a volcano that hit coastal areas of Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials said Monday (local time).
All the dead accounted for thus far are Indonesian, including members of a band that was in the midst of performing at a beach resort when waves suddenly slammed the stage at 9:27 p.m. local time on Saturday.
 
"Current data on the impact of the tsunami in the Sunda Strait ... 281 people killed, 1,016 injured, 57 people missing and 11,687 displaced," said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, giving figures reported by emergency personnel at 7:00 a.m. Monday local time.
The numbers were likely to rise as not all affected areas had reported information, he said. The disaster struck three months after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Central Sulawesi province on Sept. 28, killing more than 2,000.
This time the tsunami, which was generated in waters between the islands of Sumatra and Java, is thought to have been caused by a volcanic eruption triggering an underwater landslide, which displaced water and produced the massive waves, officials said.
"This tsunami was not caused by an earthquake. No tectonic activity was detected. It is possible this tsunami occurred due to an underwater landslide resulting from the eruption of Anak Krakatau," Sutopo said Saturday.
 
Anak Krakatau is a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait and a geological offshoot of Krakatau, whose catastrophic eruption over two days in August 1883 is believed to have killed tens of thousands of people in one of the worst eruptions in recorded history.
Anak Krakatau erupted 24 minutes prior to the tsunami on Saturday, authorities said. In August, authorities expanded the volcano's exclusion zone from one kilometer to two after it showed increased activity.
"Most sincere condolences for the victims of the tsunami disaster in Pandeglang, Serang and South Lampung, last night. I have ordered all relevant government officials to immediately take emergency response steps, find victims, and care for the injured," President Joko Widodo said in a tweet earlier Sunday
Members of the international community offered assistance in the wake of the latest disaster to strike Indonesia.
"I wish strength and courage to the emergency service currently at work after the devastating tsunami around the Sunda Strait in Indonesia. The EU Commission stands ready to assist ongoing rescue efforts," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
The United States was also ready to assist as needed, Robert Palladino, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. Department of State, said in a statement.
"The United States conveys our deepest condolences for the loss of life and destruction from the tsunami that struck West Java and southern Sumatra, Indonesia, on December 22.  We continue to monitor the situation closely and are in close communication with Indonesian authorities," he said.

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Volunteers evacuate a tsunami victim from Tanjung Lesung beach in Banten Province, on the western tip of Java, Dec. 23, 2018. [Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews] Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews

'After that, silence'
The band Seventeen was just starting its second song at Tanjung Lesung Beach Resort in Pandeglang when a wall of water burst through a curtain covering the back of the stage.
A party-goer attending the event was recording the concert and caught the horrific moment on a video that has since gone viral.
The bass player, road manager and guitarist were found dead by midday Sunday while their drummer was still missing, Yulia Dian, a spokeswoman for the band management, said in a statement.
Late Sunday, rescue personnel were working on identifying dozens of corpses in the lobby of the resort. Waves swamped almost every building of the facility, located only about 15 meters (50 feet) from the water's edge.
After the water receded, two- and four-wheel vehicles lay smashed against the outer walls of guest cottages.
"The waves were three meters high [ten feet]. Several hit the resort," said a man who gave his name as Asep. He said he was able to escape the tsunami by running to higher ground.
"I watched from a distance. The minute the waves hit, I ran. Everything was chaotic and the electricity immediately went out," he said.
The loud music covered any noise the tsunami made as it rushed ashore, said Supriyana, another eyewitness.
"Suddenly it was there and no one knew there was a tsunami happening. It hit, people were screaming and running, calling for help. After that, silence," she said.
Many coastal areas appeared deserted Sunday, as heavy rain lashed the area.
"Because of the tsunami, many people have fled. Most hotels and restaurants are closed," said Rizky, a hotel clerk.
Indonesia is located in the tectonically active Ring of Fire – an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean – and frequently suffers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in the nation's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis.
Experts said another tsunami could strike the Sunda Strait due to ongoing volcanic activity.
"The likelihood of further tsunamis in the Sunda Strait will remain high while Anak Krakatoa volcano is going through its current active phase because that might trigger further submarine landslides," Richard Teeuw, a professor at University of Portsmouth in England, told AFP.


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BENARNEWS- As he toured a tsunami-devastated area of western Java on Monday, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said he had ordered a government agency to acquire early-warning systems for alerting the public, while authorities revised the toll from Saturday's disaster to at least 373 people killed.
The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) also confirmed that an undersea landslide from a volcanic eruption had caused the watery disaster along coastal areas of the Sunda Strait, which separates the large islands of Java and Sumatra.
An agency spokesman said it lacked buoys in the sea equipped with sensors for detecting tsunamis unleashed under such circumstances, and its network of buoys for sensing undersea earthquakes that can churn tsunamis were out of order since 2012.
"In the future, I have also ordered the BMKG to purchase early warning systems that can provide early warnings to all of us so that people can be alert," Jokowi told reporters as he visited tsunami-hit Pandeglang regency in Java's Banten province, referring to the national Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.
In Saturday's tsunami, the authorities were not adequately equipped to anticipate it or warn the public to evacuate because such a phenomenon was usually triggered by an undersea temblor, the president said.
"This is really beyond BMKG's estimation because, previously, there was usually an earthquake first," Jokowi said.
Rosa Diarti, a resident of Labuhan sub-district in Pandeglang who was in the crowd, said she was "very happy" that Jokowi came.
"This is the first time we see the face of President Jokowi in person," she told BenarNews. "The president asked us to keep our spirits high. Thank God, the President can take the time to visit us here."

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Police take part in a search for tsunami victims amid collapsed building in Pandeglang regency, Banten province, Dec. 24, 2018. [Keisyah Aprilia/BenarNews]

No early warning
Search teams were scattered across the disaster-zone Monday, as they combed through the devastation, looking for survivors and recovering more bodies, the disaster management agency said.
Searchers, vehicles and heavy equipment reached some places that were hard to access earlier, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the BNPB, said in a statement.
As of late Monday, nearly 400 people were confirmed dead, more than 1,400 were injured and at least another 128 were missing, the agency said. Altogether, at least 5,665 people had been displaced and more than 660 homes damaged by the tsunami.
"The tsunami buoy network in Indonesian waters has not operated since 2012," Sutopo said via messages posted on Twitter, noting that vandalism and a limited budget had prevented the agency from replacing buoys in the national Tsunami Early Warning System.
On the night of Saturday's disaster, he said, there was no system in place to detect this particular tsunami.
"The absence of early-warning equipment caused the tsunami ... to be undetected beforehand. There were no signs of the arrival of the tsunami so people did not have the time to evacuate," Sutopo said in a tweet.
The maritime early-warning system was installed following a massive undersea quake and tsunami off western Sumatra in December 2004. It was designed to detect undersea tremors from seismic activity, but Indonesia does not have a system for anticipating tsunamis created by volcanic eruptions, Sutopo said.
Saturday's eruption originated at Anak Krakatau, a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait and a geological offshoot of Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa), whose catastrophic eruption over two days in August 1883 is believed to have killed tens of thousands of people.
"From the east wind season to the west wind season, the volcano is always like this, always growling, lava always coming out," a local fisherman, Santani, told BenarNews, referring to Anak Krakatau.
The volcano erupted 24 minutes before the tsunami struck on Saturday night, authorities said.
"Indonesia must build an early-warning system that is generated by underwater landslides & volcanic eruptions," Sutopo said via Twitter.
"Indonesia does not yet have a tsunami early warning system caused by underwater landslides and volcanic eruptions. There is currently an earthquake early warning system. The system is running well," he added.
The Dec. 22 disaster struck three months after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province on Sept. 28, killing more than 2,000.
"I was chilling out at home, watching TV. Then I heard something like the sound of a ship," a local resident by the name of Suryana told BenarNews.
"I went out and I saw this white line on the ocean. I looked at it, wondering was it a wave or just the reflection of the moon. It was a wave rising. Then I ran away, only in my underpants."
Another local, Sahmin said his family roused him from sleep when the giant wave struck his home.
"When I woke up the water was up to my waist, I was dragged by that wave," he told Benar.
"I was dragged here and there, holding onto a border wall concrete panel, for two hours," he said, referring to a barricade that separates a beach front from a resort area.
Indonesia is located in the tectonically active Ring of Fire – an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean – and frequently suffers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in the nation's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian authorities have warned residents to stay away from beaches along the Sunda Strait, saying extreme weather and volcanic activity could generate another devastating tsunami in areas where more than 420 people were killed over the weekend.
The warning came as the nation marked the anniversary of the 2004 tsunami in which 130,000 Indonesians died – most of them in Aceh – after a magnitude 9.1 quake in the Indian Ocean spawned giant walls of water that killed 230,000 across 14 countries.
"Extreme weather could increase the potential of the Anak Krakatau landslides to the sea," said Dwikorita Karnawati, chief of Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), referring to the volcano that has been erupting since June. "We are afraid that could trigger a tsunami."
Scientists said satellite images showed that a 64-hectare (158-acre) chunk of the crater of Anak Krakatau collapsed after an eruption on Saturday night, sliding into the ocean to produce a deadly wave that swept beachfront homes and hotels in coastal areas of Banten Province in West Java and Lampung Province in Sumatra.
"It was a very big and fast (landslide)," Widjo Kongko, a tsunami researcher with the Indonesia Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), told BenarNews on Wednesday.
"Since the collapse, I assume that the slope is now steeper and the rain has made it more fragile," he said. 

The volcano, which sits in the middle of the Sunda Strait, about 25 to 30 miles (40 to 50 kilometers) from the Java and Sumatra coastlines, remains active, authorities said, urging residents to observe a 1-kilometer (0.62-mile) "exclusion zone," the distance from coastlines that residents must avoid.
Widjo said heavy rains could make the volcano's crater susceptible to another collapse.
"I can't predict whether [the tsunami] would be bigger or smaller. But the risk is there," he said. "Especially since last night the escalation of the eruption has started to be more frequent."
Police have been patrolling the beaches, urging people to stay away from battered coastal villages. Emergency crews expect to find more bodies as they press into remote villages clobbered by the tsunami, officials said.
The death toll climbed slightly to 430 on Wednesday, with at least 159 people still missing and around 1,500 injured, according to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB). Almost 22,000 were left homeless, it said.
Rains hamper evacuation efforts
Soldiers and volunteers were seen carrying body bags on Wednesday as they searched along beaches cluttered by debris, local reports said.
But bad weather was hampering rescue efforts in other areas where roads had been cut off, BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference in Jakarta.
"Heavy rains make the river overflow and block access, such as in Labuan, Pandeglang Regency, Banten," said Sutopo, referring to the place that bore the brunt of the disaster.
"Many roads that were damaged by the tsunami have now become increasingly difficult," he said.
The government has started using helicopters to distribute aid in several areas, Sutopo said.
A state of emergency has been declared until Jan. 4 in affected areas of Banten Province to make it easier to deploy assistance, he said.

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Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency, answers questions from reporters in Jakarta, Dec. 26, 2018. [Arie Firdaus/BenarNews]

Foreign assistance
Several countries have offered assistance in the wake of the disaster, which also destroyed more than 900 houses, 73 hotels and lodging units and hundreds of boats and vehicles.
"Saddened by the loss of lives and destruction in Indonesia caused by tsunami. Condolences to the bereaved families," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Sunday. "India is ready to assist our maritime neighbor and friend in relief work," he said.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also expressed his condolences on Monday.
"A very difficult day for our friends in Indonesia," Morrison tweeted. "Our thoughts go out to all those who have lost loved ones, the injured and all of their families. As always we stand ready to assist as needed."
The European Union and the United States earlier also offered their assistance.
But Sutopo on Wednesday told reporters that Indonesia could still handle relief and rescue without foreign help.
"Our national potential is sufficient to handle the Sunda Strait disaster," he said.
Little warning
It was the second time in three months that a tsunami has clobbered Indonesia. On Sept. 28, a tsunami spawned by a major quake slammed Sulawesi island, killing more than 2,000 people.
The tsunami on Saturday roared ashore with little warning, officials said, acknowledging that no alert had been sounded in advance because the nation's warning system detects only tsunamis spawned by temblors.
Indonesia, home to about 260 million people, is located in the tectonically active Ring of Fire – an area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean – and frequently suffers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
On Dec. 26, 2004, about 130,000 people died in the nation's westernmost province of Aceh when a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the west coast of Sumatra, spawning a series of devastating tsunamis.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian authorities have arrested almost 400 suspected militants in 2018, the nation's police chief said Thursday, as he predicted that terrorism will remain a significant threat to public security next year.
In May, Indonesia suffered suicide bombings that targeted three churches and a police headquarters in Surabaya, the nation's second largest city, killing 24 people, including children who allegedly joined their parents on a terror spree that took their own lives.
Those back-to-back attacks spurred the Indonesian Parliament to fast-track an anti-terror law that allows police to detain suspects for 21 days without charge.
"Now we are stronger to do counter strike and preventive strike, rather than waiting for evidence of a committed crime," Gen. Tito Karnavian, chief of the national police, told a news conference.
Tito was referring to the revised Anti-Terrorism Law that also allows authorities to hold suspects for another 200 days after filing charges against them, giving police sufficient time to gather evidence before handing the case to prosecutors.
Out of the 396 suspects arrested this year on suspicion of terror links, 141 people had been charged in court, Tito said. By comparison, he said, police arrested 176 terror suspects last year.
Tito attributed the significant statistical jump to what he described as intensive counter-terrorism operations prior to hosting of international multi-sport events, such as the Asian Games on Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 in the capital Jakarta and Palembang city.
"Honestly, the operations to arrest terror suspects after the Surabaya attacks were possible after the law was issued," Tito said. "So, while the Surabaya case is a tragedy, at the same time it is a lesson, too."
The attacks in Surabaya became the first suicide bombings involving family members in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation of more than 260 million people.
Tito told reporters in September that within four months after the bombings, police had arrested at least 352 members of the local branch of the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a network of Indonesian militants with Islamic State (IS) links.
During the past 12 months, security forces also shot dead 25 men in separate gunfights that took place when the suspects refused to be arrested, according to a police report. It said eight officers were killed and 23 were injured in those anti-terror operations.
The Surabaya attacks occurred a few days after terrorist inmates rioted over a food complaint at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention facility, a maximum-security prison in West Java's Depok district, leaving five police officers and an inmate dead.
IS has inspired cells of radical groups in Indonesia, Tito said. The extremist group once held vast territories that straddled parts of Iraq and Syria and ran a so-called caliphate in the Syrian city of Raqqa until it was routed by U.S.-backed forces last year.
"While they are not completely gone, they will try to mobilize their network. Like in Europe, in America, including in Southeast Asia," Tito said, referring to the IS.
More than 600 Indonesians, including dozens of women and children, traveled to Syria to join IS, according Indonesian counter-terrorism officials. Since 2015, about 430 Indonesians have been deported from Turkey after trying to cross into Syria to join IS, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters in June.
The possible return of more deportees and the Surabaya bombings have revived fears about IS's attempts to spread its influence in Indonesia.
But Tito expressed confidence that with the doubling in size of the country's counter-terrorism task force – from 600 to about 1,300 personnel – and also the establishment of a Terrorism Task Force in each police region, authorities can improve efforts to eradicate terrorism.
"Even though there are still potential threats ... we will be able to overcome them," he said.


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BENARNEWS- Another 20,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas along Indonesia's Sunda Strait, officials said Friday, as the volcano that caused last week's tsunami continued to rumble.
Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said 40,386 people had been pulled out of coastal communities of Banten and Lampung provinces, which were devastated when a huge chunk of the Anak Krakatau volcano collapsed into the sea on Dec. 22, spawning waves that surged inland and killed over 400 people.
He said the evacuation doubled Thursday's figure of 20,000 after scientists had increased the volcano's alert level to the second-highest and required residents to stay at least 5 km (3 miles) away from the crater.
"There is a danger of more eruptions," Sutopo told reporters. "People [near the volcano] could be hit by hot rocks, pyroclastic flows and thick ash."
Residents in coastal areas of the Sunda Strait have also been warned to stay at least a kilometer away from the shorelines.
Sutopo said the confirmed death toll from the tsunami was 426, revising previous reports of 430 fatalities. Authorities blamed the error on double-counting of bodies, but said figures could still climb in the next few days.
"The data is temporary," Sutopo said. "It is estimated it will increase even though it may be small."
The number of injured rose sharply from over 1,400 people to 7,202, he said, adding that at least 23 people were still missing.
Scientists said satellite images showed that a 64-hectare (158-acre) chunk of the crater of Anak Krakatau collapsed after an eruption on Dec. 22, sliding into the ocean to produce a deadly wave that swept beachfront homes and hotels in coastal areas.
'We cannot force them'
Anak Krakatau began erupting in July, with continual small eruptions, but the volume of magma released and the crater size have increased since Dec. 22, a BNPB statement said.
"Since then it has erupted without pause. Sounds of eruptions are heard several times per minute," it said.
The volcano sits in the middle of the Sunda Strait, about 25 to 30 miles (40 to 50 kilometers) from the Java and Sumatra coastlines.
About 2,300 people of the total 2,814 who live on Sebesi, the island nearest Anak Krakatau, have been evacuated to South Lampung in Sumatra, the BNPB spokesman said.
"Evacuation will be carried out until the activity of Anak Krakatau has decreased," he said.
But local officials told BenarNews that about 500 residents had refused to board ships since authorities began evacuating people on Wednesday.
"Some of them want to stay, and we cannot force them," said I Ketut Sukerta, chief of the South Lampung Disaster Management Agency.
It was the second time in three months that a tsunami has clobbered Indonesia, which frequently suffers earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
On Sept. 28, a tsunami spawned by a major quake slammed Sulawesi island, killing more than 2,000 people.
Among the ruins
Almost a week after the disaster, survivors began rebuilding their shattered lives.
"It is a test, we have to accept it," said Muhidin, a 37-year-old resident of Sumur village in Pandeglang regency, on the western end of Java, one of the hardest-hit areas.
"What we can save, we will bring," he told BenarNews as his wife tried to salvage items – clothes, kitchen utensils and several plastic chairs – from the debris-strewn ruins of their home on Friday.
"ID cards, the family card, and other important documents are missing," he said.
Another resident, Supriyatna Ata, 41, was doing the same thing.
"I have to accept this test from God," he told BenarNews.
"We have to rise up," he said. "Maybe there is a silver lining behind all of this."


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BENARNEWS- Heavy rain and bad roads hampered the search for 20 people missing after this week's deadly landslide in Indonesia's West Java province, officials said Wednesday.
At least 15 people died when the landslide buried houses in a village in Sukabumi regency on Monday, National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, calling it the biggest landslide to hit the area in 50 years. The government of Sukabumi has declared a seven-day emergency response period.
Since Monday, nearly 900 rescuers from the National Search and Rescue Agency, the military, police and residents dug through the mud, aided by three mechanical excavators and two tracking dogs, Sutopo said. Bad weather has slowed their efforts.
"Incessant downpours have caused more landslides from the hilltop," Sutopo told reporters.
He said the loose soil in the village of 101 people was vulnerable to landslides.
"The area should have been designated as a conservation zone, not agriculture or settlement," Sutopo said.
Iwan Rahmawandi, the chief of the Rapid Reaction Team at the Sukabumi Civil Protection Agency, said bad roads and rain forced rescuers to halt the search mid-afternoon on Wednesday.
"Narrow and steep roads mean they have to be extra careful," he told BenarNews by telephone, adding that four smaller landslides had been recorded since Monday.
"Communication has also been difficult because the cellular signal there is not good," he said. "More help is on its way but it's been hampered by difficult road conditions."
The rescuers needed more equipment such as mechanical excavators, shovels and latex gloves, he added.
Millions face risk of landslides
Sutopo said government data showed that nearly 41 million people across Indonesia lived in areas at risk of landslides, including those living in as many as 33 areas in Sukabumi.
"Areas prone to landslides are scattered along Sumatra, the central and southern parts of Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua," he said.
Despite efforts by local governments to inform people about disaster-prone areas, many were unaware of the danger, Sutopo said.
"Many people still don't know what causes landslides and how to anticipate them. They receive little education about disaster mitigation," he said.
 
Jokowi visits Lampung
Meanwhile on Wednesday, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo visited Lampung province in the wake of a tsunami in the Sunda Strait that killed at least 437 people in coastal areas of Lampung and Banten provinces on Dec. 22.
"There needs to be a review of regional spatial planning, especially in places at risk of events such as tsunami," Jokowi said in a government statement.
More than 14,000 people were injured and nearly 37,000 displaced by the tsunami, according to the disaster management agency. Ten people are listed as missing.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia suspended its university internship program in Taiwan after a media report alleged that hundreds of student participants were made to work in factories and eat meals containing pork, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
Indonesia's Economic and Trade Office (IETO) in Taiwan was asking Taiwanese authorities for clarification about the media report, said Arrmanatha Nasir, spokesman at the Indonesian foreign ministry. A lawmaker in Taiwan had alleged that the Indonesian students were forced to work four days a week instead of attending classes.
"Indonesia will temporarily stop sending students under the study-internship scheme until there's an agreement on better arrangements," Arrmanatha said in a statement sent to BenarNews.
Meanwhile, Indonesian legislator Martin Hutabarat urged the government to investigate the allegations.
"I think the Taiwanese government will seriously check the veracity of the news for the sake of good relations with Indonesia. Our government must move quickly to find the truth," Martin told BenarNews.
In 2016, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen launched the New Southbound Policy (NSP), an exchange program to promote cooperation between Taiwan and 18 Asian countries.
About 6,000 Indonesians are studying in Taiwan, including 1,000 participants of the internship program enrolled at eight universities, according to the foreign ministry.
IETO has urged Taiwanese authorities to take steps to ensure that the welfare and interests of Indonesian students were protected.
Last week, Taiwanese legislator Ko Chih-en said that six universities had sent students under an NSP program to work in factories, according to the report in Taiwan News, the oldest English-language newspaper in Taiwan.
Ko cited a case where 300 Indonesian students enrolled at Hsing Wu University were forced to work four days a week at a factory where they packaged contact lenses for 10 hours per shift. They were allowed to attend classes two days a week and have one day of rest, the report said.
University visit
Kendra Chen, a spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, dismissed the report as false.
"What we want to emphasize here is Taiwan always looks after the welfare of members of the Indonesian diaspora in Taiwan – be they students, workers or their spouses," Chen told BenarNews.
Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Education and the IETO visited Hsing Wu University on Thursday to seek clarification, Chen said.
"The Indonesian students there denied there were problems as the report suggested. A total of 217 students at Hsing Wu University even co-signed a letter and made a video to show their support for the university," he said.
Chen said the students believed allegations were made by people with bad faith, adding that the Taiwanese trade office in Jakarta would hold a news conference on Friday to address the issue.
Ko had also alleged that the students were fed meals containing pork – which is forbidden by the Muslim culture. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.
The Indonesian Council of Ulema urged Taiwan to respect religious freedom.
"It is best to avoid policies that are detrimental and contrary to international law," said Muhyiddin Junaidi, leader of the council's foreign affairs department.


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BENARNEWS- The trial of a Polish man charged with treason over his alleged involvement with separatist rebels in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province was adjourned for the second time Tuesday after the defendant refused to attend, his lawyers said.
Jakub Fabian Skrzypski, 39, and another defendant, alleged Papuan separatist Simon Magal, 30, were due to hear their indictment Tuesday at the Wamena District Court in remote Jayawijaya Regency.
But Skrzypski insisted that hearings be held in the provincial capital, Jayapura, according to his defense attorney, Welis Doga. The hearing was postponed until January 14.
"I was called by the prosecutor who said Jakub refused to come to the trial," Welis told BenarNews.
Welis said he then visited Skrzypski at the Jayawijaya police station, where he had been detained since December, to persuade him to come to court, but he refused.
The trial opened on Dec. 16 but was adjourned because there was no translator for the defendant.
In early December, a Papuan separatist group claimed responsibility for an attack that left 19 construction workers dead. The victims had been building roads and bridges in remote Nduga Regency.
Refusing Food
Skrzypski, who was arrested in August in Wamena, and Magal are both accused of involvement in arms trading.
Police allege that Magal had asked Skrzypski to help him buy weapons for a Papuan separatist group. Skrzypski agreed, according to the police.
The Pole has denied the charges, saying that he was not an arms dealer and did not even own a weapon.
Another of his lawyers, Latifah Anum Siregar, said her client had complained of poor conditions in detention in Wamena, including a lack of clean water.
"He's been depressed, partly because of poor conditions in detention . He's refused to eat food provided by the detention center," she told BenarNews.
Skrzypski's demand has been discussed with the panel of judges, Welis said .
"But the judges have no authority to decide on the matter," he said.
David Maturbongs, Magal's defense attorney, said he had lobbied for the trial to be moved to Jayapura, but the request was rejected.
Maturbongs expressed concern about uncertainty faced by Magal because of Skrzypski's refusal to attend hearings.
"I can understand Jakub's attitude, but on the other hand, this is is detrimental to my client," David said.
Papua is one of Indonesia's poorest regions. despite its rich natural resources. It has been the scene of a low-level armed separatist conflict since the 1960s. Human rights groups have accused security forces of committing rights abuses during counter-insurgency operations.


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BENARNEWS- Trilateral sea patrols are not likely to stop kidnapping by the southern Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf or reduce the risk of terrorism, a conflict resolution think tank said in a new report released Wednesday.
The Trilateral Maritime Patrol (TMP), a regional defense initiative launched in June 2017 by the defense ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, has been hailed as a success by officials.
The initiative was in response to a spate of kidnappings targeting fishing trawlers and tugboats in Sulu and Sulawesi seas by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) gunmen in 2016.
The kidnappings prompted Indonesia to unilaterally suspend the export of coal to the Philippines, valued at an estimated $700 million a year.
But abductions by Abu Sayyaf resumed in September 2018 after a 20-month lull, the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said. A Malaysian and four Indonesian fishermen were abducted in two operations in late 2018, while a Malaysian tugboat crew was able to thwart a third attack.
"The move toward improved security cooperation between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines is useful to the extent that it can help overcome distrust and improve communication among militaries in the region," the IPAC report said.
"But policy-makers in the region need to be realistic. None of these measures will stop terrorism or kidnapping in the Sulu-Sulawesi sea," it said. "They may marginally improve security for commercial shipping when combined with the national coastal patrols, but they are all trying to provide a military answer to a problem that is not fundamentally military in nature."
Non-military measures such as strengthening law enforcement, information sharing among police forces and more effort to capture and debrief suspects rather than kill them could prove to be more effective in tackling the threat posed by Abu Sayyaf, the report said.
"Analysis of those debriefings is critical to understanding ASG networks and identifying possible policy interventions. In the long term, deterring both kidnapping and terrorism involves addressing deeply entrenched political and economic issues in the Sulu archipelago," IPAC said.
The patrols were first envisioned in 2016 but the siege of the Marawi city in the southern Philippines by pro-Islamic State militants in May 2017 provided the final impetus.
Maritime patrols were launched the following months and joint air patrols followed in October 2017 – the same month the Marawi siege was finally ended.
Five months of heavy fighting killed at least 1,200 people, mostly militants, including the acknowledged Philippine IS leader Isnilon Hapilon.
The report further argues that trilateral patrols were not effective in preventing foreign militants from entering Mindanao in the southern Philippines to fight alongside local rebels.
"Even if the TMP contributed to the lull in kidnapping, it does not follow that coordinated patrols have been or would be effective in interdicting foreign fighters coming to join the jihad in Mindanao," it said.
"At the height of the Marawi siege, many would-be combatants traveled by air to Mindanao or were stopped by vigilant police and immigration authorities before they could make contact with Philippine extremists."
The IPAC report attributed the nearly two-year hiatus to the killing of the ASG's leading sub-commanders by Philippine and Malaysian security forces, among other factors.
"The question is why suddenly kidnapping resumed and the most logical answer is a pressing need for money – to help local politicians, provide support to fugitives from Marawi, gain the upper hand in clan or family rivalries or simply as a way to survive," IPAC said.


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BENARNEWS- The trial of a Polish man accused of aiding separatist rebels in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province began Monday after the defendant was compelled to attend, his lawyer said.
Jakub Fabian Skrzypski, 39, and Simon Magal, 30, an alleged Papuan separatist, appeared in Wamena District Court after Skrzypski reportedly refused to come to court last week. A December hearing was adjourned after the Polish national requested a translator.
"Jakub finally went to court after being forced to do so by the public prosecutor," one of his lawyers, Latifah Anum Siregar, told BenarNews.
Chief prosecutor Ricarda Arsenius said the defendant had been "persuaded" to come, not forced. "Initially he objected. But after we persuaded and gave an explanation, Jakub wanted to be present in court," he said.
Reading from a 14-page indictment, prosecutors said Skrzypski first visited Papua in 2007 as a tourist, but with an agenda of meeting armed separatists and to "convey the Free Papua issue to the European world in the form of journals or his writing."
Skrzypski and Magal, his co-defendant, often communicated over the Messenger application and the Polish national came to Papua a second time in mid-2018, the indictment said.
"Defendent Jakub Fabian Skrzypski went to Wamena and met with some people in the headquarters of the TNP OPM [in] Puncak Jaya," Ricarda said, using an acronym armed Papuan separatists.
"On 15 July 2018, defendant Simon Magal asked defendant Jakub, 'can West Papuan fighters work with Poland on procurement of weapons?' and Jakub answered, 'I know, I am trying to meet something.'"
The defendants are expected to respond to the charges at the next court session on Jan. 21.
Skrzypski, arrested on Aug. 26, 2018, in Wamena, is the first foreigner indicted on a  treason charge in Papua, according to Siregar.
"Article 106 of the Criminal Code is an allegation against those suspected of committing treason. And article 55 of the Indonesian Criminal Code is known as 'participation,' meaning that the crime was carried out jointly," she said, explaining criminal code articles cited in the indictment.
If found guilty, the two could face up to 20 years in prison, or a life sentence.
Two French journalists, Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat, were investigated for treason in 2014 but eventually sentenced to two and one-half months in prison for misusing a tourist visa.
Foreign media access is restricted in Papua and West Papua, Indonesia's two easternmost provinces, which make up about one-fifth of Indonesia's land mass. The region is one of Indonesia's poorest, with low literacy rates and high rates of infant and maternal mortality.
In early December, a Papuan separatist group claimed responsibility for an attack that left 19 construction workers dead. The victims had been building roads and bridges in remote Nduga Regency.

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Jakub Fabian Skrzypski (right), and Simon Magal are seen in the holding cell at Wamena District Court in Jayawijaya, Papua, Jan. 14, 2019. (Courtesy of Latifah Anum Siregar)

Jakub Fabian Skrzypski (right), and Simon Magal are seen in the holding cell at Wamena District Court in Jayawijaya, Papua, Jan. 14, 2019. (Courtesy of Latifah Anum Siregar)
When visited by a BenarNews reporter at Jayawijaya police jail last week, Skrzypski denied being involved in arms smuggling or propaganda on behalf of Papuan rebels.
"I am not a blogger or filmmaker, journalist or activists. I am not a military trainer and I do not have that background. I am not an arms dealer," Skrzypski told BenarNews on Jan. 9.
He complained of poor conditions in detention and said police had little evidence against him.
"The cells are very small and the bathroom is not taken care of. The water is filthy. The detention room is cold and there are mosquitos," he said.
During interrogation, police kept showing a photo of him in Switzerland and one of him shaking hands with someone as evidence, he said.
"What do those photos prove? Are they trying to trap me for some political reason, their own ambition, or personal gain?" he asked


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BENARNEWS- It was a grisly find that Indonesian villagers stumbled upon – a head wrapped in a cloth placed on a bridge in Parigi Moutong, Central Sulawesi on Dec. 30, just before 2018 ended.
When police went to retrieve the mutilated body of the hapless victim, later identified as Stevanus Ronal Batau, gunshots from the surrounding hills broke out, wounding two officers.
Police believe remnants of the pro-Islamic State Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) based in nearby Poso were behind Batau's killing and the attack on police personnel.
The incident was a worrying sign of the persistence of a group Indonesia has spent years trying to root out – and it could draw fresh militants to the remote, mountainous region, analysts say.
"The sadistic killing was a deliberate attempt to show that they still exist. The act of placing the victim's head on the bridge was a bait to draw police out there so they could shoot them," retired Inspector-General of Indonesian Police Benny Mamoto told BenarNews.
"Such conditions will motivate other extremists to gather in Poso because it is 'proven' that right until this moment, the police and military are unable to overcome the situation there," said Mamoto, now vice director of Strategic and Global Studies at University of Indonesia (UI).
In the interview conducted via text message from Jakarta, Mamoto urged the government to maintain its security operation in the region.
"If the threat is not eliminated, there is a big possibility that the location will become a base for IS since the fall of Marawi," he said. "Extremists from other countries will train and consolidate themselves in Poso where they will plan attacks that will be carried out in several targeted countries."
In 2017, pro-Islamic State militants took over Marawi city on Mindanao island in the southern Philippines and laid siege to the city for five months before government forces regained control.
At least 1,200 people, mostly militants, were killed, and much of the city was decimated. It was the most serious assault by IS in Southeast Asia, and unsettled governments across the region.
Return of foreign fighters?
A former militant who fought in Poso echoed Mamoto's warning.
"In Southeast Asia, the most suitable places for Islamic State to 'transplant' their fighting zone is either Mindanao in southern Philippines or Poso," Ali Fauzi Manzi, a former bomb-maker for Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), al-Qaeda's Southeast Asian affiliate, told BenarNews during a recent visit to Kuala Lumpur.
"Islamic State is currently looking for an alternative to Iraq and Syria where they have lost their territories," he said.
"If this (violence) is allowed to continue, it could draw foreign fighters to return to Poso to give support to that group," said Ali, who fought in Poso around 1998. "From the outside, foreign fighters will look at Poso and think that MIT is getting stronger by the day, not weaker."
Police spokesman for Central Sulawesi Hery Murwono told BenarNews the current situation in Poso was "normal."
"It is peaceful here. It is just that we are having operations against MIT," Murwono said.
Indonesia has mounted a joint police-military operation in the mountains of Poso since 2015 – and recently extended it another 90 days.
MIT was led by Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, who was killed in July 2016 by Operation Tinombala to hunt down the militants.
Santoso operated out of the surrounding mountains in Poso and conducted para-military training for militants, drawing recruits from within and outside the country including at least six Uyghurs.
Two months after his death, his successor Mohamad Basri also was captured. That same year, authorities announced they had reduced MIT's ranks from an estimated 40 people to fewer than 10.
The death of Santoso and the capture of his deputy significantly weakened the group until the recent brutal killing brought them back into the spotlight.
Santoso was the first Indonesian militant to publicly pledge allegiance to IS. During his leadership, at least three farmers in the same district in Parigi Moutong were beheaded in 2015 – many of them non-Muslims from other parts of Indonesia.
"There are many non-Muslim farmers from Bali who are staying in that area who were killed by MIT when the militants stumbled upon them. Not only non-Muslims, but also Muslims whom they deemed as infidels for not sharing their ideology were also killed. It was dangerous out there," Ali said, describing MIT tactics under Santoso's leadership.
New Recruits
His replacement, Ali Kalora, is seen as an uninspiring leader, Ali said.
"Ali was made MIT leader because the group has no other choice," he said.
He also has limited experience, according to Robi Sugara, a counter-terrorism analyst at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University.
"[H]e only has knowledge of how to wage guerrilla warfare in the mountains. This group will become dangerous if it is helped by terror groups from Java island," Sugara said.
But in announcing the latest extension of Operation Tinombala, Murwono, the local police spokesman, said the MIT now had 14 members, including three new people from Banten, West Java, and one from Makassar, in South Sulawesi.
A local human rights activists expressed frustration at the news.
"The increase in the number of MIT followers shows that Operation Timonbala has missed the mark for the umpteenth time," Mohammad Afandi, executive director of the Central Sulawesi Institute for Development of Human Rights Studies, told BenarNews earlier this month.
"I'm not blaming any party. But do we want to let this go on? The group grows, the operation continues, there's no resolution. How long will this go on?"
A rather long time, according to Mamoto, who worked with Indonesia's anti-terror squad Densus 88 following the 2002 Bali bombings, the 2003 Marriot Hotel bombing, and the 2004 Australian embassy bombing – all carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah, whose remnants later fled to Poso.
"The security apparatus can handle this but it needs to be an all-out effort , which will take a rather long time, as well requiring consistency in the operations," Mamoto said.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian presidential candidates and their running mates traded jabs on issues including terrorism, corruption and human rights in the first televised debate ahead of the April 17 election, but neither side emerged as a strong winner.
Viewers who expected a fierce exchange on policy details were left disappointed because neither President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo nor his challenger, former general Prabowo Subianto, delivered creative proposals or punchy rebuttals.
The Jokowi-Prabowo face-off is a repeat of the tightly-contested 2014 election. A recent poll conducted before the first of five debates suggested that the race is still Jokowi's to lose.
Jokowi said during the debate Thursday night that his government was adopting a combination of strong law enforcement and "persuasive approaches" in dealing with terrorism.
"Our country has been hailed as a model for fighting terrorism.  It's important that security personnel are armed with knowledge of human rights. We emphasize prevention through social, cultural, economic and religious approaches," Jokowi said.
Prabowo flouted his credentials in dealing with terrorism, saying that he created an anti-terrorism unit when he served in the army's elite special forces unit, Kopassus.
"Based on my experience, I know that terrorism is often sent from other countries and in disguise. It is made out to be the work of Muslims, but the truth is it could be orchestrated by non-Muslims," Prabowo said.
"So I reject the radical stigma attached to Muslims," said Prabowo, who draws support from millions of Muslim conservatives who see Jokowi as somewhat hostile to Islamist politics in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.
Playing it safe
Last year, the government disbanded Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the local branch of an international group seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate, arguing that its ideology threatened the country's unity. More than 85 percent of Indonesia's 250 million people are Muslim.
Jokowi has picked conservative Islamic cleric Ma'ruf Amin as his running mate to boost his Islamic credentials amid accusations that he is not sufficiently Islamic.
At the debate, Ma'ruf said terrorism is not jihad and is forbidden in Islam.
"Terrorism equals creating destruction. The Quran states that people who create destruction on earth must be punished severely," said Ma'ruf, who remained silent for much of the debate.
"If it's a religious factor, we will straighten their deviant understanding of religion. If it's a social and economic factor, the approach involves providing employment and assistance to put them back on the right path," he added.
Jokowi led Prabowo by 20 percent in a poll released in December by Indikator Politik Indonesia.
But Indikator said Jokowi's re-election was not a foregone conclusion, noting that Prabowo's numbers expanded from 30 percent to 34.8 percent between October and December.
Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said neither candidate offered interesting or creative ideas about how to tackle terrorism.
"But I thought it was particularly conspiratorial of Prabowo to suggest that the major cause of terrorism was outside actors," Jones told BenarNews.
Jones said both sides played it safe partly because they did not want to create controversy and alienate voters.
"I just think nobody wants to come up with original, creative ideas in a campaign where it creates too many risks to offer innovative thinking," she said.
The Jokowi government has performed well in law enforcement in that many of the militant networks have been disrupted, but other aspects still leave much to be desired, Jones said.
"There's a lot of more that needs to be done in terms of prevention strategies, and that includes a better rehabilitation program for deportees and for released prisoners and their families," she said, referring to returnees from conflict zones overseas.
'Reign supreme'
During much of the two-hour debate, Prabowo and his running mate, wealthy businessman Sandiaga Uno, highlighted economic problems facing the country, including unemployment and income inequality.
Prabowo criticized the president for failing to shore up the country's economic growth, currently at around 5 percent annually.
The former general said if elected, he would raise the salaries of civil servants and government officials to prevent corruption, a plan rejected by Jokowi, who said that they were sufficiently paid.
Sandiaga said human rights would "reign supreme" if Prabowo and he were elected.
"Prabowo-Sandi will uphold human rights and this is non-negotiable," he said.
Prabowo has been accused of committing human rights violations during his time in the military, including the disappearances of several pro-democracy activists during the dying days of strongman Suharto's rule in the late 1990s.
Prabowo has denied any wrongdoing, saying that his conscience was clear.
Jokowi vowed to respect diversity, saying ethnic, religious and linguistic differences were divine blessings.
"Our country's biggest asset is its unity," he said.
But Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch said the candidates failed to address the issue of religious and gender discrimination.
"Indonesia has more than 400 local regulations which discriminate religious and gender minorities," he said, citing the Islamic criminal code in autonomous Aceh province which criminalizes gay and sex outside marriage.
Many Indonesians were unimpressed by the candidates' debating skills.
"The debate was pretty boring because the two pairs of candidates failed to elaborate on their policy proposals," said Adi Prayitno, a political analyst at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.
"Prabowo was too cautious and squandered the opportunity to be on the offensive," he said.
"All in all, it was a draw. Neither side is good or bad," he concluded.
Some Indonesians online quipped that high school students were better debaters than the presidential candidates.
"This is a debate of two adults but in terms of debating skills, they are worse than high school students. There's a lack of critical arguments, facts and data," said a Twitter user, Muhammad Wildan Teddy.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia said Friday it would release on humanitarian grounds an elderly Muslim cleric who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for terrorism and is the spiritual leader of the group behind the country's deadliest terror attack – the 2002 Bali bombings.
Abu Bakar Bashir, 80, has served nine years of his sentence and is being held at the Gunung Sindur penitentiary in Bogor, West Java.
Arrested and jailed in 2010, Bashir was convicted in 2011 of helping fund a militant training camp in Aceh province linked to a plot to attack Western interests in Indonesia, as well as inciting militants to carry out terrorist attacks, including those on Bali island in 2002. The conviction came after previous prosecution attempts failed.
"First, it's due to humanitarian considerations, considering that he is 80 years old, ill and needs treatment," Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a presidential adviser on legal affairs, told reporters.
Without elaborating, he said Bashir had agreed to the conditions for his release set by the government.
Bashir had accepted the offer and wanted to be with his family in Solo, Central Java province, Yusril said. He is to be freed within the next few days.
"He wanted to rest at home, not doing many things. He said 'I don't mind not being visited by guests. The most important thing is being with my family,'" Yusril said.
In a short message to BenarNews, Yusril said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo understood Bashir's wishes to be with his family.
"He said he was only subservient to Islam, not to others. We, including the president, understand the way he thinks, therefore Mr. Jokowi agreed to release him," he said.
Jokowi, who is seeking re-election on April 17, said he had weighed for a year the prospect of Bashir's release.
"The security aspect was considered and discussed with the national police chief, experts and Mr. Yusril," Jokowi told reporters. Yusril served as justice minister under two previous presidents.
Muhammad Mahendradatta, a lawyer representing Bashir, said his client had never asked for clemency or a pardon. Bashir had the right to, but did not apply for parole because he had served two-thirds of his sentence.
Meanwhile, Agus Salim, the governor of Gunung Sindur prison, said he had not received a formal request to release Bashir.
"We are waiting for an order from the minister (of justice)," he told BenarNews.
Family pleased
Bashir's family welcomed his impending freedom.
Son Abdurrahim Bashir said he received the news from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights.
"Thank God, the president finally approved his release," he told BenarNews.
He said his father should have been released last year but refused to apply for a presidential pardon as requested by the government.
"The problem is more with the conditions imposed," he said.
Al Chaidar, an expert on terrorism at Malikussaleh University in Aceh province, said Jokowi's decision was politically motivated because Bashir commanded support among conservative Muslims who want to see Indonesia governed by sharia (Islamic) law.
Chaidar said the president was "playing with fire."
"Even though Bashir's frail and old, what he says will be heard by these radical groups. So in my opinion it is very risky to release him, even if only house arrest," Chaidar said.
But Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict and an expert on Islamic militancy in Indonesia, challenged Chaidar's concern. She said Bashir no longer posed a threat.
"I think he long ago ceased to be an important player," Jones told BenarNews. "It doesn't mean there's going to be a sudden rise in terrorist activities."
Bashir has been identified as the spiritual inspiration of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda and which was blamed for the bombings in Bali that killed 202 people more than 16 years ago, along with a series of attacks since then.
He was arrested after the Bali bombings but prosecutors could not link him to the attack. A Jakarta court instead found him guilty of falsifying documents and sentenced him to 18 months in prison.
Bashir was arrested again in 2010 for raising funds to create the militant training camp in Aceh province.


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BENARNEWS- An elderly Muslim cleric jailed on terrorism charges and linked to the 2002 Bali bombings will be released only if he pledges allegiance to the state and its founding ideology, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Tuesday.
Jokowi's remarks appeared to contradict a statement by his legal adviser last week that preacher Abu Bakar Bashir, 80, who is serving a 15-year prison term, would be released unconditionally on humanitarian grounds due to his age and poor health.
"There are legal procedures that we have to go through. This is a conditional release, not an unconditional one," Jokowi told reporters at the presidential palace in Jakarta.
"The conditions must be fulfilled, including a pledge of allegiance to the Unitary State of Indonesia and Pancasila," Jokowi said, referring to the state's philosophy, which espouses a belief in one God, humanity, unity, pluralism and social justice.
"These things are of utmost importance."
Bashir was jailed after his 2010 arrest and sentenced in 2011 to 15 years on charges that he helped fund a training camp for Islamic militants in Aceh province and incited extremists to carry out terrorist attacks. Previously, he was arrested after the Bali bombings, but prosecutors could not link him to the attack and a Jakarta court found him guilty of falsifying documents and sentenced him to 18 months in prison.
On Monday, Indonesian security minister Wiranto said the president had "ordered relevant officials to immediately conduct a deeper and comprehensive review to respond to the request" that Bashir be released from prison.
The government's apparent about-face came after Indonesians, including Jokowi supporters, took to social media to express opposition to Bashir's release.
In addition, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison urged Jokowi to show respect for his country, noting that 88 Australian citizens died in the Bali attack, which killed 202 people. Bashir co-founded Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional militant group associated with al-Qaeda that was blamed for the bombing.
Politics
A political analyst said Jokowi, who is seeking a second term as president in the April 17 election, made a politically calculated decision because Bashir commanded support among conservative Muslims.
Opponent Prabowo Subianto, a former general who lost to Jokowi in 2014, has a checkered human rights record but has cultivated ties with conservative Muslim groups.
Jokowi legal adviser Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who on Friday announced the release, has said that Bashir refused to sign the pledge of allegiance because he believed his loyalty was to God and Islam only.
Yusril said Jokowi could bypass the requirements on humanitarian grounds, and Bashir had agreed that Pancasila was consistent with Islamic teachings.
Meanwhile, lawyer Achmad Michdan told BenarNews that Bashir's love for country should not be doubted.
"Being loyal to one's country is part of Islamic teachings," Michdan said of his client.
Another Bashir lawyer, Muhammad Mahendradatta, told Indonesian media he had expected his client to be released on Wednesday.
Hometown welcome
In Surakarta in Central Java, preparations have been under way to welcome Bashir home. Tents have been erected outside the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school founded by the cleric.
"It looks like we've been given false hope," said Endro Sudarsono, a supporter and former teacher at Al-Mukmin. "Invitations have been sent and we will still come," he said.
Thayep Malik, a counter-terrorism researcher at the Prasasti Perdamaian Foundation, an Indonesian NGO, said Bashir's release had been anticipated by his supporters.
"If he's not freed, there will be more hostilities against the state," he warned.
Analysts react
Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, wrote in The Interpreter that Jokowi Widodo's decision to release Bashir was "misguided, legally questionable, and politically inept."
"It sends the message that if one defies the state long enough, it will eventually capitulate," she said. "It emboldens those who see democracy as incompatible with Islam because that's what Bashir has been arguing all his life."
Despite her harsh comments about the decision, Jones said Bashir's release was unlikely to suddenly increase the risk of terrorism in Indonesia and does not signal a reduction in Indonesia's counter-terror efforts.
Another analyst expressed concerns about Bashir's reach.
Sri Yunanto, a lecturer at the School of Strategic and Global Studies at the University of Indonesia, said Bashir needs to sign the loyalty pledge because he wrote a book attacking Pancasila.
"Abu Bakar Bashir is not alone, there are many [followers] behind him. He should be monitored by the police because after all his influence is still strong, "he added.


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BENARNEWS- A former Chinese-Christian governor of the Indonesian capital walked free from prison Thursday after serving 20½ months of a two-year sentence for allegedly blaspheming Islam – a case that drew international attention around the emerging influence of fundamentalism on politics in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
Ex-Jakarta Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, better known as "Ahok," left the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police prison in Depok, West Java, accompanied by his son and an aide upon his release, warden Andika Dwi Prasetya said.
"Praise be to God, he is in good health," Andika told reporters.
Ahok, 52, who now prefers to be called by his initials "BTP," did not speak to a throng of reporters and about two dozen supporters who were waiting for him outside the prison housed in the Brimob headquarters south of Jakarta.
But he exclaimed "Freedom!" as he posted photos on Twitter showing him signing official documents to secure his release from prison. In December, Indonesian corrections officials announced that Ahok was to be freed this month before his two-year sentence was up because of good behavior.
On Thursday, Ima Mahdiah, an aide to the former governor, said Ahok went home from the prison immediately upon his release so he could be with his children and mother.
"I'm only here for Mr. BTP. I just want to see him wave his hand," said a tearful supporter in the crowd, Tuti Oti, who was dressed in a trademark checkered shirt worn by Ahok during his past electoral campaign for governor.
"I am sad that I couldn't meet him.  He is a good person," the housewife told BenarNews, as two of her friends tried to console her.
Before his release, Ahok posted a message on his Twitter account, in which he appealed to his supporters not to come to the prison or hold a large gathering to celebrate his freedom.
Ahok was convicted of blasphemy in May 2017 over remarks contained in an edited video recording of a public speech, in which Ahok purportedly said that opponents had used a Quranic verse to dissuade people from voting for a Christian in that year's gubernatorial election.
The casual remarks were made during a meeting with residents while the governor was on a working visit to an island off Jakarta. Ahok belongs to Indonesia's tiny ethnic Chinese and Christian minority.
Later on, an edited video clip of his remarks was posted on Facebook. In it, an incomplete quote by Ahok made it appear like he was suggesting that the Quran deceived people.
This angered members of the country's Islamic majority, and led to hundreds of thousands of Muslims marching through the streets of Jakarta in late 2016 and early 2017 to demand he be jailed for blasphemy.
Ahok lost his gubernatorial election bid in February 2017 to Anies Baswedan, a Muslim intellectual and former education minister, despite being a frontrunner in a three-way vote. He was convicted of blasphemy three months later.
Buni Yani, the man who edited the video, was later found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison for violating the country's cyber law in connection with that footage. He was convicted of breaching a section of the law that regulates the changing, adding to, destroying or omitting of electronic information.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, Buni Yani appealed the ruling and has not served a day in prison following his conviction. He is now working on the media unit for the presidential election campaign of Prabowo Subianto, a former army general, the Hong Kong-based newspaper said.
HRW weighs in
Ahok's jailing underscored the dangerous and discriminatory nature of Indonesia's blasphemy law, Human Rights Watch said Thursday in reacting to news of his release.
"Ahok will finally be out of prison and reunited with his family, but he should never have been imprisoned in the first place," said Elaine Pearson, Australia director for the global rights watchdog.
"Ahok's unjust conviction is a reminder that minorities in Indonesia are at risk so long as the abusive blasphemy law remains in place," she added.
Ahok was deputy governor of Jakarta when he took over from Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in 2014, after the latter won the presidential election that year.
Following Ahok's release, his eldest son, Nicholas Sean, posted a photo on Instagram showing his father in a blue shirt and jeans, and appearing to be in high spirits.
Outside the prison, Santario Oulele, said he had come from Ambon, in the Moluccas islands, to catch a glimpse of Ahok.
He waved a poster that read: "I need Ahok, Jakarta needs Ahok, Indonesia needs Ahok."
Another supporter, Frida, said she hoped Ahok would return to politics.
"He is a good, clean and transparent politician and is incorruptible. Mr Ahok can make Indonesia more advanced," she told BenarNews, referring to Ahok's reputation as a governor who focused much of his time in office in cleaning up corruption in the Indonesian capital region.
During his more than 20 months in prison, however, the former governor reportedly underwent a personal transformation.
In the final few days leading up to his release, Ahok circulated on Twitter a letter that he wrote by hand.
"I'm grateful I was not elected in the 2017 gubernatorial election, because if I had been reelected, I would have been only a man who controls the City Hall," Ahok said in his letter.
"But here I have learned to control myself for all my life. If I had been elected, I would have been more arrogant and rude and hurt more people."
'He wants to enjoy his freedom first'
Photos circulating on social media later in the day showed Ahok with his family and fiancé, Puput Nastiti Devi, a policewoman whom he will marry in February, local media said.
Ahok divorced his wife, Veronica, while he was serving time in prison.
His former deputy at Jakarta's City Hall, Djarot Saiful Hidayat, said Ahok planned to take trips to Bali, his home island of Belitung, and go to Japan for a vacation.
"He wants to enjoy his freedom first. He wants to enjoy life," Djarot told reporters.
Djarot also said Ahok would establish a foundation called the BTP Foundation, to help people in need.
"In essence, he wants to help many people later," Djarot said.
Prasetyo Edi Marsudi, a close friend of Ahok who leads the Jakarta city council, said Ahok had accepted invitations to give speeches in Japan, New Zealand and Europe, and would also appear on a new channel on YouTube named "BTP," the South China Morning Post reported.
Meanwhile, President Jokowi, Ahok's ex-boss at city hall, said there was no immediate plan to meet his former deputy governor.
"Mr Ahok has gone through the legal process and has served his sentence, so it will be up to him to do what he wants to do," Jokowi said.
'Is he repentant?'
Last August, the president surprised many people by announcing that he had picked Ma'ruf Amin, the 75-year-old chairman of the Indonesian Council of Muslim Scholars (MUI), as his running mate for the April 2019 presidential election.
He said the ticket would represent a "nationalist-religious combination."
Ma'ruf had been instrumental in leading calls among conservative Muslims for Jokowi's former deputy at Jakarta city hall, Ahok, to be jailed on the blasphemy charge in May 2017.
On Thursday, a spokesman for a Muslim group that spearheaded the protests against Ahok that helped bring about his downfall as governor, said his words would still be scrutinized.
"We will see what he will be like. Is he repentant? If we still insults religion again, we will report him again," Novel Bamukmin told BenarNews.
Novel said he hoped Basuki would have a better life after being released, and suggested that the ex-governor of Jakarta eschew politics for good.
"Hopefully he is remorseful and finds his way," he said.
Ahok's attorney, I Wayan Sudirta, said his client was in good health.
Wayan declined to say what Ahok was planning to do after his release.
There have been local media reports that he might join the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Jokowi's party.
An aide to Ahok, Ima Mahdiah, said he had received invitations to speak in parts of the country, as well as overseas.
"Pak Ahok has become more patient. His emotions are sound and he is forgiving," Wayan Sudirta told BenarNews, using the Bahasa Indonesian honorific for "father."
"The point is he's become a better person, better physically and mentally."


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian militant said to be a close aide of Islamic State leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed in Syria, the nation's counter-terrorism agency and his family said Tuesday.
Muhammad Saifuddin, known by his aliases Mohammed Yusop Karim Fais and Abu Walid, was among three Southeast Asian militants who were labelled last year by the U.S. Treasury Department as "global terrorists" for allegedly recruiting foreign fighters to pledge their allegiance to al-Baghdadi.
Brig. Gen. Hamli, director of prevention at the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), confirmed Saifuddin's death and said photographs of a corpse circulating on the messaging platform WhatsApp was of the militant.
"We believe he is dead because we saw the photos of his body. We also received confirmation from our friends there," Hamli told BenarNews.
The news of Saifuddin's death was initially spread on a WhatsApp group whose members are Islamic State (IS) militants.
The photos, seen by BenarNews, showed the body of a thin man wearing a black robe and a brown headband, his mouth slightly open and showing teeth.
"When we received the news, BNPT contacted former terrorists who recognized Abu Walid and also sought confirmation from third parties and the family to verify the information," Hamli said.
Hamli said he did not know the cause of Saifuddin's death.
Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo, the National Police spokesman, also said he had no information on the circumstances behind Saifuddin's death.
"The information is there, but we are still waiting for official news from Detachment 88," he said, referring to the police's elite anti-terrorism unit.
Muinudinillah Basri said he believed his brother, Saifuddin, had died.
"It seems true that he died. I received the news from Whatsapp and there was a picture of his body," Muinudinillah told BenarNews.
He said he did not know the fate of his brother's wife and children, who were believed with him in Syria.
Muinudinillah said he had not talked to Saifuddin since his brother was released from prison in the Philippines a few years ago.
"The last time he contacted the family was three years ago. At that time he talked to my mother," he said.
In 2005, Saifuddin was arrested by Philippine police and charged with possession of illegal firearms and explosives. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Faiz returned to Indonesia in 2013 upon his release and later married the widow of Urwah, one of the suicide bombers who attacked the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta in 2009, the counter-terrorism agency said.
He then left for Syria with his wife in 2013 or 2014, the agency said.
The U.S. Treasury Department alleged that Saifuddin had appeared in an IS propaganda video in 2016 showing him, along with a Malaysian and a Filipino, beheading three captives. Those two other Southeast Asians have also been tagged as "global terrorists."
Easy to recognize
Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based expert on counterterrorism and director of the Institute for Policy and Analysis of Conflict, said she also believed in the authenticity of the photographs circulating on the messaging service.
"I think it's true, especially if you see the picture, his broken tooth has become his salient feature," Jones told BenarNews.
"This time, I'm sure it's true, even though it can't be proven 100 percent," she said.
Jones said Saifuddin might have died in fighting on Jan. 23 when IS fighters' attempts to infiltrate the Iraqi border were foiled by Hashd Al-Sha'abi forces.
In that battle, at least 43 IS militants were killed, according to Almasdarnews.com, a news portal that covers the Arab world.
Sofyan Tsauri, a former terrorism convict, said he got word of Saifuddin's death from IS members who were members of online messaging groups.
"I received the news Friday midnight. The next morning, I shared the information in the ISIS group but it went viral only on Sunday because many initially did not know Abu Walid because they are mostly new recruits," Sofyan said, referring to the other acronym for IS.
Reports said IS had lost about 90 percent of lands it once controlled in Iraq and Syria, where al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014.
Al-Baghdadi's whereabouts remain unknown. The secretive militant leader has frequently been reported wounded or killed during the past few years. He was last seen in public in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. U.S. officials say they believed he is still alive.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is in a bind and faces a backlash in an election year, after backtracking on a decision to release ailing radical Muslim preacher Abu Bakar Bashir from prison, analysts said.
On Jan. 18, an adviser to Jokowi's government announced a plan to release Bashir, 80, over humanitarian concerns, citing his ill health and age, after meeting with him in prison. The move was controversial because the cleric is widely seen as the religious figure who inspired Indonesian militants to carry out the country's deadliest terrorist attack, the Bali bombings of 2002.
But soon after the initial announcement, Jokowi's security minister said the proposal was being reviewed and Bashir could be paroled provided that he sign a pledge of allegiance to the state, a condition rejected by the cleric.
"Jokowi's initial decision to release Abu Bakar Bashir wasn't well thought through and the whole thing was handled clumsily," said Adi Prayitno, a political analyst at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta.
Some analysts said Jokowi was seeking votes from conservative Muslims in the run-up to Indonesia's presidential election on April 17. Jokowi is running for a second term against former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, whom he defeated in the 2014 election. Prabowo has cultivated ties with Islamic groups who claim to feel alienated by government policies.
"It appears that Jokowi was seeking to woo certain types of people, those who support Bashir, but if it's true, that was a mistake," Adi told BenarNews, adding "there were protests from people who support the government, many of whom are liberals and fervently opposed to radicalism."
Sri Yunarto, a staff expert at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said Bashir's release was being studied.
"There are several dimensions to this, including humanitarian. We are taking into account a letter sent by [Bashir's] family in 2017. But there's a legal procedure to follow related to parole," he said on a TV show broadcast Tuesday night.
"Terrorism is a serious issue and in many places it remains a concern. The problem with [releasing] Abu Bakar Bashir is, he has many followers and this needs to involve many institutions. This can't be done haphazardly," he said.
Sri Puguh Budi Utami, director general of corrections at the law and human rights ministry, said Bashir had not fulfilled conditions for his parole, even though he had served two-thirds of his sentence as required by law for conditional release.
"We had started a parole process for him and some administrative conditions had already been met. But many requirements have yet to be fulfilled, including recommendations from BNPT and Densus," she said, referring to the National Counter-Terrorism Agency and the police anti-terrorism unit.
"So when we heard about unconditional release we were confused, because the right mechanism is conditional release," she added.
Bashir was the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant group and regional affiliate of al-Qaeda that was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings and a string of other attacks in Indonesia since 2000. News that he could be released sparked anger in Australia, whose 88 citizens were among 202 people killed in the Bali attack.
Bashir was arrested but prosecutors could not link him to those bombings. A Jakarta court, however, found him guilty of falsifying documents and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. He was jailed after his 2010 arrest and sentenced in 2011 to 15 years on charges that he helped fund a training camp for Islamic militants in Aceh province as well as incited extremists to carry out terrorist attacks.
Australian opposition
In Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Jokowi to be mindful of Australians' opposition to the move and said Bashir should serve out his sentence.
"We have been consistent ­always – governments of both persuasions over a long period of time – about our concerns about Abu Bakar Bashir and that he should serve what the Indonesian justice system has delivered to him as his sentence," Morrison told The Australian newspaper last week.
At home, many Indonesians opposed the plan to free Bashir, with some of the president's supporters threatening to not vote for him.
Meanwhile, Jokowi's apparent about-face has angered conservative Muslims who have accused the president of making yet another unfulfilled promise.
"There was no guarantee that he would win the hearts of conservative Muslims with releasing Bashir, but at the same time, he was alienating his liberal supporters," analyst Adi Prayitno said.
Prabowo, a former army special forces commander, has drawn support from hardline Muslim groups who see the president as being hostile to their political aspirations.
In 2017, Jokowi issued an emergency regulation allowing the government to ban organizations, which, according to the government, had been deemed as not adhering to Pancasila, Indonesia's state ideology. It espouses a belief in one God, humanity, unity, pluralism and social justice.
The presidential decree led to Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the local branch of an international group seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate, being disbanded.
Bashir's lawyer threatens court action
Lawyer Muhammad Mahendradatta said his client should be released because his health continued to deteriorate, citing the results of a medical examination Tuesday that indicated he suffered from a heart problem, the narrowing of arteries and osteoarthritis.
"It needs to be reaffirmed that Abu Bakar Bashir has never been found guilty of involvement in any bombing, in any court," Mahendradatta told BenarNews.
Bashir should not be forced to sign a pact of allegiance to the state and the national ideology Pancasila because the law requiring this was passed in 2012 and is not retroactive, he said.
Mahendradatta warned that the legal team would seek a court order for Bashir's release if the president failed to act.
"We can take legal action based on his health conditions," he said.
A legal adviser to Jokowi's re-election campaign, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, who announced the news about Bashir's possible release, warned that the government could lose if such legal action was taken. He cited a clause on non-retroactivity.
"Irrespective of the debate whether it is wrong or right. If [Bashir] is entitled to parole and that right is not given, the government could be sued and lose," he told Indonesian media.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesia has strongly criticized the tiny Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu for including an exiled Papuan separatist leader as a member of its delegation during a meeting in Geneva last week with the U.N. human rights chief.
Benny Wenda, chairman of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, joined the Vanuatu delegation during the discussion with Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet on Jan. 25.
While attending the closed-door session, Wenda said he presented a petition signed by 1.8 million Papuans that seeks a referendum on independence for Indonesia's easternmost province. BenarNews could not confirm Wenda's claim about the signatures.
"Vanuatu's action is very regrettable and inconsistent with the fundamental principles of the United Nations charter," Hasan Kleib, the Indonesian ambassador to the U.N., said in a statement. "Vanuatu deliberately deceived the U.N. High Commissioner with their manipulative step of slipping Benny Wenda into their delegation."
He said Wenda's name was not included on an official delegation list submitted before the meeting.
"Indonesia will never back down in protecting and defending its territorial integrity," Kleib said.
The Papua region, which consists of Papua and West Papua provinces, is home to about 5 million people, including more than 2.5 million members of indigenous tribes.
Wenda said he briefed Bachelet about the situation in Papua's Nduga regency, where government forces launched a security operation after the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), the armed wing of the separatist movement, killed 19 construction workers and a soldier in early December.
Rebels claimed that at least seven civilians were killed in the operation and hundreds fled to the jungle.
"We urged the United Nations to use its mandate to pressure Indonesia to open access to Nduga because to this day access to Nduga is still blocked by the TNI (military)," Wenda said.
Wenda also asked for an investigation into allegations that the military had used white phosphorus during anti-rebel operations. White phosphorous is highly toxic and burns when it comes in contact with oxygen.
Col. Muhammad Aidi, the Indonesian military spokesman in Papua, denied Wenda's allegation.
"The TNI has never done those things. He could not show proof for his accusations," Aidi said.
Papua visit
Last week's meeting focused on discussing Vanuatu's periodic review before a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, said Ravina Shamdasani, a U.N. spokeswoman in Geneva.
"When the meeting was under way, Benny Wenda submitted the petition," Shamdasani wrote to BenarNews in an email.
Shamdasani said the office was waiting for a follow-up invitation from Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to visit Papua. The president extended an invitation last year to Bachelet's predecessor, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein.
"The U.N. Human Rights Office is working with Indonesia on human rights issues in Papua and is still awaiting access," she said.
Ambassador Kleib, meanwhile, said the invitation stood.
"A schedule is still being worked out and hopefully it can be done in 2019," he said.
Ongoing violence
Meanwhile in Papua on Thursday, a soldier was injured when rebels attacked a military patrol in Nduga's Mapenduma area, according to Aidi, the provincial spokesman for the Indonesian armed forces. The rebels retreated to the jungle when soldiers returned fire, he said, adding that three soldiers had been killed in clashes with the insurgents in January.
Most recently, a soldier guarding the airfield in Mapenduma was killed on Monday when rebels opened fire on an aircraft carrying Nduga regent Yarius Gwijangge and two other officials.
Military officials believe a local rebel group under the leadership of Egianus Kogoya was responsible for the attack, said Brig. Gen. Irham Waroihan, the TNI chief of staff in Papua.
"This group's actions have been beyond the pale," he said. "To avoid more casualties, I have asked our members to be vigilant at all times."
Rebel spokesman Sebby Sambom said the attack was carried out after a National Police helicopter landed in the airfield.
"The police dropped goods and weapons to be used during raids on the people of Nduga," he said.
Papua declared its independence from Dutch colonial rule on Dec. 1, 1961, but that was rejected by the Netherlands and later by Indonesia.
In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the region and annexed it following a contentious referendum in 1969. During the plebiscite, according to rights groups, security forces selected slightly more than 1,000 people to agree to the region's formal absorption into the archipelagic nation.


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BENARNEWS- Two teenagers were publicly flogged in Indonesia's religiously conservative Aceh province after being accused of cuddling in open view, a local official confirmed on Friday.
The caning of the couple, both 18 years old, took place in the provincial capital despite a pledge from authorities last year that corporal punishment of people found violating Aceh's Islamic code would be done only behind prison walls.
The two stepped onto a raised platform and each received 17 lashes of a rattan cane, as dozens of people watched and took photos outside a mosque in Banda Aceh on Thursday, Iin Muhaira, a spokesman for the mayoralty, told BenarNews. The teenagers were punished outdoors after serving 98-day jail sentences.
The teens were caught being affectionate with each other outside the landmark Baiturrahman mosque in Banda Aceh in November, officials said.
"We want to convey to the public that Sharia law is implemented to anyone without exception," Banda Aceh Deputy Mayor Zainal Arifin, who witnessed the event, told Agence France-Presse. "Secondly, Sharia law is not intended to injure."
Apart from the couple, a 35-year-old man was caned 20 times on Thursday after he was caught being "intimate" with a woman a local grocery story that she owned, CNN reported. The woman's punishment has not yet happened. It was delayed because she was deemed medically unfit to undergo corporal punishment, CNN said.
In 2018, Acehnese officials signed an agreement declaring that canings would be carried out in prisons, despite protests from a legislator and a group of students who said that public canings served as a deterrent. But the agreement did not make clear when the new rule would take effect.
Then-Aceh Gov. Irwandi Yusuf, who is now being detained in Jakarta on corruption charges, said he did not want canings to cause "Islamophobia."
 
In May 2017, the first-ever public caning of a couple convicted of gay sex in Aceh drew international media coverage and widespread condemnation.
Islamic Sharia law, as implemented in Aceh, allows up to 100 strokes of the cane for sex outside marriage, including gay sex or sodomy.
Zainal said the latest canings were still carried out in public because there still were no implementing guidelines.
"For now, we're doing it according to existing regulations," he said.
Aceh is the only province in Indonesia with authority to implement Sharia, the Islamic law, as mandated by its status as a "special region" with a degree of autonomy, as part of the central government's attempts to pacify a clamor for independence.
In 2015, Sharia police in Aceh began educating the public about a broadening of the Islamic penal code in the province. Gambling and alcohol consumption are among offenses punishable by caning in the province.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo last year called for an end to canings, which are carried out by hooded figures on a makeshift stage. Rights groups have derided the floggings as cruel.
But a Banda Aceh resident named Hamidah, who also watched the whippings of the young couple on Thursday, described the punishment as "useful."
"Mothers who have girls or younger children are advised that, if you say you go to the school, you go to the school," she said. "Don't do anything that disgraces your parents."


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BENARNEWS- An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced an 18-year-old woman and suspected Islamic State (IS) sympathizer to two years and eight months in jail after finding her guilty of "aiding an act of terrorism" during a deadly prison riot last year.
Defendant Dita Siska Millenia was arrested in May along with another woman, Siska Nur Azizah, after convicted terrorist-inmates began rioting inside a detention facility at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police headquarters near Jakarta. Police apprehended the two women while they were in a mosque to pray near the detention center.
Five officers and an inmate died in the 40-hour standoff, which ended on May 10.
Dita was found guilty of "a criminal conspiracy and aiding an act of terrorism," Jootje Sampaleng, the chief judge at the North Jakarta District Court, said as he convicted and sentenced her.
Prosecutors said Dita and Siska, 21, went to the location to help "their brothers" who were involved in the riot. Police seized a pair of scissors from Siska, who was standing trial separately. Prosecutors said the two women planned to attack police officers by stabbing them with sharp steel scissors.
A man was also shot dead outside the Brimob headquarters on May 10 after he stabbed an officer who was guarding a post, according to authorities.
Prosecutors had sought a jail sentence of 3 ½ years for Dita, who had labeled the charges against her as fabricated.
Dita told the court that she had no plan to attack the police, saying she had gone to the location because she was "curious."
According to the indictment, Dita had pledged allegiance in 2016 to Islamic State (IS) extremist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at her own volition.
The prosecution also said she became radicalized after reading pro-Islamic State materials on the internet, including a book written by Indonesian IS-linked militant ideologue Aman Abdurrahman.
In June 2018, a Jakarta court sentenced Aman to death after convicting him over his role in a series of attacks in recent years.
These attacks included a suicide mission that left eight people dead, including four gunmen, in central Jakarta on Jan. 14, 2016. That attack was the first one claimed on Indonesian soil by IS.
In August 2017, Indonesia sentenced a would-be suicide bomber to 7 ½ years in prison, handing down what was believed to be the nation's harshest sentence against a female terrorist.
The East Jakarta Court then found Dian Yulia Novi, 28, guilty of malicious conspiracy and attempted criminal acts of terrorism. Authorities arrested her on Dec. 10, 2016, disrupting her plan to blow herself up outside Jakarta's State Palace during a changing of the guard ceremony the next day.
Police said investigators found an unexploded pressure-cooker bomb in the rented room where Dian was arrested in the West Java city of Bekasi, about an hour from Jakarta.


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BENARNEWS- More than 250 foreign migrants believed to be Bangladeshis are likely to be expelled from Indonesia, after being detained in North Sumatra province because they failed to show authorities valid travel documents, the local immigration chief said Thursday.
Among the scores of men rounded up and held after raids in Medan city on Tuesday, as many as 193 were found huddling within the cramped confines of a two-story shop-house, where they allegedly had been living for several months in squalid conditions and with little food.
The other 59 were found in a separate location in Medan on Wednesday, said Icon Siregar, head of the provincial immigration department.
"It is likely they will be deported to their country, after the investigation is complete," Icon told BenarNews. "Our preliminary finding is that they are all Bangladeshi – as can be inferred from their physical features, language and accent – and all are adult men."
Bangladeshi government representatives in Jakarta and Dhaka said they could not immediately verify the men's nationalities, but planned to send officials to North Sumatra to investigate.
"They [the Indonesians] informed us that the rescued people had Bangladeshi passports. But we are not sure whether they are Bangladeshis," Azmal Kabir, Dhaka's ambassador to Jakarta, told BenarNews on Thursday.
"They may hold fake passports. Once we get the passports, we will send those to the home ministry via the foreign ministry for verification of their identities by the police," he said.
Delwar Hossain, who heads the Southeast Asia desk at Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry, said the embassy had notified his office about the mass detention.
"We do not have details about them. But they may be Rohingya, not Bangladeshi. They may have illegal Bangladeshi passports," he told Benar.
However, the 253 foreigners were not carrying any travel documents when authorities took them into custody, although it appeared they had entered Indonesia with tourist visas through airports in Bali, Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Icon said.
The men told the officers that their passports were kept by suspected overseas labor agents who had arranged their travel.
"According to their admission they wanted to work in Malaysia. They do not intend to work in Indonesia," Icon said.
Icon, the immigration chief in North Sumatra, said he suspected that the men were in transit while travelling illegally to Malaysia to find work, because Medan is close to the neighboring country.
"Their documents have not been found. They said they had passports but they couldn't show them," he added.
Rohingya, Nepalese in the Crowd: Witness
Meanwhile, a Bangladeshi national who works as a chef at a hotel in nearby Penang, Malaysia, said he spoke to at least 10 of the detained men. They were in a crowd of some 100 foreigners who were sitting out in the street in rows, and whom he encountered while visiting Medan on Wednesday.
The men he spoke to told him there were 55 Bangladeshis among them and the rest were made up of Rohingya Muslims and other people from Myanmar, as well as Nepalese.
"All these people were working in Malaysia. Some of them are legal workers, most are illegal," witness Adid Shorful Maklukat, 32, told BenarNews by phone from Medan on Thursday.
"They were trying to go Australia," he said, adding that the men told him they had each paid agents up to 20,000 Malaysian ringgit (U.S. $4,909) to take them Down Under.
In Jakarta, a spokesman on immigration matters at the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Theodorus Simarmata, said officials were trying to find a labor agency that might have been responsible for recruiting the foreign migrants.
If the foreigners are in fact Bangladeshis, it would not be the first time that people from Bangladesh have been caught in North Sumatra while traveling illicitly to Malaysia, a top destination in Southeast Asia for migrant-workers from the South Asian nation.
In December, 30 Bangladeshis were arrested at Tanjungtiram Port in Batubara regency while trying to board a boat to Malaysia.
In recent years, more than 1,700 people from the persecuted Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar became stranded on Sumatra while heading to a third country. Most of the Rohingya who ended up on the island have since left for Malaysia in search of work, while some have obtained asylum in third countries.

Myanmar considers Rohingya Muslims to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar's government systematically discriminates against them and has denied them citizenship. They also do not get access to basic services, such as education and health care.

In recent years, tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled or attempted to flee persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar on boats organized by human traffickers and bound for other Southeast Asian nations.

About 720,000 Muslim Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar's Rakhine state following a brutal military crackdown that began in August 2017.


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BENARNEWS- Plans by the government of Indonesia's Aceh province to administer canings for violators of Islamic law in prisons, instead of in public, have faced bureaucratic and technical roadblocks, and have yet to be implemented a year after the change was announced.
Last year, Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf issued a gubernatorial regulation on procedures for the implementation of sharia law, including a clause requiring canings to be carried out in prisons.
Two months later, in April, the governor signed an agreement with the local office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights on the use of prisons for caning venues.
"Technical instructions on canings in prisons are still being discussed by various parties involved," the head of the Aceh Islamic Sharia Office, Alidar, told BenarNews on Thursday.
Under current practice, convicted sharia offenders have to endure public flogging, a spectacle that attracts hundreds of camera-wielding people, including children, despite a rule prohibiting people under 18 to watch.
Irwandi said at the time that moving canings indoors would reduce international uproar over the practice and Islamophobia as an unwanted byproduct of the implementation of Islamic law in Aceh.
In addition, he said he wanted to avoid children seeing the corporal punishment being meted out.

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Aceh residents film a man being caned for violating Sharia law, outside a mosque in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, July 13, 2018. (Nurdin Hasan/BenarNews)

'Where does the money come from?'
Canings are held almost every Friday across Aceh. But only seven of its 23 prisons have yards that are suitable as locations for canings, according to Agus Toyib, the head of the provincial law and human rights office. A convict was whipped at one of them, in Meulaboh, West Aceh, in May 2018, he said.
Officials from institutions involved in the Sharia law enforcement – the Wilayatul Hisbah (WH, the Sharia police), prosecutors, police, courts, and the ministry of law and human rights – have met several times to draft the technical instructions and iron out problems, Alidar said.
"For example, there are convicts in Simeulue Regency, but because the prison there cannot be used as a caning venue, they must be taken to Meulaboh, which of course requires money," Alidar said.
"Where does the money come from? Also the judge must accompany him. If the judge joins, what happens if there is a hearing in Simeulue?" he said.
"Likewise, the prosecutor and executioner from the WH must participate. Can they be represented by those in West Aceh? Technical things like that need to be regulated," he added.
Arrangements in the prison during a caning session also needed to be regulated, said Marzuki, the head of investigations for the Sharia police.
"Who will be there? Who can enter to watch? Can other prisoners watch?" he said.
Zulfikar Muhammad, executive director of the Aceh Human Rights NGO Coalition, said he was not surprised that it had taken so long to draft the technical instructions, because several other regulations had met a similar fate.
"Maybe if Mr. Irwandi were here, it would not have dragged on, because he issued the rules," he said.
Irwandi was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in July last year for allegedly accepting bribes in a case linked to a development project using Aceh province's special autonomy fund.
He is currently on trial in Jakarta.
Islamic Sharia in Aceh regulates khalwat (a man and a woman who are not related or married being alone together), gambling, drinking and selling liquor, sex outside marriage, rape, sexual harassment, and homosexual sex.
Opposition
The plan to move canings into prisons has sparked controversy. While human rights activists support the move, conservative Muslim groups have voiced their opposition.
Hendra Saputra of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) in Aceh said his group was opposed to caning as a form of punishment but if it had to be done, it should not be done in public.
Caning "degrades human dignity," especially with people watching and mocking the offenders, he said.
However, Teungku Faisal Ali, chairman of the Aceh branch of the Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama, said caning should be carried out in public so that convicts can learn a lesson from the experience. The local government should focus on other matters, he suggested.
"There are still many problems that require serious attention from the Aceh government such as education and improving the economy," he said.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Aceh is ranked as the poorest province in Sumatra, with nearly 16 percent of its 5.2 million people living in poverty.
The chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Aceh, Muslim At-Thahiri, also opposed indoor caning and suggested that Irwandi's legal trouble was a form of divine punishment.
"Because he made the regulation, he was arrested by the KPK," he said.
"If later Irwandi is convicted and jailed, we will urge the new Aceh governor to revoke the regulation."
Muslim added that his party and Islamic organizations continued to push Aceh's local legislature to introduce clauses on corruption and theft in the sharia law.
"Actually, in Aceh there must be a qanun (law) that regulates corruption because this corruption is immoral and is detrimental to society."
Alidar stated that Islamic law in Aceh was being introduced in stages and it was possible that one day harsher punishment including chopping the hands of thieves could be applied when the people were ready.


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BENARNEWS- Indonesian police arrested a militant who was planning to travel via Iran to join the Islamic State (IS) extremist group in Syria, and once served a six-year prison term for harboring a Bali bomber, authorities said Monday.
The police counter-terrorist unit Densus 88 arrested the suspect, Harry Kuncoro (alias Wahyu Nugroho), at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport as he was about to board a flight to Iran on Jan. 3, national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said.
Harry is an associate of the late Muhammad Saifuddin (also known as Mohammed Yusop Karim Fais and Abu Walid), an Indonesian militant who was said to be a close aide to IS supreme leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, police said. In late January, the head of Indonesia's National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) confirmed to BenarNews that Saifuddin had been killed in Syria.
"HK's motivation was to join the Abu Walid group in Syria," said Dedi, using Harry's initials.
Dedi said police waited until there was strong evidence to charge Harry before announcing his arrest on Monday. 

"The suspect has a long history of terrorism, starting with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He has been active since the era of Noordin Mohammad Top," Dedi told reporters in Jakarta, referring to a Malaysian-born senior JI recruiter who was killed in a standoff with police in the Central Java city of Solo in 2009. JI was the Southeast Asian affiliate of the al-Qaeda terror network.
Saifuddin was among three Southeast Asian militants who were labelled last year by the U.S. Treasury Department as "global terrorists" for allegedly recruiting foreign fighters to pledge their allegiance to Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
The Treasury Department alleged that Saifuddin had appeared in an IS propaganda video in 2016 showing him, along with a Malaysian and a Filipino, beheading three captives. Those two other Southeast Asians have also been tagged as "global terrorists."
Saifuddin is believed to have been killed while fighting alongside IS militants in Syria in January, according to the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT).
Dedi said Saifuddin had invited Harry to come to Syria, and promised to help him with plane tickets and travel documents.
Harry allegedly received 30 million rupiah (U.S. $2,137) in cash to travel to Syria, Dedi said.
Dedi said Harry was known to have established communication with groups in Syria.
Harry was released in 2016 after serving six years in prison after he was found guilty of helping to hide fugitive Bali bomber Dulmatin and smuggling firearms.
Dulmatin, who allegedly made the bombs used in the 2002 attack on Bali, was killed in a police raid near Jakarta in 2010. The Bali bombings were the deadliest terrorist attack in Indonesia's history.
While in prison, Harry was said to be close to elderly militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of the Bali bombers who is still serving a 15-year jail for funding a militant training camp in Aceh.
Police said Harry was a "very senior" and dangerous militant.
"He was involved in acts of terrorism in Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and the last July 2018 attack. He has been in and out of prison three times," Dedi said.
But a former Jemaah Islamiyah militant who has cooperated with the police, Nasir Abas, said Harry was not an important figure during his time at JI because he was still young.
"He was not part of the JI structure. Maybe he was just a supporter," Nasir told BenarNews.
Nasir said there were cases where JI members were influenced by IS ideology while in prison.
"Some former JI members are active in ISIS. Some are in Syria and some are joining JAD," he said, referring to the local IS-linked group Jemaah Ansharut Daulah.
The Bali bombings on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and injured more than 200.


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