Deli serdanG

Protesters call for dismissal of regent in North Sumatra

2008-02-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Calling themselves Serdang Bedagai Community Alliance, some 1,000 people protested, demanding that North Sumatra governor replace Serdang Bedagai Regent Chairullah following an alleged practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism in the administration.

The protesters also refused the extension of Chairullah's office term, which ended on Jan. 15.

The alliance coordinator, Syarifuddin, said one year after the regency was separated from Deli Serdang regency, most of the administration officials were filled by people close to the regent.

For instance, he said, the position of the education office head was given to the regent's brother, the health office head to his brother in-law and the head of tax and revenue office to his cousin.

"This practice of corruption, collusion and nepotism should end. We want the governor to find new replacements," Syarifuddin said on Tuesday in his speech in front of the protesters at the North Sumatra governor's office.

Moreover, he said, the regent had already been named a suspect in alleged graft of the 2003 Deli Serdang regental budget worth Rp 2.3 billion when he served as Deli Serdang's regental secretary.

North Sumatra prosecutor office spokesperson J. Ketaren confirmed on Tuesday that Chairullah was a suspect, adding that the regent had been questioned twice.

Responding to the demand, head of the North Sumatra provincial public relations office, Eddy Sofyan, who met with the protesters' representatives, said he would convey the demands to Governor T. Rizal Nurdin, who was attending a plenary meeting at North Sumatra provincial council when the protest took place. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)

Source: the Jakarta Post, January 20, 2005

Samosir

2007-12-31T03:54:00.000-08:00

island in Danau (lake) Toba, Sumatera Utara propinsi (North Sumatra province), Sumatra, Indonesia. Approximately 200 sq mi (520 sq km) in area, the island occupies nearly half the lake and is joined to its western shore by an isthmus, at which point is the island's principal town, Pangururan. In the east, the island rises to 5,350 ft (1,630 m), but the level of the surrounding water is 2,989 ft. The mountain Dolok Pusubukit on the isthmus joining Samosir to the mainland is believed to have been the home of the first Batak, the mythical first ancestor of the Batak people, who inhabit much of Sumatera Utara. The Samosir Batak grow rice, raise cattle, fish in the lake, and raise shallots and garlic for sale. They are mainly Christian, with ancestor worship still important. The island contains many ancient megaliths; tourism is increasingly important to the eastern side of the island

Fire destroys terminal at Indonesian airport

2007-12-31T03:31:00.000-08:00

Flights from Polonia airport in Medan, Indonesia's third-largest city, have not been affected by a fire that destroyed the domestic passenger terminal there, airline and local government officials said Sunday.
The fire destroyed the offices of the airport's operator, PT Angkasa Pura, leading to disruptions at check-in and in baggage handling, according to Eddy Sofyan, spokesman for the governor of North Sumatra Province,,
Medan's international terminal, at the same airport, was not affected, he said
The cause of the fire is still unknown, Sofyan said.
Wasfan Wahyu Widodo, from Angkasa Pura's Jakarta office, said there were no reports of delays in Medan.
Pujobroto, a spokesman for Indonesia's main carrier, Garuda Indonesia, said the airline's flights had all departed pretty much on time from Medan.
But a passenger at one of the temporary check-in counters reached by Reuters by phone said her flight had been delayed for almost three hours, although it was not clear whether that was because of the fire or another reason.
"There hasn't been any announcement from the airline nor the airport," said Steffy Rompas, a passenger heading from Medan to Sibolga, a city in North Sumatra.
A new airport is being built for Medan in Deli Serdang district to replace Polonia, which is in the city center. But the new airport, expected to be the country's second-biggest air hub after Jakarta, will not be ready until 2009.

South Sumatra to host world triathlon

2007-12-31T03:25:00.000-08:00

PALEMBANG (Antara): South Sumatra will host another world triathlon tournament in July 2008, an official said onMonday.
"The competition will be held in conjunction with the Visit Musi 2008," President of the Indonesian Federation of Triathlon (FTI) Syahrial Oesman said.
Syahrial, who is also South Sumatra governor, added he had approached a number of countries to send their athletes to the event.
FTI spokesman Mark Sungkar said the event was the priority of the federation. (***) -->

SC orders transfer of trial of Indonesian terror suspects

2007-12-31T03:24:00.000-08:00

By Tetch TorresINQUIRER.netFirst Posted 06:58pm (Mla time) 12/31/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of the trial of suspected Indonesian terrorists from Zamboanga City to Quezon City.
In a two-page resolution, the high court’s second division granted the request of the Department of Justice (DoJ) to transfer the trial of Nasir Hamid Didik Resmiadi aka Ted Yolanda, Saifuddin aka Muhammad Yusuf Karim Faiz and Mujahir Dela Merced.
The accused were charged with smuggling of firearms and explosives and other terrorism-related activities in Mindanao.
Last July 16, the DoJ through Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuno and Senior State Prosecutor Leo Dacera, asked the Supreme Court to transfer the trial of the case from the Zamboanga Regional Trial Court to any court in Manila.
The request was made following an intelligence report that a certain commander Wahid Tundok of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was monitoring the transfer of all the terror suspects from the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City to Zamboanga City Regional Trial Court Branch 14.
The DoJ said the transfer of the “extremely dangerous and considered high risk detainees” would entail additional security and transport cost to the government. The accused are also flight risk.
The Indonesian nationals were arrested in February 2005. Reports from the PNP showed that the group of the suspects disembarked from a commercial vessel that came from Bongao, Tawi-tawi when they were arrested at the port of Zamboanga City. They entered into the country through the southern backdoor from Sulawesi, Indonesia and Sandakan, Malaysia.
Found in their possession were components used in making improvised explosives as well as two handguns, two cellular phones and training manuscripts from the Jemaah Islamiyah training camps in Maguindanao and US$7,000 to be used in their bombing operations in key cities in Mindanao and Metro Manila.

indonesia 2 day

2007-12-31T03:22:00.000-08:00

"INDONESIAN-FLAG SHIP HELD IN SRI LANKA"
Monday, 31 December 2007
THE Indonesian-flag dry cargo ship Le Wing is in Galle naval base, Sri Lanka, after arousing the suspicions of the authorities that it might involved in supplying weapons to the rebel Tamil Tigers.
The ship does not appear in the Equasis database but is reported to be owned by a Singapore-based businessman. The 12 crew members, all Indonesians say the ship “ran out of fuel” and drifted for two weeks until the Sri Lankan Navy intercepted it and towed it to Galle.
The crew members have been taken off and one report says they have been handed over to the Indonesian embassy. According to the crew the ship was on passage from Mumbai to a Thai port with cargo machinery.