The Jakarta Post, 3 Aug 2015.
A massive fire lasting from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon razed a book factory in Boyolali regency, Central Java, leaving extensive material losses but claiming no casualties.
Boyolali Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Budi Sartono said that the fire had razed six warehouses at the factory, which belongs to PT Solo Murni, one of the biggest book manufacturers in the province.
“According to the company’s directors, the fire had caused Rp 325 billion [US$24 million] in material losses,” he said.
The company is known for producing school notebooks under the brand “Kiky”, a popular brand among students.
Factory workers said that the fire first emerged in a warehouse where the company stored its paper material. The fire, they said, was first noticed by on-duty workers on Friday night at 9:15 p.m. The fire was finally extinguished 14 hours later after 25 fire trucks were deployed from Boyolali and the neighboring cities of Surakarta, Sukoharjo and Salatiga.
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The Jakarta Globe, Aug 03, 2015
Plane Skids Off Padang Runway, Airport Closed
Jakarta. A Citilink plane skidded off a runway in western Indonesia on Sunday, injuring three people and forcing the airport to shut down, according to a transportation ministry official and local media.
The Airbus A320 plane was carrying 174 passengers en route from Jakarta to Padang, West Sumatra, when it bounced off the runway upon landing, transportation ministry spokesman Julius Barata told Reuters.
“The plane is blocking the runway, so the airport is still closed,” Julius added.
Citilink is the budget arm of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.
Indonesia has a patchy aviation safety record and has seen two major plane crashes in the past year, including an AirAsia flight that went down in the Java Sea, killing all on board.
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Also from The Jakarta Globe,3 Aug 2015,
Storm Damages Bogor Homes as Indonesia Prepares for Prolonged Drought
Bogor, West Java. Heavy rains and strong winds damaged at least 67 homes in Bogor district or Friday and briefly refilled water reservoirs, as President Joko Widodo convened key ministers to discuss tackling the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon, which could postpone the arrival of the rainy season until November.
Already, a number regions across the country are experiencing droughts, Kompas.com reported on Friday, such as parts of Java, South Sulawesi, Lampung, East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. Parts of these regions haven’t seen any rain since May.
Besides dwindling supplies of water — for people as well as crops – prolonged droughts also heighten the risk of wildfires.
The Indonesian dry season usually doesn’t last beyond October.
No casualties were reported in Bogor, but families whose homes were destroyed had to find shelter with relatives or in local government buildings.
The Indonesian dry season usually doesn’t last beyond October.
Bogor, nicknamed the City of Rain, had experienced a lengthy drought before Friday’s rainstorm.
Budi Aksomo, an official with the Bogor Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), said roofs had been blown away, but that the extent of the damage was still being calculated.
The official called on people to remain vigilant, as winds can be particularly strong when it rains hard during the dry season.
Water levels at the Katulampa Dam, on the Ciliwung river, rose dramatically during Friday’s rainstorm, but had dropped by Saturday, on official at the dam confirmed.
In Jakarta on Friday, Joko stressed the need to protect farmers and fishermen from the impacts of El Nino, a phenomenon caused by high sea water temperatures in the equatorial Pacific ocean, which affects air pressure and the weather in various parts of the globe
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Sofyan Djalil, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Indroyono Soesilo, Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti and Minister for Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Ferry Mursyidan Baldan were present at the meeting with the president.
“We’re looking for solutions, particularly with regard to our vigilance in the face of a number of hotspots that could spark forest fires, which we have to watch out for,” Joko was quoted as saying by Kompas.com. “The most important is how we can safe or farmers and our fishermen.”
The president has already instructed Agriculture Minister Amran Sulaiman to send water pumps to the hardest-hit areas and in the longer term Joko plans to increase the number of water reservoirs to better prepare the country for dry spells
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Also from the Globe,
Alor Police Arrest Two for ‘Promoting Radicalism’,
Jakarta. Police in East Nusa Tenggara’s Alor district have apprehended two locals for allegedly promoting radical Islamic ideology after returning to their hometown last week, an officer said on Thursday.
Adj. Sr. Comr. I Made Sugawa, chief of the Alor Police, said that the two, who are identified as S.B. (40) and Z. (40), had been arrested in Blangmerang village of West Pantar subdistrict on Wednesday.
He added that officers confiscated several documents with radicalism-related content.
“They had just returned from Bekasi on July 23 and tried to influence the locals by saying those who take part in the general elections are infidels,” Sugawa said, as quoted by news portal Kompas.com.
Sugawa said that the two had yet to name them suspects as they would be turned over to the East Nusa Tenggara Police for further investigation.
“We’re transferring them because this is a special case. We’re not sure when we will do it because we still need to coordinate with the East Nusa Tenggara Police,” Sugawa said.
Sugawa also urged the people of Alor district to remain vigilant.
“We call on the people of Alor to maintain peace among the different religions and not be easily influenced by radicalism,” he said.
Violence in Papua’s Tolikara district on Idul Fitri a few weeks ago forced the National Police chief, Gen. Badrodin Haiti, to instruct his officers across the archipelago to counter the spread of provocative messages that were circulating in the aftermath of the incident.
The riot erupted after members of the Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) — the largest religious group in the district — complained about the use of loudspeakers during the Idul Fitri mass prayer and called for the event to be canceled.
Police opened fire at protesters, killing one and injuring 11 others. The exact nature of the shooting has been widely contested by the GIDI, security officials and witnesses. But there is no dispute that the shooting led to the riot.
Scores of officials and religious groups, both Muslims and Christians, immediately called for calm out of fear that violence might spread to the rest of the Muslim-majority country, which saw a brutal string of sectarian conflicts between 2000 and 2005.
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ma 3 aug 2015 - 5:52