News in short..,

The Jak Pos,Mon, August 10 2015,


Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said on Monday that the government had planned to deploy three ships to identify thousands of unnamed islands in Indonesian territory to avoid future conflicts with neighboring countries.

“We are sending the ships to the western, eastern and central partS of the Indonesian archipelago to get data on and name those unnamed islands,” he said as quoted by tempo.co.

Indroyono said that at least 4,000 islands in Indonesia did not have names.

The naming process, he added, would also involve local people, who inhabited the islands.

Indroyono said that this project would take time to complete. After naming the islands, the Indonesian government must register the new names with the United Nations to avoid conflicts with other countries.

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Garuda receives bomb threat,


A Garuda Indonesia plane servicing the Surabaya-Jakarta route received a hoax bomb threat on Monday morning.

“We received the threat at 10 a.m.,” Garuda Indonesia spokesperson Ikhsan Rosan said, as quoted by Tempo.co.

However, the plane kept flying as scheduled, Iksan said, as the pilots were unaware of the threat.

According to Ikhsan, the threatening letter was sent to the office of state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura (Persero) in Surabaya, East Java, as well as Garuda’s ticketing office at the city airport.

The letter warned that the Surabaya-Jakarta flight would explode, advising the airline to check all luggage and cargo for the sake of the passengers’ safety.

The message, Ikhsan said, was received when the plane, carrying 147 passengers, was about to take off from Juanda airport, with no time to warn the pilots.

Fortunately, the airplane landed safely at Soekarno-Hatta airport at 11.35 a.m.

After the plane had landed, a thorough inspection uncovered no hazardous materials on the plane.

The Surabaya Police, meanwhile, had arrested a man suspected of making the threat, Ikhsan went on.

“We have tracked the mobile phone number and confronted the suspect, but he has denied sending the message,” Ikhsan explained.

The police are still investigating the case.

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Mount Slamet closed as quake intensifies,


Mountain climbing enthusiasts seeking to celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day next week on the summit of Central Java’s tallest mountain, Mount Slamet, will have to look for other destinations following the decision by authorities to close down the mountain due to intensifying tremors.

The Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center has issued a restriction that prohibits climbers from entering the Mt Slamet area because its sensors have picked up increasing geological movements.

“We forbid climbers from hiking to the summit as a result of increasing seismic activity,” said officer Sugeng Riyadi, as quoted by Antara news agency recently.

Sugeng added that the number of climbers visiting the area usually increased in the lead up to Independence Day on Aug. 17.

To enforce the restriction, Sugeng said the center planned to increase the number of patrol officers in the area, in addition to displaying more warning signs. These measures are taken to prevent climbers from climbing the mountain, which is currently on the third highest earthquake alert level.

“We don’t know yet when the restriction will be lifted,” said Sugeng.

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Four men arrested over Sumatran tiger killing,


Indonesian police have arrested four men for allegedly killing a Sumatran tiger and trying to sell its body parts, an official said Monday, the latest case of the critically endangered animals being targeted.

Acting on a tipoff, a group of police officers posing as potential buyers arrested the men on Saturday as they allegedly attempted to sell the tiger's skin, bones and teeth.

Poachers frequently hunt the tigers, which are native to vast, biodiverse Sumatra island in western Indonesia, as their body parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine and fetch high prices.

The men were detained in Jambe Rambung village in Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra, local police official Mirwazi told AFP.

The group, who caught the young male tiger in another part of the province, could face up to five years in jail and a fine of Rp 100 million (US$7,400) each, he said.

One of the suspects admitted to having killed another Sumatran tiger and selling its body parts three years ago, according to the policeman.

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, according to environmental group WWF.

As well as poaching, the animals are also under threat due to the destruction of their rainforest habitat to make way for palm oil as well as pulp and paper plantations.



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