tagged w/ Indonesia
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An increasing number of children's books—including some detailing the hazards of rainforest deforestation—were found to have been constructed from paper that originated in Indonesia’s rainforests, according to a report commissioned by Rainforest Action Network.
The report, entitled “Turning the Page on Rainforest Destruction,” discovered that 18 of 30 kids' books chosen at random contained controversial wood fibers.
How is this possible?
Well, the Indonesian logging industry is like the American Wild West.
Every tree for him or herself.
There are virtually no government or self-imposed industry checks and balances.
As such, pulp and paper companies are clear-cutting rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and replacing them with acadia pulp wood plantations.
The biggest benefactor of this lawless pastiche?
China.
Over an eight year period, 2000 to 2008, Chinese sales of children’s picture books to the U.S. ballooned by more than 290 percent, averaging an increase of more than 35 percent per year.
According to the report, China is the top importer of Indonesian pulp and paper. Furthermore, a large portion of the Chinese paper industry is associated with one controversial supplier in particular—Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL).
Last month, The Forest Stewardship Council, a defacto global regulator that encourages sustainably managed forests, suspended the certification of APRIL due to “evidence of conversion of rainforests for acacia plantations, the destruction of 'High Conservation Value Forest,' draining peatlands, as well as continuing conflicts with local communities,” according to Mongabay.
Rainforest Action Network’s report, which was conducted by independent laboratories, also found that:
Nine of the ten leading publishers of children’s books are selling books manufactured on paper that threatens Indonesia’s rainforests.
Publishers with paper policies and climate commitments had a similar percentage of books containing controversial fiber to publishers without policies.
Industry paper policies and best practices are currently lacking the capacity or failing to screen out fiber that is sourced from endangered forests or from controversial sources and suppliers. http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/06/03/childrens-books-about-rainforest-deforestation-traced-back-to-rainforest-deforestationAn increasing number of children's books—including some detailing the... more
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Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Two-year-old Aldi yanked on his mother's hair and squirmed in her arms.
Tears formed a small pool in the folds of his double chin.
"He's crying because he wants a cigarette," said Diana, his mother, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
We caught up with Aldi, who is nearly twice the weight of other babies his age (20 kilograms or 44 pounds), and his mother at Jakarta's airport.
Video of him plopped on a brightly-colored toy truck inhaling deeply and happily blowing smoke rings had circulated on the Internet last week, turning him into a local celebrity.
As we spoke to his mother, a crowd gathered and a man taunted Aldi with a cigarette, blowing smoke in his direction.
"Smoking has been a part of our culture for so long it isn't perceived as being hazardous, as causing illness, as poisonous," said Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection. "A lot of adults who are around children will smoke. They will carry a baby in one hand and a cigarette in another. Even mothers don't understand that they are poisoning their children."
Mulyadi met with Aldi in Jakarta, where his mother brought him for help. He said Aldi was a bright boy, quicker than most children his age.
He also said Aldi was a victim of his environment.
Mulyadi told Diana that she needed to find other things to occupy the boy's time.
But he told us what was disturbing was that the parents motivation to get Aldi to quit wasn't stemming primarily from an understanding of the risk to his health, but more from the cost of spending four dollars a day -- Aldi smokes an average of 40 cigarettes daily.
"Well, I don't want to give him cigarettes, but what I am I supposed to do? I am confused," his mother said. "I didn't let him smoke, I even forbade him from smoking, but I was trying to stop him from getting sick."
She showed us a scar on Aldi's head, where she said he smashed his head into a wall during one of his tantrums. She said he also vomits when he can't satisfy his addiction.
"I was smoking when I was pregnant, but after I gave birth I quit," she said. "I don't remember when, but we went to the market and then suddenly he had a cigarette in his hand. Even when he was a baby and he would smell smoke he would be happy."
Both she and her husband have quit smoking. She said that Aldi had cut down his habit in Jakarta and hopefully he will soon quit.
"For us, it's not shocking at all, but it's very, very sad," Mulyadi said. "What we know about this phenomenon is only the tip of the iceberg."
He said ignorance about the dangers of smoking is compounded by aggressive advertising by tobacco companies.
Nearly 170 nations have signed a treaty calling for health warnings and other anti-smoking measures. Indonesia, however, is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region not to have ratified the World Health Organization's framework on tobacco control. Legislation has been stuck in parliament for years.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Tritarayati, said: "We're still discussing it."
A study by the child protection commission shows that between 2001 and 2007, the number of children smoking between the ages of five and nine jumped 400 percent. That is tens of thousands of cases and does not take into account children like Aldi, who are under the age of five.
Mulyadi believes the number is significantly higher and child smokers are getting younger.
A few months ago, video of a four-year-old Indonesian boy smoking also appeared online. An adult male voice prompts him off camera and laughs as the child blows smoke rings calling himself a "bad boy."
That child was also helped by the National Commission for Child Protection and is now smoke free, Mulyadi said.
"We are fighting to remind the country that we really need to protect our children," Mulyadi said.
Aldi's mother asked to end to the interview after she had spoken with us for a few minutes. She said she was tired.
"I learned that I can't use force to stop him, but I need to be gentle and try to distract him."
We asked her what she had learned about her child and smoking: "I learned that my kid is smart and he doesn't have any illnesses," she said.
Diana seemed uncomfortable with the attention and the questions. Cheeks wet, Aldi waved a chubby arm goodbye to the watching crowd.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/indonesia.smoking.baby/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnnJakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Two-year-old Aldi yanked on his mother's hair and... more
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Ardi Rizal, 2-Year Old Indonesian…Smokes 40 Cigarettes A Day
Apex News Network
By Benjamin Gladwell
May 26, 2010
A recent YouTube video, entitled “2 Year Old Smoking Cigarette” is currently making it’s way around the Internet. Although the video is making quite a stir, one must wonder why people are so anxious to see this little boy partaking in such a bad habit at such an early age.
Click to watch....(SHOCKING VIDEO) 2-Year Old Chain Smokes 40 Cigarettes A Day!!!...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/sumatran-2-year-old-smokes-40-cigarettes-a-day/Ardi Rizal, 2-Year Old Indonesian…Smokes 40 Cigarettes A Day
Apex News... more
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In a stream of RSS and Twitter feeds, news captions, headlines, water-cooler-talk and the occasional lunch crunch and nightly news reports, it's hard to visualize a snapshot of what's really going on in the world and how seemingly random data may or may not fit together with malicious attacks and how they transform. Take a look at this attempt to visually put some random events together. http://cyy.be/b3Qb07In a stream of RSS and Twitter feeds, news captions, headlines, water-cooler-talk and... more
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(CNN) -- Scientists have discovered a "treasure trove of new species" including a frog with a "Pinocchio-like" nose in a remote section of Indonesian rainforest in Southeast Asia.
The male tree frog, whose pointed nose was seen to inflate when calling, was one of dozens of new species found on an expedition to the Foja Mountains in the Papua province of Indonesia in New Guinea Island, organized by Conservation International's Rapid Assessment Program (RAP).
Leanne Alonso, director of RAP, told CNN: "It's a frog which goes up trees and lays its eggs on undersides of leaves. Its nose is probably inflating to call females. Usually frogs inflate under the throat when they call."
The frog, along with new species of mammals, insects, a reptile and birds were discovered on a 2008 expedition but have only recently been verified.
They include a "blossom bat" which feeds on rainforest nectar, a new type of small tree-mouse and a black and white butterfly related to the common monarch.
Scientists also discovered the world's smallest wallaby, a pair of new imperial pigeons with "rusty, whitish and gray" feathers, a giant woolly rat and a "gargoyle-like" gecko with yellow eyes.
The Foja Mountains are home to 300,000 square hectares of pristine rainforest which is "a profound species generator" and a "critical carbon-sink for the planet," says Conservation International (CI).
"The area is probably holds the highest number of species we haven't found yet. It's so isolated, and every time we go there we find new species," Alonso said.
Biologists tracked down the new species from Kwerba, a village in the foothills of Foja Mountains to its peaks which rise 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) high.
Bruce Beehler, senior research scientist at CI, said in a statement: "Places like these represent a healthy future for all of us and show that it is not too late to stop the current species extinction crisis."
The announcement of the discovery of new species comes in the same week as the International Day for Biological Diversity 2010, and only shortly after a U.N. report revealed governments around the world have failed to meet biodiversity targets set in 2002.
"While animals and plants are being wiped out across the globe at a pace never seen in millions of years, the discovery of these absolutely incredible forms of life is much-needed positive news," Beehler said.
CI, which has been conducting RAP surveys for two decades, hopes that this most recent documentation of endemic biodiversity will encourage the Indonesian government to boost long-term protection in the area.
"A lot of species are becoming extinct before we even know they exist -- especially insects. Can you imagine how many insects go extinct when you cut down a big chunk of forest?" Alonso said.
"All these species play a role in the eco-system. And all of them are what's keeping our our water, air and soil fresh. Each of them plays their part."
A special feature on the expedition, "Discovery in the Foja Mountains," will appear in the June 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/17/biodiversity.new.species.foja/index.html?hpt=T2(CNN) -- Scientists have discovered a "treasure trove of new species"... more
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Kurta
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Constitutional Court held dozens of hearings and heard testimonies from more than 50 religious experts of all stripes during its six month review of the country’s divisive blasphemy law.
And there, protesting outside every last hearing was the enigmatic Islamic Defender’s Front — a violent militant group most famous for attacking a peaceful rally for religious pluralism in Jakarta in 2008.
When the court ruled in its eight-to-one decision April 19 that the blasphemy law is in fact constitutional and should remain on the books, members of the front shouted “God is great” in Arabic both inside and outside the courtroom.
It was the second time in a month that Indonesia’s highest court ruled in favor of a law that analysts say is at best undemocratic.
In the first ruling, the court upheld the country’s anti-pornography law. Also championed by conservative Islamic groups, the anti-pornography law broadly defines inappropriate forms of dress, dance and even behavior.
Perhaps most worrying, human rights campaigners say, the rulings appear to be in lockstep with the country’s prevailing political climate.
“I think the decisions are consistent with the predominant views posed by both the legislative and executive branches of government and their desire to stick with the status quo — to simply not deal with the fundamentalist movement,” said Holland Taylor, founder of LibForAll Foundation, an American and Indonesian NGO that promotes religious pluralism.
Although Indonesia has made major inroads in its battle against Islamic terrorism, it has been less successful combating fundamentalist ideologies, which often come from outside the country, that continue to influence Indonesia politics, legislation and society.
The blasphemy law, passed in 1965 by then-president Suharto, limits the number of recognized religions here to six: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. It then further calls for up to five years in jail for anyone who “distorts” or “misrepresents” any of those religions.
Human rights groups argue that the law is not in line with the country’s 1945 constitution, which nominally guarantees freedom of religion.
In practice, the blasphemy law is applied primarily to perceived offenses against mainstream Islam. Almost 90 percent of Indonesia’s 240 million people are Muslim, the vast majority of whom are moderate in their beliefs.
“One of the problems is that radical and literal-minded Muslims use the law as justification to take things into their own hands, while the police are reluctant to intervene,” said Azyumardi Azra, an Islamic scholar at Indonesia’s Islamic State University who testified against the law.
Azra pointed specifically to the Islamic Defender’s Front and several other groups that have attacked Islamic sects whose beliefs deviate from the central tenets of Sunni Islam — such as the belief that Mohammad is the last prophet.
The 1965 decree was cited in 2008 when the government all but banned Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect that believes in a prophet after Mohammad, after pressure from radical Muslim groups. The Islamic Defender’s Front has repeatedly set fire to Ahmadi mosques and in some cases to their homes but have rarely themselves been arrested or charged with a crime.
In 2007, the Indonesian Supreme Court sentenced Abdul Rachman, who is the No. 2 leader of a religious group known as Lia Eden and who claims to be the reincarnation of the Prophet Muhammad, to three years in prison under the blasphemy law.
Police also arrested Ahmad Moshaddeq, the leader of an Islamic sect known as Al Qiyada, on charges of blasphemy in 2007, even after he declared from the steps of a central Jakarta police station that he had realized his teachings were misguided and would return to mainstream Islam.
The attorney general's office banned Al Qiyada that same year. Moshaddeq, whose house was burned down by a mob, has said that he is the next Islamic prophet and does not require his followers to pray five times a day or toward Mecca.JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Constitutional Court held dozens of... more
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New Age by Gegabah, a cheered-up synth-pop band with a 1977 punk rock layer. Yes No Wave Music is one of the few net labels existing in Indonesia at the moment. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/punk/353-gegabahNew Age by Gegabah, a cheered-up synth-pop band with a 1977 punk rock layer. Yes No... more
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worrg
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Indonesia, though still a young democracy, is admirably open about most of its affairs. The exception is Papua. The security apparatus ensures that the country's easternmost province remains a closed book. In Jakarta, foreigners—and journalists above all—are turned away before they can board the six-hour flight.
Papua (first known as Dutch New Guinea, then West New Guinea and later Irian Jaya) is the glaring exception to Indonesia’s progress in tackling the explosion of ethnic, sectarian and separatist violence that only a decade ago threatened to tear the country apart. Today peace prevails in once strife-torn places such as Aceh, Ambon and Poso, along with a measure of reconciliation. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono can take a good chunk of the credit. But all this progress now serves mainly to highlight the failure of Indonesia’s approach to Papua, heavily militarised already and now seeing a fresh troop surge.
Papuans’ resentment towards their overlords—first Dutch, later Indonesian—has been nourished for half a century, with much to justify it. Over the past year, it has been expressed in intensified violence. In particular, a number of fatal shootings have taken place around the giant Grasberg gold-and-copper mine, run by America’s Freeport-McMoRan. The hideous mine has long been a focus of discontent.
Much is murky about the upsurge in violence. Among other incidents, a cult group seized a government airstrip. Its leader claimed the strip to be the site on which the “Great General” Jesus had ordered her to create the Kingdom of Heaven. For a fuller understanding of the murk, I recommend a recent report by the International Crisis Group
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan
http://www.shelleytherepublican.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/jesus-with-rifle-thumb.jpgIndonesia, though still a young democracy, is admirably open about most of its... more
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In an exclusive sneak peek from this coming season of Vanguard, correspondent Adam Yamaguchi investigates one of the world's biggest public health crises: the 2.6 billion people living without toilets. The episode premieres on Current TV on June 9.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Wednesdays at 10/9c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
Watch more at http://current.com/vanguard.In an exclusive sneak peek from this coming season of Vanguard, correspondent Adam... more
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A newly discovered species of monitor lizard, a close relative of the Komodo dragon, was reported in the journal Zootaxa by a professor at UC Santa Barbara and a researcher from Finland.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426182024.htmA newly discovered species of monitor lizard, a close relative of the Komodo dragon,... more
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Long after the Punk movement petered out or became commercialized elsewhere, it took hold for the first time in Jakarta in the mid-1990s — at a time when the music's belligerence seemed to perfectly echo the hostility many young people felt toward the authoritarian regime of then President Suharto. The youth were attracted to the freedom and rebellion that punk offered. Today power of the Internet widely spreading Punk to every region in Indonesia. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/recent-news/325-punk-explosion-against-cenzoreship-in-indonesia-film-punk-in-love-indonesiaLong after the Punk movement petered out or became commercialized elsewhere, it took... more
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worrg
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Indonesia has hundreds of volcanoes and approximately 40 percent of the earth's geothermal energyIndonesia has hundreds of volcanoes and approximately 40 percent of the earth's... more
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I found myself in Jakarta last week as news started coming in of the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
Having covered the fury of the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo and its aftermath in the Philippines in 1991, there was a feeling of deja vu as the news channels displayed pyroclastic flows and ash clouds soaring into the stratosphere. Sure enough, airports throughout Europe shut down one by one. Trans-Atlantic flights were canceled. Until press time, no one seemed to know how long it would last.
Pinatubo went on for two weeks. I remember day turning into night and the sight of the snow-like white ash on the streets of Manila. This wasn’t soft powder. The wiper in my car made a screeching noise as tiny glass particles scratched the windshield. ...
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100420/icelandic-eruption-reminder-natures-hazardsI found myself in Jakarta last week as news started coming in of the eruption of... more
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Champaign mayor on Obama: “I don’t think he’s American …
By DAVID MERCER
GateHouse News Service
Apr 16, 2010
CHAMPAIGN…When a man with a video camera at a tea party protest asked Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart what he thought of President Barack Obama, the three-term Republican didn’t hesitate.
VIDEO…Champaign, Illinois Mayor Jerry Schweighart On Pres. Obama “I Don’t Think He’s American”
“I don’t think he’s American, personally,” the third-term Republican mayor said Thursday in a video that’s been posted on YouTube. “You know, if you’re not willing to produce an original certificate like a birth certificate, then you’ve got something to hide.”Champaign mayor on Obama: “I don’t think he’s American …... more
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This week, Nestlé's massive shareholder meeting was interrupted by some pissed off orangutans protesting the deforestation of their habitats in Indonesia. Nestlé contracts with companies that are clear-cutting rainforest and setting up palm oil plantations there to obtain palm oil for its products like KitKat bars, PowerBars, Nestlé Quick, etc.
To put this in perspective, Nestle has some 250,000 shareholders, mostly Swiss and American, so crashing their annual shareholder meeting is no small feat!
Nestle, Give the Orangutans a Break!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8kwVU5pujg&feature=player_embedded
It couldn't be any more clear-cut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToGK3-2tZz8&feature=relatedThis week, Nestlé's massive shareholder meeting was interrupted by some... more
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(VIDEO) OOPS…Michelle Obama Admits Pres. Obama’s Home Country is Kenya – MAKE THIS VIRAL
Michelle Obama: Kenya is Obama’s Home Count
Infowars.com
April 5, 2010
Obama’s wife admits what many have long suspected — her husband’s home country is Kenya. Does this mean Obama was born in the African country as many have long suggested? Maybe. It should be enough to re-open the “birther” case against Obama.
(VIDEO) OOPS…Michelle Obama Admits Pres. Obama’s Home Country is Kenya – MAKE THIS VIRAL...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/video-oops-michelle-obama-admits-pres-obamas-home-country-is-kenya-make-this-viral/
It won’t be, of course, because the establishment media controls the debate over the issue. Even so, the video clip below should be added to the case — that is so long as it remains posted on YouTube.(VIDEO) OOPS…Michelle Obama Admits Pres. Obama’s Home Country is Kenya... more
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A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Wednesday, triggering two tsunamis and injuring several people, officials said.
Six people on Simeulue island were injured when the quake hit, and two houses collapsed under the violent shaking, said Dadik, the head of Simeulue police, who goes by only one name.
The island is just off the coast of Banda Aceh, a city at the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island where residents lost power after the temblor.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/04/06/indonesia.earthquake/index.html?hpt=T2A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Wednesday,... more
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eva2
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