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Friday, November 26, 2010

RI Remains Balanced on Korea Conflict


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Tension in the Korean peninsula rose again last Tuesday when North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto a South Korean island , killing two people, setting homes ablaze and triggering an exchange of fire with its southern neighbor. In what appeared to be one of the most serious border incidents since the 1950-1953 war, South Korean troops fired back with cannon. The artillery contact has caused concern around the world that the incident would trigger a new war as both Koreas were allied with big countries : North Korea with China and South Korea with the United States. Russia as one of the members of the Six Party Talk on Tuesday warned against an escalation of tensions after North Korea fired artillery shells onto a South Korean border island, a foreign ministry official told Interfax. "It`s important that this does not lead to an aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula," the official, who was not named, told Interfax. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday he had ordered his ministers to prepare for any eventuality after North Korea fired artillery shells onto a South Korean island. "I ordered (ministers) to make preparations so that we can react firmly, should any unexpected event occur," Kan said. Ties between Japan and North Korea have been tense for years, with Tokyo taking a hard line over Pyongyang`s military programs as well as the kidnapping of Japanese nationals during the Cold War to be trained as spies. Indonesia`s stance Unlike the US or China which have taken sides in Korea conflict, Indonesia has good relations with both South Korea and North Korea. Therefore, when commenting about Korean peninsula issue, Indonesia tends to be very careful. Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa expressed deep concern over the armed clash between North Korea and South Korea on Yeonpyeong island that has claimed lives. "Indonesia urges the two sides to immediately stop the hostility and to restrain themselves maximally to avoid increasing tension," Marty said. He underlined the importance of resuming the six-party talks between South Korea, North Korea, the United States, Russia, China and Japan to discuss all aspects relating to the creation of peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula. Marty also urged North Korea and South Korea to do their utmost to prevent the escalation of tension after they exchanged fire in waters off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday. "We renew our call for the two parties to make maximum efforts to exercise self-restraint and prevent the escalation of tension," he said. "Indonesia has been keeping abreast of developments taking place in the Korean Peninsula and is deeply concerned (by the latest developments)," he said.

He said Indonesia condemned any baseless act of violence which is against the principles of the UN Charter. Meanwhile, prominent figures in Indonesia demand firmer action on the Korea peninsula issue. A member of Commission I from the House of Representatives Fayakhun Andriadi said Indonesia must use its neutral position to approach both Koreas directly. "Indonesia must proactively gather support from Asian countries to help solve the conflict in the Korean peninsula," he said citing an example that former President Megawati Soekarnoputri a few years ago had tried to directly mediate the dispute between South Korea and North Korea. Haryadi Wirawan, an observer of international relations from the University of Indonesia , said Indonesia had the capacity to mediate the conflict between the two Koreas directly. "It will be hard for the Six Party Talks to find a solution to the conflict in the Korean peninsula since its members have their own private agendas," he said. However, Haryadi emphasized that if Indonesia decided to take part in solving the Korean conflict, it must be conducted carefully without causing mistrust from either South Korea or North Korea. South Korea`s Chairman of National Unification Advisory Council Kim Kwang Hyun asked Indonesia to state a firm action on the Korean peninsula issue. "Indonesia as the most important country in ASEAN should take a firm position on this issue," he said. The international community should condemn North Korea`s attack clearly and strongly to prevent further provocation which could be a threat to peace and security in East Asia, he said. Reasons behind the attack Mark Fitzpatrick, a fellow of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London and formerly a senior official at the US State Department, said however that it was unlikely to lead to full-scale conflict. "It`s hard not to draw the conclusion that this, like the Cheonan sinking, was related to the succession," Fitzpatrick told AFP, referring to a South Korean warship in March that Seoul said was hit by a North Korean torpedo. Both incidents were ways to give North Korean heir apparent Kim Jong-Un "some accomplishments," he said. "He has had little time to do anything at age 27, but given a general`s title the North would like to gird him with some military victories and this is one that will surely be ascribed to his military leadership," he added. North Korea was, however, also trying to force South Korea back into talks on the disputed Yellow Sea border, said Fitzpatrick, the senior fellow for non-proliferation at IISS and ex-former US deputy assistant secretary of state. "One reason North Korea took this provocative step is to get the South`s attention, to say: `Look, unless you`re willing to negotiate on this line of demarcation, you`re going to draw military consequences,`" he said. North Korea fired artillery to Yeonpyeong island close to the maritime border between North and South Korea triggering a firefight. North Korea did not recognize the border considering it as being determined unilaterally by the US after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with a truce.

Three marine battles occurred in the region in 1999 and South Korea had blamed North Korea for its attack that had sunk a South Korean warship in March this year. In its statement to North Korea`s state news agency KCNA as quoted by South Korea`s Yonhap, the North Korean supreme military command had accused South Korea of starting the tension by firing on the North. Efforts to reduce tension between the two countries triggered by North Korea`s controversial nuclear program through the six-party talks ended in 2008. North Korea left the forum in April 2009 and five months later it announced that it had reached the final stage of uranium enrichment program which is an important step toward making a nuclear bomb.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Pertamina Develops Geothermal Electricity

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) is developing 765 megawatt (MW) of potential geothermal energy. The project, said Zainal Ilmie Bachrun, the Planning and Development director of PGE, is part of the geothermal energy long term development to produce 1.342 megawatt by 2014. The projects are in Ulubelu I and II (110 MW), Lumut Balai I and II (110 MW), Lahendong IV (20 MW), Lahendong V and VI (40 MW), Hulu Lais I and II (110 MW), Kotamobagu I and II (40 MW), Sungai Penuh I (55 MW), Karaha I (30 MW), Kamojang V (30 MW), Ulubelu III and IV (110 MW), and Lumut Balai III and IV (110 MW). In addition, Pertamina has yet to produce the plans to develop 307 megawatt of geothermal energy. To be noted, Indonesia has 40 percent of the world's geothermal potential. There are around 250 geothermal sites with a potential of 28000 MW. Sugiharto Harsoprayitno, the director of Geothermal Energy Development at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said that so far, geothermal energy development has faced problems because there is no certainty about the price. Therefore, it is hard to reach an agreement between geothermal investors and PLN, thestate-owned electricity company.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

UNICEF Extends Program in Aceh

Banda Aceh, Aceh - Aceh province is part of a priority program of cooperation between the Indonesian government and UNICEF under a 2011-2015 Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) in improving the health of mother and child in the region. Head of the Unicef representative office in Aceh Hindarmanto said here Tuesday that while a lot of progress had been reached in many fields, the status of child nutrition is still posing a problem and mother`s death rate is still high. "Therefore it was necessary to make a more comprehensive analysis of the underlaying causes of these problems for the formulation of beneficial programs in raising the welfare of mother and child," he said. UNICEF is ready to help the Aceh administration develop innovative models and make decisions and policies of raising the welfare of mother and child, he said. The meeting also especially presented an interim report on the results of Mother and Child Situation Analysis (ASIA) in Aceh province, especially in three pilot regencies namely Aceh Besar, Aceh Timur and Aceh Jaya. The analysis on mother and child facilitated by Nossal Institute, Melbourne University, served as an input for a cooperation program in 2010, and the planning of the cooperation program for 2011 and 2012. In the meantime, head of the Aceh development plan agency along with Unicef Ir. Iskandar M.Sc told a meeting discussing the UNICEF cooperation program, that many things had already been achieved in the past five years along with the post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction period. However, the Aceh administration still has our important agendas on rehabilitation and reconstruction, operations and the maintenance of assets, asset functionalization, and strengthening institutional capacity. "In this case, UNICEF is expected to play a leading role in raising institutional capacity of both the government and the public," Iskandar said.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Mount Bromo's Status Raised to "Alert" Level

Pasuruan, East Java (ANTARA News) - Mount Bromo in East Java is showing signs of increasing activity prompting the authorities to raise its status to "alert" level as of 8am on Tuesday, a local official said. The administrations of all areas around the mountain have been informed about its mounting activity, M Yahya, head of Pasuruan district`s communal unity and safety office, said here Tuesday. He said he had received information about the mountain`s increased activity from the East Java energy and mineral resources office. According to the results of monitoring by the Geological Disaster Mitigation and Vulcanology Center`s monitoring post in Ngadisari, Cemorolawang, Probolinggo, deep and shallow volcanic earthquakes were happening in the mountain continuously. Volcanic tremors had also been recorded since last November 8. Based on data collected through instrumental and visual monitoring that were analysed, the danger status of the mountain had been raised to one notch closer to the highest level as of 8am on Tuesday. The level would be raised or lowered depending on the activity of the mountain which was being continuously monitored. In view of the prevailing conditions, people or visitors are prohibited to get close to the mountain`s top and may only go as far as a radius of three kilometers from the peak. The 2329 meter high mountain is located in Probolinggo, East Java. The mountain has erupted three times in the 20th century with the biggest recorded in 1974 and the last on June 8, 2004, marked by freatic explosions producing smoke as high as 3,000 meter from the crater leaving two people dead and five wounded. The mountain`s eruption in 2004 lasted very shortly marked by freatic explosions with unclear initial signs. Mount Bromo is well known among both domestic and foreign tourists.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Mt Merapi Evacuees Relieved Volcano Has Calmed Down

Magelang, C Java - A resident of Babadan I hamlet in Paten village, Magelang district, Central Java, said he was relieved that Mount Merapi had calmed downi. Salamun, 44, told ANTARA here Thursday his relief was shared by lots of Paten villagers. Therefore, many of them now wanted to leave their refugee shelters and return to their homes. "We are relieved (Mount Merapi has calmed down) but because the government has yet to permit us to go home, most of us are still staying in their refugee shelters," Salamun said. Due to the absence of the government`s permission, only a small number of the Mount Merapi eruption refugees in Magelang district, Central Java, had returned to their villages, he said. Babadan I hamlet in Paten village, Dukun sub-district, Magelang district, is just about five kilometers away from Mount Merapi`s crater. The hamlet used to be inhabited by 52 families or about 200 people. Around 70 residents, especially men, had been returning to the hamlet to feed and take care of their cattle at noon every day, he said. Twenty of them had not returned to the refugee centers and opted to stay in the hamlet to secure their possessions, he said. Paten villagers had taken refuge in Piyungan village in Sawangan sub-district, about 25 kilometers from their hamlet, before the fatal Mount Merapi eruption occurred on October 26. Despite the Mount Merapi`s "calmness" as claimed by Salamun, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Geology Board of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources` Geological Center has yet to change the mountain`s "beware" status despite a sharp decline in the intensity of its eruptions. Mount Merapi had erupted repeatedly in the past two or three weeks but its most fatal eruptions occurred on October 26 and November 5. As a result of the eruptions, at least 259 people had perished and many others sustained burns and became displaced. The total number of refugees being sheltered in 639 refugee centers in Yogyakarta and Central Java reportedly reached 367,548 people. Mount Merapi, on the border between two provinces, lies geographically close to Yogyakarta but is officially part of Central Java. The volcano`s eruptions spewed hot clouds of ash and lava into the air and sent lava down its many slopes. Besides killing and injuring several hundred people, eruptions had also damaged 867 hectares of forested land on the volcano`s slopes in Sleman District, Yogyakarta, with material losses estimated at Rp33 billion.

The damaged forested areas included the Merapi National Park, community forests and local people`s plantations. Mount Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, whose eruptions have regularly been detected since 1548.

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