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Candidates for the Miss Earth 2011 beauty contest pose by the poolside of a hotel resort at Mandaluyong city east of Manila, Philippines following their media presentation Tuesday. The ten-year-old international beauty pageant has attracted about 90 candidates with the venue transferred to the Philippines this year following the flooding in Thailand. The reigning Miss Earth 2010 Nicole Faria of India will crown her successor at the coronation night on Dec.3, 2011. (AP/Bullit Marquez)

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Energy and Mineral Resources Deputy Minister Widjajono Partowidagdo has proposed that the price of subsidized fuel be increased by Rp 1,000 (11 US cents) especially for private cars, in the hope of reducing fuel comsumption in 2012.

“In my opinion, for public vehicles and trucks, the price of Premium [a subsidized fuel] should stay at Rp 4,500 per liter. But for private car owners we should increase it by Rp 1,000 per liter, so it will be Rp 5,500,” Widjajano said Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

He explained that the private cars he meant were those that would find it difficult to afford non-subsidized Pertamax fuel.

More expensive vehicles, he said, should not be allowed to buy subsidized fuel.
“There must be discrimination. [Expensive] cars should use Pertamax,” he said.
He added that the idea would be discussed further with legislators and would be implemented as soon as it gains House approval.

“If it has been agreed on, we will implement it immediately. If necessary, we will see the fuel price increased for private cars by next month or next year,” he said.

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Indonesia clinched two golds and one silver in sport climbing events when its climbers won on the men's speed track and women's speed track during the Southeast Asian Games at the Jakabaring Sports Complex in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Monday.
Abudzar Yulianto clocked a time of 8.65 to claim gold, outpacing Vietnamese climber Thanh Nhien Phan (11.37) and Singaporean Weng Khit Adriel Choo, who settled for silver and bronze.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's Fritriyani and Santi Welyanti took gold and silver in the women's speed track, leaving the bronze to Singaporean Judith Sim Ming Xin.
Sport climbing is among the disciplines proposed by host Indonesia to be featured in the biannual festival of sport.
Only four countries took part in the sport climbing competition —Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and host Indonesia — with 10 golds up for grabs.
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Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi has said the government will begin to build the long-abandoned monorail project possibly in 2013.

So far, the government has discussed the plan with the Jakarta administration, which would continue the construction of the project, he said Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

The Jakarta administration planned to manage the construction of the long-abandoned monorail project, Governor Fauzi Bowo once said.

The project, owned by PT Jakarta Monorail, had encountered problems securing funding for development shortly after construction began.

Jakarta Monorail has priced the project at Rp 600 billion (US$66 million), but the administration has rejected the requested amount, instead offering a maximum Rp 203 billion.

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Terror suspect: Abu Bakar Ba'asyir

Achmad Michdan, a member of Muslim Lawyers Team, who defends terror suspect Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, denied Friday that Ba'asyir funded military-style training camp in Aceh, saying that Ba'asyir's money was managed by his private assistant.

"I never made the statement that ustad (teacher) Ba'asyir funded the (training) camp in Aceh. He has never had a business with banks," Achmad Michdan told Tempointeraktif.com on Friday.

Ba’asyir was arrested in West Java on Monday on his way to his home in Solo, Central Java. A day earlier, the police raided the hideouts of several terrorist suspects in the province, arresting five people.

Ba’asyir was named a suspect on Tuesday and detained the following day.

Michdan said Ba'asyir received donations from many parties but he had never asked for them, and his treasurer would then distribute the donations to those who needed them most.

The lawyer also said Ba'asyir bank account was managed by his private assistant. "So, it is not him (Ba'asyir) who funded the Aceh (camp)."

Earlier, on Thursday, Michdan confirmed that Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT), led by Ba'asyir, was one of the financiers of the military-style training in Aceh. However, he said that the training was not connected with any terrorism activities but as a preparation just in case something happened to Muslims, just like what had happened in Palestine.

He even said that JAT was not alone in supporting the Aceh training, a number of other Islamic organizations also sent their men to the training there.

Until today, his lawyers do the talking for Ba’asyir. Ba’asyir has vehemently denied to talk to the police, saying that he would talk only in court because he believed the police were acting in the interests of the enemy of Islam, in particular the US and Israel.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Friday that police would continue investigation into Ba'asyir's the case despite the latter's refusal to answer any questions from the police.

Edward said the police respected Ba'asyir's decision to not answer questions, but they were preparing evidence to charge him.

“When the investigation is over, we will go ahead with the case,” Edward said as quoted by kompas.com.

“The investigation into the case has been going for a long time, we have collected testimonies and evidence,” he added.

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Telecommunication giant Telkomsel claims to have blocked 800,000 porn sites in response to the government’s drive against pornography during Ramadan fasting month.

Telkomsel president director Sarwoto Atmosutarno said Thursday the company had filtered the adult sites through its proxy server or gateway, which automatically denies its customers access to the porn sites.

Due to the blacklist internet access mechanism, users of Telkomsel’s Internet facility will read in their mobile phone, computer or laptop monitors a warning, which reads: “Access is denied due to security policy enforcement”, if they try to open a porn site.

“The blockage is performed in stages and will affect all gadgets that have Telkomsel’s Internet access,” Sarwoto said as quoted by kompas.com.

Director General for Post and Telecommunication Budi Setiawan witnessed Telkomsel demonstrate how the filtering system worked at his office on Thursday.

Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring had previously asked Internet providers to filter all porn sites before the start of Ramadan.

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Health check: In this file photo veterinarians examine a female Sumatran tiger at a rehabilitation center at a zoo in Jambi in July, 2009. -- AP

The animals at Indonesia's largest zoo - many of them critically endangered - all could be dead within five years unless strong action is taken to change the culture of neglect and corruption that permeates the facility, a zoo official said Saturday.

Hundreds of animals die every year at the Surabaya Zoo, and others suffer from hunger, stress and overcrowding, according to Tonny Sumampouw, the chairman of the country's zoo association who has been tasked with overseeing the facility after the government took it over earlier this year.

Sumampouw said the 94-year-old facility, built under Dutch colonial rule on a 37-acre (15-hectare) plot of land that currently holds 4,200 animals, has tallied 300 deaths a year over the past decade, including dozens of Komodo dragons, jaguars, bisons and Bali starlings.

In recent days alone, a17-year-old African lion and 6-year-old Australian kangaroo died, he said. Also at great risk are 14 rare Sumatran tigers being kept in dirty, cramped cages and 20 Komodo babies in intensive care.

Sumampouw, who is running the zoo as a caretaker until a new director is named, blamed bad management and corruption for the problems.

"My assumption is that all those animals will definitely disappear in the next five years unless there are efforts to reorganize how the zoo is managed," Sumampouw said.

Many employees have been caught stealing meat intended for the animals and sometimes, in the case of rare species, stealing the animals themselves, he said.

He said fixing the problems "will be a big challenge" for the new boss.

A spokesman for the zoo's old management team, Agus Supangkat, said while an average of 25 animals die at the facility every month, most succumb to old age or other natural causes. He said the animals are properly fed and cared for and that hygiene is well-maintained, but acknowledged that some animals die from stress, especially the big cats.

"This zoo is very old and its cages outdated," he said. "They are like prison cells, putting stress especially on the big mammals." 

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