Readwrotes Blog

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 08/07/2009 10:31 AM | Headlines Suparno“buries” himself during an anti-election demonstration in the yard of the now-defunct Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. Activists grouped under the Bastion of Indonesian Democracy accused the Yudhoyono administration of selling Indonesia out to US interests and rejected his recent re-election. JP/P.J. Leo

Erwida Maulia , The Jakarta Post , Nusa Dua, Bali | Sun, 08/09/2009 11:54 PM | World Dance against AIDS: Participants storm the stage and dance together after the opening of the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, at Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, Denpasar, on Sunday night. The congress runs until Thursday. JP/R. Berto Wedhatama President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially opened the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Bali on Sunday night, thanking foreign participants who attended the gathering despite the recent bombing in Jakarta. "I guarantee that the recent attack in Jakarta would not change the fact that Indonesia is a stable, peaceful democracy which offers freedom, pluralism and tolerance," Yudhoyono said in his opening speech at Garuda Wisnu Kencana cultural park in Nusa Dua, Bali. He said that the police would continue to trace down the suspected terrorists to ...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 08/09/2009 9:16 PM | National The police must have a filtering system for information that can be released to the public before blaming the media for its failure to capture suspected terrorists, experts say. The coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday the police had got it wrong when they had blamed the press for failing to capture the targets in what was supposed to be a part of a string of raids. “The police must be careful in managing information.” Usman added the public needed to know what the police were doing and what they had accomplished. “[The police] have to provide that information. Now they have to think which information can be disclosed and which can’t.” National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri had previously said that a raid in Surakarta, Central Java, on August 8, had been a flop due to “aggressi...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 08/09/2009 6:33 PM | National An intelligent observer Dinno Cressbon said Sunday most wanted terror suspect Noordin M. Top would have been unlikely to choose Beji hamlet, Temanggung, Central Java as a hideout. "Beji is different. It is surrounded by hills where he could not escape, while his previous nine hideouts usually got an easy access to the road and the sea. "That's why I doubt the dead terror suspect is Noordin M. Top." He said police could not conclude the remains were Noordin just because the dead man once admitted he was Noordin before police killed him, kompas.com reported "It's not enough," he added. Police believed they had killed Noordin in a raid in Temanggung from Friday to Saturday.

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 08/09/2009 4:08 PM | National The South Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Suparni Parto has urged six people allegedly involved in a series of 2005 Poso terror attacks to surrender. The suspects who are still at large are Taufik Bulaga alias Upik Lawanga, Iin aka Brur, Nanto aka Bojel, Iwan Asapa aka Ale, Enal aka Tao and Hamdara aka Papa Yus. The police have suspected they took part in the attack at Tentena market that claimed 22 lives in May 2005. “We promise we will protect them without neglecting legal processes,” Suparni said as quoted by Antara state news agency Sunday. He added he was suspected all suspects hadfled outside Central Sulawesi. “We have coordinated with related offices to hunt for their whereabouts,” he said, adding the police had yet to know the link between the suspects with those who bombed JW Marriot and Ritz Charlton Hotels in Kuningan, South Jakarta on July 17. (ewd)

Suherdjoko/Slamet Susanto/Tarko Sudiarno , The Jakarta Post , Temanggung, Central Java | Sun, 08/09/2009 2:01 PM | National Mohzahri, the owner of a house in Beji hamlet, Temanggung, Central Java used as the hideout of a dead terror suspect believed to be Noordin M. Top, has been known as a good villager, neighbors say. He teaches religion at the Junior High School SMP Muhammdiyah, Kedu, and also often leads Friday's mass prayer at the village mosque. "His speech has never taught radicalism," Kedu village head Purnomo Hadi said Saturday. Mohzahri, lives with his wife, Endang, has a son and a daughter. His son, Tatang, and his nephew, Aries, however, were reportedly arrested by police anti-terror unit, Mono, a neighbor, said. His daughter married to a man from a neighboring village. Mono still could not believe that Mohzahri rent his house to terror suspect Noordin M. Top and police raided the house from Friday to Saturday. Marimah...

The Jakarta Post | Sun, 08/09/2009 1:28 PM | Jakarta Police have yet to ask Arina Rahmah, believed to be the wife of the dead terror suspect Noordin M. Top, to identify whether or not the dead man was her husband. "There is no communication between us and the police yet," Asludin Hatjani, one of Arina's lawyers, said as quoted by Kompas. He, however, was worried that his client would not be able to identify the remains of the man, whose face was reportedly destroyed due to a blast in a raid in Temanggung, Central Java from Friday to Saturday. Arina married to someone resembled to Noordin. His husband escaped a police raid by last month in Cilacap. "Let's just wait for the result from the police work," Asludin said

The Associated Press , Jakarta | Sun, 08/09/2009 1:08 PM | National Police scrambled Sunday to identify the body of a suspected terrorist killed in a farmhouse gunbattle after discovering a plot to kill Indonesia's president in a suicide car bombing. Forensics teams planned to collect DNA samples from family members of regional terror mastermind Noordin Muhammad Top, who was reportedly killed during a 16-hour firefight with officers in central Java on Saturday, said Dynno Chressbon, a government anti-terrorism adviser. One of Noordin's wives and children were traveling to the capital Jakarta to provide samples, Chressbon said. Malaysian authorities were also coming to Indonesia to assist in the identification, he said. Noordin is a Malaysian citizen, blamed for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Southeast Asian in recent years, and a self-proclaimed al-Qaida commander. Serious doubts were raised Sunday that a massive ma...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 08/09/2009 12:21 PM | National Parents of terror suspects Air Setiawan aka Aries and Eko Jono Sarjono visited the National Police headquarters on Sunday to bring home the bodies of their sons who were shot dead by the police in a shoot-out in Bekasi, West Java on Saturday. "We want the police to allow us to bring the bodies of Ari and Eko back home tonight," Endro Sudarsono, lawyer of Air and Eko families, said. "We show the police their birth and other certificates." From the National Police headquarters, the families of Air and Eko will go the National Police Hospital at 2.00 p.m. to identify the remains of Air and Eko, Kompas.com reported. The families said they would bury Air and Eko in their hometown Surakarta, Central Java.

The Associated Press , London | Sun, 08/09/2009 12:10 PM | World A British tabloid reported Saturday that the godfather of Michael Jackson's three children claims to be the father of the singer's daughter Paris. The News of the World quotes Jackson's longtime friend Mark Lester as saying that he "gave Michael my sperm so that he could have kids - and I believe Paris is my daughter." The newspaper also quotes Lester, is a 51-year-old former child star known for his lead role in the 1968 movie version of the state show "Oliver!" as saying he's willing to take a paternity test. In a video interview with Lester broadcast on the News of the World Web site, Lester said he donated his sperm at a London clinic. He said Jackson was married to Debbie Rowe at the time. "She's the birth mother of the children so I naturally assumed the sperm donation would obviously have gone into Debbie and Debbie would have ...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 08/09/2009 11:49 AM | National The Indonesian Military (TNI) said Sunday it had added more personnel to protect President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after police killed terror suspects believed to have a plan to commit a suicide bombing at the private residence of the president. TNI Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said TNI would tighten security to Yudhoyono and his family. "We take this measure automatically. We will adjust our protection to the president with necessary actions...," he said as quoted by Kompas.com He admitted there were more TNI officers to guard the president, but he refused to mention any number. Police killed two terror suspects in Bekasi, where they were prepared a plot to kill Yudhoyono on Aug. 17.