Archive for November, 2007
JAKARTA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) — Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd planned to raise investment up to 900 million U.S. dollars in Indonesia’s Kangean oil and gas field in East Java province by 2012, President and General Manager Kangean Energy Indonesia Keisuke Inoue said here Wednesday.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつThe general manager told a press conference after meeting Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla at his office here that currently the company’s investment in the field had reached 400 million U.S. dollars.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつ”The total investment in Kangean will be from 800 million to 900 million U.S. dollars up to 2012,” he said.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつInoue said that the field was targeted to begin production in 2010.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつOn the same occasion, Executive Vive President of Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd Osamu Watanabe said that the potential of the gas and oil in the filed was huge.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつIndonesia, which vows not to rise oil price, may have a problem with its domestic subsidy bill if global oil prices reach 100 U.S. dollars a barrel and remain stubbornly high, a senior government official has said.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつCrude oil price nearly reach 100 U.S. dollar per barrel recently partly due to high demand and global political uncertainty. Indonesia has attempted to boost crude oil output as the country has failed to find new oilfields fast enough.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつThe country’s aging wells and lack of investment in the energy sector have pushed the country to become a net crude oil importer, although it is still a net energy exporter, thanks to a large amount of supply of natural gas and coal.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつIndonesia increased fuel prices sharply in October 2005 to cut crippling energy subsidies, but they are still among the cheapest in the world.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつOil price increases are a sensitive issue in Indonesia. In May 1998, a big rise in fuel prices triggered rioting that helped topple former President Suharto.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
November 22nd, 2007
KEDIRI - Anak Gunung Kelud yang tumbuh di kawah lava terus menunjukkan perkembangan. Gundukan itu sudah menutup hampir seluruh kawah yang berdiameter 300 meter tersebut. Tingginya pun sudah menjulang 150 meter dan membentuk gunung baru.
Perkembangan anak Gunung Kelud yang sering juga disebut kubah itu begitu cepat. Awal terdeteksi pada 5 November 2007, saat gunung itu diprediksi bakal meletus. Bukan muntahan lahar yang keluar, tapi justru muncul anak gunung yang menutup mulut semburan (kawah).
Situasi saat ini, leleran lava pijar sudah mulai mengecil. Karena kondisi bekas kawah itu semakin mengiring, asap yang terlihat pun semakin tipis. Hingga kemarin, akses ke Kelud ditutup total dalam radius 3 kilometer dari pusat kawah.
Menurut Kasubbid Pengamatan Gunung Api Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) Agus Budianto, anak Gunung Kelud atau kubah tersebut terus berkembang. “Semua aktivitas itu menunjukkan bahwa kubah masih tumbuh,” ujarnya.
Seismograf di Pos Pengamat Gunung Kelud di Desa Sugihwaras, Ngancar, Kabupaten Kediri, mencatat, mulai pukul 12.00 hingga 18.00 kemarin masih ada 227 gempa embusan. Dari kubah, masih keluar leleran lava pijar. Namun, tidak terekam gempa tremor.
Dalam kondisi tersebut, masyarakat harus tetap waspada. Dalam radius tiga kilometer, areal di sekitar kawah harus disterilkan dari aktivitas warga. Tidak tertutup kemungkinan, radius steril tersebut diperluas jika kubah lava semakin tinggi. Sebab, jika terjadi letusan, lontaran materialnya diyakini akan semakin jauh. (dea)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 21st, 2007
Duncan Graham, Contributor, Surabaya
Like most foreigners I’ve made some awful errors. No point in compiling a list — there’s insufficient space. Best to confine my revelations to the recall of one ghastly event.
I should have known better. I’d been in the country long enough to sense the sensitivities. My motives were pure. But I’d forgotten the old saw: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
And my feet rapidly hit that road outside the Surabaya tourism department not so long ago.
It happened like this: As a happy resident grateful to a country that’s offered friendship and overlooked my foibles and mispronunciations, I thought I owed something in return.
Word addicts suffer side effects. Like a disgust for those who abuse language. Scold your spouse or scald the cat, but whatever you do don’t violate the vulgate.
And that’s happening in spades, particularly in tourist brochures. The most ghastly gaffes are a hoot. Getting a mention in Lonely Planet, is a coup - though not when the backpackers’ bible gives a full paragraph to quote a guidebook:
“Bromo should be the choice, for only there, on the crater rim with the sea of sand stretching below as far as the eyes can see on one’s left and the ghostly grumble mixed with dense lumps of smoke crumple up from the inner pitfall on one’s right, and on the height of 2,383 meters above sea level would one see how lustrous the aurora of the sun in mixing colors of white, pale yellow, yellowish red turning red appears from behind the hills quite in front, to brighten the atmosphere to daylight, does one feel oneself to be like one grain of small green pea amidst a vessel of sand — you’ll be aware of the greatness of men!”
It’s not just the government that gets it wrong big time. A favorite is a hotel in Batu, East Java that invites guests to “lay down at the poolside (and) enjoy the sunburn.”
OK, have a giggle, move on. Who cares? Well I care because I live here and hate to see this archipelago of astonishments sneered at by supercilious Singaporeans-la or the Truly Asian Malaysians who produce the most meticulous International English prose in their PR.
The Europeans may be forgiving, but our near neighbors aren’t.
So duly authorized by a folder of fully franked letters of introduction, smart in pressed batik and shoes like mirrors I respectfully presented my humble self at the office of the Big Man.
An ingratiating preamble; surely Sir’s department had a Westminster reputation with outstanding staff producing credit-worthy material?
This was bending the truth into a hoop; the grimy office was overstaffed and underworked. Its pamphlets came in two grades — ink stencils or heavyweight gloss with smudged text, blurred color and glued pages.
But I confined myself to the language, kept my knees together and posture attentive. I just loved the brochures — the language was practically Shakespearian when compared to my Indonesian. Who else writes jemput (to be picked up) when he means jembut (pubic hair)? Or should that be the other way around? Ha, ha!
But little mistakes can creep in — you know how it is. That’s why newspapers have so many copy-editors. If Sir would care to occasionally use a native speaker’s services, absolutely free and no strings attached, maybe I could help polish the prose a little?
Get your competent colleagues to e-mail me the text. Just in case there are any teeny-weeny errors that might want correcting, so together we can help visitors really appreciate this most perfect of provinces .
In the West the unwelcome can be forcibly evicted. The Javanese solution is for the host to get up and stride out, trembling in fury, while the guest is in mid sentence, tea cup poised, and let the sidekicks show you the other door.
One was apologetic: He disclosed that the brochures had been written by the boss who had a master’s degree from a Mickey Mouse campus 30 years ago. Although the young graduate from Airlangga University (East Java’s finest) knew the department’s handouts were gobbledygook he dared not gainsay a superior.
Maintaining protocol, he explained, was more important than improving performance. So home ways you go quick — and your business you mind yourself, ya. Like Frank Sinatra, we do it my way.
Source: The Jakarta Post
November 19th, 2007
SURABAYA - Tari Remo, tampaknya, belum dilupakan warga Kota Surabaya. Kemarin (18/11) Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata Pemkot Surabaya mengadakan pergelaran Tari Remo masal di Taman Bungkul. Ternyata, peminat acara tersebut jauh meningkat daripada tahun sebelumnya.
Kepala Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata (Disbudpar) Pemkot Suhartoyo mengatakan, ajang yang merupakan agenda tahunan Disbudpar itu diikuti 172 peserta yang tergabung dalam 40 grup. “Mulai tahun ini, ada kategori grup balita. Yakni, penari berusia 3-5 tahun. Jumlahnya delapan kelompok,” katanya. Ada juga 19 grup anak dan 13 grup remaja.
Dia berharap agar progam tersebut dapat membantu melestarikan budaya Tari Remo. “Pementasan seperti ini bisa memberikan perasaan bangga bagi pesertanya. Rasa bangga dapat menumbuhkan rasa cinta pada budaya daerah,” paparnya.
Tahun lalu peserta Tari Remo masal hanya sekitar seratus peserta. Peserta tahun ini bertambah, menurut Suhartoyo, berkat dorongan para seniman yang menggalakkan latihan Tari Remo.
Selain itu, kreasi yang diciptakan para seniman membuat anak-anak tidak minder membawakan Tari Remo. “Beberapa kreasi Tari Remo memangkas waktu penampilan mereka dari 20 menit menjadi 5-10 menit. Ini dapat mengurangi kejenuhan penari dan penontonnya,” tuturnya.
Selain Tari Remo, Disbudpar mengagendakan pementasan keroncong, dalang, dan campursari. Seluruh kegiatan ditujukan untuk anak-anak dan remaja. “Prioritas kami adalah memupuk rasa cinta pada budaya lokal dan tradisional agar tidak punah,” ujarnya. (uji)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 19th, 2007
SURABAYA - Menghadap Bumi adalah tajuk pameran seni rupa karya Iwan Yusuf di Galeri Surabaya, 15-23 November 2007. Tema itu dipilih karena dalam karya-karyanya, Iwan menuangkan nuansa bumi dan alam. Selain itu, dalam beberapa karya, dia menekankan perlunya orang bersujud kepada penguasa alam semesta.
Pelukis Surabaya asal Gorontalo tersebut memamerkan beberapa jenis karya seni rupa. Antara lain, lukisan (painting), drawing, patung, dan instalasi. Pameran tersebut dibuka monolog Sistri Wahyuni. Monolog berjudul Hidup, Sakit, Mati itu seolah menjadi satu kesatuan dengan tema yang diusung Iwan.
Salah satu instalasi Iwan berjudul Spirit. Pada karya itu, ada puisi Meraih dunia, bukan untuk dipuja. Ia cinta berduri. “Itu menandakan bahwa bumi ini tak hanya untuk dipuja. Tetapi, bumi harus dilestarikan dan dijaga untuk kelangsungan hidup umat manusia,” katanya. (top)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 16th, 2007
MONUMEN para pahlawan tak dikenal baru saja diresmikan. Patung-patung itu pun merasa bangga terhadap peresmian itu. Namun, seiring berjalannya waktu, mereka kian muak. Patung-patung itu kerap disalahfungsikan. Bagaimanapun, kehadiran mereka tetap dimaknai secara khusus oleh orang-orang yang memuja patung tersebut.
Lakon adaptasi naskah Monumen karya Indra Tranggono itulah yang dipentaskan Komunitas Teater Surabaya pada Festival Cak Durasim (FCD) 2007 di Gedung Cak Durasim tadi malam. “Saya ingin memberi arti di setiap pentas sehingga penonton bisa pulang membawa sebuah perenungan,” kata Jujuk Prabowo, sutradara, saat geladi resik kemarin (15/11). Dalam lakon itu, mereka memang ingin menggugat kekuasaan dan pengusaha.
Dikisahkan, kebanggaan para patung tersebut hanya berlangsung sesaat. Waktu akhirnya menyeret patung-patung itu pada problem masyarakat. Misalnya, ada pencari togel yang minta “nomor sip” kepada salah satu patung. “Jangan salahkan mereka yang memang hanya bisa mengadu kepada kita yang dianggap pahlawan,” kata salah satu patung.
Monumen tersebut semakin terlupakan saat perawatan rutin tidak lagi dilakukan penguasa yang dulu meresmikannya. Kemudian datang seorang pelacur yang mengadukan nasibnya, sepi pelanggan. Dengan membakar dupa, sekali lagi, monumen tersebut dimintai pertolongan agar memanggil pelanggan untuk sang pelacur.
Di sekitar monumen itu, akhirnya terjadi keributan. Sang pengusaha mengumumkan rencana pembongkaran monumen untuk dijadikan mal. Seniman, pejudi togel, dan pelacur berhamburan di panggung untuk menyampaikan protes. Patung kembali berdialog. “Yang membela kita justru rakyat kecil. Mereka butuh sosok pemimpin yang bisa mendengarkan keluh kesahnya,” ujar sang patung.
Widodo Basuki, penyair sastra Jawa yang memerankan tokoh seniman, mengatakan, lakon tersebut merupakan sebuah usaha menggugat pemerintah agar bisa menempatkan rakyat sebagai pahlawan yang sesungguhnya. “Banyak proyek yang menghabiskan banyak uang rakyat. Namun, rakyat justru tidak mendapatkan manfaat dari proyek tersebut,” katanya setelah pentas.
Selain pentas tersebut, FCD 2007 tadi malam menghadirkan dalang wayang kulit Suparno Hadi dalam lakon Rabine Narasoma.
Hari ini ada empat agenda dalam FCD. Yaitu, lomba baca puisi, pementasan lakon Sandal Jepit, lakon Lambung Mangkurat di Nagara Dipa, dan kesenian daerah Sunda. (uji)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 16th, 2007
SURABAYA - Jadilah orang yang selalu berbuat baik. Itulah penggalan kisah dalam eksplorasi gerak dan tari berjudul Kidung Sekar Jagad yang dipentaskan di Gedung Cak Durasim, Taman Budaya Jawa Timur, tadi malam. Hasil karya penata tari Sapto Priyono dari Tulungagung tersebut mencoba merefleksikan perjalanan karir seorang seniman.
Pengalamannya yang cukup lama di dunia tari menuntun dirinya untuk menciptakan karya tersebut. “Dunia seniman juga penuh intrik dan trik. Seniman harus menumbangkan seniman lain untuk meniti karir ke jenjang yang lebih tinggi. Itulah realita yang terjadi,” ungkap Sapto.
Menampilkan tujuh penari, jebolan ISI Jogjakarta itu melakukan otokritik terhadap kehidupan seniman sekarang. Pentas diawali munculnya sesosok manusia yang berjalan tertatih-tatih keluar dari seberkas cahaya. Iringan gesekan senar rebab dan lengkingan seruling memperkuat penokohan sosok utama itu.
“Seniman harus mengawali karir dari bawah. Itu tecermin dari anak tangga berundak-undak yang saya jadikan properti karya tersebut. Sementara, seorang penari yang tertatih-tatih itu menggambarkan ketidakberdayaan seniman yang berjuang demi karya dan darma baktinya untuk orang lain,” jelasnya.
Diiringi narasi, perjalanan nasib sang seniman semakin jelas, bahwa kesuksesan tidak harus menjadikan dirinya jahat atau tamak. “Saya mencoba memerankan tokoh yang memerlukan keikhlasan dalam segala perbuatannya. Meski sesabar-sabarnya orang, pasti ada batasnya,” tegasnya.
Tari tersebut diakhiri hilangnya bercak cahaya di atas panggung. Hal itu menggambarkan bahwa seorang seniman hanya bisa menunjukkan jati dirinya dengan mutu karya seni, bukan dengan intrik saling menjatuhkan. (top)
Source: Jawa Pos Online
November 15th, 2007
Jakarta - Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano spewed smoke and flaming rocks hundreds of metres from its crater on Wednesday although it was not in danger of erupting, an official said.
Anton - a government vulcanologist at a monitoring post near the volcano, which lies in the Sunda Strait between the Java and Sumatra islands - said its volcanic activity continued to fluctuate.
Anton, who like many Indonesians uses one name, said that since Tuesday evening, a river of lava and red-hot rocks had been sliding down the slopes as far as 400 metres from Anak Krakatoa’s crater.
Despite scientists’ estimations that the volcano was not especially dangerous at present, Anton warned fishermen and visitors to stay beyond a three-kilometre radius from the mountain because it would continue to rumble for some time.
The volcano’s sudden eruption in June 1994 killed one US tourist and injured three Britons and two Indonesians.
Anak Krakatau, which means “Child of Krakatau,” formed in the Sunda Strait after the legendary eruption and explosion of Mount Krakatau in 1883, which triggered tsunamis and killed more than 36 000 people in what was then Dutch-controlled Indonesia. The eruption was among the largest ever recorded, and Anak Krakatau was born in its aftermath.
The younger volcano rumbled to life nearly three weeks ago and has since been dazzling scientists and visitors with its pyrotechnics.
Meanwhile, vulcanologists warned residents living on the slopes of the rumbling Mount Kelud volcano in East Java province to keep their distance as it continued to spew hot ash and lava.
On November 8, scientists downgraded Kelud’s status to alert level three after it appeared the volcano was experiencing only a slow eruption and a powerful explosion was unlikely. Authorities have also allowed thousands of residents to return to their homes on the volcano’s slopes after they were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters for more than three weeks.
However, Kelud’s activity remained high, scientist Agus Budianto said, explaining that tremors were continuing and a lava dome, created by lava oozing through cracks, had emerged from the crater like an “island” and was continuing to expand.
“Lava is constantly shooting out of the crater,” Budianto said from a nearby monitoring post. “We recommend people keep their distance.”
Budianto said closed-circuit television showed that the newly emerging lava dome was now up to 200 metres in diameter and stood 140 metres above the surface of the lava lake.
He said clouds of smoke billowed up to 2 500 metres into the air on Wednesday morning and ash covered a number of villages as far as 15 kilometres from the volcano’s crater.
Indonesia has the highest density of volcanoes in the world, with about 500 along the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” where seismic and volcanic activity is common. Nearly 130 are active and 65 are listed as dangerous. - Sapa-dpa
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/
November 15th, 2007
ANAK KRAKATOA, Indonesia ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 Sending a boom across the bay, the offspring of the fabled Krakatoa volcano unleashes another mighty eruption, blasting smoke and red-hot rocks hundreds of metres into the sky.
Even on its quiet side, the black sand on the now-forbidden island is so hot that a visitor can only briefly set foot on it.
This week’s display by Anak Krakatoa ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 Child of Krakatoa ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 is impressive, yet it is a mere sneeze when compared to the blast in August, 1883, that obliterated its parent in the most powerful explosion in recorded history.
That blast was heard as far away as 4,000 kilometres and choked the atmosphere with ash and dust, altering weather patterns for years. About 36,000 people were killed in the eruptions and ensuing tsunamis.
Now the 300-metre peak growing from the ocean where Krakatoa once stood is erupting, one of several Indonesian volcanoes that have roared to life in recent weeks.
They illustrate the awesome seismic forces at work deep below the surface of this island nation.
No lives have been lost in the latest round of activity, but thousands of villagers have been evacuated from the slopes of Mount Kelud on Java island. On Thursday, its alert status was dropped a level, meaning that it is still dangerous but that residents can return home.
Indonesia’s history is studded with seismic events. The 2004 Asian tsunami was spawned by a monster quake off the west coast, which sits at the intersection of three tectonic plates that form one border of the ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ撤acific Ring of Fire.ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ
The plates ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 each moving at about the speed a fingernail grows each year ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 slide against or under each other, allowing molten rock from Earth’s mantle to break the surface via a volcano, or create energy released in an earthquake.
The country’s 17,000 islands are home to about 70 active volcanoes, the most in the world.
Twenty of them are on Java, an island roughly the same size as Mississippi, and is home to more than half of the country’s 235 million people. With demand for arable land at a premium, many people choose to live within the shadow of the volcanoes because of the rich volcanic soil that is especially good for crops.
ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ展e have lived here for generations. The land is my life,ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ said Meseman, a 74-year-old papaya farmer on the slopes of Mount Kelud, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name and declined to heed the warnings to leave the area. ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ的t is impossible for me leave. If anything, the volcanic ash will make my fields more fertile.ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ
The cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 which actually lies west of Java in the Sunda Strait, contrary to the title of the popular 1969 movie, Krakatoa, East of Java ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 followed several months of gradually increasing activity.
Anak Krakatoa rose from the sea in 1930 and has been growing ever since.
Visitors can reach the island in about two hours by motor boat from the northern coast of Java, which is a 2ﾃつｽ-hour drive from Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. When it is quiet, it is a short, but steep walk to the top of the sandy peak.
When Anak began erupting last week, officials declared a no-go zone of three kilometre. But the captain of a boat agreed to take an Associated Press reporter and photographer to Anak, briefly landing on the side of the volcano that was not erupting.
The ground was hot and appeared to vibrate beneath the pumice stone, a volcanic rock that floats on water.
Despite the history of its father, Anak is not considered especially dangerous ﾃ｢竄ｬ窶 for now.
It has settled into a pattern of a gentle eruption every seven or eight years, scientists said.
ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ溺aybe in hundreds of years it will blow, but I will be long gone by then,ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ said Cahya Patria, among the scientists at the Centre for Vulcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation who keep watch on the mountain from a hill on the mainland.
Krakatoa is only just visible from their station, so the staff members monitor it with a seismograph and an array of other equipment installed on its slopes, including a camera that takes photos posted on the center’s Web site.
As the volcano keeps up a steady stream of thunderous explosions, scientists at the station log each eruption and its intensity.
Visitors to Anak from Jakarta normally pass through the resort towns of Anyer and Carita, which were devastated by the series of tsunamis triggered by the 1883 eruption. There are few signs of that horror, aside from the foundations of a Dutch-built lighthouse that was scythed down by the sea.
The park where its replacement now stands is a popular meeting point for young lovers, who sit on benches straining to catch a glimpse of Anak Krakatoa as it billows mushroom clouds of smoke into the sunset.
While most Indonesians are Muslims, many also follow pre-Islamic animist beliefs and worship ancient spirits. Often at full moons, people trek to crater rims and throw in rice, jewellery or live animals to appease the volcanoes.
ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ典he Javanese see nature as a friend because it gives then food and life,ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ said Bagong Suyanto, a professor of rural sociology at the University of Surabaya. ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ典hey trust it, they do not see it as a threat like vulcanologists do.ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ
Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
November 14th, 2007
JAKARTA, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) — Indonesia’s budget airline Lion Air will open its new route to Hong Kong next month in the company’s ambition to expand businesses to regional level.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつLion will use its new Boeing 737-900ER to serve the Hong Kong route once a day from the East Java capital of Surabaya.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつLion spokesman Hasyim Arsal Alhabsi said the company has secured the licenses for its first overseas destination and built a representative office in Hong Kong.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつ”Our targeted passengers are hundreds of thousands of migrant workers and tourists,” he was quoted Monday by leading economic daily Bisnis Indonesia as saying.
ﾃつﾃつﾃつﾃつLion Air said last month it would increase the purchase of Boeing 737-900 to 122 in a new deal to be signed in December from initial orders of 60, of which only a few already arrived.ﾃつ
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/
November 13th, 2007
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