Planet Mole
Indonesia in Focus
Indonesian Forests More than Just Carbon Sinks
By Barrie | May 13th, 2008 | 
No Comments » In the last five decades, environmental awareness among people has increased worldwide, but the focus of attention has shifted from time to time. In the 1960s and 1970s, pollution got the most attention from the public, especially in Western countries. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, which depicts the effects of pollution on animals and humans, was one of many books inciting environmental awareness among Americans. A few years later, the world was horrified with the news of deadly diseases occurring in Minamata Bay in Japan caused by mercury pollution.
Orangutans May be Extinct in 3 Years
By Barrie | May 13th, 2008 | No Comments » Conservationists say protected wild orangutans in Central Kalimantan may be extinct in three years unless the government acts to stop the expansion of oil palm plantations. Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) research shows the orangutan population is falling fast as forests are cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.
Ten Years after May 1998 Tragedy
By Barrie | May 8th, 2008 | No Comments » This May we are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the May 1998 tragedy, which is better known as the May 1998 riots. This historic incident is an important life-changing milestone in many people’s lives, whoever they are. I lost my innocence in May 1998, politically and spiritually. In a few fast-paced heart-racing days, I realized many unthinkable and unimaginable things, including what human beings are capable of doing to fellow humans, which could have happened to a person like me: the targeted rape of Chinese women, the burning and looting of properties belonging to Chinese owners and the denial of such incidents by those in power.
Indonesian Democracy: Advances, Setbacks, Options
By Barrie | May 8th, 2008 | No Comments » Ten years ago, Soeharto’s New Order began to be replaced by the world’s largest New Democracy. It is time for an evaluation. By 2003, Demos (The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies), with the University of Oslo, developed and applied a framework for comprehensive democracy assessment by senior activists around the country.
Foreign Flights Increase Could Benefit Tourism
By Barrie | May 5th, 2008 | No Comments » To garner more visitors for Indonesia’s tourist program dubbed Visit Indonesia Year 2008, the government should grant more foreign airlines increased flight frequencies into Bali and other tourist destinations, an industry leader said. “If the government wants to be totally committed to making (the program) a success, it should start wooing other foreign airlines besides Singapore Airlines,” Tengku Burhanuddin, Secretary General of the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA), said.
Constructing Dams vs. Global Warming
By Barrie | May 5th, 2008 | No Comments » The Public Works Ministry has announced a government plan to construct 17 large dams, including the Nipah and Bajulmati, East Java; Ponreponre in South Sulawesi; Peusangan 1, 2 and Keuliling in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam; Lebak Karian in Banten; Asahan 3, 4 and 5 in North Sumatra; Lore Rindu and Sulewana in Central Sulawesi; Mamberamo in West Papua, and the 45-year-old plan for the Jatigede dam in West Java. At the end of a six-day trip to Beijing last year, Vice President Jusuf Kalla confirmed the Jatigede project (to be the second largest dam in Indonesia after Jatiluhur) would soon be built by China’s largest dam building company, Sinohydro Corp.
The Media Dilemma in the 2009 Elections
By Barrie | May 5th, 2008 | No Comments » A year before the 2009 election, the Indonesian media community faces a stifling prospect. A clause in the 2008 law on legislative elections states “print mass media (must) provide fair and balanced space and time for election coverage, interviews and campaign ads for election candidates”.
Monas Horse Urine
By Barrie | May 2nd, 2008 | No Comments » First, they tried using water. The horse urine still stank. Later, they tried chemical agents, but still, it stank. Eventually, the Central Jakarta mayoralty officials gave up and, last year, Muhayat, then the mayor, issued an order to get rid of the source of the problem along with their owners and delman (buggies) from Monas Park. To the press, a number of officials, including new Mayor Sylviana Murni and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, cited reasons behind the delman ban. So far the horse piss has received a variety of criticisms: “stinky”, “polluting the environment”, “dangerous for the respiratory health of children”.
Community-Based Reforestation: East Java
By Barrie | April 29th, 2008 | No Comments » Villager Muhammad Yassin may not be aware Indonesia has reached a new record, it’s fastest deforestation rate ever, clearing an estimated 1.8 million hectares of forest each year. But the 59-year-old villager of Jatiarjo, East Java does care about the forests on the slopes of Mount Arjuno, near his home. Every morning, the grandfather of five leaves his home, walking to the forest three kilometers away. In the afternoon he returns home, carrying bundles of grass for his three cows.
Calculating your Carbon Footprint
By Barrie | April 29th, 2008 | No Comments » It is four months since the nations of the world gathered in Bali to try and thrash out an agreement on how to reduce global warming. Climate scientists have known for many years that we human beings are affecting the temperature of our planet. They predict dangerous consequences if we do nothing. As an archipelago of thousands of islands, Indonesia is particularly threatened. The country cannot afford to ignore this. The main offender is carbon dioxide which is slowly choking our atmosphere. If we continue to burn fossil fuels like oil and coal at the present rate, we could cause irreversible damage to our precious environment.
Barrie Lie-Birchall has traveled throughout the archipelago of Indonesia for nearly three decades and has written and published numerous travel articles in magazines and newspapers globally. A freelance writer, Barrie graduate from West Coast College in Perth with Honours in Languages, and continued studying Anthropology and Cultural Studies at Edith Cowan University. Barrie has lived in various places in Indonesia immersing himself into the culture and way of life. His greatest passions are his love of life, his love of writing, and of course, Indonesia.- Arts & Crafts of Indonesia
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- gary bowen on Garuda Urged to Open Direct Jakarta-Darwin Flight Service
darwin travellers to asia have little option than ... [read more] - dian on Indonesians in Focus: M. Quraish Shihab
Dear sir, I would like to ve the email address o ... [read more] - Roberto Leonardi on May 1998 Riots Remain a Mystery: Indonesia
Joyce, What is your email address? - Joyce Djajasaputra on May 1998 Riots Remain a Mystery: Indonesia
Very true. There is no justice in Indonesia - Mirjam Schenck on Neglected Balinese Dogs Cared For: Ubud, Bali
Dear Mrs. Buller, I think you are doing a wonderf ... [read more] - dalih on Short Story: Moonlight and the Company You Keep
wait for my first solo novel: NEL too bad it's in ... [read more] - heh on Hydro-Fuel Inventions: Yogyakarta, Central Java
Fake, total fake ... none of us will ever hear abo ... [read more] - Barrie on Short Story: Moonlight and the Company You Keep
Hi Dalih, I thoroughly enjoyed your story and you ... [read more] - dalih sembiring on Short Story: Moonlight and the Company You Keep
hi there, thank you for putting up my short story ... [read more] - Barrie on Walhi Raising Money for Forests
Hi Steve, email me at planetmole@yahoo.com.au
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