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Jakarta Globe, 29 December: Australian miner BHP Billiton’s controversial Indomet coal project in Kalimantan is in doubt following a reported decision by the minister for national development planning to withdraw support for the construction of a railway that would transport coal from the remote mine sites to port. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, or … Continue reading
A network of craft workers horrified by the Australian government’s treatment of asylum seekers has raised well over $10,000 to support them at a series of weekend markets in Melbourne’s inner north. Organisers say the Creating A Welcome initiative came out of a desire to do something practical and overcome feelings of helplessness about federal … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 20 May: In the remote interior of Kalimantan a vast coal mining venture looks set to go ahead in an internationally agreed conservation zone. The project could see more than a billion tonnes of coal dug up from an area of global significance, where indigenous people have lived for generations from the forests … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 20 May: In February 2007 the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei signed the Heart of Borneo Declaration — an agreement to protect 22 million hectares at the center of the island from environmental degradation. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which initiated the declaration, the Heart of Borneo (HoB) area is … Continue reading
Sydney Morning Herald, 13 April: Coal projects in Indonesia risk damage to one of the world’s great natural treasure troves. Australian companies are pushing ahead with plans to construct open-cut coalmines in a conservation area of Borneo described by the World Wildlife Fund as “one of the planet’s richest treasure troves”. Brisbane-based Cokal announced it … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 26 February. Ruth Ogetay wanted to be a nurse, but an experience with domestic violence set her life on a new course. Ruth Ogetay found her calling in Jakarta. The 27-year-old from Paniai, Papua, had dreamed since childhood of becoming a nurse, and after finishing high school left home to study in Java. Although … Continue reading
Jakarta Post, 19 February. A journey to quit cigarettes in a tobacco-clinging city. “If you have good motivation to stop smoking, use it,” says smoking cessation expert Tribowo Ginting. “Don’t avoid it, don’t neglect it. Just follow your heart and do it. Everybody can stop.” According to the psychiatrist, 30 percent of people who try to … Continue reading
There was little improvement in Indonesia’s human rights situation last year, with women and religious minorities in the archipelago facing increasing violence and discrimination and more than 100 citizens imprisoned for political reasons, according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch, which launched its 2013 World Report in Jakarta yesterday. The organization called on President … Continue reading
Mongabay blog, 18 December: Its natural beauty and colorful Hindu culture have drawn visitors to Bali since the 1930s. But more than three decades of rampant development since mass tourism took hold have left the island and its people in a critical state. Bali is struggling with a severe water shortage, huge volumes of waste, a … Continue reading
Crikey, 10 December: There is a sober lesson in the Bakun dam saga for other communities along Sarawak’s rivers and elsewhere in south-east Asia, writes freelance journalist Jenny Denton. In the hinterland of Borneo an old lady is perched on a couch improvising into a microphone. A chorus of about 50 people, cross-legged on the … Continue reading
Jenny Denton 