On the way to Dhaka

Before millions of Jakartans leave the city towards the villages for the Eid-ul Fitr holidays, I am on the way to Dhaka Bangladesh (writing from airport). This trip was not anticipated, but arranged hastily at the last moment. It will be a kind of relief after the hassles of bureaucracy we have been subject to while settling here. Everything took more than the expected time. Our shipment was waiting at the port and incurring demur-rage and we were waiting for a government officials sign and seal. The stay permits and registration procedures were extra cumbersome, things become frustrating because even after paying speed money things were not speeding up but going on at Indonesia's own space. I haven't had much luck with learning the language (hearing some podcasts) so we are still living in the cocoon and that hurts.

Family members were ill and we did not have time to adjust to the food here. So I guess we needed this welcome break to re-energize ourselves with the love of the family members back in Dhaka.

Looking forward to replenish with some iftaar delicacies and the foods of Eid festival. Dhaka, here we come.

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RIP Patrick Swayze

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Picture Of The Day

August 17 (National day of Indonesia) celebrations in the neighborhood.

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Add your Facebook friends wisely

Via Antonio

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Another Earthquake In Java Island

leonagustine (Jakarta-Bandung, Indonesia): Dear God I wish you had a twitter account, I want to ask a huge favor, please take care of my family, and all my friends. from earthquake.

A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 struck off the southern coast of the Indonesian island of Java late Monday at around 11 PM. Yogyakarta, a city about 450 km from Jakarta was the hardest hit. We in Jakarta did not feel it.

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Police Crackdown On Protests In Dhaka

Thinks look grim in Dhaka as more than 50 people were injured while protesting peacefully against the offshore gas contracts awarded to three foreign energy companies. Professor Anu Muhammad, member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, was among the injured.

Photo credit: The New Age

The rally was intercepted by police at Paltan and in the ensuing melee police mounted a baton charge that left committee member secretary Prof Anu Muhammed and dozens others injured. Prof Muhammed, a teacher of economics at Jahangirnagar University, told bdnews24.com: “We were peacefully observing our programme when the police beat us without any reason. Several people were injured in the incident. We waged this movement to protect the assets of the country. We are not against the government. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the life and property of citizens. I cannot understand why this incident took place,”.

Here in an interview taken by photojournalist and blogger Shahidul Alam prof Anu Muhammad tells that "the government does not change, its an issusion." Although the govt. has changed recently, the same imperialist forces are at work trying to plunder the nation's wealth and they try to repress any force that try to oppose them:



According to the New Age:

Both legs of Anu Muhammad, also a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, were badly fractured in the police attack while a number of other left-leaning political leaders and activists, including Saiful Huq, Mushrefa Mishu, Jannatul Marium Tania, Montu Biswas, Srikant Samaddar, Biplab Mandal, Gazi Shafiullah and Sumi Akhtar sustained injuries.

Condemning the police action Anu Muhammad told reporters that their campaigns were aimed at protecting the natural resources of the country. ‘We are not against the government; we are against the move to export our natural resources. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and property of the citizens. I don’t understand why the police pounced on us,’ he said.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs, headed by the finance minister, on August 24 approved offshore oil and gas exploration deals with the two companies in three sea blocks in the resource-rich Bay, on condition that they would not operate in the disputed areas in the blocks.

At the rally, Shaheedullah said they demanded cancellation of the Model Production Sharing Contract 2008, approved by the last interim government, saying pressure from ‘colonialists’ had been behind it.

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Earthquake In Java Island

Evacuate Situation at Indonesia Stock Exchange Building (Jakarta Earthquake 7.1 SR) (Image via Nisaanesta, Twitpic)

Ok. Folks. This is for real. A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Java Island in Indonesia at 2:55 pm. I was in the ground floor of a 2 storied office in South Jakarta and in the middle of a negotiation. Suddenly the floor started to move and soon everybody could feel it. The water in the pool next to the building was really shaking. Everybody was at a loss and I suddenly screamed requesting everybody to get out of the building. I am sure those who were in upper floors of tall buildings could feel it even more horrifyingly.

And it died down soon. I tried to call somebody but the mobile network was not working so the mobile internet was out too. The land phones were working so we could find out that everybody is safe. After about 30-40 minutes I started towards home and amidst heavy traffic I twitted about the news. Long traffic jams occured in business areas as people were running home.

The quake hit 195 kilometers (120 miles) south-southeast of Jakarta on the southern coast of the main island of Java at a depth of 50 kilometers.


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Preliminary reports say buildings collapsed in many districts. Detik.com reports that in District Nagrak, at least 18 houses were damaged by the earthquake. 18 people in Jakarta were injured and they are being treated at several hospitals in Jakarta.

Ap:

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it was powerful enough to cause a local tsunami, but there were no immediate reports of high waves. Less than an hour later it said in a statement that "sea level readings indicate a significant tsunami was not generated" and retracted the alert.

Detik.com:

Until 16:50 pm, panic struck Tasikmalaya, West Java (115km from epicenter). Residents are still outside the home because of aftershocks, which continued to occur. As a result, heavy traffic on city streets.

Bloomberg:

Almost everyone had a phone to an ear, trying in vain to contact relatives and friends as communication lines and wireless services were rendered useless.

Ok the casualty reports are coming.

CNN:

Six people were killed in Indonesia after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday, officials said.

The quake was initially categorized as magnitude 7.4 before being downgraded to 7.0 by geological officials.

The death toll continues to rise.

15 people according to Detik News:

Tasikmalaya 4
Cianjur 10
Sukabumi 1

Head of Data Center and Public Relations National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) Priyadi Kardono told AFP on Wednesday (2 / 9 / 2009) at 18:00 pm.

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