The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Jakarta

  • Indonesian islamists accuse Facebook of discrimination

    Indonesian islamists accuse Facebook of discrimination

    Several hundred Indonesian Islamists held a protest outside Facebook ’s headquarters in Jakarta on Friday, accusing the social media giant of discrimination.

    The protesters, many dressed in white and including members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front ( FPI ), marched from a mosque to Facebook’s offices in the capital of the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.

    They also accused Facebook of blocking some pages operated by hardline groups for allegedly spreading hate.

    “We want to remind Facebook to remain neutral and balanced,” Slamet Maarif, a spokesman for FPI, told reporters.

    “There are many accounts that spread hate about Islam, ulamas, that are allowed to operate. There are accounts that talk about Islamic humanitarian aid, those are blocked,” said Maarif.

    He said that the group still planned to use Facebook and intended to open new accounts.

    Facebook said its policy was to delete content that violated its community standards.

    “Our community standards are made to prevent organizations or individuals that urge hate speech or violence against those who hold different views,” said a company representative, who declined to be identified.

    A spokesman for Indonesia’s communications ministry, Semuel Pangerapan, said, “We have never requested that FPI’s accounts be closed.”

    Some Islamist groups in Indonesia use social media extensively and FPI usually has about 100 accounts on Facebook, as well as on other social media platforms such as Twitter.

    The rally was peaceful, though more than 1,200 police officers were brought in to guard the offices, media said.

    Indonesians are avid users of social media and Facebook had 115 million users in the second quarter of 2017, according to media citing its country manager, ranking the country fourth globally after the United States, India and Brazil.

    Some of the protesters on Friday made live video streams of the rally to air via Facebook.

    The vast majority of Indonesians practice a moderate form of Islam, though a reputation for religious tolerance has come under scrutiny as hardline groups muscle their way into public and political life in the young democracy.

    President Joko Widodo has expressed concerns over hoax stories and hate speech spread online and has pledged to “clobber” any group threatening to destroy Indonesia’s tradition of pluralism and moderate Islam.

    Also Read: Facebook to train 50,000 Nigerian SMEs in 2018

    At a rally late 2017 in Jakarta by Muslims opposing President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a body of Muslim clerics urged a boycott of U.S. and Israel products if Trump did not revoke his action.

    So far there has been no indication the measure will gain traction and Indonesia’s vice president said calls to stop using U.S. goods and technology were misguided.

    (Reuters/NAN)

  • Drug trafficking: three Nigerians executed in Indonesia

    Drug trafficking: three Nigerians executed in Indonesia

    Indonesia executed four convicted drug traffickers, including three Nigerians, early on Friday as it pushed ahead with its “war against drugs”, although another 10 scheduled executions were delayed.

    As many as 14 people were originally set to face the firing squad together on Friday, but officials decided a “comprehensive review” was needed to “avoid any mistake” in the 10 cases, Attorney General H. Muhammad Prasetyo said.

    The date for the next round of executions has not been set, Prasetyo told reporters in Jakarta.

    At least two prisoners among that group of 10, a Pakistani national and an Indonesian woman have applied for presidential clemency, their representatives said.

    They said legal proceedings could take a long time.

    Those executed – three Nigerians and an Indonesian man – were shot during a thunderstorm shortly after midnight on Nusakambangan Island in Central Java.

    The government ignored international calls for clemency and pushed ahead with its drive against narcotics.

    “Our battle against drug crimes is not over and it will continue. We will maintain our commitment, our firmness and our consistency,” Prasetyo said.

    Indonesia has become a “business field” for the production, distribution, import and export of drugs, Prasetyo said.

    Indonesia executed 14 prisoners, mostly foreign drugs offenders, just over a year ago, causing diplomatic outrage.

    Rights activists and governments have again called on Indonesia to abolish the death penalty.

    Those calls have gone unheeded and President Joko Widodo has said drugs pose as serious a threat as terrorism in what is one of Southeast Asia’s biggest markets for narcotics.

    The president’s office often cites figures that drugs are killing at least 40 people a day, but several international experts have questioned the methodology used to arrive at those statistics.

    The death penalty is widely accepted by the Indonesian public, but police had to break up a protest outside the prison on Thursday by members of a migrant workers group who called for mercy for the Indonesian woman who was scheduled to be executed.

    Amnesty International called the latest executions “a deplorable act that violates international and Indonesian law” and pleaded that the other death sentences not be carried out.

    Around 152 people remain on death row in Indonesia, including convicted drug traffickers from the Philippines, France and Britain, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

    Authorities plan to execute 16 prisoners this year and more than double that number in 2017.

  • National Robotic winners for Jakarta

    National Robotic winners for Jakarta

    As the third edition of the National Robotic Olympia ended at the Oriental Hotel, Lekki Lagos, Arc Light Nigeria, the organisers of the yearly contest, is hopeful the four schools that emerged from Nigeria will make the country proud at the World Robotic Olympia in Jakarta Indonesia next month.

    The schools that qualified are: Troika School, Lekki; Alofos Foundation, Surulere; Zamani College, Kaduna; and Ilado Community Junior High School, Ikoyi.

    Arch Light Nigeria Managing Director, Mr Tayo Obasanya said he was happy that the event is drawing more participants every year.

    “Every year, the number of entries for the contest increases because through robotic knowledge, key concepts in sciences have been broken down. Students now understand the use of energy force as it helps them to generate energy and measure it,” Obisanya said.

    Obisanya told reporters that the competition, which draws participants across primary, junior and senior secondary in private and public schools, engages them in robotic education with emphasis in engineering science, mathematics education, computer science, science, engineering science technology.”

    According to him, the exercise gets the students into the world of technology in a much simpler and exciting manner, and making learning easier.

    “It used to be theory upon theory in the classroom, but now, students can apply knowledge gained practically. It is not all about passing exams, but imparting life skills that are necessary for the development of solutions for today’s challenges.”

    Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education Mrs Omolara Erogbogbo, who led contesters from the state, gave her nod to the contest.

    She said: “We have read and seen robots in films but have never seen it like this before. Seeing our children laying their hands on these, means we have a great future. These children who have taken pains to participate in this competition have no doubt acquiring great idea of technology.”

    Erogbogbo admonished the pupils to put more focus in science and technology, adding that it is what would drive the economy in the future.

    “Since we see these children already imbibing this idea into school activities, we have a great future because we have always concentrated on Information Communication Technology (ICT), Science and Technology and entrepreneurship,” she added.

     

  • Flooding hits Indonesian capital Jakarta

    Flooding caused by days of heavy rain has hit parts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, forcing businesses to close and blocking roads.

    Areas including the central business district (CBD) were inundated and traffic was grid-locked as residents struggled to move around the city.

    Weather officials warn that the rain, which is seasonal, could get worse in the next few days.

    BBC says the governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, has declared a state of emergency.

    Officials said on Wednesday that more than 9,000 people were in shelters after being forced to leave their homes.

    “Days of heavy downpours caused the rivers to overflow and triggered floods up to 3m (10 feet),” National Disaster Management Agency spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

    On Thursday many government offices and businesses in Jakarta were forced to close because staff could not get to work.

    Local television pictures showed people wading through almost neck-high water in some parts of the city.

    The presidential palace grounds are flooded – images showed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono walking around the palace compound with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa with his trousers rolled up above his knees.