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The wRap Indonesia: Jan. 8, 2015

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The wRap Indonesia: Jan. 8, 2015

AFP

Compensation for AirAsia QZ8501 victims, rejected final clemency bid for a Bali Nine member, updates on the blasphemy case against the Jakarta Post, and more

JAKARTA, Indonesia – The latest on AirAsia QZ8501 and the rejection of the final clemency bid of a Bali Nine member lead our wrap of stories from Indonesia. 

1. Families of AirAsia victims offered ‘initial’ compensation of $23,600

The families of the victims of AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Java Sea on December 28, have been offered IDR300 million ($23,600) each by AirAsia Indonesia, company president director Sunu Widyatmoko said on Wednesday, January 7. “This just part of what should be given,” he said. Regulations show that each family should receive IDR1.25 billion ($98,400). But AirAsia is prioritizing families of those whose bodies have been retrieved and identified. As of Thursday, day 12 of the search efforts, only 40 bodies had been found and 24 identified. There were 155 passengers and 7 crew members on board the flight when it disappeared. Read the full Rappler story in Bahasa Indonesia here. 

2. Bali Nine member ‘shocked’ after losing final clemency bid 

ON DEATH ROW. Australian drug smuggling suspects Andrew Chan (L) and Myuran Sukumaran (R) inside a holding cell waiting for their trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali, Indonesia, Friday 03 February 2006.  Photo by Made Nagi/EPA

Bali Nine ring leader Myuran Sukumaran told Australian media he was shocked after finding out his final bid for clemency had been denied. Convicted and sentenced to death by firing squad in 2006 for attempting to smuggle 8.2kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, Sukumaran said he has since changed and been rehabilitated. “We’ve changed,” Sukumaran wrote, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’ve done so much in the last six to seven years … We rehabilitated ourselves with the help of the guards here … we were doing good things… What use will executing us be? … We don’t deserve to be executed. Our families shouldn’t have to suffer like this.” Despite criticisms from human rights activists, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has maintained he won’t grant clemency to convicted drug traffickers.

3. Police hand over Jakarta Post blasphemy case to Press Council

OFFENSIVE CARTOON. Islamic groups found this anti-Islamic State editorial cartoon offensive. Screenshot from Republika.co.id

 

The Jakarta Police have now handed over the controversial blasphemy case implicating Jakarta Post editor-in-chief Meidyatama Suryodiningrat to the Press Council, according to the paper’s own report. “The questioning related to the [blasphemy] case has been canceled. It is now in the hands of the Press Council,” Jakarta Police chief detective Sr. Comr. Heru Pranoto said on Wednesday. The case centers on an editorial cartoon published on July 3 that depicts an ISIS fighter raising a flag bearing the image of a skull with crossbones and the Arabic phrase “La Ilaaha Illallah” that is considered sacred in Islam. A group called the Jakarta Muslim Preachers Corps found the cartoon offensive and filed a case against the paper. 

4. Jakarta wants to expand ‘effective’ motorcycle ban

A motorbike- and traffic-free Jalan Merdeka Barat seen on December 22, 2014. Screengrab taken from CCTV footage of the Monas area at Smartcity.jakarta.go.id

It seems Jakarta motorcyclists will soon be banned from more city roads. Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama told reporters Wednesday that the ongoing trial ban appears to be working well at reducing traffic congestion. Since December 18, motorcycles have been prohibited on a key stretch of road in Central Jakarta: on Jalan MH Thamrin, from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, to Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. Now the city administration wants to extend it to the other side of the traffic circle, along Jalan Sudirman. But Ahok said they would purchase more buses first that motorcyclists can use after parking their two-wheeled vehicles outside the banned area. Read the full report from the Jakarta Post

5. Fuel prices in Indonesia likely to go down further

With European benchmark Brent oil sinking to under $50 per barrel on Wednesday, January 7, for the first time since 2009, Indonesia will also likely further slash the price of its subsidized fuels.  “[The government] will lower fuel prices again, but not until the end of the month,” chief economics minister Sofyan Djalil told reporters on Wednesday, according to the Jakarta Globe. In January, the price of gasoline fell in line with declining global oil prices to IDR7,600 ($0.61) a liter, from IDR8,500. Diesel was also lowered to IDR7,250, from IDR7,500 a liter. The government also fixed its diesel subsidy at IDR1,000 a liter for 2015. – Rappler.com

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