Newsbrief

The Australian government is unlikely to revoke the travel advisory issues after the Bali bombing. According to Philip Flood, the head of the Indonesia-Australia Institute, Bali is now safe but the war in Iraq would ensure that the travel advisory remained in place. Flood, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia between 1989 and 1993, said he hoped Australian tourists would return to Bali.

Media Indonesia Online
21 March 2003

A parliamentary committee has completed a draft of a new bill to legalise abortion. Indonesia has the highest mortality rate from pregnancy-related causes in the region. UNICEF figures for 2000 estimated 450 Indonesian women died for every 100,000 people, compared with six deaths in wealthy Singapore and 160 in relatively poor Vietnam.

Sydney Morning Herald
5 April 2003

The government temporarily suspended the supply of Indonesian workers to the Asia Pacific in response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in the region. The suspensions follow on the heels of bans on labour exports to the Middle East because of the war in Iraq.

Jakarta Post
5 April 2003

Officials ordered the people of Jakarta to monitor the activities of Acehnese living in the city. In Tebet Barat, a Circular was issued on 23 May 2003 that ordered all

heads of community units, neighbourhood units and businesses in the area to monitor Acehnese residents. However, not all Jakartans were willing to spy on their neighbours. According to the head of security in an apartment building in Tebet Barat, ‘If we have to beef up security, then it should apply to everybody, not only the Acehnese’.

Jakarta Post
16 June 2003

Dr Wei Siang Yu offers a sexual wellness program at a resort on the island of Bintan, approximately one hour from Singapore. The ‘I Dream’ program promises to improve couples’ sex and marital life. The program is part of the latest health and happiness trend in Singapore, a country struggling to reverse a plummeting birthrate.

Ellen Nakashima
The Washington Post
10 April 2003

Australian police have charged two people with turning three Indonesian women into sex slaves. The three were lured with the offer of jobs in bars or restaurants but then made to work as prostitutes. The charges were the first under Australian anti-sex slave laws introduced in 1998.

Jakarta Post
19 June 2003