2) Two Australian warships move to Java Sea to participate in exercise
3) Australian PM Turnbull Looks to Heal Wounds on Indonesia Visit
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1) Villagers get asthma from New Guinea forest fires
Updated 19 minutes ago
A Papua New Guinea environmental activist says people in her community in Vanimo are experiencing increasing health problems due to forest fires out of control across the region.
Dorothy Tekwie says governments of Indonesia and PNG have shown little responsibility about preserving New Guinea’s rainforests, with illegal and unsustainable logging still rife.
The West Sepik-based activist says rampant clearance of forests and peatland on the Indonesian side of, particularly around Merauke, has created more fires.
This has contributed to waves of fires currently spread across Indonesia, emitting a huge carbon haze over South East Asia.
Mrs Tekwie says destruction of New Guinea's forests needs to be curbed.
"A lot of people here, especially kids, are getting a lot more asthmatic attacks from increasing asthmatic activities and incidences here in this village (Lido) alone. It’s like three times a week I have to drive people
to the hospital at night because they’re short-winded."
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2) Two Australian warships move to Java Sea to participate in exercise
Kamis, 12 November 2015 00:34 WIB | 650 Views
The Australian warships were seen off by Operations Assistant to the Commander of the Indonesian Navy Base V, Col Daniel Mudji Rahadi, at Surabayas port of Tanjung Perak.
For the two-day exercise on November 11-12, the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) deployed two warships, KRI Usman Harun-359 and KRI Diponegoro-365.
HMAS Arinta-151 is a frigate class ship which is 118 meter long and 15 meter wide. It is equipped with various kinds of weapons and a radar.
HMAS Sirius, meanwhile, is a battle logistics support ship measuring 191.3 meter in length and 32 meter in width. It is manned by 60 personnel and is equipped with 5x12.7 mm machine guns and radars.
"We hope it will deepen brotherhood and military cooperation between the two countries navies," commander of the coordination unit of the Eastern Fleet Command, Col. Arsyad Abdullah, said.
HMAS Sirius-266 and HMAS Arunta-151 arrived at Jamrud Pier at Tanjung Perak on Monday and would return to their home country after the exercise.
On Tuesday, the commander of Division 2 of the army strategic reserve command, Major General Ganip Warsito, saw off a swift unit of PPPRC elements involved in the sea task force ships KRI Makassar-590, KRI Sultan Hasanuddin-366 and KRI Tombak-629 at the Eastern Fleet Command Pier at Ujung, Surabaya who would depart for the operations region to join other sea task force units which have already arrived to carry out initial blocking operations in Morotai waters in North Maluku.
Deputy to Operations Assistant to Defense Forces, Chief Commodore Harjo Susmoro, at the same time inspected Marine Corps fighters den at Sutedi Senaputra Bhumi Marinir in Karangpilang, Surabaya.(*)
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3) Australian PM Turnbull Looks to Heal Wounds on Indonesia Visit
By : Matt Siegel | on 10:41 PM November 11, 2015
Sydney. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be looking to reset a vital diplomatic and economic relationship badly strained under his predecessor when he visits Jakarta on Thursday to meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo.
Australia and its giant neighbor have a history of diplomatic turbulence stretching back decades, but relations reached historic lows under then-prime minister Tony Abbott, who was ousted in a party coup in September.
Turnbull inherited ties strained by rows over spying, the execution of Australian citizens in Indonesia, and Abbott’s tough asylum-seeker policies, all amid an atmosphere of growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
But with anxiety in Jakarta growing over Beijing’s intentions and Turnbull looking to build bridges to Asia, the visit is key for both sides, said Adrian Vickers, director of the Asian Studies Center at the University of Sydney.
“The big thing for Turnbull will actually just be getting enough attention from Indonesia, where there is a potential at this moment to really refocus the relationship given the problems between Indonesia and China,” he told Reuters.
“It might also be a good way to remind Indonesia of Australia and the potential benefits of the economic relationship.”
Indonesia is Australia’s 10th-largest overall trading partner and is the largest export market for Australian wheat, worth A$1.3 billion ($917 million) in 2014, as well as a major destination for live cattle and sugar.
They also cooperate closely on counterterrorism, an area of growing concern as Islamic State militants seek footholds outside the Middle East, where Australia is bombing the group as part of a US-led military campaign.
But in recent years, perpetual crisis became the norm, said Vickers, with Abbott very much its public face in Indonesia.
Just one month after he took office in September 2013, revelations that Canberra had spied on then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife sent relations plummeting.
Abbott’s policy of towing back to Indonesia vessels carrying asylum seekers, while popular at home, infuriated Jakarta, which sees it as an infringement on its sovereignty.
Tensions reached their peak in May when Indonesia executed two Australian members of the so-called Bali Nine drug trafficking ring, despite intense lobbying from Canberra.
Indonesia saw Turnbull’s visit as a sign that both sides were looking to do the same in the economic and diplomatic spheres, said Armanatha Nasir, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman.
“The fact that Australian ministers have been visiting us frequently and that there is a big delegation of businesspeoplecoming here with the prime minister shows efforts on both sides to move on,” he said.
Reuters
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