Strengthening ASEAN Education System with IT

Angelina Sondakh

A member of Commission X of the House of Representatives Angelina Sondakh said ASEAN may strengthen its education system using information and technology tools optimally.
"For example, the government may set up an online forum for ASEAN teachers and students for interaction and share information about the education system in each member country," she said here on Tuesday in response to the 18th ASEAN Summit held in Jakarta on May 7 and 8.
Angelina hoped the online forum would help ASEAN students and teachers to improve and strengthen education in their countries. The former Miss Indonesia said ASEAN member countries needed to improve its education system to a high level such as those in some other Asian countries and in the West.
She also said an almost similar culture in ASEAN countries might help the process of interaction and transfer of knowledge among the students and teachers in the region. Apart from benefiting the students and teachers, ASEAN cooperation in education sector was also expected to help develop the research sector for academicians and practitioners.
Earlier in the 18th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, representatives from ASEAN youth community who had the chance to meet ASEAN leaders said they wished for more training and education on entrepreneurship and leadership.
"Such programs should not only help us improve our skills but also enable us, youths in ASEAN countries, to get to know each other better," Lion Florish III, a member of the community said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian youth representative Iman Usman said the youth plays an important role in realizing the ASEAN dream to be a single community in 2015. Therefore, activities that support the youth in raising their quality as humans must be supported by all parties, especially governments.
Iman also called on the governments of ASEAN countries to provide more scholarships for young people from countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam in the hope it would help boost the development of human resources in the four countries.

BlackBerry Torch 9800

A user tries out the new Blackberry Torch 9800 smartphone after it was unveiled at a news conference August 3, 2010 in New York City. The new device by Blackberry maker Research in Motion features a touch-screen and slide-out keyboard along with new 6.0 software in the companys ongoing battle with Apples iphone and other mobile devices.


BlackBerry 6 OS delivers a touch of magic for the corporate crowd.

Last Wednesday I took at look at the Torch 9800, running the slick BlackBerry 6 OS which has borrowed some of the best aspects of Android and iOS to bring the Volvo of smartphones into the modern age. Today I want to wrap up with a look at a few apps.

The browser has long been BlackBerry's Achilles' Heel so, as a fan of Android and iOS, naturally the new WebKit browser caught my attention. The Torch 9800 is not as fast to render pages at the iPhone 4 or high-end Android phones, but once pages load you've got the joys of flick to scroll, pinch to zoom and tap to zoom which focuses on columns of text. You can also open multiple windows and easily switch between them.

Complicated web pages, such as the full front page of the SMH, remain responsive - impressive since the Torch 9800 lacks the processing grunt of its high-end competitors. The developers have embraced technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3 to help BlackBerry 6 OS keep up with the times.

I still think that Mobile Safari is the best smartphone browser and the BlackBerry browser is rough around the edges. For example, if you click in a text box in Mobile Safari it automatically zooms in so you can see what you’re typing. Not so with the BlackBerry. Just like the early Android browser, the BlackBerry team really need to swallow their pride and turn more to the iPhone for inspiration when it comes to the little things that make the difference between a good and great mobile browsing experience.

Those hoping for Flash-compatibility on the Torch 9800 are out of luck - although it’s reportedly on the roadmap (and has been for a long time). RIM announced this week that we won’t see Flash on the new Bold 9900 running BlackBerry 7 OS, which isn’t promising. I think people are more likely to tolerate the lack of Flash in a business-focused phone like a BlackBerry than a consumer-focused phone like the iPhone 4. Regardless of what Steve Jobs says, the high-end Android phones prove that you can get smooth Flash performance on a smartphone.

The Torch 9800's 3.2-inch 480x360 LCD screen is very impressive and stands up well to what I've dubbed the Costello test (see the image below). Viewed on the 9800 you get good viewing angles, great contrast and detail, excellent skin tones and very white whites.
It's up there with the iPhone 4, although the Torch 9800 betrays its lower pixel density when you look at pages with thumbnails of photos - they look pixelated on the Torch 9800’s 187 ppi screen compared to the iPhone 4’s razor sharp 329 ppi display.

The other new app I thought worth a look is Social Feeds, offering easier access to your various social media feeds. The Torch 9800 features standalone Facebook, Twitter and MySpace apps, but Social Feeds is compatible with AIM, BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Google Talk, MySpace, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and various RSS feeds. You can elect to receive notification of updates and integrate Social feeds with the Messages Application.

Logging into Facebook reveals some of the tight contact integration that I love about some Android devices. You’ve got the option to sync your phone with Facebook’s Messages, Calendar and Contacts apps, including the ability to update an existing contact's photo if they’re a Facebook friend. Notifications from services such as Facebook and Twitter show up in the home screen’s notification bar.

Social Feeds shows a combined timeline of all your social networking feeds, plus it’s easy to tap the top menu and narrow it down to one feed. You can also see notifications show up in your Messages inbox along with your email and text messages. Meanwhile if you tap on an entry in your contacts list, you’ll see recent activity including their social networking updates.

There are plenty of other great new features I’ve failed to mention, but the slick WebKit browser and beautiful execution of Social Feeds say to me that the BlackBerry team is paying more than lip service to its promises to make BlackBerry 6 OS a great tool for work and play.
Taking many of my favourite Android features, stirring in a pinch of iOS and baking it all into a solid, corporate-friendly, touch-enabled mobile OS has produced a very slick device in the Torch 9800. As the smartphone war hots up and some players fall by the wayside, it’s clear that BlackBerry still has a lot to offer and corporate users can have the best of both worlds.

Now Muslim Militants Target Prince Harry

Action: The video shows a series of clips from Prince Harrys time in Afghanistan fighting Taliban forces

An extremist group is believed to be targeting Prince Harry after a propaganda hate video has come to light following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
The 26-year-old, third in line to the throne, is the subject of a three-minute video posted last week by an organisation calling itself Muslims Against Crusades.
It is believed that Harry is being targeted to avenge the death of the Al Qaeda leader, who was shot by American commandos last Sunday, as six years ago he dressed as a Nazi and has served the British Army in Afghanistan.
The video, entitled 'Harry the Nazi', shows the young royal - who was best man to his elder brother William just over a week ago - serving for the British Army against Taliban forces in 2007 and 2008, saying that 'all my wishes have come true'.
It begins with the Muslims Against Crusades sign looming large and imposing, and then sounds of soldiers marching are accompanied by Arabic voices.
Originally posted on the group's jihadist website, the video continues to show snippets of Prince Harry talking to the media while in action in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
It also shows the royal - who spent 10 weeks in Afghanistan and joked that he is a 'bullet magnet' - using derogatory Asian terms 'Paki' and 'Raghead' in videos taken while he was in the Middle East, and exposed by the News of the World.
The clips are spliced together and framed in a central box, as though someone is watching the footage on a television, flicking through Harry's actions. Outside of the frame, there is a dark border, and smoke rises from beneath.
The clips stop suddenly, and all that remains is a picture of Harry dressed as a Nazi - a decision which caused outrage, when he wore the outfit for a fancy dress party in 2005 - and then the production abruptly ends.
The film is designed to incite hatred against Harry - who has recently been promoted to captain in the Army - and it appears to have worked. Below the video, posted on YouTube, people have written aggressive, threatening messages in response to it.
One person wrote: 'May Allah? curse and destroy him.' Another, calling himself Brother Younis, said: 'May he rot in hell.' And a third poster pointed out that both Harry and Hitler begin with the letter H, and added: 'Harry the royal British Nazi.'
'Prince Harry is inevitably at risk,' a security source told the News of the World. 'As risks go up then the protection capability has to be increased.'
Muslims Against Crusades's website claims that their members are 'raising the banner for Islam' and reveals why Prince Harry - and William - are targets.
In the Frequently Asked Questions section they write: 'It would seem fitting and appropriate to condemn individuals, who sympathise with such a brutal mob (referring to the British Army who are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya), or who promote their literature or glorify their cause.
'William and Harry are not exempt from accountability, and their conscientious decision to enrol in an army that engages in the aforementioned crimes, cannot be taken lightly.'
The extremist organisation today claimed that the video was not meant to be inflammatory, and inist that it is not a call to arms for terrorists to target Harry.
The group's spokesman, Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary did admit, however, that the video was designed to direct Muslim anger towards the Royal Family's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said the video was created to promote the group's aborted attempts to protest at the Royal Wedding.
'There is a real anger with the Royal Family about their participation in war against Iraq and Prince Harry because of his tour fighting against Muslims in Afghanistan,' said the 44-year-old.
'Prince William has also expressed a desire to fight in Afghanistan.
'This video was being used to explain why we were planning to protest at the Royal Wedding.'
He continued: 'I can assure everyone that the Muslims Against Crusades has no intention of targeting Prince Harry or any other member of the Royal Family.
'We believe in political action, not military action. We believe in the covenant of security; in return for our wealth and well-being protected it is not permitted to target wealth and life of those with whom we live.
'It is the objective of this, and videos like it, to draw attention to the Royal Family's involvement in wars that kill our Muslim brothers and sisters.'
Last Friday Choudary organised a 200-person strong protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London, so that Muslims Against Crusades could voice their opinions against 'arrogant' President Obama, who ordered the commandos to attack Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan.
They organised a mock funeral for the 54-year-old Al Qaeda leader, and carried placards which read: 'Royal Family baby killers' and 'William and Harry watch your back'.
And Al Qaeda-supporting cleric Choudary warned that Britain is likely to suffer another 7/7 terrorist attack.
'Following the boasts and gloats of the arrogant President Barack Obama that he ordered the murder of "unarmed" Sheikh Osama Bin Laden without trial or consideration of his rights and the shooting and kidnapping of his defenceless wife and son, Muslims around the world are witness to America's utter disregard for fairness or justice,' the Muslims Against Crusades website explained.
Police stepped in to separate the protesters and members of the English Defence League amid threats of violence from both sides. Though many were shocked that the protest was allowed to go ahead, coming as it did shortly after the verdict into the 7/7 inquest was released by Lady Justice Heather Hallett.
She recorded that the 52 victims had been 'unlawfully' killed when four terrorists attacked three London Underground trains and a bus in 2005. While the Metropolitan Police refused to answer questions about the extremist group asked by MailOnline directly, a 'police source' told the News of the World: 'The Met are constantly monitoring activity by Muslims Against Crusades.
'If a direct threat is made we will respond.'

BII to Issue up to IDR1.5 Tln Bonds

Workers construct a new toll road which will be connected from Depoks administration town to the capital city of Jakarta August 31, 2010. Indonesia is looking into infrastructure and green bonds, a senior advisor to the government said on Thursday, as the biggest economy in Southeast Asia is in need of billions of dollars for the sectors development.

PT Bank Internasional Indonesia will issue up to IDR1.5 trillion ($175 million) in seven-year bonds later this month to boost its capital base, the lender said Monday.
BII said the bonds, which will be offered at full face value, will carry a 10.75% annual coupon. Local ratings agency PT Pefindo has assigned an AA rating to the proposed issuance.
The bonds will be listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange May 20, the bank said.

Black Box of Indonesian Plane Found under Wreckage

Indonesian police and soldiers stand next to wreckage recovered from the Merpati Nusantara passenger plane crash in Kaimana on May 8, 2011. Indonesian search and rescue teams intensified underwater operations to recover bodies from the plane that crashed on May 7 into the sea in eastern Indonesia killing all 27 people on board, officials said.

Searchers on Sunday found more bodies and one black box from a passenger plane that crashed into the sea off eastern Indonesia with 25 people on board.
The device from the Chinese-made Xian MA60 twin turboprop was found in waters about 50 feet to 66 feet (15 meters to 20 meters) deep, said Efendi Rajaloa, chief of the local Search and Rescue Agency.
The plane belonging to state-run Merpati Nusantara Airlines crashed in heavy rain Saturday in Kaimana Bay about 500 yards (meters) short of the runway at Kaimana's airport. It had come from Sorong, also in West Papua province.
The recovered black box was the flight data recorder, said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Transportation Ministry. The voice data recorder has been located and searchers could retrieve it Monday. The 20 divers have struggled in limited visibility to pull bodies from the wreckage covered in thick mud, said Rajaloa, who has led the search.
Four bodies were recovered Sunday and four are still missing, airline spokesman Imam Turidi said. Seventeen had been found Saturday. The passengers included one child and two infants.
Earlier, 27 people had been reported on board, but the company said Sunday two crewmen were counted twice. Officials have indicated survivors were unlikely given the condition of the wreckage. Air flight is the main transportation in Papua, the second biggest of Indonesia's more than 17,000 islands.
The nation of 235 million people has been plagued by transportation accidents in recent years, from plane and train crashes to ferry sinkings. Overcrowding, aging infrastructure and poor safety standards are often to blame.

SBY: Nuclear NOT Indonesia's First Option

Members of the Indonesia Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN) scan passengers arriving from Japan for radiation exposure at the Sukarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta March 18, 2011. World Health Organisation (WHO) authorities believe the spread of radiation from a quake-crippled nuclear plant in Japan remains limited and appears to pose no immediate risk to health.

Nuclear energy is not an Indonesian first option when it comes to finding new sources of energy, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Sunday.
The president made the statement after reading out several points from a meeting with all ASEAN leaders in the the 18th ASEAN Summit at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) in May 7-8.
"In view of the catastrophe that struck Jaspan in its Fukushima power plant recently, all the parties concerned had been urged to conduct more research of the advantages and disadvantages of developing a nuclear power in their country. For Indonesia, we prefer other energy resources, not nuclear energy," the president said.
Yudhoyono said while some circles argued that nuclear power is a strategic long-term solution to new energy resources, others believed that it is better to use other resources of power. But one thing is sure, president pointed out, all ASEAN leaders had agreed to reduce the region’s dependence on fossil fuel.
In March 11, 2011, Japan was devastated by a 9,0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands of people. The disaster also caused damage to the Fukushima power plant near the sea.
The atomic plant, with its reactor cooling system knocked out, had a series of explosions which caused a radiation leakage into the air, ground and sea in the world`s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in Russia 25 years ago.
The local government had imposed a no-go zone of 20 kilometers (12 miles) around the plant, giving legal weight to an exclusion zone for fears of the effects of long-term exposure to radiation on residents.
More than 85,000 people have moved to shelters from areas around the plant, including from a wider 30-kilometer zone, where people were first told to stay indoors and later urged to leave.

Ajinomoto to Build 2nd Seasonings Plant in Indonesia

Japanese food group Ajinomoto Co President and Chief Executive Officer Masatoshi Ito smiles as he holds the companys leading product, "Ajinomoto Monosodium Glutamate Seasoning" at his office in Tokyo December 2, 2010. Masatoshi Ito climbed the corporate ladder at Japans leading condiment maker, Ajinomoto Co, as much in his kitchen as in meeting rooms or in board room jousts.

Ajinomoto Co. plans to increase its output capacity for flavored seasonings in Indonesia by 50% by constructing its second factory there in autumn 2012 at a total cost of about Y4 billion, the Nikkei reported over the weekend.
The company plans to break ground this month on a roughly 170,000 sq. meter plot that it acquired on the outskirts of Jakarta. The plant to be built there will make seasonings that suit local tastes using chicken and beef extracts, with the products to be exported to the Middle East and Africa as well.
The new factory is expected to have the capacity to produce tens of thousands of tons a year. To make flavored seasonings, Ajinomoto adds such flavors as meat and fish extracts to its namesake monosodium glutamate seasoning.
Recently, Indonesian sales of flavored seasonings for soups and stir-fried dishes have been growing about 15% a year, outpacing the growth rate of several% a year for the basic Ajinomoto product. The Japanese firm is No. 1 in Indonesia, with a lead on Anglo-Dutch firm Unilever and local companies.

Forest Clearance Threatens Sumatran Tigers

A Sumatran tiger is caught by a WWF camera trap in Bukit Batabuh in Indonesias Riau province May 2010. Video and photo cameras hidden in an Indonesian forest has captured footage of a rare Sumatra tiger in the wild and a bulldozer clearing the same area a week later for palm oil plantations, conservationists WWF said on October 13, 2010. Habitat destruction has pushed Sumatran tigers to brink of extinction with just 400 left in Indonesia, from a worldwide tiger population of 3,200 said WWF. Picture taken May 2010.

Conservation group WWF Monday urged companies to drop plans to clear Indonesian forest areas where infra-red cameras have captured footage of rare Sumatran tigers and their cubs. The video recorded in March and April shows two mothers with four cubs and another six of the critically endangered big cats in the Bukit Tigapuluh wildlife reserve in eastern Sumatra.

“That was the highest number of tigers and tiger images obtained... we’ve ever experienced,” WWF tiger researcher Karmila Parakkasi said in a statement.

The 12 tigers are concentrated in locations with good forest cover, which includes natural forest inside a land concession belonging to Barito Pacific Timber, wood supplier to regional giant Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), the statement added.

“This video confirms the extreme importance of these forests in the Bukit Tigapuluh ecosystem and its wildlife corridor,” the WWF’s forest and species programme director Anwar Purwoto said.

“WWF calls for all concessions operating in this area to abandon plans to clear this forest and protect areas with high conservation value,” he added. “We also urge the local, provincial and central government to take into consideration the importance of this corridor and manage it as part of Indonesia’s commitments to protecting biodiversity,” he said.

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild. Environmental activists say the animals are increasingly coming into contact with people as a result of their natural habitat being lost due to deforestation for timber and palm oil plantations.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been under pressure from environmentalists to implement a promised two-year moratorium on the clearing of natural forest and peatland, which was due to begin January 1. Norway agreed in May last year to contribute up to $1 billion to help preserve Indonesia’s forests, in part through the moratorium.