World Vision is an organization that has fought poverty and famine. Critics fault the organization for refusing to hire non-Christians to staff its $250 million in annual programs funded by U.S. taxpayers.
via World Vision | Employment Discrimination | Foreign Aid.
Sweet – Obama is going to Indo next year. I may have to as well, then…
Also…
The childhood connection and his knowledge of a few words of the Indonesian language have made him hugely popular in the country of 234 million people, 90 percent of whom are Muslim.
**of a few words** – thanks, AFP, for noting that.
via AFP: Obama to visit Indonesia next year: embassy.
Indonesia Earthquake Victims Use Discarded Election Banners For Shelter – The Jakarta Globe
Still barely noticed by the local media and donors, the subdistrict has almost 10,000 quake refugees. In the village of Sukanagara alone, more than 500 homes were badly damaged some were completely destroyed, leaving close to 2,000 people homeless.With very little assistance from the provincial government, residents are starting to experience fevers and diarrhea.
The provincial mayor’s home and office were damaged, so he is living with friends and working out of the tents. So far, they have only received a meager amount of poor-quality rice in aid. =/
Glad I didn’t take any banners in java. =/
Two American hotels, the Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton, were bombed in Indonesia today.
“Authorities did not immediately name a suspect, but suspicion fell on the Jemaah Islamiyah or its allies. The al-Qaida-linked network is blamed for past attacks in Indonesia, including a 2003 bombing at the Marriott in which 12 people died.”
I bet most of my Indonesian friends are less bothered by the 8 deaths, as death is a bit more common occurrence there, than they are about this:
The Manchester United football team canceled a visit to Indonesia in the wake of the attacks. The team had been scheduled to stay at the Ritz- Carlton on Saturday and Sunday.
via STLtoday – Associated Press News.
Islam without borders? Equality out of context? Arabic cultural imperialism vs. pluralistic prograssive Islam suggests the world look to none other than Indonesia for answers.
AFP: Two Canadians arrested in Indonesia for drugs
Canadian teachers arrested for using drugs in Lombok?!? I was there in December…
This is practically my backyard. I have seen pictures of bloated bodies on the cell phone of a friend who helped in the cleanup effort in Tinambung (a town decimated by these same collosal waves). The second article has an infographic showing where I live, which is kind of a heartless way of introducing my geophysical location to friends back home… how sad this has been for so many people in my region.
Slim hope for survivors of lost Indonesian ferry
200 People Missing as Ferry Sinks in Indonesia
Reprisals feared as Bali Bombers executed
The fate of the men has become a source of controversy, with some relatives of the victims insisting that the death penalty was ‘anomalous’ with what they believed.
Last night relatives of the victims of the bombings said they did not believe justice had been achieved. Among them was Susanna Miller, of the Bali Bombing Victims Group, who on the eve of the reported executions told BBC Radio 4 that their deaths could provide a propaganda boost to jihadists in the south-east Asian state.
Miller, whose brother Dan died in the atrocity, said: ‘Capital punishment for jihadist terrorism seems particularly anomalous to me. It effectively provides a state-sponsored route to martyrdom. There are two strands to justice – one is to punish the deed and the other is to deter subsequent deeds.’
As a resident of a progressive muslim area of Indonesia who has been in Bali, I guess I can say I understand why conservative muslims, Christians, or others would be grossly offended by Bali partygoers, who rather shamelessly live it up, shirts (and sometimes bikinis) off and drunk in Indonesia. As a human being, the bombers acts were inexcusable. Reconciling these beliefs makes most sense in the light provided by the sentiments of victims’ family members, as quoted above.
Why do we EVER consider capital punishment to be anything other than state-sponsored murder?