Air Force Soldier Allegedly Assaults 11-Year-Old Schoolboy

Illustration Picture by Okezone.com

The father of an 11-year-old sixth-grade student at SD Santo Markus I private junior high school in East Jakarta named Putri allegedly assaulted one of his daughter’s classmates, Dwi Novriadi.
Putri’s father is a lieutenant colonel in the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU).

According to Dwi, 11, the incident took place a month ago in front of the school’s gates after several of Dwi’s friends playfully mocked Putri as her brother had the same name as noted dangdut singer Rhoma Irama’s son, Ridho Roma.

“I was in front of the school with four friends. My friends were teasing Putri before her father came to pick her up,” Dwi said as quoted by Warta Kota daily.

Dwi’s friends then fled when they saw Putri’s father arrive, leaving him alone.

Putri then ran to her father, who called to Dwi to approach his car. He complied, only to be hit in the face by Putri’s father, causing his upper lip to bleed.

Dwi said he felt wronged because he maintained that he had not joined his friends in mocking Putri.
“After hitting me, Putri’s father asked me if I had mocked her. I said no, but he told me to be quiet. After they left, I reported the incident to the school principal,” he said.

According to the school’s principal, Damianus Puji, the school arrange a mediation session between Dwi and Putri’s parents, which was held one week after the attack.

During the meeting, Putri’s father attempted to clarify what had happened during his exchange with Dwi and apologized to the boy’s parents, Puji said.

However, Dwi said that he had never received a personal apology from Putri’s father, adding that her father had shouted at him on several occasions since the incident took place.

After hitting an impasse in the mediation, Dwi’s parents then reported the assault to the East Jakarta Police and the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), according to Puji.

East Jakarta Police spokeswoman Adj. Comr. Etty Wiyandari confirmed that the case had been reported to them, adding that the matter was under investigation.

“Dwi’s parents filed the report a week after the incident. We are planning to hand the case over to the military police,” Etty said as quoted by tempo.co.

Meanwhile, KPAI commissioner Susanto confirmed that the commission had also received a report and was currently studying the details.

“If the allegation is true, then the perpetrator has violated the Child Protection Law. We will fight for Dwi’s rights,” Susanto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

“No one is above the law; that includes state officials and military personnel,” he concluded. The Jakarta Post

Fossils of 'Largest' Dinosaur Found in Argentina

Giant dinosaur: Handout picture released on Saturday by the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum showing technicians working in the area where fossils of a dinosaur -- likely to be the largest ever to roam the earth-- were found in Chubut, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south of Buenos Aires. Paleontologists in Argentina's remote Patagonia region have discovered fossils of a creature is believed to be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed sauropod that walked on four legs and lived some 95 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period. (AFP/Museo Egidio Feruglio)

Paleontologists in Argentina's remote Patagonia region have discovered fossils of what may be the largest dinosaur ever, amid a vast cache of fossils that could shed light on prehistoric life.

The creature is believed to be a new species of Titanosaur, a long-necked, long-tailed sauropod that walked on four legs and lived some 90 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period.

Researchers say the plant-eating dinosaur weighed the equivalent of more than 14 African elephants, or about 100 tonnes, and stretched up to 40 meters (130 feet) in length.

The previous record holder, also in Argentina, the Argentinosaurus, was estimated to measure 36.6 meters long.

A fossilized femur of the Titanosaur was larger than a paleontologist who lay next to it.
And the find didn't stop there.

Bones from at least seven individual dinosaurs, including some believed to be younger, were found at the site.

This is "the most complete discovery of this type of giant dinosaur in the world, a momentous discovery for science," cheered Jose Luis Carballido, one of eight scientists who participated in the research.

The fossils were accidentally discovered in 2011 by a farm worker in a remote area in the Patagonian province of Chubut, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south of Buenos Aires.

The worker first spotted a massive leg bone, measuring some 2.4 meters in length.

Excavations launched in January 2013 also uncovered complete bones of the tail, torso and neck -- which will allow for a fuller picture of what the entire animal looked like when alive.

Carballido, part of a team of Argentine and Spanish researchers, said the group had uncovered "10 vertebrae of the torso, 40 from the tail, parts of the neck and complete legs."

"Until now, what was known, worldwide, about sauropods was from fragmentary discoveries," said the 36-year-old paleontologist from the Egidio Feruglio Museum in the southern city of Trelew, calling the find "extraordinary."

- Tip of the iceberg -

Even more bones may yet appear.

So far, "we have only recovered an estimated 20 percent of what's in the field," said Carballido.

The find is set to help shed light on more than just the anatomy of these remarkably large herbivores.

The researchers have also found what they believe to be muscle insertions, which will help them reconstruct the form of the creature's muscles and calculate how much energy was needed to move them.

Paleontologists have found about 60 teeth at the site, 57 of which are from Tyrannotitan carnivores -- one of the largest known therapods, and known scavengers.

In addition to the skeletal remains, fossil imprints of leaves and stems have been found, which could help researchers rebuild the ecosystem at the time.

"We will be able to make a very precise reconstruction and answer many questions," Carballido said -- including just what about southern Argentina made conditions favorable for so many massive dinosaur species.

- 'A treasure trove' -

So far, the new species remains unnamed, and scientists estimate they will publish the first results next year.

"The research will be done in several stages. First we will present the new species, its characteristics," Carballido said, followed by years of study to detail the animal's biology and "the way it grew up."

Paul Barrett, fossils and anthropology expert at London's Natural History Museum, cautioned that claims this dinosaur is the largest ever still must be confirmed.

"This is an inspiring new discovery of a truly gigantic dinosaur," Barrett said.

"However, we need to know more about the overall size and proportions of the skeleton and use several different methods to investigate its possible width before deciding it's definitely the largest dinosaur species yet known."

US paleontologist David Burnham agreed that "a lot of things still need to be proven."

But largest dinosaur or not, the breadth of the discovery was truly remarkable.

"You can really start reconstructing past life when you get a treasure trove like this," said Burnham, of the University of Kansas.

Finding so many individual dinosaurs at one site could confirm the hypothesis that these herbivores lived in herds, as well as determine any predators they may have had, whether they were scavengers, when they died and in what type of environment they lived, the paleontologist added. AFP

A First for Indonesia, Ethnic Chinese Leader Takes Charge in the Capital

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. (JG Photo/ Afriadi Hikmal)

Indonesia’s presidential race isn’t until July. But there’s already one winner.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has taken over as acting governor of Jakarta, the first ethnic Chinese to do so.

A Christian, Basuki succeeds Joko Widodo who has stepped aside to run for the presidential election on July 9, which opinion polls suggest he will win. Basuki will automatically take over to complete Joko’s five-year term if he does win.

Indonesia’s Chinese make up only about 2 percent of the 240 million population.

Resented for their wide control over trade and business, and suspected of loyalty to China, Indonesian-Chinese have been deliberately kept out of the political and military hierarchy for most of the country’s almost 70 years of independence.

The resentment, which has burst into bloody riots in the past, appears to be on the wane, although it’s not over.

Even critics of Jakarta’s acting governor complain mostly about what they see as his abrasive style of governance, not his background.

“People are voting for a track record today,” Basuki told Reuters in an interview in his office in April. “It’s not about the race or religion…or some primordial idea of who should run [the country].”

Bad cop
Basuki has been the bad cop to Joko’s good cop. In contrast to the typically soft-spoken and Javanese Joko, Basuki has gained a reputation for being a tough guy not afraid to shake up the city’s sleepy bureaucracy.

“The first thing we have to fix here is the bureaucracy…by testing and evaluating their performance,” Basuki said.

“We say to them if they don’t want to follow us, they can get out. Sometimes we have to kick them out. Of course they are angry but we don’t care.”

Basuki, 48, has served as Joko’s right-hand man since winning the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial election when the pair toppled the incumbent with their can-do, transparent ideas on fixing the many problems of the chaotic city, including chronic traffic and flooding.

“I personally don’t agree [with Basuki becoming governor] because he’s too temperamental,” city councilor Boy Bernardi Sadikin told media.

Sadikin is the son of a former Jakarta governor from the 1970s, who many residents believe was the last popular and effective leader the city saw before Joko and Basuki.

Videos of Basuki losing his temper with inefficient bureaucrats have gone viral in Indonesia but the public has been largely supportive of the acting governor’s no-nonsense style in a country bedeviled by corruption and bureaucratic inertia.

When running in the 2012 Jakarta election, Basuki, who is from the resource-rich Bangka Belitung province, faced smear campaigns from rivals.

But the at times blatant racist attacks had little effect and Jakarta residents voted in favor of Joko and Basuki with a 55 percent majority.

Indonesia, the world’s third largest democracy, has a history of communal tensions that have at times boiled over into violent attacks specifically targeting the ethnic Chinese minority.

The country saw one of the most horrific attacks on the Chinese community in 1998 as Indonesia descended into political and economic chaos following the Asian financial crisis. Rampaging mobs targeted

Chinese-owned businesses and in some cases killed and raped Chinese-Indonesians, forcing hundreds to flee the country.

Hardline Muslim groups, who last year protested the appointment of a Christian woman to a Jakarta district office, have also threatened to protest Basuki’s rise to power.

But Basuki believes Indonesia is becoming more pluralist.

“The Jakarta election was a test and…we see more ethnic Chinese running for [public office] now,” Basuki said. “One day soon Indonesia will be ready for a non-Muslim or ethnic Chinese leader, even president.” 

Reuters

Virtual Museum Brings Indonesia’s Heritage Closer to Home

Another world: A man (above) looks at ancient statues through Occulus Rift glasses. The virtual reality glasses contain digital representations of statues of Hinamari (left) and an elephant and rider (right). (JP/Hans David Tampubolon)

Anantarupa Studios introduced last week the nation’s first virtual reality museum, aiming bring to Indonesians parts of Indonesia’s ancient heritage that have been scattered to museums throughout the world.

The museum, which uses Oculus Rift virtual reality technology recently purchased by Facebook, will open to the public until May 18 during the Museum Week event at the Senayan City mall in Senayan, South Jakarta.

After the event ends, the collection will have a permanent home at Gallery Indonesia in the Grand Indonesia shopping center in Sudirman, Central Jakarta, starting mid-June.

The museum currently features 10 ancient statues from the era of the Majapahit, an ancient archipelagic empire which ruled parts of present day Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor Leste.

The original pieces are located in various museums all over the world.

The virtual Adityawarman statue on display at the exhibition, for example, was modeled after the original, which currently resides at the Tropen Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

There are also models of a Dwarapala statue from the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the US; and a Sri Rajadevi Maharajasa statue from the Victoria and Albert Museum in England.

Anantarupa uses the Oculus Rift 3D goggles as a medium to take visitors into the realm of virtual reality.

The goggles use a seven-inch LCD display, visible via dual lenses that are positioned over the eyes. This provides stereoscopic 3D vision for users, who can freely move their heads from side to side, making the experience as close to real life as possible.

Using the goggles, users can start their visit by looking at the Majapahit sun emblem at the center of the display. After it finishes spinning, users can access see the historical details of each statue, such as the year it was made or the philosophy behind its creation - all simply by glancing at the statue.

To provide an immersive experience, the virtual museum also provides audio commentary to explain the historical background of each statue when a user looks at it.

There are, however, still some real life elements missing.

For example, the goggles cannot detect when users move their heads forward to look at the statue up close. Nor could users look at the statues from all angles.

Anantarupa managing director Diana Paskarina attributed some of the glitches to the accelerated digitization process, which took one month, as opposed to the three months that are typically required.

“We were invited to participate in the Museum Week event, so we decided to complete the 3D modeling sooner than our original schedule, which was to be the end of this year,” Diana said.

Gaining direct access to the statues was also tough.

“The most challenging part of creating the virtual museum was the research, because we often could not visit the museums that were located abroad to see how the statues look in real life,” Diana said.

To cope with the challenge of digitizing remote statues, Diana said that they relied on the Internet for photographs to make 3D models. “Sometimes, we can only see the front and the side parts of the statues. Therefore, as you can see, some statues are incomplete, especially in the back.”

Diana said users could expect more and better visualizations in the future.

“We plan to add 58 statues in total from the Majapahit era,” she said, adding that she hoped the project would emphasize museums as windows to the past and attract sponsors to finance expansion.

“We’re using Oculus technology to lure more people to become interested in museums,” Diana said. “By using virtual reality and technological interactivity, we hope people can see museums from a different perspective and eventually lure them to visit museums in real life as well.” The  Jakarta Post

BlackBerry Fights Back With Budget Indonesian Smartphone

A man silhouetted against a video screen displaying the the Blackberry logo as he poses with a Blackberry Q10 in the central Bosnian town of Zenica in this September 21, 2013 file photo illustration. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. BlackBerry on Tuesday launched a new budget handset in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, a major step in the ailing smartphone maker’s fight back against titans Samsung and Apple.

The Z3, designed with Indonesia in mind but expected to be introduced in other emerging markets later, is the first new BlackBerry phone since chief executive John Chen took the helm of the crisis-hit company in November.

The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm’s partnership with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of whether the new strategy will work.

BlackBerry believes the Indonesian model — whose full name is the Z3 “Jakarta Edition” — will be a hit in
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, where the company maintains a loyal following despite losing ground in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of its BBM messaging service.

Like many other global companies, BlackBerry is also targeting Indonesia due to its huge population of 250 million and its rapidly emerging middle class, who increasingly have cash to spend on gadgets following years of sustained economic growth.

“From conception to delivery, the BlackBerry Z3, Jakarta Edition, was designed specifically with our
Indonesian customers in mind,” Chen said during a visit to the Indonesian capital to launch the phone.

The phone will be available in shops from Thursday and will cost 2,199,000 rupiah ($190), BlackBerry said in a statement.

But analysts think it is already too late for a comeback by the company that pioneered the modern smartphone culture but has been unable to keep up with competition from Apple’s iPhone and handsets using the Google Android operating system.

Recent years have been dismal for BlackBerry, and it has suffered heavy losses and slashed thousands of jobs.

The company even put itself up for sale last year but abandoned hopes of finding a buyer several months later, and ousted chief executive Thorsten Heins.

Since Chen took over, there have been small signs of improvement. The company reported a loss of $423 million in the three months to March 1, which was not as bad as had been feared.

As part of its turnaround strategy, the smartphone maker announced the tie-up with Foxconn in December.

It involves transferring manufacturing and inventory management to the Taiwanese company, while allowing BlackBerry to focus on software and services.

The Z3 has a 13 centimeter touchscreen, without the physical keyboard of the older devices.

The Jakarta Edition’s BBM messaging service comes loaded with pictures of local cartoon characters for users to send to one another.

There is also a limited edition with the inscription “Jakarta” on the back.

BlackBerry’s most recent phones have not fared well in Indonesia but the company believes the Z3 will be popular, in particular due to its lower price.

Retailers say that online pre-orders, which began on April 28, have been healthy.

BlackBerry has refused to say which emerging markets it might take the phone to next, but analysts speculated it would likely be others in Southeast Asia.

But even the picture in Indonesia, one of the company’s healthiest markets, is increasingly dire and the Z3 may be too little too late, analysts warn.

“The launch of this device is really BlackBerry’s final stand in the Indonesian market,” Sudev Bangah from telecoms consultancy IDC told AFP.

IDC says BlackBerry’s market share peaked in Indonesia in 2011 at about 43 percent and remained healthy in 2012, only to suffer a collapse in 2013 when it slumped to around five percent in the final quarter, in the face of stiff competition from Samsung in particular.

Agence France-Presse

BlackBerry Steps Up Fightback With Indonesian Phone

A file photo dated 13 December 2011 showing an Indonesian salesgirl serving a customer as a poster of various kind of BlackBerry is seen on the background at a shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. (EPA/Mast Irham)

Jakarta. BlackBerry will this week launch a new budget handset in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, a major step in the ailing smartphone maker’s fightback against titans Samsung and Apple.

The Z3, which is designed for Indonesia but will likely be introduced in other emerging markets later, is the first new BlackBerry phone since chief executive John Chen took the helm of the crisis-hit company in November.

The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm’s partnership with Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of whether the new strategy will work.

The company believes the device will be a hit in Indonesia, where many have remained loyal to BlackBerry, with a spokesman saying that “this product will deliver something that? should resonate with consumers”.

But analysts believe it may already be too late for a comeback by the company that pioneered modern smartphone culture but has been unable to keep up with competition from Apple’s iPhone and handsets using the Google Android operating system.

Recent years have been dismal for BlackBerry, and it has suffered heavy losses and slashed thousands of jobs.

The company even put itself up for sale last year but abandoned hopes of finding a buyer several months later, and ousted chief executive Thorsten Heins.

Since Chen took over, there have been small signs of improvement. The company reported a loss of $423 million in the three months to March 1, which was not as bad as had been feared.

As part of its turnaround strategy, the smartphone maker announced the tie-up with Foxconn in December, which involves transferring to the Taiwan company manufacturing and inventory management, while allowing BlackBerry to focus on software and services.

BlackBerry has chosen to launch its first new phone from the partnership in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy with legions of social media-mad young consumers, where its devices remain popular but it has nevertheless lost ground in recent years.

Low retail price
The phone has a 13 centimeter touchscreen, like most of BlackBerry’s newest handsets which do not have the physical keyboards of the older devices.

It is designed specifically with Indonesian consumers in mind. The BBM messaging service — wildly popular in Indonesia — comes loaded with pictures of local cartoon characters for users to send to one another.

There is also a limited edition with “Jakarta” engraved on it.

BlackBerry believes the low price — it will retail for around $200 — will be a particular selling point.
Previous phones released on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system in Indonesia were more expensive, such as the Z10 which sold for around $700, and received only a lukewarm response.

Online pre-orders, which began on April 28, have been healthy, according to retailers.
“The response is positive and hundreds of units were sold in less than a week after the pre-order started,” said an employee at vendor Global Teleshop, who declined to be identified.

The phone will be launched on Tuesday in Jakarta and will go on sale in the following days.
BlackBerry has refused to say which emerging markets it might take the phone to next, but analysts speculated it would likely be others in Southeast Asia.

But even the picture in Indonesia, one of the company’s healthiest markets, is increasingly dire and the Z3 may be too little too late, analysts warn.

“The launch of this device is really BlackBerry’s final stand in the Indonesian market,” Sudev Bangah from telecoms consultancy IDC told AFP.

IDC says BlackBerry’s market share peaked in Indonesia in 2011 at about 43 percent and remained healthy in 2012 only to suffer a collapse in 2013, when it fell to around 13 percent.

And Bangah said it was unlikely the new device would be BlackBerry’s savior in Indonesia.
“Do we expect a mass exodus to this device? Hardly likely,” he said, adding IDC expected BlackBerry’s market share to fall to around 10 percent this year.
Agence France-Presse