Joko Widodo and Solo Receive Best City Award

Joko Widodo wear Blankon

Bangkok. Solo Mayor and Jakarta gubenatorial hopeful Joko Widodo was honored with the Best City Award at the Delgosea Conference in Bangkok on Thursday.

Joko, or Jokowi, was recognized for rallying Solo citizens to abide by municipal policies, according to Peter Wood, the head of the United Cities and Local Government for Asia Pacific, who spoke at the Delgosea conference.

Delgosea cited Jokowi’s success in negotiating with Solo’s street vendors to convince them to relocate, striking a balance between cleaning up the streets and maintaining traditional businesses.

“I think this is one of the reasons why he was nominated as a candidate for the gubernatorial election in Jakarta, in addition to his concept on transparency and good governance which he has implemented in Solo,” Wood said. Joko was also one of 70 people nominated for the 2012 World Mayor Prize, which will be announced in December, and was recognized by the Ministry of Home Affairs as the Best Mayor of 2011.

Delgosea was launched in March 2010 and was co-funded by the European Commission and funds from the German Ministry for Development Cooperation. The Delgosea Conference recognized the best cities of several Asean member counties, including Cambodia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Four Indonesian mayors who attended the two-day conference in Bangkok hailed the resumption of Delgosea in the Asean region as a way to further accelerate the development of their respective municipal areas. Delgosea is known for its network of successful programs such as waste management.

H. Udin Hianggio, the Mayor of Tarakan Municipality, said “Delgosea has actually helped us in solving waste-related problems by adopting the handling of waste already implemented in Marikina city in the Philippines.”

Tarakan was eventually recognized by the Central Government for cleanliness and improved waste management.

Kupang Mayor Yonas Salean said Delgosea also trained his staff on waste management techniques, and in making use of the West Timor capital’s “existing potential.”

Pangkal Pinang Mayor Drs. H Zulkarnain Karim said the guidance provided by Delgosea helped improve the marine environment for the sake of the people and the sustainability of the environment.

Despite its financial hardships, the European Union announced that it will continue to fund Delgosea for at least the next 32 months.

Antara

7 Endangered Sumatran Rhinos Photographed For First Time In 26 Years

In this undated photo released by Leuser International Foundation, a Sumatran rhino roams at Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh province, Indonesia. A conservationist from the foundation said Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012 that seven of the world's rarest rhinoceroses were photographed at the national park. It is the first sighting there in 26 years.(AP Photo/Leuser International Foundation) NO SALES

The rare and critically endangered Sumatran rhino has once again been sighted in the Leuser forest area of Aceh, 26 years after it was last seen there, conservationists have announced.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Leuser International Foundation said that an LIF forest ranger team had detected the presence of the two-horned animal on Dec. 9, 2011.

The LIF said the sighting was part of a survey it had been conducting since nearly a year ago, one which included the installation of camera traps in various places believed to be rhino sighting areas.

“The team brilliantly acquired more than 1,000 images showing Sumatran rhinos in excellent condition,” the LIF said.

Based on the LIF’s survey in two locations, the number of Sumatran rhinos remaining in the area is estimated at between seven and 25 as of April this year.

“We hope that this number can increase when we finish our survey at several other locations,” said Tarmizi, the project leader and coordinator of the survey.

The survey was conducted jointly by the LIF and the Mount Leuser National Park Agency. It received funding from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The foundation noted, however, that it had also found indications of illegal forest activity in the area that could threaten the survival of the rhino and other species native to the Leuser ecosystem.

“While doing the rhino survey, the LIF and [national park] staff also monitored illegal activities that were going on such as poaching, encroachment, illegal logging and other illegal activities inside Mount Leuser National Park, especially around the Sumatran rhino’s habitat area,” it said.

The Sumatran rhino is the smallest and most primitive of all the rhino species in the world. Since 1996, it has been categorized as critically endangered, or just a step away from being extinct, on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

The Leuser ecosystem is home to some 710 animal species, of which 180 have been declared endangered.

It is also the only place where the Sumatran rhino, Sumatran orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant and Malayan sun bears, all endangered species, live side-by-side in the wild.

Video - Vietnam Airline Fined for In-Flight Bikini Show

Hanoi. A Vietnamese airline has been fined for hosting a mid-flight dance by bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants without first gaining permission, state media said on Thursday.

Low-cost carrier VietJet Air was fined $1,000 by the nation’s aviation authorities for organizing the Hawaiian-themed dance to celebrate its maiden flight between Ho Chi Minh City and the tourist hub of Nha Trang, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

Five women, all candidates in a local beauty contest, performed the three-minute dance on the Aug. 3 flight while passengers recorded the show on camera phones and later posted clips online, the paper added.

A Vietnamese airline has been fined for hosting a mid-flight dance by bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants without first gaining permission, state media said on Thursday. (YouTube Screenshot)

The airline “violated local aviation regulations” by organizing “an unapproved show on a flight,” Nguyen Trong Thang, chief inspector of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, was quoted as saying in the report.

Thang added the pictures were taken while mobile phones were in flight-safe mode and did not pose any risk.

The incident has stirred public debate in conservative Vietnam after photographs and video clips of the sultry performance spread on the Internet.

Agence France-Presse

NASA Counts Down to Dramatic Mars Landing

Members of the Mars Science Laboratory test out an engineering model of its next generation Mars rover, dubbed "Curiosity", in the desert near Baker, California. Reuters/Gene Blevins

The Mars rover Curiosity, on a quest for signs the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, streaked into the home stretch of its eight-month voyage on Sunday nearing a make-or-break landing attempt that Nasa calls one of the toughest feats of robotic spaceflight.

Curiosity, the first full-fledged mobile science laboratory sent to a distant world, was scheduled to touch down inside a vast, ancient impact crater on Sunday at 10:31pm Pacific time (1:31am EDT on Monday/0531 GMT on Monday).

Mission control engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles acknowledge that delivering the one-ton, six-wheeled, nuclear-powered vehicle in one piece is a highly risky proposition, with zero margin for error.

In this 2011 file artist's rendering, a "sky crane" lowers the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover onto the surface of Mars. AP/Nasa/JPL-Caltech

But just 12 hours away from Curiosity's rendezvous with Mars, JPL's team said the spacecraft and its systems were functioning flawlessly, and forecasts called for favorable Martian weather over the landing zone.

After a journey from Earth of more than 350 million miles (567 million km), engineers said they were hopeful the rover, the size of a small sports car, will land precisely as planned near the foot of a tall mountain rising from the floor of Gale Crater in Mars' southern hemisphere.

"We're rationally confident, emotionally terrified," Adam Seltzner, leader of Curiosity's descent and landing team, told reporters at a JPL briefing early on Sunday, as the spacecraft hurtled to within 100,000 miles (161,000 km) of its destination - less than half the distance between Earth and the moon.

A file photo shows Mars photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope on the planet's closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. AP/Nasa

The vessel was sailing through space at about 8,000 miles (13,000 km) per hour and steadily gaining speed from the tug of Martian gravity.

Flight controllers anticipate clear and calm conditions for touchdown, slated to occur in the Martian late afternoon.

There may be some haze in the planet's pink skies from ice clouds, typical for this time of year, with temperatures at about 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 Celsius).

Facing deep cuts in its science budget and struggling to regain its footing after cancellation of the space shuttle program - Nasa's centerpiece for 30 years - the agency has much at stake in the outcome of the $2.5 billion mission.

President Barack Obama's top science adviser, John Holdren, was among the dignitaries visiting JPL on Sunday for the landing, along with Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden.

"It's critically important for the nation because it allows us to stay on pace for what the president asked us to, getting humans to Mars in the mid-2030s," Bolden told Reuters.

He added that success also was key to Nasa's international partners in 12 countries in maintaining public and government support abroad for their continued funding.

Mars is the chief component of Nasa's long-term deep space exploration plans. Curiosity, the space agency's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes, is designed primarily to search for evidence that the planet most similar to Earth may once have harbored the necessary building blocks for microbial life to evolve. 

Packed with gadgets

The rover, formally called the Mars Science Lab, is equipped with an array of sophisticated chemistry and geology instruments capable of analyzing samples of soil, rocks and atmosphere on the spot and beaming results back to scientists on Earth.

One is a laser gun that can zap a rock from 23 feet (7 meters) away to create a spark whose spectral image is analyzed by a special telescope to discern the mineral's chemical composition

For details on Curiosity rover mission, click here.

Speeding toward a landing on Mars

Nearing the end of its journey encased in a capsule-like shell, Curiosity was essentially flying on automatic pilot, guided by a computer packed with pre-programmed instructions.

Mission control activated the craft's backup computer on Saturday night, ensuring it will assume onboard command of the vessel should the primary computer fail during entry into the Martian atmosphere and its tricky descent to the surface.

The ship also began warming up rocket engines that will be used in final descent and landing maneuvers. 
Mission control contemplated sending Curiosity one last "parameter update" on Sunday, hours before atmospheric entry, giving the vessel an exact fix on its position in space.

But Nasa engineers said they would likely forego that transmission because the vessel has varied so little from its ideal course.
Otherwise, controllers will have little to do but anxiously track Curiosity's progress as it flies into Mars' upper atmosphere at 13,000 miles (20,921 km) per hour, 17 times the speed of sound, and begins a descent and landing sequence Nasa refers to as "the seven minutes of terror."

"We're all along for the ride," Seltzner said.
Curiosity's fate will then hinge on a complex series of maneuvers that include a giant, supersonic parachute deployment and a never-before-used jet-powered "sky crane" that must descend to the right spot over the planet, lower the rover to the ground on nylon tethers, cut the cords and fly away.

The sequence also involves 79 pyrotechnic detonations to release exterior ballast weights, open the parachute, separate the heat shield, detach the craft's back shell, jettison the parachute and other functions.

The failure of any of those would foil a successful landing, Seltzner said.
If everything works according to plan, controllers at JPL will know within a minute or two that the Curiosity is safely on the ground, alerted by a terse radio transmission relayed to Earth from the Mars orbiter Odyssey flying overhead.

A satellite relay is necessary because Earth will set beneath the Martian horizon about two minutes before the scheduled landing.

If no landing signal comes, it could take hours or days for scientists to learn if radio communications with the rover were merely disrupted or that it crashed or burned up during descent.

From 154 million miles (248 million kilometers) away, 1,400 scientists, engineers and guests were expected to tensely wait at JPL to learn Curiosity's fate, among them film star Morgan Freeman, television's Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, comic actor Seth Green and actress June Lockhart of Lost in Space fame.
Another 5,000 people will be watching from the nearby California Institute of Technology, the academic home of JPL.

In a good-luck tradition dating back to the 1970s, engineers in the control room at JPL plan to break out cans of roasted peanuts about an hour before landing.

For details on Mars missions, click here.

Iranian Man Jumps Out of Plane in Bali

Illustration

Denpasar - Qatar Airways crew and staff at the Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport were shocked on Sunday after a man jumped out of an aircraft as soon as it landed.

The man, identified as Iranian national Foroughin Monteza Baratali, was on flight QR 638, which originates from Doha and transits in Singapore before landing in Denpasar.  

As soon as it landed, the man abruptly opened the cabin door and jumped out onto the tarmac.  

Alive but injured, airport officers took him to International Medical Center in Kuta, where he is still staying under police guard.   

“He suffered broken bones in different parts of his body,” physician Yoga Bharata wrote in a medical report for the police.  

The local immigration office said they believed Baratali was trying to avoid going through the immigration desk because his name came up on a travel ban list.  

“We’re still investigating what crime he committed to be put in the travel ban list,” said Wayan Sudana, the head of the Ngurah Rai Immigration Office. “He will be deported after being treated.

Cirebon 'Drunken' cop shoots teenager dead

people came to the police station demanding punishment to the perpetrators

A drunken police officer identified as Brig. Sahidin Jaenudin opened fire on crowds of teenagers and killed 18-year-old Agus bin Waryo in Karangwareng subdistrict, Cirebon, West Java early on Sunday morning.

Agus, a resident of Blender village in Karangwareng subdistrict, was with friends when the fatal accident occurred.

Victim

Agus’s friend, Eka Ramadhani, said that during Ramadhan they played musical instruments around the neighborhood to wake people for predawn meals.

“There was a little argument between youths from different villages. We were asked to go home,” he said.
When the group left for home, Brig. Sahidin from Karangsembung police district fired into the air and then aimed the second shot toward Agus’ back, Eka said.

“The officer asked us to go home and we obeyed. But Agus was shot,” he said.

“I thought it was a firecracker. We heard the same noise again and then Agus collapsed behind me,” said Agus’s friend, Khalim.

Cirebon Regency Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hero H Bachtiar said Jaenudin claimed to have been under the influence of alcohol during the incident. The officer will likely be discharged and face legal consequences regarding his actions.

Once Reviled, Indonesia’s Prabowo May Become Next President

Prabowo Subianto, right, walks with chairman of the Indonesian Student Youth Action Unit (KAPPI) 66, Bambang Heryanto (left) after the former general and Gerindra Party chair announced his candidacy for the 2014 presidential race. (Antara Photo/Heru)

Singapore. Just over 14 years ago, Prabowo Subianto was one of Indonesia’s most reviled men, accused of kidnapping, human rights abuses and a coup attempt.

Now, the former general has emerged as the most popular candidate for president. If elected, he says he will not roll back the democratic reforms that Indonesia embraced after his then father-in-law Suharto was ousted from over three decades of autocratic rule.

“I think the people want strong, decisive leadership,” Prabowo told Reuters in an interview in Singapore.

But he added: “I don’t think it is feasible to turn back the clock. Whatever I would like to do, I don’t think it is feasible. I think we have to work harder to create consensus, work harder to get a mandate from the people.”  

Suharto was thrown out of office in May, 1998 as the country sank into an abyss of rioting and economic upheaval. Prabowo, a general from one of Indonesia’s most prominent families, was accused of instigating the violence.

Incoming president B.J. Habibie said the second night after he was sworn in, Prabowo showed up at the presidential palace, armed and with a squad of special forces soldiers, and tried to stage a coup.

Dismissed from the army soon after, shunned by the Jakarta elite and in self-exile in Jordan for some years, Prabowo has in just over a decade managed a striking transformation.  

While Indonesia has rebounded from the near-chaos of the late 1990s to be one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Prabowo is now a successful businessman and the popular head of a political party.

Opinion polls show him as the leading candidate for the 2014 presidential election, although he himself says a lot can happen before then.

Analysts say his often blunt views on the need for strong leadership and pro-poor and pro-farmer policies have gone down well with the people, for whom the events of 1998 do not matter that much anymore.

“I was a soldier,” Prabowo said, describing that period. “As a soldier, one does not think too much about politics or political correctness or human communications. Maybe my communication was not good enough.”    

A 60-year-old with the square build of the special forces commander he once was, Prabowo said he is still refused a US visa because of the allegations he was involved in violence at that time. He is now divorced from Suharto’s daughter, with whom he has a 28-year-old son.

Asked about the coup charges leveled by Habibie, who took over as Indonesia’s president after Suharto, Prabowo said: “That is part of political jockeying, disinformation. I was just a straight soldier.

“I proved by my actions. Did I take over? Did I carry out a coup d’etat? History speaks for itself.”  

Asked if could have taken power if he wished, he said: “Yes of course. Why not?”  

Prabowo, in Singapore to deliver a lecture on the future of Indonesia, separately told reporters: “Despite controlling nearly one half of Indonesia’s combat units, I stepped down after being asked to step down by the political power.  

“Because I am a constitutionalist. As an officer and a soldier, I swore an oath to serve the Republic of Indonesia. I kept my honor, I kept my oath.”    

An insular Indonesia?  

With the no-nonsense style of a former general, Prabowo’s possible ascent to power is being looked on nervously from several quarters. Investors worry he will bring in protectionist policies and political analysts say his past shows he can easily slip into strong-arm autocratic rule.

“If he won, concerns would arise about the durability of democratization,” says Kevin O’Rourke, a Jakarta-based analyst. “He also advocates an economic agenda that calls for banning rice imports and banning gas exports. He is antagonistic towards investment and market forces.”  

Prabowo, the son of one of Indonesia’s most respected economic planners, has said he is not against foreign investment.

“We want foreign investment, but it must be win-win,” he said. “It must be rational, it must be cognizant of local and environmental needs and it must be on a fair and level playing field.”  

In his speech, he said the country needed to avoid depletion of its energy and other resources, control population growth, improve governance and bring in structural changes in the economy to benefit the poor and the farmers, who form the majority of Indonesia’s 240 million people.

The country was once Asia’s only member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) but left the group and is now a net importer, although it has vast natural gas reserves and has some of the world’s largest coal deposits.

Prabowo’s focus was, however, on agriculture, and he advocated using bio-fuels to back up fossil fuel reserves.

“Sixty percent of our population live on agriculture and are allocated three percent of the national budget in 2012,” he said. “This is not viable. This is not wise, this a formula for misery, for unrest. This will degrade social harmony. This is what we have to have the courage to address.”  

Prabowo is also feared by some of Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese minority, who control much of the country’s $1 trillion economy and were targeted in the 1998 mayhem that was orchestrated by thugs believed to be organized by special forces soldiers.

“I am very committed to a united Indonesia regardless of race, religion and background,” he said in response to a question on his policy towards the ethnic Chinese. “My political party has a lot of members from many, many backgrounds and races. We have a lot of Chinese members but of course most of them are middle class and poor Chinese. We don’t think about race in our party.”      

Not a Socialist  

But Prabowo said government should re-focus spending away from the cities and the elite.

He said he did not wish to criticise President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with whom he graduated from Indonesia’s military academy, but added that economic managers had blindly adopted Western economic policies in his tenure. Yudhoyono has served two terms as president and cannot run again.

Prabowo, who contested the vice-presidency in 2009 but was defeated by Yudhoyono and his running mate, said he was not a socialist but added that government could not take a hands-off stand.

“In Indonesia, we cannot have a laissez-faire approach to our problems. I am of the conviction that a government must intervene to protect the very poor and the very weak, to stimulate growth.

“In sectors where the private sector is very strong, let the private sector carry on.”  

Ultimately, Prabowo said, what was needed was a strong government.

“There are always leaders and people who will look for reasons not to try anything new. But the Indonesian leadership must have the will, the toughness, the character, the courage, to think and try to look for creative solutions.

“I was brought up with the motto ‘who dares, wins’ and I think it is time for the Indonesian elite to dare.” 

Reuters

Indonesian TV Station Cited Over 'Vulgar' Episode of Renowned Cleric Ustad Solmed's Show

Muslim preacher Sholahudin Mahmoed, better known as Ustad Solmed, hosts the late night talk show 'Akhirnya Aku Tahu' ('I Finally Understand'). (Photo courtesy of ustadsolmed.com)

Indonesian television station Global TV was cited by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) after renowned Muslim preacher Sholahudin “Ustad Solmed” Mahmoed hosted a sexually-explicit late night talk show.

Ustad Solmed discussed Islam and marital sexual relations on the July 15 episode of  “Akhirnya Aku Tahu” (“I Finally Understand”). The Islamic cleric allegedly discussed intimate details of the audience’s sex lives during what the KPI has called a “vulgar” episode of the show.

“The sex-ridden discussion happened between Ustad Solmed and members of his audience. They discussed contraception, intimate relationships between husbands and wives, the engorgement of genitals, oral sex and other ways to have sex,” the KPI said in a statement published on its website kpi.go.id Monday evening.

The show, which aired at 4 a.m., was rated “teen,” a fact that has drawn ire from the KPI, who alleged that this program violated Indonesia’s child protection laws.

“We classify this as a violation of child protection laws, norms of politeness, restrictions on sexual themes and the broadcast program’s rating,” the statement read.

The KPI urged Global TV to clean the show up and get its broadcasting in line with the commission’s standards in a letter signed by KPI chairman Mochamad Riyanto on July 30.

The commission sought the opinion of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) before issuing the letter.

“The MUI says the dialog was very vulgar and should never happen again,” the KPI says, adding a letter from the MUI was attached to a warning sent to Global TV. Jakarta Globe

Indonesian Protection of Religious Freedom Deteriorating

Articles Explore U.S. Responses to Worldwide Threats to Religious Freedom

In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, government protection of religious freedom has been deteriorating, the United States says.

While the Indonesian government generally respects the freedom of the country’s six officially recognized religions, it has failed to overturn local regulations violating religious freedom, the US State Department said in a report released on Monday.

And despite the country’s tradition of religious pluralism, societal abuse against religious minorities is on the rise, it added.

“There were several significant lapses in enforcing protections,” it said.

The International Religious Freedom Report, which examined religious freedom in 199 countries and territories in 2011, highlighted discrimination and violence against religious minorities in Indonesia including Ahmadi Muslims and Christians, as well as atheists.

It cited a case in February 2011 when a mob of more than 1,500 people attacked Ahmadis in Cikeusik, Banten province, killing three and injuring five others. Videos of the attack posted online showed members of the mob beating the Ahmadis to death as the police failed to intervene.

While 12 members of the mob were brought to trial, the report said, “they were given disproportionately light prison sentences” of three to six months. By comparison, an Ahmadi injured in the attack was arrested, charged with provoking the attack and sentenced to seven months in prison, it said.

“Due to inaction, the government sometimes failed to prevent violence, abuse and discrimination against individuals based on their religious beliefs,” the report said. “In some cases, it failed to hold the perpetrators of violence accountable.”

During 2011 there were 93 government-instigated violations of religious freedom, up from 64 the year before, the report said, citing the Wahid Institute.

It criticized the closure of houses of worship, as well as restrictions on freedom to construct houses of worship, citing the high-profile case of the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor.

The Bogor city government initially approved a construction permit for GKI Yasmin in 2006, but construction was halted after a 2008 city government decision, the report said. The church challenged this city-level decision in the court system and the Supreme Court ruled in its favor in 2010, but the city government did not enforce the court’s decision.

“At times, local public order police [Satpol PP] and Bogor City police blocked access to the church site,” the report said. “Throughout the year the congregation faced intimidation from hardline organizations when attempting to attend Sunday services at the site of their church.”

The report also criticized the detention and imprisonment of individuals under the 1965 Blasphemy Law, which allows a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment for blasphemy. In February 2011, Antonius Richmond Bawengan was jailed for five years for blasphemy in Temanggung, Central Java, after distributing books deemed “offensive to Islam,” it said.

Indonesia grants official status to six religious groups, including Islam, Catholicism Protestantism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

“Members of religious groups outside of the six officially recognized religions continued to experience some official discrimination in the context of civil registration of marriages and births as well as in the issuance of identity cards,” the report said.

The US government, the report said, has regularly raised the issue of religious freedom with the Indonesian government and Indonesian civil society leaders in a bid to promote human rights.

“[Freedom of religion] goes hand in hand with freedom of expression, freedom of speech and assembly, and when religious freedom is restricted, all these rights are at risk,” Suzan Johnson Cook, the US ambassador for religious freedom, said in a press briefing about the report in Washington on Monday. “And for this reason, religious freedom is often the bellwether for other human rights.”

Jakarta Globe

Weightlifter Eko Yuli Irawan Gives Indonesia 1st Medal in London 2012 Olympics

Eko Yuli Irawan has delivered for his country in the Olympics once again.

The 23-year-old weightlifter secured Indonesia’s first medal at the London Games after finishing third in the men’s 62-kilogram division on Monday night.

North Korean lifter Kim Un-guk took the gold with a world record total lift of 327 kilograms. Eko’s total was 317 kg, the same as Oscar Figueroa, but the Indonesian had to settle for bronze because he was 13 grams heavier than the Colombian.

Eko was nevertheless proud of earning his second Olympic medal. His first, which was also bronze, came at the 2008 Games in Beijing in the men’s 56-kg division.

He became the country’s third athlete to medal in two consecutive Olympics after women’s singles shuttler Susi Susanti (1992 and 1996) and women’s weightlifter Raema Lisa Rumbewas (2000 and 2004).

“That was my best lift ever. Unfortunately, I had to settle for bronze,” said the Lampung native, who has yet to fully recover from a right shin injury sustained during a training session before London.

“Every Olympics has been tough for me,” he added. “In Beijing I was suffering from a hamstring injury just before the Games started and now this. That’s why I’m very grateful to have this chance to compete in the Olympic and win another medal.”

For his bronze, Eko will earn a Rp 250 million ($27,000) cash bonus from the government. “That will be a gift for my wife, who will deliver our baby in the next two months,” he said.

Eko, who now resides in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, said he hoped his medal would inspire other athletes.

“They have to set their sights high and work very hard,” he said. “Being just an athlete would just be a waste of time.”

Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng praised Eko’s achievement.

“He’s been showing great determination to win the medal despite the injury,” Andi said. “I believe more medals will be coming in London after this, hopefully gold.”

The country’s best hope for gold is still badminton. On Tuesday, men’s singles shuttler Taufik Hidayat beat Spain’s Pablo Abian 22-20, 21-11 to set up a tasty round of 16 match with China’s Lin Dan, who won gold in 2008. Taufik won gold at the Athens Games in 2004.

“I’m ready for him,” Taufik said of Lin. “It will be an exciting match.”

Lin has dominated Taufik of late, beating him in their last 11 matches.

However, this will be Taufik’s last Olympics, and his fans are hoping for a great send-off.

“Winning or losing happens every day in sports,” the 31-year-old Indonesian star said. “I’ll just try my best.”

Simon Santoso also qualified for the round of 16, locking up his spot with a 21-11, 21-7 win over Austria’s Michael Lahnsteiner. He will play against Malaysian ace Lee Chong Wei in the knockout rounds.

Antara, JG