Senin, 31 Oktober 2016

Antarctic protection

Finally! The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or in short is CCAMLR, arranged their 35th meeting in Hobart, Australia, have agreed on the world’s largest ocean protection plan, for the Ross Sea off Antarctica. They agreed to protect 1,550,000 km2 of the Ross Sea. This zone will be used for fully protected marine reserve, special research zone allowing for limited research fishing for krill and toothfish, and krill research zone allowing for controlled research fishing for krill .

The Ross Sea has been described as the one of the most pristine wilderness areas left on Earth. This agreement took years of intensive work by many people in governments, and in non-government organizations. The agreement to create this protection for the Ross Sea off Antarctica shows how nations can join together to make real progress for the planet in a time of unprecedented need.

Antartica is a home to one third of the world’s Adélie penguins, one quarter of all emperor penguins, one third of all Antarctic petrels, and over half of all South Pacific Weddell seals. I wish this not just for the incredible diversity of life that it will protect, but also for the contribution it makes to building the resilience of the world’s ocean in the face of climate change.


http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?282733/Antarctic-protection-a-beacon-of-hope-for-ocean-conservation-globally#

Sabtu, 29 Oktober 2016

Irrawaddy dolphins functionally extinct in Laos

The population of critically endangered Mekong River Dolphins or its also called Irrawaddy Dolphins in the Cheuteal trans, boundary pool between southern Laos and northern Cambodia has shrunk by 50% this year alone and the population is functionally extinct in Laos, according to WWF.

Irrawaddy dolphins can be found in some coastal areas in Asia but there are only three freshwater subpopulations, in the Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar, the Mahakam River in Indonesia, and the Mekong River in Cambodia and the Lao PDR.

The use of gill nets, especially unmanned gill nets, is thought to be one of the main reasons for the demise of the dolphins. Gill nets are vertical panels of netting set in a straight line across a river to catch fish. Being large aquatic mammals, Mekong River dolphins, as well as other endangered aquatic species, are often caught in gill nets, and drown as a consequence.

In my opinion, we have to solve this problem as soon as possible. If we are not, then we fear that in a year or two, there may be no more dolphins in Laos. We wish that The Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River will not disappear from Lao waters, because it may cause a hard blow to eco-tourism in the area. As a human, we should not treat animals badly. We need to protect them and love them.

http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?282590/Irrawaddy-dolphins-functionally-extinct-in-Laos

Jumat, 28 Oktober 2016

Indonesians Tax Amnesty (human conflict)

Car and real-estate sales data suggest the amnesty is resulting in people putting off purchases. Indonesian property companies had achieved only 46 percent of 2016 pre-sales targets by the end of September, with many developers attributing the slowdown to buyers focusing on the first window of the tax reprieve, Aurellia Setiabudi, an analyst at PT Maybank King Eng Securities in Jakarta, said in a note released Tuesday. PT Astra International reported a 13 percent decline in sales of non low-cost cars in September, the biggest drop in a year. Sales of Nissan Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. vehicles fell 40 percent and 34 percent, respectively, according to figures from the Indonesia Automotive Industry Association.While the amnesty should be good for vehicle sales in the longer term, it could be causing a slowdown in sales of higher-end vehicles at the moment, said Jongkie D. Sugiarto, one of several chairmen at the auto association in Jakarta.

It’s not just companies selling big ticket items that are being affected. High-end supermarket operator PT Supra Boga Lestari is down 5.5 percent since the end of August, and PT Ace Hardware, which sells home supplies and furnishings to middle-class Indonesians, has lost 14 percent.
In a nation where only 4 million people out of a population of 258 million pay tax, the amnesty is aimed at broadening the revenue base and allowing the government to have a more stable stream of income to finance infrastructure development and social spending. After a slow start to the amnesty, there was a surge in uptake in September as the window for getting the lowest tax rate closed, taking the total amount of penalty fees to 97.2 trillion rupiah at the end of last month. The government is targeting 165 trillion rupiah for the entire reprieve, which runs through March, and some 424,286 individual and companies have taken part so far.

 People who participate in the program will have to raise money to pay for their redemption penalties, especially if they are declaring non-liquid assets like companies or homes. If I joined this program, of course I spent a few hundred million rupiah to participate in this program, so I needed some breathing space before I could start spending again. Actually this program has many big effects in positive ways, such as increase our economy to develop our country.


Reflection based on http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-28/discretionary-stocks-hit-by-amnesty-as-indonesians-curb-spending

Senin, 24 Oktober 2016

Human VS LPG (human problem)

A 50-kilogram liquid petroleum gas (LPG) canister at a Pizza Hut Delivery (PHD) outlet in Jatimurni, Bekasi, West Java, exploded early Sunday morning, injuring two people and damaging four buildings.
The canister exploded inside the three-story PHD outlet, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr Awi Setiyono said as reported by kompas.com. The explosion completely destroyed the PHD building and caused severe damage to three other buildings near it, including an Alfa Midi minimarket.According to Alfa Midi employees, the explosion took place at 7:20 a.m., Awi said, adding that there were no fatalities.

Meanwhile, Pondok Cabe Police chief Comr. Sukadi said the police were investigating the cause of the explosion and had secured the scene. A fritter seller and a child in the vicinity were injured in the blast, he said. The fast food employees had returned home at 11 PM so the restaurant had been emptied.

I think there are two situations where this will usually happen, the first is that something physically punctures the tank, the second is the tank becomes so hot that the pressure of the gas inside it ruptures it from within.
The general safety procedures to prevent at propane tank from exploding are not to puncture it, and to keep it cool, as in below 120F. Still, propane cylinders are not easy to explode. In a situation where flames are impinging on the vapor space of the cylinder and the metal gets near melting, the cylinder will rupture violently.
 
Reflection based on http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/23/lpg-explosion-in-pizza-hut-outlet-destroys-four-buildings.html

Senin, 10 Oktober 2016

Death Penalty in Indonesia

Indonesia, one of only 25 countries in the world that still impose capital punishment, has seen 35 people sentenced to death by the courts since the start of the year, according to the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). That number could grow in the coming years, as the country is mulling whether to widen the application of the ultimate penalty. The execution of convicts has become something of a hallmark of the presidency of Jokowi, who has declared war on drug trafficking, an offense that carries the ultimate punishment. Fourteen drugtraffickers were executed in 2015, but an earlier plan to execute14 more in July was aborted at the last minute; instead only four were sent to the firing squad.

Until today, the government has not explained the reason for the literally 11th-hour reprieve for the 10. Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo insisted their executions were simply being delayed. Jokowi has publicly rebuked any attempt at intervention by foreign leaders who asked for a stay of executions for their citizens, citing Indonesia’s sovereignty. This did not stop European leaders from telling him to stop the executions when he visited Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium in April. Indonesia’s appetite for the blood of criminals has not stopped there. In the current debate to reform the penal code, politicians are advocating expanding the use of capital punishment to acts of treason, terrorism and terrorism-related activities, genocide, corruption, endangering flight safety, extortion and intimidation. With reports of sexual abuse against children, some politicians have also asked to add this to the list of crimes punishable by death.

In my opinion, there are many advantages of the death penalty, such as it shows that our justice system has no sympathy for the criminals and also this death penalty can address the problem of overpopulation in the prisons. However, there are also disadvantages of the death penalty. For example, the cost involved on the death penalty is much more greater than the expenses occurred in the life imprisonment of the accused.


Reflection based on http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/10/death-penalty-becoming-more-popular-indonesia.html

Jumat, 07 Oktober 2016

Construction on Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train Line

Kereta Api Indonesia China, or KCIC, a consortium of Indonesian and Chinese state-owned companies, said it will begin construction on the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway line next month, half a year after it secured a concession for the project from the government.
In the last six months, the consortium has been hiring workers, acquiring land for the project, obtaining the right licenses for the work and looking for extra financing — which has prevented the company from doing actual construction work. We wish see some progress on the construction now, such as fencing along the new railway tracks. We will start the big jobs in October or November

The $5.1 billion project has been marred with delays since its inception. It took three months for the Transportation Ministry to clear all permits and concessions for the KCIC, despite President Joko Widodo's blessing for the project. The president had even attended its groundbreaking ceremony in January.The track for the high-speed train line will stretch for 142.3 kilometers from Halim in East Jakarta to Tegalluar in Bandung, West Java. The train will cut travel time from Jakarta to Bandung from three hours to two.

I think this is the best idea to develop our mass transportation.This construction costs a lot. I wish it will be a good thing for us. Wish the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises will issue all permissions to the consortium so they can start work immediately on the railway line. The KCIC consortium comprised four Indonesian state-owned companies — construction firm Wijaya Karya, toll operator Jasa Marga, railway operator Kereta Api Indonesia and plantation firm Perkebunan Nusantara VIII — and a group of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

Reflection based on http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/construction-begin-soon-jakarta-bandung-high-speed-train-line/

Sexual Violence

Reports of sexual violence cases in North Sulawesi has increased from 199 for the whole of 2015 to 261 cases from only January until September this year, data from a NGO showed.
Nur Hasanah, a data officer at Swara Parangpuan, said Friday the victims’ ages ranged from five years old to 18 years old. The perpetrators included boyfriends, students, teachers and parents.
“We hope the police can investigate such cases thoroughly to create deterring effects so we don’t see such cases anymore,” she said.

Chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) Ariest Merdeka Sirait urged the police to continue with sexual violence cases, specifically for recent cases in Manado.
Recently, there was a report against a Manado city agency head filed by a teen student who was doing an internship at his office. Ariest said he hoped the police would not drop the case because of “lack of evidence,” the most common reason for the police to drop sexual violence charges.
He encouraged the police to be persistent in collecting evidence in sexual violence investigations as sexual abuse is a heinous crime.

 This case should make us pay attention to protect ourselves. There are many sexual harassment and police always be the one who can investigate this kind of case. However, nowadays our environment isn't safe anymore like it used to be. So, we need to protect our own selves otherwise we just depend on police if we become sexual violence object.


Reflection based on http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/10/07/reports-of-sexual-violence-increase-in-manado.html