Bali is a predominantly Hindu island with more than 80 per cent of its population practising Hinduism. Balinese people who saw the video found it outrageous and promptly reacted on social media. Photograph:(Twitter)
Authorities of a Bali-based resort in Indonesia are reportedly on the hunt for a foreign national who was seen meditating naked at a sacred Hindu shrine in a viral video. This is not a lone incident to come out of the island nation. In the past, a slew of such incidents have taken place where tourists were seen or caught disrespecting religious places.
This particular case came to light when a Balinese influencer Ni Luh Djelantik reposted a video of a naked man meditating at a Hindu shrine, gaining hundreds of thousands of views.
Indonesia’s launch of its China-backed high-speed railway will be first of its kind in South East Asia
Indonesia has inaugurated its first high-speed railway, a $7.3bn (£5.9) project backed by China under its Belt and Road Initiative.
President Joko Widodo launched the service, which connects the capital Jakarta to Bandung, a top economic hub.
The railway is named Whoosh, a Bahasa Indonesia acronym that translates to time-saving and reliable.
Mr Widodo has prioritised projects like Whoosh to ease the country’s severe traffic jams.
The railway was originally scheduled to open in 2019 but was delayed due to land disputes, the Covid-19 pandemic and a $1.2bn (£984m) budget overrun.
Monday’s inauguration was pushed back from Sunday to accommodate the president’s schedule.
Whoosh is operated by PT KCIC, a joint venture made up of four Indonesian state companies with Beijing’s China Railway International.
Its name is short for “Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Handal”, which translates to “Timesaving, Optimal Operation, Reliable System”. It can reach speeds of up to 350km/h (217mph) with the journey spanning 142km.
“The name is inspired by the sound of a rushing high-speed train,” Mr Widodo told reporters at the launch.
Indonesian officials say the high-speed railway is expected to improve economic productivity. They also tout the fact that the trains are powered by electricity, which will help reduce the country’s carbon footprint.
Bandung, the capital of West Java province, is often called Indonesia’s answer to Silicon Valley.
The bullet train’s speed will mainly appeal to business travellers and tourists, according to Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at strategic advisory firm Global Counsel.
“It raises uncertainty about whether this substantial infrastructure investment, funded both by China and the national budget, will prove profitable for the government,” he said.
While ticket prices for the train have not been finalised, the company behind the train estimates that a one-way ticket could cost between 250,000 Indonesian rupiah and 350,000 Indonesian rupiah ($16 to $22.60).
In comparison, a shuttle bus fare can cost as low as $5, which is approximately 77,685 Indonesian rupiah. And that difference can mean a lot for the average citizen.
Aninda Dewayanti, who lives in Bandung, is sceptical about how practical the train would be for ordinary Indonesians.
“It’s so expensive,” she told the BBC. “There are other transport options with comparable prices. I’d rather take a normal train or a bus.”
Among those at the event was Amelia Rahima, a 23-year-old living in Jakarta, who was enthusiastic about the launch.
“Hopefully many would actually choose to use it, because otherwise it would be a waste after all the finances poured into it as well as the challenges faced in building it,” she told BBC Indonesian.
Some critics say the sheer cost of the project may weigh on Indonesia’s public finances, which are already strained by the pandemic. Mr Jokowi agreed to use state funds to help the project overcome delays.
Two students gazing at a giant banner bearing the photos of those who were killed during a 2022 stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, Indonesia. (Photo: CNA/Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
135 people were killed and at least 500 more were injured in a stampede at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, Indonesia on Oct 1, 2022, which was prompted by the firing of tear gas by security officials
Three police officers and two match officials have been found guilty for their roles in the incident. Each was sentenced to between one to two-and-a-half years in prison
There was a time in a not-so-distant past when for a few hours every weekend, the city of Malang in Indonesia would appear deserted.
Virtually everyone in the hilly city of 800,000 people was either at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in the outskirts of Malang or glued to the television sets at home or at cafes and roadside food stalls, rooting for their once beloved football club, Arema FC.
The mood of the city would change depending on the outcome of each match.
Whenever the club won, supporters in Arema jerseys and other attributes would parade the city in their motorcycles and cars to celebrate their victories. Conversely, the mood of the city would turn gloomy and sombre whenever the club lost.
That all changed on Oct 1, 2022, when 135 people were killed in a stampede at the Kanjuruhan Stadium, making it the second deadliest football tragedy in the world.
“I haven’t watched a single (Arema) match since (the tragedy),” plantation owner Devi Athok Yulfitri told CNA, adding that many of his peers have also stopped seeing matches in person or on the small screen.
“It’s just too painful. Whenever we see Arema play, all we can think about are all the loved ones and friends we lost that night.”
IRONIC TWIST OF FATE
Mr Yulfitri used to be an Aremania, a nickname for die-hard Arema fans. Before the tragedy, he would attend almost every home and away match the club played.
So much was his love for the club, he would occasionally get into brawls with rival supporters, without caring if he ended up getting injured, arrested or killed.
“The only reasons I stopped (participating in brawls) were my two daughters,” the 44-year-old said. “Whenever they saw me trying to get into a fight, they would say ‘Daddy don’t, let’s just go home’.”
Indonesia’s top court overturned two police officers’ acquittal over Kanjuruhan stadium crush, but jailed them for only two and 2.5 years.
Rini Hanifa holds a picture of her son Agus. who was killed at Kanjuruhan Stadium [Al Jazeera]The families of some of the 135 people who died in Indonesia’s Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster say they are still looking for justice after an appeals court overturned a ruling that freed two police officers charged over the tragedy and jailed them instead.
The officers, Wahyu Setyo Pranoto, the chief of operations of the Malang Regency Police and Bambang Sidik Achmadi, the head of the Prevention Unit of the Malang Regency Police, were cleared of negligence leading to injury or death in March by the Surabaya District Court.
In a statement on Thursday, Indonesia’s Supreme Court said it had overturned the acquittals, instead sentencing the men to two and a half years and two years in prison respectively.
“I am extremely dissatisfied with the verdict. I wanted them to get the death penalty,” Rini Hanifa, whose son, 20-year-old Agus Rian Syah Pratama Putra, died at Kanjuruhan last October, told Al Jazeera.
“The sentences should have been proportional to what they did to my son. This is justice in Indonesia for those who are in power and have power. Their positions won in the end,” she said of the police officers.
There were 135 deaths after police fired tear gas onto the pitch and into the stands at the end of a match between rival teams Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya in Malang on October 1 last year in response to a perceived pitch invasion by fans disappointed with Arema FC’s performance.
People in Malang have blamed police for the disaster [Al Jazeera]The tear gas prompted fans to rush for the exits at gates 13 and 14 of the stadium, where many were crushed to death. Some of the families have also said that they suspect that their loved ones suffocated from the gas while still in the stands, a version disputed by the authorities. Hundreds of people were injured.
In announcing the court’s decision in March, Surabaya District Court judge, Abu Achmad Sidqi Amsya, said that Pranoto and Achmadi had not been legally and convincingly proven guilty of giving orders to fire tear gas, although he sentenced another officer, Hasdarmawan, the commander of the Third Mobile Brigade Company of the East Java Police, to one and a half years in prison for his role in the incident.
