Archive for October 12th, 2006
Indonesia has unofficially decided to alter its laws, regarding prison remissions. At the moment, prisoners get 2 remissions a year, meaning 2 months off their sentence. After Australia complained about JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) leader Bashir, being let out of jail, after only 2.5 years, for his part in Bali Bomb I, the government has changed the rules.
While the new rules are not in force yet, they may be soon, and affect people convicted of serious crimes, including terrorism and drug offences. Here in Bali its a game of swings and slides with the Indonesian legal system. Renae Lawrence was first given life, then 20 years with remissions, now no remissions.
Schapelle Corby is another one affected, also serving a 20 year sentence. She has said she is not interested in serving any of her sentecne in Australia (no days at the beach), but even if she was, it would only be possible after 6 years served in Bali. Here’s more from The Age.
source : www.baliblog.com
October 12th, 2006
Terrorism is an over used word in the 21st Century. We hear it so frequently it doesn’t seen to shock anyone anymore. With the anniversary of the bombings at the Sari Club and Paddy’s, in Kuta Bali here again, its good to get an idea, of what the families of the victims are going through.
You only have to listen to those in the thick of things, during the Bali Bombings, to understand how many sad stories there are. A friend of mine, who helped out at Sanglah hospital in Denpasar, was told by a visiting doctor, that the scene was way worse, than anything he’d seen in Vietnam.
He told me how one of his friends, Ana Cecilia Aviles, from Ecuador was found alive with a chunk of metal driven through her and was told she’s make it. She did not, and was Ecuador’s only victim. He also told me about an Aussie guy, who was on a stretcher in the hallway at Sanglah. His evac to Perth was an hour from leaving. My friend talked with him for 45 minutes, and the fellow seemed comfortable. His name was Craig, and my friend got called away for a few minutes. Walking along a corrider he saw a nurse updating the list of dead, and she wrote ‘C’. My friend said “I’m still walking, but I’m looking back, and she writes ‘R-A-I-G’ .” He passed away.
Blogcritics has an article about one Sydney family, still dealing with the loss of their daughter, Chloe Byron.
source : www.baliblog.com
October 12th, 2006
The Bali Bombing anniversary ceremony in Kuta Bali will take place at 3pm today at ‘ground zero’.
This morning the whole ground zero area was covered in white material, taped to the road, with a meter-wide strip of white cloth running down Jl. Legian, to the 2005 bomb sites. A nice touch, but by 3pm, with all the motorbikes and cars passing over it, the cloth will be ripped to shreds.
I’ll down there and take some photos, the scene this morning was relaxed with not too many people around.
source : www.baliblog.com
October 12th, 2006
One factor that will affect your time in Bali, is the rate of exchange. Let’s face it, us blue collar folks love acting like Donald Trump once a year in Bali, ordering the pretty waitresses around, and feeling the Bintang, to make sure its cold enough (as if we’ve got a clue!).
The good old Indonesian rupiah, is as stable as Indonesia’s fault line, which can buy us a few extra nasi gorengs, if we time it right. Here are a few major currencies showing today’s rate compared to the Rupiah.
1 Euro = 11,496.20 IDR
1 $US = 9,180.71 IDR
1 £GB = 17,113.65 IDR
1 $AU = 6,877.42 IDR
1 ¥JP = 77.1729 IDR
1 Brasil Reais = 4,279.91 IDR
1 S.Korea Won = 9.61359 IDR
1 $Sing = 5,816.99 IDR
1 $Taiwan = 276.888 IDR
So your laughing if you’re from Britain, crying in your kimchi if you’re Korean. Here’s BootsnAll’s currency converter, its pretty snappy.
source : www.baliblog.com
October 12th, 2006