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Indonesian Minister of Communication and Information: Porn causes tsunamis, earthquakes

Eko — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:47:58 +0000

A government minister has blamed Indonesia’s recent string of natural disasters on people’s immorality.

Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said that there were many television programmes that destroyed morals.

Therefore, the minister said, natural disasters would continue to occur.

His comments came as he addressed a prayer meeting on Friday in Padang, Sumatra, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in late September.

He also hit out at rising decadence - proven, he said, by the availability of Indonesia-made pornographic DVDs in local markets - and called for tougher laws.

According to the Jakarta Globe, his comments sparked an angry reaction on the internet, particularly among those who followed him on social networking site Twitter.

Pray for common sense to prevail: HIV Infected Orphans exiled from Indonesian School

Eko — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:15:06 +0000

The first day of school was a special one last month for the 15 children from the Mai Hoa orphanage here. They are infected with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, and for the first time they would be allowed to attend the local primary school.
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Justin Mott for The New York Times

Students studied at the Mai Hoa AIDS Center in An Nhon Tay, Vietnam. More Photos »
The New York Times

An Nhon Tay village is 20 miles from Ho Chi Minh City. More Photos >

“The children were so excited,” said Sister Nguyen Thi Bao, who runs the orphanage and had been lobbying for three years to enroll them in the government school. “They had been wishing for this day to come.”

But when they arrived, they found an uprising by the parents of the other students, who refused to let their children enter the school together with the infected

Monetary policy running off the rails in Indonesia

Eko — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:25:46 +0000

Along with the monetary authorities in many other countries, Bank Indonesia and the government are now acting to increase liquidity in the Indonesian economy, in the hope that this will protect against the possibility of a...