Obama ‘Moves Ahead’ with Planned Visit to Indonesia

Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 11/08/2010 9:46 AM | Headlines

The Presidential Palace in Jakarta announced Sunday that US President Barack Obama would very likely continue with his plan to visit Indonesia, despite international airlines cancelling flights to and from Jakarta due to volcanic ash.

Presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post that there were no indications that Obama would cancel his trip.

Faizasyah said Obama was scheduled to arrive at Halim Perdana Kusumah Airport in East Jakarta at noon on Tuesday before meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta in the afternoon.

Obama will leave the country on Wednesday after delivering a public speech at the University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java.

“So far, everything is still scheduled according to plan. The two leaders will launch the comprehensive partnership and discuss bilateral, regional and global issues,” Faizasyah said.

“The meeting with Obama will be held in the afternoon after the President’s meeting with the Austrian president at noon,” he added.

Coinciding with Obama’s visit, Austrian President Heinz Fischer will also be in Indonesia on Tuesday and Wednesday. There have been likewise no changes in Fischer’s visit plans.

Faizasyah said Yudhoyono, who as of Sunday evening was still in Yogyakarta to monitor rescue and evacuation efforts at Mount Merapi, would return to Jakarta on Monday ahead of his meetings with the two foreign leaders.

Obama’s Indonesian visit is part of his 10-day Asian tour starting in India, where he is set to spend three days focusing on business and economic issues.

He will then head to Indonesia where he spent four years of his childhood before heading to South Korea for a G20 meeting and then Japan for an APEC meeting.

Obama has twice cancelled plans to visit Indonesia, citing US domestic issues. He had said he looked forward to visiting Indonesia with his wife Michelle and two daughters for more than a couple of days for what officials here claimed was a partly sentimental tour. This time he will only be accompanied by Michelle for a visit lasting less than 24 hours.

University of Indonesia international relations expert Hariyadi Wirawan said that although Obama seemed to still want to explore the “emotional aspect” of his visit to Indonesia, the situation in Indonesia and his time constraints would not enable him to do so.

“His visit will focus more on the US government’s efforts to indicate its additional agendas in Asia, especially regarding recent changes concerning the region, such as economic tension between the US and China,” Hariyadi told the Post.

He said Obama would likely focus only on security and economic issues in talks with Yudhoyono, adding that using Indonesia to bridge the gap between the West and the Muslim world was no longer high on agenda.

“The issue has lost momentum with the cancellation of the two previous visits. His short schedule indicates Obama is only visiting because he doesn’t want to appear to be playing down US-Indonesia ties by cancelling a third time,” Hariyadi said.

No changes yet to Obama's travel itinerary : Government says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 11/07/2010 7:41 PM | World

The Presidential Palace in Jakarta announced Sunday that US President Barack Obama would likely carry on with his plan to visit Indonesia, despite a number of international airlines’ canceling flights to and from Jakarta to avoid volcanic ash.

Indonesia presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post that Obama would arrive at Halim Perdana Kusumah Airport in East Jakarta on Tuesday noon, before meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta later in the afternoon.

Obama will leave Indonesia the following day.

“So far [Obama's itinerary] is according to our original plan … The two leaders will launch a comprehensive partnership and discuss a number of bilateral, regional and global issues,” Faizasyah said.

“The meeting with Obama will be held in the afternoon after [Yudhoyono's] meeting with the Austrian President at noon,” he said.

Coinciding with Obama’s visit, Austrian President Heinz Fischer will also visit Indonesia on Tuesday and Wednesday. So far there have been no changes to Fischer’s visit plans either.

Faizasyah said Yudhoyono, who as of Sunday evening was still in Yogyakarta to monitor rescue and evacuation efforts for Mount Merapi victims and refugees, would return to Jakarta on Monday ahead of his meetings with the two foreign leaders.

Merapi ash disrupts int'l flights after Saturday eruption

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 11/06/2010 8:15 PM | Headlines

With only a few days before President Barack Obama's scheduled visit to Indonesia, several international airlines canceled flights into Jakarta on Saturday after a volcano hundreds of kilometers to the east unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century.

The cancellations also meant many passengers leaving Jakarta for overseas had to reschedule their trips.

International carriers began stopping flights to Jakarta at 4 p.m., Soekarno-Hatta International Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II corporate secretary Hari Cahyono told kompas.com. Many flights were put on hold in Malaysia and Singapore, he said.

 

“The presence of volcanic ash in the air surrounding Jakarta could cause severe damage to our aircraft and engines, which could impair the safety of our operations, including for passengers and crew," Malaysia Airlines operations director Azharuddin Osman told AP. 

Other carriers temporarily suspending flights included Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa and AirAsia. Domestic flights were unaffected. 

The eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano in April forced the closure of most European airports for a week and led to the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights.

Merapi’s wrath claims more lives

The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Semarang | Sat, 11/06/2010 10:37 AM | Headlines

Burned to ash: An Indonesian Red Cross official examines the damage from the plumes of hot ash and lava from Mount Merapi at Bronggang village, Cangkringan, Sleman regency, in Yogyakarta on Friday. The 750 degree Celsius hot gas burned down several villages and killed more than 70 people from Thursday midnight. JP/Slamet Susanto

 Hot clouds of ash and lava from smoldering Mount Merapi claimed more victims Friday, torching at least two villages in Yogyakarta and killing dozens of more lives.

The death toll from the disaster climbed to 122 on Friday, forcing authorities to expand the danger zone to a 20-kilometer radius from the mountain.

Ash showers spread to most cities in Central Java and Yogyakarta, where Indonesia’s most active volcano is located, and even reached as far as Bandung and Bogor, West Java.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Geological Agency head R. Sukhyar said Merapi’s eruption could be heard up to 20 kilometers away while volcanic ash had reached as far as Bandung.

“Merapi’s eruption on Friday was the biggest in the country since Mount Galunggung’s eruption in 1982.

It is the biggest for Merapi in the past century,” he said Friday. Sukhyar said it was hard to calculate when the volcano would cease activity. “Do not ask us when it will stop. We really don’t know. Magma continues spilling.”

Before Friday’s eruption, the volcano had killed 44 people, mostly in its first eruption on Oct. 26, which destroyed two villages, Kaliadem and Kinahrejo, both in Cangkringan district, Sleman regency, Yogyakarta.

Two more villages, Bronggang Suruh in Argomulyo and Slodokan in Wukirsari, were completely devastated by the volcano’s hot clouds of ash and lava Friday.

“We did not predict hot clouds would reach Argomulyo, which is not located inside the 20-kilometer danger zone,” said Argomulyo resident Nur Syamsu Hadi on Friday. “The blast was very frightening. It was so loud and strong.”

He said most residents did not flee to safety, believing they were in the safe zone. The subdistrict is just 14.2 kilometers from the crater.

“People should have known to leave areas within 20 kilometers of Merapi. We have informed them,” Sleman administration spokeswoman Endah Sri Widiastuti said.

Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) head Surono said the magma supply from Friday’s eruption had risen from a depth of 7 kilometers beneath the crater. Previously, the eruptions’ magma came from a 2-kilometer depth. “That’s why the tremor could be heard up to a radius of 20 kilometers from the volcano,” he said.

Friday’s eruption also disrupted traffic and forced Yogyakarta’s Adi Sutjipto Airport authority to temporarily close the airport Friday. It is scheduled to resume activity Saturday morning.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia spokesman Pujobroto said in a statement that all passengers can reschedule their flights or refund their tickets by calling the Garuda Call Center at 08041807807.

Retno, a passenger of a Yogyakarta-Jakarta flight, said she was told her flight was canceled. “I have to wait until tomorrow for my flight.”

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport authority also canceled all flights leaving for Yogyakarta for safety reasons. The cancelation affected a total of 41 flights bound for Yogyakarta, causing thousands of passengers to be stranded for hours at Terminal 1.

Panti Nugroho Hospital on Jl. Kaliurang also decided to close operation Friday and evacuated its patients to Panti Rapih Hospital in downtown Yogyakarta.

“We made the decision as the site is no longer safe,” said the hospital’s director, Tendean Arif Wibowo.

Rescuers worked hard to evacuate survivors and the dead, struggling to cope with thick, hot volcanic dust and smoke from burning material.

“Evacuating victims is difficult since the condition is still dangerous. We prioritize survivors so they can immediately be sent to hospital,” said Purwo Gogon of Yogyakarta’s search and rescue team.

Victims, with clothes, blankets and even mattresses fused to their skin from 750 degree Celsius heat, were evacuated on stretchers following the explosion, The Associated Press reported.

Soldiers joined rescue operations in hardest-hit Bronggang village, pulling at least 78 bodies from homes and streets blanketed by ash up to 30-centimeters deep.

“The heat surrounded us and there was white smoke everywhere,” Niti Raharjo, 47, who was thrown from his motorbike along with his 19-year-old son while trying to flee, told the AP.

“I saw people running, screaming in the dark, people were so scared they fell unconscious,” he said from his hospital bed. “There was an explosion that sounded like bombs during a war ... and it got worse with ash and debris raining down.”

Police officer Col. Tjiptono told AP that most bodies were found in front of houses and on streets, adding it appeared many villagers died from searing gas while trying to escape.

In Semarang, head of Central Java Disaster Mitigation Body Djarot Nugroho said the eruption was beyond the calculations of PVMBG, the authority responsible for the regional administrations’ disaster mitigation plan.

These miscalculations, he said, were responsible for the failure to implement disaster mitigation plans, mainly in regards to refugees.

“Makeshift tents are unavailable since the area where they were deployed is now included in the danger zone,” he said Friday.