Indonesian police have confirmed they have shot dead Noordin Muhammed Top, who has been called the mastermind of the Bali Bombings and the recent Jakarta bombings.

He was found in the town of Solo in central Java.

From the Associated Press website:

“The most dangerous terrorist in Southeast Asia has been put out of commission,” said Jim Della-Giacoma, Southeast Asia project director for the International Crisis Group think tank.

“It would have been better if police had managed to arrest him alive, but it appears that this was not an option,” he said. “Unfortunately, Noordin’s death does not mean an end to terrorism in Indonesia, though it has been dealt a significant blow.”

Living in Bali, you see many things that you wouldn’t normally see, living in Australia, Europe or America. One thing which was a bit of a mystery to me was seeing people cutting down banana trees and then trying to lug the trunks around, usually on the back of a motorbike.

It’s also amazing seeing 70 year old, tiny Balinese women cutting down these trees and then carrying them around. I have seen people chewing on sticks of sugar cane around Asia, but the trees didn’t look too tasty. I thought that maybe they were used in some kind of Hindu religious ceremony, as Balinese often use bits of bamboo and other vegetation to decorate their temples.

I noticed that our neighbor had one cut up, so I couldn’t help asking what they were using them for. What they do is cut and mash up the trunk, mix it with rice and use it for feed to their pigs. So there you have it. Mystery solved.

Medan,Pembobolan brankas Ditjen Pembendaharaan 11/8 yang menyebabkan kehilangan dana Makan Pegawai sebesar Rp. 27.365.700,-. Menurut perkiraan polisi, Kejadian tersebut di lakukan pada malam hari. Hal itu di ketahui oleh pemilik brankas tersebut, yaitu Bendahara Ditjen Pembendaharaan Kanwil Tingkat I Sumut yaitu Bapak Khaidir Nasution pada pagi hari 12/8.
Sejahu ini pihak Kepolisian menduga bahwa hal ini di lakukan oleh orang dalam yang sangat memahami kantor tersebut. Dari hasil pemeriksaan polisi, Tidak ada kerusakan pintu, kunci atau barang apapun. Menurut laporan yang di terima pihak yang berwajib, Bahwa kunci berankas tersebut biasa di simpan di Pantry & Kunci pantry biasa di letak di atas kosen pintu pantry, Jadi sangat mudah untuk mengambil uang yang ada di brankas tersebut walaupun penjagaan yang di lakukan security sangat ketak & lokasi kantor yang di krengkeng oleh besi. Pihak yang berwajib akan mengusut tuntas kasus ini & memburu pelaku pembobolan secepatnya.

Suspected terrorist and mastermind behind the Jakarta and Bali bomings, Noordin Mohammad Top was thought to have been shot by police in last weeks raid on a house in Java.

DNA tests however were a negative match and one of the men killed in the shoot out was a man known as “Ibrohim”. Ibrohim worked as a florist in the Jakarta JW Marriott hotel and Ritz-Carlton where the two recent bomb attacks took place. Ibrohim took off after the bomb attacks and is believed to have played an important role in planning and getting bomb materials into the hotel.

Top has been successful at evading police so far, despite police getting close to him on several occasions. He is now the most wanted man in Asia.

The website Beritabali reports that the Inna Sindhu Beach Hotel in Sanur received a bomb threat from someone claiming to be a representative of Al-Qaeda.

The threat came via email from the Yahoo email address: Abdullah-rahh@yahoo.com from Dr. A. Rahman (Senior Secretary and Editor) Sucide Bombinhg Departement, Al-Qaeda Sunni Movement.

The email said that the hotel will be a target to be bombed. Police are investigating the authenticity of the email.

Husein Sitorus warga kabupaten Sumut 67 tahun di jatuhi hukuman mati oleh pengadilan Malaysia atas kasus kepemilikan ganja meminta naik banding. Husein di kenakan dua pelanggaran, yaitu masuk tanpa ijin dan membawa masuk ganja sebesar 143,914 Kg. Menurut Kuasa Hukum Husein Sitorus, Husein sitorus berangkat ke Malaysia melalu perairan Batubara pada 22 oktober 2004 dan Husein membawa muatan titipan dari seorang yang bernama Nurdin untuk di bawa ke Malaysia. Bukan hanya titpan saja yang di bawa oleh Husein, Namun Nurdin juga meminta Husein agar membawa ketiga teman Nurdin dan memberikan nomor telepon genggam kepada Husein. Nomor telepon genggam itu adalah nomor orang yang akan menjemput muatan tersebut di Malaysia. Orang tersebut bernama Wonder. namun setelah Husein tiba di Malaysia, ternyata nomor tersebut tidak bisa di hubungi dan akhirnya husein memutuskan untuk kembali ke Indonesia hingga akhirnya tertangkap oleh Keamanan Laut pihak Malaysia. Husein menjalani Hukuman delapan bulan penjara untuk kasus masuk ke Malaysia tanpa ijin sementara Nurdin di tangkap saat berada di Pork Klang malaysia di jatuhi Hukuman gantung. Menurut keluarga dan Kuasa Hukum Husein, Husein hanyalah korban kambing hitam. Dewan Perwakilan Daerah ( DPD ) RI Sumut mambantu Husein karena rasa kemanusiaan yang mana Husein di anggap hanyalah korban. Pihak keluarga Husein sangat berterima kasih atas bantuan DPD RI juga dukungan KBRI. Anak Husein yang bernama Aisyah sangat berharap Pihak Pemerintah akan membantu orang tua nya hingga kasus ini berakhir, Terutama untuk bantuan dana naik banding yang di sebutkan sekita 35 ribu Ringgit atau lebih kurang 100 Juta.

I have noticed the topic of Kantor Kita popping up on Bali expat forums and I have also read some articles in the Bali Times on the subject. I don’t know the full story but it seems that the owner of the company Esti Yuliani, also known as Julie Edmond embezzled millions of dollars in scam property deals in Bali.

Foreigners in Indonesia cannot buy property directly, so they often use nominee or Indonesian shelf companies to buy real estate. A great deal of trust needs to be placed in the company which helps organize the property transaction and it is not uncommon for foreign property investors to get burned in the process.

Esti Yuliani is now in police custody, while presumably awaiting trial. The company’s website says it is currently “under construction”.

It seems like Kantor Kita had built up a decent reputation, until now. It makes you wonder why they started scamming people. It is also going to be interesting to see what happens in the courts, if anyone can get their money back, since foreigners lost money buying land that they couldn’t legally buy in the first place.

Further reading:

Search on for Millions as Kantor Kita Boss Remains in Custody

Kantor Kita Boss Reported over $1m Land Fraud

Since last night Indonesian news has been reporting that police have possibly shot terror suspect Noordin Mohammad Top. Top was believed to be behind the recent Jakarta bombings at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people.

“The information we are getting is that it’s him,” said police spokesman Nanan Soekarna . “[But] the police cannot confirm if Noordin is dead or not. We still can’t get into the house.”

Police are awaiting DNA tests before they will confirm the identity of the people shot. Police used robots to enter the suspects’ house to search for bombs, in a siege that lasted 17 hours.

Immigration officials who were accused of skimming visa fees at the international airport in Bali have been acquitted of all charges, according to Tempo Interaktive.

They have received “administrative sanctions” rather than facing criminal charges. Corruption is one of the biggest problems facing Indonesia and it is good to see that some progress is being made in combating corruption, but if clear cases of theft can be proven, the perpetrators need to be dealt with harshly to act as a deterrent.

The total amount involved in the case was 3 billion rupiah or around US$300,000.

Jason Scott McIntyre, from Humpty Doo has been jailed for 8 months for carrying about five grams of hashish.

He was lucky to escape the maximum sentence of 10 years.

“(But) the defendant regrets what he did and has promised not to do it again,” Chief judge Sigit Sutanto said.

“He has a right to recover from his narcotics addiction.”

He joins a growing number of foreigners and Australians having an extended stay in Bali’s Kerobokan prison.