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Indonesia is currently in the process of updating a part of its eclectic mix of military aircraft. The three platforms which represent Jakarta’s most formidable airborne capability are the U.S. General Dynamics (GD) F-16, Russian Sukhoi-27, and Sukhoi-30MK. The Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) reflects the country’s recent history international relations, operating a mixed bag of Russian, U.S., Brazilian, and European aircraft. Since its independence in 1945, the country has fielded aircraft from both sides of the Iron Curtain, often reflecting its political alignment. In 1986s, Indonesia purchased a batch of F-16s, intended to supplement its fleet of F-5E Tigers. However,...

There are lots of reasons why President Barack Obama is meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo today in Washington. Indonesia doesn't often get the attention it deserves, but it is a key country with major links to the United States. It's in the G7, and millions of its citizens or former citizens live in the US. Most important, Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world, with a Muslim population that outstrips all other countries in the Middle East and North Africa in size. Because it has a democratic system of governance, President Obama and other US officials...

President Obama says the U.S. and the world’s largest Muslim country will merge their economies under an agreement whose terms have not been disclosed to Congress or the public. After Obama met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House Monday, Widodo said, “Indonesia intends to join the TPP,” referring to the TransPacific Partnership. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world with 250 million people. Obama attended elementary school in the country. “I have a very personal interest in Indonesia given the fact that I spent time there as a child and have relatives who are...

The law in Aceh province stipulates that anyone caught having homosexual sex can face up to 100 strokes of a cane, a fine of up to 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold (about $37,400) and imprisonment of up to 100 months. Adulterers are also subject to 100 lashes of a cane, but not to the fine or imprisonment.

Indonesia's president will soon sign a decree authorising the use of chemical castration to punish paedophiles, the attorney general said, following a string of headline-grabbing child sex crimes.Indonesia's President will soon sign a decree authorising the use of chemical castration to punish paedophiles, the attorney general said, following a string of headline-grabbing child sex crimes. Indonesia will join a small group of nations that allows such punishment, including Poland, Russia, and Estonia, as well as some US states. In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to use chemical castration as a punishment. "We are very concerned about child...

Authorities in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on Monday began tearing down several small Christian churches after hardline Muslims demanded their closure, citing a lack of building permits, and following religious violence. Tensions are high among the ethnically and religiously diverse population of Aceh Singkil, where last week a mob burned down a church, leaving one person dead and forcing thousands of Christians to flee the area. Armed police and military troops have been deployed to the area and evacuees have returned. Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population and the vast majority of its citizens practice a moderate form of...

Remember, Obama grew up in “moderate” Indonesia. Why doesn’t he ever address the vicious oppression, subjugation and supremacism of Islam in Muslim countries? Why is he constantly campaigning for Islam as a religion of peace? He is disingenuous and dangerous.Photo above: Residents walk near a burned church to attend Sunday mass at Suka Makmur Village in Aceh Singkil, Indonesia Aceh province, October 18, 2015 © YT Haryono / Reuters “Christian churches in Indonesia province to be closed over Muslim groups’ pressure,” By RT, October 17, 2015Authorities in an Indonesian province in Northern Sumatra have decided to shut down several Christian...

The province of Aceh in Indonesia (Where Muslims are considered moderate) became the first in the nation to have officially introduced Sharia law — strict adherence to Islamic law. So what did they do after adopting Koranic law? Within days, they decided that every Christian church in the province needed to be “licensed” under Sharia, and were thus illegal, as the BBC reported. So did they petition to government to fine them for this non-existent crime? Of course not. The savages decided to burn the Churches to the ground. So a mob of nearly 750 Muslims in Aceh attacked a...

Behind the rise of ISIS, the Libyan Civil War, the unrest in Egypt, Yemen and across the region may be a single classified document.That document is Presidential Study Directive 11.You can download Presidential Study Directive 10 on “Preventing Mass Atrocities” from the White House website, but as of yet no one has been able to properly pry number 11 out of Obama Inc.Presidential Study Directive 10, in which Obama asked for non-military options for stopping genocide, proved to be a miserable failure. The Atrocities Prevention Board’s only use was as a fig leaf for a policy that had caused the...

Scientists say the rat is part of an "amazing group of rodents" only found in a remote part of Sulawesi Island in Indonesia.A new species of rat has been discovered on an island in Indonesia. The previously unknown hog-nosed shrew rat (Hyorhinomys stuempkei) was found in a remote and mountainous region of Sulawesi Island located about two days' hike from the closest village. Scientists consider the rat so exceptional that they have described it not only as a new species but a new genus - a step up from the "new species" label. The rat was discovered by an international...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Two suspected lesbians detained earlier this week by Islamic Shariah police in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province will undergo what an official described Saturday as "rehabilitation," and won't be charged with a crime. The women, 18 and 19 years old, were taken in for questioning Monday night by Sharia police officers who saw them sitting and hugging each other in Ulee Lheue, a coastal neighborhood in the capital, Banda Aceh, according to the law enforcement Shariah police chief, Evendi Latief. "They later confessed to be a lesbian couple and that was supported by pictures found on...

When Venezuelan Oil Minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso resigned in 1963, he blasted the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, at the time torn by internal rivalries, for failing to produce any benefits for his country. Half a century later, OPEC is still split and Venezuela is again unhappy, this time at the unwillingness of the organization’s top producer, Saudi Arabia, to rescue oil prices from a six-year low that’s dragging the battered Venezuelan economy into an even deeper crisis. On Sept. 10, Venezuela’s oil minister, Eulogio del Pino, tweeted appeals for OPEC and non-OPEC countries “to have a discussion on...

Chris Matthews reported back on December 18th, 2007 that 2008 presidential candidate Barack Obama was born in Indonesia and has an Islamic background. Video at link

“The fallacy that President Obama is a Muslim has tripped up many a politician,” said NPR’s Jessica Taylor hopefully on Friday, “and on Thursday night, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump was its latest victim.” Trump’s presumed faux pas was his failure to correct a questioner who asserted that Barack Obama was a Muslim. Taylor’s real error as a reporter, like that of all her mainstream colleagues, was to dismiss the questioner’s assertion as a “fallacy” without providing any evidence to the contrary. Strange but true, reporters pride themselves on knowing nothing about Obama’s roots. Last month, for instance, Catherine Thompson...

Jakarta. Several members of Indonesia's House of Representives say they will report the speaker and a deputy speaker to the House's Ethics Council over a controversial appearance the two made at a campaign event for US billionaire Donald Trump. House Speaker Setya Novanto and Fadli Zon, one of his deputies, appeared at a press conference in New York last week held by Trump, who wants to run for president of the United States. Charles Honoris, a member of Commission I, which deals with foreign affairs among other issues, said he and several colleagues would formally report the House leaders on...

Jakarta. Indonesia’s parliamentary speaker and one of his deputies made a surprise appearance at a campaign event by US presidential candidate Donald Trump in New York on Thursday, in a stunt both the House and the Foreign Ministry said they were not aware of. Both Setya Novanto, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and Fadli Zon, a deputy speaker, were seen standing in a group of people behind Trump as he spoke at the Trump Tower. Business Insider reported that after he finished speaking, Trump walked away from the podium only to return with Setya, whom he introduced to...

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Defense Ministry has decided to replace a squadron of aging American-made F-5 E/F Tiger jet fighters with Russian-made Sukhoi SU-35 aircraft. "We have agreed to buy a squadron of Sukhoi SU-35s from Russia to replace the F-5 Tiger jet fighters," Defense Minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, said after conducting an impromptu inspection of weapons owned by the Army in Jakarta on Wednesday. Ryacudu explained that the reason for purchasing the Sukhoi jets was that the Indonesian Air Force's (TNI AUs) pilots were more accustomed to operating the Russia-made jet fighters. "Now we have jet fighters made by...

In a bid to reign in fraternization between young men and women, authorities in the picturesque state of West Java in Indonesia have decided to impose an early curfew of 9pm. If any couple is caught dating after the curfew, they will be punished by being forced to marry each other. This unconventional law will be implemented from September 2. Local government in Purwakarta decided that instead of throwing teenagers into jail, or extracting a fine from them, it was better that they learn the harsher truths of life early on. Moreover, such teens may get what they ultimately desire;...

At the peak of the 1965 war with Pakistan, India had asked the United States to covertly provide experts to work with Indian military officials to tackle the Chinese threat. This request was made to the US Embassy in Delhi by L K Jha, principal secretary to prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, on September 18, 1965, after India detected Chinese movements in battalion strength on the eastern border of Ladakh and in Chumbi Valley. Worried by indications that China was getting ready for military action against India to relieve the pressure on Pakistan, Jha stressed to the embassy that providing...

An aircraft with 54 people on board crashed in Indonesia's remote and mountainous region of Papua on Sunday, a government official said, the latest in a string of aviation disasters in the Southeast Asian nation. "The latest information is that the Trigana aircraft that lost contact has been found at Camp 3, Ok Bape district in the Bintang Mountains regency," Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo told reporters. "Residents provided information that the aircraft crashed into Tangok mountain." There was no immediate word on whether anyone survived.