Airport trains no longer have single

fare
Airport train operator, PT Railink is now applying different fares depending on which station
passengers depart from, for journeys to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Previously, the airport train had applied a single fare of Rp 70,000 (US$5.25) from all
departure stations to the airport.
The airport train currently only serves three stations, Sudirman Baru (BNI City)
station in Central Jakarta, Batu Ceper station in Tangerang and Soekarno-Hatta
station.
However, starting from Jan. 19, the fare will be different for each departure station.
“The fare from Sudirman Baru station (BNI City station) to Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport and vice versa remains Rp 70,000. While the fare from Batu
Ceper station to the airport and vice versa is only Rp 35,000 (US$2.30),” said Haerul
Anwar, Branch Communication Manager of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, on
Friday as quoted by Antara.
PT Railink has also increased the frequency of trains on the airport service, from 42
journeys to 50 trips every day.
"Passengers now have more flexibility in when they want to go to the airport, as
trains are more frequent,” said Haerul. (roi)
The death of Papuans
The woodcarvings of the Asmat people of Papua are world famous. But it has been the
shocking reports of the death of over 65 infants mainly from malnutrition and measles
that have turned the spotlight on the regency’s health conditions. Hundreds more
including several adults are being treated at a hospital in the capital Agats as medics
and aid pour in.

The Health Ministry has just revived its “Flying Health Care” program to help address
the measles outbreak and the complications exacerbated by malnutrition, including
pneumonia — although too late for dozens of grieving families.

The rapid response will hopefully save lives. However the warnings and reports of
low immunization coverage and malnutrition reached the Health Ministry in
September, officials said. What happened between September and January? Apart
from low immunization coverage — not only against measles — many breastfeeding
women were known to be malnourished.

As in the 2009 reports of famine in neighboring Yakuhimo, the remoteness of villages

has been cited as one reason for difficult access to health services. Over 100 died in
the highlands back then, blamed on a failed harvest, not famine, the government said.
In Agats district, villagers can only reach the nearest health facility by an hours-long
boat journey along the river, when the only boat in their hamlets is not being used for
other purposes.

In Jakarta the blame game quickly began, with the Health Ministry insisting that under
regional autonomy the primary responsibility lay with the local governments — and
Papua’s provinces and regencies have received huge sums of special autonomy funds,
derived from their rich natural resources, for education and health services.
How often local authorities attempted to implement mobile health services is unclear,
as many communities will forever be “remote” from their capitals in Papua, located in
part of the world’s second-largest island. One third of Asmat’s population is
categorized as living below the poverty line.

So given the four months or so since the warnings of a health crisis were first raised,
maybe the real question is: Who really cares? Would a much smaller outbreak not
cause much greater uproar among netizens if it occurred, say, in Java or Sumatra?
Indonesians are whipped up instantly not by the conditions of our chronically poorest
province, but anytime a separatist flag is raised. Few question the arrest, torture and
shooting of Papuan protesters, without questioning why anyone in a poor province
would demand independence. As critics among Papuans reiterate, most Indonesians
care about the rich land much more than their Melanesian brothers and sisters living
too far from the capital and other more developed areas.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has visited Papua more frequently than any of his
predecessors. This shows how Jakarta does care about the easternmost province by,
among other policies, ensuring major progress in its infrastructure development. But
the central and local governments should learn from some innovative regions that
have successfully created outreach programs to remote populations, which do not
require grand-scale projects. They just need to care about their citizens.
Batam immigration rejected 511
passport applications in 2017
The Batam Immigration Office turned down 511 passport applications last year due to
incidences of human trafficking-related crimes, with most of the applicants being
illegal Indonesian migrant workers.

"The applications we turned down were 'non-procedural' migrant workers. According

to the prevailing regulation, it is categorized as a human trafficking crime," the
immigration office’s head, Lucky Agung Binarto, told The JakartaPost on Thursday.

"Non-procedural migrant workers used to file passport applications here. But we

became more selective in 2017,” Lucky said.

Batam immigration rejected 418 passport applications in 2016.

After the immigration office tightened its passport application process, the number of
requests that were approved dropped to 48,031 last year, from 63,299 in 2016.

Lucky said the selective application process included more stringent interview
sessions for applicants.

While the Batam Immigration Office rejected a high number of applications, more
passports were issued nationwide last year because more Indonesians traveled abroad
mainly due to cheap overseas holiday packages and umrah(minor haj) trips, he added.