Bon Jovi to rock Jakarta Friday

thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | Jakarta | Thu, September 10 2015, 8:13 PM

The stage is set for New Jersey band Bon Jovi to perform in front of thousands of fans at Bung
Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Friday.
Concert promoter Live Nation Indonesia has confirmed that the show is going to be big. We
have prepared 40,000 tickets and theyre sold out. There will be no tickets being sold at the
venue; people will have to bring the printout of the ticket that we sent through email, said Live
Nation Indonesia managing director Kimberley Frasser as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
The Jakarta Police will allocate 3,300 personnel to guard the concert. With the concert scheduled
to start at 8 p.m., the gates to the venue will open five hours before. The police plan on using
metal detectors and organizing the traffic flow to avoid major traffic jams around the venue.
Bon Jovi arrived in Jakarta on Thursday according to their official Twitter account @BonJovi,
with a post of a picture of vocalist Jon Bon Jovi and keyboardist David Bryan posing with an
ondel-ondel [traditional Betawi effigy]. (rad/bbn)
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Haze causes chaos at Pekanbaru airport

thejakartapost.com, Pekanbaru | Archipelago | Sun, September 13 2015, 4:54 PM

Nineteen flights were canceled at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Sunday
because of thick haze, airport authorities have said.
Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Sriwijaya and Fire Fly have informed us of the cancellation of their
flights for today, said the airports duty manager Hasnan as quoted by Antara.
The four airlines, Hasnan said, which had cancelled their flights since Saturday, served both
domestic and international routes, including from Pekanbaru to Jakarta, Medan and Kuala
Lumpur.
He added that 68 flights should have departed from and arrived at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport,
Pekanbaru, on Sunday, but as of noon, no flight activity had taken place, with visibility reduced
to between 300 and 500 meters on Sunday morning. At around 10 a.m., visibility increased to
around 1,000 meters.
Citing data provided by the airports information center, Hasnan said two airlines had informed
the authorities that their flights would be ready for landing despite limited visibility of around
1,000 meters. The flights in question were an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur and a Citilink
flight from Batam.
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Thousands
down

of
with

Indonesians
respiratory

illnesses

from haze
Strait Time/Asia News Network, Jakarta | National | Fri, September 11 2015, 5:52 PM
Tens of thousands of Indonesians have been treated for respiratory illnesses caused by thick
smoke from hundreds of forest and land fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the National Disaster
Management Agency (BNPB) said on Friday (Sept 11)The dry weather is set to persist for
several more days, it added.
Across many areas, schools have been closed and flights delayed.
Nearly 15,000 residents in Riau province in Sumatra, near Singapore, suffered from upper
respiratory infections, 22,855 residents in South Sumatra and about 40,000 in South Kalimantan,
according to the BNPB statement.
"The haze has produced wide-ranging impacts, in terms of health, comfort as well as security.
The upper respiratory infection cases are not to be taken lightly," said the newly appointed head
of BNPB, Mr Willem Rampangilei.
Nearly all five provinces in Kalimantan were shrouded by smoke, said Dr Sutopo Purwo
Nugroho, BNPB's spokesman.
Kalimantan had 1,312 hotspots, of which 508 were in the worst-affected West Kalimantan
province, as at 5am Jakarta time on Friday, according to satellite imagery.
Kalimantan was suffering its worst haze so far this year, in terms of the size of the areas
shrouded by haze.
Sumatra recorded 575 hot spots, and 78 per cent of those were in South Sumatra province.

BNPB will send in another helicopter to South Sumatra soon to beef up water-bombing
operations, to add to the several that are operating now.
Visibility in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province, was 500m. In Pelalawan, also in Riau, it
was 200m.
The air pollutant index in the provinces affected by thick haze -- which also include Jambi
province, Central Kalimantan province and South Kalimantan province -- was mostly between
the unhealthy and hazardous levels.

Jakarta deploys over 1,000 troops to fight forest fires Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, The Straits
Times/Asia News Network | National | Fri, September 11 2015, 11:42 AM - See more at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/09/11/jakarta-deploys-over-1000-troops-fight-forestfires.html#sthash.uO52JBXC.dpuf
Indonesia is calling in more than 1,000 troops to help fight fires raging out of control near
Palembang, blanketing the capital of South Sumatra province in hazardous, choking haze.
Winds have blown the acrid smoke from southern Sumatra northwards, reaching Riau province
close to Singapore, where air quality plummeted on Thursday.
About half of the 1,059 soldiers arrived in Palembang around noon yesterday, bringing with them
water pumps and masks as they geared up for a ground offensive. The remaining soldiers arrived
in the afternoon.
The deployment is the first since mid-2013, when uncontrolled forest and land fires in Riau and
southern Sumatra triggered thick haze that smothered Singapore and Malaysia, causing pollutant
indexes to hit historic levels.
This time round, the fires are located predominantly in the southern part of Sumatra. The blazes
are being exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern that continues to strengthen. El Nino
typically reduces rainfall in South-east Asia and can cause severe drought, leaving forests ripe
for serious fires.

"Soldiers have to comb every corner of the forest that caught fire or that has potential to catch
fire. Don't give up because giving up in this condition is not the character of an Indonesian
soldier," said Indonesia's armed forces commander, General Gatot Nurmantyo, when sending
soldiers off from Jakarta.
The air quality index in Palembang reached hazardous levels yesterday, forcing schools to close
until at least tomorrow. Visibility ranged from 100m to 300m early yesterday. The index in
Palembang was above 300. A reading of zero to 50 is considered good, 51-100 moderate, 101200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy, and above 300 hazardous.
In Riau province, the worst-hit area was Pelalawan where visibility was only 100m, and the
index above 300. Schools were ordered to close.
The air quality in Dumai, also in Riau province, improved slightly after good rainfall on
Wednesday."The skies in Dumai have improved quite a lot. It's below 300 now, and is also
cloudy at the moment," Mr Basri, head of Dumai's environment department, told The Straits
Times.Air pollution in Riau's capital Pekanbaru, which reached hazardous levels on Wednesday,
improved yesterday. The visibility level was up to more than 1,000m.Pinpointing those
responsible for the fires can be tough, officials say. Most are started by people, including farmers
and illegal loggers, and some by companies clearing land. Fires often start outside plantation
concessions and then move inside. Some concessions also have communities living on nondeveloped land within their boundaries, complicating the picture further."We are mapping it out
to identify areas that have the potential to have fires. We know most of them are not spontaneous
fires, because they are started intentionally. Going forward, we will guard these potential fire
areas for prevention," Gen Gatot said.Fires have also covered much of Kalimantan in smoke,
with parts of Central and East Kalimantan provinces covered in dense haze, according to the
latest regional haze map produced by the Meteorological Service Singapore.Hundreds of hot
spots have also been reported in West Kalimantan and the haze has spread to Sarawak, disrupting
flights. Visibility was down to 400m in Kuching yesterday morning. - See more at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/09/11/jakarta-deploys-over-1000-troops-fight-forestfires.html#sthash.uO52JBXC.dpuf