Indonesia News
Ahmad Dhani Now Faces Hate Speech Charge
The controversial rock star is once again in hot water, this time after sending out a tweet that roughly translate to “anyone who supports a religious blasphemer is a son of a bitch who deserves to be spit in the face.” The phrase is not only pretty hateful, it’s clearly political, his critics say. The term used for “religious blasphemer,” in Bahasa Indonesia—penista agama—is now used a pejorative term for anyone who supported now jailed Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. —CNN Indonesia
University Student Forced to Apologize After Insulting Ojek Drivers on Instagram
OK, so you need to rewind a bit to understand this one. Indonesian celebrity/ dangdut singer Dewi Persik recently got into a highly publicized argument with TransJakarta staff and several motorists after she was prevented from illegally driving in the bus lane to avoid a traffic jam—something she thought she was entitled to do. Then one of her fans decided to insult ojek drivers’ intelligence in the comments of her Instagram post on the argument, drawing the ire of Palembang’s ojek community. So they showed up, hundreds of them, at his school and forced him to apologize. —Coconuts
Videos by VICE
The Forecast Calls for Rain in Java and Sumatra
Heavy rains, the product of a tropical cyclone system building in the seas off Indonesia, will hit portions of Java and Sumatra in the coming days, the national weather agency warned. Good thing it’s a long weekend, right? —Kompas
Mt. Agung Cold Lava Flows Leave Hundreds of Fish, Eels Dead
Locals in Bali noticed a peculiar sight in rivers downstream from the active Mount Agung volcano: hundreds of flopping fish. The fish, and eels, it turns out were already dead, killed by sulfuric lahar, or cold lava flows, currently flowing down the volcano’s slopes. —Coconuts
International News
Amazon Wants to Collect Biometric Data on All Indians
The US e-commerce giant is now requiring all customers in India to upload the biometric data collected by the government’s controversial new ID program to its servers. It’s the latest in a growing list of services tied to the new ID program, including bank accounts, health insurance, cellphone carriers, and FedEX—which raises a whole host of concerns about how much the government can now track and what kinds of information are prone to hacking. —Buzzfeed News
Things are Looking Even Worse for Singaporean, Malaysian Journalists Detained in Myanmar
The two journalists, both of whom were previously jailed for two months each for flying a drone too close to the parliament building, now face additional charges stemming from immigration violations. It’s apparently against the law to bring a drone into Myanmar, punishable with up to three years behind bars. —Malay Mail Online
Study: 60% of Foreign Domestic Workers In Singapore are Exploited
The city-state’s domestic help are routinely subjected to long hours, poor living conditions, and little-to-no-pay, according to a survey by Research Across Borders. There are at least 125,000 Indonesian domestic workers legally working in Singapore. —CNN
Cambodia Crackdown Spreads to Human Rights Groups
A sweeping purge of anyone seen as a political enemy of PM Hun Sen continues as Cambodian authorities set their sights on the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). The rights group has been accused of acting as an agent of foreign powers. “The Cambodian Center for Human Rights should be shut down because it follows order from foreigners. It is because foreigners created it, not Khmer,” Hun Sen said. —VOA
Everything Else
Photographing the Disastrous Effects of Sand Mining on the Mekong River
A Beijing-based photographer traces how sand mining is destroying one of the most-vital bodies of water in all of Asia in this story for VICE. Sand is a necessary ingredient in concrete and asphalt, meaning that the poorer countries of Southeast Asia are paying the price for the urbanization of their wealthier neighbors. —VICE
The Legendary Punk Band MDC are Back With a Blistering Anti-Trump Record
Dave Dictor is pretty angry right now, and with good reason. For 38 years, the frontman of the political hardcore act MDC has been rallying against police brutality, white power, and government corruption. So of course Donald Trump’s presidency brought out a lot of frustration—and some pretty great songs. —Noisey
Is This the Worst Airline Food In the World?
A MUNCHIES staff investigates the Air Koryo hamburger—perhaps the worst burger ever made and an iconic part of any trip to recluse North Korea. —VICE
