WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On a misty mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists for the first time in more than eight decades have observed a living pygmy tarsier, one of the planet’s smallest and rarest primates.

Over a two-month period, the scientists used nets to trap three furry, mouse-sized pygmy tarsiers – two males and one female — on Mt. Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in central Sulawesi, the researchers said on Tuesday.

They spotted a fourth one that got away.

The tarsiers, which some scientists believed were extinct, may not have been overly thrilled to be found. One of them chomped Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a Texas A&M University professor of anthropology who took part in the expedition.

“I’m the only person in the world to ever be bitten by a pygmy tarsier,” Gursky-Doyen said in a telephone interview.

“My assistant was trying to hold him still while I was attaching a radio collar around its neck. It’s very hard to hold them because they can turn their heads around 180 degrees. As I’m trying to close the radio collar, he turned his head and nipped my finger. And I yanked it and I was bleeding.”

The collars were being attached so the tarsiers’ movements could be tracked.

Tarsiers are unusual primates – the mammalian group that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes and people. The handful of tarsier species live on various Asian islands.

As their name indicates, pygmy tarsiers are small – weighing about 2 ounces (50 grammes). They have large eyes and large ears, and they have been described as looking a bit like one of the creatures in the 1984 Hollywood movie “Gremlins.”

They are nocturnal insectivores and are unusual among primates in that they have claws rather than finger nails.

They had not been seen alive by scientists since 1921. In 2000, Indonesian scientists who were trapping rats in the Sulawesi highlands accidentally trapped and killed a pygmy tarsier.

“Until that time, everyone really didn’t believe that they existed because people had been going out looking for them for decades and nobody had seen them or heard them,” Gursky-Doyen said.

Her group observed the first live pygmy tarsier in August at an elevation of about 6,900 feet.

“Everything was covered in moss and the clouds are right at the top of that mountain. It’s always very, very foggy, very, very dense. It’s cold up there. When you’re one degree from the equator, you expect to be hot. You don’t expect to be shivering most of the time. That’s what we were doing,” she said.

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We have installed a new feature in our website. Readers are now able to submit their review of the latest restaurants, hotels and services that we posted in our website.

We are aware that everyone has different opinions and experiences hence allowing our readers to review and rate the services they experienced is the best way to allow other readers to learn more about the hotels and restaurants featured before they try it out for themselves.

To submit a review, simply browse our sites and leave a comment at the bottom of the page which you will also find “5 rating stars” that you can click on. The more satisfied you are, the more stars you click and give Remember to click on the stars before clicking on “submit comment”.

The 4 main ratings are for:

• Quality - quality of food, rooms, services, products offered
• Value - price compared to services/products offered, does it offer good value for money?
• Service - overall customer service or after sales service offered
• Overall - your overall experience

Please review and rate them objectively for the benefit of all our readers. For other explanation and comments of your ratings, you may add them in the comment form.

You will see individual ratings from each readers below the comments and the overall average ratings for all 4 will be seen at the top of each posts.

NB: Some comments are “unrated” as these comments are posted before we activate the new submit feature.

Thank you for your time to help our readers

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Finally, we found the time to use our complimentary stay voucher at the Aryaduta Hotel Medan.  And here is what we have to say on the experience of one night at the Aryaduta Hotel in Medan.

There are several types of room available at the Aryaduta, below are some pictures of the Deluxe Room that we stayed in, facing the pool terrace.

This is a twin bedded room with nice modern design with a long working table.  The furnishings are tasteful done with several art pieces in the hall way as well as the bathroom.

The room is equipped with 32″ Plasma TV and include many satellite channels.

Bathroom, though slightly small in size, is clean and comes with a complete set of toiletries for guests.  Other accessories provided include a digital weighing scale! and a hair dryer (although we couldn’t find a socket for it in the bathroom).

However, there is no bath tub for a relaxing soak :-(   Although, the power jet shower makes showering a pleasurable experience.

Situated above Grand Palladium Mall, a mere 15 mins drive from the Polonia International Airport, the Aryaduta hotel has 200 contemporary designed rooms and suites.  The Hotel Lobby is at the corner of the building where the lift will take the guests up to the Hotel Reception on the 9th Floor. The rooms are spread over 3 floors from 9th to 11th and other Hotel facilities include The Kitchen Restaurant serving international cuisines, The business Center, The Courtyard pool and The Gym.

Our most memorable experience had got to be the Breakfast Buffet!  It was totally Awesome!!!  There are no hotels in Medan that served such a grand Breakfast Buffet with a such wide variety.  The Buffet is spread around the restaurant - The Kitchen which include the egg station, mini salad corner with different types of cold dishes, a wide range of assorted breads, fruits and juices, local dishes such as Lontong and nice warm porriages.

So here you go, overall, a very pleasurable experience of “one night at the Aryduta Hotel in Medan”

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Our reader, Mr Ronen, an American who moved to Medan in 2007 with his wife is proud to be the first to introduce the Mediterranean style of natural and healthy home dairy in Indonesia. His dairy education came from one of the home dairy experts in the Mediterranean zone where he used to live. He started making the cheese from his own family’s need, it then became his hobby and now, he is ready to sell this homemade dairy products for all of us to enjoy…

He uses two kinds of milk:

For the goat’s-milk products, he uses fresh organic pasteurized milk (twice) goat’s-milk. This include Tomme de Medan, Zefat Cheese, Blue Cheese, Bulgarian Cheese plus many more…

Tomme De Medan

Blue Cheese which takes 2 months to prepare and good to eat with good dry red wine.

Zefat Cheese, a Palestinian semi-hard cheese.

For the cow’s-milk products, he uses fresh non-organic pasteurized milk (twice) cow’s-milk. This include plain yogurt and mascarpone.

Mascarpone
For more Information, please visit Medan Home Dairy website or contact Mr Ronen directly.

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Asia Jaya Electronics, a well established electronic store has opened a Super Store in Medan Jl. S. Parman No. 270. It has 4 stories of retail space. Currently opened 2 stories filled with electronics such as Televisions, Refrigerators, Sound System and many more.

Their main store is at Jl. Asia (probably where the name of the store comes from) which is only the size of a single shop house. But dont be deceived by its size as Asia Jaya has been providing quality electronics to Medanese for a very long time including imported electronics when Medan was yet developed.

The main feature of this new super store should be the high end sound system “BOSE” which has its own private corner near the front of the store.

The Super Store stocks the largest range of LCD & Plasma TVs in Medan. We can see a 32″ Plasma TV going for Rp8.000.000 (USD 800) and a 50″ Samsung / LG Plasma TV going for Rp15.000.000 (USD 1,500)

Several promoted services of Asia Jaya includes:

• NO 3% Surcharge for payment with credit card
• Free Delivery
• Free Instalation
• Extended 1+1 Year Warranty
• 7 Days Failure Protection
• Repair Service
• Free Parking
• Free Wi-fi

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The first four stars Moslem Hotel in Medan, based on Syari’ah Management and Eastern oriented. Madani Hotel has an ideal location for Muslims guests since it is right apposite Mesjid Raya Al-Ma’sum (The Land Mark of Medan). The hotel claimed to have one of the best view of the Grand Mosque. Guests are able to enjoy the view from their room.

Within walking distance of the hotel is Istana Maimoon, the historical Palace of Sultan in Medan at Jalan Katamso.

One of the nearest hotel to the Polonia airport, it is only 10 minutes drive away from the Medan Polonia airport. Apart from the Grand Mosque, there is also a Shopping Center right opposite the hotel known as Yuki Simpang Raya. Actually it is more of a department store since Yuki Department Store occupies 80% of the space. There is a MC Donald, Supermarket, Kids Playland and Bowling Alley in the plaza.

Along the streets of Jl. Sisingamaraja of Madani Hotel are mostly 2 and 3 stars hotels and a hospital.

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Want to see the latest computer technology in Medan?

Heaven for computer geeks. Every 3 - 6 months, there will always be a computer fair held in Medan, usually in Plaza Medan Fair or at Sun Plaza.

It is usually recommended to shop around when purchasing computers or laptop and bringing all these brands of computers together under one roof makes it convenient for customers to test and shop around for the best bargains.

Sun Plaza Medan

This time, the fair is at the atrium of Sun Plaza and will be held for 5 days from 13 November to 17 November 2008.

To spice things up, there is also a daily lucky draw with a Motor Bike as the prize plus Auction everyday from 7.30 PM. The price will start at Rp50.000 including notebook Byon, pendrive HDD external, Speaker Hyundai etc.

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Many foreigners do not realized and are surprised when they were told that Indonesians are bound by the FisKal Tax policy. It is a tax imposed on all Indonesian passport holders when they travel out of Indonesia. The tax is Rp1.000.000- about USD100 in addition to the usual Medan Airport Tax of Rp75.000 for International Flights.

This tax is also applied to KITAS, KITAP and KIMS permit holders (Permanent residents, Temporarily residents and Expats). So if you have a foreign spouse who holds these permits, your spouse will be bounded by the Fiskal Tax Policy. Hence traveling out of Indonesia can become more expensive.

here’s an old sample of the fiskal tax, the new version is elongated and colourful that costs Indonesian travelers Rp1 million (USD 100)

Good News!

The fiskal exit tax is to be abolished, for registered taxpayers, to encourage the payment of income tax.

From 1st January 2009 those with a tax-file number (NPWP, Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak), and their dependents, will no longer be required to pay the 1 million rupiah fee upon leaving the country, called fiskal. From 1st January 2011 the “fiskal free” policy will be extended to all those travelling abroad, according to revisions to the Pajak Penghasilan (PPh) bill that have yet to be agreed upon by parliament.

Darmin Nasution of the Tax Office, said the two year delay in abolishing the fiscal tax entirely is to encourage people to get an NPWP, since most Indonesians do not have one and pay no income tax directly.

According to Darmin, until now many people avoided paying fiskal because there were many categories of exemptions, and the planned changes were intended to simplify things.

The new policy of exemption for NPWP holders uses the concept of family/households, says Darmin, so that dependents of NPWP holders, such as children 21 and under, and wives, may use the head of the household’s tax file number to gain an exemption from paying fiskal.

Those over the age of 21 can continue to use their father’s NPWP, provided they are still listed on his Family Card (kartu keluarga).

Darmin says there will be no loss of revenue for the state, except in the first year and quite the reverse in the medium term, because the shortfall from fiskal (in 2007 fiskal revenues were 2.5 trillion rupiah) will be made up in new income tax receipts. Currently there are around 6 million NPWP’s issued, and of these about 4.8 million are held in the name of individuals, as opposed to companies and organisations.

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The year of 2008 is an important year for Businesses, Individuals and the Tax Revenue Department of Indonesia. It is the year of the much talked about “SunSet Policy”, a tax amnesty policy rolled out by the government of Indonesia in an effort to increase tax revenue in Indonesia.

Indonesia, like other countries is applying self assessment system, where Tax Payers are given the FULL TRUST and RIGHTS to get Tax Number (NPWP), calculate income generated, calculate the tax payable, depositing the tax payable to State Treasury, and reporting the tax including Assets and Liabilities.

SunSet Policy is much talked about due to the lack of in-depth knowledge of the policy and especially the trust of the citizens with the new government policy. Everyone is worried of the consequences when they report their true wealth and that more investigations and audit will be called upon them.

As indicated by the Tax Revenue Department of Indonesia known as “Departemen Keuangan Republik Indonesia, Direktorat Jenderal Pajak”, with SunSet Policy, businesses as well as individuals are encouranged to report their true income, asset and wealth by the end of 2008 to the tax revenue department and they will receive tax amnesty for their wealth.

Benefits of SunSet Policy

Some of the benefits outlined by the Tax Revenue Department of Indonesia are:

1. There will not be any penalties, administrative charges of interest owed for any additional tax that are paid for submitting the revision of the Annual Tax Return Form (SPT)
2. There will not be any investigations on the tax return forms (SPT Tahunan PPH) that are corrected and/or submitted UNLESS the correction is for tax rebate.
3. For any tax payer that are currently under tax audit / investigations, the investigation will be halted as long as the result of the investigations (Surat Pemberitahuan Hasil Pemeriksaan - SPHP) has not been issued.
4. The revision of Tax Return Form, WILL NOT be used to determine other tax obligation incurred as impact of the revision, so tax payer do not need to carry more weights of previous years “tax sins” and move on being honest tax payer.
5. Everyone that participate in this policy will sleep better

Consequences:

As indicated and warned, the consequences for those who do not participate in the SunSet Policy that are found to submit incorrect tax return forms and those found guilty of witholding their true revenue from the Tax Revenue Department are:

1. Tax payers will be investigated and fined.
2. Tax payers can also be prosecuted.

To participate in Sunset Policy, a person MUST apply for his/her Tax Number (NPWP) by through the  Tax Office or through online registration at http://www.pajak.go.id/ , fill in the tax return forum and pay the tax payable. No tax fine and no sanction will be incurred!

For Tax Payer who already has NPWP before January 2008, revision can be made to their tax return forms, even for those before 2007 fiscal year, pay necessarry the tax payable, fill in and submit the Revision of tax returns LATEST 31st December 2008 to benefit from the Sunset Policy.

For those who has just applied for Tax Number / NPWP, the deadline of sunset policy is 31st March 2009.
It is rumoured that, the tax revenue officials may start investigating those tax payers that has not participate in SunSet Policy or did not submit corrected tax revenue forms since that is the easiest way to spot those that have not reported their true wealth.

Therefore, it is advised that all tax payers take this opportunity to participate in SunSet Policy to utilize the facility of Tax Amnesty before 2008.

Watch this video advertisement in SunSet Policy Indonesia 2008

For more information about Indonesia Tax and SunSet Policy 2008, please visit official website at www.Pajak.go.id

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Ever since the Pornography law was passed since late October, many debates have been going on among both the government officials as well as the citizens of Indonesia.  Many are not clear of what is expected by the Law as none official guides have been listed out.

It is important to understand the new law to avoid any problems, misunderstandings or getting into uncomfortable situations  when traveling to Indonesia including Medan.

Note: At the time of this post, the law has not been officially passed as it has not been signed by the President but it is better to have this knowledge when you travel.

As written by the TIME,

The bill, which is supported by several Muslim parties, would render illegal any behavior or images that might be considered sexually provocative. Women who bare their shoulders or legs, or artists who use nudity in their work, could be prosecuted for indecency and fined up to 2 billion rupiah (about $220,000) or even jailed for up to 12 years. Kissing in public would be outlawed, as would any other acts considered pornoaksi, an ill-defined term coined by conservative lawmakers to mean “pornographic acts.” The bill also says that “all elements of society are obliged to report” such acts, sparking concern that the law could be abused. “The bill would kill 80% of the art in Bali,” says Cok Sawitri, a Balinese poet and activist who is against the proposed law. “People will be afraid to do what has long been a normal part of their lives.”

Many Indonesians are concerned that the term of porno actions is not well defined where pornography has been defined more of eroticism and sensuality. That could mean banning kissing in public, displaying the navel when dressing and dancing erotically. These actions will be punishable by five years in prison and/or Rp 250 million fine.

Bali will not enforce the Porn Law

In a move of defiance against the controversial pornography bill, Bali’s governor and speaker of the provincial legislative council declared Friday the province would not be able to enforce the newly passed law.
In a two-point written statement, signed by Governor Made Mangku Pastika and Speaker Ida Bagus Putu Wesnawa, Bali made its historic mark as the first region ever to publicly declare an inability to implement a law passed by the House of Representatives.

“With the passing of the porn bill on Thursday, we hereby declare that we cannot carry it out because it is not in line with Balinese philosophical and sociological values,” Pastika said at the council building here.

“We further impose every element of the Balinese public to keep calm, stay alert, not be easily provoked and maintain the appropriate atmosphere to maintain the integrity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.”

The pornography bill was passed with overwhelming support from 10 of the 12 factions in the House. The remaining two, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), walked out during voting in a show of resistance.

However, the legal force of the declaration remains unclear. Pastika did not elaborate on how the declaration would affect the island, calling it simply a “statement from the people of Bali“.

Neither did he elaborate on the position of the provincial police on the matter or whether he planned to join forces with other regions that had explicitly stated their opposition to the bill.

“This is just a public announcement of our position. We simply cannot enforce this particular bill,” he said.
Pastika said the letter would not be sent to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or any other government officials, as “this declaration will reach them anyway”.

Asked whether the provincial administration would pursue a Constitutional challenge, Pastika said he and other leaders were still considering it, adding a legal challenge was the next most viable option.

Many organizations, such as the Bali People’s Component, have stated their intention to challenge the bill through the Constitutional Court.

Made Arjaya, head of the council’s Commission I overseeing law and security, said his office would wait until “further development”. The President still had to sign the bill, he added.

Under the Indonesian legislation system, if a bill is not signed within 30 days after the House passes it, it automatically becomes legally binding.

Wesnawa refused to call the declaration an act of defiance, saying the province had no option because the bill goes against everything the Balinese stand for.

“An act of defiance is an act of refusal. We’re not refusing the law, we just simply can’t enforce it,” he said.
“The fact is, many of our artists, our religious beliefs and our people are in danger of being persecuted by this law. So we simply cannot enforce it.”

Bali’s leaders and public have been united in their opposition to the draft pornography bill for years. Many in the island have called for civil disobedience should the bill be passed into law.

The previous governor, Made Dewa Beratha, even stated during the bill’s first introduction to the public in 2006 that Bali “might as well declare independence” if the bill was passed.

source: Andra Wisnu ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar

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