6 theSun | FRIDAY JULY 17 2009

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‘Foreign countries’ behind Indonesia mine attacks: Minister

JAKARTA: “Foreign countries” could
be behind a series of deadly am-
bushes near a US-owned goldmine in
Indonesia’s remote Papua province
that have killed three people, the
defence minister said yesterday.
The attacks by unidentified gunmen
near Freeport McMoRan’s massive
Grasberg gold and copper mine could
be an effort by foreign competitors to
close the mine down, Juwono Sudar-
sono told reporters.
“What I think is don’t let Freeport be
closed, because it involves global com-
petition over natural resources there
are a number of countries that have an
interest in destabilising Freeport.”
Sudarsono said foreign NGOs and
governments had a history of backing
groups that “agitate” in Papua, which
has been the site of a low-level separa-
tist conflict since the 1960s.
Asked which countries he was
referring to, Sudarsono said: “Appar-
ently many neighbouring countries
to the south.”
Indonesia’s southern neighbours
are Australia and New Zealand.
Sudarsono said he saw no indication
the attacks were the work of separatist
rebels of the Free Papua Movement.
Freeport, whose Grasberg mine sits
on the world’s largest gold reserve,
is the single biggest taxpayer to the
Indonesian government.
Australian technician Drew Grant,
29, was shot dead Saturday when his
car was attacked on the single road
from the mountain-top mine, while a
Freeport guard was killed in an am-
bush on the same road on Sunday.
A third policeman who fled the
Sunday ambush was found dead in a
ravine the next day.
Five policemen were wounded on
Wednesday in a firefight on the road,
which has been closed indefinitely to
Freeport workers.
Military chief Gen Djoko Santoso
has blamed separatist rebels for the
attacks, but police have said there is
no indication that is the case.
The apparent skill of the attackers,
who used military-issue ammunition,
and their ease in evading capture has
fuelled speculation by some analysts
that security forces are using violence
to extort more protection money out of
Freeport. The military has recently de-
nied receiving such payments. – AFP

Aftershocks shake
New Zealand after
powerful quake
WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s southern region
Thousands of Thais protest
terrorism charges
shook yesterday with hundreds of aftershocks
after the country was hit by its most powerful He said that although the airport pro-
earthquake in 78 years, which measured 7.8 on testers were armed with wooden sticks,
the Richter scale. Seismologists who monitor the metal rods, baseball bats and golf clubs,
14,000 quakes recorded in New Zealand every year the implements could not be considered
said most of the aftershocks were too small to as weapons.
be felt but five exceeded magnitude 5. Usually, BANGKOK: Thousands of Thai “Yel- group seized Bangkok airports for nine The group has not protested against
only about 20 tremors of this strength are logged low Shirt” protesters rallied yesterday in days in late 2008. other criminal charges, including illegal
annually. Bangkok to denounce terrorism charges Most of the accused were due to re- assembly and breach of aviation law, but
Checks confirmed that the country appeared Chamlong levied against members of their group port to police yesterday but refused on insists the blockades of international Su-
to have escaped any casualties or serious damage (right) who mounted a crippling airport block- the grounds that the terrorism charge varnabhumi and domestic Don Muang
from Wednesday night’s quake, centred off the receives ade last year. was excessive. airports were within the law.
south-west coast of Fiordland, even though its size flowers from Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is “No one turned himself in today as we Foreign Minister Kasit reported to po-
matched the one that devastated the North Island supporters among the 36 supporters of the People’s are protesting against the police charges,” lice last week to hear the charges against
city of Napier in February 1931, killing 256 people. as he goes Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who the PAD’s lawyer Suwat Apaipak told him but also denies wrongdoing and has
Lance Dixon, a spokesman for the Earthquake to report face the charge, which carries the death a crowd gathered refused to resign, so far being backed by
Commission, an official body that compensates to police in penalty, after the outside the national Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
quake victims, told the New Zealand Press Associa- Bangkok. Police Club on the Earlier this week Kasit said he “joined
tion that nearly 200 claims had been lodged by northern outskirts of the PAD bringing only my words and my
mid-afternoon but were for minor damage to Bangkok. pen,” and attended the airport rallies to
wallpaper, bricks and house exteriors. “We had only exercise his constitutional rights.
The Insurance Council’s chief executive, Chris hand-clappers The PAD is an ardent royalist group
Ryan, said that although the big quake was re- – how could we backed by the country’s establishment,
ported to have been felt more than 1,400km away seize aircraft at Su- whose protests in 2006 helped topple
on the North Island, it was described as producing varnabhumi? Our then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who
a rolling motion rather than sharp jolts, indicating demonstration is was ousted in a military coup.
minimal damage was likely. not an act of terror- The group campaigned again last
Goods toppled from shelves in shops in the ism,” Suwat added year to drive Thaksin’s allies from
Southland province, and power supplies were cut after submitting government, their protests peaking with
in some areas, but civil defence officials who flew a written appeal the airport seizure, which left hundreds
over the epicentre of the quake, 100km south-west against the charge. of thousands of travellers stranded and
of the lakeside resort town of Te Anau, reported Key PAD caused huge economic damage.
few signs of damage apart from a few landslides leader Chamlong They abandoned the blockade after
on the steep Fiordland mountainsides. Srimuang told the the Constitutional Court ordered the pro-
The quake was about the same magnitude crowd, estimated Thaksin party from power in December,
as the one that devastated the Sichuan region of at “a few thou- paving the way for Democrat Party leader
China in May last year, leaving at least 68,000 peo- sand” by police, Abhisit to become prime minister.
ple dead. Seismologists said New Zealand escaped that the terrorism Last October, treason charges against
the devastation China experienced because the charge was “not Chamlong and another PAD leader were
quake was centred off the coast of the country’s ERSPIX only exaggerated dropped following further PAD protests
REUT
most sparsely populated region. – dpa but it’s false”. in Bangkok. – AFP

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Ministry apologises
O
over obscene video
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s defence ministry
yesterday apologised after footage
was broadcast of two soldiers ap-
parently involved in an obscene act
while on duty. A cable news channel
aired a video showing the soldiers,
who were clad in camouflage uni-
forms, seemingly engaged in oral
sex while around 40 others looked
on and laughed.
“The defence ministry is deeply
sorry for the incident, which seri-
ously damages military discipline,”
it said in a statement.
The island’s military has been
plagued by a spate of scandals that
observers say have tarnished its
image. A recent crackdown has led
to the investigation of 114 generals
for alleged corruption or bribing their
way to their rank. – AFP
For non-Muslims only
Indra Ningsih, 26, admitted to
police she had added the blood to
the meal in a superstitious effort
to make her Chinese employer
“more amiable and less picky”
towards her.
She was originally charged
with administering a poisonous
substance with an intent to injure
in April. However, a report in the
Hongkong Standard newspaper
said prosecutors had decided the
charge could not be sustained,
after the government laboratory
and doctors ruled that menstrual
blood is not toxic. – dpa
Mother, son disappear
while on cruise
HONGKONG: A mother and son
have disappeared while travelling
on a luxury cruise between Beijing
and Japan, police said yesterday.
The pair were reported missing
on July 7, the fourth day of the trip,
after they failed to join other mem-
conducted a ceremony. – dpa
Ex-South Korean
president critically ill
SEOUL: Former
South Korean
President Kim
Dae-jung (pix),
who was
awarded a No-
bel Peace Prize
for brokering the first meeting of
the leaders of the divided Koreas,
is in critical condition at a Seoul
hospital, media said yesterday.
Kim, 85, a former political
prisoner and a leading figure in
the country’s fight for democracy,
is on a respirator, various South
Korean media outlets quoted
hospital officials as saying.
Kim served as president from
1998 to 2003 and is best known for
his 2000 summit with North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang
that led to quickly warming ties be-
tween the two states. – Reuters
official said yesterday.
“The pilot could probably not
be blamed for this crash and we
think it was likely due to a technical
problem,” Ahmad Majidi, head of the
transport ministry’s crisis unit, said.
Iranian officials said three black
boxes from the Russian-built Tupolev
airliner have also been found, but
that two were seriously damaged.
“Two systems linked with the
black box have been damaged in
such a way that the tapes have come
out of the boxes and scattered on
the ground,” Majidi said. – AFP
Harry Potter actor
admits growing pot
LONDON: A teenage member of
the Harry Potter film cast pleaded
guilty yesterday to illegally grow-
ing 10 cannabis plants at his
mother’s home in London.
Jamie Waylett, 19, who has
played school bully Vincent Crab-
be, was arrested with a friend
after he took a photo of police as

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Maid who ‘poisoned’
employer’s meal freed
HONGKONG: An Indonesian
maid arrested after mixing her
menstrual blood in a pot of veg-
Senior Pastor: Rev. Tan Sri Prince Guneratnam, M.A., D.D., D.Litt., LLD. etables she was cooking for her
bers of their tour group.
A source quoted in the Hongkong
Standard newspaper said three let-
ters were found in their cabin on
board the Costa Classica outlining
how their assets should be distrib-
uted in the event of their deaths. In-
Technical problem seen
behind Iran plane crash
TEHERAN: A technical problem is
believed to have caused the crash
of an Iranian airliner which burst into
the pair drove past officers.
When police searched his
friend’s black Audi they found a
number of bags of cannabis.
Ten cannabis plants were later
discovered at the home of Waylett’s
mother in Kilburn. – Reuters