TABANAN ~ After a closing ceremony of a short training course, 240 members of the Indonesian Blue-Collar Workers (TKI) are planning to embark to Europe in order to work in tourist sectors abroad, I Gede Nugura Rai Wijaya, from the Department of Transmigration and Labor in Tabanan, said.

Attendees of the ceremony included Peter Zinty, a delegate from Maersk Logistics, the director of the Asia Pacific World Cruise Center, IB Putu Astina, , as well as senior government officials.

“Recently, countries in Europe have developed a need for Indonesian workers, especially from Bali, because Balinese workers are known to have good working habits, and they are friendly and honest,” Zinty said.

Astina explained that he has collected workers from Makassar, Jakarta, Bandung and Balikpapan to participate in the program. He also said that he had already secured certificates and letters of recommendation from the Labor Ministry of the Czech Republic and h

“The Czech government will receive Indonesian workers. The workers will depart from Bali and will be accepted by various industries,” Astina added.

Wirajaya said that ideally the program would improve the laborers’ social statuses by giving them a way to break free from poor and jobless lives.

DENPASAR ~ After successfully keeping the United Nations Climate Change Conference secure in December, Bali Police are ready to cover the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, a second conference in which state parties will convene.

The conference will be held in Bali from January 25 to February 2.

Spokesman Antonios Reniban said that approximately 1,500 local police officers would be present to backup other officers, from the headquarters of Indonesian Police in Jakarta.

Security employed by the United Nations would also be working the international event to keep it secure, officials said.

“…police officers will operate 10-guard barriers, cars, two helicopters, A-2 patrol ships and guard dogs to secure the event,” a spokesman said.

I Ketut Sandi is a Pecalang (traditional village security officer) who helps protect the public and ensure that Hindu ceremonies run smoothly.

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Ni Nyoman Sardi is 85 and from the Tandeg area of Canggu

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JAKARTA ~ A 6.2-magnitude quake rattled remote Nias island off the west coast of Sumatra early on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and four others injured, police said.

An 11-year-old boy was killed after the ceiling of a newly built military dormitory collapsed during the quake, First Sergeant Muri of the North Nias district police said.

“There was only one death and there were no substantial damage to the buildings and structures in town,” Muri said in the district capital of Gunung Sitoli.

The boy died of head injuries en route to hospital, said Rustam Pakaya from the health ministry’s crisis centre in Jakarta.

The epicenter of the quake was located 10 kilometers below the surface, some 24 kilometers southwest of Gunung Sitoli, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

The quake struck at 12:14am, the US Geological Survey said. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not immediately issue an alert following the quake.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates meet, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Nias was hit by a devastating 8.7-magnitude earthquake in 2005 that killed some 850 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Indonesia was hardest hit by the earthquake-triggered Asian tsunami in December 2004. Some 168,000 people alone were killed in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

JAKARTA ~ The Indonesian navy has grounded eight of its light aircraft following a recent crash that killed two people and left two critically injured, the navy said on Thursday.

“We have 22 Nomad aircraft and eight of them are now grounded,” navy spokesman Commodore Iskandar Sitompul said.

Sitompul said the navy had conducted a check of the aircraft following the plane crash in waters north of Indonesia’s Aceh province on December 30 last year. It found eight were “not airworthy,” he said.

Iskandar said the crashed Nomad was last overhauled in 1997 and still had 1,750 hours of flight time left before it was due for its next overhaul. He also said that the last check on the aircraft showed that the condition of its airframe was still good for another 1,204 hours.

In a press release later on Thursday, Sitompul said crash investigations showed that the pilot had been preparing for a landing because of engine trouble, “but it is believed that turbulence forced the airplane to fall into the sea.”

JAKARTA ~ The government is negotiating the return of an ancient Javanese stone that was first taken by a British colonialist in the 1800s and is now held by a family trust in Scotland.

The Sangguran stone, a column dated 928 AD and inscribed with ancient Javanese characters, was taken from its site near the modern-day town of Malang in East Java in 1812, said Hadi Untoro Drajat of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The stone, which weighs almost four tons and was installed to mark the ancient Sangguran village as a reserve area, is now being held by the Minto Trust, a family trust in Scotland, Drajat said.

“We are in negotiations to return the Sangguran stone back to Indonesia,” Drajat said at a press conference.

The artefact was removed from East Java by British colonialist Stamford Raffles during his 1811 to 1816 rule over Java and parts of Sumatra island, Drajat said.

Raffles gave the stone to his superior Lord Minto, the governor general of India, who then brought it back to his home in Scotland where it still stands.

An Indonesian businessman who claims he unwittingly bought stolen antiquities last year is helping the government negotiate the stone’s return.

“The Indonesian government has a policy of not paying for the return of ancient artefacts, but we are ready to cover the transfer costs and compensation to the Minto Trust,” Djojohadikusmo said at the press conference.

Last November, police found four ancient statues stolen from a Central Java museum at Djojohadikusomo’s Jakarta home. Four people, including the museum’s curator, were arrested in the case, but Djojohadikusumo has not been named a suspect.

Theft of ancient artefacts is rife in Indonesia, home to ruins of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms that flourished from the seventh century onward.