Women trade in West Kalimantan
JAKARTA: The Immigration Office has called for public attention to the increasing exodus of Indonesian women of Chinese origin from Singkawang, West Kalimantan, to Taiwan or Hong Kong at the behest of flesh trade syndicates.
"Despite tightened visa application procedures, since the 1980s the number of passport applications from the province for travel to Taiwan and Hong Kong has increased," Hario Subayu, spokesman for the immigration office, said here over the weekend.
According to a report by the immigration office in Singkawang, in 1983 and 1984, the number of passport applications filed by local women reached an average of 50 to 70 monthly.
Hario said an attempt to "trade" the locally known Singkawang amoi-amoi was first foiled in 1984, when a woman identified as BKP whose husband was a Taiwanese, was caught red-handed bringing a number of Singkawang women to Taiwan so that they would be married off to Taiwanese.
But lately, scores of Taiwanese men accompanied by female match-makers have come directly to Singkawang and married local women in order to take them out of the country legally, he was quoted by Antara as saying.
The immigration office in 1990 detained nearly 100 ethnic Chinese women residing in Singkawang for attempting to enter Hong Kong with fake visit visas, he said. (rms)
Serial telegram for Silence Day
BANDUNG: The state-owned PT Telkom is launching a new serial of a Rp 500 telegram indah (beautiful telegram) to commemorate the 1994 Hindu Day of Silence, which falls on April 12.
Telkom spokesman Sufi Wahyuni said here on Saturday that the company has printed 107,000 copies of the new congratulatory telegrams which will be available in 435 cities and towns across the country.
"Sending congratulations with the new serial telegram can be done as of Sunday (yesterday)," she said.
She said the company would charge an additional fee of Rp 900 for addresses to areas outside the listed cities.
She added that the two models of the new serial telegram were printed, displaying either the Besakih Temple (in Amlapura) or the Uluwati Temple (in Bandung). (pet/rms)
Aussie MBA schools here to interview
JAKARTA: A delegation of 20 major Australian universities will visit Indonesia to interview prospective students for their Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs.
A spokesman for the Australian Education Center said in a statement made available here over the weekend that each MBA study program offered emphasizes a different curriculum.
"The study programs have specific subjects, ranging from managerial finance to accounting, marketing, general management, and human resource development," he said.
He said most Australian MBA programs provide a mixture of practice and theory with detailed examinations of case studies, syndicated work, seminars and workshops, reading and research assignments, as well as formal lectures and tutorials. (rms)