Tag: indonesia

Indonesian Government Restores TikTok’s License After Platform Shares User Data

TikTok has handed over a broad collection of user data to Indonesian authorities, a move that cleared the way for the platform’s operations to resume in the country after a brief suspension.

The company acted under pressure from regulators following its failure to cooperate during a volatile stretch of anti-government demonstrations in late August.

According to government officials, the data shared included analytics on traffic behavior and signs of potential online gambling.

The request was triggered by a surge in livestream activity tied to the protests, which erupted after public anger over political perks collided with the fatal police killing of a motorcycle delivery driver.

Currently owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok is deeply embedded in Indonesia’s digital life, with over 100 million users and a rapidly growing e-commerce arm.

Authorities revoked its license last week after the platform did not supply information about user activity during the period from August 25 to 30. Police reported that some TikTok users live-streamed protest scenes and used the broadcasts to solicit digital gifts or payments from viewers.

On Monday, officials confirmed that TikTok submitted data showing the number of such livestreams and how much money they generated.

Alexander Sabar, a director general at the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, said in a written message, and as reported by Bloomberg: “The summary data provided is aggregate data, not specific to a particular user, and therefore cannot be used to track or monitor individuals — including accounts broadcasting demonstrations.”

He said the ministry’s primary interest was in activity tied to online gambling and other prohibited uses of the platform.

Technology companies around the world are often cautious when responding to government data requests.

Firms such as Meta and Google typically weigh these demands against potential backlash from users and the risk of exposing proprietary systems.

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Radioactive metal at Indonesia industrial site may be linked to shrimp recall

Contaminated metal at an industrial site in Indonesia may be the source of radioactive material that led to massive recalls of imported frozen shrimp, international nuclear safety officials say, as efforts are underway to halt more U.S.-bound shipments.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that officials are in “constant contact” with Indonesian nuclear regulators who have detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, at a processing plant that sent millions of pounds of shrimp to the U.S.

“Preliminary information suggests that it may have originated from activities at a metal melting facility at the same industrial site or from the disposal of scrap metal junk to other areas of the site,” IAEA spokesperson Fredrik Dahl said in an email.

No U.S. investigators have been sent to the site in Serang, west of Jakarta, federal officials said.

Meanwhile, the company that exported the shrimp, PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, also known as BMS Foods, has recalled more than 300 shipping containers that were already on their way to the U.S., Dahl said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned last month that Cesium-137 was detected in shipping containers sent to four U.S. ports, and in a sample of imported frozen shrimp. That spurred multiple recalls of shrimp sold at Walmart, Kroger and other stores.

This week, additional recalls were issued by Tampa Maid Foods LLC, of Florida, for breaded butterfly shrimp sold under Admiral of the Fleet, Portico Seafood Classic and other labels.

None of the shrimp that triggered alerts or tested positive for Cesium-137 was released for sale, the FDA said. But other shipments sent to stores may have been manufactured under conditions that allowed the products to become contaminated, the agency said.

The risk appears to be small, but the shrimp could pose a “potential health concern” for people exposed to low levels of Cesium-137 over time, FDA officials said.

The FDA issued an import alert for shrimp from BMS Foods to stop the products from coming into the U.S.

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FDA Warns About Potentially Radioactive Frozen Shrimp Sold at Walmart Stores

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday issued a public warning against potentially radioactive frozen shrimp products sold at Walmart stores in several states.

The FDA alert urged the public not to consume, sell, or serve certain Great Value raw frozen shrimp due to possible contamination with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.

Impacted Shrimp Products

Walmart also shared the FDA’s warning on its website.

The impacted raw frozen shrimp products were sold under the Great Value brand at stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.

The impacted products have been stamped with lot codes 8005540-1, 8005538-1, and 8005539-1.

They also have Best by Dates of 3/15/2027.

What is Cesium-137?

Cesium-137, also referred to as Cs-137, is a radioactive isotope of cesium that is man-made through nuclear reactions, according to the FDA. The agency says because Cs-137 is “widespread worldwide,” trace amounts of the radioisotope can be found in soil, food, and the air.

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Million-Year-Old Tools Reveal Mystery Human Species

Archaeological excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have uncovered seven stone tools dating back at least 1.04 million years, potentially extending to 1.48 million years ago. This groundbreaking discovery, published in the journal Nature, represents the oldest evidence of hominin occupation in the Wallacean archipelago and suggests that unknown human relatives were capable of oceanic crossings far earlier than previously imagined. The identity of these ancient toolmakers remains one of archaeology’s most tantalizing mysteries.

The Calio Site Discovery

The seven chert stone artifacts were excavated between 2019 and 2022 at Calio, located in a modern corn field in southern Sulawesi. These simple yet sophisticated tools were manufactured using hard-hammer percussion techniques, where ancient toolmakers struck larger pebbles from nearby riverbeds to create sharp-edged flakes suitable for cutting and scraping tasks. Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, who co-led the international research team, described the artifacts as “simple, sharp-edged flakes of stone that would have been useful as general-purpose cutting and scraping implements.”

The tools demonstrate remarkable technical knowledge despite their straightforward appearance. Evidence suggests a two-step reduction process was sometimes employed, where large flakes were further reduced into smaller, more manageable tools. Some artifacts even showed retouching – deliberate trimming of edges to enhance sharpness. This level of sophistication indicates that the toolmakers possessed expert understanding of fracture mechanics within a pragmatic, “least effort” approach to tool manufacturing.

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Archaeologists Discover 140,000-Year-Old Hidden City Beneath the Ocean

Near Indonesia’s Madura Street in the ocean researchers have discovered a city submerged which dates back around 140,000 years. This incredible discovery has had a ripple effect through the anthropological and archaeological communities around the world. They found this submerged city between the islands of Java and Madura, as it was once part of a prehistoric land mass.

It was discovered during marine sand, mining operations and artifacts, as well as fossilized remains, were discovered. Excavations followed, which revealed homo erect skull fragments and over 6000 other fossils that represents 36 different species such as the Komodo dragon and some other extinct fauna.

The wall land mass that connected parts of Southeast Asia was known as Sundaland. In the modern day, it encompasses Malaysia, Indonesia, and other surrounding oceans. Because of lower sea levels back in the day, this land mass was exposed and was a terrestrial habitat that supported human populations and diverse ecosystems.

Because of climate change, the climate has warmed over time, and the glaciers melted approximately 14,000 to 7000 years ago, making the sea levels rise gradually. This resulted in the Sundaland being submerged and becoming the archipelagic geography we see today. One can only assume that the Submersion of this prehistoric gland mass had incredible implications for prehistoric human populations.

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Five Reasons To Disbelieve The Report That Russia Wants An Airbase In Indonesia

None of those in the media who lend credence to Janes’ scandalous report can cogently explain what tangible benefit Russia or Indonesia would obtain from this base arrangement.

Janes Information Service set the Asian media ablaze on Monday after citing unnamed Indonesian sources to claim that Russia requested an airbase on the island of Biak near New Guinea. The Australian Defense Minister spoke to his Indonesian counterpart the next day, however, who told him that this report is “simply not true.” Keen observers would have already known even before this that Janes’ report about Russia wanting an airbase in Indonesia likely wasn’t true for the following five reasons:

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1. Indonesia’s New President Is Passionately Pro-American

New Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who was inaugurated last October after his election in February 2024 and served as Defense Minister from 2019 till then, made headlines for his phone call with Trump shortly after the latter’s electoral victory. He posted a video of their brief exchange where he offered to fly to congratulate him personally and even boasted about how “All my training is American”. This isn’t the behavior of someone who’s willing to get on the US’ bad side by hosting Russian warplanes.

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As Kratom Consumers Face Global Market Disruption, It’s Time For FDA To Put Safety Over Stigma

For over a decade, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has quietly crippled the kratom supply chain. Now, Indonesia’s new export regulations—meant to raise kratom quality standards and appeal to U.S. regulators—may have just squeezed the most responsible products out of the market.

At the end of 2024, the Indonesian government enacted sweeping new trade regulations aimed at tightening the export market for kratom, a tree native to Southeast Asia with leaves containing psychoactive alkaloids that have long been used as an herbal remedy.

One provision of the policy strengthens quality control for kratom exports, which was notably absent in the past. Moving forward, all kratom shipments must be sterilized before leaving Indonesia, and only batches that meet minimum thresholds for the concentration of the primary active compound, mitragynine, will qualify for export. These steps are designed to limit contamination and prevent exporters from bulking up shipments with non-kratom plant material.

The second component of the regulations is a prohibition on the export of raw kratom leaf with a particle size over 0.6 millimeters, which includes crushed-leaf kratom. In the United States, crushed leaf is most often used to make extracts. By imposing particle size restrictions, Indonesia aims to ensure that the economic value of processing raw kratom into finished extract products stays within its own borders, rather than being captured by foreign companies.

These new standards represent a step forward for kratom quality control and international industry fairness. The intentions are worth celebrating and supporting.

However, the new regulations have also inadvertently disrupted the supply chain of safer, more traditional kratom products while failing to address the root cause of regulatory tension between the U.S. and Indonesia.

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Fossils suggest even smaller ‘hobbits’ roamed an Indonesian island 700,000 years ago

Twenty years ago on an Indonesian island, scientists discovered fossils of an early human species that stood at about 3 1/2 feet (1.07 meters) tall — earning them the nickname “hobbits.”

Now a new study suggests ancestors of the hobbits were even slightly shorter.

“We did not expect that we would find smaller individuals from such an old site,” study co-author Yousuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo said in an email.

The original hobbit fossils date back to between 60,000 and 100,000 years ago. The new fossils were excavated at a site called Mata Menge, about 45 miles from the cave where the first hobbit remains were uncovered.

In 2016, researchers suspected the earlier relatives could be shorter than the hobbits after studying a jawbone and teeth collected from the new site. Further analysis of a tiny arm bone fragment and teeth suggests the ancestors were a mere 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) shorter and existed 700,000 years ago.

“They’ve convincingly shown that these were very small individuals,” said Dean Falk, an evolutionary anthropologist at Florida State University who was not involved with the research.

The findings were published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

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Indonesia’s President Urges Biden To Lift FDA’s Kratom Import Restrictions, Advocacy Groups Say

In a meeting with President Joe Biden this week, the president of Indonesia urged the administration to lift a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) alert that broadly restricts imports of kratom to the U.S., according to a pair of advocacy groups.

Indonesia is one of the primary international exporters of kratom, a plant native to Southeast Asia that’s used for pain relief, managing the symptoms of opioid withdrawal and other purposes. The plant is currently unscheduled under U.S. law, but FDA issued an import alert in July that has seriously limited kratom imports from Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo met with Biden for a bilateral meeting at the White House on Monday. According to the American Kratom Association (AKA) and the Kratom Coalition, Widodo used the opportunity to request administrative action to remove the FDA restrictions, emphasizing the economic and environmental consequences of the current kratom import policy for Indonesia.

The White House referred Marijuana Moment’s request for comment to the National Security Council (NSC). A spokesperson for NSC said they have “nothing to add on the Leaders’ conversation beyond the joint statement and fact sheet released on Monday” that do not explicitly mention kratom.

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Indonesia Criminalizes Sex Outside of Marriage – Will Apply to Tourists as Well – Also Bans Opposing “State Ideology”

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s parliament passed a new ‘criminal code’ making it illegal for anyone within the country to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage and for unmarried couples from living together.

Under this new law, unmarried couples caught having sex will face prison time for up to a year.

It is also illegal for unmarried couples to live together. Prison terms of up to six months may be imposed on anybody guilty of breaking this law.

Everyone, including foreigners who live in Indonesia or visit popular tourist spots like Bali, must comply with the new regulation or will face jail time.

People’s Gazette reported:

Maulana Yusran, deputy chief of Indonesia’s tourism industry board, said the new code was “totally counter-productive” when the economy and tourism started recovering from the pandemic.

“We deeply regret that the government has closed its eyes,” he said. “We have already expressed our concern to the ministry of tourism about how harmful this law is.”

Foreign arrivals in the holiday destination of Bali are expected to reach pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels of six million by 2025, the tourism association said recently, as the island recovers from the impacts of COVID-19.

Albert Aries, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s justice ministry, said the new laws regulating morality were limited by who could report them, such as a parent, spouse, or child of suspected offenders.

“The aim is to protect the institution of marriage and Indonesian values while at the same time being able to protect the privacy of the community and also negate the rights of the public or other third parties to report this matter or ‘playing judge’ on behalf of morality,” he said.

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