A MEETING of the board of directors of state-run electricity company PLN held in the second half 2011 was marked by worries over the possible failure to construct 21 power relay stations for the Java-Bali and Nusa Tenggara electricity grids. One director reported to Dahlan Iskan as the project leader that if the relay station material procurement bidding process was not completed that year, the target would likely be delayed by four to five years. If this happened, it would be nearly assured that an electricity crisis would be unavoidable. Rolling blackouts on the country's most populated islands would be almost inevitable.

FOR the past three months, residents of Pari Island have often seen a massive ship sailing past. The Cristobal Colon, a hopper dredger ship flying the flag of Luxembourg, slowly passes west and south of the islandtowards Kamal on the Jakarta coast heading for Tunda Island, located in the Java Sea, which is a part of Serang regency in Banten.

A STATUE depicting Tinhn Loai Han, a woman who committed suicide after being raped, greeted visitors entering the Indochinese refugee camp in Galang Island, in the Riau Archipelagonow a tourism site. Inside, dilapidated structures are spread around 80 hectares of land, surrounded by trees, shrubs and manicured lawn. Former refugees' accommodations are covered with tall grass, except for one run-down wooden barrack. "The military tore them down over the years to discourage people from coming," Abdul Syukur, field coordinator of Galang Island Tourism Area, told Tempo English last week.