Sumbawa honey has become national icon

ForestryMinister Zulkifli Hasan said white honey from Sumbawa island`s forests hasbecome the icon of Indonesian honey because of its exclusive taste and quality.

"Because of its uniqueness, white honey from Sumbawa has become a nationalicon," the minister said when launching Nusantara Honey Week I hereTuesday.

Held for the very first time, the opening of Nusantara Honey Week lasting untilJuly 17 was among other things marked by a honey drinking party participated inby 10,000 people, most of them students.

The manager of the Museum of Indonesian Records MURI) Sri Widayati who alsotook part in the honey drinking party said the event would be listed as a newrecord because of the number of people who participated.

The record established by the honey drinking party surpassed that of a BeePollen eating event organized by beekeepers in Lumbang sub district,Probolinggo district, East Java, on November 29, 2008, in which 1,004 peopletook part.

Zulkifli said all parties must continue publicizing the uniqueness of Sumbawawhite honey that has become the icon of Indonesian honey, so that more and moretourists would visit Sumbawa.

Jakarta Biennale Exhibit Challenges Perceptions

Spectatorsstare at a red, circular statue standing on two stubby legs, with dozens ofhands reaching out from the surface of the sphere, each pointing a revolver. Nodirection is out of the statue’s aim, and as visitors pass by, the red orbseems to be drawing its weapon on them.

The artwork is titled “Total Survival,” a piece by Deni Rahman who said hewanted to criticize the culture of violence in Indonesia. Deni, a mixed mediaYogyakarta-based artist, is one of more than 30 participants in the “Game,Leisure and Gadget Victims” exhibition at Central Park mall in West Jakarta.