Despite being a hot topic in Indonesia since the start of the year, we ignored the murder case of Mirna Salihin. However, we decided to devote one article on the topic because on Thursday (27/10) Mirna's friend, 27-year old Jessica Kumala Wongso, was sentenced to 20 years in prison having been found guilty - by the Central Jakarta District Court - of murdering Mirna by putting cyanide in her Vietnamese iced coffee. The whole case and trial bear resemblance to the O.J. Simpson murder case in Los Angeles (USA) in 1995 in terms of public attention and media coverage.

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The next restaurant we visited for our column series about dining in Jakarta was the Penang Bistro. This restaurant, which serves a selection of Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian dishes, has seven outlets in Jakarta. The outlet we visited is located in the luxurious Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall, right in the heart of Jakarta and next to the iconic roundabout (known as Bundaran HI). Grand Indonesia is connected to the Kempinski Hotel (previously Hotel Indonesia), one of the most luxurious hotels of Indonesia and a landmark building.

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