Indonesia

Taiwan's Investments in Indonesia Reach 14 Billion US Dollars

adityaismail — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:31:44 +0800

Reuters

A military ship is seen in front of container vessels at Keelung port in northern Taiwan July 20, 2010. Taiwans export orders rose 22.48 percent in June, within expectations but the slowest pace of year-on-year growth since October amid concerns about the strength of a global economic recovery

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Taiwan wishes to increase its investments, which currently reach US$14 billion, in Indonesia, according to some sources.

"We want to increase the cumulative investments reaching US$14 billion, and cooperation in various fields between Taiwan and Indonesia," Louis W.H. Tzen, chairman of the Cross Strait Interflow Prospect Foundation, said here Wednesday.

The two parties could discuss specific and practical issues concerning economic cooperation to boost investments, trade and non-polities ties, he said.

"Forget political issue overshadowing the relations between Taiwan and Indonesia because of the China factor," he said.

He believed that investment and trade intensification would be beneficial to Indonesia and Taiwan in the future. Meanwhile, Taiwanese economist Dr Mignonne Mau Jung Chan said Taiwan and Indonesia were both members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and have a chance to bolster their cooperation.

"The People’s Republic of China, which is also a WTO member, cannot stop the cooperation between Taiwan and Indonesia as fellow members of the organization," she said.

Taiwan and Mainland China signed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) to intensify cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, tourism and services.

"Taiwan want to sign a similar agreement with Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia," Dr Chan said.

A Taiwanese delegation headed by Louis W.H. Tzen organized a discussion on "Taiwanese Foreign Policy After The Signing of ECFA" at The Habibie Center, here Tuesday. The discussion was attended by among others Representative of the Taiwan Economic and Trade Office (TETO) Andrew L.Y. Hsia, Director of The Habibie Center Dr. Fuadi R, and a number of diplomats.

source: http://english.kompas.com/read/2010/07/28/15504798/Taiwan.s.Investments.in.Indonesia.Reach.14.Billion.US.Dollars

Indonesia as SE Asia Base

adityaismail — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:31:22 +0800

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - South Korea’s LG Electronics and U.S. equipment maker Caterpillar Inc may pick Indonesia as their southeast Asian manufacturing base, as Jakarta takes on regional rivals Vietnam and Thailand. Indonesia’s investment chief said surging consumption, competitive labour costs and confidence in its stability were attracting foreign investment, particularly from Asian and Middle Eastern firms in electronics, infrastructure and energy.

“LG is thrilled with the fact that they have become 40 percent market share holders in Indonesia and the growth is just staggering. They are contemplating positioning Indonesia as a hub for Southeast Asia,” Gita Wirjawan told Reuters on Thursday.

“The labour cost structure is already much more competitive than China and Vietnam,” said Wirjawan, a former JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs banker, in an interview on a day when Fitch Ratings — which has Indonesia one notch below an investment grade sovereign rating — downgraded Vietnam.

Investors have ploughed into Indonesian markets, driving the Jakarta index to a record high this month, pushing down bond yields and lifting the rupiah 4.6 percent this year. Wirjawan, head of the investment co-ordinating board, on Wednesday said foreign direct investment was forecast to reach
118.4 trillion rupiah ($13.1 billion) in 2010, an increase of 25 percent from last year’s realised investment of $10.5 billion.

Previously, the government had expected FDI to rise 15 percent. Investment so far this year included expansion by miners such as Newmont Mining and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, plus the relocation of factories from Vietnam and China that make shoes for Nike and Adidas.

Wirjawan expects deals in the second half of the year with electronics, infrastructure and energy firms. A $6 billion joint venture between Indonesia’s
biggest steelmaker Krakatau Steel with South Korea’s POSCO is expected to be signed within a couple of weeks, but he declined to give other names.

“The credibility of Indonesia, though starting from a low base, has picked up, and I see that continuing,” said Wirjawan, having just had a visit from the CEO of Singapore’s Wilmar, which plans to invest $2 billion in producing sugar.

Music to investor ears

Less than a year into a job tasked with making the country’s growth and finances more stable, music major Wirjawan has jazzed up the investment board. He keeps his electric guitars in his office, has classical music playing in sparkling bathrooms, and local art in the corridors.

Wirjawan also sent his employees to get experience at multinationals, and has tackled existing investors’ problems. Wirjawan said potential investors appreciated that he also told them about the problems, from natural disasters to the difficulty of accessing capital outside the main island Java,
recipient of about 80 percent of foreign direct investment.

Investors’ main concerns include inadequate infrastructure, corruption, inflexible labour laws and red tape, he said. These are the reasons the country has lagged its regional peers in attracting foreign direct investment in recent years. “Corruption takes 30 years to fix. Infrastructure is so important and cannot continue to be rhetoric,” he said in frustration, adding the country could not compete with the kind of long-term planning done by Asian powerhouse China.

“We can’t build too many cars if there are no roads.” The CEO of the country’s top car seller Astra International , whose profits surged 52 percent on Thursday, suggested to Reuters that Indonesia could aim to replace Thailand as an auto manufacturing hub.

Wirjawan is trying to simplify the process so infrastructure investors could get permits in weeks rather than years. A long-mooted $600 million tourism development on Lombok now has four shortlisted firms: a unit of Indian Hotels, the Qatar sovereign wealth fund’s property arm Qatari Diar, the UAE
emirate Ras Al Khaimah wealth fund’s property arm Rakeen and an unnamed Abu Dhabi firm, he said.

source: http://english.kompas.com/read/2010/07/30/06571182/Indonesia.as.SE.Asia.Base

Meet Indonesians Sinta and Jojo, Who’ve Charmed The Web With Their Dangdut Antics

adityaismail — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:51:24 +0800

Bandung, West Java. West Java, it seems, is not just a hotbed of hard-liners and religious intolerance. It is the home of Internet sensations, too.
Two teenage girls from the provincial capital, Bandung, have captivated Web surfers and garnered mentions from media around the world after uploading a video of themselves lip-synching to a dangdut song.

“Keong Racun” (“Poisonous Snail”), which they posted on YouTube, has grabbed more than 1.2 million hits since it was uploaded a month ago.

It has also been the No. 1 trending topic on microblogging site Twitter for the past three days, a rare accolade for a site with a notoriously short attention span.

On Thursday, the video earned itself a mention on the Web site of British newspaper The Independent, which recorded how Twitter users were “going crazy” over the video, which sees the girls by turns giggling, grimacing, snarling, pouting, wriggling, guffawing and singing at full blast.

Sinta and Jovita “Jojo” Adityasari, both 19, told RCTI, a private television station, that they had never expected their video to become such a sensation.

“Sinta and I have been best friends since senior high school,” Jojo said. “Last month we heard about the dangdut song ‘Keong Racun’ from a friend. We downloaded it and liked it because the lyrics are funny.

“We taped ourselves lip-synching in the living room of my parents’ house. We had originally meant to upload the video on Facebook, but the file size was too big.” So a friend suggested they upload it on YouTube.

“Keong Racun,” written by Bandung singer-songwriter Buy Akur, was originally sung by Lisa, a local singer, but only became popular after Sinta and Jojo uploaded their version online.

The song is about a sleazy man shamelessly hitting on a girl on their first date.

The duo’s video created a buzz among Indonesian Twitter users and was linked by Facebook users and to other online forums.

Even politicians have been caught up in the craze, with House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung professing to be an instant fan.

“Per your request, I just watched ‘Keong Racun’ and it has cheered me up,” Pramono wrote on his Twitter account, adding that the teenagers “made me laugh so hard.”

Jojo said she and Sinta had received numerous offers to make an album and act in sinetron.

“But we turned all of them down because we know we have no talent,” she said.

However, they have agreed to star in a music video. “Charly, the vocalist for [the band] ST12, asked us to be in his video. He will be singing his version of ‘Keong Racun,’ and we said yes,” Jojo said.

As a result of the video’s success, Jojo, an international relations student at Bandung’s Pasundan University, has been asked to be her campus icon and will be given a full scholarship.

But things do not look so rosy for Lisa.

Entertainment Web site Cumicumi.com reported on Friday that she had become ill due to stress. The singer claimed that Charly had reneged on his initial promise to sing “Keong Racun” with her.

“Charly did not specify if I would sing the song in a duet with him or as a back-up singer, but he promised to include me,” Lisa told the Web site.

She said the arrangement on the song’s remake apparently changed after Charly met Buy.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/meet-indonesians-sinta-and-jojo-whove-charmed-the-web-with-their-dangdut-antics/388734

Sinta and Jojo's “Keong Racun” a Certified YouTube Hit

adityaismail — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:51:21 +0800

West Java teenagers Sinta and Jojo gains online popularity after their lip-sync video became a hit.

Jakarta. Two teenagers from Bandung, West Java, have captured the attention of the local online community after uploading a video of themselves lip-synching a dangdut song. “Keong Racun” (“Poisonous Snail”), which they posted on YouTube, has garnered more than 1.2 million hits since it was uploaded a month ago.

It has also consistently become the No. 1 trending topic on microblogging site Twitter for the past three days. The teenagers, Sinta and Jovita “Jojo” Adityasari, are both 19 years old. In an interview with TV station RCTI, Jojo said that she and Sinta never expected their video to be such a big hit. “Sinta and I have been best friends since senior high school.

Last month, we heard of the dangdut song “Keong Racun” from a friend. We downloaded the song. We like it because the lyrics are funny,” Jojo said.

“We taped us lip-synching at the living room of my parents' house. We had originally meant to upload the video on Facebook, but the file size was too big,” Jojo added.

One of their friends suggested that they upload it on YouTube. “Keong Racun” was written by Buy Akur, a songwriter and musician from Bandung.

The song was originally sung by a local singer named Lisa. It only become popular, however, after Sinta and Jojo uploaded their version on YouTube. The song is about a sleazy man who shamelessly asks a girl he just met out on a date.

The duo's video created a buzz among Indonesian Twitter users and was linked by Facebook users and other online forums. Even politicians like House of Representatives deputy speaker Pramono Anung said he was a fan.

Pramono wrote on his Twitter account that watching the video had cheered him up. “Per your request, I just watched 'Keong Racun' and it has cheered me up,” Pramono tweeted, adding that the teenagers “made me laugh so hard.”

Jojo said that she and Sinta had received offers from recording companies to record an album and star in sinetron.

“But we turned all of them down because we know we have no talent,” Jojo said. However, they agreed to star in a music video.

“Charly, the vocalist of [band] ST12 asked us to be in his [music] video. He will be singing his version of 'Keong Racun' and we said yes,” Jojo said. As a result of the video's success, Jojo, a student of international relations at Bandung's Pasundan University, has been asked to be her campus icon and will be given a full scholarship.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/sinta-and-jojos-keong-racun-a-certified-youtube-hit/388565

Life-Saving Technology Wins 2010 Inaicta Award

adityaismail — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:51:21 +0800

Innovations that could help save lives won praise at the 2010 Indonesian Information and Communications Technology Award finals last week.

A team from Jakarta’s Bina Nusantara University won the higher education category for a camera application that could help authorities spot security risks, including terrorists.

The application, called “Jabbing,” alerts camera operators when objects or people stay idle for a pre-determined amount of time, said Fredy Purnomo, the team’s project adviser.

He said “Jabbing” was designed for closed-circuit TV networks monitoring crowded public areas like lobbies or airports that were vulnerable to attack.

Meanwhile, developers from Bandung were honored for hospital management software called MetaCare, which won the open source category at the awards, also known as Inaicta.

The program keep track of the goings-on at hospitals “from accounting, logistics, and human resources, all the way to supply chain management,” designer Aries Setiabudi told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

The software has already been adopted by 19 health care facilities operated by state energy company PT Pertamina.

The development team also included Hendrik Saragih, Syafikli Musyafako, Nurdiansyah Ehsan and Mohammad Reza Kamarullah.

Other innovations honored at Inaicta included a maze-solving robot, a collaborative e-business system and an automatic resume and meeting minutes system.

Inaicta, held annually by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology since 2007, aims to bridge the gap between the research community and businesses or end-users.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/life-saving-technology-wins-2010-inaicta-award/388650

Indonesia - RI Underlines Its Active Role in Bringing the ASEAN Community into Reality

vika — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:05:01 +0800

For quite some time Indonesia has had a good relation with countries in the South East Asian regions. This relation has become stronger with the establishment of ASEAN and is further reinforced by the ASEAN leaders’ intention to establish the ASEAN Community in 2015.

For Indonesia, the realization of the ASEAN Community is one of the focuses on its foreign policy. It has had a long and rewarding history of partnership with the initial members of ASEAN, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, and the Philippines; nonetheless, Indonesia still needs to weave a stronger partnership with the association’s new members (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV), specifically in achieving the motto One Vision, One Identity, and One Community.

Cooperation in the Education and Training sector may be one of the means to form such partnership. Such cooperation will also increase the human resource capacity of the new ASEAN members involved.

For the second time around, the Centre for Education and Training of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry is holding a Short Diplomatic Course for the senior diplomats from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar. Meanwhile, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea, two non-members which aspire to join and work closely with ASEAN are also participating.

This activity receives warm appreciation and enthusiasm from those nations, and this is reflected by their willingness to send participants according to their quota. The event which is planned to be held annually is taking place from 12 to 30 July 2010.

Over and above conforming and reinforcing ASEAN’s new motto, One Vision, One Identity, One Community, this program is expected to build unity, improve capacity building, provide insight about ASEAN’s identity and integration, as well as improve participants’ understanding of the Indonesian government’s policy. As an added bonus, this program is also expected to provide the participants with knowledge about Indonesia’s political and economic system as well as its socio-cultural condition.

Besides the training on matters related to ASEAN and other diplomatic skills, while attending the program, the participants will also make several visits to some of Indonesia’s high institutions such as the Indonesian Parliament (DPR RI), National Election Commission, JCLEC in Semarang, as well as conduct a dialogue at the Centre for Southeast Asia Social Studies, CESASS at Gajah Mada University and a discussion with the heads of the forum for religious brotherhood (Forum Persaudaraan Umat Beragama, FPUB) in Yogyakarta.

Source:http://www.isria.com/pages/28_July_2010_58.php

Jammed Jakarta: a History of Sprawling Growth and Poor Planning

adityaismail — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:44:23 +0800

It was a simpler Jakarta, and one now lost in time. Newly-independent Indonesia’s capital was abuzz with optimism and nationalist fever in the late 1940s — not to mention the sound of electric trolleys rolling through the city center and out to Menteng, which then was just a suburb.

The city’s streets, and its relatively efficient public transportation system, largely remained that way until the early 1960s, when a fateful decision forever altered Jakarta’s history. President Sukarno, foreseeing rapid growth, had the trolleys decommissioned and replaced with buses.

“The trolley was insufficient to transport crowds because it only had [at most] three carriages,” said Jakarta historian Andy Alexander. “If you add more, it doesn’t move.”

So the trolley lines were paved over with asphalt and replaced by giant gasoline-guzzling buses. City planners dreamed up thoroughfares to help push the city southward into the wetlands beyond Menteng.

But the envisioned road network never really happened, while development flourished virtually unchecked by regulations or zoning.
“They did have plans. They just never implemented them,” Alexander said. “Jalan Sudirman-Jalan Thamrin was good planning, but that’s it. Roads grew on their own, without any planning.”

Mohammad Danisworo, chairman of the Center for Urban Design Studies in Bandung, and an adviser to five Jakarta governors, says the city before independence was basically a network of kampungs. Newer ones sprung up in the 1950s and ’60s, he said, and all of them eventually joined the sprawl. “They built the houses, and the roads came later,” he said. “And sometimes those roads weren’t designed to handle this development.”

As a result, the city is sorely lacking in major east-west crossroads, but has an overabundance of one-lane roads snaking through neighborhoods and behind high-rise buildings.

Jakarta’s newer districts also were never designed to enable people to live, work, shop and take their kids to school in the same area. As a result, more than 1.25 million people make trips into or out of the city and back every workday. Modern urban planning dictates that “you plan everything in your neighborhood,” said Harya Setyaka S Dillon, a transportation expert. “That’s the problem: There was no vision for self-sustained communities.”

There was also no vision for pedestrians. Conspiracy theorists say foreign donors and international organizations such as the World Bank were eager to give loans and grants to build new roads and highways, all the better for imported American and Japanese cars. City officials gave scant consideration to sidewalks, crosswalks or other safety measures for foot traffic.

“Cities are [supposed to be] developed for people, not for cars,” said Milatia Kusuma Mu’min, Indonesian country director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “The city of Jakarta provides only for cars and motorcycles. Now there’s an imbalance — all the protection is for the motorist.”

Well, most of the time. Jakarta is all but absent of public parking space, which leaves little option but to park on streets and sidewalks, thereby increasing traffic bottlenecks.

“There is only a small space on the roads, and the cars take up more space, which causes more problems,” said Sutikman, 54, a “blue shirt” city parking attendant who has worked on Jalan Sabang near Menteng for the past 30 years. “But I don’t want to say that parking causes traffic problems, because then my superior would think I haven’t been doing my job.”

The way the city’s streets have developed, someone somewhere clearly didn’t do theirs.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/specialissues/jammed-jakarta-a-history-of-sprawling-growth-and-poor-planning/337359

Infotainment’s Fine Line

adityaismail — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:39:11 +0800

Television infotainment programs have come under fire over the past few weeks for their coverage of the leaked sex videos of singer Nazril “Ariel” Irham and celebrities Luna Maya and Cut Tari. The media circus surrounding the “Peterporn” sex tapes has sparked a high-level debate over whether infotainment programs have gone too far in airing celebrities’ dirty laundry.

Earlier this month, House of Representatives Commission I, which oversees communication and information, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) and the Press Council agreed to categorize infotainment shows as “non-factual” programs.

According to the KPI, non-factual programs do not follow religious norms, moral and social values or the journalistic code of ethics, and as such, cannot be considered journalism.

Last week, the Jakarta Globe spoke with veteran journalist Ilham Bintang, secretary of the honor council of the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) and the founder and owner of “Cek & Ricek” (“Check & Recheck”), a local celebrity gossip show and tabloid.

On the air since 1997, “Cek & Ricek” quickly gained a following and went from being shown once a week to three times a week. A year later, Ilham began putting out a tabloid of the same name under the Bintang Group.

The success of “Cek & Ricek,” a self-proclaimed “pioneer of infotainment journalism,” opened doors for the industry in Indonesia.

During its heyday, the Bintang Group produced more than 10 gossip shows for television stations. Some of these shows were short-lived, while others have remained on the air despite lingering concerns about the quality of their reporting.

How did the idea for ‘Cek & Ricek’ come about?

First, we have to remember that our local film festivals and our film industry died in 1992. Strangely enough, the film industry collapsed, but TV began to expand.

Festival Sinetron Indonesia — which used to just be a complementary event to the Indonesian Film Festival — became huge. Harmoko [who was information minister at the time], asked me to help out with the festival arrangements and in 1994, I became its head of public relations.

In the same year, I created an entertainment show, “Buletin Sinetron,” which was about sinetrons and the festival. I did not have money back then. I created the show to get some money. It ran for 10 years before it stopped airing in 2004. “Cek & Ricek” was born out of that.

How was ‘Cek & Ricek’ created?

It was RCTI’s former director of operations, Alex Kumara, who asked me to create a gossip show about celebrities. I agreed because I thought that the program could be a good medium for information and clarification.

Usually, people only hear rumors [about celebrities]. Even deaths were sometimes reported without clarification of what happened.

Did that happen a lot?

PWI received a lot of complaints from the community, especially celebrities, about inaccurate reports in the mainstream media and about them being misquoted.

In almost all newsrooms, entertainment journalists are the lowest in the journalism caste system. They usually assign entry-level journalists to cover entertainment and this explains why errors and complaints abound.

There is an opinion that when you write good or bad news about celebrities, it’s a good thing for them because it means publicity.

Because it’s not politics or education, some people even think that it’s OK for celebrity news to be inaccurate. This makes me furious.

How did the situation affect the way that ‘Cek & Ricek’ was created?

Alex wanted “Cek & Ricek” to be a gossip show. I didn’t like the idea. I told him that I was a journalist, I worked for some of the most serious newspapers in the world.

In PWI, I also handled complaints about malpractice by journalists. [I told Alex] he was crazy to ask me to create a gossip show.

It was not easy to create the concept for an infotainment show. I got sick and was hospitalized for three days [during the process], that’s when I got the inspiration to name the show “Cek & Ricek.”

Alex disliked that name. He thought the name sounded too serious and a bit “too governmental” for an entertainment show.

I told him again that I couldn’t do a gossip show. I could give him a show about celebrities sharing stories and giving tips to the public, but that we had to have values to hold on to.

In six months, I sent 11 suggestions for the program name to Alex, but I insisted on “Cek & Ricek.” He must have thought I was being stubborn. It took a long time [for us] to get on the same page about this.

I insisted on the name “Cek & Ricek” for a number of reasons. The program is about people, so it has to be accurate. I wanted to challenge people who accused journalists of twisting facts.

Also, it was during the New Order era and no station except TVRI was allowed to have its own news program.

Around that time, the newly appointed information minister, Hartono, released a statement that journalists were required to check and recheck [facts]. I recorded that statement and told Alex to listen to it. That’s when he agreed on the name.

Why do you call ‘Cek & Ricek’ infotainment?

Infotainment is a generic term from overseas. In foreign countries, it does not refer to any specific kind of show or content. There’s a study that says that infotainment is a marketing strategy.

My disclaimer for “Cek & Ricek” is that it’s a medium to air information about celebrities’ careers and personalities and a platform for them to clarify rumors.

Is producing infotainment a profitable business?

Yes. It is very easy to sell advertising slots for an infotainment show.

What are the ups and downs of the infotainment business?

When the monetary crisis hit Indonesia in 1998, I thought, “What did I get myself into?” I was a journalist for print media, and suddenly I was making TV shows that required big investments.

In 1998, I created the “Cek & Ricek” tabloid as a safety net. But I think we are doing well. It’s been 15 years and “Cek & Ricek” is still on the air.

With the money it was making, other players started to get interested. They didn’t understand that the show was produced by people with a background in journalism, with skills and competency.

The competition was increasing and TV stations started to create their own infotainment shows. Infotainment journalists started coming to celebrities’ homes and demanding comments. This gave other journalists a bad name.

Do you feel responsible for that?

We can’t tell people not to create infotainment shows. I’m sad, it’s like seeing a kid turning bad. I was even more worried because I knew that if something happened, it would get back to me.

In 2005, PWI declared that infotainment was journalism. The problem is, this doesn’t mean that all infotainment workers automatically become members of the PWI or that all infotainment shows are doing journalistic work. I think this is the root of the problem.

They don’t understand what is news, the philosophy behind it and the process of obtaining information.

Infotainment became a [money-making] industry when TV stations started to produce their own shows. It became a tool to obtain high ratings.

They don’t follow the same standards as the PWI because they have their own broadcasting law for all shows other than news. Soon, the PWI will only recognize infotainment programs that operate in accordance with its code of ethics.

Many people say that infotainment programs have no educational value. What do you think?

In our content, I forbid anything that involves psychics. It doesn’t educate people and it violates the PWI’s code of ethics. It is not measurable.

The first time “Cek & Ricek” did a story about Mama Lauren [a famous psychic] was when she died. My staff thought that there had been a change in policy, but I told them that her death is a fact and her prophecies were not real.

Once, we ran a story listing 11 celebrities who reported their lovers to the police and how the media attention that their cases received was one of the factors that contributed to their subsequent divorces.

I think that’s educational. It’s all about the angle and the packaging. Some people are bored with mainstream news because it always talks about the government and corruption.

I always say it takes skill to educate through news. That’s why it is important for production houses to put people with a background in journalism in managerial positions.

Infotainment shows are perceived as intruding into the lives of celebrities. What do you think?

If there’s a complaint about a violation of privacy, we need to check up on that.

In the infotainment world, they call me Hitler. I have fired staff members who fabricated interviews.

For example, I knew about Bambang Harjojudanto [son of former President Suharto] and the Halimah divorce case six months before they went to court, but I kept the file in my drawer.

Once they went public, that’s when we published the story.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/infotainments-fine-line/388042

After Struggling to Operate Overseas, Bank Mandiri Asks for Lobbying Help

adityaismail — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:39:06 +0800

Stung by the difficulties it has faced in trying to set up branches overseas, PT Bank Mandiri on Monday asked the House of Representative to push the central bank to do more lobbying on behalf of Indonesian lenders looking to expand into foreign markets.

“Indonesia’s central bank [Bank Indonesia] should actively lobby other countries’ central banks,” said Zulkifli Zaini, the president director of Bank Mandiri, the country’s largest lender by assets.

He described for lawmakers Bank Mandiri’s difficulties establishing branches in Shanghai. Zulkifli said Chinese banking regulations did not allow the Indonesian state lender to perform transaction in yuan for three years due to its status as a foreign bank.

He also recounted some of the problems Bank Mandiri faced in Malaysia, where it was hoping to tap into the country’s large market of Indonesian domestic workers.

Bank Mandiri was granted an “incorporated-subsidiary” license by Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia’s central bank, meaning that the Indonesian lender needed to pay a fee of 300 million ringgit ($94 million), a figure Zulkifli said far exceeded the cost of opening a branch.

It is still deciding whether or not to accept the license.

Currently, to serve customers who want to transfer money from Malaysia to Indonesia, or vice versa, Bank Mandiri has to rely on the services of Mandiri International Remittance Sdn Bhd, a non-banking company that only performs cash transfers to Bank Mandiri accounts.

Zulkifli said all the regulations Indonesian banks had to deal with in overseas markets reduced their competitiveness.

“We need more support to put us on the same playing field,” he said, adding that the regulations in neighboring countries stood in contrast to the relative ease with which foreign banks were able to do business here.

He pointed out that in Indonesia, foreign investors can own up to 99 percent of an Indonesian bank. Prior to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, the limit was 85 percent, but the rules were liberalized to help Indonesia recover.

Attracted by high rates of return, foreign investors have been snapping up Indonesian banks in recent years. But as the central bank reviews the laws on foreign ownership of banks, some are questioning the benefits of the wide-open investment policy.

Zulkifli, for one, thinks Indonesia should begin placing tougher limits on bank ownership by foreign investors, and suggested that the country should only offer licenses to foreign banks from countries that reciprocate with favorable regulations.

Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution noted last week that in the open global economy, other countries had set up of what he called “qualitative requirements” like the ones proposed by Zulkifli.

“We are unlikely to retract the 99 percent [ownership] limit, because our government has an agreement with the WTO. But we can make qualitative requirements,” Darmin said.

Andi Rachmat, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said members of the House could help lobby overseas governments by being directly involved in negotiations on banking issues.

“In China, if we know what the obstacles are, we can help to lobby,” he said.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/after-struggling-to-operate-overseas-bank-mandiri-asks-for-lobbying-help/388099

Domestic motorcycle sales reaches 3.5 million in H1

adityaismail — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:39:56 +0800

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Domestic motorcycle sales in the first half of 2010 reached 3,599,322 units accounting for 61.5 percent of the 2009 national motorcycle sales.

Data from the Indonesian Association of Motorcycle Producers (AISI) issued on Wednesday show motorcycle sales in 2010 is projected to exceed 2009`s.

The data also show Honda led the national motorcycle market with Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki trailing behind.

Viewed from monthly sales in the first half of 2010 the sales of Honda and Yamaha motorcycles overtook one another. (*)

source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/1279759432/domestic-motorcycle-sales-reaches-35-million-in-h1