President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono held on Monday a plenary Cabinet meeting to discuss Indonesia-Malaysia ties following a recent incident in Tenjung Berakit waters in Riau, which has sparked an anti-Malaysia drive.



Yudhoyono said talks on border issues between Indonesia and Malaysia were pressing to solve territorial disputes facing the two neighbors.



The President called for proportional diplomatic measures in dealing with any dispute, but underlined that Indonesia would defend its territorial integrity at all cost.



“This is an era of cooperation, not war. Nevertheless if it concerns our territory and sovereignty we will do whatever we can [to defend national integrity],” Yudhoyono said as quoted by Antara news agency.



Malaysia has released three fishery and maritime patrol officers suspected of trespassing Malaysian territory, while Indonesia set free seven Malaysian fishermen accused of poaching in Indonesian waters. The deal, however, has failed to appease the public and politicians alike, who regretted the compromise.  



The Cabinet meeting also discussed efforts to maintain food security in the wake of global natural disasters, which occurred in, among other countries, China, Pakistan and Nigeria.

source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/23/president-leads-cabinet-meeting-rimalaysia-ties.html

The government is determined to maintain its 3-kilogram LPG canister conversion program following a series of accidents related to the canister explosions by establishing three task units involving the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry, the National Police and the Communications and Informations Ministry.



Energy and Natural Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said in Jakarta on Thursday that the first unit would be assigned to be in charge of providing instructions in using the canisters properly.



"The second unit is the monitoring intensification unit, which will be in charge of taking action against illegal refilling and other [illegal actions], under the authority of the National Police’s Detective Unit,” he said. 



“The third team is the information and communications unit under the coordination of the Ministry of Communications and Information," Darwin said, adding that the last team’s task will include "countering inappropriate [media] discussions."



Darwin made the remarks during a training for trainers program involving 80 community members, such as those from the Family Welfare Empowerment (PKK) organization, about the proper usage of the canisters.



The training program, which falls under the first task unit, is expected to reach residents in 30,000 villages.



According to National Police Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi, there has thus far been at least 80 accidents, involving gas canister explosions, 24 of them were related to the 3 kilogram ones.

source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/08/26/three-task-units-maintain-lpg-conversion-program.html

Jakarta. House Commission III lawmakers were quick to defend themselves on Wednesday against accusations they were undermining efforts to strengthen the anti-money laundering agency, with some saying they agree with proposals to give the body more powers. 



They were responding to accusations by anti-graft watchdogs on Tuesday that four parties in the commission which oversees legal affairs, had rejected 24 critical points in the government’s proposed amendment of the 2003 Money Laundering Law. 



The four parties named were the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP) and the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura). 



“That accusation is very wrong. There is no effort to undermine any anti-graft or anti-money laundering agency,” said Syarifuddin Sudding, a Hanura legislator and one of the formulators of the bill. 



“We are still discussing the points and we only want to deliberate a qualified law, not an overlapping one,” he said. 



Deliberations on the proposed amendment are continuing. 



However, lawmakers from the four factions have reportedly objected to proposals to allow the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK) to conduct its own criminal investigations and for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to automatically receive PPATK reports on suspicious transactions. 



Currently, only the police and the Attorney General’s Office have the authority to investigate money laundering and have access to the PPATK reports. 



“We know that the Law on KPK clearly states that its role is to supervise the police and attorney. If we push for the amendment, giving the KPK the same authority as police and attorney, then it will contradict the KPK Law,” Syarifuddin said. 



Watchdogs have argued that the KPK would do a better job of using the PPATK reports. 



The PPATK says it has detected 2,442 suspicious transactions since it was established in 2004, 92 percent of which were forwarded to the National Police and the rest to the prosecutors’ office. 



But only 26 of the reports have ended with convictions.



Meanwhile, in the only two cases handled by the KPK that utilized PPATK reports, 10 lawmakers ended up being charged with receiving bribes, most from Golkar, PDI-P and PPP. 



The PDI-P’s Gayus Lumbuun said he personally supported the points raised by the watchdogs but his party’s final stance had yet to be decided. 



“The final decision will be decided by the faction, and so far there has been no discussion on that,” he said. 



Golkar’s Nudirman Munir also denied his party was against the efforts to strengthen the PPATK and KPK.



Any statements by Golkar lawmakers expressing disagreement with plans to grant more authority to the KPK were merely personal opinions, he said. 



“Golkar wants the system to strengthen the KPK, not undermine it,” he said. “I agree that KPK should be given access to PPATK’s data.” 



Golkar’s Bambang Soesatyo has previously slammed the bill as a move to transform the PPATK into an untouchable body answerable only to the president, and said some of the articles would clash with existing laws. 



But Nudirman maintained that any comments by Golkar members in Commission III should be taken as their personal opinion, and not the faction’s. 



“Golkar supports any move to strengthen the KPK,” he said.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/politics/indonesian-lawmakers-deny-bid-to-sabotage-anti-graft-move/392935

Jakarta. In a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Wednesday, the head of Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic confirmed that it planned to move its production base to Indonesia, senior Indonesian government officials said. 



Gita Wirjawan, chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), said Panasonic president Fumio Ohtsubo told Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono in separate meetings that the company would move its factories from China and Vietnam to Indonesia to take advantage of lower wages and the booming economy, which is driven by consumer spending. 



Gita first revealed that Panasonic was considering such a move in March. 



Industry Minister MS Hidayat, who was present at Ohtsubo’s meeting with Boediono, said Panasonic was upbeat about the country’s economic prospects, and would close its factories in China and relocate them here. He did not offer a timeframe or investment value for the move. 



“They are committed to making Indonesia the production base for exports as well as for the domestic market,” Hidayat said. 



This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the average wage for factory workers in China is about three times more expensive than in Indonesia — $413 versus $129 a month — while wages in Vietnam were $136. 



The report cited research by JP Morgan, CEIC and the International Labor Association. 



Rachmat Gobel, the chairman of Panasonic Gobel, the electronics firm’s local unit, also declined to cite an investment value for Panasonic’s factory relocations, saying only that the parent company had been continuously investing in Indonesia, and had already brought the total to $400 million. 



Panasonic’s three factories in Indonesia — in Jakarta, Surabaya and Batam — make home appliances, personal electronics and batteries. 



“Its current annual turnover [in Indonesia] is $850 million,” Gita said, adding that it is expected to surge to $3 billion by 2014, partly because of its recent acquisition of Sanyo. 



Yopie Hidayat, a spokesman for Boediono, said Panasonic told the vice president the company may also develop solar panels domestically. 



“It plans to turn houses into self-sufficient energy houses with zero emissions,” Yopie said. “They made the prototype in Japan but are considering whether to develop the industry there or in Indonesia considering the skilled-laborers here and the availability of abundant solar energy. The vice president supports the plan to make Indonesia as the production base, not only as the market.” 



“They’re still considering the solar panel development here,” he added. “But the LED factories have been here and there’s also plans to extend the battery production factory.” 



Boediono encouraged Panasonic to develop solar energy as it could supply remote regions of the country with electricity. 



Gita and Hidayat both said Panasonic’s decision was expected to convince other companies to make Indonesia their production base.

source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/panasonic-plans-hub-in-indonesia/392890

Indonesia. The space agency this week moved a step forward in its plans to build an integrated space center on an island off the southwestern coast of Bengkulu province. 



Adi Sadewo Salatun, the head of the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), said the center would be built on Enggano Island in the Indian Ocean. 



He was speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding at the Lapan-Bengkulu provincial administration office. 



Adi said the island, in the outermost reaches of the archipelago, was the perfect spot for the country’s launch pad because of its low population and remoteness. 



“None of the neighboring provinces will be disturbed by our activities there,” he said. 



Adi said the site of the existing rocket launch site in Pameungpeuk, West Java, had become crowded and was no longer suitable for launching rockets bigger than the last one sent skyward, the RX-420. 



Given the island’s location, 110 nautical miles from the provincial capital of Bengkulu city, Adi said he was confident the project would not attract new settlers. 



“This is a lesson that we learned from the Pameungpeuk site, which was sparsely populated when first set up but attracted settlers after it became established,” he said. 



M Nashsyah, the head of the Bengkulu Regional Planning Agency, said the administration welcomed Lapan’s decision, adding the center would have a positive impact for the locals, especially in terms of technological development. 



He said that in future, other countries might use Indonesian rockets to put their satellites into orbit. “It will make the island’s and the province’s names known to the world,” Nashsyah said. 



He claimed the noise generated from spaceport activities would not disrupt the island’s 2,500 locals because the 200-hectare site was far from residential neighborhoods. 



Adi added that the center would have quake-proof buildings and be built in an area of the island that was shielded from the danger of being swept by a tsunami. Enggano Island sits on one of the world’s most active fault lines, where tremors and sometimes quakes are common. They are caused by the grinding of the Indo-Australia plate against the Eurasia plate. 



Adi said the plan was also in line with Lapan’s program to launch satellite-deploying rockets from 2012 to 2014. 



Lapan launched the unmanned RX-420 in July last year from the Pameungpeuk site after it carried out a stationary test on the rocket in December 2008. The agency also launched two smaller RX-320 rockets in 2008.  



The next rocket, the RX-550, is scheduled to be launched in 2012 and it will undergo static tests this year and in 2011. 



Pos M Hutabarat, the head of research and development at the Ministry of Defense, said the space center, initially intended for civilian purposes, would be useful for the military in the future. 



“We could use it for missile defense exercises and testing ballistic missiles with a distance of over 20 kilometers,” he said. 



Pos said such projectiles could be aimed toward the neighboring Mega Island, located further northwest from Enggano, to see the effects of the missiles’ explosions. 



He said the military had had trouble finding a remote area that was large enough to carry out ballistic missile tests over more than 20 km. 



Adi said work on the site would start next year, with a start-up budget of about Rp 20 billion ($2.24 million) to build the launch pad and prepare it for the RX-550 suborbital test flight in 2012. 



“But the construction will continue gradually to develop it into an integrated spaceport,” he said. “But for the first launch pad we only need a space no bigger than the size of a football field.” 



By 2014, Lapan expects it will be able to launch the polar orbital flights of the RX-550 and RX-420 rockets from the new center. 



Nashsyah said the regional administration would conduct a feasibility study, including an environmental impact analysis, before construction began. 



“The Enggano Island spaceport will be one of the few satellite launch pads located along the equator,” he said.

source:  http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/technology/remote-indonesian-island-reaches-for-stars-by-playing-host-to-space-center/389916