The President PostT H E S P I R I T O F I N D O N E S I A www.thepresidentpost.com

November 2012No. 38

IDR 20,000

ENGLISH EDITION

PROPERTYDubai Investor: I'm Comfortablewhen I Come to IndonesiaA well-known property company from Dubai, Damac, plans to invest in Indonesia specifically in Special Economic Zone of tourism sector Tanjung Lesung.– Page C6

PROFILESuzuki: ProvidingValue-packed ProductsSuzuki develops “value-packed products” for the new generation and changeable lifestyles, constantly creating new technologies and applying them to the products with affluent imagination. – Page B4

A prominent Jakarta-based CEO has thrown his weight be-hind Jakarta Vice Governor Ba-suki Purnama's promise to in-crease the city’s minimum wage.

“I support Vice Governor Ba-suki's idea. Bear in mind that in 1997, before the monetary crisis, the minimum wage was Rp 600,000 or $280 when the American dollar was worth Rp 2,300,” says SD Darmono, the president director of listed PT Ja-babeka, which owns and man-ages Southeast Asia’s largest in-dustrial estate in Bekasi, south of Jakarta.

“We can afford to pay higher wages as the country is back on track, our bourse’s composite in-dex has risen by 400% in the last seven years, and our foreign ex-change reserves stand at an all-time record of over $100 billion,” he added.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama last month told hundreds of protest-

ing laborers in front of City Hall that Jakarta’s minimum wage will be increased in line with the rising cost of living.

The laborers had demanded the city administration increase next year’s minimum wage from Rp 1.5 million (about $160) per month to nearly Rp 2.8 million a month.

“Many businessmen own pri-vate jets and Roll-Royces. But at the same time the minimum wage stands at about $160. The widening disparity between the rich and the poor is not healthy for business. A rapid adjustment is required to stop workers from holding strikes,” says Darmono, in an apparent reference to two

large-scale workers demonstra-tions and strikes in Jakarta and other parts of the country in the past ten months.

“If minimum wage can go back to $300 in two years’ time, Indonesians’ purchasing power will increase significantly. This in turn fuels our economy and will make the country even more attractive to investors,” added Darmono.

“Basuki’s promise merits sup-port from the business commu-nity if they really want to see Indonesia have a stronger econo-my. As Jakarta is the barometer of the country, it is very impor-tant that we set an example in treating workers in a just man-ner.”

While Basuki promises to in-crease the minimum wage, he also finds that the Rp 2.8 mil-lion per month proposed by the laborers was too high.

“The new figure will not reach that high. That’s too much, as companies must pay tax,” he said.

Top CEO Backs Jakarta Minimum Wage Increase

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama last month told hundreds of protesting laborers in front of City Hall that Jakarta’s minimum wage will be increased in line with the rising cost of living.

www.viva.co.id

The new figure will not reach that high. That’s too much, as companies must pay tax.”Jakarta Vice Governor Basuki Purnama

Suzuki Regina

Inequality Threatens Stability

The re-election of US President Ba-rack Obama is be-ing watched closely by the world. Europe

sees an important role of Amer-ica as the continent embarks on economic and financial recovery. African leaders hope Obama will be more concerned with the re-gion, East Asia and Latin Amer-ica. As the world's largest econo-my (GDP: $16 trillion), the weight and role of America in official multilateral and private arenas remain strong.

The leadership transition of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) signaled that the coun-try, as the second largest econo-

my (GDP: $ 7.5 trillion), wishes to maintain its strategic econom-ic partnership with the US. The slow economic recovery of the US and China has an impact on the growth rate of Northeast and Southeast Asian countries. Yet the US and PRC are both fac-ing domestic problems that are far more complex, affecting in no small degree the US’ econom-ic recovery, the economic growth of the PRC as well as Southeast Asia’s economic sustainability.

The inequality gap in the US is due to the crisis that has been ongoing since September 2008, and stems from 10 years of over-spending during the George W. Bush era. The US’s current eco-nomic mess is the result of foul play in bond tradings, bank loans, the money market and the housing sector as well as "toxic shares" worth $500 billion an-nually, thanks to the dubious acts of brokers in the American financial markets, all of which have undermined the competi-tiveness of America’s manufac-turing sector.

One percent of the American population controls nearly 60% of the country’s financial assets, while 90% of Americans do not have adequate savings. Grand theft and and bank frauds by the leaders of 13 banks (six of which are members of the financial in-dustry on Wall Street) have im-poversihed hundreds of thou-sands of account holders and banks around the world, includ-ing a number of state and private banks in Southeast Asia.

The economic and financial crisis that is felt in Asian bourses has also hit the stock and cap-ital markets in Jakarta, Kua-la Lumpur, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. The manu-facturing industry in Northeast Asia is suffering as a result of the economic slowdown in the US and Europe. The American and European crises ultimate-ly slowed down the world econ-omy, although some markets in East Asian countries have been galvanized to maintain a growth of above 5% per year.

The leadership change in the PRC and developments in the US are important for Indonesia to watch, as the symptoms of fi-nancial-economic inequality in the two countries are also evi-dent in the disparity in the coun-try’s monetary and bank sec-tors. About 70% of Indonesia’s financial assets are controlled by a small number of the financial

services industry’s brokers (8%), while the opposite is seen in the the real sector.

Corruption within the political elite in the US’s and the PRC’s fi-nancial and banking sectors also takes place in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. The gap between the lowest income and the highest income has wid-ened sharply, from 120 in 2004 to 2,500 times in 2010. Innova-tions in information technology and financial management have engendered a sharp distinction between the incomes of profes-sional workers (finance, insur-ance, services, high- technology, and health) and those of manu-al labor.

Leaders of the World Bank warned that the wide rich-poor divide in America, China and several Asian countries compli-cate global economic recovery because finances in those coun-tries are still concentrated in the middle-class and have not bene-fitted the manufacturing sector. Thanks to technology, a variety of new financial and banking in-struments have exacerbated in-equality in the real sector in the US, China, Europe, South Af-rica and Southeast Asia. The most striking form of inequality is seen in the services sector. For every professional person in this sector, 120 to 250 people are not part of the social security sys-tem. The labor unrest that has

occurred in the last four years represents a heavy challenge for ministries responsible for social affairs, labor, health and even state-owned companies.

The American working class who live on $45-50,000 a year is losing even more ground to those whose income is above $250,000. In the beginning of 2013, Pres-ident Obama must find a way for American taxpayers with in-come of over $250,000 to bear more tax than those earning less than that amount. The "fis-cal gap" caused by greed and economic mismanagement dur-ing the 2000-2008 period and the Senate-House of Represen-tatives financial committees col-lusion has compounded the al-ready heavy burden of President Obama, who is seeking to build "a consensus" to overcome the government’s budget deficit.

In 2009, when President Obama reminded the rich on Wall Street that a social revolu-tion will occur if the imbalance is not addressed, Republicans accused him of being the insti-gator of "class warfare." Mean-while, before the leaders meet-ing of the Chinese Communist Party on November 2012, de-bates raged among party cadres angry on the greed of the par-ty’s elite during 2002-2012. In-tra- and inter-elite collusion and corruption must be addressed to prevent the gap between the

rich and the poor in large cities and rural areas and among cit-ies and regions from leading to "social contradictions" that can threaten national stability.

We in Indonesia also should be able to overcome the financial gap of the rich and the poor in cities, regions and between cit-ies across the region. Our task is to make 60 million middle-class professionals in banking, insurance, property, telecoms, oil and gas sectors remain con-cerned with the bottom layer of our society, such as labors, peas-ants, and young freelancers who are not part of the nation’s social network. Public-private part-nerships to develop cross-sub-sidy programs in favor of labors and workers in pockets of pover-ty should be in place within the next 3-5 years.

Social benefit costs are indeed high, but the social and politi-cal costs will be even larger and more dangerous in the absence of public-private partnerships. In the US some public health programs have been slashed in the quest to balance the budget. In the PRC social benefit pro-grams have been increased in areas that are prone to unrest, especially where similar and ri-valling plants are in operation. We too need to be more vigilant in anticipating socio-economic stagnation that at times occurs in the form of clashes between

Leaders of the World Bank warned that the wide rich-poor divide in America, China and several Asian countries complicate global economic recovery because finances in those countries are still concentrated in the middle-class and have not benefitted the manufacturing sector.

We in Indonesia also should be able to overcome the financial gap of the rich and the poor in cities, regions and between cities across the region. Our task is to make 60 million middle-class professionals in banking, insurance, property, telecoms, oil and gas sectors remain concerned with the bottom layer of our society, such as labors, peasants, and young freelancers who are not part of the nation’s social network.

By Juwono Sudarsono*

citizens. Globalization is always a double-edged sword: it benefits the few who have skills but harm a large number who do not. In-deed, the US, the PRC and Indo-nesia face common complex and alarming problems.

Board of Trustees of President University, Cikarang

EDUCATIONGerakan Indonesia Berkibar to BoostQuality of Indonesian EducationGerakan Indonesia Berkibar has four programs covering boosting teacher professionalism; educational leadership and school management; school governance program; and other advanced program.– Page A8

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Opinionwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

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ENGLISH EDITION

The President PostT H E S P I R I T O F I N D O N E S I A

The Positive Correlation Between Graft and Workers’ Misery

By Dr. Muchtar Pakpahan, SH, MA

I often said that ram-pant corruption would make work-ers suffer. Why? Because high eco-nomic costs which

stemmed from corruption usually force businessmen to cut costs from the most flexible production cost, which in this case workers’ wages. Prices of raw ma-terials are already fixed, tax payments are also fixed and so is transporta-tion cost. Therefore this is where the positive corre-lation between corruption and workers’ misery come in.

In his courtroom defense in 1937 entitled "Indonesia is suing", Soekarno said “my intention to get Indo-nesia independent is be-cause I wanted to build a welfare state which runs based on social democracy such as in the Country of the Lord.”

When Soekarno became proclamator, he and his colleagues drafted the 1945 Constitution and includ-ed the welfare state idea in the opening and body text of the 1945 Constitu-tion. I will begin with an important statement in the Opening of the 1945 Con-stitution. The fourth para-graph, ”....... in order to form a government of Indonesia and the entire homeland of Indonesia, and in order to advance general prosper-ity, to develop the nation’s intellectual life, and to con-tribute to the implementa-tion of an everlasting world order based on…”

Now I would like to ex-plain more about the open-

industrial profit sharing. And this can only be possi-ble if the government is free from corruption like coun-tries with the most prosper-ous workers in the world such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore, Swit-zerland, Japan and Can-ada.

Corruption not only brings misery to workers but also to farmers and fishermen. Farmers find it difficult to buy fertilizers at an affordable price and they also don’t get any pro-tection to sell their crops. Fishermen don’t get any protection at sea from for-eign fishermen who steal our fish and they don’t get any guarantee for fuel, net and ice supplies.

Indonesian workers are among those who receive the lowest wages in the world. Our farmers and fishermen are also among the poorest in the world. Indonesia is a country controlled by neoliberals. Fighting poverty, corrup-tion can only be done con-ceptually, well-planned, programmed and sustain-ably.

Labor unions must take part in the movement to stop corruption. Labor unions should no longer only make their move when it concerns industrial mat-ters. It’s true that unfair industrial relationship is the source of the workers’ misery, but rampant cor-ruption is also the source of workers’ misery. La-bor unions which are now grouped under MPBI (In-donesian Workers Council) should make anti corrup-tion drive as one of their main tasks.

out that corruption in the construction and securi-ty sectors reached 30-40%, non-voting stocks 10-50%. Commission service and security industry 10-20%, non-voting stocks 10-30%. Export/import commis-sion/security 20-30%, and non-voting stocks 0-20%, while labor cost was only set at 8%. The officials who received/enjoyed corruption money consider that as nor-mal.

The corruption that I mentioned above created social injustice and social gaps. 70% of national as-sets lie in the hands of 200 tycoons.

When I served as Gov-erning Body ILO 1999-2005 and Vice President of World Confederation of La-bour, I had the opportunity to visit all prosperous coun-tries. In each of those coun-tries I found three things, they were welfare states; their governments adopt-ed the principle of good governance; and they had strong civil society which was marked by strong labor unions.

In brief, we want to build a prosperous society, at least in line with the articles I mentioned earlier in which all citizens could enjoy ed-ucation of at least until ju-nior high school (in other parts of the world it’s senior high school minimum); Ev-eryone must be employed, the state will pay for living expenses of those who are jobless; no beggars on the sides of the streets because the state takes care of them, educate them and empow-er them to become nor-mal people; Anyone who is sick can immediately seek

treatment at a hospital be-cause the government pro-vides health social insur-ance; the state guarantees that all citizens live in de-cent homes, no one should be homeless; everybody has pension funds, that when they reach 60 years old they can quit working and enjoy their pension benefits; and everyone is free to choose any religion and the govern-ment guarantees that they can practice their religions and beliefs.

I can say that the Soehar-to, Habibie, Gusdur, Mega-wati and SBY administra-tions have failed to create the welfare state because our government and bu-reaucracy are corrupt and we’ve even been labeled as the most corrupt country in the world. Corruption is rampant because the civil industry remains weak.

The Soeharto adminis-tration created a single la-bor union called All Indone-sia Labor Union (SPSI) and turned it into a political tool to support the government’s policies. When I initiated es-tablishing the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) with KH. Abdur-rachman Wahid, Sabam Sirait and Suko Waluyo as an alternative civil indus-try on 25 April 1992, the government immediate-ly turned SBSI into its en-emy. The Soeharto admin-istration even labeled SBSI as illegal, communist, and underground organization and jailed me twice for it.

A labor union as a civil strength is crucial because industry players are suffer-ing due to bad governance, and corrupt government. Workers badly need a fair

ing text, especially about the paragraph that was made as the basis to build a welfare state, the paragraph on general prosperity and to develop the nation’s intellec-tual life, as stipulated in ar-ticles in the 1945 Constitu-tion and an understanding about the International La-bour Organization. First Ar-ticle 31: every citizen is enti-tled to a 9-year education and the state has the obli-gation to cover the expens-es. Article 27: every citizen is entitled to get a job and decent life. Article 34: the state takes care of the poor and neglected children. Ar-ticle 34 jo 28: the state ad-vances the public’s health.

But reality showed that the welfare state idea had never materialized. Why? I once read in the media that the illiteracy rate in people aged more than 45 years old reached 9.7 million, anf real unemployment rate is 9 million. There are so many beggars at every intersec-tion. Medical expenses are very expensive and people die because they couldn’t afford medical treatment. The government couldn’t cover all that because it said it didn’t have money.

The next question is, why isn’t there any money when Indonesia’s natural re-sources makes up 65% of the natural resources found in Asia-Pacific (APEC, Kyo-to 1995). The answer is be-cause corruption is ram-pant in all public service sectors.

Indonesia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world, ranking 182, and tops the rank both in Asia Pacific and Asia, followed by Cambodia. In 1994 I found

High economic costs which

stemmed from corruption usually force businessmen

to cut costs from the most flexible production cost,

which in this case workers’

wages. Prices of raw materials

are already fixed, tax payments are also fixed and so is transportation

cost. Therefore this is where the

positive correlation between corruption

and workers’ misery come in.

Labor unions must take part in the movement to stop corruption. Labor unions should no longer only make their move when it concerns industrial matters. It’s true that unfair industrial relationship is the source of the workers’ misery, but rampant corruption is also the source of workers’ misery.

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Opinionwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

Good news and bad news, but I’ll start first with the latter: I arrived in Bali on a Friday last month to attend a

weekend conference of Universi-ty of Southern California alum-ni. I met business leaders such as the bosses of Garuda Indone-sia, Korean Air and Bank of Chi-na Aviation. I also met Minister of Tourism and Creative Econo-my Mari Pangestu and over 100 Indonesian Tourism leaders and investors in Jakarta on Mon-day. It was an enjoyable and val-ue adding 3 day trip. However, I have to say that the first hour at

Bali airport was not positive. The air conditioning at the

terminal was not work-ing, the building left much

to be desired, and Immi-gration was chaotic, bother-

ing and intimidating.

It didn’t concern me as I’ve vis-ited Indonesia at least 15 times and I am aware of the many good things that are evolving in Indo-nesia. But for those who come here for the first time and see people in uniform saying "give me US$20 and I’ll get your visa quickly". It is not a good first im-

pression. After flying for 12-15 hours, visitors are looking for-ward to relaxing in paradise not landing in hell!

The good news is that there will soon be a new Bali Airport Terminal. I’m sure things will be much smoother then. Hopeful-ly the stylish architecture will be matched by improved ser-vices on visa and immigration. This is crucial as one of my main messages as the CEO of PATA is, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. Garuda Indonesia now provides excellent inflight services; great food and movies. Bali has some of the best hotels in the world, not to mention su-perb natural environment and unpolluted, white sandy beach-es, all of which people dream of visiting.

But if you have to go through hell to get there, you might not return, right? People who had to queue forever an hour for visa on arrival have many friends who would later ask them how their holiday was in Bali. They may say: "It was great, but you should go somewhere else because it was too much hassle getting through immigration". “Remember, con-sumers have lots of choices at their disposal when it comes to choosing a place to spend their holidays. So, your weakest link

damages the entire chain.Indonesia offers tourists an

authentic leisure experience. It has over 17,000 islands to choose from! However the coun-try must develop its tourism in sustainable, balanced and intel-ligent ways. From what I learned in my meetings in Bali and Ja-karta, you're taking off well but it’s a long journey. The mega-new city development plans 100, new cities of 1 million people each by 2040 must be carefully craft-ed on the basis of a sustainable ie balanced and environmental sound footprint.

Travel and Tourism in the 21st century is all about finding a balance between the needs of people working in the business, profits necessary for business, and efforts to sustain the planet. They are called by UNWTO the 3Ps (People, Profit, Planet). I be-lieve Minister Pangestu has the opportunity to strike that bal-ance for Indonesia. Indonesia is already taking a world lead-ership position as your minis-ter is the Chairwoman of the World Economic Forum commit-tee on travel, tourism and trade. Frankly, she is the perfect person for the job as she has served as Minister of Trade in a very distin-guished manner and is well re-spected around the global trav-el and tourism industry after a productive first year in the job.

In Jakarta at the Tourism In-vestor Conference, investors told your minister how impressed they were with many of aspects of government coordination, and how they were happy that In-donesia is opening up and put-ting international processes and transparency into its investment process. So, if there is a weak link, it should be addressed

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"

with high priority. You have got to have the right people with the right mindset. Indonesia is spending millions of dollars on TV ads on CNN and BBC. But it’s self-defeating to then give a bad impression due to poor presenta-tion coordination of Immigration services. As I said good news and bad news.

On the other hand, the UK does not have a Minister of tour-ism as Indonesia does. However, they have a very effective tour-ism commission whose mem-bers are very entrepreneurial. So if you put this in the hands of entrepreneurial or private enter-prise people, you do get results. In the meantime, let me make myself clear: I will be back in In-donesia soon. With the future right mindset go into the tour-ism sector. PATA’s local chapter and our headquarters look for-ward to helping.

The writer is the CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) International, which was established in 1961 in San Francisco. In 1998 its headquarters moved to Bangkok.

By Martin J. Craigs Indonesia offers tourists the an

authentic leisure experience. It

has over 17,000 islands to choose

from! However the country must

develop its tourism in sustainable, balanced and

intelligent ways.

Travel and Tourism in the 21st century is all about finding a balance between the needs of people working in the business, profits necessary for business, and efforts to sustain the planet. They are called by UNWTO the 3Ps (People, Profit, Planet).

The good news is that there will soon be a new Bali Airport Terminal. I’m sure things will be much smoother then. Hopefully the stylish

architecture will be matched by improved services on visa and immigration. This is crucial as one of my main messages as the

CEO of PATA is, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link”.

Martin CraigsChairman of PATA International

With their increasing population, developing countries have to race aginst time to create jobs. Manufacturing and the development of services are needed to create employment opportunities, especially in countries with dense population and rising urbanization.

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Focuswww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

CRITICAL SECTOR

In this era of globalization and modernization, no developing country can afford to be left out in the surge towards manufac-

turing. In mapping out their de-velopment policies manufactur-ing has become a key element to be included in nations' plans.

As rightly stated by Trybout of Pennsylvania University, manu-facturing is viewed as the leading edge of modernization, skilled job creation and a fundamental source of positive spillovers.

Moreover, with their increas-ing population, developing coun-tries have to race aginst time to create jobs. Manufacturing and the development of services are needed to create employment op-portunities, especially in coun-tries with dense population and rising urbanization.

To that end, for a region with such a huge population it is quite astonishing to see East Asia per-form extraordinary well and see the vast region on the road of be-coming one of the main industri-al regions of the world.

It will be recalled that this trend was first led by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the other NIE’s (newly industri-

REVITALIZING GROWTHIn the domestic economy,

three sectors are the main con-tributors to the Indonesian econ-omy, namely: manufacturing with 25% (in 2009), agriculture 15% and trade 14% (Figure 2).

During the last few years, In-donesia’s macro economic en-vironment has changed con-siderably, affecting also the manufacturing sector in a pos-itive way.

At a recent dialogue meeting at the Ficancial Club, the World Bank came up with a report en-titled “‘Picking up the pace: Re-vitalizing Growth in Indonesia’s Manufacturing Sector”. In the first place the report recogniz-es the importance of manufac-turing in facilitating econom-ic transformation. The report is also offering an option for a policy framework for the years ahead.

To highlight the positive devel-opments of manufacturing, the World Bank report came up with

the following interesting trend. In terms of the global economy Indonesia has made progress as follows:

In 1990: Indonesia was the 24th largest industrial producer contributing 6.3 indus-trial goods out of every 1000 produced globally.

In 2000: Indonesia was the 19th largest industrial producerContributing 8.6 out of every 1000 goods in the global pot

In 2010: Indonesia was the 16th largest producer, contributing 10 out of every 1000 goods

It is not clear yet how the re-port has come with such positive projections, indicating that Indo-nesia has now reached the stage as the 16th world's largest pro-ducer. Nevetheless, many criti-cal observers continue with their doubts about Indonesia’s abili-ty to become such an important supplier of manufactured goods in this highly compettive global environment.

In any case it is most encour-aging to detect from the explana-

DEVELOPMENT POLICIES:

MANUFACTURING

By Atmono Suryo

tions given by the representative of the World Bank that the fu-ture for manufacturing is bright for Indonesia.

A shot in the armIn the area of macro-economic

growth Indonesia is on the right track. But as obervers remark Indonesia now needs a shot in the arm, including in such key areas as manufacturing. No doubt Indonesia must contrin-ue with its robust growth and to bolster its efforts to reduce pov-erty. These steps will create de-mand and the development of an increasingly attractive market.

It is now beyond doubt that manufacturing will give its posi-tive supply responses not only in the form of a greater output but also in the production of a larger variety of manufacturing prod-ucts. Therefore, supply respons-es by the business sector will be urgently needed.

However, to bolster manu-facturing Indonesia must build more infrastructure. And as fast as possible with no more delays

accepted. Manufacturing growth urgently needs the availibility of energy, of good roads, effective functioning ports and a rise in telecommunicaton (broadband in particular).

Of course, there will also be the need to resolve the well-known macro and micro chal-lenges facing the country. The business constraints are in such areas as tax rates, tax adminis-tration, labor regulations, access to finance and a good legal sys-tem.

In addition, to ensure the re-quired supply responses there is the need for an increasing flow of FDI (foreign direct invest-ment). Apparently early this year the manufacturing sector is the largest receiver of FDI.

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATIONAs the leading sector in the

economy the manufacturing sector is a key sector which can expedite the structural trans-formation of the economy into a modern economy. It becomes in-creasingly evident that the year 2012 is marked as the beginning of the revival of the country’s manufacturing sector.

It is being felt by the stake-holders in the industry that the time has indeed come for such a revival of the industry. As re-ported by the media, in partic-ular by ICN - Indonesian Com-mercial Newsletter, a growth of 6.49% - the highest since 2005 - was recorded for the country’s processing industry in the non-oil/gas sector as against 5.09% in 2010.

Strong growth is being ob-served for food and beverage processibg industry which grew by 6.49%, followed by trans-port equipment, and machin-ery and equipment industries, which grew 7.29%. Even the tex-tile, leather goods and footwear industries grew by 8.63%. Iron and steel base metal grew by

15.03%. This is all good news which must continue in the years ahead.

As stated earlier manufac-turing is one of the key sec-tors which should facilitate the transformation of the economy. As rightly said by Vikram Neh-ru of the Carnegie Foundation, manufacuring generates large economies of scale, creates high quality jobs, boosts productivity and wages.

In addition, manufacturing firms become part of regional and international production networks and benefit from in-ternational know-how, trans-fer of technology and access to markets.

These are all important ele-ments which can generate the transformation of the economy from a rather traditional econ-omy into a modern and highly productive economy. Manufac-turing has its many spillovers and spreads effects which should also go to the outer re-gions outside Java.

Another important point which should be underlined is that even for countries rich in commodities such as Brazil and Indonesia it is highly important to propel the growth of the man-ufacturing and the processing sector. It stimulates the growth of value-added industries which Indonesia needs to diversify do-mestic production, expand the range of export products and in-crease income. It is of consider-able importance to create a con-ducive business environment, to convert manufacturing, in-cluding the processing sector, to become an effective machinery with the aim to transform the national economy into a mod-ern economy and to bolster in a big way the growth of the out-er regions.

The writer is former ambassador to the EU.

al economies), often called the Asian tigers. This is now being done by China and India in a big way followed by the other East Asia countries, including South East Asian countries.

At one time in the past Indone-sia was considered by the World Bank as one of East Asia’s “in-dustrial dragons” covering the mid-1980”s to the mid-1990’s. The pace of development of man-ufacturing, mostly state enter-prises, was reaching the growth of around 12% - 14% (Figure 1).

The Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, however, hit the man-ufacturing sector in such a way that it kept limping since then. Indonesia was considered to have reached the “de-industrial-ization stage”. During the period 1995-2010 various manufactur-ing products declined. In par-ticular the TFC (textiles, cloth-ing and footwear) and FBT (food, beverages, tobacco) products. The main reason is that they are losing out in competition with imported goods, especially from China.

Figure 1. After boom years in the early 1990s Indonesia's manufacturing sector has grown at a much lower rate(growth rate of real GDP, percent)

Source: BPS and World Bank staff calculations

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2010

Before 97/98 crisis Post 97/98 crisis

GDP Non oil and gas manufacturing

Agriculture15%

Mining11%

Manufacture25%

Electricity1%

Buildings1%

Trade14%

Transportation7%

Finance7%

Services10%

A5

Law & Regulationwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

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Legal Protection for Outsourcing Workers and Job Agreement over a Certain Period of Time (PKWT)

Demonstrations de-manding for the eradication of the outsourcing system continue to rise be-

cause the system is deemed to disadvantage workers as it fails to provide welfare for the work-ers. These demonstrations need to be tackled immediately be-cause the problem can affect In-donesia’s investment climate if the problem is left unresolved. The demonstrations could even prompt several companies to close their business here due to the unresolved labor problems. The government surely has to prevent this from happening if it still wanted foreign investors to bring in their funds to Indo-nesia.

But first of all we should un-derstand about the outsourc-ing system. Article 64 of Law No 13/2003 about employment (La-bor Law) stipulates that:

“Companies may hand over some of their works to other companies through a contract of agreement or employment ser-vice providers in writing”

The Labor Law, however, did not define what outsourcing is but it can be defined as trans-ferring a business process to a service provider or another par-ty. Basically, if it is implement-ed well, the outsourcing system should bring positive impacts on the employers, employees and even on the government.

The positive impacts of the outsourcing system are as fol-low.

For employers:It can improve the company’s •focus;Better use of skills;•Risk sharing in terms of work-•ers turnover; Cost-efficiency.•

For the people and the workers:It helps push other supporting •economic activities for people in surrounding areas;Reduce unemployment rate•Prevent urbanization•

For the government:It helps spur the national eco-•nomic growthIt helps grow small, medium •enterprises and cooperatives

However, despite the positive

the process of experiment.

Clause (2) stated that a job agreement over a certain period of time cannot be applied on jobs with permanent nature.

Article 65 clause (2) stat-ed that “jobs that can be trans-ferred to other companies” must meet these criteria:a. Conducted separately from

the main activities;b. Conducted based on the di-

rect or indirect order from the job provider;

c. An activity that supports the company as a whole; and

d. It does not disrupt the produc-tion process

But in reality, those regula-tions did not seem to be enough to solve the various problems that emerged. This issue has even been brought to the Consti-tutional Court, which issued rul-ing No 27/PUU-IX/2011 which basically said that:

“The term about a job agree-ment over a certain period of time” under Article 65 Clause (7) and the term “job agreement over a certain period of time” un-

der Article 66 Clause (2b) of the Labor Law:

Is contradictory to the 1945 •Constitution if the working agreement did not guarantee workers’ rights when some of the works are transferred to another company or an em-ployment service provider It’s not legally binding if the •working agreement didn’t include the requirement to guarantee workers’ rights when another company or an employment service pro-vider takes over some of the works

The Constitutional Court’s ruling didn’t revoke the articles in the Labor Law about out-sourcing, but it did stress the importance to protect the in-terests of employees working based on the outsourcing sys-tem.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling was also followed up by the Ministry of Labor and Transportation which issued circular No B.31/PHIJKS/I/2012 on the implementation of Constitutional Court’s rul-

ing No 27/PUU-IX/2011. There-fore the Constitutional Court has decided that every employee working based on the outsourc-ing system is entitled to the same rights as employees of non-out-sourcing system. Outsourcing companies must also weigh in the working period as a refer-ence to set the wages and other benefits including when they are transferred to other companies that needed employees.

If you look at it from the per-spective of regulations, they should be enough to protect em-ployees working based on out-sourcing system or PKWT. But in the course of time, many par-ties declined to implement this outsourcing system. So what caused the employees of the out-sourcing system to decline this system? One must realize that a law/regulation should be imple-mented and requires a supervi-sory system. Therefore the reg-ulation should be able to protect the interests of both employers and employees. On top of that, a strong supervisory system is also needed so that employment

service providers do not act ar-bitrarily and make sure that they comply with the existing law and regulations. With the currently poor supervisory sys-tem, many outsourcing compa-nies have violated the law and as a result, workers do not get enough protection. The govern-ment must act swiftly against the outsourcing companies that violated the law. If necessary, the government should revoke the license of those companies.

The government is also ex-pected to socialize its policies both to the workers and em-ployers so that they can un-derstand their respective rights and obligations. The public’s role in supervising the “unruly” companies is badly needed. The government cannot be expected to fully supervise them that the public’s participation is need-ed to support the supervision process. And last but not least, an independent institution is also needed where the public or workers can file a complaint whenever their rights are unful-filled.

By Paulus Khierawan

Article 59 of the Labor Law stated that “A job agreement over a certain period of

time may only involve certain types of works or job agreement over

a certain period of time of certain nature

With the currently poor supervisory system, many outsourcing companies have violated the law and as a result, workers do not get enough protection. The government must act swiftly against the outsourcing companies that violated the law. If necessary, the government should revoke the license of those companies.

Demonstrations demanding for the eradication of the outsourcing system continue to rise because the system is deemed to disadvantage workers as it fails to provide welfare for the workers. These demonstrations need to be tackled immediately because the problem can affect Indonesia’s investment climate if the problem is left unresolved. The demonstrations could even prompt several companies to close their business here due to the unresolved labor problems.

www.viva.co.id

impacts, the system also con-tains problems.

Uncertainty regarding em-•ployment statusLayoff risk•Career uncertainty•Exploitation of workers •

So, are companies free to choose as they like whether they want to use the outsourcing sys-tem or PKWT or hire permanent workers when running their business? The Labor Law antic-ipated this problem by limiting the activities that may involve PKWT or outsourcing system.

Article 59 of the Labor Law stated that “A job agreement over a certain period of time may only involve certain types of works or job agreement over a certain period of time of certain nature such as:a. Works that can only be done

once or temporary in nature;b. Works that require an esti-

mated short period of time or at the longest 3 (three) years.

c. Seasonal jobs; ord. Works related to new prod-

ucts, new activities, or addi-tional products that are still in

A6

Energywww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

ropha plants’ yields in laboratory settings. CPRD has been culti-vating various jatropha plants on 100 ha of land near Bogor, West Java since 2005. CPRD‘s team were looking closely at the behavior of jatropha plants dur-ing the last 6 years to arrive at those conclusions. “The necessi-ty to rejuvenate the plants every 3 years would burden farmers with extra costs but this could eventually be compensated by the value of the biomass result-ed from replanting, if it could find the right market,” Prasto-wo said.

Camelina BiofuelsFor the last few years, Cameli-

na oil has received attention as a renewable energy stock for the alternative fuels expansion. The plant, officially called Camelina Sativa, is native to Northern Eu-rope (where it has grown for sev-eral thousands of years) and to some Central Asian areas. Ac-cording to Best Alternative Fuels Sources (BAFS), a forum for ex-change of ideas and experience about alternative fuels in the US, Camelina oil has traditional-ly been used in lamps, as cook-ing oil, and as animal feed. It has reasonable oil content (9%) but lower than other biofuels crops like jatropha (14%) or rapeseeds (11%). Camelina has lower water, fertilizer, and pesticide require-ments than traditional oilseed crops, like soybean and sun-flower, and produces a by-prod-uct when the oil has been ex-tracted, called Camelina meal, which has a significant protein content that makes it suitable as animal fodder.

Camelina has lately been re-searched as a biofuel stock for biodiesel and jet fuel (biokero-sene) for the US military and the aviation industry. Experts say that Camelina is easier to grow than Rapeseed. It has only about three months harvesting cycles, compared to six months for rape-seed and one year for jatropha. Alternative diesel fuel made from Camelina also showed better

cold start characteristics com-pared with rapeseed. This char-acteristic has made it compara-ble to jatropha which was earlier considered suitable for aviation fuels.

Even though Camelina may grow on more marginal land, but not thrive, one way to min-imize the competition of Cameli-na with food crops in land use is to plant it in rotation with other crops. Unfortunately Camelina is generally categorized as a food crop. Therefore, like palm, Cam-elina biofuels are controversial, and some environmentalists op-posed its use as biofuels feed-stock.

But according to Toshi Naka-jima, Waterland Chief Operating Officer, Camelina could grow on marginal lands in warmer coun-tries. Therefore his company is embarking on an experiment of planting Camelina in Indram-ayu, West Java and some oth-er places on Java, in rotation with other food crops on margin-al land. Meanwhile, according Waterland’s CEO, Nolten, some ASEAN countries including Ma-laysia, Laos, and Thailand have made Camelina Biofuels a na-tional projects, and Waterland is involved with these projects.

Waterland hopes that Cam-elina could thrive better in trop-ical climates and in combination with jatropha, this plant could increase biofuels production for the world market. But Nakajima said that the experiment would not use lands which could be used to grow food crops. As in the Grobogan (Purwodadi, Cen-tral Java) projects, the Cameli-na plants are using marginal lands controlled by Perhutani. But unlike Jatropha, Camelina could not be cultivated using in-tercropping method; therefore Waterland will use the rotating method.

Nakajima said that one ha of Jatropha intercropping with Camelina plantation in Indo-

Biodiesels New Prospects, But Big Challenges Remain Controversies about

Jatropha and Camelina Biofuels

nesia would yield an average 3 MT, i.e. 3276 liters of fuel per annum, therefore using the IEA standard of mandatory blend of 5%, 15.262 ha of plantation are needed to power one Boeing 747 jet continuously for one year. On this basis, 755 ha of Jatro-pha intercropped with a Cameli-na plantation would meet the re-newable fuel needs of one Boeing 747 during one full year of oper-ation.

Further Waterland claims that such a model would save some 23.405 trees (37 Ha of for-est) in Java from being ‘grabbed’ by local landless farmers liv-ing near the forest area. There-fore, to keep a fleet of 13 Boeing 747 in the air for one year on a B5 blend biokerosene, it needs about 10,000 ha of such rotating plantation and saves at the same time 310,000 trees (496 hectare of forest) in Java-Indonesia.

But experts say that Camelina has some shortcomings which make it challenging to grow on infertile soils. Camelina is part of the plant family Brassicaceae (mustard), and as such it can't enter into symbiosis with the soil fungi mycorrhizae, which can lead to improved plant growth and reproduction. The lack of symbiosis with mycorrhizal ex-plains why Camelina can't really thrive on marginal land and the crop instead would need both water and added fertilizer to give a decent yield. More important-ly, based on the understanding that crops which actually can't thrive on less fertile land with-out a good deal of energy input, it doesn't bring many advantag-es of renewable energy. There-fore whether Waterland’s Cam-elina experiment in West Java is successful will remain to be seen. But Nakajima and Water-land expect Camelina plantation in Indramayu will begin to pro-vide yield sometime this year.

Business Model for Smallholders’ Hybrid Plantation

For its operation in Indonesia

and somewhere else in Asia like in Vietnam and Cambodia, Wa-terland is using marginal lands owned by state governments and enters into tri-parties agreement between land owners, farmers, and the company. In the current collaboration with PT Perhutani, Waterland and farmers agree to plant jatropha in intercropping with other non-rice food crops, some of them enjoy high val-ue in the global market like gin-gers and lemongrass (Citronel-la). The current business model is based on profit sharing to the land owner 25%, the investors (Waterland, is also responsible for the management and tech-nology) 60% and 15% the farm-ers. Waterland sells the biofuels, and the other products of in-tercropping plants to the world market.

The intercropping model would provide an extra 30- 40% of the profit from intercrop prod-ucts revenue. Under the cur-rent agreement, Waterland pays IDR 1,600 per kg for dried jatro-pha fruits to farmers. With the yield of 3 tons/year/ha, farm-ers will get IDR 4.8 million a year or about IDR 400,000 a month per hectare. However, farmers will enjoy extra income from in-tercrop products which will make them earn more than that amount, but this total amount will depend on the “extra” they’ll get from the type of other crops planted on particular seasons. Based on current estimate farm-ers will typically earn in total about IDR 1,300,000 (USD 140) per month in average. Accord-ing to recent UN data (2009), 35 million people in Java live below the poverty level with an average monthly income of 188.000 IDR (= 21 USD) per month. Looking from this perspective, such busi-ness models, if properly man-aged, will contribute to reduc-ing poverty among the landless farmers and smallholders im-pacted by the projects.

How much the farmers will get from the Camelina plants model is not known, but overall Water-land believes this business mod-el is providing win-win solution to all stakeholders.

Enzymatic Biofuels ProductionWaterland has collaborated

with Fraunhofer Institute in Ger-many to develop more efficient and sustainable biofuels produc-tion processes. A new process is using an enzyme to forge the process of estherification quick-er and more efficient compared to conventional estherification processes (see table 1). The pro-cess produces no waste and con-sumes less energy, and therefore could reach almost 100% pro-duction yields in each produc-tion cycle. This system has been patented worldwide and Water-land has acquired the right to use by its organizations all over the world

Indonesian DomesticBiofuels Use

The government continues to support using biofuels to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Pertam-ina, the state-owned fuels pro-ducer and distributor has intro-duced BioPertamax based on initially 1- 2% ethanol blend and BioSolar a B-5 biodiesel since two years under the government regulation issued by the Min-ister of Energy and Mineral Re-sources. The regulation man-dated Pertamina to produce and distribute increasing amounts of biofuels blend with increas-ing amount of biofuels input over some years, which is to be sold at the same price as the current-

Regulations in EU countries in-creasingly compel airlines operat-ing there to sig-nificantly reduce

the greenhouse gas (GHG) emit-ted by modern jet engines. This is becoming more compelling, the EU countries may block air-lines which do not meet their low carbon emission standards. But the airlines found out that using bio-jet fuel, called “bio-kerosene” could increase fuel efficiencies and meet EU requirements.

Jatropha biodiesel is consid-ered by aviation industry ex-perts as a ‘green energy’ suit-able for fuelling commercial aircraft. One important reason is that jatropha fuel can with-stand the extremely low temper-ature at the cruising altitude of jet aircrafts. Major airlines like KLM, Air France, and Lufthansa have begun using this bioker-osene in some of their regular flights in Europe, but face diffi-culties in finding reliable sourc-es in the European market. Air New Zealand and few US airlines have also used the fuel success-fully. Bio-kerosene is produced by processing biological sourc-es such as animal fats and vege-table oils into biofuels which are then used for commercial avia-tion through blending with con-ventional fossil-based fuels.

So the key appeals of bioker-osene are producing low carbon footprint, making the aircraft more fuel efficient, and meeting the current regulations in the EU countries. For 2012, the EU has set a cap on airlines' emis-sions, measured in tons of CO2 at 97% of the baseline level (the baseline being an average of an-nual emissions between 2004 and 2006; from 2013 to 2020, this cap will fall to 95% of the baseline. About 82% of the cap will be issued as free emission allowance in the form of EU Avi-ation Allowances.

The European rulings cause airlines to seek an adequate supply somewhere, primarily in tropical countries where jatro-pha could grow well. But experts doubt if they could find enough to satisfy their need. Based on the fact that a Boeing Jumbo jet carrying 400 passengers would need an average 10,000 liter of fuels per hour, at a typical an-nual 5000 hours flight operat-ing schedule, it would need 50 million liters per year. Current Bio-kerosene is only a five per-cent addition in the jet fuel, but it still would need a large amount of land to grow enough for this use. In addition, it should not be competing with land required to produce food.

Meanwhile, jatropha biodie-sel has also proven to be effec-tive for use with conventional generators to produce electrici-ty. This makes the market even more interesting but it remains challenging because of the lim-ited sources and the current challenges from NGOs like the Friends of the Earth and Mil-lieu Defensie (from the Nether-lands). They claim that not only is the amount of CO2 saved by using biofuels still question-able, but the impacts of produc-ing biofuels from marginal lands may cause harms to small farm-ers. It is known that jatropha only grows in tropical countries in South and South East Asia, Africa and the Latin American tropical zones. The plants are

considered primitive and most countries lack experience in planting jatropha on a commer-cial scale.

William Nolten, CEO of Water-land Globe, an agricultural tech-nology enterprise established by a large European consortium of investors, has said on sever-al occasions including the most recent meeting with officials of the Energy and Agriculture Min-istries in Purwodadi, Central Java, that growing jatropha is not a big deal, but the challenge is to make the plants produce an economically acceptable amount of fruits which could be used as feedstock for biofuels. Nolten said that worldwide experienc-es show that growing jatropha in a monoculture plantation was not so successful, because it led to loss of bio-diversity, water de-pletion, and continued increase of greenhouse gases emissions contributing to climate change.

“Jatropha is more suitable to be cultivated as a hybrid us-ing intercropping methods”, said Nolten. This is what his compa-ny is doing in collaboration with PT. Perhutani and local farm-ers in Purwodadi, around 70 km from Semarang, the capi-tal city of Central Java province, Indonesia. Perhutani is a state-owned enterprise (SOE) manag-ing the remaining forest areas in Java. This SOE oversees and manages Javanese Teak planta-tions across the island that was formerly controlled by Dutch companies under the old colo-nial rule.

Monoculture planting meth-ods were used by some Indone-sian growers expecting jatropha plants to produce large volume of crude jatropha-curcas oils in the wake of the country’s eupho-ria about jatropha’s prospects in 2006. A wide range of research publications then predicted that these plants could produce 5-8 tons/hectare per year after year 5 with fruit production declin-ing after 15-20 years. But lo-cal researchers have found out more recently, after about 7 years of focused research on ja-tropha plantations using vari-ous seeds genetically originat-ing from various places across the country and some from for-eign origins, that the plants only produce on average less than 3 tons per hectare in 2-3 years, and show strong decline after year 3. In addition, the research-ers found that jatropha does not have the true characteristic of a perennial plant, as the trunk is likely not strong enough to stand over 15-20 years. They also saw during their research that the plants produce lower yields af-ter 2 years. This led them to con-clude that jatropha plants needs to be totally rejuvenated after 3 – 4 years if they are to produce reasonable amount of fruits. Ac-cording to the researchers, im-proving yields could be done by adding the planting density (from normally 2.5 to 1.0 meter) on the plots. This finding contra-dicts the current general expec-tation about jatropha and some other experts may not agree to these new findings, but the one thing the experts did agree on was that monoculture planting is not a suitable method for culti-vating jatropha.

Bambang Prastowo, a se-nior researcher at the Center for Plantation Research and Devel-opment (CPRD) under the Min-istry of Agriculture informed RESPECTS recently that earli-er research findings were most-ly based on extrapolation of jat-

ly subsidized fossil fuels.

On top of that, the government was providing IDR 2,000/liter subsidies for biofuels and even has increased it to IDR 3,000 for Biodiesels and IDR 3,500 for Bio-Ethanol, but these regulations don’t work as well as expected. One of the main reasons for this is that the government sets the buying price of biofuels at a lev-el which is considered unattract-ive to producers. As the current biodiesel is mainly produced us-ing crude palm oil (CPO) which is traded in the world market at lucrative price, the domestic bio-fuel price could not compete with the CPO price in the world mar-ket. Therefore producers choose to export their products rath-er than to produce biofuels for domestic market. Consequent-ly, Pertamina could not get ad-equate supply to produce their branded biofuels for its consum-ers.

Paulus Tjakrawan of the In-donesian Association of Biod-iesels Producers (APROBI) told RESPECTS that the government has currently set a subsidy of IDR 3,000 per liter for biodiesel with a quota of 6,000 Kiloliters of con-sumption per year. This is good news for producers, but accord-ing to APROBI, the government should find reasonable ways to make the system work by con-sidering the difference in trans-portation costs for the biofuels feedstock from different plac-es in the country to the blend-ing plants which are primari-ly in Java and Sumatra. Under the current regulation, the cost of transportation is carried by the producers. Tjakrawan said that the previous years’ quota was not fully consumed because the government based it on the national consumption, while in actual fact the distribution bio-fuels does not take place nation-ally, as yet.

According to Marietje Huta-pea, Director of Bio Energy at the MEMR, the government is aware of the problems pointed out by APROBI and is currently seek-ing ways to solve them togeth-er with relevant stakeholders. She said that the primary prob-lem in implementing the biofu-els regulations was that the bio-fuels producers found the selling price plus the old amount of sub-sidy did not give them an ade-quate margin. For bioethanol, the situation was even worse be-cause the buying price plus sub-sidy was still lower than their production costs. With the in-creased subsidy and additional regulations that follow, Marietje expects the domestic use of bio-fuels, primarily biodiesels, will meet the target that the govern-ment set two years ago.

Looking at the situation of to-tal biofuels demand worldwide, especially in Europe, where reg-ulations for using clean and sustainable energy are strong, biofuels still have quite bright prospects in the years ahead, but challenges around the con-troversial issues like the energy balance, ecological imbalance caused by cultivating energy crops at the cost of food crops and socio-economic challenges around the production process, especially at the farmers’ level, mean that biofuels remain as the most controversial renewable en-ergy source available today. The world should find a way to set a clear definition of sustainable biofuels and countries should allow adequate size of lands to plant energy crops without com-peting with food production.

By Jon Respati

In 2006 there was euphoria about biofuel development in Indonesia based on a ‘wonder plant’ Jatropha Curcas, and because of record high oil prices in the world market. Jatropha has been known for ages by local people as wild plants (called them as Jarak Pagar, and pagar means

“fence”), which could function as greening plants or “fencing” against animals damaging food crops. But due to ill-planned infrastructure and lack of research, the development bogged down and caused this perennial, but primitive plant, to disappear (again) into the forgotten land. Meanwhile,

the world market continues to demand Jatropha for biofuel, more specifically for jet fuel. Can jatropha meet this market demand, and how?

to keep a fleet of 13 Boeing 747in the air for one year on a B5 blend biokerosene, it needs about

10,000 ha of Jatrophaintercropped with a Camelina plantation.

Jatropha Curcas

Camelina Sativa

A7

Internationalwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

T he cultural mission “the Rose of Culture” from Jakarta local govern-ment came to the 7th

Kagoshima Youth Art Festival in Kagoshima City, Japan, on 20-21 October 2012. The group brought the dynamic of Betawi music and dances, with the dancers wearing bright color-ful costumes. The group is set to to further introduce Indonesian culture in Japan.

"We are delighted to perform here in Kagoshima, to introduce Betawi culture from Jakarta," said Adhika Pratama, the group rep.

Not only performing on main stage in Houzan Hall, "the Rose of Culture" also danced on Chuo Park stage.

"This dance is to show our love on cultural diversity in In-donesia. We are truly hoping that Japanese people can also learn about cultures from east-ern Indonesia," added Leo from the group.

Indonesian culture in Ka-goshima has brightened this art festival, along with the per-formances from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, South Korea, Ma-laysia, Singapore, and Japan. At this event, Attache of Education and Culture of Indonesian Em-bassy in Tokyo reiterates the im-portance of such cultural fes-tival to enhance cross-border and multi-cultural understand-ing and friendship, especially among the youths.

Betawi and Papua Dance Enlivens Kagoshima Youth Art Festival

Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand Lutfi Rauf met with Nong Khai Province Governor Wirat Limsuwat in his work-ing visit to the province of Nong Khai. During the meeting, it has been discussed cooperation be-tween Indonesia and Thailand, especially the Province of Nong Khai, among others cooperation on trade and education.

Ambassador Lutfi specifical-ly highlighted the readiness of Thailand in the ASEAN Com-munity 2015. From the posters seen in public places, Thailand has been active to outreach its citizens on ASEAN Community. In addition, the infrastructure in Nong Khai is relatively good, in-cluding Udon Thani Internation-al Airport which is located 50km from Nong Khai.

This province is only 35km from the city of Vientiane, the

capital of Laos. Passers from both countries can go through the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge spanning on the Mekong River. The bridge can be traversed by car and train to ease the traffic of people and goods. Given the proximity and efficient cross-border system, Nong Khai is also an alternative place for the citi-zens of Laos for shopping and sightseeing.

Indonesia Exploring Cooperation with Northern Thailand Province

Indonesia and Australia agree to continue strengthening their common efforts in the preven-tion of human smuggling. Fol-lowing a discussion with the Australian Shadow Foreign Min-ister Julia Bishop, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty M. Nata-legawa said, “There is no differ-ence of opinion, the two agree to put forward the Bali Process in the fight against human smug-gling”.

According to Minister Mar-ty, both RI and Australia believe that managing the issue is a na-tional and regional responsibility for both countries.

“After our last discussion, we are quite satisfied with Minis-ter Julia’s explanation and we expect the common efforts tak-

Indonesia, Australia Strengthen Efforts to Prevent Human Smuggling

The fifth Asia Ministerial Con-ference on Disaster Risk Re-duction generated a “Yogyakar-ta Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia Pacific 2012” to be implemented over the next two years.

The conference was hosted by Indonesia and the United Na-tions with high-level delegations from 50 countries of the region.

Key elements of the Yogya-karta Declaration include calls to integrate local disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into national devel-opment planning; identify ac-countability measures for ef-fective implementation; political commitment to deliver at all lev-els; promote awareness, educa-tion, public access to informa-tion and resilient investments;

Conference Issues Yogyakarta Declaration onDisaster Risk Reduction in Asia Pacific

and allocate resources to build local capacity.

“The conference has been a breakthrough in ensuring that building disaster resilience and reducing risk are embed-ded into the post-2015 devel-opment agenda. The world has always looked to Asia for lead-ership in disaster management and the Yogyakarta Declara-tion outlines clearly what the

Marty M. NatalegawaIndonesian Foreign Minister

en by the two countries to con-tinue”.

Besides detailed discussion on the efforts to prevent the act of transnational crimes, the two foreign ministers also delved deeper into various bilateral and issues developing in the region that concerned both nations.

Lutfi RaufIndonesian Ambassador to Thailand

region's expectations are for a new international agreement on disaster risk reduction,” said Margareta Wahlstrom, the UN Secretary General’s Spe-cial Representative on Disas-ter Risk Reduction and Head of UNISDR.

The declaration concerns not only Asia but the entire world and it was necessary that all

stake holders push the agen-da of risk reduction.

National Disaster Man-agement Agency (BNPB) pre-vention and preparedness deputy chairman, Sugeng Triutomo, said the Yogya-karta Declaration would be presented at the global con-ference on DRR to be held in May 2013 in Geneva.

Indonesian culture in Kagoshima has brightened this art festival, along with the performances from Bangladesh, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan.

www.kbritokyo.jp

A8

Educationwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

Coinciding with the Youth Pledge Day, October 28, Minis-ter of Education and Culture Muhammad

Nuh inaugurated Gerakan Indo-nesia Berkibar (GIB). The move-ment is a partnership between the government, the private sec-tor and community groups con-cerned with the quality of educa-tion in Indonesia.

"The government appreciates Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar for helping the government in ad-vancing our education," said the minister in his speech. The more parties involved, added the min-ister, the greater the hopes for a better Indonesia.

Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar has four programs covering boosting teacher professional-ism; educational leadership and school management; school gov-ernance program; and other ad-

vanced program. As an organi-zation that carries public-private partnership, GIB brings togeth-er partners from private corpo-rations, state-owned enterpris-es, the media and community groups to contribute.

GIB chairman Pontoh Shafiq said GIB has received the sup-port of seven local governments, namely, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan. The sup-port from other provinces is ex-pected to come soon after the inauguration. At least 34 insti-tutions have joined in to allocate their social responsibility (CSR) budgets in its movement.

The facilitators, such as foun-dations, NGOs, ambassadors and volunteers, can take part to promote education quality im-provement program. The facil-itators can offer programs that

Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar to Boost Quality of Indonesian Education

Indonesian students in China have set up an association in the first congress held in Beijing on October 27-29.

The congress was attend-ed by student representatives from several cities in China and named Trisna Metta Widyani as the chairperson of the Indone-sian Students Association (PPI).

Trisna Metta Widyana is a master program on internation-al relations student at Xiamen University.

Education Attache of the In-donesian Embassy in China Chaerun Anwar said the PPI China was only formed now be-cause the number of Indonesian students in China used to be very small compared to that in other countries.

"In 1998 the number of Indo-nesian students in China stood

Indonesian Students in ChinaSet Up Association

at only 1,000, mostly study-ing the Mandarin language. Af-ter 2004, following China s prog-ress in various fields, including education, the number of Indo-nesian students pursuing fur-ther study in China increased to reach the present number of 9,535," he said.

He said Indonesian stu-dents study in various second-ary schools and universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanning, Chongqing and others, adding that most Indonesian students or around 62% are studying Mandarin.

The Indonesian students have set up organizations in their re-spective regions but "now as their number has increased time has come for them to unite in one organization accommodat-ing all Indonesian students in China," he said.

126 Integrated PAUD to be Built Until End of This Year

Ministry of Education and Cul-ture through Directorate Gener-al for Early Childhood Educa-tion, Non-formal and Informal (DG PAUDNI) will allocate funds to build 126 unit new buildings by the end of this year for early childhood education. Each in-stitution will obtain Rp 300 mil-lion. The funding to build PAUD is sourced from the State Bud-get 2012.

Director General PAUDNI Lyd-

ia Freyani Hawadi said from the total state budget of DG PAUDNI, some will be used to construct integrated early childhood edu-cation and welfare programs of PAUDNI teachers.

"But the amount of money we have is not comparable with the target to be served, so we need the support of the local govern-ment," she said during a working visit to the Bima District.

Bima is one of the districts that receive aid allocation of in-tegrated PAUD. Besides Bima, Dompu District at NTB also re-ceives the same fund. However, Director General PAUDNI con-firmed that the aid will be elim-inated next year. Funds initially allocated for the building of Inte-grated PAUD will be diverted to help expand the PAUD pilot pro-gram, Rp 35 million for each in-stitution.

Austria Offers Higher Education Scholarships

The Government of Austria is offering higher education schol-arships for students and lectur-ers in Indonesia. A short-list of ten candidates will be selected to receive scholarships.

Ambassador of Austria An-dreas Karabaczek said Austria is one of the favorite countries for students to gain knowledge of higher education.

"The education cost is free for students from Indonesia," he said in a meeting with Minister of Education and Culture Mo-hammad Nuh at Kemdikbud.

The minister said the scholar-ships granted by the government

of Austria are a great opportuni-ty for students in Indonesia. He hoped that more students can be sent to study in Austria. He ex-plained that next year, the gov-ernment endowment fund or the National Education Devel-opment Fund as much as Rp 10 trillion will be used partly to pro-vide S2 and S3 scholarships.

"Not only for lecturers, but also for the general public," he said.

Indonesia and Austria will fol-low up the cooperation and pro-vide scholarships to universities in Indonesia through the Direc-torate General of Higher Educa-tion (DIKTI) website.

Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar has four programs covering boosting teacher professionalism; educational leadership and school management; school

governance program; and other advanced program.

can help Indonesia create future leaders that address global chal-lenges.

Meanwhile, the media, the en-tertainment industry, education stakeholders, community lead-ers, social activists, parents, school principals, and learning institutions will work to increase the understanding of the impor-tance of education through the dissemination of information to improve the quality of teachers and schools in Indonesia.

The inauguration of GIB was marked by the signing of the in-scription by Minister Nuh ac-companied by Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Nassarud-din Umar and Chairman of GIB Shafiq Pontoh. The inauguration was attended by Ambassador of Austria to Indonesia Andreas Karabaczek, GIB Committee members, and community lead-ers and artists supporting GIB.

The education cost is free for students from Indonesia."

Andreas KarabaczekAmbassador of Austria

In 1998 the number of Indonesian students in China stood at only 1,000, mostly studying the Mandarin language. After 2004, following China`s progress in various fields, including education, the number of Indonesian students pursuing further study in China increased to reach the present number of 9,535."

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

BUSINESSwww.thepresidentpost.com

November 2012No. 38

SECTION B

The President Post

Pertamina to be Majority Shareholder in Mahakam: Deputy Minister

Pertamina would hold a majority participating interest of between 51% and 70% in the Mahakam oil and gas field in East Kalimantan.

A new IFC and World Bank report finds that in the year from June 2011 to June 2012 Indonesia improved its regulatory environment through a reform, making it easier for local entrepre-neurs to obtain an electrici-ty connection.

The newly-released IFC re-port, “Doing Business 2013: Smarter Regulations for Small and Medium-Size En-terprises” finds that since 2005, Indonesia has imple-mented a total of 18 institu-tional or regulatory reforms in nine of 10 areas of busi-ness regulation as measured by the annual Doing Busi-ness report, the World Bank said in a press statement here Tuesday.

In the most recent re-form recorded, the utility PT PLN simplified the applica-tion process for an electrici-ty connection by eliminating the requirement to bring in a copy of a neighbor’s bill to

help determine the exact address of the new customer’s business.

The report, which covers 185 economies globally, finds that 11 of 24 economies in East Asia and the Pacific improved business regulations in the past year. Sin-gapore tops the global ranking on the ease of doing business for the seventh year straight. Hong Kong SAR, China, holds onto the second spot.

This year s report also fea-tures a case study that explores reform efforts by members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooper-ation (APEC) using the Doing Business framework. Indone-sia is among the APEC members working within this framework to make it easier to start a busi-ness and to improve its system for enforcing contracts.

“Indonesia has made some im-provements over the last 8 years,

World Bank: Indonesia’s Business Environment Improving

and it still strives to further strengthen the predictabil-ity and clarity of its regula-tory framework” said Stefan Koeberle, World Bank Coun-try Director for Indonesia.

“However, the pace of change has slowed since sig-nificant improvements were made between 2005 and 2009. Strengthening the in-vestment climate for small and medium-size business-es would require sustained efforts in improving infra-structure, tax administra-tion, and the availability of credit,” he added.

The report s global annu-al ranking on the ease of do-ing business shows that the 10 economies with the most business-friendly regulation are Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, China, New Zealand, the United States, Denmark, Norway, the United King-dom, the Republic of Korea, Georgia and Australia.

BNI’s Profit Up 24% in Q3 State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), the country`s fourth larg-

est lender, posted a net profit of Rp5.04 trillion for the quarter ended September 30, up 24.5% against Rp4.1 trillion in a corresponding pe-riod last year.

The high growth of net profit was the result of the bank`s improving performance in providing conventional banking services such as cred-its and improving extra services such as cash management and trade fi-nance, BNI President Director Gatot M Suwondo said here on Monday.

Operating income grew 12.l%, fueled by net interest income which rose 19% in the third quarter of 2012 to Rp11.2 trillion from Rp9.4 trillion in the same period a year earlier.

Loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) meanwhile fell to 76.8% in the third quar-ter of 2012 from 78.3% in a corresponding period last year, caused by a decline in U.S. dollar-denominated financing in line with the bank`s pol-icy to focus on rupiah-denominated financing.

The amount of third party fund placement in the quarter ended Sep-

tember 30 reached Rp238.9 trillion against Rp204.4 trillion in the same period last year. As per September 30, 2012 the bank`s assets reached Rp310.4 trillion, a 15.6% increase compared with the same period last year.

The asset growth was particularly contributed by a 14.8% rise in cred-it value to Rp184.5 trillion in the third quarter of 2012 from Rp160.7 tril-lion in the same period a year earlier. This suggests that the bank`s productive assets continue to increase and serve as a main source of income.

SUGI Starts Oil Drilling in JambiListed energy company PT Sugih Energy Tbk (SUGI) said it will start

drilling in the oil and gas field of Selong I in the Lemang Block in Jam-bi next week.

“On Oct 29 we started drilling the first well in Selong I,” Andhika Anin-dyaguna, the president of Sugih Energy , said here on Wednesday.

Andhika said based on a study by an international consultant DeGoly-er & MacNaughton (D&M), the Lemang block has a reserve of 511 mil-lion barrels of oil and 467 billion cubic feet of gas.

He said his company already spent $12 million on infrastructure to support the drilling activities in the block including access road to facili-tate transport to Selong-1, and to assemble drilling equipment and oth-er heavy equipment.

BUSINESS BRIEFSHe added his company already secured the operation license from the

Upstream Oil and Gas Regulator (BP Migas) in 2007 valid until 2037.He said his company has a 49% participating interest in the block

through its subsidiary Eastwing Global Investments Ltd while PT Hexin-do Gemilang Jaya holds the majority 51% stake. Eastwing was acquired by Sugih Energy from Roots Capital Asia Ltd in February 2012 at a price of Rp2.07 trillion.

PLN Raises $1b Global BondsState electricity company (PLN) said it has raised $1 billion from the is-

suance of 30-year global bonds.The bonds were offered through an intraday execution strategy at a se-

ries of meetings with global investors from Asia, Europe and the United States, PLN President Director Nur Pamuji said in a press statement re-leased here on Friday.

“The transaction of unsecured bonds marks the PLN`s comeback to the international capital market following the issuance of bonds worth $1 bil-lion at a coupon of 5.5% in November 2011,” he said.

He said the 30-year bonds due in October 2042 are the first issued by PLN in the past five years at a coupon of 5.25% and a price of 98.514% or a yield of 5.35% per year. “The bonds received good responses from global investors. Subscriptions for the bonds came from more than 380 in-vestors with a total value of $11.5 billion,” he said.

Deputy minister of en-ergy and mineral re-sources Rudi Rubi-andini assured here on Monday that Per-

tamina would hold a majority participating interest of between 51% and 70% in the Mahakam oil and gas field in East Kalim-antan.

“Mahakam has always been for Pertamina. Later, Pertami-na will participate in its man-agement holding minimally 51% and maximally 70% shares,” he said after a meeting with House of Representatives Commission VII members.

He said the 70% shares in-clude the shares to be allocated for regions. “So, Pertamina will minimally hold 51% and along with regions will hold maximal-ly 70% shares,” he said. The re-maining 30% participating in-terest will be held by Total E&P or along with other contractors, he added. Total`s presence, he said, is still needed to provide funds and technology.

To assure production sustain-ability Total will still be the oper-ator of Mahakam for the first five years, he said adding “later it will be operated by Pertamina.”

Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company, has al-ready formally applied to man-age the Mahakam Block after Total E&P Indonesie s contract expires in 2017.

Total first signed the con-tract for the management of Ma-hakam on March 31, 1967 for a 30 year period. On March 31, 1997 the contract was extended for 20 years more and it would expire on March 30, 2017.

Besides Total, which holds 50% shares and is its opera-tor, there is also Inpex Corpora-tion in the Mahakam Block that holds the remaining 50% shares. Until October this year Total has produced 1,9156 million cubic feet of gas and 67,478 barrels of oil per day.

The Mahakam Block is esti-mated to hold 17% of proven na-tional gas reserves or 12.7 tril-lion cubic feet.

Pertamina to Acquire Petrodelta Shares

Pertamina is seeking to ac-quire shares of Petrodelta SA, which is the subsidiary of Harbest Natural Resources Inc. At present the company is in

talks with the government as the company`s shareholder with re-gard to getting an approval to carry out the transaction, com-pany president director Karen Agustiawan said here on Tues-day.

“We are optimistic the talks could be finished according to the schedule agreed in the deal,” she said.

Pertamina has signed a share purchase agreement with Har-vest for the effective acquisition of 32% shares in Petrodelta, which is a Venezuelan oil and gas com-pany. The two companies have until March 2013 to meet all conditions for the deal such as approvals from the shareholders of Pertamina, Harvest and the government of Venezuela.

Karen meanwhile considered media reports that the transac-tion was hinged on factors out-side the transaction put in a written agreement as specula-tive. “Pertamina remains com-mitted to realizing the transac-tion and in line with a business entity s policy we would not com-ment on any speculation about the transaction,” she said.

Petrodelta s field has total proven and probable reserves of around 486 million barrels of oil equivalent. Its hydro-carbon re-serve is bigger than that in Cepu Block which is Indonesia s big-gest reserve found in the past 10 years.

State owned lender Bank Mandiri signed an agreement with export insurance firm Asur-ansi Ekspor Indonesia (ASEI) and the trade ministry to help boost exports to non traditional markets amid the global slump.

Expansion of export markets to Middle East, East Europe and South Africa are expected to help offset a decline in the country s exports to its traditional mar-kets like the European Union, the United States and Japan.

Expansion targets also in-clude countries grouped in the Regional Comprehensive Eco-nomic Partnership (RCEP) atau ASEAN + 6 (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).

Bank Mandiri, ASEI and the trade ministry signed their com-mitment in a memorandum of understanding here on Thurs-day.

Bank Mandiri`s president Zulkifli Zaini said exporters find the condition difficult at pres-

ent under global uncertain-ties as a result of the European debt crisis, which shows no let-ting up. Exporters need to find

new markets in countries out-side Indonesia s traditional mar-kets, which are beset by the glob-al slump, Zulkifli said.

The country s largest bank in terms of assets, Mandiri and ASEI will be ready to help in-ternational transactions such as pre-shipment financing and post-shipment financing both LC and non LC transactions with competitive interest rate, he said.

The collaboration between Bank Mandiri and ASEI is ex-pected to be able to keep the risk under control in export financ-ing and that more financing ser-vices could be offered especial-ly in exports to non traditional markets, he added.

Commercial and Business Banking Director of Bank Mandiri Sunarso said exports financed by Bank Mandiri has increased 30% annually on the average in the past three years. Until September 2012, export transactions handled by the bank reached $40.8 billion and imports transaction totaled $42.5 billion or an increase of 31% on the year before.

Bank Mandiri, ASEI Boost Exports Efforts

Bank Mandiri President Zulkifli Zaini

Mandiri and ASEI will be ready to help international transactions such as pre-shipment financing and post-shipment financing both LC and non LC transactions

with competitive interest rate.

www.bisnis-jabar.com

Deputy minister of energy and mineral resources Rudi Rubiandini

Mahakam Block. Pertamina, the state-owned oil and gas company, has already formally applied to manage the Mahakam Block after Total E&P Indonesie`s contract expires in 2017. Total first signed the contract for the management of Mahakam on March 31, 1967 for a 30 year period. On March 31, 1997 the contract was extended for 20 years more and it would expire on March 30, 2017.

www.tender-indonesia.com

B2

Businesswww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

Megasurya Expands Markets to Cuba, Myanmar and N. Korea

Megasurya exports no less than 200 containers of soap products such as Liesel, Eve, Harmony, Lervia and Medicare every month to various countries worth around one trillion rupiahs last year.

Jamsostek Exceeds Investment Target

Producer of palm oil-based products PT Megasurya Mas is expanding to coun-tries such as Cuba,

Myanmar and North Korea in its efforts to increase its soap products exports in the midst of gloomy markets in Europe and the U.S.

“We have conducted exports to 132 countries including to Cuba, Myanmar and North Ko-rea,” the company`s marketing director, Hadi Sofian, said here on Thursday.

He said the company ex-ports no less than 200 contain-ers of soap products such as Lie-sel, Eve, Harmony, Lervia and Medicare every month to various countries worth around one tril-lion rupiahs last year. “Almost 100% of raw materials used in our products come from home,” he said. Besides soaps the com-pany also produces candles which are also exported, he add-ed.

Hadi admitted it was not easy to enter countries like Myan-mar due to conflict there as well as Cuba and North Korea which are facing a U.S. embargo, add-

ing among the problems being faced is payment.

In view of that he said he had been very careful in choos-ing partners in non-tradition-al markets as exports must be done through China. “We usual-ly use banks which are affiliated in Indonesia and the companies we are partnering with have ac-counts in the banks,” he said.

Because of the efforts PT Me-gasurya Mas has been given “Primaniyarta Award” by the government for seven times so far based on export pioneer cat-egory.

Musim Mas Group meanwhile has received an award in the performing exporter category. “I am grateful for the success of Musim Mas Group in clinching the Primaniyarta Award. This is

State-owned workers’ insur-ance company PT Jamsostek Persero said it has overshot its investment target of Rp125.7 trillion set until the end of this year.

By September Jamsostek`s in-vestment already reached Rp127 trillion, its president, Elvyn G. Masassya, said here on Thurs-day.

From investment the company earned Rp9.9 trillion in the first nine months of the year, Elvyn said. The company s target for investment return this year is

around Rp2.5 trillion has been set aside to buy bonds with rat-ing of at least “A” with nominal value above Rp500 billion, he said. “Currently we are review-ing bonds issued by four compa-nies operating in various sector,” he said.

He said Jamsostek will buy part of the right shares to be is-sued by PT Bank Tabungan Neg-ara Tbk (BBTN), but he refused to give any figure. “It is our right, but as it is, it depends on you whether or not to exercise your right. I say we would,” he said.

set at Rp12.2 trillion, he added. “We have been on the right track. Everything is going as planned. There is no revision of targets,” he said.

He said he could not yet predict for next year as targets would be set based on the economic con-dition and interest and exchange rates. “However, investment re-turn would be more than 10% next year,” he predicted.

He said the management is studying plan to buy bonds is-sued by other state companies or private companies. Fund of

Listed PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk (BDMN) re-ported a 22% increase in net profit to Rp2.99 trillion on year in the first nine months of the year.

Henry Ho, the president of the country s sixth larg-est lender, attributed the in-crease in profit to gain from “mass market” of small and medium scale businesses and wholesale.

Henry said the bank`s out-standing credits rose 16% to Rp113 trillion by the end of the third quarter of this year from a year earlier. He add-ed credits went to the mass market grew 14% to Rp64 trillion or 57% of the bank total outstanding credits.

In the third quarter of this year alone, credits for the small and medium business sector grew 25% to Rp17 tril-lion from a year earlier and credits for the wholesale sec-tor rose 21 percent to Rp14 trillion, he added. He said despite the surge in cred-it expansion, the bank suc-ceeded in cutting its non per-forming loans (NPL) to 2.4% by the end of last month from 2.9% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, third party funds held by the bank, which is owned by Singapore s Temasek Group, reached Rp88.3 trillion by the end of September.

Deposits made up the largest part or Rp49.3 trillion of the third party funds with giro funds and savings accounting for Rp13 tril-lion and Rp26 trillion respective-ly. “That means the bank`s loan to deposit ratio (LDR) is 103.5%,” Henry said.

He said he was not worried by the high level of LDR as the bank has strong capital with capital adequacy ratio of 18.7%, up from 17.8% earlier.

“We have sufficient level of li-quidity to continue to push for growth. We manage liquidity based on the ratio of credits to fi-nancing, rather than credit ratio to third party funds,” he said.

Bank DanamonProfit Up 22%

the results of the hard work of all stakeholders,” he said.

The trade ministry at the opening of Trade Expo Indo-nesia on Wednesday presented Primaniyarta Awards to 33 ex-porters in appreciation for their performance in promoting the country s products abroad.

The award is given to export-ers that have been able to per-form well, build a global brand, pioneer exports and to export-ers classified as small and me-dium. Four other companies receiving the award for hav-ing been able to penetrate new markets besides Megasurya are Basuki Pratama Engineering (boiler), Gading Dampar Ken-cana (furniture), Kinema Sys-trans Multimedia (animated films) and Latransa Citra (herbs and spices).

Because of the efforts PT

Megasurya Mas has been given “Primaniyarta Award” by the

government for seven times so far based on export pioneer category.

Jamsostek President Elvyn G. Masassya

www.wartaekonomi.co.id

PT Bank Danamon Indonesia Tbk President Henry Ho

We have sufficient level of liquidity to continue to push for growth. We manage liquidity based on the ratio of credits to financing, rather than credit ratio to third party funds.”

B3

Investmentwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

I nvestment in Indone-sia rose 27% in the first nine months of this year to Rp229.9 trillion from

Rp181 trillion in the same peri-od last year, according to the In-vestment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

“The increase in investment during the first nine months of 2012 suggests that the invest-ment climate in the country con-tinues to improve, thus shoring up a degree of business certainty in the country,” BKPM Chief M. Chatib Basri said on Monday.

He said the investment con-sisted of foreign investment worth Rp164.2 trillion and do-mestic investment worth Rp65.7 trillion. “Overall, investment projects in the January-Septem-ber 2012 period were evenly dis-tributed among areas outside Java, with the domestic invest-ment showing an ever encourag-ing role,” he said.

He said Rp9.1 trillion of the do-mestic investment went to non-metal mineral industry, Rp8.6 trillion to mining industry, Rp7.7 trillion to food industry, Rp6.3 trillion to food crops and plan-tation business, and Rp5.8 tril-lion to basic metal, metal goods, mechinery and electronic indus-tries.

East Java topped the list of do-mestic investment destinations

with Rp12 trillion, followed by West Java Rp8.8 trillion, Jakar-ta 6.4 trillion, East Kalimantan Rp4.8 trillion and Central Java Rp4.7 trillion.

Meanwhile, West Java re-mained the most attractive des-tination for foreign investment with $3.1 billion, followed by Ja-karta $3 billion, Banten $1.8 bil-lion, East Kalimantan $1.6 bil-lion and East Java $1.4 billion.

Singapore was listed as the biggest foreign investor in the year to September 2012 with a total investment of $3.5, followed

by Japan $1.8 billion, South Ko-rea $1.3 billion, Britain $0.9 bil-lion, and the United States $0.7 billion.

According to the BKPM, $3.2 billion of the foreign investment was put in the mining sector, $2.5 billion in base chemical, chemical goods and pharma-ceutical industries, $1.9 billion in the transportation, warehous-ing, and telecommunication sec-tor, $1.3 billion in transporta-tion equipment industry and $1.3 billion in base metal, metal goods, machinery and electron-ic industry.

Investment predicted to exceed $31 billion

Chatib said investments by both foreign and domestic in-vestors are expected to reach at least Rp300 trillion ($31.5 bil-lion) this year exceeding the tar-get of Rp283.5 trillion.

Increase in investments will be driven by growing imports of capital goods and investment commitments by a number of countries, Chatib said. “Fairly strong economic growth record-ed by Indonesia amid the global financial woes would also con-tribute to boosting investment in the country,” he said.

In the first three quarters of this year investments averaged

South Korea has agreed to develop eight infrastructure projects, worth a total of $50 billion, in Indonesia.

The agreement was made at a Jeju Initiative meeting held between representa-tives from the two countries here on Friday.

“The agreement is expect-ed to boost economic cooper-ation between Indonesia and South Korea. The implemen-tation of the projects will be supervised by the two coun-tries’ representatives work-ing at the Joint Secretari-at, which was established in early 2012,” said Hatta Ra-jasa, the Coordinating Min-ister for Economic Affairs, who led the Indonesian del-egation to the Jeju Initiative meeting.

“The eight projects agreed upon during the meeting in-volve: the construction of Batam island (Riau Island province)-Bintan bridge; the restoration of Ciliwung riv-er (Jakarta province); the con-struction of railway for coal transportation from Bengku-lu province to Muara Enim (South Sumatra).”

Also the construction of Sunda Strait bridge connect-ing Sumatra and Java islands; the development of compressed natural gas (CNG); the con-struction of coal power plant in South Sumatra province; the opening of a new branch of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME); and the development of an ag-riculture-based multi-industry area, he added.

Developing Airports South Korean investors

including Samsung C&T have expressed keen interest in developing a number of airports in Indonesia, Tour-ism and Creative Econom-ic Minister Mari Elka Pang-estu said.

They wanted to devel-op a number of airports in the country including those in Majalengka (West Java), Panimbang (Banten), and North Bali, she said here.

The airports are among in-frastructure projects offered at the Indonesian Tourism Investment Day (ITID) 2012 held at JW Marriot Hotel here on Monday. The other projects are the construction of toll roads and the opera-tion of tourist resorts.

Investment Grows 27% in January-September 2012

RI is China’s Second Biggest Investment Destination

Indonesia is the second biggest destination of Chinese investment in the Southeast Asian region, according to the Chinese Trade Ministry.

China`s overseas direct investment (ODI) in Indonesia reached $590 million in the first seven months of this year, the head of the international trade and economic cooperation department at the Chinese Trade Min-istry, Jiang Jiqing said here on Wednesday.

“Hopefully, the figure will continue to increase in line with the Chi-nese government`s go global policy which encourages Chinese inves-tors to invest overseas,” he said at a seminar on investment opportuni-ties in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia Imron Cotan said Chinese investment in Indonesia is still relatively small. “With its foreign exchange reserves reaching $3.5 trillion, China`s in-

vestment in Indonesia which reached $1.2 billion in 2011 has not reflect-ed its real potential,” he said.

The Chinese investment in Indonesia is still far below that of Singa-pore, Japan, South Korea and The Netherlands, he said. “Ideally, Chi-nese investment in Indonesia should increase by $2 billion per year,” he said.

RI Offers Incentives to Investors in Energy Indonesia has offered special incen-

tives to investors wishing to invest in the energy field in the country.

“I would ease issuance of exploration permit and give an additional incen-tive,” the country`s minister of energy and mineral resources Jero Wacik said at the 12th Gas Information Exchange (Gasex) meeting here on Tuesday.

The minister said door is opened widely for investment in the field of energy with regard to developing new and renewable energy sources in connection with increasing world demand for oil and gas.

He said Indonesia has potential new and renewable energy sourc-

INVESTMENT BRIEFSes for development such as geothermal energy source which reaches 10,000 megawatt, hydro-power, solar and bio-mass energy sources.

“In view of that we are inviting all companies that have capability in the energy field to invest in Indonesia. We are grateful we have almost all kinds of energy sources,” he said.

Jero Wacik said if efforts to develop new and renewable energy sources failed the government would prioritize energy supplies for do-mestic needs but if they were successful exports of gas supply in the country would be continued.

To investors wishing to invest in the energy sector the minister gave four conditions that they should meet, namely they have to grow the country`s economy, create jobs, alleviate poverty and safeguard the en-vironment.

On continuing gas exports by several exploration companies while domestic demand is increasing the minister said that the issue would be discussed with operators in the country. As a result, for an example, he said, the British Petroleum that conducts gas exploration in Papua has agreed to change the agreement.

“Initially 100% of the exploration results are exported but after I ne-gotiated with them about the increasing need of gas in the country, they are willing to allocate 40% of their production for meeting domestic needs,” he said.

S. Korea to Develop $50b Infrastructure Projects

East Java topped the list of domestic investment destinations with Rp12 trillion, followed by West Java Rp8.8 trillion, Jakarta 6.4 trillion, East Kalimantan Rp4.8 trillion and Central Java Rp4.7 trillion.

Investors from East Asia are expected to invest $1.5 billion in automotive component industry in Indonesia next year, an official of the industry ministry said.

“Next year, investment in tire I, II and III of automotive compo-nent industry from Japan, Chi-na and Taiwan are expected to reach $1.5 billion in 100 facto-ries,” Budi Darmadi, the high technology industry director general said.

Budi said the new investment will increase the number of au-tomotive component factories in Indonesia from 1,400 units to 1,500 units in 2013.

A strong growth has been re-corded in investment in auto-motive component industry in Indonesia, boosted by growing demand for four wheelers in the country, he noted.

The number of automotive component plants has increased from only 900 units four years earlier indicating rapid expan-sion of automotive market in the country, he said. The 100 new component factories will pro-

duce and supply components for automotive factories including engines, he said. He said the in-crease in the investment in the component sector is expected to be followed with more invest-ment in research and develop-ment (R&D).

R&D support is important as a car should have a lifespan of at least seven years, he said, add-ing three to four years are need-

ed for research to turn out a car in new model.

This year, the country s car production target is set at 940,000 units up from last year s production of 894,178 units. The country`s car production ca-pacity is forecast to rise 59% to 1.43 million units this year from 900,000 units last year.

Five Japanese car makers are expected to complete work in their expansion projects this year, a report said. The five com-panies Toyota Motor Co., Suzu-ki Motor Co. Honda Motor Co. Ltd Daihatsu Motor Co. and Mit-subishi Motors Co. are investing a total of $2.22 billion for the ca-pacity expansion this year, the report said.

Toyota car maker which has the largest market share in the country plans to invest up to $534.4 million to increase its capacity by 120,000 units. The largest investment of $782.63 million is planned by Suzuki car maker to expand its annual ca-pacity by 100,000 units.

$1.5b Investment in Automotive Component Industry Expected

Jero Wacik

more than Rp70 trillion peak-ing at Rp81.8 trillion in the third quarter.

Realization of domestic invest-ment plan until September al-ready reached 85% of the whole target of Rp76.7 trillion and for-eign investment projects 79.4% of the target of Rp206.8 trillion.

Foreign investors still are more interested in base chemi-cal, chemical and pharmaceu-tical industries, mining, trans-port, paper and paper product sectors. Domestic investors are more interested in non metal mineral, food, textile, food crop, plantation and construction in-dustries.

Next year, investment in tire I, II and III of automotive component industry from Japan, China and Taiwan are expected to reach $1.5 billion in 100 factories.”Budi DarmadiThe High Technology IndustryDirector General

BKPM Chief M. Chatib Basri

The increase in investment during the first nine months of 2012 suggests that the investment climate in the country continues to improve, thus shoring up a degree of business certainty in the country.”

www.tempo.co

B4

Profilewww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

Suzuki Motor Cor-poration is a Ja-pan-based automo-bile company and the world’s number 3 motorcycle manu-

facturer behind Honda and Ya-maha. The company, via a global network, serves more than 190 countries. It builds its lineup on its own and through numerous subsidiaries and joint ventures overseas.

The company started business in 1909 as Suzuki Loom Works; it was incorporated in 1920 and has since steadily grown and ex-panded. During the post-WW II period, the motorized bike ‘Power free’, which earned a good repu-tation, was followed by the 125cc motorcycle ‘Colleda’, and later by the pioneering ‘Suzulight’ light-weight car that helped bring Ja-pan’s automotive revolution. Each of these was epoch-making in their own right as they were developed and manufactured by optimizing the most advanced technologies of that period.

Today, constantly going for-ward to meet changing lifestyles, the Suzuki name is seen on a full range of motorcycles, auto-mobiles, outboard motors and related products such as motor-ized wheelchairs and industri-al equipment. The trademark is recognized by people throughout the world as a brand of quality products that offer both reliabili-ty and originality.

Under the first statement of its mission statement “Develop products of superior value by fo-cusing on the customer”, the Su-zuki Group has always pursued providing ‘value-packed prod-ucts’ since its foundation.

Because value differs accord-ing to the times, country, and

Suzuki: ProvidingValue-packed Products

Suzuki develops “value-packed products” for the new generation and changeable lifestyles, constantly creating new technologies and applying them to the products with affluent imagination.

partners in ways that are mutu-ally beneficial. Through such co-operation, Suzuki aims to make efficient use of the business re-sources and increase the sales and profits.

In Indonesia, the production and sales of Suzuki is owned by PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor. The company was founded in 1970, originally under the banner of PT Indohero Steel & Engineering Co. which introduced its type A 100 & FR.

PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor is a foreign investment company that incorporates the strength of five companies, namely PT In-dohero Steel & Engineering Co., PT Indomobil Utama, PT. Suzu-ki Indonesia Manufacturing, PT Suzuki Engine Industry and PT First Chemical Industry.

The five companies were merged with the approval of

the government through a let-ter of approval notification from Chairman of the Investment Co-ordinating Board (BKPN) No. 05/I/PMA/90 dated January 1, 1990, and celebrated as the date of the establishment of PT Indomobil Suzuki Internation-al, which operates in the com-ponents and assembly industry of Suzuki two-wheel and four-wheel vehicles.

The company, which has about 2,400 employees, is not only manufacturing for Indone-sia’s domestic market but also for more than 50 countries, in-cluding Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan, Af-rica, Saudi Arabia, Chili, Austra-lia, New Zealand with the main product is APV car.

To support the government’s program for the provision of employment in Indonesia, PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor has

in such fields as energy, environ-mental, electronics, communi-cation, information and control applications. All this R&D en-ergy is devoted to the output of products that meet the challenge of the next generation.

Suzuki works with a num-ber of other automakers, namely Nissan, Mitsubishi, Mazda, and Volkswagen. Suzuki and Nissan supply each other with vehicles on an original-equipment-man-ufacturer (OEM) basis in Japan and elsewhere. Suzuki supplies Mazda and Mitsubishi Motors with vehicles on an OEM basis in Japan. Suzuki supplies Fiat and Opel with vehicles on an OEM basis in Europe. Suzuki also sources diesel engines from Fiat and Renault. Plus, Suzuki pro-duces diesel engines in India us-ing technologies from Fiat. Su-zuki plans to continue working with automakers as independent

built a plant at Tambun, Beka-si, West Java, with a capacity of 1,200,000 units per year for mo-torcycles, creating employment for 2,100 people. It was followed by a new car factory with a ca-pacity of 100,000 units per year with an investment of $60 mil-lion and absorbs 2,200 employ-ees. The company’s assembly centers spread across five cities, and is divided into six locations:

Cakung Plant(Engine Assembly)

It produces various kinds of components and engine & transmission parts for motor-cycles and cars through sever-al processes: Shearing, Press-ing, Welding, Assembling Engine bending, buffing, Machining Die Casting, and others by using ad-vanced technology. Here is also assembled a wide range of equip-ment and Steering Transmission both for motorcycles and cars.

Known as a fiscally conser-vative hands-on manager, Su-zuki involved himself in near-ly every aspect of the business and was often seen inspecting the company’s plants personal-ly in search of cost-cutting mea-sures. He once directed a facto-ry to use white instead of yellow paint for floor lines, to save a few cents per can. Because of his close involvement, work-ers viewed him more as a fa-ther than a CEO. When Suzu-ki stepped down as president of the company in 2000, he stayed on as chairman.

Suzuki was born in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, on Jan-uary 30, 1930. He graduated from Japan’s Chuo University in 1953 and then found work at a local bank. Suzuki once said he was more of a loan shark than a loan officer, noting that he made loans that paid him 30 percent interest. His entry into the busi-ness world came courtesy of his arranged marriage to Shoko Suzuki, granddaughter of the man who had founded Suzuki. The founder had three daugh-ters, and his eldest daughter

had five daughters. With no male heirs in sight, Osamu Suzuki, once Osamu Matsuda, took his wife’s name, as is Japanese cus-tom in this situation.

ki, which was founded as a loom maker, into a major global man-ufacturer of small cars. Suzu-ki had a vision—instead of bat-tling the industry giants, he

Osamu Suzuki: The Auto Industry’s Longest-serving Leader

focused on capturing buyers in the world’s developing markets, such as India, China, and Hun-gary.

Suzuki built the company by working as a diplomat. He spent a lot of time traveling to other countries to forge partnerships, sometimes with government en-tities. Like a general, Suzuki marched across Indochina and the surrounding areas, setting up satellite assembly plants. In 1967 Suzuki opened a plant in

Osamu Suzuki spent 34 years as president

and chief executive officer of Suzuki

Motor Corporation. During this time he

turned Suzuki into a global powerhouse by

producing rugged, low-cost mini-cars for the

less wealthy but more populated areas of the

world, such as India, China, and Eastern

Europe.

lifestyle, it is fully determined to make such products for custom-ers around the world.

Also, under the slogan “Small cars for a big future”, the com-pany will work forward to make small and environmentally-friendly cars that are wanted by the customers, as well as to im-plement highly efficient, sound, and lean management by mak-ing things “smaller, fewer, light-er, shorter, and neater” in pro-duction, organization, facilities, parts, environment and other various fields.

Suzuki develops “value-packed products” for the new generation and changeable life-styles, constantly creating new technologies and applying them to the products with affluent imagination. Applying this phi-losophy and approach to the R&D, the Suzuki teams cover a wide range of the latest advances

Pulogadung Plant(Service & Sales)

At this plant, the company has assembled a wide range of four-wheel vehicles such as Carry Extra, Carry Futura, Katana, and Forsa. Current-ly the plant only produces a few parts, because the assem-bling for four-wheel vehicles has largely moved to Tambun Plant II. The Pulogadung plant is now mostly used as a service and sales for Suzuki R4.

Tambun Plant I(Motorcycle Assembly)

Tambun Plant I was former-ly known as PT Indohero Steel & Engineering Co. Tambun Plant I can absorb as much as 1,128 workers. It is locat-ed at Jl. Diponegoro Km 38.2, Bekasi, and its main activity is making components and as-sembling motorcycles.

Tambun Plant II (Car Assembly)

Tambun Plant II is a new project specifically for Suzu-ki four-wheel vehicles. Here, pressing, welding, painting and assembly of four-wheel ve-hicles in the Suzuki lineup is done using variety of advanced technology equipment such as conveyors, robots, and others. It is the largest in Southeast Asia today. Tambun Plant II has a strategic location: 50km from the Soekarno-Hatta air-port and 26km from the head-quarters of PT Suzuki Indo-mobil Motor in MT Haryono. In Tambun Plant II, they are manufacturing Futura, APV, Swift, Grand Vitara, Neo Bale-no and other variants.

Spare Parts Plant(Sales Spare Parts)

To provide after sales ser-vice for Suzuki consumers, PT Suzuki Indomobil Motor moved the eight spare parts suppliers from Sunter to Spare Parts Plant in Jl. Diponegoro Km 38.2 Tambun-Bekasi (Jl. Toyo Giri). There are varieties of original spare parts for Su-zuki vehicles, and various sou-venirs of Suzuki.

Head Office(Wisma Indomobil MT Haryono)

The head office is locat-ed at Wisma Indomobil on Jl. MT Haryono, Kav. 8, Jakarta Timur and supported by 314 employees. The head office is the place of management and marketing system of PT Suzu-ki Indomobil Motor.

Suzuki Regina, a vision of a next-generation global compact car with excellent fuel efficiency and low emissions. under the slogan “Small cars for a big future”, the company will work forward to make small and environmentally-friendly cars that are wanted by the customers, as well as to implement highly efficient, sound, and lean management by making things “smaller, fewer, lighter, shorter, and neater” in production, organization, facilities, parts, environment and other various fields.

www.largus.fr

Suzuki began working at Su-zuki in 1958, filling various management positions. He be-came the company’s fourth pres-ident in 1978 and turned Suzu-

Thailand and by 1974 had set up shop in Indonesia, where he had negotiated a joint venture for parts man-ufacturing. In 1975 Suzuki opened a production plant in the Philippines. By 1980 Su-zuki was in Australia and in 1982 opened a plant in Pak-istan. In the early 1980s Su-zuki formed an alliance with General Motors to help get its foot in the door to Europe and North America.

By the early 2000s Suzu-ki was operating 60 plants in 31 countries while ex-porting its cars to 190 coun-tries. In 2003 sales reached $16,815.7 million on the back of a one-year growth spurt of 33.7 percent. At the start of 2004 Suzuki was clearly Japan’s number-one mini-car producer. Its motorcycle line was third, behind Hon-da and Yamaha, and its out-board marine engines en-joyed brisk sales as well. Like his company, Osamu Suzuki showed no signs of slowing down either, vowing to work until he died.

Osamu Suzuki

www.bloomberg.com

His entry into the business world came courtesy of his arranged marriage to Shoko Suzuki, granddaughter of the man who had founded Suzuki.

B5

Pictorial Eventwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

PT Banten West Java as developer of special

economic zone in tourism sector Tanjung Lesung

invited potential investors consisting of tourism

property developers in Indonesia, as well as

Chambers of Commerce of the ASEAN countries,

China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom to visit Tanjung

Lesung tourism area.

Investors Visit to Tanjung Lesung The President Post/Rians Rivco

B6

Pictorial Eventwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

The Financial Club Jakar-ta held a breakfast dialogue with Felia Salim, Vice CEO of PT Bank Negara Indonesia, as speaker. The dialogue themed “Indonesia Middle Class: Chal-lenges and Opportunities.”

At the dialogue, Felia stated, “the population of the middle class in Indonesia is increasing rapidly, but if it is not maintained well it will backfire.”

She suggested the government to focus on the development of labor-intensive industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, creative industries to maintain middle class citizens.

Breakfast Dialogue: “Indonesia Middle Class — Challenges

and Opportunities”

Chairman of PATA International Visits Indonesia

Chairman of PATA International

Martin Craigs visited Indonesia to

discuss the future of Indonesian tourism

with the chairman of PATA Indonesia,

SD Darmono. The discussion was held at PATA Indonesia’s

office at Menara Batavia, Jakarta.

During the meeting, Craigs explains his

purpose come to Indonesia, which

is to maximize the potentials of tourism in

Indonesia.

At the meeting, SD Darmono pointed out

that Morotai Island can be used as a “New

Singapore” as a transit trade route in Asia

Pacific.

The President Post/Reza Ganesha

Lenhamnas with President Executive Club and the National University of Singapore (NUS) held an event entitled “The Potential of The Chinese Diaspora and the Benefits for South East Asia” at Lemhanas Building. Prof. Wang Gung WU was the speaker and Prof. Dr. Ab-dullah Dahana was the moderator at the event. The dialogue was attended by prominent leaders from Indonesia and Singapore.

Chinese Diaspora Dialogueat Lemhanas

The President Post/Donny Martin

The President Post/Reza Ganesha

B7

Pictorial Eventwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) in collaboration with the Foundation for Ronald Mcdonald House Charities presented Fami-ly Room as an effort to accelerate the healing process of pediatric pa-tients, especially children suffering from serious diseases like cancer and tumors.

Family Room is expected to contribute to the healing process of pa-tients, and can be used for all family members who accompany pa-tients to undergo a series of medical processes in RSCM.

Inauguration of Family Room atCipto Mangunkusumo Hospital

The President Post/Rians Rivco

Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh attended the inauguration

of Gerakan Indonesia Berkibar (GIB) at

Monumen Arsip Nasional, West Jakarta, on October

28. The chairman of Indonesia Berkibar, Shafiq Lontoh, founder of Putera

Sampoerna Foundation, Putera Sampoerna, and Deputy Minister

of Religious Affairs Nassaruddin Umar also

attended the event.

Minister of Education and CultureInaugurates Indonesia Berkibar

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Czech National DayThe celebration of the National Day of the Czech Republic was held at the Mandarin Oriental

Hotel on October 24. The celebration was attended by

ambassadors and prominent Indonesian leaders.

The President Post/Rians Rivco

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Ceremony of PT Indopoly Swakarsa IndustryFirst Shipment in Cikarang Dry Port

PT Indopoly Swakarsa Industry (ISI) held the ceremony to receive the first shipment of production from Singapore in Cikarang Dry Port (CDP) on October 24. This is the first time ISI is engaged in exports and imports in CDP after the two sides agreed to cooperate.

PT Indopoly Swakarsa Industry Tbk. manufactures flexible plastic packaging for consumer goods such as snacks, cigarettes, etc.

PT Moto-Techno Service Indonesia (MTSI) signed an MoU with Jap-anese company Motoyama Eng. Works Ltd. (Motoyama), the manufac-turer of Motoyama control valves and safety valves. The event was held at the MTSI head office in Jababeka II Industrial Area, Cikarang.

The MoU was signed by Haddy Timor, President Director of MTSI, and Toshiaki Shimpaku CEO Motoyama.

With this MoU signing, MTSI becomes an authorized workshop of Motoyama, which provides Pressure Safety Valve and Control Valve services in accordance with the standards of the Motoyama.

MoU Signing of PT Moto-Techno Service Indonesia and Motoyama Eng. Works Ltd.

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Microsoft Launches Windows 8 in JakartaMicrosoft officially launched Windows 8 at Taman Anggrek Mall,

Jakarta, on October 26. Windows 8 is designed to be part of an ecosystem, alongside Win-

dows Phone and Windows RT. Microsoft believes in this idea so strong-ly that it has made the Windows 8 user interface (formerly called Met-ro) the primary interface for Windows users. PCs with the new OS installed will boot into the Windows 8 interface; the OS offers no built-in way to set it to boot to the traditional Windows desktop.

There are a variety of ways to purchase Windows 8. Typically, it will be available pre-installed on machines from stores and online outlets, but anyone with an older system running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 can also upgrade for $ 39.99. Microsoft is using an online installer to let users check compatibility with their systems and upgrade.

B8

Pictorial Eventwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

On October 18, ICCC (Indonesia

Canada Chamber of Commerce),

held a members gathering event at the Mercantile Executive

Club, Jakarta. The event was attended

by members of the ICCC and also representatives of

other Chambers of Commerce.

ICCC Members GatheringThe President Post/Reza Ganesha

Amcham Networking Cocktail Evening

AmCham (American Chambers) held a Networking Cocktail Eve-ning on October 11 attended by its members. Cocktail Evening Net-working is also a venue for businessmen and expatriates from the US and other countries to meet.

The President Post/Rians Rivco

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Indonesia Tourism & CreativeEconomy Fair (ITCEF) 2012

Indonesia Tourism Promotion Board (BPPI) organized an exhibition of Indonesian tourism and creative economy in In-donesia called Indonesia Tourism & Creative Economy Fair (ITCEF) 2012, which was held at the Jakarta Convention Cen-tre, October 19-21.

The ITCEF 2012 saw approximately 350 companies in tour-ism and creative economy, such as hotels, airlines, travel agencies, restaurants, souvenir handicrafts, and others took part. In addition to fairs and exhibitions, the event also held a uniform parade, cultural performances, table and bed setup completion and table top meeting that brought together sellers with around 100 buyers from Indonesia and abroad.

BNI-REI Expo 2012, a grand property exhibition, officially opened at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC). Besides in Jakarta, the event was held simultaneously in 20 cities in Indonesia on October 20-28. The event was held by BNI in collaboration with Real Estate Indonesia (REI).

In Jakarta, 125 property developers, among others Jababeka, Metland and Ciputra, and 135 property companies took part in the expo.

The exhibition coincided with the momentum of high growth in the residential market, driven by the rise of the middle class as well as the number of interested expatriates.

This exhibition was held at Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Serang, Aceh, Padang, Medang, Palembang, Lampung, Balikpapan, Makasar, etc. It is registered with the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) as the biggest exhibition in Indonesia.

BNI-REI Expo 2012

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

LIVINGwww.thepresidentpost.com

November 2012No. 38

SECTION C

The President Post

Freezing of Human Eggs No LongerAn Experimental ProcedureThe American Society for Reproductive Medicine has determined that the freezing and thawing of egg cells is now a proven method for preserving a woman’s ability to have children, removing the technique’s “experimental” label in a report released this week.

The report, which is a review of a large num-ber of studies ana-lyzing the success of the procedure and its

risks, finds that egg freezing and thawing before fertilization works just as well as the fresh eggs commonly used in in vitro fertilization.

What’s more, a review of more than 900 births from frozen eggs found no increased risk of birth defects or DNA abnormalities.

The technique has received plenty of attention as a way for women to put off childbear-ing until later in life-whether to pursue a career or because they have yet to find the right mate. But the ASRM continues to view the primary purpose of egg freezing to be the preservation of eggs for young women about to undergo chemotherapy or radia-tion, which can do serious dam-age to the ovaries.

The report also lists other po-tential reasons a woman may wish to freeze her eggs. For cou-ples attempting in vitro fertiliza-tion, for example, two studies have shown that freezing eggs

can be useful in cases where the man is unable to produce sperm on the day of egg retrieval-either because of severe male infertility or because it’s just not his day.

The ASRM also believes egg freezing is a good option for cou-ples undergoing in vitro fertiliza-tion who want to improve their chances without freezing embry-

os, a practice some find ethically objectionable.

For healthy women who choose to freeze their eggs sim-ply to hit pause on their biologi-cal clocks, the ASRM report has a reminder: Make sure you do it while you’re young. Eggs frozen in a woman’s late 30s or early 40s, for example, have a far low-

As a bride-to-be, you in-vest huge amounts of time, en-ergy and money to make your big day unforgettable. Unfortu-nately, all of the stress associat-ed with planning a wedding can take its toll, and you may neglect your own well-being in the cha-os. Inadequate sleep, poor diet and high levels of stress can leave you feeling and looking less than fabulous, but with a few healthy and sustainable adjust-ments, you can look forward to your walk down the aisle.

Gorgeous greensPressure to look perfect in

your wedding photos may lead you to fad diets that can leave you starving and irritable, not to mention pallid and worn down. Instead of restrictive dieting, ce-lebrity nutritionist and author Kimberly Snyder says eating the right foods will result in weight loss, as well as improve the look of skin, hair and nails. In “The Beauty Detox Solution,” Snyder encourages a plant-based diet that draws beautifying nutrients from completely natural sourc-es. Green smoothies are a great way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables on the go, Snyder says, and she encourages all her clients to drink them.

Sleeping beautyFrom venue visits to cake tast-

ings to bridal showers, it might seem like there isn’t enough time to get all your wedding plan-ning done. However, skimping on sleep can have serious phys-ical and mental consequences. Getting enough rest so that you can get through your seeming-ly never-ending list can be diffi-cult, but it’s vital to help you look and feel your best. For better, more restful sleep, try to stick to a bedtime routine at the same

How to Look and Feel Your Best for the Big Day

time every night. Try not to eat or drink within an hour of go-ing to sleep, and avoid electron-ic screens for 30 minutes before bed. You might enjoy a light ac-tivity - such as reading a book - directly before going to sleep to help clear your mind. Lastly, en-sure that you continue to make sleep a priority, even as the spe-cial day nears.

Post-workout glowA wedding is a great motivator

when it comes to working out, and perhaps you have already joined a gym or invested in a per-sonal trainer to get in shape for the occasion. Even if you aren’t worried about losing weight, ex-ercise can do great things for busy brides-to-be. Snyder, an experienced yogi who has prac-ticed around the world, encour-ages her clients and readers to explore yoga for better mental and physical health.

“Exercise releases stress-fighting hormones, and yoga in particular can be a rejuvenat-ing escape from the day’s hectic happenings, no matter how new you are to the practice,” Snyder says. “By combining strength-

building poses and attention to inner self, you can both tone your muscles and achieve men-tal bliss. Yoga is a great way to get fit and stay focused so you can walk down the aisle looking serene and stunning.”

Radiantly relaxed Unbridled mental stress can

quickly lead to physical conse-quences, and you don’t want to look haggard or tired on your spe-cial day. Physical activity, wheth-er it’s a long run, exercise class, or short jog around the block, re-leases hormones that will boost your mood for hours. And don’t underestimate the power of the senses: lighting stress-relief ar-omatherapy candles, soaking in a warm bath, and even treating yourself to a massage can help you relax as the wedding day ap-proaches.

As you plan every detail of your wedding, remember to spend time on your own health and happiness. By paying atten-tion to your physical and mental well-being throughout the plan-ning process, you’re sure to be ready and radiant for your big day. LA TIMES

er success rate than eggs frozen during a woman’s 20s.

Even still, the procedure is no sure thing: Only about half of the egg transfers lead to a successful pregnancy, and that number de-creases with the age of the pa-tient.

Even as they remove the ex-perimental label, the ASRM re-port has a strong message for doctors who encourage such procedures for their patients who undergo egg freezing to stop the clock: “Marketing this technol-ogy for the purpose of deferring childbearing may give women false hope and encourage wom-en to delay childbearing,” the re-port says. LA TIMES

Years ago, I had an el-derly patient I loved to visit. She had a huge personality, a quick mind (and tongue), and a sense of humor that would leave you gasping for air. She was just one of those people that others loved to spend time with. She also had the worst case of diabetes I’d ever encoun-tered. She was taking huge doses of four types of insu-lin and needed to check her blood sugar six times a day.

During one visit, I made a call to her doctor to discuss her steadily rising blood sugars. “I can’t put her on anything else,“ he said. “She’s going to have to exer-cise to help bring it down.” Well, for most folks, a little exercise wasn’t such a big deal. But for this gal, even getting to the bathroom was a chore. She was blind, se-verely obese, and had diffi-culty breathing to boot.

I broke the news to her, and told her we’d do it to-gether. We started small, mostly because we had to. We started with tak-ing three steps every time I came to see her. We ven-tured outside on nice days to pull weeds out of her flow-erbeds for 10 minutes.

After a month, we added

walking from the door of the bathroom to the toilet once

a day. The next month, we upped it to three times a day. After six months, she was walking down the hall three times a day in ad-dition to her other exercise activ-ities. It was enough to help keep her blood sugars from rising and we were able to lessen her insu-lin dosages a bit. Her doctor was ecstatic.

The Average Exercise Overhaul So many times, the average

person who wants to live health-ier jumps into the exercise ring with both feet. They throw out all the junk food, vow to eat sprouts and drink water, and go to the gym everyday. The whole thing lasts for about two weeks, and then they find themselves over-whelmed, eating chips in front of the TV and yelling at Beach Body commercials.

Small Steps Equal Big Changes The truth is, just like my pa-

tient, any small change you make to your exercise routine helps make you healthier. Start small and build on your habits as you become comfortable with each change. Here are some ideas to help you get started.

Park in the farthest corner •of the parking lot at work or when you go shoppingAvoid the elevator and hit the •stairsGo for a walk on your lunch •breakPlay ball with your kids once a •week for fifteen minutesUse a mini-trampoline to do •rebounding exercises while

you wait for the morning coffee to brewWalk in place for one min-•ute when you begin to feel fatigued at your deskEngage in sexual activity •once a week This principal applies

to other healthy habits in your life as well. Try these small changes to start liv-ing healthier:

Replace one can of soda •or tea with a glass of wa-ter every dayIf you smoke, try smoking •half a cigarette (instead of a full one) once during the dayReach for some fruit •or fresh veggies when tempted to snack on junk. If you’re still crav-ing the junk an hour lat-er, go ahead and give in – at least you got in some healthy nutrientsGo to bed ten minutes •earlier than usualSit near a sunny window •or go outside for five min-utes every morningSpend ten minutes alone, •sitting quietly before go-ing downstairs to start your day When you live healthier,

you not only feel better, but you spend less time at the doctor’s office, take fewer medications, and save mon-ey on your life insurance premiums. LA TIMES

How Much Exercise Do I Really Need to Live Healthier?

www.ploughandharrowhotel.co.uk

www.maxboam.wordpress.com

C2

Healthwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

If you still have a job in this economy, you’re supposed to feel grateful. But stress is what more people tend to feel at work these days, and a new study finds that for those who experience such strain on the job, the risk of de-veloping heart disease increases by about 25%.

That elevated heart attack risk, however, is less high than has been widely supposed, the authors of the new study wrote Thursday in the journal Neurol-ogy. While addressing workplace stress might help improve em-ployees’ health, they said, there’s

lower-hanging fruit that would yield higher health benefits, in-cluding an expansion of efforts to get smokers to kick the habit.

Job stress is defined by high demands at work and/or a work-er’s low level of control over work hours and conditions. A 2007 survey by the American Psycho-logical Assn. found that three-quarters of Americans listed work as a significant source of stress, and more than half ac-knowledged that their produc-tivity had suffered as a result of stress.

The latest research is not a

An estimated 3 million American adults get acupuncture treat-ments annually; still, there “remains con-

siderable controversy as to its value,” the researchers wrote in a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medi-cine.

But they found that for back and neck pain, chronic head-ache, osteoarthritis and shoul-der pain, acupuncture works

better than no treatment and better than “sham” acupunc-ture – done, for example, with needles inserted superficially or with needles that retract into the handles instead of going into the skin.

There is no accepted mecha-nism for how the acupuncture works, the researchers said. Acu-puncture is the practice of in-serting and stimulating needles at specific spots on the body.

The researchers noted that

Study: Acupuncture More Than Placebo Effect for Chronic Pain

Stressful job? It Could be Worsefresh study but a compilation of existing studies, some pub-lished in medical journals, oth-ers not. It gathers evidence of the link between job stress and heart disease from studies con-ducted in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Britain. Some published studies have assessed the increased cardiovascular toll of stress on the job at 40%. But when unpublished studies were taken into consideration, the contribution of job stress to cardiovascular risk started to shrink. LATimes

Acupuncture eases some kinds of chronic pain – and it’s not just a placebo effect at work, researchers who looked at data from nearly 18,000 patients found.

For 75 years, scientists have documented a curi-ous fact: If rats and mice eat 30% to 40% fewer calories than normal, they live 15% to 40% longer than is typical for their species. The obser-vation has offered humans hope that our own maxi-mum life span could one day be extended, enabling people to live well past their 100th birthday.

A new study of monkeys pours cold water on that no-tion — while at the same time offering some hearten-ing health news.

Among a colony of rhesus monkeys tracked for more than 20 years, animals whose calories were restrict-ed to 30% below normal lived no longer, on average, than

monkeys whose eating was un-restricted, scientists found. But the diet did offer clear benefits, notably in warding off cancer.

It appears that “we are seeing a separation between what we call ‘health span’ from ‘life span’ — they are not hand in hand,” said Rafael de Cabo, an exper-imental gerontologist at the Na-tional Institute on Aging in Bal-timore and senior author of the study.

The report, published online Wednesday by the journal Na-ture, suggests that what has proven true for rodents and var-ious other animals may not hold true for primates — humans in-cluded — at least under the con-ditions that were studied. The findings are likely to disappoint the hundreds of people in the U.S. who practice a strict reg-

imen of calorie restriction in hopes of postponing their ap-pointment with the Grim Reap-er.

But the results also have some researchers scratching their heads. The results are quite dif-ferent from a 2009 study of mon-keys in a colony in Wisconsin that found a clear survival edge from age-related diseases like di-abetes, cancer and heart disease in calorie-restricted animals. That study also saw a trend to-ward longer life for monkeys on the diet when all causes of death were considered.

All the monkeys received the same food, but the control ani-mals could eat as much as they wanted during daylight hours. The rest were limited to only 70% of what they ate before the exper-iment began.

So far, no monkey in the calorie-restricted group has been diagnosed with cancer, De Cabo said, whereas six cases have occurred in the controls and are believed to have been the cause of death of five of them. That is in line with rodent studies, which have also found that calorie restriction seems to ward off cancer.

Though the final word on whether calorie restriction extends life span is not in — nearly 50% of the young-er monkeys are still alive — the authors wrote that they are unlikely to find a surviv-al edge when all is said and done. But it’s still possible they will, De Cabo said, es-pecially if the cancer differ-ence grows starker. LATimes

Calorie Limits Don’t Extend Life Span But Might Keep You Healthier

their work might help people gain access to the treatment – given that “many clinicians would feel uncomfortable” refer-ring patients to a treatment with only placebo effect. And health insurance reimbursements are less likely for therapies “that do not have specific effects.”

The study, they said, provides “the most robust evidence to date that acupuncture is a reason-able referral option for patients with chronic pain.” LATimes

Early signs of lung cancer could be diagnosed using a simple blood test, according a new discovery published by British scientists on Tues-day.

Early detection of lung cancer has been shown to save lives, but available methods for screening at-risk people are either too costly or involve invasive pro-cedures.

Writing in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences, research-ers at University of York reported that they found an altered form of a protein called Ciz1 was pres-ent in lung cancers, even when at a very early stage. “The Ciz1 protein is involved in cell growth. Altered forms of this protein are present in cancer cells, and one specific form is prevalent in lung cancers,” said Dr. Dawn Cover-ley from the University of York.

“Surprisingly, this variant-Ciz1 somehow gets into the blood stream and once there appears to be very stable. This means

that by looking for variant Ciz1 in the blood we can pick out peo-ple who have small tumours in their lungs, without the need to take a biopsy or undergo sur-gery,” she added.

She said the method will offer doctors an alternative way to test whether an abnormal growth is cancerous. For patients, it means many can avoid invasive diagnostic procedures. The team is now translating the research into a test suitable for use in hos-pital diagnostic laboratories.

Early Signs of Lung Cancer Could beDiagnosed by Simple Blood Test

www.gentletigeracupuncture.com

Every couple of years a food or beverage is crowned with what nutrition experts call a “health halo.” Some of the foods — wild salmon, blueberries, flax seeds — deserve it. But others gain sta-tus for no apparent reason. Acai berry, anyone? It’s not that the trendy food is unhealthful. It’s just that if you’re already eating a well-balanced diet it’s unnec-essary. And possibly expensive. The latest entrant in this catego-ry: coconut water.

Coconut water — the mild-ly sweet liquid from the center of young, green coconuts — has been popular in tropical ar-eas since, well, as long as peo-ple have lived among coconut palm trees. In recent years it has found its way onto the shelves of mainstream grocery stores, of-ten with fruit juice or sugar add-ed. A 14-ounce serving can cost as much as $3.50.

“Coconut water is a good source of potassium, but banan-as and potatoes contain just as

much or even more, and they’re much less expensive,” says Joan Salge Blake, a registered dieti-tian and clinical associate pro-fessor of nutrition at Boston Uni-versity.

“With the potassium-rich whole foods you also get fiber and other nutrients, which is why I prefer them.”

People can certainly eat the “meat” of the coconut for potas-sium and fiber, but they’ll also get 26 grams of saturated fat per cup. We depend on potassium for muscle function, and that’s why coconut water is marketed as an alternative to sports bev-erages.

“In addition to potassium, coconut water contains oth-er electrolytes that are lost dur-ing exercise,” says Chhandashri Bhattacharya, a chemist at In-diana University Southeast who made the presentation. Coconut water is also a low-glycemic food, meaning it won’t cause spikes

Coconut Water Making a Splashin blood sugar. Bhattacharya’s study echoed findings from a 2012 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. The earlier study found that coconut water is as effective at rehydrating athletes after an intense workout as bot-tled water and sports beverages.

“You can eat a couple of salty crackers to get what you need,” says Andrea N. Giancoli, a Los Angeles-based registered dieti-tian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietet-ics. The thing Giancoli wants ev-eryone to remember is that there is not one food or drink that the human body needs above all others.

“If you like it and you can af-ford it, there’s nothing wrong with coconut water, as long as you’re choosing a brand with-out added sugar,” she says. “The last thing we want people to do is find another way to drink calo-ries. Los Angeles Times

www.ryanspringer.com

RI, India Expect Direct Flights Boost TourismIndonesia and India have expressed hope that direct flight services

between the two countries will attract more Indian tourists to Indonesia and boost its tourism industry.

“By providing direct flights, the number of tourists from India will in-crease,” Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry`s Director for Interna-tional Tourism Promotion Nia Niscaya said at the ASEAN-India Busi-ness Seminar for Progress and Prosperity held here on Wednesday.

“Tourists generally prefer direct flights, but currently they have to stop over first in Singapore or Malaysia,” Niscaya noted.

The government has set a target of attracting 180,000 Indian visitors to Indonesia. According to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, the number of Indian visitors to Indonesia has increased by 7.93%, reach-ing 115,219 during January-August 2012, compared with 106,758 visi-tors in the same period last year.

Bali Building 60 New HotelsBali will have 10,466 hotel rooms in 2014 with 60 new hotel projects

under construction, property research agency Knight Frank predicted. Supply of hotel rooms in Bali has continued to grow with 3,922 addi-

tional rooms in the second half of the year, Senior Associate Director of Knight Frank, Fakky Hidayat, said here Wednesday.

In the next two years , the hotel rooms on the resort island would total 10,466 units, he added. In the first half of the year, 5-star hotels contrib-uted the largest number or 37.7% to the total number of hotel rooms in Bali, Fakky said. The second largest number was contributed by 4-star hotel accounting for 31.3% followed by 3-star hotels accounting for 31%, he said.

The largest number of the new hotels would be built in Kuta until 2014, he said. Four-star hotels are dominant in Seminyak, Sanur and Legian with rooms 691 units, 1,025 units and 617 units respectively.

Ministry of Transportation to Build Floating Docks for Tourists

The Ministry of Transportation has planned to build three floating docks under an initiative called “Tiga Gili” (three small islands), namely Gili Trawangan, Meno, and Gili Air, as part of efforts to support the tour-

TOURISM UPDATESism sector in North Lombok district.

“The construction of these floating docks is intended to facilitate small boats carrying tourists from the Bali Benoa harbour to the “Tiga Gili” attractions,” the head of Transportation, Communication and Infor-mation department of West Nusa Tenggara, Ridwan Syah said here on Thursday.

“The floating docks will be constructed using modern technology and strong materials, such as wood, metal and concrete, while the bridge will be elastic, strong and able to adjust tides elevation,” he explained.

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Tourismwww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

Mentioned in local folktales and noted for years as the meet-ing point of the devil and black magic users worldwide, the Maupora atoll east of Romang is-land in Southwest Maluku dis-trict remains enigmatic.

To date, Maupora is still con-sidered sacred for it is a popular rendezvous for Satan and black magic users around the world, locally known as Suanggi.

Hans Lekipera, a local res-ident of Romang island, says the south coast of the atoll is the place where the Suanggi, or those who practice black mag-ic, have their party in a magnifi-cent palace that is invisible to or-dinary people.

“Once in a while, during a certain night with a new moon when people of the surrounding islands of Kisar, Leti and Moa see a bright light from the direc-tion of Maupora atoll, it means the Suanggi or the black magic users around the world are hav-ing their party,” Lekipera noted.

The beauty of Maupora atoll, with its large rocks and man-grove forest along its shoreline, in addition to evergreen and san-dalwood trees on the hills, makes the island a perfect tourist desti-nation in Southwest Maluku.

“Maupora atoll can be devel-oped as a location for marine tourism, a fishing area, diving, snorkeling, swimming and other

marine activities,” says South-west Maluku District Culture and Tourism Office spokesman Anis Dahoklory.

The island, with an area of 10,490 sq km, is accessible with-in three hours by boat from Kisar island and about 20 min-utes by speedboat to the east from Jerusu beach on Romang mainland.

The crystal clear water around the atoll also adds to the beauty of the beaches, and the sound of water splashing onto the shore in late afternoons will provide a memorable experience for visi-tors or tourists.

Marine scientists from the Netherlands, Belgium, Indone-

Maluku’s Enigmatic Maupora Atoll

The flight from East Nusa Tenggara pro-vincial city of Kupang to Kisar island, also known as Yotowa-

wa in Southwest Maluku dis-trict, is pretty uneventful. After 90 minutes in the air, the CASA 212 plane begins its descent into Purpura airport in Kisar, the is-land with metamorphic rocks encircled by a coral terrace.

For a few minutes as the plane approaches the runway, some passengers stare out the win-dow and look at beautiful beach-es below along the coast of Kisar. The runway threshold of Purpu-ra airport is on a small, 30-me-ter high cliff that drops away into the ocean and Uhum beach, dot-ted with rural huts.

Johanes Tahinlaru, a local taxi driver, quoted some tour-ists as saying that Uhum beach is the most beautiful beach they have seen in Maluku, even in In-donesia.

Kisar has a lot to offer. Tour-ists visiting the island can go swimming, snorkeling, div-ing, spear fishing, or just stroll along the white sandy beaches of Kihar, Kiou, Nama, Malara, Tutu, Midau, Uhum, Ohinaran, Jawalan, Indeul, Lilit and many others.

They can also visit the ru-ins of Forth Vollenhove at Nama beach, Forth Delfthaven in Kai-sama village, the ruins of Lek-lor old church built by the Dutch in 1777 and burned by fire in 1925, or climb the hills of Daiti-lu, Lekwa in, Manheri, or Mau-hara to see the panoramic beau-ty around the island.

While climbing the hills of Lekwa in, Manheri, and Mau-hara on the south of the island,

visitors can find much to en-joy; the feel of gentle breezes, the awesome grandeur of the Timor strait, separating Kisar from Timor Leste and Australia, and the song of the weed birds, mag-pies, friar birds (locally known as burung koli), and others.

The song of the friar birds is complex and comprises at least three elements, starting with a rapid low-pitched trill for a few seconds, and then a series of nasal, coarse, tonally complex sounds.

Kisar is one of many islands in Southwest Maluku district and, in short, there is nothing here. “But of course, by nothing it means nothing as in the terms of not much development, but a lot of nature,” local culture and tourism office spokesman Anes Dahoklory says.

No matter how remote this is-land is, Dahoklory notes that it is still developing its tourism sites. Meanwhile, Oirata village community figure Lucas Wed-ilen said this tiny and rocky is-land was nameless and deserted when, long ago, Lewenmali and Asamali first arrived from Tu-tukei Serwaru on Leti island.

Being hungry one day, they thought of looking for some-thing to eat. They travelled as far as Cape Loronwisi at the south-east tip of the island. But there, Lewenmali and Asamali did not see any food. The only living be-ings they found were unnum-bered caterpillars. So, they “ses-elpain” (prayed) for the Creator:

“If these verily are nothing but caterpillars from flies eggs, the land here will be rotting when we come back after seven days; but if they are of any use, they shall have been transformed when we return.”

When they returned to Loron-wisi after seven days, those countless caterpillars had been transformed into thousands of “hihiyotowa” or goats. That was the reason why, from that time, this island had been called Yo-towawa, until the arrival of a Dutch ship skippered by Jan Belen in 1665.

The ship anchored near “Uwaraha Lauwar”, a pitch-black rock not far from Kihar Sere, a narrow beach overlooking Timor Leste on the south of Yotowa-wa. Jan Belen had no idea where he had anchored his ship, so he went to the shore of Kihar Sere and found Horsair and Muta-sair, two indigenous people who were mending nets.

Eager to know the name of the island, Jan Belen asked Horsair and Mutasair, but because of language problems they thought the Dutchman asked the name of the beach. So Horsair and Mu-tasair told Jan Belen that it was Kihar, but the Dutchman pro-nounced it “Kisar”, and from that time on the name of the is-

land has been popularly known as Kisar.

The Dutch VOC in 1665 built its military base in Kisar, and from the European outpost on the island a relatively large Indo Eurasian community of “Mestizo from Kisar” developed and con-tinues to this day, with surviving family names include Joostenz, Wouthuysen, Caffin, Lerrick, Peelman, Lander, Ruff, Bellmin, Belder, Coenrad, van Delsen, Schilling and Bakker. Wedilen added that tourists and visitors to the island are amazed at its traditional arts and culture.

“Whether they are into spear fishing or just fishing, diving, swimming, snorkeling, or just strolling along the waters edge of its pristine beaches moments be-fore the sunset, Yotowawa is the perfect escape,” he noted.

According to Wedilen, Oira-ta village, during the past sever-al years, has become a favorite and idyllic destination for foreign tourists who arrive by the MV Orion cruise ship from Darwin.

Gili Islands www.findyourwayinsg.com

To Tourists, Everyday is aNew Adventure in Yotowawa

sian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) have discovered that the waters around Maupora atoll are rich with coral reefs and schools of ornamental fish in various siz-es and colors.

Also found in Maupora wa-ters are highly valued mollusks, such as green turban shells, gi-ant clams, top shells and also various sea cucumbers. “We are so amazed and feel as if we were in a small piece of paradise that we have never seen before in our expeditions,” said Dutch ma-rine scientist Rob van Scheidel, as quoted by Fredy Leatemia of LIPI Ambon.

“We hear a lot of mystical sto-ries that remain enigmatic on this tiny Maupora atoll, and therefore we want to know more about them from the indigenous people of Roman and Kisar is-lands,” said Styn van Collie and Thom Gabriel of Belgium.

During their expedition in Maupora they discovered the underwater biodiversity of cor-al reefs. The natural and marine environment of Maupora is a matchless underwater paradise found nowhere else in the east-ern part of Indonesia, though the area seems, so far, to have been ignored by the local government and officials from the tourism in-dustry.

As an exotic atoll among 133 islands in Southwest Maluku, Maupora has a stunning under-water paradise to explore for do-mestic and foreign tourists, as well as marine lovers and sci-entists. Rows of tropical forest, mangrove forests, and sandal-wood forests with high econom-ic value that flourish naturally in Maupora are the state assets that need to be kept and pre-served from illegal logging activ-ities.

“It is time for the central and MBD district governments to fo-cus their attention on the devel-opment of Maupora as a tourist destination in the district,” Anis Dahoklory noted. Antara

The beauty of Maupora atoll, with its large rocks and mangrove forest along its shoreline, in addition to evergreen and sandalwood trees on the hills, makes the island a perfect tourist destination in Southwest Maluku.

Kisar has a lot to offer. Tourists visiting the island can go swimming, snorkeling, diving, spear fishing, or just stroll along the white sandy beaches of Kihar, Kiou, Nama, Malara, Tutu, Midau, Uhum, Ohinaran, Jawalan, Indeul, Lilit and many others.

“In small groups with local guides the tourists were invited to explore Kisar s history, includ-ing the architectural remnants from the Dutch period over the past 400 years, and then ush-ered to Oirata village,” Wedilen said.

Arriving at Oirata village, the tourists were entertained with the colorful and traditional Cakalele war dance, led by Na-thaniel Haratilu. Besides, they also had the opportunity to see a number of activities, includ-ing “sopi” alcoholic drink distill-ing, brown sugar making from Koli palm trees, and Ikat weav-ing for sale.

“Magnificent! We want to stay longer here in Oirata, Kisar, but unfortunately we have very limit-ed time. But we enjoyed our visit

in Oirata, anyway,” said Marieke Egan of the Netherlands.

Max McGuire, a tourist from Australia, also acknowledged that he was deeply impressed with the way the local residents made brown sugar and sopi from Koli palm trees that grow well on Kisar.

Due to the small population and remote location, the fish life and unspoilt beaches and coral reefs in Kisar are abundant. Ga-briel, an avid surfer, spear-fisher, and diver from Australia takes the opportunity to explore the beaches and the reefs in Kisar.

“Soon upon arriving at the beach, I put on my fins, got my spear-gun ready, and swam out immediately,” Gabriel said.

For him, the fish life and the color of both the fish and cor-

als are amazing. “Dip your head in and you will start seeing fish. A couple of undersized snap-per swam over me and a shoal of smallish barracuda,” Gabri-el says.

While floating on the surface, he said he saw a big splash and it was the biggest barracuda he had ever seen. “I lined it up, waited for a broadside shot and squeezed the trigger, but then it disappeared into the dark blue depth,” he continued.

Gabriel had a couple other fish down, but he was becoming cold so he decided to return to shore.

“Everyday in Kisar holds new adventures and I am continual-ly amazed at how awesome the Lord is for giving me this oppor-tunity to visit Kisar island,” he says. Antara

Nama Beach

Kisar villagers

Due to the small population and remote

location, the fish life and unspoilt beaches and

coral reefs in Kisar are abundant.

www.pariwisatambd.com

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Travelwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

It was dark and there were only stars to light up the night. Our eyes eventually adapted to darkness slowly and caught the silhouettes

of everything around us. The minimum light enabled us to see only vague shadows, but we no-ticed lights shining out from the sands that we just stepped on. It turned out that these lights were produced by planktons.

My buddies, Nico and Satria, and I wanted to seize the mo-ments when adult green turtles return to the land to lay eggs. Ac-companied by a guide from the local BKSDA (Natural Resourc-es Conservation Body), the four of us explored the beach around the Sangalaki Island, a breeding bed for green turtles or the big-gest Chelonia mydas in South-east Asia. Adult green turtles lay as much as dozens of eggs every night.

The female green turtles are very sensitive to disruptions such as sounds, lights and movements. But once they lay eggs, no sound or movement can disrupt them.

An adult green turtle with 1.5 meter in diameter emerged and started digging up a hole to lay

her eggs. We waited patiently for her to complete the process be-cause the turtle dug the hole with her front legs very slowly.

Suddenly the guide whis-pered to us, “Look, she’s ready to lay her eggs because she’s dig-ging up a smaller hole with her hind legs.” The slimy white eggs of ping-pong balls size came out one by one from her behind. It was amazing to witness the pro-cess especially after we learned that only 1 out of 100 eggs would likely survive and make it as an adult. That really was a priceless moment!

After she finished laying eggs, the mother covered the hole with sands to protect the eggs from preys such as weasels, lizards and humans.

In their first days, after they successfully hatched and crawled out of the hole, they still had to watch out for other pred-ators such as hawks that are ready to snatch them away. The young turtles which survived from being snatched by hawks still have to worry about sharks and other predators when they go to the sea.

Predators seem to be follow-ing them all their lives because as they get older the turtles have to face threats from humans

that come in various forms such as being hunted for their shells and meat. They could also die from eating plastics which they mistaken for jelly fish.

For the turtles, Sangalaki is their breeding bed and Derawan Island is their dynasty. For tour-ists, especially divers, Derawan Island is heaven. Sangalaki and several other islets are located in this group of islands which are under the administration of Be-rau district, East Kalimantan province. Derawan offers beau-tiful and panoramic scenery. It also offers unique underwater scenery with the green turtles as the main attraction.

Here it’s not the divers who watch the turtles but it’s the tur-tles that like to watch the divers. The turtles gather in groups and seem to be watching the divers. It was an extraordinary view. The turtles are very big and they are not afraid to be approached. They seemed to be comfort-able around humans. If the tur-tles felt disturbed they just sim-ply swim away. If that happens, divers should not worry because there are always other turtles that pop up and replace the ones that swam away. The trip really satisfied us. I think other tour-ists, both local and foreign, also feel the same way.

Words and Photo by Iqbal Alaik

The Wonders of the Green Turtles in Derawan IslandDerawan offers beautiful and panoramic scenery. It also offers unique underwater scenery with the green turtles as the main attraction.

The female green turtles are very sensitive to disruptions such as

sounds, lights and movements. But once

they lay eggs, no sound or movement can

disrupt them.

C5

Culturewww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

Using their native wis-dom, culturally-rich Indonesians have practiced environ-mental preservation

and sustainable development ac-tivities since ancient times.

According to the World Fish Center, Indonesia has the largest number of and longest enduring traditional community-based coastal resource management systems in Southeast Asia.

Maluku Province, for in-stance, has local tradition called “Sasi Laut” - the local institution under which some fishing activi-ties are regulated. “Sasi” is nest-ed in traditional culture, called adat, which lays down the basic ethics and codes of conduct.

And at Pemuteran village in West Bali, for example, the local community set up a foundation called Karang Lestari that as-sists in the preservation of coral reefs and turtle breeding.

Benefiting local traditions and advanced technologies, the gov-ernment plans to promote envi-ronmental-friendly tourism that will include activities related to energy efficiency, biodiversity preservation and green jobs.

For that purpose, the tourism and creative economics minis-try has made a Strategic Plan on Sustainable Tourism and Green Jobs which was official-ly released during a conference on sustainable tourism develop-

ment held in Bali, September 13, 2012.

Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Economics Sapta Nirwandar during the launch of the strategic plan said the new program would revive the local traditions that could assist in promoting sustainable tourism activities.

To do so, the tourism and cre-ative economy ministry will es-tablish cooperation with sever-al international organizations, such as the World Tourism Or-ganization (UNWTO) and the In-ternational Labor Organization (ILO).

The G20 and Rio+20 have em-phasized the importance of tour-ism in supporting sustainable development throughout the world, he added.

At the G20 Summit which was held in Los Cabos, Mexico, June 18-19, 2012 it was explicitly stat-ed in the Leaders Declaration that tourism is a sector that sig-nificantly contributes to the eco-nomic growth of nations, along with job opportunities.

And it is also the case with In-donesia which expects at least $9 billion to be contributed by international tourist arrivals to Indonesia s foreign exchange this year.

According to Central Bu-reau of Statistics (BPS) data, 3,876,310 foreign tourists visited Indonesia during the January-

June 2012 period, an increase of 7.75% from the 3,597,632 tour-ists seen in the same period last year.

Tourism and Creative Econo-my Minister Mari Elka Pangestu last August explained that the almost 8% rise in foreign tour-ist arrivals in Indonesia was “a good indication” because the fig-ure was above the global aver-age. “A growth of almost 8% is quite good amid the current cri-sis,” Mari pointed out.

“The 8% growth in Indonesia is similar to the average increase in foreign tourist arrivals across the Asia-Pacific region, but high-er than the global average of 5%,” Mari noted.

She expressed optimism that Indonesia can achieve its target

of attracting 8 million tourists this year. During the first half of 2012, the five major suppli-ers of tourists to Indonesia were Singapore (with 615,390 tour-ists, up 1.1% from last year), Ma-laysia (557,413, up 10.1%), Aus-tralia (422,787, up 6.1%), China (305,303, up 33.5%), and Japan (200,093, up 5%).

There was also a significant increase in the number of tour-ists coming from China, Egypt, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Russia, and Bah-rain. The ministry has also set a target of 245 million trips, for do-mestic tourists, who are expect-ed to spend Rp171.5 trillion ($18 billion).

“We also see a rise in the num-ber of domestic tourists because the purchasing power of Indo-nesians has increased and their

The Quest to Revive Old WisdomBenefiting local traditions and advanced technologies, the government plans to promote environmental-friendly tourism that will include activities related to energy efficiency, biodiversity preservation and green jobs.

SayutaChairman of PPI Delft

spending is double that of foreign tourists,” Mari stated.

In the first half of this year, do-mestic tourists spent a total of $9 billion. Last year, domestic tour-ists made 236,752 million trips, spending a total of Rp156.89 tril-lion.

To promote the country s tour-ism industry, the government. among other things, has desig-nated 10 rural areas as nation-al tourism villages. One of the 10 tourism villages is Kampoeng Batik Kauman (Kauman Batik Village) in Pekalongan, Central Java.

“Kampoeng Batik Kauman has been included in the top ten national tourism villages by the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry,” the head of Pekalon-

gan City Transportation, Tour-ism and Culture Office, Doyo Budi Wibowo, said recently.

The assessment and consid-eration on the top 10 national tourism villages were based on the effective use of the Nation-al Program for Community Em-powerment (PNPM) on tourism in 2011.

The other rural areas which have been named tourism villag-es are Bajiharjo (Gunung Kidul district in Yogyakarta), Banjar-sari (Kulon Progo district in Yo-gyakarta), Dieng Kulon (Ban-jarnegara district in Central Java), Karangbanjar (Purbal-ingga district in Central Java), Bungus Selatan (Padang, West Sumatra), Pandai Sikek (Tanah Datar district, West Sumatra), Lampulo (Banda Aceh, Aceh Province), Karang Tengah (Ban-tul district in Yogyakarta) and Kembangarum (Sleman district in Yogyakarta).

Another attraction expected to attract tourists to come to Indo-nesia is world-class golf cours-es. The country has 152 world-class golf courses across its 33 provinces, according to Minister Pangestu.

She said Indonesia has been known in the world as one of golf tourism destinations proven by increasing number of foreign tourists coming to a number of cities in the country to play golf such as Jakarta, Bandung, Bali and even Padang in West Suma-tra.

Further, Pangestu will pro-mote 10 major Indonesian cities as tourist destinations during a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings to be hosted by Indonesia in Octo-ber 2013.

“Besides the main event, we will have a series of international programs and meetings, includ-ing music and art shows and seminars,” she said recently.

The 10 major cities were Lom-bok (West Nusa Tenggara), Med-an (North Sumatra), Palembang (South Sumatra), Yogyakar-ta, Bandung (West Java), Ja-karta, Manado (North Sulawe-si), Makassar (South Sulawesi), Semarang (Central Java), and Surabaya (East Java).

Although the APEC Summit itself will be held in Bali, the idea behind holding the other meet-ings in major cities outside the province is to promote the poten-tial of the country as a whole in order to boost the tourism indus-try and creative economy, she explained.

“This is a good opportunity for Indonesia,” Mari noted, add-ing that “When the APEC meet-ing will be held in Surabaya, for example, we will promote Mount Bromo and the Batu tourist re-sort, among other things.”

In 2011, foreign tourist arriv-als to Indonesia reached 7.65 million, up 9.24% from that in 2010. It generated foreign ex-change earnings of $8.55 billion or an increased of 12.51% com-pared to the year 2010.

Indonesia s foreign tourist ar-rivals contributed 0.58% share of the world tourist arrival in 2006 and increased to 0.78% in 2011; 2.93% of Asia Pacific in 2006 and surged to 3.52% in 2011; and 9.17% of Southeast Asia in 2006 and up 9.92% in 2011 .

Last year, tourism contribut-ed 4.06% to the National GDP, 6.87% to the total national work-force or 7.44 million people, and Rp9.35 trillion to the indirect taxes.

To promote the country`s tourism industry, the government. among other things, has designated 10 rural areas as national tourism villages. One of the 10 tourism villages is Kampoeng Batik Kauman (Kauman Batik Village) in Pekalongan, Central Java.

ANTARA

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Propertywww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

Jones Lang LaSalle Ho-tels has noted Indo-nesia, Thailand, and Maldives as potential markets for the hospi-

tality business in the Asia Pacif-ic region. The great potential of these three countries is due to the increase in RevPAR (revenue per available room), the huge in-terest of investors, and high de-mand.

“As the hospitality business in Asia and the world slowed down over the past year, inves-tor sentiment remained strong in these three countries,” said Tom Oakden, Executive Vice Presi-

Indonesia’s HospitalityPotential Market Highest in Asia

dent, Investment Sales, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.

Indonesia showed strong de-mand. From the beginning of the year to June 2012, 17.5 mil-lion local and 5.2 million for-eign tourists traveled through airports in Indonesia. Bali and Jakarta are still the magnets for foreign investors, yet they continue to look for other po-tential areas by taking the op-portunities from the lack sup-ply of hotels in certain areas that have unique characteris-tics and potentials for the de-velopment of property invest-ment.

With a projected 20.5 mil-lion foreign tourists in 2012, Thailand is a strong hospital-ity market, despite recent nat-ural disasters and political cri-ses. Although the supplies of new hotel increase, the RevPAR in Bangkok continues to rise. In the meantime, resort areas such as Phuket exhibit poten-tial growth of strong income.

If the hospitality market was previously dominated by local players, Thailand has now be-come the main target of foreign investors. For example, there are five transactions for grand

hotels development in the last six months, including the development of Möven-pick Phuket.

On the other hand, Mal-dives in the last three years became the favorite honey-moon spot, with most travel-ers coming from China. Mal-dives is one of the countries with the ADR (average dai-ly rates), the highest in the world. Government regula-tions also facilitate foreign investment, one of which al-lows the lease period to 50 years.

A well-known property com-pany from Dubai, Damac, plans to invest in Indonesia specifical-ly in Special Economic Zone of tourism sector Tanjung Lesung.

In a meeting with PT Banten West Java as a developer of Tan-jung Lesung tourism area, Adil Taqi from Damac said the com-pany is excited to invest in In-donesia, particularly in the Tanjung Lesung because this country has a huge potential.

“Tanjung Lesung can be de-veloped into major tourism at-traction. This country has fan-tastic potential, “he said.

Moreover, Tanjung Lesung is close to Jakarta that has the big-gest local tourist potential. Many Jakartans who love to visit Bali or Singapore will be heading to Tanjung Lesung. So the local tourist potential is important to build a tourism spot.

The infrastructure develop-ment of toll road construction to be completed in 2015 is also a major supporter of Tanjung Le-

sung as an international tour-ism destination.

Furthermore, Adil Taqi said that Indonesia is a country that has an excellent public-private partnership.

Adil Taqi explained, “It’s part of my job to go to a lot of coun-tries, I honestly have struggle to give an example of a country

that have partnership between government and private better than Indonesia.

“They (government and pri-vate) work as one team to pro-mote Indonesia. It’s pretty tough to distinguish which work for government, which is private,” said Adil Taqi.

He also praised the perfor-mance of Indonesian govern-ment, especially the Indonesian Ambassador to the UAE, Sal-man Al-Farisi who is excellent as a businessman when pro-moting Indonesia. Adil Taqi said, “the government promotes tour-ism that make sense, they don’t promote any opportunities. This makes investors feel safer.”

All of the best efforts done by the government and private sec-tor to offer investment opportu-nities in Indonesia have created a pleasant atmosphere for in-vestors particularly to Adil Taqi. “I’m comfortable when I come to Indonesia, I’m happy to be here,” he said.

Dubai Investor: I’m Comfortablewhen I Come to Indonesia

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated eight mega-projects in resource-rich East Kalimantan on Wednesday as part of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia’s Economic Develop-ment (MP3EI).

Two of the projects have al-ready been completed: Kari-angau Port in Balikpapan and Kalimarau Airport in Berau re-gency in the north part of the province.

Still under construction are an expansion project for Seping-gan Airport in Balikpapan, twin bridges in Samarinda, East Ka-limantan, an industrial estate

and an international port in East Kutai regency, a new air-port for Samarinda and other industrial projects.

Yudhoyono said that the eight projects had a combined price tag of Rp 19 trillion ($2 billion).

East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said that the recently completed Kalima-rau Airport has opened with a 2,250 meter runway that can accommodate medium-range jet airliners such as the Boeing 737 aircraft.

The airport, which is equipped with a 9,000-square-meter terminal, has already re-

ceived its operating license from the Transportation Ministry, ac-cording to the governor.

“Kalimarau Airport is impor-tant to boost tourism in Berau, including tohelp the success of the Sail Komodo-Derawan event in 2013,” Awang said.

The airport was also de-signed as a transit hub for pas-sengers bound for destinations in East Kalimantan’s north-ern regencies of Nunukan, Ma-linau, Tana Tidung, Bulungan and Tarakan, as well as Seba-tik regency on Sebatik Island, which is divided between Indo-nesia and Malaysia, according to Awang.

8 Mega Projects Launched in East Kalimantan

Singapore has the 13th most expensive luxury real estate market in the world, according to The Wealth Report 2012, com-piled by Knight Frank.

According to the report, prime property in the Lion City can fetch $25,600 per sqm, or $3,007 per sqft. Yet these prices do not even represent the peak in Singapore’s luxury markets: the report noted that prices of lux-ury property have decreased by 4.7% in the third quarter of 2011 from the year before. The report attributed the fall party to fears over a property crash in China in 2011.

Price falls were registered in Singapore, Sydney and Shang-hai, which were the fastest grow-ers in the previous survey.

Hong Kong came in fourth place with an average price of $47,500 per sqm, while apart-ments in Hong Kong were ranked tenth with an average price of $28,300 per sqm.

“We shouldn’t be overly sur-prised that prices are falling in some of Asia’s prime markets. The falls follow huge booms over the past two years,” said Liam Bailey, Head of Residential Re-search at Knight Frank.

However, the fall in luxu-ry home prices are not uniform across Asia. Jakarta saw pric-es increase by 14% in 2011 from the year before, as a result of a strong domestic economy with steady growth.

According to Asia One, a range of uncertainties includ-ing economic deleveraging in the West and political uncertainties in China are expected to cause growing volatility in the luxu-ry property market in the com-ing year.

Monaco topped The Wealth Report, commanding an average $58,300 per sqm.

Jakarta Luxury Real Estate Market Increases 14%

Indonesia showed strong demand. From the beginning of the year to June 2012, 17.5 million local and 5.2 million foreign tourists traveled through airports in Indonesia.

East Kalimantan is the major business hub for Ka-limantan, an island that is known for its huge coal, gas, oil palm and oil resources. The boom in coal business-es in the past 10 years has positioned the island as the largest contributor to the middle-class population in Indonesia, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

These developments could also see the residential mar-ket in the region take off as well with more tourists and businesses likely to start heading into the region.

Adil Taqi from Damac

The LG Nexus 4 smartphone features a 4.7-inch, 1,280-by-768 display with 320 pixels per inch. Google said it has “rein-vented the photo experience” with Photo Sphere, which lets you create 360-degree images that can be shared on Google+ and Google Maps.

It will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro proces-sor and features 2GB of RAM. There’s an 8-megapixel cam-era on the back and a 1.2-megapixel camera on the front.

New Nexus TabletsGoogle’s existing Nex-

us 7 tablet is getting a storage boost. The 16GB is now $ 199 and a 32GB is $ 249; no more 8GB Nexus 7.

The search giant said its tab-let will also support HSPA+ mo-bile data, but not 4G LTE. A 32GB HSPA+ version, which will work on AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S., will run $ 299. An-droid chief Andy Rubin told The Verge that Google opted to forego 4G LTE because adding it would drive up the cost and drain the battery.

The new, larger Samsung Nexus 10, meanwhile, boasts a 10-inch, 2,560-by-1,600 display with 330 pixels per inch. “That’s over 4 million pixels right in your hands,” Google said.

Google promised up to nine hours of video playback and 500 hours of standby time. The Nex-us 10 will run a dual-core A15

Apple introducesiPad Mini, New Fourth Generation iPad,All-New iMac and 13-inch MacBook Pro

chip, there’s a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.9-mega-pixel front-facing camera. It sup-ports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC. There’s Micro USB, magnetic pogo pin charger, Micro HDMI, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

“But what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it’s the first tru-ly shareable tablet,” Google said. “With Android 4.2, you can add multiple users and switch be-tween them instantly right from the lockscreen. We believe that everyone should have quick and easy access to their own stuff - email, apps, bookmarks, and more.”

Hopefully all of them will be coming soon to Indonesia, so which one will you choose?

Google Unveils NewNexus Smartphone and Tablets

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Technologywww.thepresidentpost.com November 2012

iPad mini, a completely new iPad design that is 23 percent thinner and 53 percent lighter than the third generation iPad.

“iPad mini is every inch an iPad. With its gorgeous 7.9-inch display, iPad mini features the same number of pixels as the original iPad and iPad 2, so you can run more than 275,000 apps designed specifically for iPad,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

“iPad mini is as thin as a pencil and as light as a pad of paper, yet packs a fast A5 chip, FaceTime HD and 5 megapixel iSight cameras and ultrafast wireless – all while delivering up to 10 hours of battery life.”

The fourth generation iPad featuring a gorgeous 9.7-inch Retina™ display, new Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime HD camera and ultrafast wireless performance. Both iPad mini and fourth generation iPad come with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features.

Redesigned from the inside out, the new iMac packs high-performance technology

into an aluminum and glass enclosure with up to 40 percent less volume than its

predecessor and an edge that measure just 5 mm thin. Built with an unprecedented level

of fit and finish, the new iMac delivers an amazing desktop experience in a gorgeous

design.

The new iMac also features a completely reengineered display that reduces reflection

by 75 percent while maintaining brilliant color and contrast. In the new design, the cover glass is fully laminated to the LCD and an

anti-reflective coating is applied using a high-precision plasma deposition process. Every iMac display is individually color calibrated

using an advanced spectroradiometer.

Google unveiled three, new Nexus devices - one

smartphone and two tablets.

Nexus 7 Nexus 4

Nexus 10

But what makes Nexus 10 unique is that it’s the first truly shareable tablet.”

All-New iMac iPad Mini

New Fourth GenerationiPad with Retina Display

13-inch MacBook Prowith Retina Display

The new MacBook Pro packs more than 4 million pixels into its 13-inch Retina display, nearly twice the number of pixels in an HD television. At 227 pixels per inch, the Retina display’s pixel density is so high the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels at a normal viewing distance, so images look sharp and text looks like it does on the printed page.

With four times the pixels of the current 13-inch MacBook Pro, you can view and edit video in pixel-accurate 1080p and see a new level of detail in high resolution images. The 13-inch Retina display uses IPS technology for a 178-degree wide viewing angle, and has 75 percent less reflection and 28 percent higher contrast than the current generation.

Jakarta Royale Golf Club is known as one of five great new golf courses in Asia. The club’s golf course was designed by

Bob Moore Jr. & JMP Group.Its green paradise concept of

expansive meadows is decorat-ed with Sea Isle Supreme Pas-palum in every area of its 27 holes.

The combination of beautiful purple carpets of exotic plants and the calming beauty of the lake waters promises visual se-renity. All of this results in a new and exclusive golfing experi-ence. It is simply a beautiful and challenging golf course within the heart of Jakarta city.

Located just 15 minutes from Central Jakarta, Royale Jakarta Golf Club is accessible through the city toll road, only 700 me-ters from Pondok Gede toll exit. A comfortable and strategic lo-cation makes travel close and easy for a round of golf.

For players looking for a chal-lenge in the great game of golf, Royale Jakarta Golf Club an-swers that and more. Golfers will not only enjoy the Interna-tional Championship style con-cept but will also be provided with beautiful lush greens and fairways, panoramic views of Mount Salak and Mount Gede.

Jakarta Royal Golf Course has 27 holes, three sets of beau-tiful nine holes (the North, the South and the West) with vari-ous levels of difficulty.

This golf course also uses the latest grass type of Sea Isle Su-preme Paspalum, which is ide-al for tees, fairways and greens. Royale Jakarta Golf Club is the first club in Asia to use the latest grass type of Sea Isle Supreme Paspalum. This kind of grass is is being planted in whole grass areas from tee box, rough and green. With Sea Isle Supreme

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Golfwww.thepresidentpost.comNovember 2012

Jakarta Royale Golf Club: Asia’s Great New Golf Course

The combination of beautiful purple carpets of exotic plants and the calming beauty of the lake waters promises visual serenity. All of this results in a new and exclusive golfing experience. It is simply a beautiful and challenging golf course within the heart of Jakarta city.

Paspalum, golfers can generate consistent speed in accordance with international standards.

Not only a sophisticated golf course, Jakarta Royale Golf Club also provides facilities like spacious locker rooms, sauna & whirlpool, spa massage, exclu-sive Founder’s Lounge, Royale Suite, VIP rooms, Royale Palace oriental cuisine, international Pro Shop, luxurious Function Room, international tourna-ment-standard Practice Range – 24 lanes with Short Game area and Golf Carts.

Jakarta Royal Golf Course has 27 holes, three sets of

beautiful nine holes (the North, the South and the West) with various levels

of difficulty.

Royale Jakarta Golf Club is the first club in Asia to use the latest

grass type of Sea Isle Supreme Paspalum,

which is ideal for tees, fairways and greens.

PHOTOS: www.royalejakarta.com