THE COORDINATING MINISTRY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA
Main Building, Ministry of Finance, Jl. Lapangan Banteng Timur No.2-4 Jakarta 10710
Tel: (021) 351-1178 Fax: (021) 351-1186 Website: http://www.ekon.go.id
Trade and Investment News[1], 3 November 2008
Highlights
National
· Aceh rebel founder Hassan di Tiro returns to Stockholm after two-week visit
Politics
· House of Representatives passes presidential election bill
Terrorism
· Executions of 2002 Bali bombers imminent
Security
· Only two piracy incidents reported in Malacca Strait in first nine months of 2008
Law & order
· Leaders of radical Islamic Defenders Front get 18-month jail terms
· House of Representatives passes anti-discrimination law
Health
· Slow response by donors slows fight against bird flu
Economy
· Government introduces more steps to assist businesses meet global downturn
Business briefs
Macroeconomy
· House of Representatives approves 2009 budget assumptions, including growth at 6%
Investment
· Riau Islands vows to cut red tape, stamp out illegal levies in growth zone
· Samsung considering building cellular phone factory
Economic reform
· Government introduced 10-point program to boost confidence
State concerns
· Government to make use of production cuts to boost rubber replanting
· South Korean tourists jump to fourth rank in Bali
SOEs
· Garuda Indonesia to delay IPO because of global financial crisis
Private sector
· Bakrie Group to sell 35% stake in PT Bumi Resources, resolving debt problem
Banks
· Most banks report higher profit figures in third quarter
Power
· State utility PT PLN starts operation at test crude palm oil plant
Oil & gas
· Government awards nine more oil and gas blocks
Mining
· Tin producer PT Timah sees output down by around 10%
NATIONAL
GAM founder leaves Aceh for home
After a two-week visit to Aceh, the supreme leader and founder of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group Hassan di Tiro left Indonesia last week to return to Stockholm, Sweden, The Jakarta Post reported.
Tiro and his entourage, including senior rebel leaders Malik Mahmud and Zaini Abdulah, left Kuala Lumpur for Sweden on Monday.
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf and hundreds of KPA members saw off Tiro at the airport. There was no special ceremony.
Tiro, a Swedish citizen, made a brief visit to Jakarta to meet with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, one of the brokers of the 2005 Helsinki Accords which ended almost 30 years of hostilities in Aceh.
Mass relocations planned as sea levels rise
The central government said it is preparing to relocate residents living on islands considered vulnerable to rising sea levels over the next three decades, reported The Jakarta Post.
Scientists predict that sea levels are expected to surge drastically between 2030 and 2040 because of global warming, raising fears about 2,000 islands across Indonesia will be slowly swallowed up by the sea.
"We formed a technical team to identify which islands are at greatest risk of sinking,” Maritime and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said on Thursday.
"The government is also preparing a contingency plan, which includes relocation of residents off the islands."
Numberi said many of the islands are located off Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua.
The government, Numberi said, has called on the international community to join forces in anticipating the rising sea levels.
"Indonesia will only see small islands disappear, but there will be some countries at risk of completely sinking due to the rising sea levels. Therefore, all nations must take this issue seriously."
Indonesia has lost about 60 islands off western Sumatra following the tsunami in December 2004.
Prince Charles arrives for five-day visit
Britain’s Prince Charles has begun a five-day visit to Indonesia as part of a tour of several Asian countries, reported The Australian.
"Prince Charles arrived in Jakarta on Saturday and is scheduled to depart on Wednesday," said Teuku Faizasyah, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman.
During the visit, the prince will focus on environmental issues, as well as interfaith and cultural interactions, according to Faizasyah.
"Prince Charles will talk about climate change, forestry issues and interfaith issues. He is also scheduled to give a presidential lecture on climate change," he said.
The Prince of Wales will also visit a forestry project at Bungku village, Batanghari, Jambi on November 2, and hold a meeting with prominent religious figures in Yogyakarta.
Before coming to Indonesia, the prince visited Japan and Brunei Darussalam. He last visited Indonesia in 1989 with the late Princess Diana.
In Jambi, Prince Charles is scheduled to visit an eco-tourism restoration project in Bungku village, Kuang Jaya, Batanghari regency.
The project is located about 100 km from Jambi city on the site of a former logging concession belonging to PT Asialog.
Covering 49,000 hectares of land in Jambi and another 52,000 hectares in South Sumatra, the site has been returned to the government for conversion into an ecosystem restoration location, according to information from the Jambi provincial administration.
POLITICS
Law on presidential elections passed
A plenary session at the House of Representatives passed a new presidential election law on Wednesday, completing legislation for next year’s poll, Tempo reported.
The vote settled a major point of contention by requiring a political party or a coalition to win at least 20% of parliamentary seats or 25% of valid votes in the legislative election before they could nominate a president or vice presidential candidate,
All 10 factions in the House voted in favor of the new legislation, but three factions, the National Awakening Party, Prosperous Justice Party and National Mandate Party, submitted objections over several articles.
E. Java rivals ready for fierce run-off poll
Governor hopeful Soekarwo and his running mate Saifullah Yusuf and their rivals, Khofifah Inda Parawansa and Mudjiono, have been fiercely competing in the last week before the second round of the East Java gubernatorial election, The Jakarta Post reported.
A number of influential clerics made a public appearance to pledge their full support for Soekarwo and Yusuf after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which was defeated in the first round, declared it stood behind their opponents, Parawansa and Mudjiono.
Soekarwo and Yusuf, who won 26.43% of the first round vote, have already received endorsements from influential clerics in Kediri, Madiun, Nganjuk, Jombang, Ponorogo, Jember and Banyuwangi.
Former president and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri declared her personal and her party's support for Parawansa and Mudjiono while accompanying Parawansa on a pilgrimage to the grave of founding President Sukarno in Blitar.
TERRORISM
Bali bombers await firing squad
Three Islamist militants convicted over the Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people awaited execution Sunday as Indonesia stood guard against a feared extremist backlash, reported Agence France-Presse.
A source at the Nusakambangan island prison off southern Java said Amrozi, 47, his brother Mukhlas, 48, and attack strategist Imam Samudra, 38, had been placed in isolation and the execution order had been delivered.
"The letter ordering the execution was submitted last night at 9:00 PM," the source said on Saturday. He did not say whether the letter gave a precise time for the executions.
Security forces have been placed on high alert across Indonesia as a precaution against an explosion of anger at the first executions to be carried out under Indonesia's anti-terror law.
Sensitive areas like foreign embassies, tourist spots, shopping malls and ports are under close guard. On mainly Hindu Bali, 3,500 police were on the streets, officials said.
All three have said they are eager to embrace martyrdom for their radical jihadist ideology, while launching a series of failed appeals and legal challenges which have delayed their date with the firing squad.
SECURITY
Pirates steering clear of Malacca Strait
Pirate attacks in the Malacca Strait have dipped to their lowest levels in five years, reported The Straits Times.
In the first nine months of this year, pirates raided two vessels in the Malacca Strait, down from 33 during the same period in 2003, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in a recent report.
The organization credited the success to enhanced cooperation between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, which increased patrols in 2004.
In contrast, Somalia-based pirates launched 51 attacks in the Gulf of Aden - located between Somalia and Yemen in the Indian Ocean - during the first nine months of this year. That is 10 times more than during the same period in 2003 and more than anywhere else on the planet.
LAW & ORDER
FPI members jailed for violent attacks
Two leaders of the radical Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) were jailed for 18 months each by the Central Jakarta District Court for their role in an attack on religious freedom activists at the National Monument park on June 1, reported The Jakarta Post.
The presiding judge at both trials, Manusunan Harahap, said FPI head Rizieq Shihab had been proved guilty of instigating violence, and paramilitary leader Munarman of committing violence.
FPI members outside the court then tried to close down the nearby Al Hidayah mosque, run by controversial Ahmadiyah sect, but were stopped by police.
Both men protested the verdicts, claiming they were based on dubious evidence. Both said they would appeal, and Shihab maintained his calls for anti-Ahmadiyah actions.
Bill against racial discrimination passed
The House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill that terms ethnic and racial discrimination as serious crimes, reported The Jakarta Post.
Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar, who presided over the House's plenary session to approve the draft law, said Indonesia no longer had any room for racial or ethnic discrimination.
Chairman of the House's special committee deliberating the bill, Murdaya Poo, said the endorsement of the bill should put an end to the long-standing dichotomy between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Indonesia.
"A man cannot choose to be born as part of a certain race or ethnic group, and therefore discrimination must cease to exist," said Poo, who is Indonesian-Chinese.
Poo said the House proposed the bill as part of its effort to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, which was enacted in 1999.
Under the new law, leaders of public institutions found guilty of adopting discriminatory policies could face jail terms one-third more severe than those stipulated in the Criminal Code.
Poo said the law’s deliberation process had been delayed by a disagreement on whether imprisonment should be made the minimum punishment.
"We decided to set prison as the minimum sentence to deter people from committing racial or ethnic discrimination," said Poo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
KPK grills ex-BI governor
An investigation team from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Friday grilled former governor of Bank Indonesia Syahril Sabirin, Antara reported.
“I was questioned as a witness in the case against Aulia Pohan,” said Sabirin without giving further details concerning the probe.
Pohan, a former deputy BI governor, has been charged with allegedly approving Rp100 billion in illegal disbursements along with Burhanuddin Abdullah.
Last week, a court sentenced former BI chief Abdullah to five years in jail for embezzling the Rp100 billion which was used to bribe lawmakers and hire lawyers to defend BI officials facing corruption allegations.
Officers testify against former BIN deputy chief
Two police detectives testified on Thursday at the trial of former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy head Muchdi Purwopranjono, denying pressuring witnesses and manipulating testimonies in the defendant's dossier, The Jakarta Post reported.
Sr. Comr Pambudi Pamungkas and Comr. Daniel Tifauna were summoned to the trial of Purwopranjono, charged with the murder of noted human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib in 2004, to explain the recent denials and retractions of testimonies by several witnesses.
Tifauna and Pamungkas, from the National Police's criminal investigation division, had questioned BIN agents Kawan, Zondhy Anwar and Arifin Rahman as witnesses in the case.
During recent hearings at the South Jakarta District Court the three witnesses revoked their testimonies given to police investigators in March and June 2008.
BIN officials Suradi and Imam Mustopha also made similar moves at the same trial.
The flurry of retractions caused the panel of judges to later demand prosecutors present the police detectives to testify in the trial.
Both Tifauna and Pamungkas denied allegations the police had pressured witnesses and manipulated procedures during the questioning, as claimed by Kawan and Anwar.
"That was impossible because (the witnesses) were always accompanied by officials from the BIN's legal bureau during the questioning," Pamungkas told the court. "The witnesses told us they were in healthy condition before testifying."
Pamungkas also denied the detectives had not reread the testimonies to the witnesses for final confirmation and said all interviews including the testimonies had been recorded by video to allow for any claims that they had not been voluntary.
The trial was adjourned until November 6, when judges will decide whether to allow prosecutors to read out the testimonies of Budi Santoso and former BIN deputy head M. As'ad, after they failed to appear at court.
HEALTH
Budget shortfall slows bird flu fight
A budget deficit is still hampering the global initiative to contain bird flu from reaching a pandemic level, an official said, Kompas reported Saturday.
"So far, international donors have committed to disburse $2.7 billion for 2006 to 2008, yet the deficit still amounts to $1.2 billion," said head of the National Commission for Avian Influenza and Pandemic Preparedness Bayu Krisnamurti on Wednesday.
According to the commission, there has been a decrease in the number of countries and organizations contributing funds for the global effort.
The World Bank has estimated the global pandemic resulting from the mutation of bird flu could cost $3 trillion and could kill 71 million people worldwide, as a worst-case scenario.
When asked about the government's commitment to provide funds, Krisnamurti said the government was committed to contributing 50% of the total funds needed to tackle the issue domestically.
"We have 50% from the donor fund and 50% from the state budget," Krisnamurti said.
The US through, Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, pledged an additional $320 million to the global fight against bird flu.