BPS reported that 656,000 for-eign tourists visited Indonesia in October alone, up 10.32% from the same month last year. Bali re-mains the top tourist destination, with 244,421 of the October visi-tors entering the country through Bali's main gateway, Ngurah Rai International Airport.

The ministry is expecting 9.5 million arrivals in 2014 with tour-ist expenditures reaching $10.93 billion. Based on 2010 World Trav-el and Tourism Council (WTTC) data, Indonesia’s tourism sector contributed 9.1% to gross domes-tic product (GDP) and employed 8.9 million people. The WTTC data also showed Indonesia’s in-vestment in the tourism sector rose 4.2% in 2010.

In a related development, the chairman of the Indonesian chap-ter of the Pacific Asia Travel As-sociation (PATA), SD Darmono, hailed the government’s strong determination to bolster tour-ism and expressed his optimism that next year’s target would be achieved.

“I am sure Minister Mari will do a good job in taking our tourism off the ground,” he said.

To be sure, Darmono is a ma-jor player in developing the coun-try’s tourism. He has a vision to develop 100 top tourism sites around the country, starting with Borobudur in East Java and Tan-jung Lesung in West Java.

He is set to reshape the tour-ism industry as chairman of PT Taman Wisata Candi, Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko, the state-owned company in charge of managing the land around the fa-

mous heritage sites in East Java. “We want to use Borobudur as

the icon of Indonesia to promote the spiritual wealth of the nation,” he says in an interview recently. “Once people visit Borobudur on a large scale, Indonesia will be seen as a tolerant nation and this in turn will promote investments.”

His goal is to create 100 such destinations across the country so as to attract 20 million visitors a year by 2020. As part of this program he is set to make Jakar-ta the gateway for tourism in the country.

He recently acquired 1,340 hectares for Rp1.5 trillion in Tan-jung Lesung, West Java. Locat-ed next to the Ujong Kulong Na-tional Park, Tanjung Lesung has long been the seaside playground for Jakartans seeking some sun and sea. “I am building a town-ship that is similar to Sentosa in Singapore,” says Darmono.“It will have a golf course, a marina, ho-

JAKARTA (TPP) – The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has set the target of tourist arrivals for 2012 at 8 million, with foreign exchange earnings projected to reach $8.98 billion.

TThe figure repre-sented a 7.35% in-crease compared to this year s, Tourism and Creative Econ-omy Ministry Mari

Elka Pangestu said here on Fri-day. However, the growth in terms of arrivals will slow down next year as many visitors from Eu-rope may cancel their trips to the country due to the region’s eco-nomic problems.

“Next year’s growth target is not as high as this year’s as we have learned from the global financial crisis in 2008,” Mari told the me-dia on the sidelines of The Nation-al Tourism Conference at the Sa-hid Hotel here last week.

Foreign tourist arrivals only grew 1.43% in 2009 to 6.32 mil-lion people due to the 2008 eco-nomic downturn, according to the state-run statitics body BPS. Foreign tourist expenditure also dropped from $7.35 billion in 2008 to $6.3 billion in 2009.

“However, we are optimistic that we will still attract more tour-ists to Indonesia next year, but the length of their stays will likely be shorter with less spending,” she said.

On the same occasion, Coor-dinating Economic Minister Hat-ta Rajasa said tourism should be further developed because it was an engine for economic growth and one of the most important in-dustries in terms of creating jobs. “Seven million tourists created jobs for 10.5 million Indonesians last year. This shows the signifi-cant impact of the tourism sector on the economy,” Hatta said.

tels and resorts as well as major tourist attractions.”

With visionary players like Darmono and government of-ficials like Mari on hand, one can readily expect the coun-try’s tourism to really take off and claim its rightful place in the major league.

Govt Upbeaton RI Tourism

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In addition to foreign visitors, the number of domestic tourists was also on the rise due to the in-crease in people’s buying power, Hatta said, adding that the mid-dle-class in Indonesia was grow-ing annually by between 8 and 9 million people, who were now seeking ways to spend their lei-sure time.

The government seems resolved to boost the country’s tourism by announcing an allocation of Rp 210 trillion ($23.3 billion) toward economic development in eastern Indonesia. Minister Mari, who is also the coordinator of the master

plan to accelerate development in the country’s Economic Corridor V (Bali and Nusa Tenggara), said that the money would be spent on 136 projects in the area. The tour-ism sector, which Mari singled out as a main driver for growth in eastern Indonesia, would re-ceive 28% of the investment, she said, mainly through infrastruc-ture projects.

“Investing heavily in infra-structure will allow us to rapid-ly develop tourism,” Mari said, adding that “apart from Bali, an-other tourism magnet in the area is East Nusa Tenggara’s Komodo Island,” Mari said.

Foreign visitors up 8%in Jan-Oct period

6.27 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia from January to October this year, an increase of 8.27% compared with the same period last year, the BPS report-ed recently. The figure, however, represents only 81% of the target-ed number of foreign tourist vis-its in the country as of year-end, which is 7.7 million people. How-ever, Tourism and Creative Econ-omy Ministry spokesman I Gusti Ngurah Putra told the media that the government was optimistic that the target could be reached because November and Decem-ber were among the peak holiday months.

“From year to year, the trend of foreign tourist arrivals in Novem-ber and December continues to increase. With stable political con-ditions and security, 7.7 million tourists will come to Indonesia by the end of the year,” said Putra.

The Jakarta provincial govern-ment has won The Best Province for Tourism Development award during the Indonesia Tourism Award (ITA) 2011 event.

The award was in recognition of the Jakarta administration s hard work and high commitment to developing the capital`s tour-ism industry, Head of the Jakarta Tourism and Culture Office Arie Budhiman said here on Thurs-day.

"We must thank God. The achievement belongs to all ele-ments of the tourism sector and all residents of the capital who have turned Jakarta into the best province in developing tourism in Indonesia," he said.

PT Garuda Indonesia and PT Jababeka on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understand-ing (MOU) on corporate sales. Both sides were represented by President Director/CEO of Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar and President Director of PT Jababeka SD Darmono at the President Executive Club, Jababeka, Cikarang.

The agreement allows all employees of PT Jababeka and the industrial park’s tenants and their families to fly with Garuda Indonesia, on both domestic and international routes, at special prices. They are also eligible to enjoy special services in the form of corpo-rate special fares, priority res-ervations, and city check-in.

These services include not only for official travel, but also for personal travel for Jababe-ka employees and their fami-lies.

"As the number of tenants is over 1,500 local and interna-tional companies, PT Jababe-ka is a very promising market for Garuda Indonesia," said Emirsyah in Jababeka.

Meanwhile, SD Darmono said that there are 600,000 employees from 30 countries in Jababeka. Jababeka has also forged an alliance with seven other regions and the so-called International Zone (Zoni) with a central meeting in the Pres-

ident Executive Club. He added that Jababeka also plans to open a flight school with international standards in the form of a ground school at the President University on April 2012.

He also expressed his delight with the cooperation between Gar-uda Indonesia and the Jababeka. "With this cooperation, Jababeka tenants and employees and their families are assured of enjoyable business and travel trips."

SD Darmono further said that "It would be very helpful if Gar-uda provides helicopter servic-es, because the Cikarang-Ceng-kareng distance requires at least two hours’ of travel time because of the traffic." He also hopes to see Garuda to establish a branch of-

fice and a check-in service in Jababeka.

In his reply, Emirsyah said "we plan to open many branch offices early next year, one of which is in Jababeka if we can get a prime spot. We are also keen to build a hotel through our subsidiary, Aerotel, in Ja-babeka. We also are planning to organize helicopter servic-es, with a helipad placed in the middle of Jakarta. We also plan one to cover the Cikarang-Cengkareng route and are still seeking a flight zone license".

So far Garuda has corporate sales partnerships with more than 1,400 major companies in Indonesia with a total reve-nue of nearly Rp 1.5 trillion.

2011 REVIEW

PAGE A4

THE ECONOMY BUSINESSAROUND JABABEKA

Garuda Indonesia, Jababeka Enter Into Corporate Sales Partnership

Jakarta WinsBest Tourism Province Award

"The award is part of a step to appreciate

regional governments' effort in developing tourism industry as well as in promoting tourism operators in

their respective region."

The event was held annually by the Tourism and Creative Econo-my Ministry in cooperation with SWA magazine, he said.

"The award is part of a step to appreciate regional governments effort in developing tourism in-dustry as well as in promoting tourism operators in their respec-tive region," he said.

The award was based on the re-sults of a survey conducted on a number of cities/districts select-ed based on the amount of bud-get funds allocated to the tourism sector as well as on the outcome of focus group discussion (FGD) or-ganized by the magazine s edito-rial team.

The survey was conducted to choose the best district/city in terms of tourism service, favor-ite tourist destination city, favorite tourist site, and the best tourism supporting industries divided into nine sub-categories, namely non-star hotel, star-rated hotel, airline, travel agent, taxi, restaurant, golf court, spa and mall.

Seven million tourists created jobs for 10.5 million Indonesians last year. This shows the significant impact of the tourism sector on the economy.”

8million tourist

arrivals for 2012

$8.98 billion foreign

exchange earnings projected to reach

7.35% increase compared

to this year`s growth

$23.3 billion allocated for

economic developmentin eastern Indonesia

Investing heavily in infrastructure will allow us to rapidly develop tourism.”Mari Elka PangestuTourism and Creative Economy Ministry

Hatta RajasaCoordinating Economic Minister

Based on 2010 World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) data, Indonesia’s tourism sector contributed 9.1% to gross domestic product (GDP) and employed 8.9 million people.

RI Economy Faces Three Challenges in 2012: BIBI as Indonesia's monetary authority, would adopt a policy to maintain resilience and capability so that monetary stability would remain under control.

PAGE A6

The 3rd Jababeka International Cultural Festival Opens to Promote Better UnderstandingThis year’s theme is “The Power of Culture”.

PAGE B1

Minister Gives High Marks to Garuda, Bank Mandiri, BRIDahlan Iskan has praised the boards of directors for being able to bring about a transformation in their corporate businesses amid the global economic crisis.

PAGE C1

PT Garuda Indonesia and PT Jababeka on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on corporate sales. Both sides were represented by President Director/CEO of Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar and President Director of PT Jababeka SD Darmono at the President Executive Club, Jababeka, Cikarang.

2011 Moments to RememberWhat will 2011 be remembered for? Several events that happened in 2011 continue to remain topics of conversation among Indonesians.

OpinionThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011A2

The President PostOFFICEMenara Batavia 25th Fl. Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur Kav. 126Jakarta 10220, IndonesiaPhone : (021) 572 7337Fax : (021) 572 7338Email : ceo@thepresidentpost.comWeb : www.thepresidentpost.com

PUBLISHED BYPT Sarana Pratama Pengembangan Kota

All these predictions give high marks to Indonesia, but it is a pity that internally the prevailing mood and spirit is the other way around.

REVITALIZED ECONOMYIn terms of economics, Indone-

sia has gone through a most dev-astating period as a result of the

Asian Financial Crisis of 1997/98. It took the country more than 5 years to recuperate. In addition, it has gone through a most trying “reform period”, lasting almost 10 years. It has come out of its eco-nomic reform armed with added strength.

During the world crisis of 2008-09 the Indonesian economy has

Emerging Indonesia:Reaching The Take-Off Stage

By Atmono Suryo

ADVISORAli Basyah Suryo

CEO & EDITOR IN CHIEFRachmat Wirasena

CONTRIBUTORSAtmono SuryoCyrillus Harinowo HadiwerdoyoThomas W. ShreveJeannifer Filly SumaykuEka Putri

EDITORIAL & CIRCULATION DEPARTMENTSrimay Noviani

LAYOUT & DESIGNMohamad Akmal

PHOTOGRAPHERNandi Nanti

HEAD OF MARKETINGDetia H. Rais

HEAD OF SALESErni Imansyah

WEB DEPARTMENTReza Ganesha Partakusuma

Figure 2. Gross Domestic Product (USD PPP 2010, in trllions, Constant Prices)

CountryAnnual CDP Growth (%)2010 - 21

Incremental GDP2010 - 2011

Contribution to Global Growth (%)

2010 - 2011

China 8.7 12.6 30.2

India 6.9 3.6 8.5

Brazil 4.5 1.1 2.7

Indonesia 6.7 0.9 2.3

Korea 4.4 0.7 1.6

Russia 2.6 0.6 1.4

Mexico 3.1 0.5 1.2

Egypt 6.2 0.4 1.0

Taiwan 4.7 0.4 1.0

Turkey 4.1 0.4 1.0

EAGLEs 6.4 21.3 51.1

Japan 1.7 0.7 1.7

Germany 1.6 0.4 1.7

United Kingdom 1.8 0.4 1.0

Canada 2.4 0.3 0.8

France 1.5 0.3 0.8

Italy 0.9 0.2 0.4

G6 1.5 2.4 5.8

United States 2.3 3.6 8.7

G7 1.9 6.0 14.4

World 4.6 41.7

Source: BBVA Research (November 2010 Forecast)

Figure 3. World Largest Economies

Rank Economy (millions of international dollars)

1 United States 14,204,322

2 China 7,903,235

3 Japan 4,354,550

4 India 3,388,473

5 Germany 2,925,220

6 Russian Federation 2,288,446

7 United Kingdom 2,176,263

8 France 2,112,426

9 Brazil 1,976,632

10 Italy 1,840,902

11 Mexico 1,541,584

12 Spain 1,456,103

13 Korea, Rep. 1,358,037

14 Canada 1,213,991

15 Turkey 1,028,897

16 Indonesia 907,264

17 Iran, Islamic Rep. 839,438

18 Australia 762,559

19 Poland 671,927

20 Netherlands 671,693

Source: World Bank, 2008

Figure 4. Project real growth in GDP and income per capita: 2005-50 (%pa)

Country GDP in US$ terms

GDP in domestic currency or at PPPs Population GDP per capita

at PPPs

India 7.6 5.2 0.8 4.3

Indonesia 7.3 4.8 0.6 4.2

China 6.3 3.9 0.1 3.8

Turkey 5.6 4.2 0.7 3.4

Brazil 5.4 3.9 0.7 3.2

Mexico 4.8 3.9 0.6 3.3

Russia 4.6 2.7 -0.5 3.3

S. Korea 3.3 2.4 -0.1 2.6

Canada 2.6 2.6 0.6 1.9

Australia 2.6 2.7 0.7 2.0

US 2.4 2.4 0.6 1.8

Spain 2.3 2.2 0.0 2.2

UK 1.9 2.2 0.3 2.0

France 1.9 2.2 0.1 2.1

Italy 1.5 1.6 -0.3 1.9

Germany 1.5 1.8 -0.1 1.9

Japan 1.2 1.6 -0.3 1.9

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers GDP growth estimates (rounded to nearest 0.1%), population growth projections from the UN

Figure 1. Indonesia in the Global Economy. Indonesia is rated as one of the key countries of the “Emerging Economies”, countries which cover a large part of the world that will play a vital role in the developments of the global economy.

Indonesia’s GDP growth is the third highest in Asia, after China and

India, and is the highest in ASEAN. Showing high

consumer confidence and relative strength

of its foreign economic relations aspects and its

national currency, the Rupiah, Indonesia is one

of the high achievers in Asia’s stock markets,

reflecting strong international market

confidence during 2010-2011.

EMERGING ECONOMY

AAs we are nearing the end of a precar-ious year and enter-ing into another pos-sible turbulent year, it would be appropriate

to have a quick look at the Indo-nesian economy in these difficult times, especially how Indonesia, as an important emerging coun-try, stands in the global economy.

One should be aware, howev-er, that in making such a quick look one would be confronted with a high number of controver-sial issues and views. Large seg-ments of the Indonesian commu-nity have their pessimistic views on the economic situation of the country, while smaller groups and the international world look at Indonesia as a country making remarkable progress. They look at Indonesia in a positive way: as an emerging country with great po-tentials.

One would also detect that dif-ferences also happen between the various segments of the economy and between internal and exter-nal developments of the country’s economy.

As to the internal aspects of the economy, one gets the impression that the country is facing a so-called “wooly situation”. Or as peo-ple would say in Indonesian “neg-ara sedang menghadapi benang kusut”, as no one seems to know how the country could get out of such a messy situation.

INDONESIA IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

Looking at the positive aspects of the Indonesian economy, the country is rated as one of the key countries of the “Emerging Econ-omies”, countries which cover a large part of the world that will play a vital role in the develop-ments of the global economy (fig-ure 1).

Apparently the biggest part of the African continent and parts of West Asia are still considered as the “under-developed “ part of the global economy.

Emerging EconomiesAmong the many developing

and emerging countries Indone-sia is internationally recognized by international banks and a high number of analysts as one of the “Top 10 Emerging Economies” in the world,.composed of the World Bank as China, India, South Ko-rea, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Turkey and South Africa.

The following data compiled by the international bank BBVA shows the GDP ppp in trillions of $ for 10 emerging countries, which includes Indonesia. compared to seven advanced countries for the year 2010 (figure 2).

It is expected that East Asia, with China and India in the lead, will be the most important region in the global economy. As stated by IMF’s Anoop Singh, the head of the Asia and Pacific Department, Asia is set to become an increas-ingly important engine of growth in the future for the global econo-my. It means that it would also in-clude Indonesia.

World Largest Economies According to the World Bank

Indonesia belongs to the 20 larg-est economies in the world. It now ranks 16th in the group of 20 ad-vanced and developing countries (figure 3).

Some current predictions state that Indonesia will be among the ten largest countries, while oth-ers forecast that the country will be among the richest countries in the world in one or two decades.

and India, and is the highest in ASEAN. Showing high consumer confidence and relative strength of its foreign economic relations aspects and its national curren-cy, the Rupiah, Indonesia is one of the high achievers in Asia’s stock markets, reflecting strong inter-national market confidence dur-ing 2010-2011.

After many years of waiting, in-vestors are no more sitting on the fence. They are now coming in with confidence. The door is open-ing up wide open for increased foreign direct investment (FDI)) which the country needs.

ENCOURAGING PROSPECTSThere is enough evidence that in

terms of macro-economic growth, Indonesia has moved on the right track. Indonesia has now to proof and make firm commitments that economically it will continue to move in the right direction, to give high priority to cope and resolve many pending issues, includ-ing poverty and unemployment, to further strengthen the entire economy, and that it has the ca-pacity and the political will to be-come one of the key countries in the global economy as expected by the world community.

The following data shows the encouraging prospects of real growth in GDP and income per capita for the years 2005-50 com-pared to other developed and de-veloping countries (figure 4).

TAKE OFF STAGE Having reached such a com-

fortable position in the global economy, the question is wheth-er Indonesia is really ready to en-ter into the “Take-off Stage” to be-come one of the key economies in the global economy.

For the many positive-inclined observers it sounds quite reason-able to consider Indonesia as a ris-ing star (figure 5).

Indonesia’s external economic •relations are basically in good shape, including the increas-ing trend in FDI. This should also become another engine of growth to beef up the internal economic sectors for the good and welfare of the ordinary peo-pleWithout going into the details •on exact numbers, the fol-lowing upward trend in GDP growth should just symbol-ize and inspire the whole Indo-nesian community where the country should be going The trend to go up as a rising •star into a real Take-off Stage, and not to stagnate, be distract-ed or sidelined by the down-ward (non-economic, social-po-litical) pressures prevailing in the society).

The writer is former ambassador to the EU

Source: BBVA

Figure 5. Indonesia as a Rising Star

proven to be robust. The country is one of the least affected coun-tries in that global financial crisis. Because of its resilience and its economic fundamentals, it is con-sidered as a country with a revi-talized economy.

BBVA economists are of the opinion that Indonesia is set to fly as an eagle. This is a most in-spiring assessment on Indonesia, notwithstanding the many short-comings the country is still fac-ing, including the question of na-tional leadership, morals, law and order and many other sensitive is-sues.

Indonesia’s GDP growth is the third highest in Asia, after China

There is enough evidence that in terms of macro-

economic growth, Indonesia has moved

on the right track. Indonesia has now to proof and make firm commitments that economically it will continue to move in the right direction.

Emerging Economies

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The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 A3

The Region

EAST ASIA ECONOMY

DDuring the current world financial cri-sis it becomes in-creasingly evident that the global economy would re-

quire a larger involvement of the developing countries. Also, the greater role of the emerging coun-tries to support and sustain the development and growth of the global economy.

The developing countries com-prising of low to middle income economies constitute approxi-mately 80% of the global popu-lation but represent only a small part (about 20%) of the world’s economy.

AsiaA large part of the develop-

ing countries are located in Asia, known before as a huge under-developed or least-developed area crowded with millions of poor un-der-nourished people with an war-torn economy in shambles.

All that has changed in a rel-atively short period of a few de-cades. Today, the Asian profile is “Amazing Asia”.

It is recognized by the world economic community that Asia and in particular East Asia has

Seen from the positive side, Asia has the potential to become an increasingly important glob-al engine of growth in the future. Presently, Asia is already gives its contribution to lead the world out of the worst recession, in over half a century.

EAST ASIA’S BIG CHALLENGE: TO BECOME THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE

East Asia’s big challenge is two-fold: a) To develop and modern-ize the economies of Asia b) To become the new global economic powerhouse and play a more lead-ing role alongside the more ad-vanced countries of North Amer-ica and Europe.

The largest economies in Asia in terms of nominal GDP are lo-cated in East Asia, with China in the lead followed by Japan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. East Asia is a region which has attract-ed world attention on account of their amazing developments, par-ticularly China and India.

One can only say that it is a region on the move with amaz-ing speed. Yet it is happening in

a global economic environment which is limping with full of un-certainties.

East Asia’s biggest challenge is that the world expects Asia to be-come the locomotive which can pull the global economy out of the recession towards global growth.

It is the East Asia region which constitutes the main pillar of the large Asian economy, an economy of enormous size, differing econ-omies and stages of development with different cultures, historical ties, and government systems.

East Asia’s growth reached the high figure of 8.8% growth in 2010, but is expected to decline in

dicts that by 2030, Asia’s econo-my will be larger than that of the United States and the European Union. The region’s share of world GDP will swell from around 30% to more than 40%.

It is also predicted that devel-oping countries as a whole are set to account for nearly 60% of world GDP by 2030. With the growth of other developing countries, eco-nomic interactions between East Asia and other developing coun-tries in Latin America and other regions will increase accordingly

East Asia Proactive Role East Asia is being challenged to

play a more pro-active role in the global economy. Looking it from the positive side one can observe that East Asia has the econom-ic potentials to play such a role, which includes the following:

In terms of growth East Asia is •considered as the fastest grow-ing region in the world; pres-ently with China, India and Indonesia (with the ASEAN countries) in the lead Countries with high growth in-•cludes, among others, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore These countries are identified •as among the world’s growth

leading emerging countries and have the potentials to contrib-ute to global growth in the area of trade, services, investment and financeEast Asia has its vast natural •resources in the area of ener-gy and mining, agriculture and marine resources and forestryAsian multinational compa-•nies are coming up at an amaz-ing rate; capturing internation-al markets East Asia has the capacity to-•wards a more self-sustaining economy; but its priority is to be fully integrated to the glob-al economyIntra-regional trade is increas-•ing to 54% (compared to 46% for NAFTA and 64% for the EU) and is expected to increase

As it now stands it is only Indo-nesia with the other ASEAN coun-tries which can assume the coor-dinating and unifying force in East Asia to develop the required mechanism, to work out the strat-egies, to promote integration and to enable East Asia to play the role as one of the important global economic powerhouses in the de-cades to come.

The writer is former ambassador to the EU

Big Challenge to East Asia

2011 and increase again in 2012. According to the World Bank the high growth countries in 2012 are China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (figure 2).

The question is, what are the chances for East Asia to become a new global economic powerhouse, in addition to the existing ones Such as the BRIC countries, with Brazil in Latin America togeth-er with Mexico and Russia in the Eastern part of Europe?

For the year 2000 East Asia is rated as the region with the larg-est share of Global GDP (figure 3).

PREDICTIONS

As mentioned in the media, a senior economist of the IMF pre-

East Asia’s biggest challenge is that the world expects Asia to become the locomotive which can pull the global economy out of the recession towards global growth.

By Atmono Suryo

grown to become the largest and the fastest growing economic re-gion in the world. The macroeco-nomic, financial and corporate sector reforms put in place over the last decade in East Asia have played an important role in the re-gions’ resilience.

According to Wikipedia, the GDP per capita of Asia has soared to reach the incredible level of $7,041 (Figure 1).

It also mentioned that the in-come of the top 10% of the popu-lation reaches the amount of $3 million.

The economy of Asia as a whole is a huge one, with a population of 4 billion people or 60% of the world, living in 46 different states, with China as the largest one.

With an Asian GDP of $24.077 trillion, the wealth of Asia differs widely between and within states. There is a huge range of differing economies, different cultures, en-vironments and different govern-ment and political systems. This makes it extremely hard to de-velop Asia as a whole. It must be done in stages.

Figure 1. Economy of Asia (During 2008 unless otherwise stated)

Population 4 billion (60% of the world)

GDP (PPP) (US$): US$24.077 trillion (2010)

Nominal GDP (Currency) (US$): $16.774 trillion (2010)

GDP/capita (PPP) (US$): $7,041 (2009)

GDP/capita (Currency) (US$): $4,629 (2009)

Annual growth of per capita GDP: 7.9% (2010)

Income of top 10%:

Millionaires (US$) 3 million (0.06%)

Unemployment: 3.8% (2010 est.)

Estimated female income:

*Most numbers are from the IMF. All GDP figures are in US$

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Figure 2. East and South Asia: Rates of Growth of Real GDP, 2007 - 2012

Annual percentage change

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

East and South Asia 9.3 6.2 5.1 8.4 7.1 7.3

East Asia 9.6 6.4 4.9 8.8 7.2 7.4

Brunei Darussalam 0.2 -1.9 -0.5 1.2 1.3 1.5

China 13.0 9.6 9.1 10.1 8.9 9.0

Hong Kong SAR 6.4 2.2 -2.8 6.5 4.4 4.6

Indonesia 6.3 6.0 4.5 6.1 6.2 6.4

Malaysia 6.5 4.7 -1.7 7.1 5.0 5.3

Myanmar 11.9 3.6 1.3 5.0 4.7 5.1

Papua New Guinea 7.2 6.7 4.5 6.2 6.7 7.0

Philippines 7.1 3.7 1.1 6.8 4.6 5.1

Republic of Korea 5.1 2.3 0.2 6.2 4.5 4.7

Singapore 8.5 1.8 -1.3 13.5 4.6 5.0

Taiwan Province of China 6.0 0.7 -1.9 9.0 4.5 4.9

Thailand 4.9 2.5 -2.2 7.3 4.8 5.1

Vietnam 8.5 6.3 5.3 6.6 6.8 7.0

Figure 3. Share of Global GDP PPP (%)

Region 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

West Asia (15 economies) 2.0 2.3 3.0 3.8 3.4 3.7

East Europe (7 economies) 3.5 3.6 3.4 3.4 2.4 2.0

Africa (57 economies) 3.8 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.3 3.2

Latin America & Caribbean(47 economies)

7.8 8.1 8.3 9.8 8.3 8.4

East Asia (10 economies) 10.4 12.6 15.2 17.5 22.5 26.5

Rest of the World 64.4 61.9 58.5 53.3 50.7 45.4

A senior economist of the IMF predicts that by 2030, Asia’s economy will be larger than that of the United States and the European Union. The region’s share of

world GDP will swell from around 30% to more than 40%.

The EconomyThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011A4

Revenue from Import Duties Exceeds Target

Realization of the country`s revenue collection from import duties up to No-vember 10 this year has exceeded the target for the period reaching Rp21.03 tril-lion, or 100.15%, data show.

Data at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Fi-nance showed on Friday that the import duty target set in the revised 2011 state budget was Rp21.50 trillion.

Revenues from the customs duties were targeted at Rp68.08 trillion while re-ceipts from export taxes were set at Rp25.44 trillion. The realization of export tax receipts up to November 10 was noted at Rp24.88 trillion or 97% of the target. The realization of customs duties up to November 10, was 62.99 trillion, or about 92.55%.

Director General of Customs and Excise Agung Kuswandono expressed his optimism on Thursday that the customs and excise duty receipt targets in 2011 would be achieved. "We are convinced that the customs and excise revenue tar-get would be achieved at the end of November," he said.

Agung said that the revenue target of his directorate general in 2012 was rela-tively high. In the 2012 state budget, the government and the House set a customs and excise receipts at Rp114.88 trillion.

RI's Industry Grew FasterThan Economy in Q3Indonesia`s industrial growth in the third quarter of 2011 was recorded at

6.98% or in excess of the country`s economic growth at 6.54%, an industry min-istry official said.

The industrial growth figure was the aggregate of a 6.58% growth in process-ing industries and a 1.67% growth in the oil and gas industry, said Ansari Bukhari, secretary general of the Industry Ministry here on Thursday.

Ansari said most of the industrial growth had happened in the production of metals, iron and steel, transportation equipment, machinery, and industrial equip-ment besides textiles , leather goods, and footwear.

In the first semester of 2011 two industry groups dominated the growth fig-ure, namely the base metal, iron and steel industries group and the textile, leather goods and footwear industry group which recorded growth rates of 16.88% and 9.22%, respectively.

At the same time, the transportation, machinery, and equipment industry group grew only 6.58% and the food, beverages and tobacco group 6.73%. "The increase in industrial growth in the third quarter compared to same period last year was spurred by growth in new investment and expansion," Ansari said.

In 2011, PT Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) increased its automotive plant capac-ity, and a South Korean based company was planning to build a petrochemical industry in Cilegon as part of the previous plant expansion investment.

"The South Korean industry which is running under Lotte Group is still waiting for the 60 hectares of land request is granted in Cilegon industrial area," he said. Ansari is optimistic with the improving national economy condition would attract that foreign investment. "The improvements of infrastructure readiness and pro-curement would also attract foreign investors to Indonesia," Ansari said.

ECONOMIC UPDATES

IIndonesia should take steps to anticipate three crucial conditions and challenges the national economy will meet in 2012, the central

bank (BI) governor said.BI Governor Darmin Nasution

said at the House of Representa-tives (DPR) here on Tuesday the first challenge the country`s econ-omy would face next year was the possible impact of a worsening of the United States and European financial crisis.

Indonesia must anticipate the implications of global econom-ic downturns for its econom-ic growth, he said. "The second challenge is the big volume of cap-ital inflow while there are dis-parities in the policies of the ad-vanced and developing countries," he said.

BI as Indonesia s monetary au-thority, Darmin said, would adopt a policy to maintain resilience and capability so that monetary sta-bility would remain under control. The central bank would also apply a financial system to support sus-tainable economic growth. "This is the first challenge," he said.

Darmin said the direction of BI`s policy next year was to main-tain economic stability and growth amid global economic challenges. In order to support the policy, BI had set strategic targets such as maintaining the stability of the

rupiah`s exchange rate, effective monetary policy and guarantee safe, efficient and sound finan-cial system as well as an efficient, smooth and safe payment system, the BI governor said.

Impact of Global Crisis in 2012Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia be-

lieves Indonesia will begin to feel the impact of the current glob-al crisis only in 2012, its spokes-man said.

Perry Warjiyo, director of BI`s directorate of economic research and monetary policies, said here on Tuesday the impact of the glob-al crisis was actually already be-

RI Economy Faces Three Challenges in 2012: BIBI as Indonesia`s monetary authority, would adopt a policy to maintain resilience and capability so that monetary stability would remain under control. The central bank would also apply a financial system to support sustainable economic growth.

ing felt in the financial sector but not as yet in the real sector. He said the global economic slow-down would certainly affect Indo-nesia but it would be felt stronger next year.

"BI predicts our economy will grow 6.5% this year. We have re-vised it down from initially 6.6%," he said. BI meanwhile has also re-vised down its prediction for 2012 from 6.7% to 6.5%. Perry saw sev-eral sectors would support the country s economic growth such as trade, telecommunication and natural resources.

Until the third quarter of 2011 there has been an outflow of cap-ital totaling $4.7 billion from shares, bonds and state securi-ties. Perry however believed in the fourt quarter capital would flow in again through "foreign direct investment."

He said total foreign direct in-vestment last year reached $13.3 billion and until the third quarter of 2011 the figures are $14.7 bil-lion. "By the end of 2011 BI pre-dicts total foreign direct invest-ment will reach $16 billion," he said.

BI lso believes the country s ru-piah currency would also remain stable with the inflation rate by the end of this year predicted to reach 4.0% while next year s rate at 4.7%.

"The first challenge the country`s economy would face next year was the possible impact of a worsening of the United States and European financial crisis."

BI Governor Darmin Nasution

Bank Indonesia believes Indonesia will begin to feel the impact of the current global crisis only in 2012

www.infobanknews.com

PROPERTY GROWTH: Coldwell Banker Commercial projects sales growth of rental and sell rates to be high in each property sector at Jakarta in 2011, better than in 2010 as the growth of property market in 2011 is in line with the nation’s economic growth. The President Post/Nandi Nanti

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 A5

The Economy

TThe government is optimistic that the country s econom-ic growth can be kept at 6.7% in accordance

with the 2012 state budget mac-ro assumptions, Deputy Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati said here on Thursday.

Anny said the government would not allow the economic growth to go down but continue to maintain it at the desired lev-el. "We will continue to maintain our economic growth at the de-sired level, although it is predicted to edge up from 6.3-6.4%," Anni said referring to Economic Out-look 2012.

According to her, the govern-ment also had the policies in terms of capital spending and the acceleration of capital spend-ing in 2012. Anny said that with its experience in facing the cri-sis in 1998 and 2008, the govern-ment was ready to face the cur-rent global crisis.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia Director for Research and Mon-etary Policy, Sukowati, said in Batam, Riau Islands, recently that Indonesia s economic growth up to the end of 2011 was predict-ed to reach 6.6%. He said that

Indonesia s economy would still grow steadily amid uncertainties in global economic developments.

The strong economic growth of Indonesia was supported by high consumption and investment, he said. Sukowati said that invest-ment remained high in Indone-sia due to a perception that its economic fundamentals remain strong and its investment climate is improving.

Govt Ready to Maintain 2012 Economic Growth

Indonesia s domestic economy is supported by processing indus-tries, trade, hotels, restaurants, transportation and communica-tion.

BI also predicted that Indonesia s fourth quarter eco-nomic growth would reach 6.7%. "The impact of the global econom-ic turmoil in 2011 has not yet af-fected Indonesia s economy," Su-kowati said.

He said that the country s econ-omy in 2012 was predicted to grow within a range of 6.2% to 6.7%. Therefore, the deputy finance minister said the Indonesia s economy in 2012 would remain prospective and well-maintained, and that the government and the people should keep that momen-tum.

The strong economic growth of Indonesia was supported by high consumption and investment

Indonesian banks will be quite able to withstand the im-pact of the financial crisis in Europe and the United States because of their good perfor-mance, a central bank official said.

"The European financial crisis will not affect the perfor-mance of national banks. In li-quidity terms, national banks liquidity exposure to Europe-an and United States banks

amounts to only about Rp100 tril-lion which is not too big compared with their overall assets," Bank In-donesia (BI/central bank`s) Depu-ty Governor Muliaman D Hadad said here on Monday.

He said that the results of a stress test carried out by BI showed that the impact of the fi-nancial crisis in Europe and the United States on national banks was very small. After all, banks

“RI Banks Able to Withstand Crisis”assets, capital and credit commit-ment were still running well.

"We have carries out a test to see what will happen if the cri-sis spreads to all European coun-tries. It turned out the impact on national banks capital will be small," he said.

However, he said, Indonesia had to remain alert to the crisis psychological aspect because if it dragged on as it could affect na-

Banten province in 2012 will have a national petrochemical in-dustrial study and development center or national petrochemical center of excellence in the Banten Provincial Administration Center.

Head of the Banten industrial and trade agency Hudaya Latu-consina said here Friday the na-tional petrochemical industrial study and development center is a program of the trade ministry with funding from the state bud-get amounting to Rp20 billion for its construction, but the land for its construction would have to be sought by the Banten provincial administration.

"Banten had been chosen as one of the three areas for the proj-ect, because Banten has so many petrochemical industrial compa-nies," Hudaya said.

He said under the engineer-ing design and Feasibility Study, the most suitable location for the

construction of the petrochemi-cal industrial study center is Ban-ten provincial administration cen-ter because of its strategic location and located Banten provincial ad-ministration in Serang town while the land had to be provided to the extent of at least 6,000 square meters.

"The application for it land had already been submitted to the Banten Governor of the trade min-istry, only awaiting the governor s

Banten to Have Petrochemical Industrial Development Center

approval," Hudaya said.The project will later become a

national petrochemical industrial information and research devel-opment center and a center of pet-rochemical industrial experts in the study and workshop related to the petrochemical industry.

Hudaya said in Banten there are some 35 petrochemical indus-try supporting companies and a big petrochemical industry name-ly PT Chandra Asri in Cilegon.

tional economic growth.Muliaman said that what

needed to be monitored was the condition of individual banks if they experienced in-ternal problems when the glob-al economic crisis had not yet improved like nowadays. "We have to systematically moni-tor banks one by one to ensure assure that it would not create a problem for the industry," he said.

The government should de-velop five energy sectors in or-der to build its national energy resilience, namely gas, geo-thermal, solar power genera-tors, coal and nuclear, a min-ister said.

"The five aspects will be able to fulfill the country s ener-gy resilience in the long run if they are developed based on the government s general ener-gy principles." State Enterpris-es Minister Dahlan Iskan told a national seminar on nation-al energy policy and sovereign-ty towards national energy re-silience here on Monday.

Dahlan said that the gov-ernment should change its pattern of fuel oils (BBM) con-sumption because the oil pro-duction continued to drop while gas production contin-ued to increase.

In such a current condition, commercial vehicles should

no longer use fuel oils but com-pressed natural gas (CNG), or electricity. "Trucks must be di-rected to using CNG while motor-cycles to using electricity energy," the minister said.

Apart from that, Dahlan who is also a former president direc-tor of state-owned electricity firm PLN, said in order to overcome the

Minister Calls on DevelopingFive Energy Sectors

shortage of power supply dur-ing the peak burden the gas allocation for PLN should be increased.

He said that in order to over-come problem of high power demand during the peak bur-den, PLN was now building mini CNGs throughout Indo-nesia and was now in trial test in Jambi.

www.mediaindonesia.com

Deputy Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati

We will continue to maintain our economic growth at the desired level, although it is predicted to edge up from 6.3-6.4%."

Head of the Banten Industrial and Trade Agency Hudaya Latuconsina

Banten had been chosen as one of the three areas for the project, because Banten has so many petrochemical industrial companies."

State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan

www.mediaindonesia.com

Around JababekaThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011A6

Cikarang Dry Port Offers More Certainty to Export-Import ActivitiesCikarang Dry Port (CDP)

only started operations in Au-gust 2010, but it is already re-ceiving good responses from service users like shipping lines as well as manufactur-ing industries. CDP is an ex-tension of Tanjung Priok; it is expected to play a role in eas-ing Jakarta port’s traffic jam and port congestion as well as supporting the growing in-dustrial estates in this east-ern corridor of Jakarta.

According to Francois-Jo-seph Ossude, President Di-rectore of CMA CGM, one of CDP’s shipping line partners, the growth of the industri-al sector is very positive, es-pecially in the Bekasi-Kara-wang area.

“It has so much develop-

ment potential relating to ex-port, import and incoming in-vestment. If CDP can maintain its cyrrent remarkable service lev-el and streamline its goods han-dling process, I am sure it will be successful. That is the reason why we have a cooperation with them,” he said.

At present several shipping com-panies are already doing business with CDP by way of a new service, Multimodal Transport Bill of Lad-ing, with an international port code of IDJBK. This enables di-rect export-import through CDP, which is connected to internation-al ports as part of their global trad-ing network. Shipping lines which already have this kind of service are Maersk Line, MCC Transport, Safmarine, CMA CGM, Delmas, ANL, CNC dan APL. To support

an electronic seal device.

Document formalities relat-ed to port, customs and quar-antine services are complet-ed at CDP, resulting in faster, more efficent and streamlined processes. As an extension of Tanjung Priok Port, CDP is systematically connect-ed with the port’s and termi-nal operators in Tanjung Pri-ok. With integrated services as well as better planned time management, it is hoped that CDP can play its part as one of the solutions in improving a better supply chain activities for its customers.

For more information:

Telp: (62-21) 2908 2908

Email: marketing@cikarangdryport.com

Web: www.cikarangdryport.com

their activities, the empty contain-er depot service is now also avail-able in CDP.

PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk, one of the industrial companies locat-ed in Jababeka Industrial Estate, has been conducting their activi-ties through Cikarang Dry Port. Shipments from Unilever’s over-seas suppliers now use Multimod-al Transport Bill of Lading, which results in certainty and simplici-ty of goods movement, especially from Tanjung Priok Port to CDP. The shipment is carried to CDP after they are discharged from the vessel in less than 24 hours. This also avoids the risk of the goods being misplaced in Tanjung Pri-ok.

The benefits of using Cikarang Dry Port, as described by the

study of the World Bank, “How Dry Ports Can Improve Nation-al Competitiveness: A Case Study on Cikarang Dry Port”, are among other things the certainty of time and security related to goods movement between Tanjung Pri-ok Port, CDP and the customer’s premises (factory or warehouse). For example, the customer can prevent their goods from being misplaced (overbrengen) in Tan-jung Priok.

Overbrengen happens when goods or containers are moved out from the port storage facility to the surrounding storage area. This of-ten occurs because of the current congested situation in Tanjung Priok Port. The security aspect is of course as important; the move-ments of goods between Tanjung Priok and CDP are monitored by

CDP is an extension of Tanjung Priok; it is expected to play a role in easing Jakarta port’s traffic jam and port congestion as well as supporting the growing industrial estates in this eastern corridor of Jakarta.

The 3rd Jababeka International Cultural Festival Opens to Promote Better Understanding

AAccording to I Made Surya Darma, VP of Corporate Marketing & Communications Ja-babeka, "The festival is

organized by Jababeka in realiz-ing its vision as a city developer which not only built buildings and facilities, but also promote cultur-al activities, because we under-stand that the value of a city is judged by the culture of its peo-ple."

"With the power and cultural wealth of each city of this coun-try, this festival is expected to be a forum to exchange ideas, phi-losophy, information, art and oth-er cultural aspects between coun-tries, in order to speed up common understanding and two-way di-plomacy to strengthen relations between international communi-ties in Indonesia,” he added.

The event was opened with a gala dinner on Friday night (18/11)

and also attended by guests from foreign embassies.

Vice Governor of West Java Dede Yusuf in his speech said, "I am so glad to be at this Cultural Festi-val. It is one of the important cul-tural events besides SEA Games XXI and the ASEAN Summit in Bali. I am very proud of Jababe-ka, which also has Movieland, the centre of Indonesian films."

The occasion also served as a signing of an MOU plaque between Jababeka and GIZ Germany through Merck Indonesia on "Ret-rologistic", an industrial wastewa-ter for healthy environment. It was witnessed Dede Yusuf.

Cultural performances on that night were the Rampak Kend-ang from West Java, consisting of Lengser Dance, Baksa Dance, and Mamayang Dance; percus-sion by Han Ba Fei from South Korea; Giving Luck Dance from China, Ngalai Dance from Brunei accompanied by Kayum Berkasih song, Joget Baju Putih and Din-dang Disayang. There were also

"Hong Hua", a traditional dance from China, and "Thousand Hands Dance". The gala dinner was closed by "Broadway Musical Highlights" by Rio Silaen.

Visitors at the festival enjoyed performances of traditional danc-es from various regions in Indone-sia, Brunei Darussalam and Chi-na; traditional music from South Korea and modern music from the famous Indonesian d'Masiv.

“JICF was made more lively this year, more varied and unique. We involved many young people as successors of the nation, so that they will love their culture and would learn the positive things from other countries’ culture," said Didik Purbadi, City Manage-ment of Jababeka.

An interesting aspect of the fes-tival was the introduction of ba-tik Bekasi, which was marked by typical motifs featuring masked dancers, and exhibited by batik artisans from Tarumajaya Beka-si. There was also a presentation on how to make dodol Bekasi.

Jababeka International Cultural Festival (JICF) was successfully held for the third time at Indonesia Movieland, Jababeka. This year’s theme is “The Power of Culture”, featuring live music, dance and traditional and modern food festival.

By Jeannifer Filly Sumayku

EducationThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011A8

Globalization and Its Impacts onHigher Education in Indonesia

Marginson (1999) in his jour-nal entitled After Globalization: Emerging Politics of Education defined globalization as an irre-versible change of the politics of the nation-state and its regional sectors, domestic classes and na-tionally-defined interest groups. It is creating new potentials and limitations in the politics of edu-cation. Its effects on the politics of education are complex. Increas-ingly shaped as it is by globaliza-tion—both directly and via the effects of globalization in nation-al government—education at the same time has become a primary medium of globalization, and an incubator of its agents. As well as inhibiting or transforming older kinds of education, globalization creates new kinds.

Roberto Simona (2010) in his essay entitled Education in Indo-nesia, the Challenges of Global-ization stated that for at least two decades, globalization and tech-nological progress had favored ex-changes in the world. They had created more possibilities in the field of education, helping ex-perts developed new approaches to learning. Elite groups in Indo-

GGlobalization is per-ceived by many critics as both challenges and op-portunities; impov-erishment and pros-

perity. Lee Myung Sook, Professor of Daegu National University of Education, in her essay entitled International Education Research in Globalization Era stated that globalization had come about much faster than many of its fore-casters in the 60’s and 70’s pre-dicted, and the global society that had emerged was quite different than was expected.

Globalization is defined by many researchers as the process by which the peoples and nations of the world are increasingly fused into a single homogeneous entity. Moreover, the gradual weaken-ing of the constraints of space and time on economics, politics, so-cio-culture, and, without excep-tion, some aspects of education in a nation, may be one of several good indicators that globalization is taking place.

nesia had taken advantage of the situation. Yet, many of the coun-try’s (higher education) institu-tions had paid little attention to new ideas that encourage a glob-al approach to education.

Perhaps, the General Agree-ment on Trade Services (GATS) conference in 2003 has become the cornerstone of the hype of in-ternationalization of higher edu-cation (HE) around the world. In response to neo-liberal prescrip-tions of the WTO, GATS sought to liberalize trade in goods and ser-vices in industries and in educa-tion. Roberta M. Bassett (2006) in her book entitled The WTO and the University: Globaliza-tion, GATS, and American Higher Education stated that HE in this agreement was defined as an in-ternational service industry to

be regulated through the market place and through internation-al trade agreements. As a conse-quence, many HEs around the world, seek to find international acknowledgements through col-laborating with other foreign HEs, recruiting international students, implementing internationally ac-cepted curriculum, and embed-ding themselves with the title “World-Class University”, which some argue the title as ‘merely public campaign’.

Few HEs in Indonesia follow the trend, the exception being President University, Swiss Ger-man University, Universitas Pel-ita Harapan (International Ad-mission), and Binus University (International Admission). Some well-established HEs like Uni-

versitas Indonesia (UI), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) also opened international pro-grams to accommodate interna-tional students studying in their university. However, some man-agement from public HEs argue that these international students have yet brought any financial benefits to the host universities since they come through scholar-ships and government funding.

Particularly for President Uni-versity, it is well-known for im-plementing full English as its pri-mary teaching instructions to accommodate its growing interna-tional students who study togeth-er in the same classrooms with its local students. Located at the heart of Jababeka Industrial Es-

tate – Cikarang, Indonesia, Presi-dent University positioned itself as the 21st century model of tertia-ry education in Indonesia which aims to bridge the world of educa-tion and the industry.

Sawir (2010) in her essay enti-tled Internationalization of higher education: Issues within and be-yond the practice highlighted sev-eral characteristics of internation-alization of tertiary education in Indonesia including (1) outward staff and student mobility, (2) to maintain local and cultural iden-tity was of primary concern in de-signing internationalized curricu-lum, (3) to enhance staff academic skills as in research and teaching quality through study abroad pro-gram, (4) to provide a better qual-ity of higher education by empow-ering and promoting students for study abroad, preferably conduct-ed in the medium of English, and by increasing the allocation of scholarships for overseas univer-sity study, with the expectation that graduates will return to In-donesia to benefit the local econo-my and community, and lastly (5) the importance of having coher-ent values and shared beliefs and a unified way of thinking among staff in conceptualizing and im-plementing internationalized pro-grams.

Interestingly, data from the United Nations show a decreas-ing outbound student mobility ra-tio since 2002 (see Figure). Out-bound mobility ratio is defined as the number of students from

a given country studying abroad as a percentage of the total tertia-ry enrolment in that country. The rise of public and private HEs of-fering international programs or double degree programs might ex-plain the downward trend.

President University and very few HEs in Indonesia are the re-sponse towards internationaliza-tion of HE around the world. It is predicted that HEs, especially private universities, which fail to adapt their academic curriculum towards the demands of larger markets, will face tough compe-titions in the future. According to Wayah S Wirot, Secretary General of the Association of Private High-er Education in Indonesia (Aptisi), approximately 30% out of 800 pri-vate HEs in Indonesia were closed down in 2008.

Unfortunately, access to quality education has become increasing-ly a privilege of well-off families. It is no secret that many middle class families are struggling des-perately to come up with the fund to finance increasing tuition fees every year, let alone the increasing cost of living. With most of public HEs tend to react favorably to-wards privatization (and commer-cialization) of higher education, this is no minor impact in a soci-ety already badly affected by re-cent economic crises.

Jhanghiz Syahrivar is Lecturer in Faculty of Economics of President University cum Head of Public Relations of President University, Indonesia

By Jhanghiz Syahrivar

Source: United Nations (citing: UNESCO Institute for Statistics)

President University and very few HEs in Indonesia are the response towards internationalization of HE around the world. It is predicted that HEs, especially private universities, which fail to adapt their academic curriculum towards the demands of larger markets, will face tough competitions in the future.

Education: Tertiary indicators: Inbound and outbound mobility ratios: Outbound mobility ratio (%)Selection: Indonesia

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 20080.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

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1.3

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Public Relations in ASE-AN is one of the spearheads that strengthens ASEAN’s role and its influence inter-nationally.

It can even be said that the leadership in the devel-opment of ASEAN’s influence is determined by the Pub-lic Relations Leadership as shown by the leaders of ASE-AN countries.

Therefore, as an organi-zation of Public Relations profession in Indonesia and one of the largest in ASEAN, PERHUMAS recently held the “PERHUMAS Talk show” to discuss the role of Public Relations and Leadership.

“PR Leadership Across ASE-AN” became the theme of the talk show held at London School of Public Relation (LSPR) cam-pus. Hiramsyah Thaib, President Director of PT Bakrieland, and James Suresh, Council Member /Education Advisor IPRS (Institute of Public Relations Singapore), were the speakers.

The discussion was moderat-ed by Nico Wattimena. A keynote speech was delivered by Director General for ASEAN Cooperation,

PR Shines Across Asean

Djauhari Oratmangun.In the event, there was a

signing of “friendship agree-ment” between PERHUMAS with IPRS. Various activities, programs and other forms of cooperation will be carried out by both sides for the prog-ress of public relations world.

“The talk show is expect-ed to be a learning tool for PR practitioners and mem-bers of PERHUMAS on the functions and roles of ASE-AN in the international com-munity, and to be a forum to share knowledge and in-formation between govern-ments, industry and corpo-rate through PR Practitioners as the means of forming net-works for PERHUMAS mem-bers, and all PR in Indonesia and ASEAN,” said Prita Ke-mal Gani, Chairman of PER-HUMAS.

PERHUMAS is an orga-nization of Public Relations and Communications practi-tioners in Indonesia.

It was established on De-cember 15, 1972. PERHU-MAS is officially registered at DEPDAGRI as a national public relations organization in Indonesia and at the In-ternational Public Relations Association (IPRA) which is based in London.

PERHUMAS aims to im-prove professional skills, broaden and deepen the knowledge, increase net-working and exchange ex-periences between members and communicate with allied organizations at home and abroad.

Director General for ASEAN Cooperation, Djauhari Oratmangun.

PERHUMAS as an organization of Public Relations profession in Indonesia and one of the largest in ASEAN, recently held the “PERHUMAS Talk show” to discuss the role of Public Relations and Leadership.

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com

Display until December 12, 2011 /// N0. 29Business BMinister Gives High Marks to Garuda, Bank Mandiri, BRI

Medco Set to Supply Methane Gas

PT Medco Energi Indonesia (MEDCO) is ready to supply coal methane gas from the Sekayu Block in South Sumatra for a five year period, the company told the Jakarta Stock Exchange on Friday.

The gas would be supplied to the South Sumatra Regional Energy and Mining

Company (PDPDE) at a volume of 200 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd). The methane gas would be channeled from the CBM SE-2 well at Block GMD Sekayu. The gas will be used to fulfill the need for electricity of the local people around the block.

Electricity produced now is used to provide light for GMB Pengumbul station. It derived from the GMB Block Sekayu`s well located in Musi Banyasin, South Sumatra.

Medco has a 50% participating interest in Block GMB Sekayu. The utilization of this methane gas is in line with Presidential Instruction No. 14/2011 on the acceleration program for the implementation of national development priority 2011.

BTN Lowers Lending Rate

State-owned Bank Tabungan Negara Tbk. (BTN) has cut its lending rate by 50 basis points in response to Bank Indonesia`s recent decision to lower its key rate to 6%.

“We have just lowered our lending rates by 50 basis points. For housing loans, our lending rate ranges between 8.15-11%,” BTN President Director Iqbal Latanro said here on Friday.

Only lending rate on subsidized housing loans remained unchanged, he said. He

said there was still a room for the bank to cut its lending rates further. “There is a time lag for interest rates to decline. Next year lending rates are likely to drop. If the overhead cost declines the lending rates will drop accordingly.”

He said the amount of credits channeled by the bank in the nine months through September grew 20.24% to Rp59.31 trillion from Rp49.32 trillion in the same period last year.

XL Seeks to Sell 7,000 BTS

Publicly-listed cellular phone operator PT XL Axiata Tbk is looking into the possibility of selling 7,000 of its base transceiver stations (BTS) for Rp14 trillion to Rp15 trillion.

“We are still exploring the possibility of selling 7,000 (base transceiver) stations to investors,” XL President Director Hasnul Suhaimi said after addressing a seminar themed “Enduring and Growing amid Global

Economic Turbulence by Excellent Performance” here on Wednesday.To sell the 7,000 BTS, XL had appointed Goldman Sachs as an arranger,

he said. However, he stopped short of revealing the investors who would buy the BTS. “Let`s wait....We are in the process of exploring (the possibility of selling them),” he said.

XL tried to sell 7,000 BTS in 2009 but to no avail. To date, XL has 9,000-10,000 BTS nationwide. He said XL intended to sell the BTS because it would focus on its business and would no longer think of managing them on its own.

The contribution of BTS rent to the company`s revenues was relatively small, reaching 4% of the overall income, he said. He said the company had set no date to complete the corporate action. “We have set no date to complete it. To be sure, we will continue to explore the possibility of selling them,” he said.

Bank Syariah Mandiri’s Profit up 27.83%

Bank Syariah Mandiri said it posted a profit of Rp409.12 billion in the year ended in September, up 27.83% from Rp320.04 billion in the same period last year.

The increase was fueled by operating income after being distributed on a revenue-sharing basis, Yuslam Fauzi, president director of the state-owned Bank Mandiri s sharia unit, said here on Wednesday.

“In September 2011, operating income after being distributed on a revenue-sharing basis reached Rp2.81 trillion, up 39.11% compared with Rp2.02 trillion in the same period last year,” he said.

Third party fund placement in the bank amounted to Rp38.29 trillion in the nine months through September, jumping 54.15% from Rp24.84 trillion in the same period last year, he said. In the meantime, the amount of financing surged 60.45% to Rp34.40 trillion from Rp21.44 trillion in the corresponding period a year earlier, he said.

The financing was 72.40% contributed by non-corporate financing and 27.60% from corporate financing, he said. “The figure indicates that the company is pro-real sector and small and medium enterprises,” he said. As per September 30, 2011, the bank`s total assets reached Rp43.51 trillion, up 55.12% from Rp28.05 in the same period a year ago.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

“The success achieved by the three state-owned companies is to be mainly attribut-ed to the capability of their CEOs,” the min-ister said at a seminar here on Tuesday.

He said the figures behind the success of the three state-owned companies (BUMN) were Garu-da Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar, former Mandi-ri Bank president director Agus Martowardoyo, who was now minister of finance and BRI Bank president director Sofyan Basyir. “They deserve appreciation as well as awards in view of their coura-geous actions and ideas to ad-vance their companies,” he said.

State Enterprises Minister Dahlan

Iskan has praised the boards of

directors of Garuda Indonesia, Mandiri

Bank and BRI for being able to

bring about a transformation

in their corporate businesses amid

the global economic crisis.

ny PT PLN said many people had capabilities and expertise but not many could prevent intervention from inside and outside the com-panies.

“Many people who have re-markable educational back-grounds have been appointed to lead BUMNs but they are of-ten hindered by bureaucracy,” he said.

In response to the apprecia-tion, Emirsyah Satar said what he has done so far is just part of his efforts to improve the compa-ny. “Every decision I made is for changing Garuda to become bet-ter,” he said.

He said to improve the state-owned airline company he has

not only conducted internal im-provements but also tried to give information transparently.

He said he faced challenges when he was trying to improve procurement of goods and servic-es in the company. “But so long as it was for the progress of the com-pany I have never seen them as obstacles,” he said.

Emirsyah said transparency was very important for improving a company. “If the company loses we must tell it so. Nothing must be covered up. And what has made the company to lose and mea-sures that are to be taken by the management must also be made known to the public,” he said.

Dahlan IskanState Enterprises Minister

The minister said it would take CEOs with extra capability to im-prove state-owned companies. “It is difficult to find figures who are fit and have complete capabilities to lead state-owned companies that now number 142,” he said.

The former president director of state-owned electricity compa-

Iqbal LatanroBTN President Director

Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for Indonesia Tjeerd F. de Zwaan attended a cel-ebration on the success of the two years of collaboration between the Netherlands government, Frisian Flag Indonesia (FFI), and South Bandung Dairy Farmers Cooper-ative (KPBS).

About 250 member dairy farm-ers of KPBS attended the event to celebrate the significant improve-ment of their welfare as a result of a two-year project that has suc-cessfully improved the quality and the quantity of milk that the dairy farmers produce daily.

Initial technical funding for this project when it started in mid 2009 was €353,777 or Rp4,329 billion, of which 60% (€212,266 or Rp 2.597 billion), is a grant from the Dutch Government while the rest is from FFI and KPBS.

De Zwaan stated, “It is grati-fying for all stakeholders in this project, including the Dutch Gov-ernment, that FFI support has sig-nificantly contributed towards the improved welfare of dairy farm-ers in Pangalengan. The Nether-lands provides €4.6 billion in De-velopment Assistance to countries around the world to support part-nerships with governments, civil society organizations, knowledge institutes, and businesses. As a nation, we believe that develop-ment is not only for governments but that private sector has its role to play as well.”

Marco Spits, President Direc-tor of FFI, said, “As a subsidiary of FrieslandCampina, the world’s largest dairy cooperative with 130 years of experience and 20,375 member farmers across Holland, Belgium and Germany, FFI is ful-ly committed to consistently work together with dairy farmers and their cooperatives in Indonesia as our vital partners. With our exten-sive experience and knowledge on dairy, we believe that dairy farm-ers in Indonesia have great poten-tials to become globally competi-tive and this collaborative effort has proven that through better farming management, not only

The Netherlands, Frisian Flag Indonesia, andKPBS South Bandung Collaborate on Improving Quality and Quantity of Fresh Milk

do their milk quality and quantity improved but their entire families also benefit from better welfare.”

“Frisian Flag Indonesia will continue to support plans to stim-ulate the quality and quantity of fresh milk produced in Indone-sia, preferably not too far from our countries. In total we receive to-day about 400 tons of milk pro-duced in Indonesia,” added Mar-co.

Over the last two years, FFI has also funded a further Rp2 bil-lion on additional training, ed-ucation and socialization activ-ities for the farmers. This project is part of a continuing Rp600 bil-

lion investment by FFI on its dairy development program for Indone-sian dairy farmers in the last sev-en years.

The initial technical funding was used for improving farming facilities and equipment such as:

Building seven demo farms •with designs and equipment so that dairy farmers can adopt and adapt based on their indi-vidual capacityProvision of laboratory and field •equipment for testing and con-trolling milk quality

Other use of the initial funding include training and counseling

by FFI and Dutch dairy experts from the Friesian on:

Animal nutrition•Livestock housing and health•Milking and milk handling•Breeding, reproduction, and •calf rearing

FFI also added further on top of the initial technical funding for training and development of field supervisors and staff of KPBS along with socialization efforts to ensure that every farmer member has access to the project informa-tion and consultation is available for all.

FFI Fresh Milk Development Program started in 2000 in West, Central, and East Java and in-volved the North Bandung Farm-ers Cooperative (KPSBU) in Lem-bang; the Village Unit Cooperative (KUD) in Mojosongo, Boyolali; the Eka Putra Jaya Dairy Cooper-ative in Bandung; the KSU Ru-kun Santoso in Blitar; the KUD Boyongbong in Garut and the South Bandung Farmers Cooper-ative (KPBS) in Pangalengan.

This is done in line with Minis-try of Agriculture reports that do-mestic fresh milk production is not at a maximum level. The prob-lems often faced by dairy farmers are, among others, lack of farm-ing skills, particularly in relation to animal health and low feed quality that triggers poor milk production and quality. Therefore, the empowerment of poor farmers through the help of tools, training and mentoring is one of the pro-grams of the Ministry Agriculture 2010–2014.

President Director of PT Frisian Flag Indonesia Marco Spits, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Indonesia Tjeerd F. de Zwaan, Vice Regent of South Bandung Deden Rumaji, Head of KPBS South Bandung Aun Gunawan mark the implementation of the Fresh Dairy Development Program in Pangalengan, which succeeded in increasing fresh milk production from 127 tons to 145 tons per day with a higher sale value, thus increasing income and welfare of farmer families. The program is initiated by PT Frisian Flag Indonesia with a grant from the Dutch government.

By Jeannifer Filly Sumayku

Alamanda Tower

Work. Nature. Balance

“Alamanda Tower grows from the floor of a tropical oasis...it will be a unique, inspired

place to work and connect...”

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A development led by KAARYA Development, a well-reputed and award-winning developer of Menara Karya, Menara Kadin and Cyber 2 Tower.

Alamanda Tower is a GREENSHIP Registered Project and under green building certification process by Green Building Council Indonesia. The owner and project team are targeting GREENSHIP Gold level to pledge

commitment of green building. Our green features are double glazing, use of recycle water, low cooling load in tenancy area, low energy lighting

and ample landscaped area.

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Marketing OfficeGraha Irama, 15th Floor Unit AJl. HR Rasuna Said Blok X-1Kavlling 1-2, Jakarta 12950Phone: (62-21) 526 1357, 526 1358Fax: (62-21) 526 1460Mobile: (62-21) 87885001616email: sales@alamandatower.comwww.alamandatower.com

PT Cushman & Wakefield IndonesiaIndonesia Stock Exchange Building 2, 15/FJl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 52-53, Jakarta 12190www.cushmanwakefield.com

Marketing Consultant

BusinessThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011B2

TThe national private airline company Sriwi-jaya Air said it will op-erate 32 planes up to the end of this year.

“Right now we already flying 30 planes, and up to the end of this year there will be two others bringing their total to 32,” com-mercial director of Sriwijaya Air Toto Nursatyo said in Jakarta Friday.

Toto said that Sriwijaya Air has observed its eighth anniversary on November 10, 2011, and may have flown eight million passen-gers by the end of this year. “Last year 7.2 million passengers and in view of the growth of the num-ber of its passengers as well as im-proved perception of our custom-ers, we are optimistic that this year the Sriwijaya Air would fly

such a big number of passengers,” he said. Toto said that up to the middle of this year the number of passengers had reached 3.5 mil-lion.

He said the 30 planes include 12 B-737 200s, 12 B-737 300s and six B-737 400s, while the two planes coming early in Decem-ber are a B-737 300 and a B-737 400,” he said. In the meantime, next year Toto added Sriwijaya Air will have another 22 planes and at the same time phasing out in stages 12 B-737 200s. “Starting in April to December 2012, the 12 B-737 200s will be phased out,” he said.

Next year will see 12 B 737-500s, five B 737-800 NGs and an-other five Embraer E-190s. Toto said the B-737 500s will be arriv-

Sriwijaya Air to Operate 32 Planes by End of 2011

ing in April, 737-800NGs in May, and the Embraers each one from August to December.

Toto also said starting next year Sriwijaya, along with the re-juvenation of its planes, the air-line company will also have busi-ness classes. “These C classes will accommodate the consumers re-quests like government, private officials and businessmen,” he said.

So, he said, the number of busi-ness class seats in each flight will be eight, and the rest will be economy class seats. In addition, Toto also explained a number of progresses of Sriwijaya Air. “Al-ready operating is an electronic ticket reservation program at the head office and branch offices,” he said.

State-owned mining com-pany PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) will be offering its first stage sustainable bonds worth Rp4 trillion.

In its brief announcement on Wednesday, the company said it will issue and offer the bonds at a fixed interest of not more than Rp1.5 trillion.

The bonds consist of two se-ries namely series A with a pe-riod of seven years, and series B ten years. The bonds will be offered with a value of 100%

Acting as bond emission guarantors were PT Deutsche Securities Indonesia, PT Mandiri Sekuritas, and PT Standard Chartered Securi-ties Indonesia, while Bank Per-mata as bond mandate.

The bonds will be publicly of-fered on December 6 to 9, 2011 and registration at the Indone-sian Stock Exchange (BEI) on December 15, 2011. The bonds had enjoyed an AA rating from PT Pemeringkat Efek Indone-sia (Pefindo).

Antam to Issue Rp 4t Bondsof the main interest paid in ev-ery three months according to the date of the bond interest pay-ment.

It was also said that the Rp4 trillion will be used as investment, including routine investment in the company`s business unit to support infrastructure construc-tion and development projects as well as the purchase of machinery and production equipment worth Rp800 billion (20%), and Rp 3.2 trillion (80%) will be used for busi-ness development and expansion.

Sriwijaya Air has observed its eighth anniversary on November 10, 2011, and may have flown eight million passengers by the end of this year.

The Singapore Interna-tional Energy Week (SIEW) is an annual week-long plat-form for energy profession-als, policymakers and com-mentators to discuss and share best practices and so-lutions within the global en-ergy space.

The appetite for econom-ic development and urban progress, coupled with cli-mate change concerns and the development of more ef-ficient energy technologies, is driving change among con-sumers and energy indus-tries.

The 4th Annual SIEW 2011 is the foremost platform for top policymakers, industry players and commentators to discuss energy issues, strat-egies and solutions. SIEW 2011 brings together the world’s leading conferences, exhibitions, workshops and networking events in one week, in one location. Cover-ing key issues such as oil & gas, energy trading, clean en-ergy and smart grids, SIEW 2011 provides the ideal focal point to discuss energy secu-rity through the generation of ideas and exchange of best practice.

First held in 2008, SIEW is organized by the Singa-pore Energy Market Author-ity (EMA), a statutory board formed in 2001 under the ae-gis of the Ministry of Trade

and Industry. EMA is tasked to promote effective competition in the energy market, ensure a re-liable and secure energy supply, and develop a dynamic energy sector in Singapore.

“Since its inaugural run in 2008, SIEW has taken off with considerable momentum, as gov-ernments and companies across the world have found it to be a use-ful focal point for fruitful conver-sations and partnerships... In the long run, we aim to grow SIEW into the premier regional platform where policymakers and key de-cision-makers come together to map out sustainable solutions for the future.” Chee Hong Tat, Chief Executive Energy Market Author-ity of Singapore.

One of the prominent pro-

SIEW 2011 Brings Together World’s Leading Conferences, Exhibitions, Workshops

grams at SIEW 2011 was the In-augural PV Asia Pasific Confer-ence. The new conference is held in close collaboration with the PV ASIA PASIFIC EXPO. The Chair-man of PV Asia Pacific Confer-ence 2011, Prof. Joachim Luther stated, “With this Inaugural Con-ference, we aim to initiate annu-al PV conferences of international standing in South East Asia.”

At the opening of PV ASIA PA-CIFIC EXPO and ASIAN PV In-dustry ASSOCIATION, Lee Yi Shan, Minister of State for Na-tional Development and Trade & Industry of Singapore said, “The Expo serves as a gathering of key decision makers and is a market-place for the exchange of ideas to grow the sector. This is an in-dustry with great potential and it is timely that the PVAP Expo has

been organized to tap on the industry’s growth opportuni-ties. With the participation of many of the world’s leaders in the industry, this is also shaping up to be one of the key solar-related events in the region.. I am encouraged to see that the solar industry is gaining momentum as we ride this wave of cleantech growth opportunities.”

PV ASIA PACIFIC EXPO is the Asia Pacific’s leading business platform for solar energy that gathers players from all the aspects of pho-tovoltaic technology, includ-ing manufacturing and ap-plications. Various programs such as the Solar Lead-ers Summit, PV Asia Pacif-ic Conference, and exhibition cover key PV issues includ-ing government incentives, development trends, techni-cal upgrading, conversion ef-ficiency, PV systems, smart grid connection, financing and risks, among others.

At the conference, the lat-est scientific results that di-rectly aim at reducing the cost of solar electricity were presented. The integration of large quantities of fluctuat-ing solar power into the elec-tricity grids is another main topic. A dedicated session was focused on “PVs for the Asia-Pacific region” (module technologies, building inte-gration, power plants, rural electrification and solar elec-tricity for mega-cities in the Asia-Pacific region).

By Jeannifer Filly Sumayku

BANK CREDITS: Total credit disbursed by banks in Indonesia until the end of this year reached around Rp. 1.739.27 trillion. Of these amount, BRI (Bank Rakyat Indonesia) provided the largest amount with Rp. 276.299 trillion, or 13.2% of total national loans. The President Post/Nandi Nanti

MERCHANTILE ATHLETIC CLUB

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 B3

Investment

PPT General Motors (GM) Indonesia, an au-thorized GM car dis-tributor, has started building an assembly

plant in Bekasi, West Java, with a capacity of 40,000 units a year with an investment of $150 mil-lion.

“We have conducted a ground breaking for the plant construc-tion. This shows our seriousness in developing business in Indone-sia,” the president director of GM Indonesia, Marcos Purty, said here on Friday.

Marcos said the plant stands on an area of 11 hectares. GM also plans to develop a 600 square me-ter garden to make the plant s en-vironment good.

absorb 800 workers.Marcos said the GM plant in

Bekasi will join with the GM man-ufacturing facility in Rayong, Thailand. The plant will strength-en market penetration in South-east Asia. “The two facilities cer-tainly will use local component supplies. We will also widen deal-er networks in Thailand and Indo-nesia to spur sales,” he said.

GM is the US automotive giant and global car maker second only to Toyota. GM is now focussing on four brands namely Chevrolet, GMC, Buick and Cadillac. GM en-tered Indonesia through Chevro-let or better known as Chevy. This year’s sales of the brand reached 5,000 units.

General Motors Starts Building Assembly Plant in Bekasi

Two Japanese companies are ready to relocate their plants from Thailand to Indonesia because of protracted flooding in the former, an official said.

“Because of the floods we have received a request from Japanese automotive and electronic manu-facturers to relocate their plants from Thailand to Indonesia,” the deputy for industry and trade to the coordinating minister for eco-nomic affairs, Edy Putra Irawady said here on Tuesday.

Edy said at least four compa-

if they relocate their plants here. For instance, will they receive tax holiday or not?”

Asked whether they were large-scale automotive and electron-ic manufacturers such as Honda and Nissan, he said they were in the same class as the two Japa-nese companies. He said two au-tomotive companies which intend-ed to expand their investment in Indonesia were Toyota and Mer-cedes Benz. Toyota planned to raise its investment by Rp7 tril-lion next year.

Two Japanese Firms Readyto Relocate Plants to Indonesia

Taiwanese Investors Eyeing Bengkulu’s Fisheries, Iron, Coal

Taiwanese investors who have been eyeing fisheries potentials in the waters of Bengkulu province have be-gun to discuss their invest-ment plans with local au-thorities.

“The Taiwan investors have been eyeing our fish-ery potentials since 2006, and have visited Bengkulu for further talks on their in-vestment plans,” Zainal Abi-din, Assistant Secretary of the Bengkulu provincial ad-ministration, said here.

tion in two other sectors : iron ore and coal, Zainal said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Indonesia-Taiwan Goodwill Asso-ciation, Malik Hasan Ahmadi, said the Taiwanese businessmen s in-vestment plan had received a pos-itive response from the Bengku-lu provincial government. “Firstly, we will renew the existing memo-randum of cooperation which is to expire soon because there are sev-eral other sectors that interest the Taiwanese businessmen like iron ore and coal,” he said.

As to the Taiwanese investors interest in fisheries, Bengkulu was chosen because of its prox-imity to the Indian Ocean where a lost of tuna fishing activity was going on.

Besides exploring Bengkulu s fisheries potential, the iron ore potentials in Seluma and Kaur districts had also attracted the Taiwanese investors. “We are tar-geting revenues for Bengkulu Province to reach up to Rp3 tril-lion to Rp 5 trillion from the three sectors, namely fisheries, iron ore and coal mining,” Malik said.

The plant will produce passenger cars to meet export and dometic demand and absorb 800 workers.

PT Indocement Tunggal Pra-karsa, producer of Tiga Roda ce-ment, has invested $100 million this year in the construction of a cement mill in Citereup, West Java.

“Construction is scheduled for completion in 2013. The money will came from our own budget,” Indocement s deputy financial di-rector Thomas Suryandi said in Jakarta Monday.

He said the investment fund is also used for several optimiz-ing projects at the Citereup plant, logistic project, several batch-

31.1% to 31.3%. He said the sales increase

was encouraged by the large de-mands in the private sector, es-pecially in housing and high-rise buildings.Cement sales in Java, Indocement s main market, in-creased 19.2%.

Nevertheless, he said, the ex-port sales increased 39% to 0.5 million tons, apparently due to the focus of the company on meet-ing the increased demands on the domestic market. “Net profits in-creased 8.8% to Rp2.5 trillion,” he said.

Indocement Invests $100 millioning plants and new mixer trucks for expansion of ready-made en-terprises. Indocement also pur-chased new crushers to increase its aggregates.

Up to the third quarter this year, Indocement raised its sales by 21 pct to Rp9.7 trillion, com-pared to the Rp8.1 trillion in last year s same period. “An increase in the domestic cement market had a positive effect on our perfor-mance,” Thomas said. He added that domestic sales increased by 16.4% to 10.9 million tons, while Indocement s market share from

The Bengkulu provincial gov-ernment had in 2006 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the association to co-operate in the fisheries sector.

But the implementation of the MoU was halted due to the finan-cial crisis in 2007, and it was to expire in 2011. “Therefore, today s discussion was on a plan to renew the memorandum of understand-ing made in 2006 and they plan to visit Bengkulu again,” he said.

The second Memorandum of Understanding would have two new points, namely on coopera-

“We appeal to all contractors to prioritize and implement safe-ty regulations in the project,” he said. He said the project is expect-ed to finish in 2013. The plant will produce passenger cars to meet export and dometic demand and

nies, three of them from Japan and one from Europe, intended to relocate their plants to Indone-sia. The companies were automo-tive and electronic manufacturers which were currently operating in Thailand, he said.

“Two of the four companies are really new investors, while two oth-ers intend to relocate their plants and they are Japanese compa-nies,” he said. “They phoned us to ask what incentives the Indone-sian government can give to them

Marcos PurtyPresident Director of GM Indonesia

Indonesia Australia Business Council

The President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011B4

IABC Business Conference &ABA Regional Business Forum

TThe busi-ness councils and chambers around Asia which look after Australian-re-lated interests recently formed

Australian Business Asia to give themselves a common identity and voice where the need arises. It is currently operated out of the AustCham office in Singapore.

The objectives of the conference and forum are:

To reinforce the common inter-•ests of Indonesia, Australia and Asia generally.To assist delegates to network •within business and govern-ment circles and to develop strategic links.To provide up-to-date analy-•ses of issues to assist business to approach and handle them correctly.To provide practical and rele-•vant information and contacts – particularly through coun-try-specific sessions on invest-ment.To provide an informal envi-•ronment to enable participants to benefit in the maximum pos-sible way.

The program spread over two full days of business sessions (Friday and Saturday) – with ABA representatives having the oppor-

tunity to meet beforehand. For-malities were kept to a minimum and the focus was on network-ing to encourage stronger com-mercial links. The format of the Conference was generally plena-ry sessions with either a keynote speaker or panels of speakers. However, there will be two ses-sions of country-specific break-out sessions.

Topics within presentations are:

Politics & Economy•Trade and Investment•Resource & Infrastructure•Bilateral Cooperation•Taxation and Manpower and •other everyday challenges

About IABCThe Indonesia Australia Busi-

ness Council (IABC) is a business association representing private sector business interests in com-mercial relations between Indo-nesia and Australia.

Established in 1989, the IABC is a result of the merger between DKSPIA or Dewan Kerja Sama Pengusaha Indonesia Australia (Association of Indonesian and Australian Businessmen) and the Australian Chamber of Com-merce in Indonesia (Austcham). The two major business groups had operated in Indonesia for 15 years before the merger.

The IABC is affiliated with the Indonesian Chamber of Com-

This year’s conference is the 30th regular conference of the IABC and AIBC – boosted this year through an important additional role as the Regional Business Forum of Australian Business Asia. ABA is the combined voice of Australian-related chambers and councils operating in various parts of Asia. This is the 4th Regional Business Forum, and the first to be held in Indonesia, and the first to be held under the newly created ABA banner.

Indonesia Australia Business Council

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 B5

merce and Industry (Kadin Indonesia), and works very closely with the Indonesian Govern-ment and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. This allows the IABC to represent the business and commercial interests of Indonesian and Australian businesses engaged in investment and bilateral trade at Government levels. The IABC also cooperates closely with its sister or-ganization in Australia, the Australia Indone-sia Business Council (AIBC).

The IABC is governed by an Executive Board elected by the membership every two years. The Executive Board is supported by a Nation-al Secretariat, which is run by a professional team headed by an Executive Director. Cur-rently there are IABC Branches in Central Java (Semarang) and East Java (Surabaya). The Bali Branch is in the process of re-establishment.

The mission of the Indonesia Australia Busi-ness Council is to provide a convivial network-ing organization for companies, organizations and business people of all nationalities involved or interested in business between Indonesia and Australia.

About ABAAustralia Business Asia (ABA) is the name

given to a grouping of 16 Australian chambers of commerce and business councils throughout Asia. The mission is to provide a collective voice for Australian business operating throughout the region.

Australian Business Asia provides the um-brella for its constituent groups to come togeth-er on critical advocacy issues involving Austra-lian business across the region. It also provides a platform for joint activities, reciprocal ar-rangements and for exchange of information and ideas between the member groups.

Australians have been doing business in Asia for a long time, often meeting over a drink to discuss issues they were experiencing in de-veloping their business interests.

From these very informal get-togethers evolved business groups or chambers of com-merce, providing a broader range of services to their local Australian business communities. In some cases, like Indonesia and Malaysia, the emphasis has been on two-way bilateral trade and therefore their membership reflects a strong local as well as Australian flavor.

With other chambers like in Laos, Japan, Taipei and Philippines, Australian business joined with New Zealand business to create joint chambers with stronger voices.

Finally there are the groups whose focus is on representing Australian business inter-ests in the host country, in countries like Sin-gapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong & Macau, Korea, Thailand and the chambers in Beijing, Shang-hai and Fujian.

With the regionalization and globalization of business, the various independent groups around the region found they were being asked to comment on common issues.

The various groups had been talking about regional co-operation and had agreed on vari-ous exchange programs as early as 2001. They had associated together since 2006 on holding a regional forum, first in Singapore and then in Thailand.

At the 2010 regional forum in Hong Kong, 12 Australian business groups from across the Asia region agreed to come together under the banner Australian Business Asia. This group has since grown to 16 members.

The mission of the Indonesia Australia Business Council is to provide a convivial networking organization for companies, organizations and business people of all nationalities involved or interested in business between Indonesia and Australia.

Executive HighlightsThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011B6

INTERNATIONAL RESERVESAND TRADE BALANCE

*Starting Jan08 Imports using General Trade System

US$ MnUS$ BnTrade Balance*

Net FX Reserves

3,370

3,870

2,870

2,370

1,870

1,370

870

370

-130

110

100

90

80

70

60

81.3

2,52899.6

124.6 130

120

Aug10

OctS N Dec J-11 Feb M Apr

2010 2011

Jul AugMay J

3,462

1,666

3,315

INTEREST RATES%

Deposit Rate

Interbank Call Rate

SBI

6.6

5.7

5.4

5.9

6.5

6.5

5.6

6.3

6.9

6.0

AOct10

N Dec J-11 Feb M Apr

2010 2011

JulMay J Sep 26-Oct

5.9

5.9

6.75

AOct10

N Dec J-11 Feb M Apr

2010 2011

JulMay J Sep 27-Oct

STOCK MARKET INDEX USAS&P 500

IDX

3,700

3,500

3,300

3,100

2,900

1,150

1,075

1,000

IDX - Jakarta

S&P - USA

3,635

1,183

1,278

3,8133,900

1,338

4,100

1,225

1,300

1,375

1,450

EXCHANGE RATE 2009 - 2010

11,750

11,100

10,450

9,800

9,150

8,500

15,000

14,500

14,000

13,500

13,000

12,500

12,000

11,500

11,000

10,500

10,000

9,500

AOct10

N Dec J-11 Feb M Apr

2010 2011

Jul

US$ (LHS)

100 YEN (LHS)

EURO (RHS)

8,928

12,412

11,080

12,424

8,890

May J Sep 27-Oct

11,693

BKPM said Realized FDI for Q3 2011 Reached US$5.2 billion, Up 15.7% from a Year EarlierTHE NATIONAL INVESTMENT BOARD (BKPM) SAID REAL-IZED FOREIGN DIRECT IN-VESTMENT (FDI) FOR Q3 2011 REACHED US$5.2 BILLION, UP 15.7% FROM A YEAR EARLIER. Gita Wirjawan, BKPM chairman and newly appointed trade min-ister, said the rise in realized FDI highlighted Indonesia’s resilience amid economic uncertainties in Europe and the U.S. On a sec-tor basis, Q3 realized FDI was led by transportation and commu-nications (US$1.1 billion); min-ing (US$900 million); metals, ma-chinery and electronics (US$600 million); power, gas and water utilities (US$500 million) and the chemical and pharmaceutical sec-tors (US$300 million). The BKPM figures do not include FDI in the financial and oil and gas sectors. Based on investment location, realized FDI was led by Great-er Jakarta (US$1.4 billion); West Java (US$900 million); Banten (US$800 million); Papua (US$400 million) and Bali (US$300 mil-lion). Based on country of ori-gin, realized FDI for Q3 was led by Singapore (US$1.3 billion); the U.S. (US$500 million); the Neth-erlands (US$400 million); South Korea (US$400 million) and Ja-pan (US$400 million).

The IMF said Bank Indonesia should be Prepared to Tighten Monetary Policy

THE INTERNATIONAL MONE-TARY FUND (IMF) SAID BANK INDONESIA SHOULD BE PRE-PARED TO TIGHTEN MONETARY POLICY, following its annual con-sultations with Indonesian finan-cial authorities recently. BI cut its benchmark rate by 25 bp to a re-cord low 6.5% earlier this month on a moderate inflation outlook and concerns over growth. The IMF, however, warned that a clos-ing output gap, accelerating credit growth and high inflation expec-tations as consumers anticipate possible increases in electricity and fuel prices could push core inflation higher in the second half of this year and into 2012. As-sessing Indonesia’s growth out-look, the IMF said the economy re-mained robust despite increasing global turbulence. It said Indone-sia’s growth profile has become more balanced, with investment contributing to consumption and exports as the main engines of growth. The IMF is projecting growth of 6-6.5% for 2011 and 2012 assuming no further deteri-oration of global conditions, with investment increasingly driving Indonesia’s economic expansion.

The Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) is Projecting 2011 Cement Sales to Rise by 10% Y-O-Y to 44 million Tons

THE INDONESIAN CEMENT AS-SOCIATION (ASI) IS PROJECT-ING 2011 CEMENT SALES TO RISE BY 10% Y-O-Y TO 44 MIL-LION TONS. The forecast was re-vised upward from 6% previously on better than expected demand from infrastructure and real es-tate projects in Java. For the Jan-uary-September period, cement sales totaled 34.3 million tons, up 16.3% y-o-y. On a geograph-ical basis, sales were led by Java at 18.8 million tons (up 19.2% y-o-y), Sumatra at eight million tons (14.6%), Sulawesi at 2.5 mil-lion tons (14.6%), Kalimantan at 2.4 million tons (14.7%) and East Nusa Tenggara at two million tons (12.2%). In contrast, Papua and Maluku saw cement sales decline 12.5% y-o-y for the January-Sep-tember period to 600,000 tons. ASI chairman Urip Timuryono ex-pects cement demand to be robust in Q4, which is usually a strong quarter with the government im-plementing a large portion of its capital expenditure plans. Urip said that despite global economic uncertainties, ASI members were confident sales would grow next year as the government begins to fully implement its infrastructure

acceleration master plan (MP3EI). The association is currently fore-casting 2012 cement sales to rise by 10% y-o-y.

Parliament Passed a Long-anticipated Law Establishing the Powerful and Independent Financial Oversight Agency (OJK)

PARLIAMENT PASSED A LONG-ANTICIPATED LAW ESTAB-LISHING THE POWERFUL AND INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AGENCY (OJK). The OJK will take over the regu-lation of the capital markets, in-surers and pension funds cur-rently done by the capital markets supervisory board (Bapepam). It will also assume the supervi-sion of commercial banks, a func-tion currently held by BI. The new watchdog will begin super-vising the capital markets, in-surers, pension funds and oth-er non-bank institutions starting January 2013. The agency’s over-sight of commercial banks, mean-while, will start a year later. The OJK will be led by a nine-member board, comprising one represen-tative each from the finance min-istry and BI, and seven members selected by the president and vet-ted by parliament. A major stick-ing point delaying the law’s pas-sage, parliament’s insistence that they have their own representa-tives in the OJK, was resolved af-ter the legislature yielded to de-mands from industry players that the agency be free from political interference.

Northstar Pacific Partners has Raised US$820 million from Global Investors to Invest in Indonesia PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM NORTH-STAR PACIFIC PARTNERS HAS RAISED US$820 MILLION FROM GLOBAL INVESTORS TO IN-VEST IN INDONESIA, its largest investment fund to date. North-star and its international partner TPG Capital had initially sought US$500 million, but raised the ceiling after receiving US$1.5 bil-lion in potential commitments. In-terest was high despite the recent turmoil in the global financial markets, with investors looking to exploit Indonesia’s long-term eco-nomic growth prospects and fast expanding middle class. Among Northstar’s current holdings in-clude controlling stakes in mid-sized lender Bank Tabungan Pen-siunan Nasional (BTPN) and coal mining contractor Delta Dunia Makmur. Northstar is also cur-rently finalizing the acquisition of a 20% stake in tire producer Mul-tistrada Arah Sarana for US$63 million. Multistrada is Indone-sia’s second-largest tire manufac-turer, producing more than eight million tires per year. Northstar is run by former Goldman Sachs executive Patrick Walujo.

State Power Utility PLN Announced Plans to Build a 700-km, US$750 million Trans Java PipelineSTATE POWER UTILITY PLN AN-NOUNCED PLANS TO BUILD A 700-KM, US$750 MILLION TRANS JAVA PIPELINE to ensure supplies for its gas-fired power plants in Java. The pipeline will have a capacity of 1,000-1,200 bil-lion British thermal units per day (bbtud) and will be developed in a venture with Petragas, a subsid-iary of Pertamina. Suryadi Mard-joek, head of PLN’s oil and gas di-vision, said the pipeline will link up with various gas storage sites across Java, including the float-ing storage regasification unit (FSRU) now under construction in Jakarta Bay and the Kangean and Cepu gas blocks in East Java. He said the pipeline would allow PLN to readily address gas short-ages that their power facilities in Java frequently face with gas sup-plied from other parts of the is-land. Construction of the pipeline will start next year, and is slated

to be completed by 2014. Suryadi said the venture was open to off-take agreements that would allow other companies to access the gas supplies transported through the pipeline.

China’s Sinopec Group has Completed its Acquisition of an 18% Stake in Chevron’s Gendalo-Gehem Deep Water Project in a US$680 million Deal.

CHINA’S SINOPEC GROUP HAS COMPLETED ITS ACQUISITION OF AN 18% STAKE IN CHEV-RON’S GENDALO-GEHEM DEEP WATER PROJECT IN A US$680 MILLION DEAL. The US$6 billion project is located offshore East Ka-limantan at a depth of 500-1,900 m and includes the Rapak, Ganal and Makassar Straits blocks. The project includes one producing oil field and five oil and gas fields that have yet to be developed. Total re-coverable reserves are estimated

at 15 million barrels of crude oil and 700 billion cubic feet of nat-ural gas. The project is expected to produce 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 31,000 barrels of condensate when production hits its peak around 2016. With the acquisition, Chevron will retain a 62% stake in the Rapak and Ga-nal blocks, and a 72% stake in the Makassar Strait block. The ac-quisition marks Sinopec’s return to Indonesia after its withdrawal in 2006.

Australian Engineering Firm Leighton said it Has Secured a US$600 million Leasing Facility to Support its Expansion in Indonesia AUSTRALIAN ENGINEER-ING FIRM LEIGHTON HOLD-INGS SAID IT HAS SECURED A US$600 MILLION LEASING FA-CILITY TO SUPPORT ITS EXPAN-SION IN INDONESIA. Leighton

chief financial officer Peter Gregg said the funding would help the firm increase its exposure in In-donesia’s booming infrastructure and construction markets. He said the facility, provided by ANZ and a syndicate of nine banks, also highlighted the firm’s ability to secure funding despite current uncertainties in the global finan-cial markets. Earlier this month, Leighton subsidiary Thiess was awarded a US$500 million con-tract extension by coal produc-er Bayan Resources for the op-eration of their Teguh Abadi and Firman Ketaun Perkasa mines in East Kalimantan. Leighton also has mining contracts for leading coal miners Kaltim Prima Coal and Tanito Harum in Kaliman-tan, as well as the Toka Tindung Gold Mine in North Sulawasi.

The Transportation Ministry said the Government was Moving Forward with Plans to Build a New, Multi-billion dollar International Airport East of Jakarta THE TRANSPORTATION MINIS-TRY SAID THE GOVERNMENT WAS MOVING FORWARD WITH PLANS TO BUILD A NEW, MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INTERNA-TIONAL AIRPORT EAST OF JA-KARTA. Deputy transportation minister Bambang Susantono said the ministry was currently evaluating potential sites together with the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). He said the airport would likely be built in Cikarang or Karawang, which are located near key industrial centers. Bambang said the gov-ernment aims to hold an interna-tional tender next year under its public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, and plans for construc-tion to start in 2013. The deputy minister said the new airport was crucial to support the region’s ex-panding economy. He said that Soekarno-Hatta international air-port would be inadequate to sup-port passenger growth over the medium-term given the limited availability of land to expand the facility. The new airport will be designed to serve 65 million pas-sengers per year initially, which is double Soekarno-Hatta airport’s current capacity.

Marga Lingkar Jakarta has Secured a Rp1.6 trillion Loan Facility to Fund Construction of the 7.7-Km Kebon Jeruk-Ulujami Toll RoadTOLL ROAD OPERATOR MAR-

GA LINGKAR JAKARTA HAS SE-CURED A RP1.6 TRILLION LOAN FACILITY TO FUND CONSTRUC-TION OF THE 7.7-KM KEBON JE-RUK-ULUJAMI TOLL ROAD IN JAKARTA. The lenders were Bank Mandiri, which provided a loan of Rp1.4 trillion, and Bank DKI which provided the remainder. Marga Lingkar president director Sonhadji Surahman said the loan would finance around 70% of the construction costs. Construc-tion will start this year, with com-mercial operations slated for end-2013. The company has awarded the construction contract to state engineering firms Adhi Karya and Wijaya Karya. Sonhadji said once the Kebun Jeruk-Ulujami toll road is completed, the whole 57-km Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) would be fully connect-ed. This would allow trucks and vehicles going to industrial cen-ters like Tangerang and Banten, currently a source of traffic con-gestion in Jakarta, to bypass the capital. Marga Lingkar Jakarta is jointly owned by state toll road op-erator Jasa Marga and the Jakar-ta provincial government.

U.S.-based Investment Fund Saban Capital has Acquired a 5% Stake in Leading Media Firm MNC in a US$78 Million Deal

U.S.-BASED INVESTMENT FUND SABAN CAPITAL HAS AC-QUIRED A 5% STAKE IN LEAD-ING MEDIA FIRM MEDIA NU-SANTARA CITRA (MNC) IN A US$78 MILLION DEAL. It is the first acquisition in Southeast Asia for Saban Capital. As part of the deal, the investment fund will have a 27-month call option to ac-quire an additional 2.5% stake in MNC. MNC also agreed to boost its dividend payout to 45% of in-come starting in 2012. Saban Capital chief executive Haim Sa-ban said he was a strong believ-er in Indonesia’s long-term growth prospects, and said MNC would be a prime beneficiary of the coun-try’s burgeoning consumer econ-omy. MNC’s operations include three free-to-air broadcasting net-works, RCTI MNC TV and Global TV, which combined have around 40% of the country’s TV audience share. MNC is controlled by me-dia mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo. Hary said the deal would provide MNC with a strategic partner that would help it achieve long-term, sustainable growth.

Adaro Energy has Acquired a 46% Stake in Green Field Coal Mining Firm Bukit Enim Energi in a US$46 Million Deal

Selected Instant Indicators

Business Highlights are contributed to The President Post by CASTLEASIA/PT Jasa Cita from information supplied to members of their CEO Forum, the Indonesia Country Program. They are reprinted here with permission. For more information about CASTLEASIA programs, please contact Juliette or Wijayanti at 62 21 572 7321 or email castle@castleasia.com subject CEO Forum

ADARO ENERGY HAS AC-QUIRED A 46% STAKE IN GREEN FIELD SOUTH SUMA-TRA COAL MINING FIRM BUKIT ENIM ENERGI IN A US$46 MIL-LION DEAL. The acquisition will raise Adaro’s stake in the min-er to 61%. Adaro president direc-tor Garibaldi Thohir said the pur-chase would help the firm, which currently produces most of its coal from Kalimantan, strength-en its foothold in South Sumatra as it expands mining operations in the region. Earlier this month Adaro also spent US$18 million to acquire a minority stake in South Sumatra coal logistics firm Servo Meda Sejahtera. Bukit Enim has a 20-year mining concession over an 11,000 hectare area in Muara Enim, with coal reserves estimat-ed at 110 million tons. The As-tra Group’s United Tractors also owns a 20% in Bukit Enim.

Japan’s Toshiba is Investing US$40 million in a New Manufacturing Facility for Washing Machines

JAPAN’S TOSHIBA IS INVEST-ING US$40 MILLION IN A NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY FOR WASHING MACHINES. The company said the facility would be built at the East Jakarta in-dustrial park, adjacent to its LCD TV production facility. Construc-tion will start next month, with commercial operations slated for mid-2012. Toshiba said the new facility would ultimately allow the firm to double its global produc-tion capacity of twin-tub wash-ing machines to one million units by 2015 from 500,000 units cur-rently. The firm said the project was part of its global strategy to expand its home appliances busi-ness into high-growth markets like Southeast Asia. Toshiba said Indonesia was its largest and fast-est-growing market in the region, with sales projected to account for 50% of the company’s total sales in Southeast Asia from 30% cur-rently..

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 B7

Technology

WWorking in big cities marked by traffic con-gestions pre-vents fami-ly members to

meet with each other daily—they meet on average only 1-4 hours a day. Thus members of modern families nowadays use technology to keep in touch with each other.

Microsoft has conducted a sur-vey through the MSN portal on “Families and Technology 2011” in September 2011, covering over 3,700 respondents in seven coun-tries in Asia, namely China, Ma-laysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. This survey aims to understand the various ways families utilize and combine technology in every-day life. The trend that emerges is that every family loves personal gadgets and enjoys communicat-ing with new technology.

“The survey shows that tech-nology has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives. People in Indonesia believe that technolo-gy helps them to communicate and connect with their families better. Therefore, Microsoft and its partners facilitate these needs through products and technolo-gy, “said Bobby Suadi, Windows

Business Group Lead Microsoft Indonesia.

The campaign is not just a sales event; Microsoft together with its partners also offer the kind of technology that can be utilized to assist communications among members of a family.

Microsoft brings more choices for Indonesian families in choos-ing a PC Windows 7, which corre-sponds to the needs of each family member. The program is support-ed by Acer, Asus, HP, Toshiba, Le-novo, Dell, SONY, Samsung, Fu-jitsu, Zyrex, Toshiba, Wearnes, Advan and C3Cube, each of which have advantages in terms of por-tability, mobility, performance, design, state-of-the art style, lightness and multimedia. Three main retailers, Pazia, IT Gallery and Bhinneka.com, also contrib-ute to this program.

With Windows 7, parents can regulate the use of computers for their children to protect them from inappropriate online content. Pa-rental Controls featured in Win-dows Media Center allows par-ents to block access to TV shows and movies that are not suitable for children.

Other Microsoft technologies that support this campaign are Windows Live Essentials, which comprised of tools for text and vid-eo chat (live messenger) as well as

sharing and editing photos/videos (Live Photo Gallery/Movie Maker), Internet Explorer 9, Game Explor-er, Microsoft Security Essentials (free antivirus), Windows Media Player, and many others.

INDONESIA34% of Indonesians own 4-6 •gadgets, which is about the av-erage for the Asia-Pacific re-gion. The numbers of respon-dents are quite evenly spread out across all categories with almost a quarter (23%) owning more than 10A large number of Indonesians •use SMS to connect with fami-ly members (41%), second only to China in the region (75%). The telephone is also a popu-lar mode of contact (27%) indi-cating their usage of telephone. Instant Messenger ranks third at 17%.66% of Indonesians turn to •technology to check and see how family members are do-ing while 42% use technology to keep in touch with overseas family members.63% of Indonesians would •spend up to an hour each day communicating with remote loved ones during holiday sea-sons.Most Indonesians (54%) choose •photos as the most often shared content with their family mem-bers.64% of Indonesians will teach •family members to use the In-ternet to help them stay in touch regularly. This is fol-lowed by the need to share mul-timedia content (51%). 47% of Indonesians regulate •the use of internet (25%) and

gaming hours (22%) at home, while more than half have no rules whatsoever. 92% of Indonesians think that •technology has had a positive impact on their family relation-ships, with 20% stating it has had a very positive impact.

Microsoft Family CampaignEnhances Family RelationshipsMicrosoft Indonesia has launched “Microsoft Family Campaign” to overcome time and space constraints in family relationships in the context of modern life, through a collaboration between Microsoft products and PC manufacturers.

FAMILY TIME SURVEY 2011The role of technology in family connections/relationships across 7 different markets

Microsoft has conducted a survey across South-East Asia and Greater China region on September 2011 to gain insights into how technology has impacted their family relationships. The research spanned seven countries in Asia (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).

A better desktop. Windows 7 gets you around your PC faster than ever. The taskbar has bigger buttons and full-sized previews — and you can pin programs to it for one-click access. Jump Lists provide shortcuts to files, folders, and websites. And Snap, Peek, and Shake give you easy (and fun) new ways to juggle all those open windows.

Smarter search. Type in the Start menu search box, and you’ll see results instantly, grouped by category — documents, pictures, music, e-mail, and programs. Search in a folder or library, and you can fine-tune your search with filters like date or file type—and use the preview pane to peek at the contents of your results.

Easy sharing with Home-Group. Sharing files and printers

on your home network should be simple. With HomeGroup, it finally is. Connect two or more PCs running Windows 7, and with a minimum of fuss you can start sharing music, pic-tures, videos, and documents with other people in your home.

Built for speed. Windows 7 has key performance improvements to take up less memory and run background services only when you need them. It’s designed to run your programs faster and to sleep, resume, and re-connect to wireless networks quicker. And with 64-bit support, you can take full advantage of the latest in powerful 64-bit PCs.

Better wireless networking. Con-necting to wireless networks on your laptop—formerly a bit of a hassle — now takes just a couple of clicks. Choose from the list of available net-works in the taskbar, click one, and then connect. Once you’ve connected to a network, Windows will remem-ber it so you can connect again later automatically.

Windows Touch. Use your fingers to browse the web, flip through pho-tos, and open files and folders on a touchscreen PC — for the first time, Windows includes true multitouch technology. With gestures for zoom-ing, rotating, and even right-clicking, it’s a whole new way to work with your PC.

Plays well with devices. Device Stage, a new feature in Windows 7, works like a home page for things like portable music players, smartphones, and printers. When you plug a com-patible device into your PC, you’ll see a menu with information and popular tasks like battery life, how many pho-tos are ready to be downloaded, and printing options.

Media streaming. With new fea-tures in Windows Media Player 12, you can enjoy your media library around the house — or around town. Play To lets you stream music, videos, and photos from your PC to your ste-reo or TV (you may need additional hardware). And with Remote Media

It’s a Great Time to Buy Windows 7Streaming, you can even stream media over the Internet from one computer running Windows 7 to another that’s miles away.

Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Live. Windows 7 un-leashes the full power of Inter-net Explorer 9, from its stunning hardware-accelerated graphics to the ability to launch favorite websites right from your taskbar. You’ll also get the many possibili-ties of Windows Live, free: create photo albums and movies, chat in HD, and share your stuff anytime, anywhere.

Nag-free notifications. Action Center, new in Windows 7, puts you in control of maintenance and security messages. You can turn notifications on or off for things like Windows Defender or User Account Control. If Windows needs your attention, you’ll see a notification on the far right of the taskbar. Click it, and you’ll get sug-gested fixes for any problems.

By Jeannifer Filly Sumayku

Pictorial EventsThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011B8

All text and photos by Nandi Nanti

MOU Signing between SPBU Codo by Pertamina and PT Jababeka Tbk was held at Jababeka Golf, Cikarang. Hyanto Wihadhi signed the MOU as Director of PT Jababeka.

MOU Pertamina-Jababeka

Hyanto Wihadhi, Director of PT JABABEKA Tbk. accepting the PROPER 2011 trophy from the Minister of Environment. Jababeka is one of the 106 companies that have been honored PROPER (Program of Corporate Performance Rating in Environmental Management) for Green category.

Meanwhile five other companies received the award for Gold category. The event took place at Shangrila Hotel and attended by Vice President Boediono.

PROPER 2011

The 2nd ASEAN Regional Primary Care Organization Conference and Exhibition combined with The 7th Annual Scientific Meeting–Indonesian Association of Family Physicians 2011 took place at at Novotel Hotel, Mangga Dua, Jakarta. The speakers were prominent doctors from all ASEAN countries.

The 2nd ASEAN Regional Primary CareOrganization Conference and Exhibition

Breakfast Dialogue at Financial Club Jakarta with Ito Warsito, President Director of PT Bursa Efek Indonesia, speaking on “CAPITAL MARKET UPDATE “.

Present at the event were businessmen and professionals, among others Ali Basyah Suryo, Giuseppe Nicolosi, Bangkit Kuncoro, Soekartono Prawirodjo, and others.

Breakfast Dialogue

The President Post

2011 Review CSECTION

www.thepresidentpost.comDisplay until December 12, 2011 /// N0. 29

January 24 Crop Circles found in Yogyakarta

Large circle and geometric pat-tern local residents say were cre-ated by a UFO have been found in a rice field in Krasakan, Jogotir-to Village, District Berbah, Sle-man, Yogyakarta on 23rd Janu-ary, 2011. The design consists of several precise geometric shapes and patterns with a size of ap-proximately 60 by 70 meters, or 197 by 230 feet.

Thomas Djamaluddin, chief of astronomy research at Indone-sia’s space agency, no investiga-tion will be done on the crop cir-cle simply because they ‘believe’ that there was human interven-tion with the crop circle and that no scientific or paranormal cause would be found anyway. There-fore, any trace evidence of radio-activity or electromagnetic activi-ty won’t be discovered if it is in fact there.

No matter what, something spectacular has happened. The debate about the origin of crop cir-cles still rages. While some circles have been in fact hoaxed, others have never been claimed which leaves many to speculate that it wasn’t a hoax or the person or people involved would have want-ed to take some sort of credit for their hard work at some point or

another. Additionally, many crop circles do in fact emit electromag-netic and/or radioactive energies where there was none before and have been known to create phys-ical symptoms in people investi-gating or visiting the crop circles including ringing in the ears, diz-ziness, vertigo, lightheadedness, and other peculiar signs of abnor-mal energy at the site.

February 9Janet Jackson Concert Up Close and Personal

Janet Jackson’s live concert in Jakarta was a massive hit. Jack-son’s tour bears the title “Janet’s Number Ones: Up Close and Per-sonal,” and is a celebration of her second greatest hits collec-tion, “Number Ones,” which was released in No-vem-b e r 2009.

Number Ones: Up Close and Per-sonal is the sixth concert tour by Janet Jackson, described as her “largest world tour”. The tour ranked 45th in Pollstar’s “Top 50 Worldwide Tour (Mid-Year)”, earn-ing over 15 million dollars.

The show was held at the Ja-karta Convention Center, in which she put together a well-crafted performance, peppered with cool and familiar choreographies com-bined with an impressive multi-media backdrop.

March 2Apple Unveils iPad 2

Apple releases the iPad 2, offer-ing several improvements over its predecessor, while not increasing the price. The iPad 2, like the orig-inal, starts at $499. Apple’s com-petitors in tablets cannot beat or even match that price. Apple has sold 15 million of the original since the iPad’s release last April, gener-ating $9.5 billion in revenue.

About 33% thinner than its predecessor and 15% lighter, the iPad 2 has a better processor, a dual core Apple A5 that Apple says is twice as fast as its prede-cessor for CPU operations and up to nine times as fast for GPU oper-ations. It includes front and back cameras that support the Face-Time video calling application, as well as a three-axis gyroscope. It retains the original’s 10-hour bat-tery life and has a similar pricing scheme.

The iPad 2 has been available for purchase, depending on stock availability, since March 11, 2011, at Apple retail stores in the Unit-ed States, as well as to United States customers shopping online at Apple’s retail website. The iPad 2 was released internationally in 25 other countries on March 25, 2011, including Australia, Cana-da, France, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

March 4 – 6 The Seventh Java Jazz Festival

On its seventh year, Java Jazz has once again lined up an im-pressive array of local and inter-national acts that were perform-ing at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran.

Highlighting the event are two legendary names in the music business: Carlos Santana and George Benson.

Festival organizers said that a total of 150,000 tickets had been sold for this year’s festival, break-ing the previous record of 103,000 tickets last year.

March 19The Supermoon

On March 19, Earth’s satel-lite was at its closest point to our planet in 18 years – a mere 356,577 kilometers away. The event – also called a lunar peri-

to RememberMoments2011

By Jeannifer Filly Sumayku

www.justjared.buzznet.com

www.news.bioscholar.com

What will 2011 be remembered for? Several events that happened in 2011 continue to remain topics of conversation among Indonesians.

continue to page C2

2011 ReviewThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011C2

gee – was dubbed a “supermoon” by astrologer Richard Nolle back in the 1970s. The term is used to describe a new or full moon at 90% or more of its closest orbit to Earth.

The size and brightness of an object follows an inverse-square law, which means that a full moon at perigee is 12% larger and brighter than an average full moon.

The association of the Moon with both oceanic and crustal tides has led to claims that the supermoon phenomenon may be associated with increased risk of events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. However, the evidence of such a link is widely held to be unconvincing.

Bieber and Maroon Five Mesmerized Jakarta

April was a month of dazzling international artist concerts in In-donesia. On April 23rd 2011, ev-ery dream of teenagers and those young at heart all over Indone-sia was fulfilled, as the phenom-enal teenage prodigy Justin Bie-ber came and performed live in front of some 10,000 audience at the Sentul International Con-vention Center, at the outskirt of Jakarta. The show was a part of the worldwide tour entitled “My World” Tour, and marked the first time ever Justin Bieber performs in Indonesia.

The Grammy Award-winning band, Maroon Five, hypnotized Jakarta when performing the top tracks from best- sell-ing albums with fans dur-ing the con-cert at Istora Senayan on April 27th.

April 29The Royal Wedding

The wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Cathe-rine Middleton took place on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Ab-bey in London. Prince William, the eldest son of Charles, Prince of Wales, first met Catherine Mid-dleton in 2001, when both were studying at the University of St Andrews. Their engagement on 20 October 2010 was announced on 16 November 2010.

Over 5,000 street parties were held to mark the Royal Wedding throughout the United Kingdom and one million people lined the route between Westminster Ab-bey and Buckingham Palace. In the United Kingdom TV audienc-es peaked at 26.3 million viewers with a total of 36.7 million watch-ing part of the coverage. The cer-emony was viewed live by tens of millions more around the world including 72 million on the You-Tube Royal Channel.

June 27Richard Gere’s Visit to Borobudur

Gere was in Indonesia as part of his pilgrimage and spiritual practice in one of the most unique mandala (centers of the universe) in the world. Gere realizes Indone-sia is a country where compassion and wisdom originated. He knows that 1,000 years ago, a renowned Buddhist philosopher, Atisha Di-pankara from Bengali, came to Indonesia to learn about the per-fection of ethics for 12 years in the Sriwijaya Kingdom in Sumatra, and Borobudur, before he even-tually saved Tibet from moral de-struction in the 11th century.

Gere is a practicing Buddhist and an active supporter of the Da-lai Lama as well as a strong ad-vocate of human rights in Tibet. Gere puts a high premium on the sincerity and practices of Bud-dhism, and meditates daily. As he sees it, meditation helps him set his motivation for the day.

October 5Steve Jobs Dies

Steve Jobs, billionaire co-found-

er of Apple and the mastermind behind an empire of products that revolutionized computing, tele-phony and the music industry, has died in California at the age of 56.

Jobs stepped down in August as chief executive of the compa-ny he helped set up in 1976, citing illness. He had been battling an unusual form of pancreatic can-cer, and had received a liver trans-plant in 2009.

Losing their founder has been hard for fans and employees of the company so Apple made a section “Remembering Steve” on their website which is made up of trib-utes and condolences from fans who wish to express their grati-tude.

October 18Jogja’s Royal Wedding

If London had its royal wedding earlier this year, the Palace of Yo-gyakarta Hadiningrat also held Java’s own grand royal wedding between Princess Gusti Raden Ajeng Nur Astuti Wijareni, young-est daughter of the Sultan of Yog-yakarta, and Achmad Ubaidillah from Lampung in Sumatra.

The entire festivities were held for four days from October 16-19, 2011, with the actual wedding ceremony taking place on Tues-day, October 18, 2011. The date

chosen for this memorable occa-sion was carefully determined through ancient and sophisticat-ed Javanese calculations based on the dates of birth of both the bride and the groom.

October 18Indonesia’s New Cabinet

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced a long-an-ticipated cabinet reshuffle in a bid to reform his graft-ridden govern-ment and improve investor con-fidence during his last term. The long-awaited cabinet reshuffle in-cluded leadership changes in 12 of the country’s 34 ministries, focused on improving econom-ic management in a nation ham-pered by poor infrastructure and endemic graft.

October 28David Foster and FriendsLive Concert

David Walter Foster, or David Foster (62) musician, producer, singer, songwriter, and compos-er from Canada performed in Ja-karta Convention Center (JCC) Senayan, South Jakarta, on Oc-tober 28, 2011.

David Foster was successful in winning the hearts of the audi-ence at a concert in Jakarta, “Re-turns Hit Man: David Foster and Friends Asian Tour 2011”. Last

year, Foster brought along Natalie Cole, Peter “Chicago” Cetera, Rub-ben Studdard, Canadian Tenors, and a new talent from the Philip-pines, Charice Pempengco. This year Foster came with Michael Bolton, Philip Bailey, Ashanti, Russell Watson, and, again, Cha-rice.

Foster sprung a surprise: Two Indonesian teenagers, Zaneta Naomi (13) and Putri Ayu (14), per-formed. Foster called them “two great talented singers”. The two teenagers proved that the maestro did not chose them in vain. Zan-eta looked stunning with “Listen” (a Beyonce song), and Putri with her soprano voice brought Andrea Bocelli singing “Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye)”. After rec-ognizing the talents of Zaneta and Putri, Foster said that he will nev-er stop looking for new stars.

November 2011Indonesia Overall Champion of Sea Games XXVI

The 26th Southeast Asian Games was held in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, on 11 until 22 November 2011. This marked Indonesia’s fourth time as host of the SEA Games; it last hosted the Games in 1997.

Indonesia garnered 182 Gold Medals, 151 Silver Medals, 143 Bronze Medals, a total of 476 med-als, making it the overall champi-on of the Games, with Thailand as runner-up.

The Indonesian Southeast Asian Games Organizing Com-mittee (INASOC) chairwoman Rita Subowo handed over the SEA Games Federation flag to a repre-sentative of Myanmar as a gesture of the continuance of the hosting work for the next Sea Games in 2013.

The 3rd Jababeka International Cultural Festival

Jababeka International Cultur-al Festival (JICF) was successful-ly held for the third time at Indo-nesia Movieland, Jababeka. This year’ theme is “The Power of Cul-ture”, featuring live music, dance and traditional and modern food

festival.The festival is expected to be a

forum to exchange ideas, philos-ophy, information, art and other cultural aspects between coun-tries, in order to speed up com-mon understanding and two-way diplomacy to strengthen relations between international communi-ties in Indonesia.

Visitors at the festival enjoyed performances of traditional danc-es from various regions in Indone-sia, Brunei Darussalam and Chi-na; traditional music from South Korea and modern music from the famous Indonesian d’Masiv.

November 22Ibas and Aliya Grand Wedding at Cipanas

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s second son, Edhie “Ibas” Baskoro Yudhoyono, and Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa’s daughter, Siti Rubi Aliya Rajasa, were married dur-ing an elaborate ceremony at the Cipanas Palace on Thursday.

An estimated 1,000 people were invited to the wedding. House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) founder Prabowo Subianto and Golkar Party chair-man Aburizal Bakrie were among the guests.

Outside the palace, Cipanas residents observed the wedding on a giant screen erected espe-cially for the occasion.

A number of schools in the area had shut, with school-aged chil-dren joining the crowd watching the big screen.

Ibas held a Javanese bathing ritual at Yudhoyono’s private res-idence in Puri Cikeas, West Java, attended by a limited number of guests, mainly members of the First Family.

November 28Tenggarong Bridge Collapsed

The 710 meter, lon-gest suspension bridge in Indonesia — pride of

the Kutai Kartanegara residents in East Kalimantan — collapsed during peak hours. The suspen-sion bridge, which connects Teng-garong Seberang and Tenggarong City, collapsed when the traffic was busy, and the bridge was in the middle of repair work. The ac-cident caused a number of vehi-cles to fall into the river and killed at least 21 people

Coordinating Minister for Peo-ple’s Welfare said the local govern-ment had allocated a Rp100 bil-lion to rebuild the bridge while the rest of the fund for the reconstruc-tion would come from the central government.

November 30LA Galaxy vs Indonesia Selection

The LA Galaxy got their Asia Pacific Tour off to a rousing suc-cess with a 1-0 win over the In-donesia Selection on Wednesday night at Gelora Bung Karno Sta-dium in Jakarta. Playing in his first-ever friendly as a member of the Galaxy, Robbie Keane scored the game’s only goal in the 14th minute to give the Galaxy the win. The team headed to the Phil-ippines on Thursday for the sec-ond game of their tour, which con-clude in Melbourne, Australia on December 6.

Galaxy coach, Bruce Arena ad-mitted it wasn’t easy for his team to achieve a victory over the Indo-nesia Selection, and he also stated his opponents had many talented players. In addition, Arena has also paid special attention to Andik Vermansyah and Greg Nwoko-lo. According to the former United

States na-tional team coach, they could be considered for a trial by the LA Gal-

axy.

from page C1

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www.interviewmagazine.com

www.kanalbola.com

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 C3

Leadership

SD Darmono is the initiator of the Club. Several years ago he re-alized that Indonesia needed an informal forum for Business Peo-ple, Government Officials, and In-tellectuals to discuss and resolve many national issues. Thanks to his perseverance, this Club came into being with prominent people as co-founders. Today, SD Dar-mono is at the helm of the Club as Chairman.

SD Darmono is the Founder and President Director of Cikarang, West Java-based listed property company PT Jababeka, the devel-oper of the country’s (and South-east Asia’s) largest industrial es-tate. The township, which covers 5,600 hectares or 10% of Jakar-ta, has expanded over the years to include residential homes, a uni-versity, hospitals, a botanical gar-den, a golf course, Movieland and a dry port.

He has widely acclaimed as one of the most creative business per-sons: he turned undeveloped land into one of the most advance in-dustrial properties in Indonesia. One of the institutions he built is President University, a truly glob-al university in Cikarang that produces international-quality graduates.

two years ago, Dr. Boen has been focusing on his Stem Cell & Can-cer Institute.

He is ranked 12th in Forbes In-donesia’s 40 Richest in 2011, with a net worth of $2 billion.

Jacob is the most respected person in Indonesia’s media busi-ness. He owns Kompas Gramedia Group, which runs the country’s leading daily newspaper KOMPAS and other print publications. His group has expanded into other businesses such as hotels (Santi-ka Group) and KompasTV.

Business people are often judged as persons only interested in profit. Apparently, that is not the case with Indonesian business people, at least the tycoons who founded the President Executive Club (PEC). For in reality, they are also deeply concerned with

the social, economic, and political issues in Indonesia and, perhaps more importantly, are making efforts to create a better Nation and People.

There are four important goals that they aim for. Firstly, poverty alleviation. Secondly, creating a social structure to prevent the growth of fundamentalism or extremism. Thirdly, enhancing rule of law that meets the people’s sense of justice. Fourthly, raising the ethical standards of all levels of society.

They also realize that political leadership has a huge impact on the pace and the success rate of their efforts. In fact, without sound political leadership, these efforts can hardly bring about results. As such, they devote strong attention to promote the conditions in which good political leaders can be identified and elected. Their criteria of sound political leaders are integrity, strong advocacy for pluralism, good leadership and manage-ment acumen. As they are committed to see PEC as a non-partisan organization, the founders are not affili-ated to any political party. However, they are set to play an active role in supporting activities that will produce great political leaders for this great country.

SD Darmono, 62

Arifin is the Founder and Own-er of Medco Group, an oil and gas company that has expanded its line of business into energy (pow-er plants) and agroindustry. Its business coverage extends to Lib-ya and other countries.

Arifin Panigoro, 66

Boenjamin Setiawan, 78

Ciputra, 80

His Ciputra Group, which he founded as a property developer, is a conglomerate of eight listed companies. Ciputra controls five business groups, namely Jaya, Metropolitan, Pondok Indah, Bumi Serpong Damai, and Cipu-tra Development, all of whose core business is property.

His new town projects cover Greater Jakarta to Surabaya and Vietnam with a total area of over 20,000 hectares. The 11 new cit-ies are Bumi Serpong Damai, Pantai Indah Kapuk, Puri Jaya, CitraRaya Nuance City Arts, City Park Bintaro Jaya, Pondok Indah, Citra Indah, Taman Metropolitan City, CitraRaya Surabaya, Sido-arjo New City, and Citra Westlake City Hanoi, Vietnam. His com-mercial property projects are very classy and a trend- setter in its field. Moreover, the projects also have become magnets for growth in the surrounding areas.

Ciputra is ranked 27th in Forbes Indonesia’s 40 Richest in 2011 with a net worth of $950 million.

Eddie Lembong, 75

Juwono Sudarsono, 69

Juwono Sudarsono has served as Vice Governor of the Nation-al Defence College or Lemhan-nas (1995-1998); Minister of State for the Environment (1998) un-der President Soeharto; Minis-ter for Education and Culture (1998-1999) under President B.J. Habibie; Minister for Defence (1999-2000) under President Ab-durrahman Wahid; Ambassa-dor to the United Kingdom (2003-2004) under President Megawati Soekarnoputri; and Minister for Defence (2004-2009) under President Susilo Bambang Yud-hoyono.

Apart from his interests in de-fense strategy, management and planning, Juwono Sudarsono strongly believes in “non-military defence”, including the defence of human resources and skills, of science and technology, as well as the defence of social justice and cultural values as constant pro-cesses of nation and character building.

Mochtar Riady, 83

Theodore P. Rachmat, 68

Teddy Rachmat began his ca-reer at Astra Internasional, ris-ing from the bottom to the posi-tion of President Director. After he resigned from Astra, he founded Adira Finance, whose market val-ue quickly rose and was later sold with a hefty profit. His Triputra Group owns several companies in coal mining, palm oil plantations, and energy.

Teddy is also a highly respect-ed figure within Indonesian gov-ernment circles. He is a member of the Dewan Ekonomi Nasion-al (National Economics Council), and is a member of the 24-strong Komite Ekonomi Nasional (Na-tional Committee for Economics).

Teddy is ranked 12th in Forbes Indonesia’s 40 Richest in 2011 with a net worth of $1.4 billion.

Trihatma K. Haliman, 59

Sukamdani is the owner of Sa-hid Group, which comprises of hotels in Solo, Semarang, Yogya, Surabaya, Manado, Pekanbaru, Jakarta and other big cities, as

Sukamdani Gitosardjono, 83

well as companies operating con-dominiums, restaurants, travel agencies, hospital, and university.

The President Executive Club Founders

SD Darmono (Chairman)•Ir Arifin Panigoro•Dr Boenjamin Setiawan, •PhDIr Ciputra•Drs Eddie Lembong•Prof Juwono Sudarsono•DR Mochtar Riady•Ir TP Rachmat•Trihatma K. Haliman•DR Sukamdani •GitosardjonoJoe Kamdani•Teguh Satria•

AdvisorsJacob Oetama•Edward Lee•

Executive DirectorDr Bayu Prawira Hie•

OfficeMenaraBatavia 25th floorJl. KH Mas MansurKav. 126, Jakarta 10220INDONESIATel: 021-5727278Fax:021-5727338

Email:pec.indonesia@gmail.com

Jacob Oetama, 80

Edward Lee Kwong Foo, 64

Edward was Singapore’s Am-bassador to Indonesia in 1994 and retired in 2006 after 36 years with the Foreign Service Branch of the Singapore Administrative Service in various senior positions across Asia-Pacific.

As his first posting to Indone-sia was in 1974, Lee has served a total of 18 years in the Singa-pore Embassy in Jakarta. He also served as Ambassador to the Phil-ippines (1990 to 1993) as well as High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalem (1984 to 1990)

For his long-standing contri-

Popularly known as Doctor Boen, he has a PhD in pharma-cology. In 1966 he founded Kal-be Farma with five siblings and built it into country’s largest list-ed pharma outfit, which recent-ly started selling healthy drinks made by Thailand’s Tipco Foods.

Kalbe has also branched out to research and development, which is conducted by a company based in Singapore, Innogene Kalbiotec Pte Ltd. Since stepping down as Kalbe’s president commissioner

Eddie Lembong is Founder and President Director of PT Phar-os, one of the largest and lead-ing pharmaceutical companies in Indonesia. PT Pharos Indone-sia produces a wide range of eth-ical, OTC, generics, and specialty lines, including licensed manu-facturing for multinational phar-maceutical companies.

Eddie is also a social activist; he is the founder of Perhimpunan INTI (the Chinese-Indonesian As-sociation) that promotes the roles of ethnic Chinese-Indonesians. He also founded Yayasan Nabil (Nabil Foundation). Nabil is the acronym for Nation Building.

Well-known as a prominent banker, Mochtar built the diver-sified Lippo Group from scratch, comprising financial servic-es (banking, investment, secu-rities, insurance, asset manage-ment and mutual fund), property (satellite cities, housing, condo-miniums, shopping malls, office buildings, and industrial sites), and infrastructure (power plants, gas production, roads, sanitation, and communications). He recent-ly set up Nobu Bank but is now-adays much more involved in so-cial activities by founding Siloam Hospital, Pelita Harapan Univer-sity, and the Mochtar Riady Can-cer Center.

Lippo has also established busi-nesses in Hong Kong, China, and other countries. Mochtar is also a highly respected figure in the aca-demic world, as he was the Chair-man of the Majelis Wali Amanat of the University of Indonesia.

Mochtar is ranked 38th in Forbes Indonesia’s 40 Richest in 2011 with a net worth of $650 million.

Trihatma Kusuma Haliman owns PT Agung Podomoro Land Tbk, the country’s largest prop-erty developer, and has been its CEO since 2004. Trihatma has more than 40 years of experi-ence in the real estate business. His latest Central Park complex, which combines shopping mall, office nuildings, and condomini-ums in one gigantic area, is one of the most phenomenal property creations.

Trihatma is ranked 39th in Forbes Indonesia’s 40 Richest in 2011 with a net worth of $640 million.

butions to public service, Lee was honoured with several accolades, including the Public Adminis-tration Medal (Silver) in 1996, the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1998, the Long Service Medal in 1997 and the Meritori-ous Service Medal in 2006.

In 2007, he was conferred the highest civilian award by the In-donesian Government – the Bin-tang Jasa Utama (the Star of Ex-cellent Services) – for his large contribution in building up stron-ger and closer relations between Singapore and Indonesia.

PEC: The Club for Public Private Partnership

Joe Kamdani, 70

Teguh Satria, 64

Owner and chairman of PT Datascrip, a company that im-ports and distributes major mod-ern office equipment made by Canon and Sanyo.

Also owns PT Matahari Alka, which produces office equipment in Cikarang.

Former chairman of Real Es-tate Indonesia (REI) and current chairman of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI).

TourismThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011C4

The natural seaport city of Sa-bang on Weh Island in the west-ern part of Aceh province which is rich in marine tourism poten-tials is waiting for the new tour-ism minister s help to develop its tourism.

Sabang which has a natural deep-sea port sits on Weh Island where the extraordinarily beauti-ful submarine biota and scenery constitute great potentials for the development of marine tourism.

With these potentials, local tourism operators are convinced that newly appointed Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu will not ig-nore it and extend a helping hand to develop and advance Sabang s tourism.

“The central government will not ignore Aceh`s tourism poten-tials but will continue to pay at-tention to its development, partic-ularly the development of Sabang tourism,” Aceh tourism operator Zulfikar said.

Sabang Tourism Pins Hope on New MinisterSabang to explore the possibility of building star-rated hotels in Sa-bang, about 14 miles away from Banda Aceh City.

Tourism observers and foreign visitors admitted that Sabang had beautiful tourism objects such as the undersea natural panorama at Pulau Rubiah, the white sand beach of Gapang and a number of other tourist destinations in the Weh Island.

International tourists who have visited Sabang have come back to Sabang such as those who took part in the recent Sabang Interna-tional Regatta 2011, a yacht festi-val, where at least 11 yachts came from the Netherlands, Britain, the United States, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand. Sabang Interna-sional Regatta 2011 was aimed at introducing maritime tourism po-tentials of the island which has a population of 30 thousands and a target of attracting at least 10,000 tourists annually.

A As a member of ASEAN, Indonesia, its tourism industry in particular, is ready for the estab-lishment of an ASEAN

Community by 2015 when trade, services and manpower will flow freely within the region.

“Beginning in 2015, manpow-er in the tourism sector will flow freely within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASE-AN), but we are optimistic that the competitive edge of Indonesia s human resources in the tourism sector is already strong,” Head of Tourism Resources Development Agency of the Tourism Ministry I Gde Pitana said recently.

Indonesia s human resources in the tourism sector would play a dominant role within the ASE-AN region. To support this role, I

Gde Pitana s office had been mak-ing various efforts, among others, research, development and train-ing.

“The research we have conduct-ed is not always scientific in na-ture but practical so that it can be applied by industry at the tech-nical and policy levels,” he said. In the field of education I Gde Pitana s office had set a target of increasing the number of gradu-ates from higher learning insti-tutes in tourism studies and tour-

ism academies under the tourism ministry.

“We are optimistic because sev-eral indicators show that the com-petitive edge of our human re-sources in the tourism sector is improving,” he said. He said that in 2009, the World Economic Fo-rum (WEF) placed Indonesia s tourism human resources in the 40th position among 133 coun-tries in the world. Moreover, In-donesia had for a long time been using a tourism educational curriculum based on the ASE-AN Common Competency Stan-dards for Tourism Professionals (ACCSTP). These standards were being aplied in the whole ASEAN region.

About 80% of the curriculum`s contents had been proposed by Indonesia which had been apply-ing the principles for a long time. “This means that graduates from Indonesian tourism schools, par-ticularly higher learning institutes and academies, will be treated on equal footing with those from oth-er countries within ASEAN,” he said.

RI Tourism Ready to Compete in ASEAN

“Eat, Pray and Love”, a film version of Elizabeth Gilbert s best selling memoirs “Eat Pray Love”, starring super-star Julia Robert, has been effective in promoting Bali, known as the “Island of the Gods”.

In 2009, filming on “Eat, Pray, Love,” took place in sev-eral locations including Ban-jar Bentuyung, Banjar Nyuh Kuning, Pengosekan, the Ubud Art Market, Jimba-ran and Monkey Forest Park, Bali.

The Hollywood movie showcases the spectacular Indonesian landscape and Balinese culture which Ubud is famous for. Thanks to the film, Ubud has turned into a popular resort for relax-ation, and inspiration. Ubud was even voted as The Top City in Asia and The Friend-liest City by readers of Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

Bali Island has become a destination of spiritual-ly-themed tourism and has been repopulated by tour-ists looking to develop their spirituality. The number of foreign tourists visiting Bali Island during January-Sep-tember 2011 period reached 2,052,083 people, or up 10.36% from the 1,859,459 foreign tourists in the same period in 2010.

Witnessing “the power” of the Hollywood film in luring foreign tourists to Bali, new Tourism and Creative Econo-my Minister Mari Elka Pang-estu has invited more foreign

benefit for the national tourism promotion, she said.

The minister visited the shoot-ing location of Hollywood film enti-tled “I, Alex Cross” which is direct-ed by Rob Cohen, at Jasri village, Karangsem sub district, Bali Province, on Sunday. She partic-ularly invited Hollywood film di-rectors to shoot films in Bali, the country`s most famous tourist re-sort. “It will give significant im-pacts on Indonesia,” she said.

“The choosing of Indonesia as a shooting location is a chance to promote the tourism destination. For sure, it gives an opportunity to the film industry, in this chase the creative industry in Indonesia, to participate in the making of this film,” Minister Pangestu said.

When the film is re-leased in mid 2012, it will help strengthen the brand-ing or image of Indonesia in-ternationally, she said, add-ing that the movie, like “Eat, Pray, Love”, will also help at-tract foreign tourists to Indo-nesia.

The film stars Tyler Perry, Jean Reno (“Ronin”, “Leon: The Professional”, “The Da Vinci Code”, “Pink Panther”, and “Hotel Rwanda”), Mat-thew Fox, Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, and Jessalyn Wanlim.

The filming of “I, Alex Cross” is being facilitated by Bali Film Center and Syzygy Production.

“Hollywood Films Promote Tourism”

Indonesia`s human resources in the tourism sector would play a dominant role within the ASEAN region.

“At least, Sabang, which is now developing itself into a nation-al tourism destination should be promoted as a venue for national and international tourism events,” Zulfikar said.

Sabang s Tourism and Culture Service Yusfah Hanum also ex-pressed hope that Minister Mari Elka Pangestu would launch in-tensive promotions to introduce the tourism potentials of Sabang Islands.

“I am confident that Mad-am Mari Pangestu would come to see herself the tourism poten-tials of Sabang whose beauty has been well-known not only by lo-cal tourists but also foreign ones. These potentials should be devel-oped so that it would be compara-ble to other popular tourism des-tinations in the country,” Yusfah said.

A number of investors have in the past several months come to

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province is expected to have a world-class tourist resort compa-rable to Bali, when the Mandali-ka Resort Development project in Central Lombok District is com-pleted.

The development of the US$3 billion Mandalika Resort which is expected to attract one million tourists annually began on Fri-day when President Susilo Bam-bang Yudhoyono officiated at its groundbreaking function.

Sitting on a 1,175 hectare area in Kuta, Pujut subdistrict, Cen-tral Lombok, the Mandalika Re-sort will be developed into one of the national tourism icons, even of the world, Chief Economic Min-ister Hatta Rajasa said.

For the development of the Re-sort Area, at least six Memoran-dums of Understanding (MoU) on its development were signed in conjunction with the ground-breaking ceremony on Friday.

The MoUs concerned coopera-tion between PT Bali Tourism De-velopment Corporation (BTDC) and its partners such as PT Glob-al International, Global Land De-velopment (MNC group) and PT Canvas Development (Rajawa-li Group).

MNC Group through PT Glob-al Land Development will build an integrated park as part of the development of Mandalika Re-sort area. Chief Commissioner of PT Global Land and Development Budi Rustanto and President Di-rector of PT Bali Tourism Devel-opment Corporation (BTDC) Ida Bagus Wirajaya signed a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU)

Mandalika Developed into World Tourist Resort

According to Hatta Rajasa, the signing of the MoUs constitut-ed the start of the development of Mandalika into gaining a signif-icant progress. “We are predict-ing that in the 2015-2025 period, millions of tourists will be visiting NTB so that its domestic incomes will increase four times,” the min-ister said

The development of Mandali-ka Resort, he said, is expected to cost over $3 billion, or about Rp27 trillion. “Of the total, some $250 million or about Rp2.2 trillion will come from state-owned firms (BUMN),” Rajasa said in his report to President Yudhoyono.

Hatta said that most of the funds used to develop the tour-ist resort area came from investor partners collected by state-owned PT Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC).

It is projected that tourists visit-ing NTB will continue to increase from year to year, and for the Man-dalika Resort area it is expected to be visited by about one million tourists when its infrastructures have been built.

on the development of Mandalika Resort.

Global Land will develop an in-tegrated park in the form of Dis-neyland, an underwater park and a technical park. MNC Group in the meantime will build a Formu-la I Circuit track, a plenary room for concert events, a seaport for excursions and other ships. The other investor which also signed MoUs with BTDC was Rahmat Gobel who owns PT Gobel Inter-nasional.

The Gobel Group will develop environmentally friendly techno-logical facilities such as water and water waste treatment, solar sys-tem and other environmentally friendly facilities. Gobel will also build hotels, villa and a high end resort.

Rajawali Group will also devel-op hotels, villas and high end re-sort at Tanjung Ann area.

PT BTDC President Director I Bagus Wirajaya said his side had also signed MoUs with eight oth-er investors for the development of Mandalika Resort, apart from the three major investors and four others in the educational field

I Gde PitanaHead of Tourism Resources Development Agency of theTourism Ministry

film producers to make films in Indonesia.

“The government will encour-age more international (film) pro-ducers to choose Indonesia s pan-orama and nature for their films,” Minister Pangestu said on Sun-day. International films using Indonesia s panorama as their backgrounds will have significant

“Eat, Pray and Love”, starring superstar Julia Robert and Javier Bardem, has been effective in promoting Bali, known as the “Island of the Gods”.

www.megindo.net

Mari Elka PangestuTourism and Creative Economy Minister

Mandalika Resort Masterplan

www.mandalikaresortlombok.com

LivingThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011C6

Why Are Unhealthy People So Reluctant to Change Their Lifestyles?

N Nobody’s perfect. We all have bad habits we just can’t seem to shake. Cigarettes have a hold on some people; others can’t

say no to alcohol, sweets or a life on the couch in front of the tele-vision.

As much as we may want to make more healthful choic-es, change is difficult. Even the awareness that our behaviors can harm us often isn’t enough to make us mend our ways.

Amazingly, people who have al-ready suffered heart trouble, dia-betes or other lifestyle-related ill-nesses — people who intimately know the consequences of their behaviors — often have an espe-cially hard time turning things around. It seems it takes more than a wake-up call, even a life-threatening one, to get people to give up their unhealthful ways.

At least 40% of smokers who survive a heart attack are still puffing away a year later.

And you might think that an overweight person would slim down after a heart attack. But of-ten, not so. Researchers at Wash-ington University in St. Lou-is followed a group of more than 1,200 overweight men and wom-en for a year following a heart at-tack. Their study, published in the American Heart Journal in 2007, found that individuals lost an av-erage of just 0.2% of their body weight. For a 220-pound man, that would translate to less than 1 pound of weight loss.

If a heart attack isn’t enough to get a person’s attention, what about cancer? You can probably guess by now. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Canadian investigators examined the lifestyles of more than 9,000 cancer survivors and found that only a few had made the switch to a healthful lifestyle. Although most had given up smoking, few-er than 20% were consuming five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and less than half were en-

come of diseases such as diabe-tes and emphysema, while weight loss improves asthma, sleep ap-nea and many other conditions. The benefits of physical activity extend well beyond the heart too. Exercise can be helpful in com-bating depression and controlling high blood pressure. There’s also some evidence that it has a pro-

tective effect against some types of cancer. Several studies have dem-onstrated that women with breast cancer who participate in regular physical activity reduce their risk of breast cancer deaths by 50% or more compared with those who remain physically inactive.

But not all patients get this mes-

sage, partly because doctors often fail to provide sufficient counsel-ing and guidance. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked more than 1,600 cancer survivors if their physicians had discussed life-style issues with them following their diagnosis. Only 30% had re-ceived guidance about diet, just 1

in 4 had been given exercise rec-ommendations and less than half had been asked about their smok-ing habits.

Even patients who know they should adopt more healthful hab-its and are determined to do so have trouble, however. “A lot of people don’t change because they don’t know how to change,” says Janice Prochaska, president of Pro-Change Behavior Systems, a behavior change firm. Getting people to alter their habits is ex-traordinarily difficult, and, for most people, it isn’t something that happens overnight, she says.

After that, there’s a period of preparation most people go through. Rather than jumping straight into action, they begin by making small adjustments in their lifestyle. Someone commit-ted to increase his or her activity level, for example, may go for a few short walks; someone attempting to lose weight might start to scale back on desserts.

Trying to rush through the steps of change too quickly can be a setup for failure. “Some peo-ple who jump too quickly into ac-tion regress and then feel demor-alized,” Prochaska says.

It’s hard to think of illness as an opportunity but, in fact, for many people it is. It’s an oppor-tunity to stop pretending that our bad habits don’t hurt us and to take the initiative to make health-ful change.

Or at least it should be.

Got stress?If you answered no, hooray for

you! (And, by the way, what planet are you from?)

But if you answered yes (like any normal member of the hu-man race), you’re likely heartened by the arrival of vacation season. Just the ticket for a little stress-re-duction.

And that can have some big payoffs. It can lower your blood pressure, boost your immune system and help you live longer. It may even make you smarter.

“A vacation is not a luxury,” says Jens Pruessner, an associate professor in the departments of psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery at McGill Uni-versity in Montreal. “It’s an invest-ment in your health.”

Most of what scientists know about the brain and chronic stress comes from studies of ro-dents, whose response systems are very much like ours (per-haps disconcertingly so) and who therefore make good stand-ins for us. But rodents rarely pack their bags and head for the beach when summer rolls around, so it’s hard-er to use them as models for va-cationers.

Nonetheless, researchers have learned enough to make some useful suggestions:

Plan aheadA vacation is a chance to get

away from many of the stresses you can’t get away from in your everyday life (your boss, your commute, the chaos that is your home). Of course, it can also in-troduce new ones. But while some of these may be out of your con-trol — bad directions, missed con-nections, loud neighbors in hotels with thin walls — planning ahead can forestall others. If it’s stress-ful for you to be around your in-laws, don’t arrange a monthlong camping trip with them. If you’re afraid of airplanes, pick a desti-nation you can drive to instead — and don’t get talked into sky-diving lessons. If you suffer from separation anxiety, don’t go any-where Spot can’t go too.

Making your vacation as stress-free as possible pays off, accord-ing to a 2010 study in the Neth-erlands. When researchers looked at how happy people were after taking vacations, only those who felt very relaxed while they were away were happier than people who hadn’t taken a trip at all.

But the same study found that people who were busy planning a vacation were happier than those who had no vacation to plan — so even when a vacation turned out to be a dud, the time spent

planning it may have made it all worthwhile.

One caveat: For some people, going on vacation may be more stressful than not going — per-haps because of money concerns or because they’re just not com-fortable being away from home or from work. In such cases, it may be that no amount of planning can make a vacation a good idea.

hone your social skills or lost lug-gage as an excuse to spiff up your wardrobe.

The post-vacation brainSome studies with rats have

shown that stress can actually shrink parts of their brains, and a 2009 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scienc-es found that it probably shrinks your brain too.

In the parallel human study, medical students who’d spent a month preparing for stage one of the medical board exam were tested on an attention-shifting task as close to the day of their medical exam as possible. Then they were tested again a month after the test, when their sources of stress were way down.

They too performed relative-ly poorly the first time they did the task, when they were badly stressed, and much better — just as well as a control group — after an essentially stress-free month.

The researchers could not, of course, get direct evidence that there was dendrite shrinkage in the med students that was sub-sequently reversed. But they in-ferred that this happened, since the results of every other aspect of the studies were so parallel, says study lead author Dr. Conor Li-ston, a research fellow in the de-partment of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

How long a vacation?“How long it takes you to relax

after a stressful period of time de-pends on how quickly you can re-set your perspective on life,” says George Slavich, an assistant pro-fessor at the UCLA Cousins Cen-ter for Psychoneuroimmunology. “Taking a relaxing trip to Hawaii can help, but it’s not necessary, nor is it always sufficient. No trop-ical vacation can help if the stress is mostly in your head.”

On the other hand, Pruessner says, when you’re on vacation, you probably have more time than usual for self-reflective thought, which could help you recognize that your stress is mostly in your head — and maybe even work on getting it out of there.

In the medical student study, a month was enough to make stress-impaired brains get their groove back. But wait! Don’t snort. Sure, a month off is incon-ceivable. But it’s possible that less time could do the trick too.

“Ideally, you don’t want to wait too long to take a vacation,” he says. “You don’t want to get to that third stage.” (health@latimes.com)

People who have already suffered heart trouble, diabetes or other lifestyle-related illnesses — people who intimately know the consequences of their behaviors — often have an especially hard time turning things around.

gaging in regular physical activity. Only 1 out of every 20 survivors was following all three principles of healthful living.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston ex-amined the effect of smoking ces-sation on the risk of dying after a heart attack. Their work, pub-lished last year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiol-ogy, found that smoking signif-icantly decreases life expectan-cy after a heart attack and that smokers’ prospects improve dra-matically if they give up the hab-it. Individuals who quit after their first heart attack were 37% less likely to die of another attack com-pared with those who continued to smoke.

Other studies have found that heart attack patients who go through exercise-based rehabil-itation reduce their risk of dying by about 30%.

The power of lifestyle changes isn’t unique to heart trouble. Quit-ting smoking improves the out-

Put Your Stress on Vacation

Make sure it’s funThis is not exactly shocking

news, but it is nice to know for a scientific fact that fun is good for you (and your brain). A study pub-lished last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-ences found exactly that. In rats, anyway.

“It doesn’t get rid of stress, just lowers it, across all aspects of the hormonal system,” says study co-author James Herman, director of the Laboratory of Stress Neurobi-ology and professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati.

To confirm the pleasurability hypothesis — and to show that it held for more than just taste — other rats were allowed daily vis-its with “pliant females” for two weeks, Herman says, and they too showed the same stress re-ductions.

To travel or not?Even if you love to travel, at

times the hairy logistics can pres-ent you with plenty of opportu-nities to blow your cool. On the other hand, a situation is only stressful if you perceive it to be. “A lot depends on your appraisal of the evidence,” says Carlos Grijal-va, a professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience at UCLA. “How you evaluate the situation is critical.”

True, it’s hard to put a posi-tive spin on the situation if you’re standing at the end of a mile-long line and your flight is due to take off in five minutes. But it may be possible to perceive an ir-ritating seat mate as a chance to

When researchers looked at how happy people were after taking vacations, only those who felt very relaxed while they were away were happier than people who hadn’t taken a trip at all.

www.cookinglight.com

The President Postwww.thepresidentpost.com November 12, 2011 C7

Health

L Lying in the back of the ambulance, unable to move my right arm or leg, I began bargaining with God.

I promised that if he would let me live and heal, I would be a better person. I would be less selfish, less stressed. I would be grateful for everything that I had. I wouldn’t waste time sweating the small stuff.

Twenty years after a stroke left me temporarily paralyzed at age 22, I don’t think I’ve been true to my word. As I became healthy, I went back to my old habits. The gratitude and joy waned. Far too often, I have taken my health for granted. But my body periodical-ly reminds me that I’m not like ev-eryone else. And although this is a burden, it’s also a gift.

I was a graduate student study-ing journalism at the Universi-ty of Southern California when a blood vessel in my brain burst around 11 a.m. on November 11, 1991. I had suffered a hemorrhag-

ic stroke, which instantly robbed me of control over my body.

Hemorrhagic strokes account for only 13% of all strokes but more than 30% of stroke deaths, according to the National Stroke Association.

When the vessel burst, the symptoms were immediate: the inability to move my right leg, an excruciating headache at the base of my skull and then complete pa-ralysis on the right side of my body. I also had difficulty speak-ing and recalling words.

I was too young to know any-thing about brain injuries. I had no idea why I felt funny and why I couldn’t make my right leg walk down the stairs. I naively thought that this strange episode would quickly pass.

As I waited for the paramedics, I noticed that my penny loafer had come off my right foot. I became fixated with trying to put it back on and wondered why I couldn’t do it.

When the paramedics arrived,

they asked me to name the pres-ident of the United States. I said, “Ford.... No.... Reagan.... No.... Bush.”

I remember them exchanging glances. I was young but there was no doubt I’d had a stroke. I would later find out that I had been born with a weak vessel in my brain, an arteriovenous mal-formation.

I have few memories of the days that followed. I know I was in intensive care and I know I was afraid of brain surgery.

After I was stabilized, doctors placed me on a ward with oth-er brain-injured patients, most of whom were decades older. My parents and friends came to see me every day. Without fail, my fa-ther asked me to smile to see if the right side of my mouth was still drooping. My mother helped feed me lunch or dinner.

Over the next six weeks, I had to relearn how to walk, write and take care of myself. Surprising-ly, I was upbeat when I did phys-

Stroke at 22:Honoring the Lessons20 Years Later

ical and occupational therapy. I worked hard. But there was one therapy that made me sullen, re-sentful and depressed: speech therapy.

Because the bleed had occurred in the left brain, my speech and ability to recall words were im-pacted. Speech therapy made me feel stupid. I had been planning a career with words. Now, when the speech therapist entered the room and asked me to name a vegeta-ble, I couldn’t answer her. What kind of journalist would I be?

But I was lucky. As the bleed dissolved itself, I started remem-bering my words and I slowly re-covered my ability to move the right side of my body. I did not re-quire surgery.

I was discharged in a wheel-chair and would return to the hospital for outpatient therapy three times a week. As I got stron-ger, I graduated to a cane.

By January, I was back at USC, enrolled in one class. My father hired a driver to take me to school. I walked across cam-pus slowly with a leg brace and a three-pronged cane. I was incred-ibly self-conscious, but I was hap-py to be somewhat normal again.

I’ve never been sorry the stroke happened. It is something I have overcome, and I’m proud of that. Despite that, I know I am different from other people. There is still scar tissue in my brain, which makes me vulnerable to seizures and auras. I take seizure medi-cation. I have to be careful that I don’t let myself get too run down. If I do, it can take me a week to re-cover.

I’ve learned to honor my stroke and its consequences. When my husband and I thought about having a baby, we consulted half a dozen neurologists and neurosur-geons, most of whom had conflict-

ing opinions. In the end, we took a chance. Our daughter was born healthy in November 2003.

Two months later, the sleep de-privation and postpartum hor-mone shifts caused a blackout seizure. I’ve been seizure-free ever since.

Looking at me now you would never know I’d had a stroke. I have trace weakness on the right side of my body, which sometimes can make working out at the gym challenging. My trainer knows my right leg has a mind of its own and affectionately calls it “my Nemo fin.” I’m thin but I’m healthy and I’m strong.

The past 18 months or so have been challenging for me and my family. We’ve dealt with a layoff, unemployment, and a surgery and rehabilitation. I’ll admit that I too often let life’s little challenges impact my attitude.

But when I drift into self-pity, stress or just general negativity, I try to pull myself back and re-member the days when all that mattered was walking and talk-ing. My biggest fear is having an-other stroke. That gives me per-spective.

Eleven always was my lucky number. I know God was watch-ing over me when that blood ves-sel burst on 11/11.

In fact, I consider my stroke to be a stroke of luck.

In fact, I consider my stroke to be a stroke of luck.

When I drift into self-pity, stress or just general negativity, I try to pull myself back and remember the days when all that mattered was walking and talking. My biggest fear is having another stroke. That gives me perspective.

www.starpoli.com

Photo EssayThe President Post www.thepresidentpost.comNovember 12, 2011C8

BBakpia is known as a typical Yogyakarta dish. Almost every souvenir store in Yogya sells bakpia.

Bakpia actually comes from China under its original name of Tou Luk Pia, which means pia green bean cake. Bakpia was first produced in Indonesia around 1948,

precisely in Pathuk village, Yogyakarta, and this is why it is more recognized by the name Bakpia Pathuk.

Until now, Pathuk village is known as the center of Bakpia, as many entrepreneurs engaged in producing Bakpia operate there.

Before 1980, the packaging of Bakpia was in baskets and was traded in retail stores; just after 1980 it started using cartons marked by brands according to the producer’s house number. For example “25”, “75”, “88”, all are based on house numbers.

Along with the rapid development of souvenir cakes, Bakpia began to explode in the market since 1992. One really feels “incomplete” if going to Yogyakarta without buying Bakpia Pathuk.

Bakpia Pathuk “25” is located on Jl. AIP II KS Tubun NG I/504, Pathuk village, Yogyakarta. It’s located behind the Malioboro, making it easier for the marketing and procurement of raw materials. The number of employees at the Bakpia Pathuk “25” is about 200.

Bakpia Pathuk has a wide variety of delicious and tasty flavors such as green beans, pineapple, chocolate, all made with typical flavors!

TEXT PHOTOS AND BY NANDI NANTI

BakpiaPathok“25”

Bakpia actually comes from China under its original name of Tou Luk Pia, which means

pia green bean cake.

Green beans Bakpia:• Bakpia with Typical flavor of Original green beans from Bakpia Pathok 25Bakpia Pineapple:• Bakpia with typical flavor of pineapple from Bakpia Pathok 25Bakpia Chocolate:• Bakpia with typical flavor of chocolate from Bakpia Pathok 25

Bakpia Cheese:• Bakpia with typical flavor of cheese from Bakpia Pathok 25Bakpia Durian:• Bakpia with typical flavor of durian from Bakpia Pathok 25Bakpia Kumbu:• Bakpia with typical flavor of black beans from Bakpia Pathok 25Various Bakpia:• Bakpia with various flavors from Bakpia Pathok 25