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February 2013Vol. 2 No. 2

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ENERGYRenewable Energy Developmentis the Way to GoThere will be no better option for this country than to rely on our renewable energy resources for achieving our future energy security and for our sustainable and equitable development. – Page A6

“New Policies Needed to Maintain Momentum of

Economic Growth”

pore, and Taiwan, BTPs need to be bolstered for at least three purposes. Firstly, to mo-bilize savings of small savers; secondly, to sell insurance to low-income groups; and third-ly, to develop business logis-tics in the delivery of mail and goods.

• Rejectnarrowsenseofnation-alism—By failing to take ad-vantage of an open market in free trade agreements or com-

pete in the global market, In-donesia has shown a tenden-cy to erect barriers on the foreign presence. In reality, for example, foreign banks here have made the coun-try’s banking business bet-ter and more efficient, Nau-tion said.

• Buildreliablegovernmentin-stitutions—Nasution calls for institutions that guarantee legal certainty as the curent

Nasution noted that Indonesia’s balance of payment has tak-en a severe beating by the economic cri-

ses that hit the three main pil-lars of the world’s economy.

“This effects in a negative manner our economic growth rate, which in turn leads to high-er unemployment, higher infla-tion andaweakerRupiah,” hesaid.

“The deficit in our current ac-count is now larger as exports have gone down, as well as re-mittances from our migrant workers,”headded.

“As the Eurozone, the U.S. and Japan face economic cri-ses, they have scaled down im-ports from China and India. As a result, the two countries have drastically reduced importing coal and other mining products as well as palm oil from Indone-sia,” Nasution, a former seniorofficial of the central bank, Bank Indonesia, said.

Remittances from migrantworkers have also gone down as the government last year banned Indonesian manual labor from seeking employment overseas due to several cases of mistreat-ment, mostly in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Nasution recommended a five-point plan which in his view would help the country cope bet-ter with the current situation that analysts say will take some time to recover.

• Easing budgetary discipline

and restructuring expendi-ture—Indonesia’s strict ad-herence to the IMF program of capping a budget deficit of a 3% of the GDP and a debt ratio of 27% against the state bud-get is laudable, he said, but it comes at the expense of in-frastructure, which is in dire straits and leads to higher lo-gistics costs. Nasution wants to see more state funds for in-frastructure and less subsi-dies for fuel and electricity, whch he noted are being en-joyed more by high incomepeople.

• Development of non-primarycommodities—Boosting man-ufactured goods is not only good move in itself but also createsjobs.

• Mobilize national savings—This is a move to lessen de-pendence on the state bud-get deficit and foreign banks’ loans by way of Postal Sav-ing Banks (BTP). Following the prime examples of coun-tries such as Japan, Singa-

JAKARTA(TPP)–ProfessorofEconomicsatUniversity of Indonesia Anwar Nasution, in a roundtable discussion held by President University and the President Executive Club at the President Lounge last month, called on the government to revamp current monetary and fiscal policies as a move to dampen the adverse impact of the global crisis caused by economic woes in the Eurozone, the U.S. and Japan.

Minister of State for Na-tional Development Planning (Head of Bappenas), Armi-daS.AlisjahbanavisitedJa-babeka industrial area on February 6th in order to ob-tain input from an industri-al area developer. She also lent her support on the de-velopment of Senior Living @D’Kahyangan, a housing complex for elders.

According to Armida, the Jababeka industrial area is well known as ‘the first eco-industry’ industrial area in Indonesia.

“Jababeka is an industrial area that developed sustain-able development principles that are in line with govern-ment policy," she said.

Armida added that the ministry deems it is neces-sary to take a closer look and exchange ideas with Jababe-ka’s developer to gain input for planning in related sec-tors.

To Bappenas, she said, the site visit is very important as it helps the state body to re-fine development plans, espe-cially by involving all stake-holders, including business and industry actors.

“It is possible that the gov-ernment will develop simi-lar industrial areas in anoth-er parts of Java, even outside Java,”saidArmida.

Minister Armida Attends Groundbreaking of Jababeka’s Senior Living@D’Kahyangan

In addition, said Armida, the purpose of the visit is to make notes of the industry’s expecta-tions of government policies over the coming years.

“Hopefully, through this visit we will develop a conducive com-munication so things that have been considered as bottlenecks can be identified by each party inordertofindthesolution,”shesaid.

In the visit, Minister Armida launched the groundbreaking of Senior Living@D’Kahyangan. Armida said, “The private sec-tor should not only seize busi-ness opportunities but also try to maintain idealism by providing best services to senior citizens by way of integrating housing devel-opment with the supporting in-frastructure.”

President Director of Jababeka SD Darmono said, “We are the pi-oneer in building senior housing with 24-hour health facility so el-derscanenjoytheiroldage.”

Darmono added that senior citizens are often overlooked. “They are often regarded as a useless bunch. In fact, they are actually really rich in experienc-es and knowledge and as such they should get preferential treat-ment,”hesaid.

Senior Living@D'Khayangan occupies an area of eight hect-ares in the early stages of the overall total area of 24 hectares attheendoftheplan.Theproject

features 280 units of Senior Care (41 square meters)

and 102 units of Senior Village (120 square me-ters and 180 square meters). Prices per unit vary but begin at Rp430 million.

legal system is flawed. The de-ployment of thugs as debt col-lectors reflect rampant legal uncertainty here, he said.

The two-hour discussion was attended by top CEOs, among others Sukamdani S. Gitodard-jono of Sahid Group, SD Dar-mono of Jababeka, Jos Kam-dandi of Datascript and Brian Yaputra of Eztu Glass, academ-ics and the media.

INVESTMENTBKPM Wants MoreInvestment Outside JavaThe investment growth outside Java had been encouraging as a result of the implementation of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI). – Page B3

ILO: Labor, Employer Win Together or Lose TogetherAs the country faces what

seems to be interminable labor relations in this country, marked by turmoils not only between la-bor and employers but among la-borsthemselves,PetervanRooij,Country Director of the Interna-tional Labor Organization (ILO), said that the roots of the labor problem here is productivity and education.

“Indonesian labors still need more vocational training and skill development in order to maximize gtheir productivity”,he said.

The level of education of most labors in Indonesia is still low, which means they are lacking in knowledge, especially science and technology. Low level of sci-ence and technology is the cause of minimum level of productivity and has direct impact on quality of goods and services they pro-duce.

If productivity is achieved or, even better, exceeds the target, obviously, employers will not hesitate to invest more on capital and labor’s salary.

Peter added that there is a view that the relationship be-tween labor and employer is like a soccer game: if one team wins, then the other one loses. "I think there is a problem with this as-sumption. Labor and employer relations should win together or lose together," said Peter.

Therefore, continued Peter, it is necessary to have a real social dialogue between labor and em-ployers in order to reach a com-mon interest and not to harm each other. "In such a challeng-ing situation, if both sides can sit together to talk and listen, they will be able to find common grounds to solve problems," ex-plains Peter.

Peter also encouraged the government and all parties in-volved to stay focus. “What kind of economy do you want to be? What kind of labor relations do you want to have? What kind of companies do you want to have? What kind of investments do you want to attract?" said Peter.

“With a clear focus it will be easier to formulate the best poli-cy for the country. Moreover, In-

donesia will hold presidential election that will have a direct impacton investment,”headd-ed.

He said that it is natural that nowadays everything is being politicized before the election. "So I predict the road ahead will be bumpy. In the near future in-vestment in Indonesia will face cloudy days but still remain brightandshiny,”Peterconclud-ed.

On the same occasion, the chairman of the Indonesian Em-ployers’ Association (APINDO), SofjanWanandi, said that “wehave to pay for being a democrat-iccountry.”

"Now labor thinks they can get what they want through demon-strations because by way of ne-gotiations they can’t get what they want. This is the only way they can put pressure on the government,”saidSofjan.

According to him, the govern-ment is unfair to employers and he hopes Law No. 13/2003 on Labor will be revised as he says it is detrimental to employers.

He emphasized that “the min-imum wage rise is already a fact. Big companies or small compa-nies should pay more. But it is not fair as small- and medium-size enterprises and labor- in-tensive industries cannot afford todothat.”

Furthermore, Sofjan said"some companies have report-ed they will move to other areas that offer cheaper labor. Some of them will even close down and leave Indonesia."

He is also said worried that some companies are now looking to use more machines than peo-ple.“Sowherewillbethejobs?With massive labor resources thatwehave,weneedhugejobopportunities,”hesaid.

However Sofyan sees all that is happening now is a learning process for this country. "Hope-fully, the next government will not have to face the same pro-cess and will have better coordi-nation and a better team so that our economic growth could go above8-9%,”Sofjanconcluded.Peter van Rooij, Country Director of the International Labor Organization (ILO), said

that the roots of the labor problem here is productivity and education.

Hopefully, the next government will not have to face the same process and will have better coordination and a better team so that our economic growth could go above 8-9%.”

APINDO Chairman Sofjan Wanandi

The President Post/Rians Rivco

The President Post/Rians Rivco

Anwar Nasution, Professor of Economics at University of Indonesia.

Armida S. Alisjahbana, Minister of State for National

Development Planning(Head of Bappenas)

Rachmat Gobel, IRES Chairman

LIVINGNew Mothers Turn toAn Old Chinese DietChinese custom of zuo yuezi, or “sitting the month is based on ancient theories of Chinese herbal medicine dividing foods into “warm” and “cold” categories. Each food is linked to a health benefit for new mothers. – Page C1

A2

Opinionwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

PUBLISHED BY: PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka. Menara Batavia 25th FloorJl. K.H. Mas Mansyur Kav. 126 Jakarta 10220, Indonesia I Phone: (021) 572 7337Fax: (021) 572 7338 I Email: ceo@thepresidentpost.com

Printed by: PT Dian Rakyat

CEO & EDITOR IN CHIEF: Rachmat Wirasena Suryo I CONTRIBUTORS: Atmono Suryo; Jeannifer Filly Sumayku; Andri Marsetianto; Suyoto Rais; Paulus Khierawan; Hendra Manurung; Iqbal Alaik; Majalah RESPECTSREPORTER & PHOTOGRAPHER: Rians Rivco; Heros Barasakti I CIRCULATION: Seny RosgandasariLAYOUT & DESIGN: Mohamad Akmal I SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER: Donny MartinMARKETING MANAGER: Daniel Trioska I SALES MANAGER: Andrian Irawan

TO SUBSCRIBECall: (021) 572 7337

ENGLISH EDITION

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

The Importance of the Service Economy

Developments in ASEANAccording to ASEAN Secre-

tariat data, services takes up 45.9% of total ASEAN GDP in 2009 amounting to $343 billion. It was only 38.6% in 2002 and the trend went up reaching the 45% mark. On average an ASE-AN country generates about 40-50% of its GDP from the service sectors. Within ASEAN Singa-

pore, Malaysia and Thailand are the pace-setters, followed at a slower pace by Indonesia and Vietnam.

Among the countries in ASE-AN, Indonesia’s service sector is lagging behind, especially in the area of exports of services.

Looking into the WTO classifi-cation, the service sectors cover a very wide area and offer a great

degree. Singapore, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand are well on their way to further develop their service sec-tors. It is now up to countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philip-pines and Myanmar to follow the lead of Singapore, a small coun-try which has become the larg-est exporting country of servic-es in Asia.

TO SPUR THE GROWTH OF SERVICES IN ASIA

WTO (World Trade Organization) Di-rector General Pascal Lamy in his speech in Bei-

jingMay2012stressedthattheglobal economy is being trans-formed at an unprecedented speed. At the heart of that trans-formation is the service econo-my.

Globalization would not have been possible without improve-ments in information and com-munications technology. Ser-vices underpin every part of the production process: from re-search and development to de-sign, engineering, financing, transportation, distribution and marketing.

Asia has the potential to in-crease the services sectors, and WTO suggests that greater em-phasis be given by Asian coun-tries to the growth of the service sector. ADB also predicts that Asia will look even more to ser-vices tocreate jobs for themil-lionswhojointheworkforceev-ery year.

Aside from Europe and North America, Asia seems to be the next group of countries which have the potential to boost the service sectors to a significant

By Atmono Suryo deal of opportunities, including transportation and commun-cations, business and finance, construction and environmental services, education and health, tourism and travel.

It should also be noted that a large part of FDI (foreign direct investment) inflow into ASE-AN now goes to the service sec-tor. This will give Indonesia the opportunity to accelerate the growth of the service sectors to underpin every part of the pro-duction process to develop many areas of tourism and travel, to expand to several regions of the country, to bolster also the growth and development of cre-ative industries in the outer re-gions of the country.

Actually the development of the service sectors does not al-ways require huge amount of capital but it would require well-trained people and expertise in their specialized fields. It is an area of special importance for Medium Enterprises and the growing Middle Class society of Indonesia.

In conclusion, it is of strategic importance for Indonesia to spur the development of the servic-es sectors. To sustain high eco-nomic growth, expand job cre-ation, improve competitiveness and spur innovation urgently needed by Indonesia.

The writer is former ambassador to the EU.

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

ENGLISH EDITION

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Jl. K.H. Mas Mansyur Kav. 126Jakarta 10220, Indonesia

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The biggest problem in moving to that

stage is not how to get the technology or how to prepare

the infrastructure or after sales service,

but to make the right business model

and to establish cooperation with

component suppliers.

Will Molinas Soon Enter the Market?business model, car produc-ers will not be able to survive for long.

Component suppliers

Another important factor to take into account before going into mass production is to es-tablish a mutually beneficial co-operation with component sup-pliers. Information gathered by the author showed that electric cars comprised 12 thousand to 18 thousand components. These components are supplied by more than 100 suppliers for ev-ery model. Components that es-tablish a car's performance and design are usually dedicated only to a certain model.

Japan, which has nine car

producers, has component sup-pliers that are categorized as Tier-1 (supplies go straight to car producers) of around 400 com-

panies. There are also Tier-2, Tier-3 and so on with around 20,000 companies. In South Ko-rea, China, India and Malaysia, the conditions are quite similar. Although the number of suppli-ers are not as many as in Japan, they are developing coopera-tion and developing their com-ponent industry in line with the launching of their national cars. Withoutallthat,thecarprojectis bound to face SQCD (safety, quality, cost, delivery) problems and could potentially violate in-tellectual property rights for mass producing them.

Hopefully, the developers of

the national car in Indonesia have taken all the points men-tioned above into consideration.

The writer is an analyst on Indonesia's national car development.

sales service, but to make the right business model and to es-tablish cooperation with compo-nent suppliers.

Business model

The business model includes sales target, marketing strat-egy, production plan and opti-malization of all assets so that the company can make prof-it under whatever condition. A good business model also needs tobe coupledwithROI (returnon investment) and strength and weakness (SWOT) analysis as part of the management risk analysis.

The business model adopted byRevaElectricVehiclesisquiteinteresting to examine. The com-pany had from the very begin-ning targeted city people in 24 countries as consumers due to the small Indian market. They

By Suyoto Rais also set a low production capac-ity at only 1000 units/year and has to date only sold around 4500 units (http://www.mahin-drareva.com). Nevertheless, the company was still able to make profits because it could cut pro-duction cost by purchasing components and assembling them at countries where the cars are sold (Takanori, 2010).

Meanwhile, Nissan has sold

about 50 thousand units of Leaf since its launch at the end of 2010. Since the beginnning it had targeted the Japanese, US and European markets which demanded noiseless but fast electric cars or almost the same as conventional cars. Mitsubi-shi, Toyota, Honda, GM, BMW, Ford and others also have their own business model to enter and to compete in the electric car market. Without the right

State Enterprises Min-ister Dahlan Iskan was lucky to survive a terrible crash when he conducted a test

drive on the Tuxuci electric car prototype in Magetan on 5 Jan-uary. Luckily, the accident didn't discourage him from continu-ing developing the national elec-tric car (molinas). Dahlan also set the month of May as the date to launch the molinas in line with President SBY's instruction (Kompas, 8/1). But with all of his optimism,isthemolinasprojectreally going to move to the mass production level?

The biggest problem in mov-ing to that stage is not how to get the technology or how to pre-pare the infrastructure or after

Mitsubishi, Toyota, Honda, GM, BMW, Ford and others also have their own business model to enter and to compete in the electric car market. Without the right business model, car producers will not be able to survive for long.

Aside from Europe and North America,

Asia seems to be the next group of

countries which have the potential to boost the service sectors to a significant degree.

Actually the development of the service sectors does not always require huge amount of capital but it would require well-trained people and expertise in their specialized fields. It is an area of special importance for Medium Enterprises and the growing Middle Class society of Indonesia.

Source: WTO Secretariat, ASEAN Secretariat's calculations

Export Import

ASEAN Exports and Imports of Services

US$

Bill

ion

200

180

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

A3

Miningwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The efforts to attract foreign investors in

the mining sector must be supported

by good governance, a stable economic

system, and political and legal certainty.

Multiplier effects of the mining

industry include the development of

basic infrastructure, increase in regional

revenue,jobopportunities, and

improvement of employment skills,

development of supporting activities,

and community development in

cooperation with the regional government.

Investment in Indonesian Mines Remains Attractive

duction are coal 15%, copper 15%, gold 15%, nickel 9% and tin 7.5%. Export demand rela-tively higher than domestic de-mand. For instance, export de-mand to total production are coal 75%, tin 87.5%, gold 87.5%, silver 80%, tin 96.5% and nick-el 100%. Within the year 2007-2015 domestic coal demand will

new technology, global market-ing advantages and experience from other significant mining re-gions around the world. Over the five year period, foreign share-holders have contributed a sig-nificant portion of the financ-ing requirements for Indonesian miningprojects,andrepresentalarge proportion of new invest-

ment and development. It is ex-pected that Indonesian mine production will continue to in-crease, as existing mines maxi-mize their operations.

According to a report by Mar-ketResearch,recentchangestoIndonesia's mining code have no doubt reduced the overall level of attractiveness for investment in the country. While there is a possibility for further reforms, especially in the run-up to the 2014 general election, it believes the worst is behind and does not expect significant policy chang-es in the near term. Although rhetoric against foreign min-ers could step up, it believes a moderation in the government's stance is more likely to happen owing to two reasons. The be-low consensus forecasts for base metals prices does not bode well for domestic miners in Indone-sia. They forecast metal prices to head broadly lower over the course of 2012 and 2013 and believe the government may re-consider measures in a period of lower prices and profits for the mining sector. The paramount importance of the mining sec-tor, which constitutes 12% of In-donesia's GDP, further reinforces the conviction that policies that would jeopardizegrowth in themineral sector will not be imple-mented.

Overall, they forecast Indo-nesia's mining industry value to reach $135bn by 2017, grow-ing at an annual average rate of 6.9% from 2011 levels. This will

mark a drastic slowdown from the 2006-2011 period, during which growth averaged 19.6% per annum. Nevertheless, Indo-nesia will remain a dominant mineral exporter in the region and retain its status as the larg-est thermal coal and tin exporter in the world.

Two new mining bills were signed into law during Q112 that give more clarity to previ-ous statements by the Indone-sian government. First, actu-al threshold specifications for raw material exports have now been revealed through the pass-ing of Law No. 7 of 2012. Second, a new law was also passed that will require foreign investors to divest at least 51% of their own-ership in Indonesian mining as-sets 10 years after initial produc-tion. The key risk for these two rulings is whether they will be applied retroactively or partial-ly to existing contracts. Another risk is that thermal coal exports have been left alone so far and have the risk of additional taxes in the future.

Despite additional regulations, the country's geological resourc-es and geographical location continue to make it an attrac-tive destination for investment. In South East Asia, Indone-sia remains the top location for newminingprojects,followedbythe Philippines and Vietnam. A large number of these are green field and brown field exploration projectsforcoalandcopper-goldprospects.

Indonesia continues to be a significant player in the global mining industry. Geologically, Indonesia is a potential region for the

formation of various energy and mineral resources. Exploration activities that have been car-ried out since 1800’s up to the present time, have successful-ly uncovered these resources in numerous areas. Among these various resources, oil, gas, coal, coal, tin, nickel, copper, and gold have so far given important con-tribution to the Indonesian econ-omy. The country also produces significant quantities of bauxite, phosphates and iron sand, and has the potential for alluvial di-amondproduction.Themajori-ty of Indonesian territory has not been explored thoroughly, and therefore the chance to discov-er new economical energy and mineral deposit is likely to be substantial.

The efforts to attract foreign investors in the mining sector must be supported by good gov-ernance, a stable economic sys-tem, and political and legal cer-tainty. Multiplier effects of the mining industry include the de-velopment of basic infrastruc-ture, increase in regional rev-enue, job opportunities, andimprovement of employment skills, development of support-ing activities, and community development in cooperation with the regional government.

Mining production growth is relatively high. At the last ten years the average growth pro-

increase significantly, mainly due to the crash program of coal power plant development.

Foreign mining companies have become valuable strategic partners for Indonesia’s mining industry. In addition to equity, fi-nancing and investment, foreign miners bring a combination of

www.indonesia-digest.net

Foreign mining companies have become valuable strategic partners for Indonesia’s mining industry. In addition to equity, financing and investment, foreign miners bring a combination of new technology, global marketing advantages and experience from other significant mining regions around the world.

A4

Miningwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The conference will provide the up-to-date insights from an expert

line-up of industry practitioners on how they are strategizing

to meet current regulatory & on-the-ground operational constraints, review

potential partnership areas to manage

ongoing risk, identify available long term opportunities while

striving towards ensuring the security

of investments in Indonesia's mining

industry.

The 2nd AnnualIndonesia Mining 2013

The conference will provide the up-to-date insights from an expert line-up of industry practi-tioners on how they are strategiz-ing to meet current regulatory & on-the-ground operational con-straints, review potential part-nership areas to manage ongo-ing risk, identify available long term opportunities while striv-ing towards ensuring the secu-rity of investments in Indonesia's mining industry.

The conference will be chaired by David Rimbo and MurrayLines.DavidRimbohasbeenin-volved in many transactional- based Due Diligence, M&A and

Meanwhile, Murray Lines is the Founding Director of Stra-tum Resources ConsultingGroup, an independent miner-als consultancy providing infor-mation, supply demand analysis & advice on policy developments for the mining industry. Stra-tum Specializes in the Asian re-gion which accounts for around 80%of theprojects during thepast 16 years.

He has been responsible for conducting feasibility studies & providing consultancy servic-es on various minerals & metals such as iron ores, thermal and

metallurgical coal, paper raw materials, mineral sands, titani-um dioxide and other minerals and metals operations through-out Australia & Asia.

He has extensive experience with many minerals and metals including iron ores (both hema-tite & magnetite), rare-earths, kaolin, halloysite lithium com-pounds, magnesia, bentonite, silica, talc, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, fumed silica, precipitat-ed silica, colloidal silica, silica gel & silica fume. He is also in-volved with thermal coal exports around Asia region.

Clariden Global is pleased to present the 2nd Annual In-donesia Mining 2013 conference as a key

platform for mining industry stakeholders to work towards managing critical regulato-ry and operational constraints into 2013, identifying available long term opportunities as well as improving security of invest-ments amidst this period of un-certainty.

The 2nd Annual Indonesia Mining 2013 Conference will take place in Bali, Indonesia on February 25th, 2013.

Financial Advisory roles involv-ing transactions and assets in the primary energy and down-stream energy sectors. He has led various due diligence and lead advisory assignments relat-ing to numerous O&G PSC and TAC assets, domestically and overseas, as well as coal min-ing (CCOW, PKP2B, IUP) com-panies. Selected clients in the ECU (Energy, Chemical & Util-ities) sector include: Pertamina, Shell, APEC, China Senangol, SK Energy, LG International, Es-sar Minerals, PVC Coal, Sumito-mo, Kepco, EMCO, Peabody, PTT Plc, Antam.

He has experience in con-ducting supply-demand analy-sis for a wide range of feasibility studies & due diligence reports particularly for iron ore, zircon/rutile/ilmenite, kaolin, graph-ite as well as many other min-erals & metals. Mr. Lines has gained experience with high purity quartz for uses such as crucibles and solar panel ma-terials.

Other than the two promi-nent chairpersons, the confer-ence brings up global speakers from mining and exploration companies as well as bank-ing and investment compa-nies, among others, Bambang Setiawan, President Commis-ioner PT Meares Soputan Min-ing; Tony Wenas, Executive General Manager - Indonesia Intrepid Mines; Nico Kanter, President Director & CEO PT Vale Indonesia Tbk.; Ilham A Habibie, President Director PT Rekatama; Rozik B Soetjip-to, President Director PT Free-port Indonesia; Wisnu Suse-tyo, General Manager, Quality, Health, Safety and Environ-ment (QHSE) PT Adaro Energy Tbk and Chairman of Environ-mental Committee Indonesia Mining Association (API-IMA); Patrick Hanna, Executive Di-rector Cokal Limited; Julian Ford, Managing Director Su-matra Copper & Gold Plc; Jef-frey Mulyono, President Direc-tor PT Pesona Khatulistiwa Nusantara; and Tato Mira-za, Director - Development PT Antam (Persero) Tbk.

www.claridenglobal.com

A5

Laws & Regulationwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Regionalgovernmentsshould be able to

make a grand design forCSRprogramsfor their respective regions that could

serve as a reference for companies to hold aCSRprogram.With

this grand design, companies will have

guidance on the types ofCSRactivitiesthat

could bring a wide impact.TheCSR

programs should be coordinated so that

they can support one another.

CSR Programs Ought to be Integrated With Government Schemes

CSRprograms.Thisisbecausethey feel that CSR programscould bring many benefits both directly or indirectly, such as tax incentives, minimized social conflicts, and improve the com-pany’s public image.

hold.EventuallyCSRprogramscome in various forms especially since not many companies have a CSR team in their organiza-tional structure.

This is unfortunate because

CSRprogramsareactuallypo-tential to support the govern-ment’s programs. Therefore, companies need to make a grand designneededfortheirCSRpro-grams so that they could make a significant impact. Imagine

By Paulus Khierawan if all companies build a school fortheirCSRactivitiesbuttheroads that head to the schools are in poor condition or the number of students in those ar-eas are only a few. Wouldn’t that be ineffective?

That’s exactly what’s happen-ingrightnow.Regionalgovern-ments should be able to make a granddesignforCSRprogramsfor their respective regions that could serve as a reference for companies toholdaCSRpro-gram. With this grand design, companies will have guidance on the types of CSR activitiesthat could bring a wide impact. The CSR programs should becoordinated so that they can support one another. For in-stance, building a school to support the education system, building a community health center to support the health sector, building a road to sup-port the infrastructure sector, reforestation to support the en-vironment.

In the grand design, the gov-ernment can determine which sectors that can be included in the CSR programs andwhichareas that needed them the most. State-owned enterprises and regional-owned enterpris-es, which are required to con-ductCSRprograms,canstartimplementingthispolicy.CSRprogramscanplayamajorrolein improving the people’s wel-fareiftheirCSRprogramsareintegrated with the govern-ment’s programs.

The intention to set up a company is to make profits. But in prac-tice companies are required to take the

responsibility over the environ-mental changes that they creat-ed. That’s why it’s important to know about the Corporate Social Responsibility concept and tosocialize it to entrepreneurs and the public in general. Actually, CSRcannotbe separated frombusiness ethics in which com-panies have the moral respon-sibility towards their employees, surrounding communities and environment.

InIndonesia,CSRisregulat-ed under Article 74 of Law No. 40/ 2007 about limited compa-nies (UUPT). This article stated that the social and environmen-tal responsibility is aimed to cre-ate a sustainable economic de-velopment which is intended to improve the living and environ-mental quality that would ben-efit local communities, the pub-lic in general and the company itself as the company builds a harmonious, balanced relation-ship in accordance with local values, norms and culture. But based on the regulation, only companies in the natural re-sources sector are required to conductCSRprograms.Regard-less of the pros and cons about the CSR obligation, in realitymany companies that aren’t re-quired to conduct it actually hold

However, there is one im-portant point in the CSR pro-gram which is “the form of the CSRprogramitself”.Nowadays,many companies want to hold CSR programs but are not ofwhat activities they wanted to

ILUSTRASI: www.effervescent.in

CSR cannot be separated from business ethics in which companies have

the moral responsibility towards their employees,

surrounding communities and environment.

A6

Energywww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

people working in the ‘informal sector’.

Meanwhile, almost 30% of our GDP (over $110 billion in 2012) is spent to subsidize fossil fuels, which increasingly handicaps the government in trying to build the strategic infrastructure re-quired for conducting sustain-able and equitable development for all people. You need only

look at the daily traffic in Jakar-ta and other big cities to figure out how much money is burnt and wasted evey minute the traf-ficisjammedontheroads.Thecosts of such road congestion does not even include the so-cial and environmental burdens such as health costs, air pollu-tion and other ‘opportunity loss-es’ caused by the congestion.

IRES (Indonesia RenewableEnergy Society) has been con-sistently urging the government to gradually eliminate fossil fu-els subsidies and use part of the money for renewable energy and low carbon infrastructure devel-opment, but little has been hap-pening in this area, as the gov-ernment seems to have fallen into a political quagmire held ‘hostage’ by its own political al-lies.

But this situation can no lon-ger be tolerated without having a severe impact on our future eco-nomic resilience.

In the more than a decade that IREShasbeenpromotingthede-velopment of renewable energy to reduce our dependence on fossil energy and steering public poli-cy toward supporting such de-velopment, some strategic prog-resshasbeenmade.Renewable

Renewable Energy Developmentis the Way to Go

energies have gained a strategic spot in the country’s legislation through the Energy Law, the Geothermal Law, the Electrici-ty Law, and the establishment of a government body dealing with renewables and energy conser-vations– theDG-EBTKE–butthere still appears to be no guar-antee for the development to take place as we, the renewable ener-gy proponents, have expected. Much has still to be done to en-sure that the development con-tinues to get the necessary sup-port from the government and from society in general. Fortu-nately, innovations and indus-tries have made enormous prog-ress in making renewables like solar and wind more and more competitive against fossil-based energy.

On the other hand, we have to admit that fossil energy resourc-es will still be needed to meet the growing demand for energy for Indonesia’s development and in the global context for many de-cades ahead. But undoubted-ly these resources are deplet-ing, and we will eventually run into a serious energy crisis if we do prepare ourselves for the time that these resources will become really scarce and therefore ex-tremely expensive.

IRESisalsoconcernedaboutwhat we consider the excessive exports of our precious energy resources, because by doing this we tend to neglect the energy needs of our own future genera-tions and our own energy secu-rity. The government has to seri-ously take the necessary actions to reduce, if not entirely stop, ex-porting these resources especial-ly our oil and natural gas, and at some point our coal, while at the same time increasing the pace of the development of renewable energy which this country has in abundance. With almost 30GW geothermal, 80GW hydro and enormous potentials of other re-newable energy resources like solar and bio-energy, Indonesia could be the envy of the world. But sadly the fact is that overall, we currently lag behind other countries in taking advantage of these resources. We need to se-riously improve this current sit-uation if we are not going to be overwhelmed by other countries within the increasingly ‘integrat-ed’ world economy.

So, there will be no better op-tion for this country than to rely on our renewable energy re-sources for achieving our future energy security and for our sus-tainable and equitable develop-ment.

Indonesia’s Nation-al Economy has always been very much influ-enced by, and is vulner-able to, the global price

volatility of fossil fuels. We have experienced crises of varying sizes almost automatically ev-ery time there is a radical price hike for oil in the global market, especially since this country has become a net importer of oil fuel. This vulnerability is in-creasing every year, as we learn every day from the media, how billions of US dollars are spent by the government to keep peo-ple moving from one place to another.

This is made to appear as the government’ ‘genuine’ obliga-tion to keep the dynamic econo-my going, but it isn’t going very well according to the common-ly used measure for a coun-try’s economic development, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Indonesia has been praised by the international community for its economic performance as it has chalked up an aver-age 5-6% GDP growth during the last five years. But does this multi-year growth performance benefit the common people? You don’t need to be an econo-mist to find out that it doesn’t.

Despite the increasing size of the ‘middle class’ that seems to have helped the economy grow, there is a rapidly growing gap between the rich and super-rich in the country and the vast ma-jorityoflowlevelincomepeople,the farmers, fishermen, work-ers who have to fight hard to get their minimum wage approved by the government and agreed by their employers, as well as the

IREShasbeenconsistentlyurgingthegovernmenttograduallyeliminatefossilfuelssubsidiesand use part of the money for renewable energy and low carbon infrastructure development, but little has been happening in this area, as the government seems to have fallen into a political quagmire held ‘hostage’ by its own political allies.

By Rachmat GobelIndonesia Renewable Energy Society(IRES) Chairman

Indonesia’s First Magazine Dedicated to Clean And Renewable Energy

In 2011, a collaboration between the German Marshall Fund, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the German Heinrich Boll Stiftung published a work-paper report on the need for ‘smart’ renewable energy policies in developing countries. The report is a survey of findings from research conducted in 12 developing countries including Indonesia. Their findings show that a bottom-up approach is needed to ensure the effectiveness of policy for making renewable energy meet its strategic roles in the countries’ search for sustainable development, and that sharing international experience could improve the chances of success in renewable energy development on the ground.

coverstory

department: solar energy

The renewable energy sector in Indonesia is currently undergoing a considerable development. New and improved legislation for the sector is in progress and Indonesian as well as international companies see the country as a promising future market for renewable energy applications. The international exchange of experience between experts and pracitioners could help identify remaining barriers and caveats to get speedier development.

German Experience and Indonesia’s Potential

THE NEED FOR A ‘SMART’ RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY

Having dedicated financial institutions for green business could help encourage renewable energy developments, because according to recent market analysis, financial innovation is the real key to scale-up the market demand, which in return will boost industry growth.

Is It Time to Have Green Development Banks in Indonesia?business

SUBSCRIBE NOW!Jalan RC Veteran No. 29 B, Bintaro, Jakarta

Selatan 12320 Phone / Fax: +6221 - 7342253

Email: info@respectsmagazine.comWebsite: http//www.respectsmagazine.com

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

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RENEWABLE ENERGY

DEVELOPMENT IS

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GREEN BANKS?

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RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY

A7

Internationalwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Bilateral relation be-tween Indonesia and Taiwan is in-creasing substan-tially in many areas

though the two countries have no diplomatic ties due to Indo-nesia’s One-China Policy.

According to KDEI (Indone-sian Economic and Trade Of-fice) in Taiwan, the trade value between Indonesia and Taiwan in the period of 2007 to 2011 grew, on an annual average, by 6.62%. However KDEI expects that the trade value between Indonesia and Taiwan in 2012 will be at least equal to the po-sition in 2011, which is $12.27 billion.

As of October 2012, Taiwan’s import from Indonesia reached $6.30 billion, up by 1.49% com-pared to the same period in 2011. Meanwhile, Taiwan's ex-port value of Indonesia as of Oc-tober 2012 reached $6.23 bil-lion, up by 1.49% compared to the same period in 2011.

It means that Indonesia is still surplus in the period of Janu-ary-October 2012, but when compared to the same period in 2011, surplus for Indonesia de-creased by 6.78%. This is due to the increase of Indonesia’s capi-tal goods import from Taiwan.

wan’s investment in the period of 2007-2011 were Banten with a valueof$295.2million(46proj-ects), West Java with a value of $113.5million(79projects),EastJava with a value of $57.8 mil-lion(42projects),NorthSumatrawith a value of $53.6 million (10 projects),andRiauwithavalueof$47.4million(3projects).

In the field of industry, with the strength of Taiwan's indus-trial development, KDEI collabo-rates with the Ministry of Indus-try to increase investment/jointventure of Taiwan’s manufac-

turing industry to Indonesia in main sectors such as ICT indus-try and metal and machinery industries, especially in capital goods industries such as CNC machinery industry, and textile/garment machinery industry.

KDEI has done several at-tempts to enhance Taiwan’s in-vestment in manufacturing industry in Indonesia. For in-stance, KDEI held the invest-ment tour for TEEMA (Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Man-ufacturing Association) to Indo-nesia.

In addition, there was an MOU signed by Sekolah Tinggi Me-nengah Industri with Taiwan universities, among others NTU-ST, in terms of industrial tech-nology exchange and human re-source development.

In tourism, Taiwan’s tourists visit to Indonesia from year to year continues to increase. Indo-nesia is the Taiwanese’s 8th most favorite tourism destination in Asia and ranks 3rd among ASE-AN countries after Thailand and Vietnam. Onthesubjectofemployment,

by the end of 2012 the numbers of Indonesian workers in Taiwan is 189,494 people, or 43% of the total foreign workers working in Taiwan.

The latest progress is the sign-ing on Dec. 4 of a Taiwan-In-donesia memorandum of un-derstandingonaplantojointlydevelop Morotai Island, one of In-donesia's northernmost islands.

Indonesia and Taiwan are planning to make Morotai as a special area with internation-al air and sea ports. Thus, Mo-rotai will be the central area of logistics.

With the MoU, the govern-ment of both countries expect the Morotai Development Proj-ect will soon be realized through the establishment of the Steering Committee, followed by a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involv-ing various parties, including the private sector, to formulate in detail the steps and priority actions to be carried out.

Indonesia-Taiwan Relations Grow Significantly

In terms of investment, the realization of Taiwan’s invest-ment in 2007-2012 showed an encouraging development, and reached the highest record in 2012. Taiwan’s foreign direct in-vestment is ranked 13th in Indo-nesia. Quoting Commonwealth Magazine, published in Taiwan, Indonesia is one of the world's fastest growing emerging mar-kets and the place where Tai-wan's high-tech companies are looking to drive future growth. A survey conducted by the mag-azine also said that Indonesia is the second hot spot for investors from Taiwan.

The largest sector of Taiwan’s investment in Indonesia in the period of 2007-2011 is paper in-dustries, paper products and printing with a value of $361.8 million (9 projects), followed bybasic metal industries, metal goods, machinery and electron-ics with a value of $44.2 million (43projects), non-metallicmin-erals industries with a value of $43.1 million (7 projects), rub-ber industries, rubber and plas-tic goods with a value of $27 mil-lion(18projects)andthetextileindustries with a value of $25.9 million(22projects).

The major locations of Tai-

KDEI Chief Ahmad Syafri. According to KDEI (Indonesian Economic and Trade Office) in Taiwan, the trade value between Indonesia and Taiwan in the period of 2007 to 2011 grew, on an annual average, by 6.62%.

The latest progress is the signing on Dec. 4 of a Taiwan-Indonesia memorandum ofunderstandingonaplantojointlydevelop Morotai Island, one of Indonesia's northernmost islands.

Indonesian Ambassador to Venezuela Prianti Gagarin DjatmikometwithVenezue-lan Deputy Minister for Asia-Pacific and Oceania David Nivel Velasquez in his office in Caracas last month. Dur-ing the meeting, the Ambas-sador and Deputy Minister David discussed a number of bilateral issues and both countries’ commitment to increase the partnership be-tween Venezuela and Indo-nesia.

At bilateral level, Depu-ty Minister David cited the implementation of the Third High Level Joint Commis-sion (HLJC), which would take place in Venezuela in mid-2013.

In addition, they also dis-cussed Indonesia’s plan to host the meetings by FE-ALAC and WTO and a series of APEC meetings and peti-tion of support for the nom-ination of Dr. Mari Panges-tu as the Director General of WTO.

With regard to ASEAN, the Venezuelan Deputy Minis-ter also discussed the agree-ment on ASEAN Committee in Caracas (ACC) and the prospect of organizing a di-alogue between ASEAN and ALBA.

In turn, Ambassador Pri-anti said that the trade coop-erationbetweenRIandVen-ezuela has developed quite well.

“The fact can be seen from the success of seven Venezu-elan businesses who man-aged to book a transaction worth around $26 million or the seventh biggest trans-action made by participants of the Trade Expo Indonesia that took place in October 2012,” explained Ambassa-dor Prianti.

The Indonesian Ambassa-dor also extended an invitation to Venezuela to attend a train-ing program for diplomatic offi-cials by taking part in the Inter-national Mid-Career Diplomatic Course organized by the Cen-tre for Education and Training of the Indonesian Ministry of For-eign Affairs.

On the same occasion, the In-donesian Ambassador also con-gratulated the appointment of Elias Jaua (the former Venezu-elan Vice President) as Foreign Minister replacing Nicolas Ma-duro, who currently holds the position as Vice President of Ven-ezuela.

Venezuela Committed to Strengthen Partnership with Indonesia

Prianti Gagarin DjatmikoIndonesian Ambassador to Venezuela

The fact can be seen from the success of seven Venezuelan businesses who managed to book a transaction worth around $26 million or the seventh biggest transaction made by participants of the Trade Expo Indonesia that took place in October 2012.”

Indonesia and Taiwan are planning to make Morotai as a special area with international air and sea ports. Thus,

Morotai will be the central area of logistics.

A8

Educationwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

P olice General Da’i Bachtiar, President of the Indonesia Crime Prevention Foundation

and former Chief of the Indone-sian National Police, received an Adjunct Professorship fromEdith Cowan University in West-ern Australia.

The award which was present-ed by Professor Kerry Cox, the Vice-Chancellor of Edith Cow-an University, in recognition for General Bachtiar’s contribution to combating global crimes, par-ticularly in the areas of terror-

General Da'i Bachtiar ReceivesAdjunct Professorship Award from Australia’s Edith Cowan University

inIndonesia,”saidAmbassadorMoriarty. He went on to say that “General Bachtiar’s success-es in many ways reflect the sto-ry of the strong security relation-ship between our two countries today”.

In 2003 the Australian Gov-ernment recognized General Bachtiar’s service to Australia – specifically his role in estab-lishingajointinvestigationtask-force following the Bali bombing in2002–byawardinghimanHonorary Officer of the Order of Australia.

ism, drug and human traffick-ing.

Australian Ambassador to In-donesia, Greg Moriarty who at-tended the Award Ceremony, ex-plained that General Bachtiar’s past role as Chief of the Indo-nesian National Police was in-strumental in establishing po-lice cooperation between the two countries.

“This successful partnership between our police laid the prac-tical foundation for cooperation between Australian and Indo-nesian authorities to investigate several major terrorist attacks

Two representatives of Ohio University, Prof. J. Michael Ger-inger and Katy Goring, visited President University to discuss the possibility to collaborate in Cross Culture Immersion Pro-gram (CLIP) or also known as Strategic Consulting. The pro-gram will be organized for a pe-riod of 6 to 10 weeks involving several groups of students, each consists of 4 to 6 members (a mix of American and local students)

with diverse backgrounds. The program aims to introduce the participants in real working en-vironment abroad and seeks to develop a project based-teamwhich is expected to give solu-tions towards some of the real problems occurred in the com-panies.

Through this collaboration, it is expected that President Uni-versity will gain prominence in the US market.

Ohio University to Collaboratewith President University

EducationUSA, in part-nership with 24 prominent US educational institutions, launched the Spring 2013 EducationUSA Fair: a na-tionwide education road show for Indonesian stu-dentscoveringfivemajorcit-ies in Indonesia.

The EducationUSA Fair is an annual advising activ-ity coordinated by AMINEF/EducationUSA that provides accurate and impartial in-formation on studying in the United States by facili-tating direct interaction be-tween students and univer-sity representatives. This Fair also enhanced students’ exposure to the thousands

EducationUSA Fair Spring 2013of possibilities of majors, pro-grams, scholarships and assis-tantship opportunities available at U.S. academic institutions.

This year’s fair include the workshops that began at JW Marriot Hotel in Medan (Febru-ary 1), Le Meridien Hotel in Ja-karta (February 3), Shangri-La Hotel in Surabaya (February 6), Sanur Paradise Hotel in Den-pasar (February 8), and Sam Ratulangi University Auditori-um in Manado (February 11).

Attendees will be able to meet university representatives or fol-low activities through Educa-tionUSA’s website www.educa-tionusa.or.id and social media channels, including Facebook, Skype, and Twitter.

Also attending the meeting were Dr. Chandra Setiawan, MM.,Ph.D,theRectorofPres-ident University; T. Maniva-sugen, MBA, the Vice RectorIII; Jhanghiz Syahrivar, SE., MM.,theHeadofPublicRela-tions Division; John Mewburn, MA.TESOL., the Head of Inter-national Collaborations Office; andLinaRosmawatifromPre-sUniv Internship Career Cen-ter.

General Bachtiar’s past role as Chief of the Indonesian National Police was instrumental in establishing police cooperation between the two countries.

Prof. J. Michael Geringer from Ohio University (left) and Dr. Chandra Setiawan, MM., Ph.D, the Rector of President University.

www.president.ac.id

ANTARA

The President Post/Rians Rivco

The EducationUSA Fair is an annual advising activity coordinated by AMINEF/EducationUSA that provides accurate and impartial information on studying in the United States by facilitating direct interaction between students and university representatives.

BUSINESSwww.thepresidentpost.com

February 2013Vol. 2 No. 2

SECTION B

The President Post

Number of Bank Account Holders Increased in 2012

The Indonesian RetailBusiness Association (Aprin-do) for West Java is optimis-tic that retail business in In-donesia, in West Java, in particular, will gain positive growth in 2013, an Aprindo executive said.

“Based on the develop-ment of retail business in West Java in the past several years, we are optimistic that in 2013 this business will still gain positive growth,”Hendri Hendarta, the sec-retary of Aprindo West Java, said.

The retail business in West Java in 2012 grew by 16% so that this business still gas the potential to gain positive growth in 2013, he said. He said that the retail business in West Java grew and devel-op evenly across the province and help boost the develop-ment of small and medium scale business (UKM).

Besides that, the retail business also helped en-courage UKM products to obtain certification and to have retail business stan-dards. “The volumes of UKM products absorbed by retail businesses continue to in-crease and this condition is promisingtheUKMfuture,”

Aprindo Upbeat on Growth of Retail Business

Assets of Bank Mutiara up 17.2%PT Bank Mutiara Tbk (Bank Mutiara) reported a healthy growth in 2012

with assets growing 17.2% on-year to Rp15.3 trillion by Dec. 31 , 2012. The management of the bank attributed the growth to improved finan-

cial performance in 2012 .A news release by the bank on Sunday said that the third party funds

it held grew 20.2% to Rp13.4 trillion with outstanding credit rising 18.7% to Rp11.1 trillion by the end of 2012 compared to a year earlier. Prudential banking principle was strictly observed in the credit expansion as reflect-ed by the decline in net non performing loan ratio to 3.4% from 4.5% per-cent, the statement said.

The statement said the strong growth of third party funds and cred-it expansion indicated improved public confidence in the former scandal hit Bank Century.

Investigation into the legal case of Bank Century has been dragged un-til now over controversial Rp7 trillion bail out by the government in 2009. The Corruption Eradication Commission has named two former deputy

governors of the central bank as suspects in the case which also impli-cated a number of other top officials of the government .

Ahmad Fajar, acting president director of Bank Mutiara, said the man-agement is set to continue to improve the public confidence in the bank. Ahmad said strong capital structure also contributed to the expansion of business of the bank.

The bank recorded Rp1.3 trillion in equity by Dec. 31 , 2012 or an in-crease of 37.2% from a year earlier. Its core capital rose by 29.3% to Rp1 trillion in the same period.

Mitsubishi Car Sales Up 10.8% in 2012Mitsubishi car sales rose 10.8% on year to 148,981 units in 2012, PT

Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motor, the sole agent for Mitsubishi cars in Indonesia, said.

The company attributed the rise in total sales mainly to a strong growth in the sales of passenger cars. Sales of passenger cars surged to 22,463 units in 2012 from 13,935 units in 2011, the company said in a news re-lease issued on Friday.

Outlander Sport and Mirage, a new model of passenger cars launched in 2012, made a significant contribution to the rise in sales of Mitsubishi passenger cars, it said. Sales of Pajero Sport, a passenger car of Multi Purpose Vehicle (MPV) type, reached 13,935 units, it said.

Meanwhile commercial cars Colt L300 and Strada Triton had a 68.6%

BUSINESS BRIEFSand 35.5% shares of the market of car of their respective types. Sales of Mitsubishi Colt Diesel trucks reached a monthly record of 6,062 units in October. Altogether Mitsubishi has the third largest share of car market in the country after Toyota and Daihatsu.

the Aprindo secretary said.

Modern retail sales in Indo-nesiagrew12.5%toRp135tril-lion this year from Rp120 tril-lion last year. The growth was also marked with the rapid ex-pansion of outlets of mini mar-kets especially in new residen-tial complexes, deputy secretary general of Aprindo, Satria Hamid Ahmadi said meanwhile.

However, on national scale the business would have to go through heavier challenges in 2013, Satria said.There will be an increase in electricity tariff and distribution cost, he cited.

He said recent regulation to raise workers wages would not necessarily result in an increase in sales as the prices of goods also have climbed with report of energy cost. He said increase in the workers salary should be compensated with an improve-ment in infrastructure, and business incentives.

He said that flat growth is ex-pected in retail business next year, adding sales would in-crease but not because of an in-crease in sales but more on price hike. “Another big challenge is the fact that regional minimum wage in Jakarta is 5% high-er than in other provinces,” hesaid.

GE Indonesia to Focus On Energy Business

GE (General Electric) In-donesia said its business fo-cus this year will be on the energy sector including in oil and gas equipment and elec-tric energy.

“This year we will work more in the energy sector providing oil and gas equip-ment and technology and electric energy,” Presidentand CEO of GE Indonesia Handry Satriago said.

Last year business in the sector of aviation and loco-motive transport were the largest contributor to the company s income, Handry said here on Tuesday. “The sector contributed more than 50% to the company s income in2012,”headded.This year business in the oil and gas sector is expect-ed to grow three times larg-er, he said.

“The Energy sector will be the primadonna in 2013 and is likely to be the largest con-tributor to the income of GE Indonesiathisyear,”hesaid.He said he is optimistic GE

Indonesia will post a two-fold increase in income from business in all sectors, ener-gy , land and air transport, and health.

“GE Indonesia will still maintain partners from the government and state com-panies. Around 70% of the partners will be from the government as the compa-ny will operate more in infra-structure based business. The government has most ofprojectsintheinfrastruc-turesector,”hesaid.

In addition, GE Indonesia plans to provide facilities for the human resource devel-opment to promote talented local players to become glob-al players, he said.

“To become a strong lead-er with global perception and concept ones need to have a global mindset. If we have global mindset, we will be able to face foreign com-petitors,”headded.Aglobalbusiness player will produce competitive products in glob-al market, he said.

The number of bank account holders in the country had increased by 30% in 2012.

Central Bank`s Direc-tor of Payment Sys-tems and Accounting, Boedi Armanto, said the number of bank

account holders in the country had increased by 30% in 2012.

“More Indonesians have ac-cess to banking services. Banks encourage the use of electronic money (e-money) in retail trans-actions,”saidBoediArmantoonWednesday.

Boedi said as of now, the num-ber of e-money transactions has reachedRp24trillionperyear.Bank Indonesia (BI) should en-courage people to use e-money. “It will be beneficial to Bank In-donesia ifpeopleusee-money,”he said.

Bank Indonesia is keen to in-crease the number of credit and debit card owners from 30 to 60% in 2013. “Last year, 21 mil-lion cards were used for retail transactions,”hesaid.

Bank Indonesia will also en-courage the implementation of branch-less banking services in rural areas. Banking trans-actions should be as easy as adding credit to a pre-paid cell phone, Boedi added. “The new system will reduce operational cost of a bank. Customers will find it easy to carry out banking transactions,”hesaid.

The branch-less banking sys-tem has been successful in Ke-nya, Africa. More than 200,000 customers have benefited from a branch-less banking system. This system enables banking transactions to be carried out by third parties, without the need to go to a branch or an ATM (Auto-matic Teller Machine).

Last week, Bank Indonesia be-gan to accelerate the standard-ization of e-money or electron-ic money. This way, electronic money transactions will be more efficient and effective.

Jasa Marga’s 2013 Capex Set at Rp7tState owned road construc-

tion company PT Jasa Marga has set its capital expenditure (capex) for2013atRp7trillion,upfromRp4trillionin2011,ac-cording to the company s presi-dent director.

PT Jasa Marga President Di-rector Adityawarman told a press conference on Thursday that his company s income in 2012 was expectedtoreachRp5.6trillion,up14.5%fromRp4.9trillioninthe previous year.

“We have set our income tar-get for 2013 at Rp6.5 trillion,”Adiyawarman said, while speak-

ing about his company`s perfor-mance in 2012 and making pre-dictions for this year.

He said toll road services con-tributed Rp5.5 trillion to thecompany’s annual revenues, while business sectors contrib-utedRp0.11trillion.“Thevolumeof traffic flow on our toll roads reached 1.2 billion vehicles, up 8.9%from1.09billionin2011,”Adityawarman stated.Regardingthecapitalexpendi-

turetargetofRp7billionforthisyear, Adityawarman said most of the funds would be used to build newtollroads.“AboutRp4.7tril-

lion would be used for that pur-pose. About 70% of the budget would be obtained from a bank-ing syndicate, while the remain-ing 30% would come from equi-ty,”heexplained.

Adityawarman noted that most of the capital expenditure last year was also on toll road construction. “Of the Rp4 tril-lion, some Rp2.8 trillion wasspent on the construction of new tollroads.”

“We are currently working on ninetollroadprojectsinIndone-sia, five of which are expected to becompletedthisyear,”hesaid.

The five toll roads expected to be ready by the end of this year in-clude the 10km-long Bali toll road, which will link Nusa Dua with Ngurah Rai. It is expect-ed to be completed ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Coopera-tion Conference in October.

“About 75% of the construction workiscomplete,”Adityawarmannoted. “The second one is the Ja-kartaOuterRingRoad (JORR)W2 north, Section I, linking Ke-bon Jeruk with Cileduk. It is ap-proximately60.5%complete,”hestated.

“Once this toll road is ready, it

willreducetrafficjamsinJakar-ta,”Adityawarmansaid.

The third and fourth toll roads will be constructed in Central Java. One of them will link Se-marang with Solo. Stretching for 12 km, it is about 62.5% com-plete. The other one, 13.6 km long, will link Gempol with Pan-daan.

The fifth toll road will link Kri-anwithMojokertoinSurabaya,East Java. “If the land clearance for this road could be completed in March, its construction would be finished by the end of the year,”Adityawarmansaid.

www.infobanknews.com

Mitsubishi Mirage along with Outlander Sport made a significant contribution to the rise in sales of Mitsubishi passenger cars

VIVAnews/Fernando Randy

State Owned Enterprise to Control Air Traffic

The government has estab-lished a flight navigation service firm, Perum Navigasi, on Jan-uary 16, said Indonesia s State Owned Enterprises Minister, Dahlan Iskan, on Tuesday.

Perum Navigasi will enhance the current air navigation sys-tem. Previously, air traffic was handled by two government en-terprises, PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II.

According to Dahlan, the Min-istry of State Owned Enterprises and the Ministry of Transporta-tion will supervise the new traf-fic control company. “The new traffic control company will im-prove the quality of service. It will also look into the safety of passengers. Perum Navigasi will take over the national traf-fic control function completely in

thenextoneortwoyears,”saidthe minister.

Although there has been an increase in the volume of air traffic in the past few years, the country is struggling to effec-tively manage the high traffic of planes at its airports. Current-ly, there are around 200 airports in Indonesia. There are 707 air-crafts operating in the country - 434 commercial planes, 259 chartered planes and 14 cargo planes.

The Soekarno-Hatta Interna-tional Airport is said to be the 16th busiest airport in the world based on the number of passen-gers arriving and departing from the airport. It was able to accom-modate 50 million passengers in 2011, more than its annual ca-pacity of 22 million passengers.

President and CEO of GE Indonesia Handry Satriago

www.mb.ipb.ac.id

Bank Indonesia will encourage the implementation of branch-less banking services in rural areas. The branch-less banking system has been successful in Kenya, Africa. More than 200,000 customers have benefited from a branch-less banking system. This system enables banking transactions to be carried out by third parties, without the need to go to a branch or an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine).

B2

Businesswww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

A group of Japanese business leaders has visit-ed North Sumatra to study business opportunities in that province.

The group led by Ka-zuhisa Matsui of JAC Busi-ness Centre met with lead-ers of the North Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin). “They want more informa-tion from Kadin and hope that Kadin members agree to become their partners in doing business in North Sumatra,” Tohar Soehar-tono, deputy chairman of the North Sumatra branch of Kadin said.

The Japanese become more interested in ventur-ing in North Sumatra after seeing Chinese and Taiwan-ese companies are aggres-sive in expanding opera-tions in that region, Tohar said.

The Japanese acknowl-edged that they have been a little late in seeing the po-tential business opportuni-ties in North Sumatra, he said. However, the Japanese companies believed there are still wide areas not yet touched by foreign investors in the province.

After PT Indonesia Asa-han Aluminium, an alumi-num smelter, in which the contract of Japanese inves-tors will expire this year,

Japan has no significant in-vestment in North Suma-tra.

The group especially wants to invest in the energy sector, such as power gen-eratingprojects,Toharsaid.“Kadin hopes that both the central government and the provincial administrations would facilitate the Japa-nese companies in seeking businesslicense,”hesaid.

Chairman of the invest-ment and business pro-motion committee of North Sumatra Kadin Suwan-to said the Japanese inves-tors have been offered to invest in hydro power gen-eratingprojects,andfacto-ry machine industry and in sectors in partnership with small and medium enter-prises.

Japanese CompaniesEye North Sumatra

Garuda Indonesia is ready to take over the routes of Batavia Air, which has been de-clared bankrupt, a

minister said.“The routes that were previ-

ously served by Batavia could now be served by Garuda be-cause the airline has the capac-ity to do so,” State-OwnedEn-terprise Minister Dahlan Iskan said here on Thursday.

The minister noted that the airline had the capacity to ex-pand their flight schedules to serve the routes left by Batavia

Air. “Garuda can surely serve theseroutes,”hesaid.

However, Dahlan pointed out that taking over the routes might not be `as easy as it seems be-cause Garuda must first consid-er the size of their fleet . “Procur-ing airplanes requires funds and alongtime,”theministersaid.

Earlier, Batavia Airlines was

declared bankrupt by the Cen-tral Jakarta District Court. “Batavia Airlines is bankrupt,”said Presiding Judge Agus Is-kandar as he read out the verdict on Wednesday. “Batavia Airlines had met the requirements of Law No. 37/2004 on bankrupt-cy. Hence, Batavia Airlines has been declared bankrupt,” saidthe Presiding Judge.

The IFLR had filed a bank-ruptcy petition with the court be-cause the airlines had not been able to pay its debts, amounting to $4.68 million, which matured on December 31, 2012.

Garuda to serve flights between Manado and Balikpapan

Garuda Indonesia will serve direct flight in a new route be-

tween Manado and Balik-papan in June on growing demand for the service, an of-ficial of the nation s flag car-rier, said.

“Demand for regular flights between Manado and Balik-papanisrelativelyhigh,”Pik-tor Sitohang, the general man-ager of the airline in Manado, said. Piktor said the opening of the new route is part of the airline s program to increase public service especially as the East Kalimantan city has airport with good quality.

Garuda also plans to serve direct flight between Manado and Surabaya in East Java, he said. In 2014, the airline will start direct flights be-tween Manado and Denpasar of Bali, he added.

Garuda Set to Take Over Batavia Routes

Garuda also plans to serve direct flight between Manado and Surabaya in East Java.

Thegovernmentwillnotinjectfunds in the form of state equi-ty participation (PMN) to state postal firm PT Pos Indonesia to expand its businesses, State En-terprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said.

“In principle, we will no lon-gerinjectfundstostatefirmsforwhatever their reasons. Except strategic state firms and state in-surance companies, no any oth-er state firm will receive state eq-

uityparticipation,”hesaidhereon Tuesday.

The government will not re-spond to any request from the management of PT Pos for a capitalinjection,hesaid.“True,PT Pos needs funds to expand its businesses. But should the funds come from state capital injection?Byimproving itsper-formance PT Pos will have many ways to find funds, not neces-

sarilyfromthegovernment,”hesaid.

PT Pos is currently focusing on developing its businesses, ranging from logistics, banking services, property to retail busi-ness. In its 2013 business plan, the company allocates an esti-matedRp873billion for capitalexpenditure.Ofthetotal,Rp580billion will be used for invest-ment of its subsidiaries, Rp10

billionforproperty,Rp245bil-lionforfixedassets,andRp37billion for intangible assets.

The company had original-ly planned to make an ini-tial public offering (IPO) of its shares this year to raise funds. However, the State Enterpris-es Ministry as the authorized shareholder does not allow the company to float its shares to the public.

Asked to comment on the company s plan to set up a bank in association with state lender Bank Mandiri and state insurance company PT Taspen, he said the plan is a good step.

“I agree they will synergize. It is up to PT Pos. What is im-portant is that it will not rely on state equity participation. It is okay it will issue bonds and makebankloans,”hesaid.

Govt Tells Pos Indonesia To Make it on Its Own

The Japanese become more interested in venturing in North Sumatra after seeing Chinese and Taiwanese companies are aggressive in expanding operations in that region

They want more information from Kadin and hope that Kadin members agree to become their partners in doing business in North Sumatra.”Tohar SoehartonoDeputy Chairman of theNorth Sumatra Branch of Kadin

Minister Dahlan Iskan noted that the airline had the capacity to expand their flight schedules to serve the routes left by Batavia Air.

B3

Investmentwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The Investment Coordi-nating Board (BKPM) will encourage invest-ment outside Java, such as Sumatra, Ka-

limantan and Papua.“The most important thing to

support this plan is more infra-structure facilities such as power plants and asphalted roads out-sideJava,” saidHeadofBKPMChatib Basri at the BKPM build-ing in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Basri added the investment growth outside Java had been encouraging as a result of the implementation of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Ex-pansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI).

According to BKPM data, Rp30.6 trillion or 36.8%of therealized investment in the fourth quarter of 2012 was made out-

sideJavaandRp52.7trillionor63.2% in Java. This compared toRp22.1trillionor31.4%out-sideJavaandRp48.1trillionor68.6% in Java in the same peri-od a year earlier. “But the distri-bution of investment in and out-sideJavaisyettobeideal,”saidBasri.

Meanwhile, the total invest-ment outside Java in the Jan-uary-December 2012 period reachedRp137.6trillion(43.9%),up slightly from the same peri-od a year earlier when the figure was recorded at Rp103.2 tril-lion (41.1%). “We want the ra-tio to run into around 40-60% oreven50-50perquarter,”headded.

Basri said the realization of MP3EI programs should be monitored, particularly to find other potential investors to in-

vest their money outside Java. “Frankly speaking, if the MP3EI projects run smoothly, inves-tors will come there on their own. Many companies have ex-pressed interest to invest outside Java,”hesaid.

“But they have a problem with the lack of infrastructure facili-tiesoutsideJava.”

The big five domestic invest-ment destinations in the fourth quarter of 2012 were East Java (Rp9.5trillion),WestJava(Rp2.6trillion),Jakarta(Rp2.1trillion),CentralKalimantan(Rp1.3tril-lion),andRiau(Rp1.3trillion).

Meanwhile, the big five for-eign investment destinations in the same period were West Java ($1.2 billion), Jakarta ($1.1 bil-lion), Banten ($0.9 billion), East Java ($0.9 billion), and Papua ($0.5 billion).

According to the Indone-sia Stock Exchange (IDX), investments made by foreign investors in Indonesia will boost the growth of the do-mestic capital market.

“The Finnish government understands that Finnish investors are keen on invest-ing in Indonesia,” said theDirector of Trade and Mem-bers Settings at IDX, Samsul Hidayat, on Friday.

He said according to the Indonesian capital market authority, Finnish investors believe the Indonesian fi-nancial market will grow.

“Finnish investors are im-pressed by Indonesia’s pol-

recentfloodsintheregion,”he said.

The Director of IDX, Ito Warsito, said stocks of issu-ers that are traded on the IDX will push foreign inves-tors to invest in the domestic capital market. He said for-eign investors are investing in the domestic stock mar-ket because they are confi-dent that companies listed on the stock exchange will perform well.

“This year, foreign inves-tors have invested Rp2.52trillion in the domestic stock market. This is certainly a reflection of foreign inves-tors’ confidence in the Indo-nesianshares,”hesaid.

BKPM WantsMore Investment

Outside Java

Apple to Invest $3bState-owned postal service

companApple Inc, a California-based computer hardware cor-poration, has confirmed a plan to invest $3 billion in Indonesia this year.

“This year, a number of com-panies have expressed interest in investing in Indonesia. One of them is Apple Inc,” said Basri.

Apple Inc planned to invest in Indonesia after Taiwan-based Fox-conn Technology Group, which supplies and assembles Apple Inc products, intended to relocate its plant in Indonesia, he said. In the first phase, Apple Inc would open stores and online stores in Jakar-ta, he said.

He said the entry of Apple Inc to Indonesia was a special pride now that Apple Inc products had so far entered Indonesia via Singapore, which is an authorized reseller.

It was not impossible for the company to open its plant in Indone-sia in view of its huge market which always searches feverishly for the newest gadget released by Apple Inc., he said.

Deputy for investment control to BKPM head Azhar Lubis shared Chatib`s view saying Apple Inc, which has increasingly become popu-lar for its iPhone and iPad would soon set up its distribution center In-donesia.

“At present stores or resellers in Indonesia which sell Apple products must buy them from Singapore so that the prices of the products sold to domestic customers are relatively high,” he said.

Besides Apple Inc, other companies that have confirmed a plan to in-vest in Indonesia are Lotte of South Korea, Nippon Shokubai of Japan, Middle East Coal (MEC) of Singapore, National Aluminium Company (NALCO) of India, and Huadian Power of China.

Investment up 24.6% in 2012Realization of domestic and foreign investment in 2012 from Janu-

ary to December rose 24.6% to Rp313.2 trillion from Rp251.,3 trillion in 2011.

INVESTMENT BRIEFS“Investment has jumped very high. This is encouraging as it is the

highest in the investment history in Indonesia,” Basri said. He said the investment record of Rp313.2 trillion was 110.5% higher than the tar-get of Rp285.5 trillion.

He said domestic investment in the year reached Rp92.2 trillion up from Rp76 trillion in the year before while foreign investment was re-corded at Rp221 trillion rising from Rp175.3 trillion. “The realization of domestic and foreign investment in 2012 also surpassed the targets respectively by 120.2% and 106.2%,” he said.

Basri said the mining sector has drawn the biggest foreign invest-ment in 2012 reaching $4.3 billion (17.3%), followed by transportation at $2.8 billion (11.4%), chemical $2.8 billion (11.4%), basic metal in-dustry $2.5 billion (10%) and shipment and transportation $1.8 billion (7.5%).

Based on countries of origin Singapore was the biggest investor with its investment reaching $4.9 billion, followed by Japan $2.5 billion, South Korea $1.9 billion, the US $1.2 billion and Mauritius $1.1 billion.

The sector that attracted the biggest domestic investment in 2012 meanwhile were food industries drawing Rp11.2 trillion in investment (11.2% percent), following by non-metal mineral industries Rp10.7 tril-lion (11.6%), food crops Rp9.6 trillion (10.4%), transportation and tele-communication Rp8.6 trillion (9.3%) and others Rp41.6 trillion (45.1%).

Interest of ForeignInvestors High: IDX

US-based Celanes Corpora-tion would carry out its plan to build an ethanol factory in Indo-nesia toward the end of this year, an official said.Theprojectiscoalgasification

to turn out methanol to be pro-cessed in ethanol for fuel and for chemical feedstock, Director General of Base Industries Pang-gah Susanto said.“Construction of the project

will kick off in the last quarter of thisyear,”Panggahadded.

The project, to cost up toUS$2.5 billion, will have a pro-duction capacity of 1.1 million tons of ethanol, he said here on Tuesday. The production will be used as fuel and feedstock in chemical industry, but mainly

for fuel, Panggah said.The project is part of the

government s program to devel-op downstream sector of miner-al industry restricting export of raw minerals in favor of finished commodities. “It is in line with the program of developing down-stream mineral industry and

at the same ti to produce more cleanfuel,”hesaid.Construction of the project

is expected to take two to three years, he said. Location of the project,however,isyettobede-cided as there are a number of factors to be studied including proximity to source of basic ma-terial and availability of infra-structure, he said.

It is almost certain that the lo-cation is outside Java, as Java has no coal mine, he added. Cel-anses will team up with state oil and gas company PT Pertam-ina and the production would all be for domestic consumption, he said. Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat said the project wouldbe built in Kalimantan , the country`s largest coal producer.

Celanes to Build Ethanol Factory

The investment growth outside Java had been encouraging as a result of the implementation of the Master Plan for the Acceleration and

Expansion of Indonesian Economic Development (MP3EI).

Construction of the project will kick off in the last quarter of this year.”Panggah Susanto Director General of Base Industries

icies on the development of in-frastructure and the capital market,”hesaid.

Finnish investors are conduct-ing a comparative study of capi-tal markets in the the region. In-donesia is one of the countries theyarestudying,”hesaid.

“They believe Indonesia’s cap-ital market is strong despite the

IDX Director Ito Warsito

Head of BKPM Chatib Basri

www.kabar24.com

B4

Propertywww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Buying Property at a TimeWhen Prices Rise

anticipated bubbles in the prop-erty sector from speculations by issuing a new regulation that re-quired a minimum down pay-ment of 30% of the total property price. The following are several property investment strategies when prices go up:• Strategiclocation

Strategic locations such as flood-free areas, easy trans-portation access and proxim-ity to toll road plus develop-ers’ commitment to stick to the site plan are some of the

be categorized as an aban-doned plot of land which could be seized by the state.

• SupportfrombankcreditorA good developer will gain

trust from a bank or sever-al banks, either private or state banks, including shar-ia banks for property credit. That’s why if we want to invest in property we must take note of the creditor bank because it displays the level of trust giv-en by the bank to the develop-er both in terms of the finan-cial aspect and the value of the property that were being guaranteed.

• Qualityofthedeveloperandtheareadevelopment

An area which is managed professionally is one of con-sumers’ basic considerations in choosing an area to be in-vested in. Your property in-vestment value will grow if you chose a developer that has a bigger area and unique devel-opment quality. For instance, whether the developer built an integrated school area that comprises elementary schools to postgraduate studies.

• OptimumpropertyvalueThe prices of property which

continue to rise in line with limited land availability in big cities such as Jakarta has led

to the development of verti-cal residences such as apart-ments, condominiums and condotels. As consumers, we need to be able to see the pros-pects of the property’s value in which we’re planning to in-vest in such as the prospect to rent it, for instance, to expatri-ates working in Indonesia for a certain period of time or to students and employees who needed easier public trans-portation access and free from traffic congestion and floods. Consumers can also choose condotels which are profes-sionally managed by hotel op-erators in areas that experi-ence tourism-driven economic growth or business-economic growth.

The high property price doesn’t necessarily show that the property price was al-ready optimal because it’s re-lated to the development of the area from year to year. That’s why consumers should not be easily tempted to buy cheaper property. Consumers should neither diversify too much of their property investment on the same property type for in-stance by only buying apart-ments or just kiosks/shophouses but should pay atten-tion to the area’s future poten-tial to make diversifications boost property investment val-ues.

By Andri Marsetianto

2012 was a gold-en year for the government as

it facesmajorchallengestoim-prove the macroeconomic con-dition and to keep it stable and productive as the economies in Europe and the United States have not shown signs of recovery anytime soon.

Indonesia’s population, ac-cording to the BPS, stands at around 237 million people based on the 2010 census. McKinsey & Co estimated that there are 45 million middle- income class In-donesians last year with strong purchasing power and with in-come per capita of $3,600 or aboutRp34.1millionperyear.It’s expected that the number will continue to rise in line with Indonesia’s economic growth.

Population growth reach-es 1.5% per year while Indone-sia’s population is expected to increase to about 250 million in 2013 and 255 million in 2014. The population growth is in line with Indonesia’s relatively high economic growth in 2012 that reached 6.3% (Bank Indonesia data). With a relatively low infla-tion rate of 4.3%, Bank Indone-sia has been keeping its bench-mark interest rate unchanged at 5.75% since February.

It’s predicted that the 2014 general election will unlike-ly spur Indonesia’s economic growth simultaneously because the five-yearly democracy par-ty is bound to consume much of political elites’ time as they will focus more on their parties’ bid to win parliamentary seats and the presidential race rather than

the building quality and the development progress of the area whether it was in accor-dance with what the develop-ers promises in the brochure.

• RighttimingAccording to investment

philosophy, the right timing to invest is as earliest as possible and as little as possible. Af-ter conducting financial check over our capability to obtain a credit we should start to at-tend pre-launching events more regularly to get a lower price compared to the prices offered during exhibitions. We could even get the down pay-ment installment facility.

There is also a chance to take over credit of a house from another consumer who asked the developer’s market-ing unit to sell the property. In this case, we could benefit because we could get the old price and acquire the proper-ty sooner.

If our money is really tight, we should start saving by purchasing land because the price of land is bound to in-crease from year to year. The bigger we invest in the land, the higher the investment val-ue will be in the future. How-ever, land owners are also re-quired to construct a building on the land after a certain pe-riod of time so that it will not

Investment on property was one of the most attractive investment alternatives besides gold and mutual funds because it not only generated capital gain but it could also bring in passive income through leasing, build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-transfer-operate (BTO) mechanism.

improving the productivity of their cadres in the government and state enterprises.

Property was one of the sec-tors that posted growth in line with economic progress because it wasn’t much affected by the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar, weakening export demand from European coun-tries and the United States, vola-tile oil price and the regional la-bor wage increase which will be adjustedinlinewiththegovern-ment’s plan to increase the basic electricity rate this year.

Land, house, shop house, apartment, condominium, con-dotel and retail spaces at shop-ping centers and industrial land are some of the properties cho-sen by Indonesians to invest in amid their stronger econom-ic power and banks’ low house-ownership credit (KPR) andapartment-ownership credit (KPA). The relatively stable mac-roeconomic condition resulted in low credit rates for property own-ership and a growing demand for new houses of about 1.4 mil-lion units in addition to the 13.6 million backlog. This condition caused property prices in 2012 to rise by about 10-15% com-pared to the previous year.

Investment on property was one of the most attractive invest-ment alternatives besides gold and mutual funds because it not only generated capital gain but it could also bring in pas-sive income through leasing, build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-transfer-operate (BTO) mechanism. Although proper-ty is not as liquid as investments on gold or mutual funds, proper-ty demand continued to grow. BI

Having a new house is every new couple’s dream. But given the high price and the fact that some consumers have to wait between 14 and 16 months since signing the credit agreement with the lender bank or since signing the purchase-sales agreement (PPJB) with the developer to get the house, consumers often turn to second-hand houses where they could move in immediately. Some of the options of the locations mostly preferred by consumers to purchase second-hand houses are Tangerang, Depok, Bekasi and Cikarang. The optionisadjustedinaccordancewith the consumers’ respective financial capability, consumers’ mobility and with their work place/school or their desire to live near their friends, families or their parents in laws.

Areas in the outskirts of

Jakarta are growing rapidly in line with the economic growth of the areas especially since they have many access to Jakarta that can be reached through toll roads, trains, feeder buses or other public transportation. This has in turn caused demand for various types of properties in cities such as Tangerang, Karawang and Bekasi to soar. This also caused demand for second-hand houses in areas such as Alam Sutera, Bintaro Jaya, BSD, Lippo Karawaci, Summarecon, Citraland and even in Jababeka areas to rise especially since they are supported by facilities, accessibility and unique development concepts while their prices are also relatively affordable for new couples or couples who have long lived in apartments.

New House orSecond-Hand House?

The prices of second-hand houses vary, depending on the size of land and building and the facilities provided by the developers. Here are some points that need to be taken into consideration before purchasing a second-hand house:• Identifyyourneedforahouse.

Consumers should know how many rooms they need, for instance room for children, study room or others. For an initial investment, one should choose a functional type of house rather than focusing on the esthetics of the space, for instance gardening space, space for children to play or a study room.

• Survey the location of the

house and areas around it. Consumers should choose a house with the prospect that the property value will grow. For instance, it’s located in a growing industrial area, flood-free, close to education and business facilities, close to toll gates or that a new train station is set to be built in the area or that there will be

developments of new clusters around it.

•Buy the house straight fromthe owner or through a broker. The price would be much cheaper if we could purchase the house straight from the owner than buying it through a broker. A broker from a reputable and trusted property agency will recommend several options in accordance with the consumer’s needs.

• Check thephysical condition

and the house ownership documents. Consumers are entitled to know the history of the house, for instance the year it was built, when it was last renovated, what aspects covered by the developer if the house’s structure is damaged. Check the house ownership documents, for instance, the expiry date of the building concession certificate (SHGB) or whether the name in the land ownership certificate (SHM) matched with the name of the person who was selling it or whether there plans to build roads on that land that could take up some of the land or that it would be used for other public facilities. This information is usually provided in the situation picture in the certificate. Check whether the building permit (IMB) is in accordance with the information written in the most recent land and building tax document (SPPT PBB), and the latest bill payments for electricity, water and environment. Thus, a second-hand house

willnot justbeachoicetobuya home but also an investment option before buying a new house especially if it’s located in areas that continued to grow and it is supported with facilities.

By Andri Marsetianto

www.jowarstudio.com

A second-hand house will not just be a choice to buy a home but also an investment option

before buying a new house especially if it’s located in areas that continued to grow and it is supported

with facilities.

main factors to consider when investing on property. Con-sumers should make a site visit after an exhibition to ob-serve the model unit to check

B5

Transportationwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

In a bid to speed up avail-ability of pilots qualified to fly Airbus A320 passenger planes it would operate in the near future, the state-run airline, Merpati Nusan-tara Airlines (MNA), set up cooperation with Singapore Technology Aerospace to train MNA’s pilots.

“The Singapore Technol-ogy Aerospace is a promi-nent pilot training agency in Asia, certified by Europe-an, China and Singaporean aviation authorities,” MNASenior VP Corporate Secre-tary Herry Saptanto said in the statement.

The MoU regarding the training program for MNA pilots in Singapore Technol-ogy Aerospace was signed here by the agency’s pres-ident Peh Teng Keng and

MNA President Director RudySetyopunomo.Underthe agreement, the Singa-porean pilot training cen-ter agreed to train 150 pi-lots employed by MNA per year. The training sessions will be conducted in Singa-pore and Australia.

“Licenses that certify pi-lots to fly will be issued by the government’s Director-ateGeneralCivilAviation,”Herry said.

Indonesian Pilots Federa-tion Chairman Hafriansyah said earlier that Indonesia is facing pilot shortages at the moment. He said that the country requires 800 to 900 new pilots to comply with the increasing flight business in the country. In-donesia now has 5,500 cer-tified commercial pilots, ac-cording to the federation.

MNA Teams Up with Singaporean Agency

on Pilot Training

State-owned Enterpris-es Minister Dahlan Is-kan plans to incorpo-rate PT Angkasa Pura I, PT Angkasa Pura II

and PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk (GIAA) into one holding compa-ny.

“It will be in one holding com-pany and will be developed inter-nationally,”saidDahlanonFri-day (01/02).

After the integration, Dahl-an is optimistic that Indonesia could overtake Singapore in in-ternational aviation industry. He added, “Singapore Airlines is

great due to Changi Airport and itsproperty.”

As a response, PT Angkasa Pura I Persero welcomes Dahl-an’s proposal to establish a state-owned airline holding company. Corporate Secretary of Angka-sa Pura I Farid Indra Nugraha said the establishment of state-owned aviation holding compa-ny will cause efficiency in hu-man resources and assets.

“Pak Dahlan’s idea is good as it streamlines the performance of state-owned airlines,” saidFarid, Monday (4/2).

According to Farid, similar proposals have been revealed by former minister of state-owned enterprises but never came to a realization.

He does not expect the com-pany’s internal cash and assets will be reduced when the inte-gration is realized.

“Later, they can facilitate Gar-uda Indonesia’s performance and be synergized like in Dubai and other countries that have similar merger schemes between airport operators and state-owned air-lines,”heexplained.

Dahlan Proposes Establishment of a State-owned Airlines Holding Company

The new Kuala Namu Inter-national Airport in North Suma-tra will be inaugurated in March 2013. Spread over 1,365 hect-ares, the Kuala Namu Airport will be Indonesia s second larg-est airport after the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.

Kuala Namu Airport is situ-ated in the former area of state-owned plantation firm PT Perke-bunan Nusantara II TanjungMorawa in Kuala Namu, Ber-

ingin village, Deli Serdang re-gency. It is designed to replace the 70-year-old Polonia Airport, which has been operating be-yond capacity.

The airport’s project man-ager, Joko Waskito, expressed hope that the airport will be op-erational by March 2013. “90% of the airport is completed. The airport will be operational before March2013,”hesaid.

Waskito explained that the

1,365-hectare airport has a ter-minal area measuring 118,930 sq meters, a parking area mea-suring 50,820 sq meters and a cargo garage measuring 13,000 sq meters.

“The airport has sophisticat-ed equipment. The airport can accommodate up to 8.1 million passengerseveryyear,”hesaid.

According to him, the airport will have a 3,750 meter long run-way, which is 80 meters wide, and 53 airport aprons, where

aircrafts can be parked, includ-ing the Airbus A380.

Separately, Deputy Transpor-tation Minister Bambang Su-santono said that railway facil-ities supporting the airport also will be ready in March to coin-cide with when the new airport will be fully operational. The rail-way system stretched from Med-an city center to the airport and will be heading towards the air-port building.

Kuala Namu International Airport Set to Opreate in March 2013

Spread over 1,365 hectares, the Kuala Namu Airport will be Indonesia`s second largest airport after the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.

www.skyscrapercity.com

After the integration, Dahlan is optimistic that Indonesia could overtake Singapore in international aviation industry.

www.liputan6.com

State-owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan

B6

Events Reviewwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Indonesia, which is expe-riencing great econom-ic growth, is an impor-tant country for the EU. “However Europe wants

Indonesia to become stronger,”said Julian Wilson, European UnionRepresentativetoASEANand EU Ambassador to Indone-sia and Brunei Darussalam in a Breakfast Dialogue held in Fi-nancial Club Jakarta.

EU considers trade relations with Indonesia most impor-tant compared to other ASEAN countries. In 2012, though the EU was in crisis, trade went up by over 20% and FDI is at the highest level ever. Overall FDI went up from EUR800 millionin2006toanestimatedEUR2.8billion in 2012, with main sec-tors in transportation, mining, food processing, chemicals, ser-vices, and others. Over 1,000 EU companies employ over 1 million Indonesians.

BREAKFAST DIALOGUE

European Union-IndonesiaRelations: What Next?

Now Indonesia and EU are facing a great opportunity to im-plement the Comprehensive Eco-nomic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is set to facilitate more investments from EU to In-donesia.

This CEPA should be based on a free trade area as the founda-tion in WTO terms, and have a triangular architecture: market access, capacity building and facilitation of trade and invest-ment. The ambition of the CEPA would be present in all three ele-ments. It is the complementarity and interaction, also over time,

of these three elements which will engender the desirable devel-opment impact for Indonesia via higher-value added exports and, at the same time, turn Indonesia into a more attractive market for EU goods and services as well as a promising investment location.

CEPA is formulated by Vision Group that examined how com-mercial relations between the EU and Indonesia could be deep-ened. According to Vision Group, relations between Indonesia and the EU are generally good and economic relations healthy. Nev-

Ernst & Young Indonesia and Financial Club Jakarta held an Afternoon Business Forum themed “Increasing the Role ofHuman Capital in Indonesia’s EconomicDevelopment”.

Stefan Koeberle, Country Di-rector of World Bank Indonesia, stated that health and educa-tion, the two cornerstones of hu-man capital are the basis of an individual’s economic produc-tivity.Butthemajorchallengeisim-

proving the quality of health and education in Indonesia. The fact is, only 10% of the labor force has higher education.Regardinghealth,majorprog-

ress has been made. Life expec-tancy at birth increased from 45 years in 1960 to almost 70 years in 2010. Infant mortali-ty rate dropped from 128 to 27 per 1,000 live births from 1960 to 2010.

Furthermore, Stefan encour-ages Indonesia to be highly in-tensive in human capital. Out of the 117 million Indonesians in the national labor force, 60% (65 million) are informal work-ers. Two-thirds of these infor-mal workers are not covered by health insurance, and only 0.6% of informal workers are insured against work accidents, thus over 60 million workers have no protection.

Hence, a significant percent-age of the Indonesian economy (over 40 million workers) is at risk of lost and decreasing pro-ductivity and wages due to ill health and slow recovery from medical issues.

However, the government has made a significant leap forward in its commitment to improving access for all through its planks to provide universal health insur-ance coverage by 2019. Expand-ing insurance coverage presents

AFTERNOON BUSINESS FORUM

Increasing the Role of Human Capital in Indonesia’s Economic Development

a massive challenge given the short time frame and many im-plementation hurdles remain. In particular, covering 65 million informal sectors will be daunt-ing due to logistical and admin-istrative challenges (50% work in agriculture)–ittookSouthKo-rea 12 years to cover their infor-mal workers.

In conclusion, Stefan stated that Indonesia has made great progress in enhancing enroll-ment in primary and secondary levels of education. However, to grow in a more sustainable way and move up the value chain, In-donesia will need more and bet-ter qualified workers. Improving access and quality of education is critical for the future, but it will not solve skill constrain in the short-run. Upgrading the current labor force is urgent and possible.

On health, reducing the risk of lost and decreasing productivity and wages due to ill health and slow recovery from medical issue will also be necessary. Here a de-cisive implementation of the uni-versal health coverage initiative is called for.

On the same occasion, Adri-anus Mooy, former Governor of Bank Indonesia, stated that In-donesia had concentrated on quantity but often forget quali-ty. “So, what is important now is to improve the quality of de-velopment, including the qual-ity of growth, quality of democ-racy, quality of law enforcement, quality of human resources, and qualityofeducation,”hesaid.

“Investing in human resourc-es is necessary, since the best human capital is quality human resources,”Mooyconcluded.

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Stefan Koeberle, Country Director of World Bank Indonesia.

To grow in a more sustainable way and move up the value chain, Indonesia will need more and better qualified workers. Improving access and quality of education is critical for the future, but it will not solve skill constrain in the short-run. Upgrading the current labor force is urgent and possible.

ertheless, the status quo is un-satisfactory, leading to underper-formance and ever more missed opportunities for both partners in the longer run.

Julian said, “Status quo is not bad but potentially enormous - benefits for both are in our grasp. Now do we go for it, enriching the

EU-IDN relationship? Or do EU and IDN settle for the status quo and miss out on this obvious win-win?”

Julian also noted that the EU has gone through the greatest economic crisis last year. Now the EU’s economic growth has been positive marked by export

growth and stability of the Euro currency. But growth and em-ployment are now the challenge. The unemployment rate of young people remains high.

“We will invest in technology in order to employ young work-ersinmostproductivesectors,”said Wilson.

Julian Wilson, European Union Representative to ASEAN and EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.

The President Post/Rians Rivco

EU considers trade relations with Indonesia most important compared to other ASEAN countries. In 2012, though the EU was in crisis, trade went up by over 20% and FDI is at the highest level ever.

Indonesia and EU are facing a great opportunity

to implement the Comprehensive Economic

Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which is set to

facilitate more investments from EU to Indonesia.

B7

Pictorial Eventswww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Media has become a very im-portant partner in the impleme-nation of foreign policy and di-plomacy. This role is carried out through the distribution of infor-mation to the public.

The Adam Malik Award is is-sued annually by the ministry to media outlets for their accurate presentation of the facts, creat-ingbalancedandobjectivepub-lic opinion and educating the public on Indonesian foreign pol-icy.

News portal Detik.com won the award this year in the online category, while SCTV was recog-nized in the television category. Jakarta Globe daily won in print media category and State broad-casterRadioRepublikIndonesiawon in the radio category.

Adam Malik Award 2013The President Post/Rians Rivco

Indonesian Foreign Minister with the winners of Adam Malik Award 2013

Inauguration of the New ASEANSecretary General, Le Luang Ming

Taking place in the building of ASEAN Secretariat, on Wednes-day (9/01) Le Luang Minh from Vietnam was inaugurated as the new ASEAN Secretary General replacing Surin Pitsuwan from Thailand.

In the inaugural speech Minh stated that he will work hard to expedite the process of economic integration, political, peace, and social culture in ASEAN.

Minh previously served as Permanent Representative ofVietnam to the United Nations in New York, USA (2004-2011).

The ASEAN Secretary Gener-al position handover was also at-tended by the ambassadors and Minister of Foreign Affairs Marty Natalegawa.

The President Post/Rians Rivco

Le Luong Minh making his first speech as secretary general of ASEAN

Prudential and Master ofManagement UI MoU Signing

Exchange of MoU between Jossy Prananta file Moeis (Dean FE-UUI) and William Kuan (chairman Prudential Indonesia) witnessed by delegates of both parties.

William Kuan, President of Prudential Indonesia delivers a speech

The discussion about the Post-Graduate Masters program of Actuarial Management. (Left to right) Budi Tampubolon, Rhenald Kasali, Ruslan Prijadi, and Nini Sumohandoyo

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received nine new Ambassadors who submitted their creden-

tials on Monday (14/1) at Istana Merdeka.

Present on the occasion were ambassadors of State of Georgia ZurabAleksidze;RussianFeder-ation Yurievich Mikhail Galuz-in; Kingdom of Thailand Paskom Siriyaphan; Jamaica Claudia CecileBarnes;RepublicofTrin-idad and Tobago Chandradath Singh;Republic of EstoniaAn-dres Unga.

Also present, ambassador of MongoliaChimeddorjBattumur;RepublicofSierraLeoneAbuba-karrMulti-Kamara,andRepub-lic of Seychelles Waven William Winslow.

Credentials Ceremony at Istana MerdekaThe President Post/Rians Rivco

Ambassadors follow the memorial service in front of the Presidential Palace.President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the credentials ceremony held at the Presidential Palace.

PT Prudential Life Assurance (Prudential Indonesia) signed a cooperation agreement with the Master of Management - Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia (MM-

UI) as the initial step in the collaboration between the two organizations to realize the opening of the Post-Graduate Masters program of Actuarial Management. The event

also held a discussion on the importance of Actuarial Management program for the development of the financial industry, especially insurance.

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

Happy Golfing Day Tournamentat Jababeka Golf and Country Club

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

B8

Pictorial Eventswww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Indogas 2013

Minister Jero Wacik opened the 6th Inter-national Indonesia Gas Conference & Ex-

hibition (Indogas 2013), Monday (21/1). Present at the ceremony were Deputy Minister Susilo Sis-woutomo and Chairman of SKK MigasRudiRubiandini.

In his speech, the Minister said Indogas is an event that is

Charity Night for Cancer with Miss Universe 2012Grand Sahid Jaya present-

ed “An Evening with Miss Uni-verse 2012 Olivia Culpo and Gala Charity Dinner in support of Jakarta Breast Cancer Foun-dation, Saturday (2/2).

“This activity shows the sup-port and commitment to the Breast Cancer Foundation Ja-karta (YKPJ) which not only cares for people with cancer, but also its early detection preven-tion,”saidOthniel,HeadofPub-licRelationsGrandSahidJayaJakarta.

The event was also attended by Puteri Indonesia 2013, Whu-landari Herman, the newly-crowned Puteri Indonesia, and featured two famous Indonesian singersRioFebrianandSandhySondoro.

Health Minister dr. Nafsiah Mboi inaugurated the Jakarta Eye Center (JEC) @Kedoya on Saturday (02/02). The event was attended by dr. Darwan M. Pur-ba as Director of JEC @ Kedoya, Secretary General of Health Min-istry dr. Supriyantoro, Director of Cicendo Hospital Eye Band-ungdr.HikmatWangsaatmadja,Chairman of Indonesian Oph-thalmologist Association (Perda-mi) dr. Nila F Moeloek, Founder ofGerakanMataHatiPanjiWi-saksana, and ASEAN delegates of the Association of Eye Hospi-tals from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In her speech Nafsiah said blindness is still one of main health problems in Indonesia.

Health Minister Inaugurates JEC @ Kedoya

Citibank Indonesia in collaboration with HOPE Foundation Indonesia provide free health services for flood victims through Mobile Clinic in 10 locations and is expected to serve about 5,000 victims in the Jakarta area.

Through Citibank Mobile Clinic, the community is allowed to get medical treatment from doctors and medical personnel for free. All the employees of Citibank and its management totaling 155 people participated directly as volunteers in various locations.

Mobile Clinic Citibank Serves Jakarta’s Flood Victims

The President Post/Heros Barasakti

AIESECPresidentUniversityheldaCutterProjectinvolvingsevenexchange participants, namely Danilo from Brazil, Martin from Ar-gentina, Charles from Taiwan, Candy from China, Dalia from Egypt, SayanaandMariafromRussia.

Present in over 113 countries and territories and with over 86,000 members, AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run organization. Fo-cused on providing a platform for youth leadership development, AIESEC offers young people the opportunity to be global citizens, to change the world, and to get experience and skills that matter today. AIESEC EI PresUniv is located in Cikarang, Indonesia.

Cutter Project by AIESEC

The President Post/Rians Rivco

Opening Speech by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources in Indogas 2013 event

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Jero Wacik accompanied by Wamen Susilo Siswoutomo (center) and Chairman of Working Unit for Oil and Gas Rudi Rubiandini (left) hit a gong to mark the opening of Indogas 2013 held at the Paradise Lounge, Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC)

important for Indonesia and the Asia Pacific region, as Indonesia is has become the attention of the world in the field of energy.

This year’s event, themed “Sustaining Growth Towards a GoldenAgeofGas”,washeldonJanuary 21 to 23. The event also featured seminars, business fo-rums and exhibitions.

Minister visiting one of the participant booths in Indogas 2013

Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Pulco Rio Febrian and Sandhy Sandoro were guest stars at the event.

Puteri Indonesia 2013 Whulandary Herman Miss Universe 2012 Olivia Pulco talks to Jeremy M Cooper (General Manager of Hotel Grand Sahid Jaya)

The President Post/Rians Rivco

An estimated 1.5% of Indonesia’s population, approximately 3.6 million, is blind. The main cause of blindness are cataract, glau-coma, refractive disorder, retinal disorder, corneal disorder, and other diseases associated with old age, but she emphasized that 70% or more blindness can be prevented.

JEC @ Kedoya has the latest technology in handling refrac-tive eye disorder. The technology is called 6 Dimension Z-LASIK (Laser Assisted In Situ Ker-atomileusis), wherein the meth-od is using laser beam with high accuracy and excellent safety to treat refractive eye disorder. Pa-tientpaysaroundRp21millionto use this technology.

Symbolic inauguration of JEC by the Minister of Health, Nafsiah Mboi and Director of JEC Darwan M. Purba

Minister Nafsiah Mboi delivers a speech Minister visiting the 6 Dimension Z-lasik The 6 Dimension Z-lasik

All the employees of Citibank and its management participated directly as volunteers in various locations; one of them is in Kampung Pulo, Kampung Melayu on Friday (25/1). Tigor M. Siahaan also participated as a volunteer.

www.thepresidentpost.com

February 2013Vol 2. No. 2

SECTION C

The President Post

LIVING

Try Smaller Bites, Sips to Eat Less

Five months into her pregnancy, Jessica Su was already thinking about what she would eat after her baby was

born.On a rainy Saturday after-

noon, Su and her husband were sampling soups: pigs feet with dates and peanuts, pork chop with green papaya, beef and car-rots with Chinese yam, sesame oil chicken. The makeshift cafe in Walnut was packed with preg-nant women helping themselves from metal urns.

Nicole Huang, the tasting

event’s sponsor, rushed from ta-ble to table answering questions posed in Mandarin and English: “AmIallowedtoeatfruit?”“Canyou provide translations, so I knowwhatI’meating?”

Su hadn’t decided whether she would fork over $2,000 to get Huang’s meals delivered to her Buena Park home, or hire a nanny to cook similar foods and tidy the house. Whichever she chose, she planned to observe the Chinese custom of zuo yuezi, or“sittingthemonth,”aftergiv-ing birth.

According to believers, the monthlong regimen helps wom-en recover from childbirth, pro-duce more breast milk and reca-librate their bodies. In addition to the special diet, new mothers are supposed to rest in bed and avoid contact with water — that is, no shampooing or showering for 30 days.

Skeptics say the health claims are not scientifically sound and that the high-fat, high-protein foods can be harmful to moth-er and child. Still, the practice is widespread among Southern California’s Taiwanese and Chi-nese immigrants. Families call on companies like Huang’s Jing Mommy as a way to follow tra-dition while sparing themselves from the kitchen.

“You need to do it. All women needto,”saidSu,a35-year-oldhomemaker, of yuezi. “My sister in Taiwan said you really have to or your body will deteriorate. It freaked me out, and I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ “

Yuezi is based on ancient the-

ories of Chinese herbal medi-cinedividing foods into“warm”and“cold”categories.Eachfoodis linked to a health benefit for new mothers: liver replenishes lost blood, green papaya stimu-lates milk production and kid-ney helps with aches and pains.

According to yuezi theory, fol-licles expand during childbirth, leaving the body vulnerable to cold. Postpartum women are ad-vised to stick to “warm” foodslike ginger, chicken and pump-kin.

The prohibition against cold goes beyond diet. In the month after giving birth, women should not wash their hair or go out-doors. Hard-core yuezi observ-ers stick to sponge baths.

After having her first child, Su gave the hair washing ban a try. But she ended up caving, sneak-ing a shower when her mother, who enforced the rules, was out. This time, she is determined to last the whole month.“Igiveitthreedays,”saidher

husband, David. Like religion, Yuezi has its true

believers and those who follow alongjustincasethere’ssome-thing to it. Some do it to appease family, while others are mainly interested in the convenience of home-delivered meals.“At thispoint, I’m just trying

tofindfood,”saidVickieWu,35,a physician expecting her first child. “I don’t think I believe in it, but it is readily available, and it doesn’tseemtohurt.”

Besides, Wu’s husband, Dan-iel Sanchez, added, it will make his mother-in-law happy.

Other cultures also have post-

partum diets favoring warm foods over cold. Koreans eat sea-weed soup, Mexicans eat chick-en broth, Nigerians, salty gruel. Southern California maternity wards with many immigrant pa-tients are familiar with the drill —skiptheorangejuiceandofferhot soup instead.

Lily Hong, clinical nutrition

manager at San Gabriel Val-ley Medical Center, worries that yuezi doesn’t provide enough calcium and that the rice wine and ginger in Chinese soups will be transmitted to breast-feed-ing babies. She tells new moth-ers to drink plenty of milk and to choose white meat over innards.

Hong couldn’t avoid doing a modified form of yuezi herself, at her mother’s insistence, after her two sons were born.

She bathed, and she refused

the traditional Cantonese soup of pigs feet and vinegar. She smuggled helpings of boba tea. To keep her mother happy, she ate lots of chicken soup and eggs and didn’t leave the house for a

ger get cold after she observed yuezi with her first two babies, she said. She hopes the benefits will continue into old age.

If nothing else, yuezi offers a

chance for a little relaxation be-

New Mothers Turn to An Old Chinese DietChinese custom of zuo yuezi, or “sitting the month is based on ancient theories of Chinese herbal medicine dividing foods into “warm” and “cold” categories. Each food is linked to a health benefit for new mothers.

Like religion, Yuezi has its true believers and those who follow along just in case there’s something to it. Some do it to appease family, while others are mainly interested in the convenience of home-delivered meals.

month.“Ginger vinegar soup with pig

trotter — to me as a dietitian, I can’tstandit,”Hongsaid.“Thecholesterol, the saturated fat — I don’t think we can pass the De-partment of Health if we served that kind of soup.

Charlotte Duh, who start-ed the home delivery business Meal4Mom in Temple City three years ago, believes Western women can benefit from yuezi too. Duh would like to attract a broader clientele among those who may already lean toward al-ternative therapies.

“If you eat the right foods, it’ll help a lot. If you’re more open to herbs, you’ll find they taste real-lygood,”saidDuh,40,alicensedacupuncturist who also teach-es yoga.

Engaging full-bore in yuezi

requires a wide-ranging palate. The foods contain ingredients unfamiliar to Westerners yet can taste somewhat bland because there is little added salt or sug-ar. To follow through on the hy-

gienic imperatives, a tolerance for itchy scalps is a must.

On day 24 of the 30-day regi-men, Ginny Hung greeted visitors with her unwashed hair knotted in a braid and covered by a white stocking cap. The greasiness no longer bothered her, she said — itjustfeltlikeshewaswearingalot of conditioner.

Since giving birth to a son,

Hung had stepped outside her Hacienda Heights town house

only once, to snap photos of her two older children in their Hal-loween costumes.

By the third week of yuezi, her main course had shifted from liver and kidney soups to chick-en soup with sesame oil, thought to promote an intense healing that the body can’t handle in the initial weeks.

Hung believes the month after giving birth offers a rare chance to tweak the body’s inner work-ings. Her hands and feet no lon-

Charlotte Duh, owner of Meal4Mom, shows a few of the herbal soups and stews that she delivers to her postpartum clients from her Temple City studio.

PHOTOS: Los Angeles Times/Al Seib

fore the hard work of child rear-ing begins.

“This is the only moment you feel like a princess,” said LisaLee, 31, a Diamond Bar mother of two. “Later, you’re like a house-maidwithnopay.”LATimes

It may seem a little obvi-ous, but one way to eat less is to take smaller bites. Researchers from the

Netherlands published a study Wednesday in the journalPlosOnethatlookedat what happened when 53 people ate soup, taking var-ious size sips – when theywere focused and when they were distracted.

People who took small sips consumed about 30% less than those who took big sips and those who decided the size of their sips. And, those who took larger sips underestimated how much they ate.

“Consuming small bites rather than large bites in-volves more bites for con-

sumption of the same amount of food. Due to a relatively high-er number of bites … small bites may lead to lower food intake,”the researchers wrote. It’s also possible, they said, that lower in-take results from diners’ beliefs about how much they are eat-ing.

“These findings stress the im-portance of cognitive factors on satiation,” they said. So if youthink you are full, that makes a difference.

But if a diner’s attention is dis-

tracted, those factors are also af-fected, and several studies have shown that people eat more while they are distracted by TV or other things.The study subjects, ages 18

to 35, ate creamy tomato soup, with the sip sizes determined by

a pump. They ate raisin rolls beforehand so they did not begin the study very hungry –afactorthatmightoverrideother factors affecting their behavior. They could stop eating when they wanted to.

The researchers conclud-

ed that the food industry could design products that encourage smaller bites or sips as one way to reduce obesity.

A study published almost ayearagointhesamejour-nal showed that pairs of women eating together tend-ed to mimic each other’s eat-ing patterns. Does all of this mean you can design a din-ner party that will keep you from eating too much? Per-haps. LATimes

C2

Healthwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The Los Angeles City Coun-cil voted Tuesday to ban medi-cal marijuana dispensaries inthe city, the culmination of years of controversy over the sale of pot here. Meanwhile, in Oak-land, a federal crackdown closed the nation’s largest dispensa-ry amid protests and demon-strations. But authorities rare-ly seem to address the real issue about marijuana in California:Is it good medicine?

Some proponents of medi-calmarijuanaarguethatpotis“natural” and therefore better,or at least no worse, than legal-ly prescribed drugs, which may be addictive and may carry dan-gerous side effects. But natural is not the standard for whether a drug is safe and effective.Marijuana advocates also

say that physicians who warn againstmarijuanamerelywantto push prescriptions. But justbecause some doctors practice bad medicine with legal drugs doesn’t make marijuana goodmedicine. In most cases, it isn’t.

Anyone who wants to get a medicalmarijuanacardknowsthere are unscrupulous doctors who will give you a recommen-dation with few questions asked. Withoutdoubt,medicalmarijua-na hands a get-out-of-jail-freecardtopeoplewhojustwanttoget high. Those who get a card

and indulge in the infrequent use ofmarijuanawillprobablyexpe-rience few problems. But the sit-uation is different with chronic marijuanause.Marijuana acts on cannab-

inoid receptors in the brain. These receptors, which are the most prevalent in the nervous system,influencejustaboutev-ery bodily function, including memory, attention, disposition, arousal, motivation, perception, appetite and sleep.

Manychronicmarijuanaus-ersinsistthatmarijuanaisnotaddictive the way alcohol and other drugs are. However, neu-roscience, animal studies, clini-cal reports of withdrawal in hu-mans and epidemiology all show thatmarijuanaispotentiallyad-dictive.

As to its benefits, controlled clinical studies show they exist, buttheyarelimited.Marijuanacan effectively treat neuropath-ic pain, and it has been shown to improve appetite and reduce nausea in cancer and AIDS pa-tients.

The Glaucoma ResearchFoundation disputes the idea thatmedicalmarijuanaisgoodmedicine for the disease. “Thehighdose ofmarijuana

necessary to produce a clinically relevanteffect,”thefoundation’swebsite explains, makes it a poor

Is Medical MarijuanaGood Medicine?

choice for the treatment of glau-coma, especially given its “signif-icantsideeffects”andtheavail-ability of safer effective drugs.

In addition, those who use marijuanatotreatmentalhealthsymptoms might be surprised to learn that studies show it not only may not help such symp-toms, it may cause them.

As to its mental health effects, marijuanaislinkedtolong-termpsychiatric problems such as de-pression, anxiety and psychosis.“Marijuana often is regarded

as a ‘soft drug’ with few harm-ful effects,” saysDr.JosephM.Pierre, co-chief of the Schizo-phrenia Treatment Unit at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ West Los Angeles Healthcare Center. “However, this benign view is now being revised, along with mounting research demon-strating a clear association be-tweencannabisandpsychosis.”Habitual marijuana use is

helpful for very few medical con-ditions. It can cause insidious changes in personality and at-titude that are clear to everyone but the users themselves. There are nearly 400,000 emergency room visits per year due to mar-ijuanause.Beforewe advocateformedicalmarijuana,andbe-fore another person doses him-self with it, we have to ask: Is medical marijuana making ussick?

The study, published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medi-cine, demonstrat-ed that the fecal

transplant cleared up a recur-rent bacterial infection far more reliably than the routinely pre-scribed medication. In fact, the transplant was so successful that the research trial was end-ed early so that patients in the control groups could be given the remedy as well.

As a treatment for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection — an ailment that affects near-ly 1% of patients hospitalized in the U.S. and plays a role in an estimated 100,000 deaths a year — the transplant had a 94% cure rate, three times greater than for those who took only the antibiotic vancomycin.

“It’s a strange concept to use stool, which has always been lookedonassomethingdirty,”said Dr. Lawrence Brandt, a gastroenterologist at the Al-bert Einstein College of Medi-cine in New York who has con-ducted transplants for 14 years but wasn’t involved in the study. “We’re entering a very exciting newchapterinmedicine.”

Viewed for many years as a fringe medical treatment, fecal transplants are generating new interest among physicians and patients. This is due largely to an explosion in cases of C. difficile infection, or CDI, among elderly patients in nursing homes and hospitals who are getting more difficult to treat because of a pro-liferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Though the precise mecha-nism by which the transplant fights disease remains unclear, scientists believe it has to do with restoring microbial diversi-ty to an ailing gut. Feces from a healthy donor contain a rich and complex assortment of organ-isms that have developed benefi-cial, symbiotic relationships with humans over millions of years of evolution. These gut bacteria in-fluence our metabolic rate, im-mune system performance, muscular function and even our mood, Brandt said.

The new study, conducted in the Netherlands, is the first ran-domized clinical trial to demon-strate that fecal transplants can work without causing serious adverse effects. It follows more than 300 case reports from Eu-rope and North America that

Fecal Transplants Successfulin Treating Intestinal Ailment

A new study has found that an infusion of feces from a healthy person into an ailing patient’s gut was significantly more effective than a traditional antibiotic treatment — raising hopes that the unconventional approach could one day help combat obesity, food allergies and a host of other maladies.

have endorsed the procedure.“The study is very exciting,”

said Dr. Colleen Kelly, a gastro-enterologist at Brown Univer-sity’s Alpert Medical School in Providence,R.I.Kelly,whowasnot part of the Dutch research team, is a vocal proponent of fe-cal transfusions and has per-formed them for four years.

“I hope this will help to change minds. Those of us who do them know they’re effective, and to our patients,it’slikeamiracle.”

The remedy was made by combining freshly excreted stool from a healthy donor with a pint of lightly salted water. After stir-ring and straining, the concoc-tion was delivered through a na-sal tube that snaked down to the first section of the small intes-tine, bypassing any opportunity for patients to taste or smell the solution.

The medicinal use of stool to treat illness dates back to 4th century China, when the physi-cian Ge Hong described fecal so-lutions for the treatment of food poisoning and severe diarrhea. The remedy was considered a “medical miracle that brought patients back from the brink ofdeath,”Dr.FamingZhangofNanjingMedicalUniversitywrote

in the American Journal of Gas-troenterology.

Later, in the 16th century

Ming Dynasty, herbal healers prescribed fermented fecal so-lutions for abdominal ailments, calling the concoction “yellow soup”tomakeitmorepalatable.

Doctors in the West were more reticent, although it was known that certain mammals, such as dogs and camels, consumed ex-crement when they were ill, and that veterinarians sometimes used a fecal solution to treat ill horses. It wasn’t until 1958 that the first scientific paper on the use of fecal transplants in hu-mans appeared in the United States. Kelly and Brandt, who have championed transplanta-tion in the U.S., are organizing a double-blind test trial here that will be funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Proponents acknowledge that

the treatment has a PR prob-lem.“There isstillagrossfactor,”

Van Nood said. “We see this mostly in younger patients. Old-er patients who have suffered several recurrences are only thinking, ‘How can I be relieved ofthisCDI?’”

www.malauventre.fr

www.newscientist.com

C3

Tourismwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

Salai Festival Set to Be a National Tourism Item

The government of Cen-tral Halmahera district in North Maluku is keen to in-clude the Salai cultural fes-tival in its list of annual na-tional tourism activities.

The Central Halmahera government’s spokesman, Basri Amar, said the Salai festival, which is held in Jan-uary, should be included in the list of annual tourism ac-tivities.

“The festival is celebrat-ed in January to mark the anniversary of the Central

Halmahera district. We will work closely with the Minis-try of Tourism and Creative Economy to ensure that the festival is included in the list ofannualtourismactivities,”he said.

He said various cultur-al attractions, including the Salai traditional dance, will be performed during the Salai festival. “Many cultur-al attractions in Central Hal-mahera are at the brink of extinction, and therefore, we shouldpreservethem,”Bas-ri said.

The tourism sector became the fifth largest contributor to national revenues by generating $8.5 billion last year.

Citing Central Statistics Agen-cy (BPS) data, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Creative Econ-omy Sapta Nirwandar said the tourism sector contributed $9 million to national revenues in 2011, increasing from $7.6 mil-lion in 2010.

“In terms of contribution to na-tional revenues, tourism ranked right after oil and gas, coal, palm oil and manufactured rubber,”

he noted.The tourism sector contribut-

edRp296.97trilliontothegrossdomestic product (GDP) of Indo-nesia, constituting 4% of the na-tional GDP.

Nirwandar noted that the sec-tor employed 8.53 million people, accounting for 7.72% of the na-tional workforce. “Total wages in thesectoramountedtoRp96.57trillion, up by Rp11.77 trillionfrom2010,”hepointedout.

“Tourism’s contribution to in-direct tax revenues in 2011 was Rp10.72 trillion, accounting for

3.85%oftotaltaxrevenues,”Nir-wandar said, adding that reve-nues came from restaurant tax (2.28%), hotel (0.35%) and recre-ation and amusement (0.28%).

Earlier, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Mari Elka Pangestu had stated that the tourism sector would contin-ue to perform well in 2013. “Ac-cording to official data, the tour-ism sector of Indonesia grew by 5% in 2012, which is higher than the global average of 3 to 4%,”she noted.

“We achieved our 2012 target

Tourism Contributes $8.5b to State Revenues

“Those ships brought thousands of tour-ists to Bali. The lat-est one was Cos-

taNeoRomanticaCruise,whichstopped by here on January 23,”PTPelabuhanIndonesiaIIIBenoa Harbour general manag-er Iwan Sabatini said here on Thursday.

“About 800 tourists aboard the Costa Neo Romantica Cruise,who were travelling from Austra-lia to Singapore, stopped by at Bali,”hecontinued.

“During their one-night stay in Bali, they visited popular tour-ist spots, one of which was Kuta Beach.TheyalsoalsoenjoyedaKecak Dance performance be-foremovingontoSingapore,”Sa-batini noted.

Several days before the arrival ofCostaNeoRomantica,hesaid,the Azamara Journey Cruise brought 350 foreign tourists to Bali. “They visited Buleleng, Bali and Komodo Island in East Nusa Tenggara,”Sabatiniadded.

Assuming that at least half of Europe will be in the grip of cold weather until March, PT Pelabu-han Indonesia III stated that cruise ships would continue to

visit Benoa Harbour as Europe-an tourists plan holidays in trop-ical areas such as Bali. “In Feb-ruary alone, seven cruise ships have confirmed their arrival in Benoa,”Sabatinisaid.

MV Clipper Odyssey Visits Banda Aceh

MV Clipper Odyssey, a cruise ship with hundreds of tour-ists from various countries on board, arrived at Banda Aceh last month.

Banda Aceh culture and tour-ismofficespokesmanRezaFahl-evi said the cruise ship carried hundreds of tourists from the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Canada, Argentina, Serbia, South Africa, andAustraliatovisitandenjoyanumber of tourism attractions in the Aceh provincial city.

Five Cruise Ships Stop Byin Bali in JanuaryPT Pelabuhan Indonesia III, a state-owned harbor regulator, has stated that five cruise ships have stopped by in Benoa Harbour, Bali, in January.

“The MV Clipper Odyssey cruise ship has docked at Ban-da Aceh port for several hours for the tourists to go for sightsee-ing at a ship that was washed ashore by tsunami, the tsunami museum, Baiturrahman grand mosque, and Putroe Phang park,”RezasaidhereonFriday.

He said that when the ship ar-rived that the port, the tourists weregreetedwithRanupLam-puan dance, and some cultur-al attractions to promote Banda Aceh tourism. Besides, the tour-ists were also entertained with popular dances of Guel, Seuda-ti, Rapai Geleng, Tarek Pukatand Saman, and then served with various Acehnese typical foods.

Meawhile, tour leader Alex

Leksmono Santoso said the tourists were amazed and fas-cinated with the cultural attrac-tions. Leksmono explained that the cruise ship started its voy-age from Australia to Papua, Bunaken,Ternate,Tidore,RajaAmpat, Bitung, Logian, Bang-gai, Baubau, and then to Ban-da Aceh.

According to him, the Clip-per Odyssey is a 110-passenger luxury expedition vessel, ideal-ly suited for expedition cruising.The cruise ship carries a fleet of Zodiacs, which allows the tour-ists to land anywhere nature or curiosity dictates. All cabins have an ocean view, safe, mini-bar, individually controlled heat/air conditioner, in-room music system, and sitting area with sofa.

of having 8 million visitor arriv-als. Therefore, we are optimistic that the numbers will continue torisethisyear,”Pangestuadd-ed.

Indonesia Tourism Profession Open to All

The government will not protect tourism profession ahead of free ASEAN labor market, according to the Tourism and Creative Econ-omy Ministry.

“Protection is no longer justified.Whatwearegoingto do is improving competen-cy standards,” the head ofthe ministry s tourism and creative economy resource development board, I Gde Pi-tana, said here.

In the era of ASEAN Eco-nomic Community as of 2015, there will be border-less movement of goods, ser-vices and human resources, he said. The era is inevitable so that Indonesia must be able to take advantage of it, he said. “So protection is no longer possible in this case. Therefore, we must strength-en our human resources,”he said.

This can be done by im-proving competency, among others, he said. “One of our flagships is strengthening and improving educated and trained workers in the tour-ismfield,”hesaid.

The ministry will only send skilled and semi-skilled tourism workers abroad, he said. In 2011, a total of 15,51 tourism workers were certified by nine certifica-tion institutes, compared to 5,000 a year earlier, he said. Though the number of certi-fied tourism workers is limit-ed,their“sellingvalue”isrel-atively high at ASEAN and global levels, he said.

In terms of contribution to national revenues, tourism ranked right after oil and gas, coal, palm oil and manufactured rubber.”

Sapta Nirwandar

“One of our flagships is strengthening and improving educated and trained workers in the tourism field.”

C4

Travelwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The Green Canyon or Cukang Taneuh is famous for its strong river currents and the high cliffs that surrounded the river and the giant stones which makes it suitable for water rafting. This reminds us of the landscape at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States.

My friends Felish, Abe, Keyra, Gris-ka and I headed to-wards Batu Karas, a well-known and

a beautiful beach with friendly people to escape from the hustle and bustle of Jakarta life.

Batu Karas is also known as the best surfing point for be-ginners. Aside from that, Batu Karas is also close to other tour-ismobjectssuchasthePangan-daran beach, Karang Nini, Batu Hiu and the Green Canyon.

This trip felt special because we went there with a VW Combi, a German-made car produced in 1974. Its wide cabin is suitable for long journeys because thevan can carry many people but

still offered comfort to its pas-sengers. Yes, this time we had to drive around 393 kilometers from Jakarta to reach to Batu Karas. We chose to leave at night to avoid traffic jam. At around9 in the evening, we left Band-ung and took turns driving as we headed to the southern part of West Java.

At 4.30 in the morning, we arrived at the parking lot of the Green Canyon, our main tour-ism destination before going to Batu Karas. All of us felt asleep in the van as we waited for the sun to rise. We were able to sleep comfortably because we had turned our seats into beds.

It felt like we’ve only slept for a few minutes when the sunlight woke us up. The Green Canyon

the river. We decided to do body rafting and went 3 km through the river without using a rubber boat and simply by flowing with the strong current. For your in-formation, body rafting should only be done during the dry sea-son because the water debit is not so high and the green riv-er water looks better in photo-graphs.

or Cukang Taneuh is famous for its strong river currents and the high cliffs that surrounded the river and the giant stones which makes it suitable for water raft-ing. This reminds us of the land-scape at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States. It’s green water and thick tree leaves which decorated the surrounding area prompted foreign tourists to call it the Green Canyon. This tour-ism spot is located in Kertaya-sa village, Cijulang subdistrict,in Ciamis district, West Java. It’s only about 31 km away from the Pangandaran beach which had long gained its fame.

During the weekend, the Green Canyon is full of tourists whowantedtoenjoythesereni-ty of the green cliffs or to swim in

By Iqbal Alaik

A small car picked us up to take us to Guha Bahu, the start-ing point of our adventure. After walking a little bit, we finally ar-rived at our destination. A cave full of bats welcomed us with that specific bat scents. The strong river current in front of the cave promised us a great adventure. It was an awesome starting point with high cliffs, trees with thick

The Emerald of West Java’s Southern CoastPHOTOS: Alaik, Abe, Felish

leaves and the sound of the river water that gave anyone who went there the feeling of peacefulness and calmness.

Kang Dede, our guide, gave us instructions so that we can car-ry on with our activities safely and still have fun. Without any hesitance,allofusjumpedim-mediately to the cold and fresh

river water. The river current took us through the big stones which pumped our adrenalines really fast.

We not only had to get through big stones but we also had to climb high corals to avoid areas that aren’t safe to go through. This activity really tested our nerves because we also had to jumpfromtheheightof8metersto return to the water. Each and everyoneofusjumpedbacktothe water, not only once but sev-eral times.

After going through a series of strong currents, cliff climb-ing and taking big plunges, we then went with a calmer current that led us to the downstream of Cukang Taneuh. We rested our bodies in the water and let the current take us to the down-stream slowly. The blue skies, green trees and water splashes seemed to move in slow motion.

It was almost four hours since we started the adventure before we finally reached the finish line. Sometouristscameonlytoenjoythe sceneries at the downstream of the Green Canyon as they swamtoenjoythecoldwater.

After taking a short break and dried ourselves, we contin-uedourjourney.WereachedtheBatu Karas beach after a 20-minute drive. The delicious sea-food was the perfect meal to end the day at a serene beach as the sound of the waves and winds relaxed our minds and bodies. It’s a perfect place for refresh-ment with friends.

C5

Technologywww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The 7-inch tablet is pow-ered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core CPU with Cortex A9 cores from Medi-aTek, supported by a

PowerVR SX531 graphics chipfrom Imagination. Both are cer-tainly not premium range, but they aren’t bottom of the barrel either. The working memory has a capacity of 512 MB and the 8 GB internal memory can be ex-panded via the microSD slot.

The screen also follows the present trend with a diagonal of seven inches. In return, the res-olution of 1024 x 600 pixels is rather mediocre. Acer promises a 70 degree viewing angle stabil-ity from every direction.

To date, Acer’s Iconia B1 is available in a Wi-Fi only version. Whether a 3G version will follow is not yet certain.

In Singapore, the Iconia B1 is priced at S$199. While the specs certainly don’t compare to the S$349 Nexus 7, the B1 makes a great and cheaper alternative for folks who don’t need all the extra horsepower.

The 7-inch tablet is also up for grabs in Indonesia, where it’s currently being offered by retail-er Bhinneka for $135. Once the special promotion is over, the Iconia B1 will go for $165.

Other countries in the region where the Iconia B1 has been launched include India. The B1 was launched there last week at $150. Those in Europe, Mid-dle East, and Africa can expect to see the tab land this month for €119.

Acer Announcesa “Budget” Tablet

In January 29, Apple® an-nounced a 128GB version of the fourth generation iPad® with Retina®display.

The 128GB iPad with Wi-Fi and iPad with Wi-Fi + Cellular models provide twice the stor-age capacity of the 64GB mod-els to hold even more valuable content including photos, docu-ments, projects, presentations,books, movies, TV shows, music and apps.

iPad continues to have a sig-nificant impact on business with virtually all of the Fortune 500 and over 85 percent of the Global 500 currently deploying or test-ing the product. Companies reg-ularly utilizing large amounts of data such as 3D CAD files, X-rays, film edits, music tracks, projectblueprints, training vid-eos and service manuals all ben-efit from having a greater choice of storage options for iPad. The over 10 million iWork® users and customers who rely on other in-credible apps like Global Appti-tude for analyzing team film and creating digital playbooks, Au-ria for an incredible 48 track re-cording system, or AutoCAD for drafting architectural and en-

gineering drawings, also bene-fit greatly from having the choice of an iPad with more storage ca-pacity.

The fourth generation iPad featuresagorgeous9.7-inchRet-ina display, Apple-designed A6X chip, FaceTime® HD camera, iOS 6.1 and ultrafast wireless performance. iOS 6.1 includes support for additional LTE net-works around the world, and iTunes Match® subscribers can download individual songs to their iOS devices from iCloud®.

iPad runs over 800,000 apps available on the App Store®, in-cluding more than 300,000 apps designed specifically for iPad, from a wide range of cate-gories including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. iPad also supports more than 5,000 news-papers and magazines offered in Newsstand, and more than 1.5 million books available on the iBookstore®.

Rumors about iPad versionwith128GBjustemergedcoupledays ago and recently Apple offi-cially announced that the fourth-

generation iPad has a 128GB version with Retina display.So far, the iPad only has mod-els that range in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. So the fourth-gen-eration iPad with 128GB mod-el is the first time. Well, do not be surprised if the fourth-gener-ationiPadwithRetinadisplayispriced starting at $799.

The fourth-generation iPad has the same design and hard-ware as the previous genera-tion iPad. The fourth-generation iPadhasa9.7-inchRetinadis-play, Apple-designed chip A6X, FaceTime HD camera, and runs on iOS 6.1. And now we can en-joy more than 800,000 appsavailable for the iPad in the App Store, including over 300.00 ex-citing gaming applications.

The fourth-generation iPad is scheduled to be available start-ing on February 5, 2013. The new iPad will be available in two different colors, black and white.iPad4withRetinadisplay128GB version will be available in two models, the first mod-el is Wi-Fi which priced at $799 and the second model is the 4G which will be sold for $929.

iPad 128GB ComesWith Retina Display

As one of the leading IT brands, Acer is the first to now venture into the “budget segment” with a real sensation. Acer has announced a new 7-inch Android Jelly Bean tablet with one big compelling feature, at a sub-$150 price tag. Acer touts its latest 7-inch tablet, dubbed Iconia B1-A71, as lightweight, handy and powerful.

To date, Acer’s Iconia B1 is available in a Wi-Fi only version. Whether a 3G version will follow is not yet certain.

www.pcinpact.com

The fourth-generation iPad has

the same design and hardware

as the previous generation iPad.

www.fantasticzero.de

C6

Golfwww.thepresidentpost.comFebruary 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

World Golfers to Competein CIMB Niaga 2013 Indonesian Masters

Although it will not be at-tended by defending champi-on Lee Westwood, the CIMB Niaga 2013 Indonesian Mas-ters 2013 will continue to show world-level golf com-petition by world class golf-ers at the tournament which willbeheld2-5MayatRoy-ale Jakarta Golf Club in Ja-karta.

A number of golfers stars will compete in the tourna-ment that provide a total of $50,000 in prizes.

Daren Clarke from Ire-land, Simon Dyson from England and Michael Camp-bell from New Zealand will all join theupcoming tour-

nament. They will compete with otherMajorchampionssuchasErnie Els and John Daly.

The presence of Clarke and Campbell, with Simon Dyson,who had won several tours, makes this prestigious event more inter-esting because they will compete against the best players from the Asian Tour.

Gatot Subagio, Corporate Communications Head of PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk (CIMB Niaga), stated that the excitement comes with the presence of foreign play-ers who will compete in this tournament.

Gatot Subagio added that besides developing this in-ternational tournament, they will also give space for younger players of the Am-ateur League and provide coaching.

A total of 156 golfers will be competing, with Indone-sia presenting 25 of its best golfers and four amateur golfers in this tournament.

www.detik.com

The 6th Faldo Series Championship to Inspire Young Indonesian Golfers

Damai Indah Golf will again host the coun-try’s top young golf-ers when the sixth Faldo Series Indone-

sia Championship returns to the BSD Course on February 7-8. Competitors will be inspired by Cahyo Adhitomo, who last year became the first Indonesian to win a Grand Final title.

Golfers aged 12 to 21 will com-pete over 36 holes at the BSD Course in West Java. Three boys and two girls will qualify for the seventh Asia Grand Final, to behostedbythesix-timeMajorwinner at Mission Hills Golf Club in China on March 13-15.

Last year’s winner of the Indo-nesia Championship is Jakarta’s “Bobby”Adhitomo,whowentonto claim the Boys’ Under-21 title at the 2012 Asia Grand Final.

Younger children from the lo-cal community will also attend the Indonesia Championship to watch the competitors in ac-tionandenjoyafreegolfclinicaspartofajointdrivebytheFaldoSeries and Damai Indah Golf to help grow golf at the grass-roots level.

Established in 1996, 40 Fal-do Series tournaments now take place in 30 countries world-

wide with more than 7,000 golf-ers participating each year. Past winners include Major cham-pions Rory McIlroy and YaniTseng.

The 2012/2013 Faldo Series Asia schedule features a record 18 tournaments in 15 countries, including four in mainland Chi-na and others in the Philippines,

Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brunei, Cam-bodia, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand.

The Faldo Series Asia is sup-portedbymajorpartnersISPS,MissionHillsandTheR&A.Itisendorsed by the Asian Tour and the Asia Pacific Golf Federation.

Golfers aged 12 to 21 will compete over 36 holes at the BSD Course in West Java. Three boys and two girls will qualify for the seventh Asia Grand Final, to be hosted by the six-time Major winner at Mission Hills Golf Club in China on March 13-15.

Last year’s winner of the Indonesia Championship is Jakarta’s “Bobby” Adhitomo, who went on to claim the Boys’ Under-21 title at the 2012 Asia Grand Final.

www.indogolfnews.blogspot.com

Established in 1996, 40 Faldo Series tournaments now take place in 30 countries worldwide with more than 7,000 golfers participating each year.

A total of 156 golfers will be competing, with Indonesia presenting 25 of its best golfers and four amateur golfers in this tournament.

C7

Java Jazzwww.thepresidentpost.com February 2013 Vol.2 No. 2

The ninth edition of Java Jazz Festival, themed “Jazz Up The World”,brings out internation-al and national legends,

Grammy winners/nominees, to-day’s top lists, the masters of the ‘game’ and shiny newcomers.

This year’s Java Jazz Festi-val will feature special shows from three exceptional ladies, namely British legendary sing-er Lisa Stansfield, soulful Joss Stone, and emerging superstar Basia. Other than these three girls, there are also many great names. Bob James and Chuck Loeb will have their own shows besides playing as Fourplay with the other two compatriots. The piano prodigy Eldar Djangirov,who stunned everyone when he was still a very young boy some years ago, is also listed. Special collaborations which will bring back memories will be there too, such as George Duke and Stan-ley Clark, with their all time hit “SweetBaby”.AndofcourseLeeRitenourandDaveGrusinwhohave been supporting each other for some decades both on stage and recordings.

Aspecialprojectpayingtributeto Miles Davis, “Miles Smiles”,will be brought by big cats Lar-ry Coryell, Joey DeFrancesco, Omar Hakim, Daryll Jones and RickMargitza.

The Grammy Award winning, and one of the best post bop sax-ophonists, Kenny Garrett with his Quintet, Magnus Lindgren with special guest Gregory Por-ter, Jose James, James Carter Organ Trio, Wouter Hamel, The Soul Rebels, Emily Elbert, Da-vid Helbock and Gregory Por-ter Quartet will also be featured. Legendary groups Sypro Gyra will make its return to Indonesia, also Phil Perry, New York Voices, RoyHargrove(inRHFactorandQuintet), Roberta Gambarini,Marcus Miller and in-house resi-dence Brian Simpson.

There are many names who will make their first appearance at the Java Jazz Festival such as the legendary Jimmy Cliff, the person who can place soul and gospel into his reggae taste, the famous Japanese-American singer whose music embraces mixturesofjazz,soul,RandB,

pop and dance Monday Michiru, Balance and The Traveling Sounds, Butterscotch, Chu-cho Valdes from Cuba and Fer-nandez4 from Argentina among others. Representing our ownneighboring country is Mellow Motif from Thailand. The lead singer of this group, Natasha Patamapongs, performed at the 5th Asean Jazz Festival last year in Batam. Now she’s back with her group which also features Eugene Ang. A complete list of confirmed International Artists can be seen in this page: http://

www.javajazzfestival.com/2013/artistslist.php.

For national artists, there will be no less than 120 select-ed groups. Indro Hardjodiko-ro and the Fingers are going to make their first landing this year featuring Tompi, and beau-tiful talented pianist Meri Kasi-man too. Legends such as In-dra Lesmana (with LLW), Dwiki Dharmawan (and String Quar-tet), Tjut Nyak Deviana Daud-sjah(ftDip’ah),OelePattiselano,Karim Suweileh & Jazzy Quin-

Java Jazz 2013TO JAZZ UP THE WORLD

tet, Benny Likumahuwa Jazz Connection, and Donny Suhen-dra Power Fusion Trio are also scheduled. Oddie Agam will cel-ebrate his four decades of music; the new face of AB Three, now called B3, will also be there too. Piano teacher Andi Wiriantono is making another appearance this year.

Barry Likumahuwa Project(BLP) will pay a tribute to Weath-er Report, while other populargroups especially among young-sters like Maliq & D’Essentials,

The world’s largest music event, the Jakarta International Djarum Super Mild Java Jazz Festival, is right around the corner (March 1st-3rd). The event will be held at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Abdul and the Coffee Theo-ry, Calvin Jeremy, Sister Duke, The Extra Large,Matthew Say-ersz and Tulus are participat-ing as well. If that’s not enough, there are many other mouth-watering artists/bands includ-ing Dewi Sandra, Glenn Fredly, Andien, Cindy Bernadette, The Groove, The Jongens Quartet, IYR,KrishnaBalagita,Manna,Heaven on Earth, Bandanaira (Irsa Destiwi and Lea Siman-juntak),guitarmaestroIWayanBalawan in Balawan Bifan Trio (withbassistFajarAdiNugrohoand drummer Dion Subyakto) ft Didiet violin, Manna and Sandy Winarta Quartet. If you love The Beatles, don’t forget to check G-Pluck Beatles’ show. The unique collaboration between Agam HamzahandRaflytogetherwithAdi Darmawan, Jalu G Pradi-tina and Saat ‘Borneo’ Syah as RaflyWaSajawillbringuniquejazzinAcehflavour.

From Rumah Musik Har-ry Roesli (RMHR) in Bandungcomes 57kustik with the theme “ForBetterLifeMovement”.Rep-resenting the blues line is Ginda and the White Flowers, also from Bandung. On more confirmed Indonesian artists, please refer to http://www.javajazzfestival.com/2013/artistslist.php.

According to Program Direc-torEQPuradiredja,therewillbeabout 56 shows per day, spread in more than a dozen stages There will also be tributes to In-donesian legends every day cov-

ering Ismail Marzuki, Utha Li-kumahuwa and Elfa Secioria.

Peter F, Gontha, the found-er of Java Jazz Festival, said the event will be aired in live stream-ing via Youtube to all around the world via First Media. “So far Java Jazz is the fourth event to be broadcasted live in the world andenjoyshugenumberofhitsthroughYoutube,”heexplained.

With the support sponsors Djarum SuperMild, BNI, Gar-uda Indonesia, Tebs, Telkom-sel and Blue Bird Group, as well as the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, it is expected to draw large crowds. Between 110,000 and 115,000 people is expect-ed to attend the festival, up from 2012’s 108,000.

Preceding the event and in order to spread the hype and the mood of the Jakarta Inter-national Djarum Super JavaJazz Festival 2013, the organiz-erslaunchedtheDjarumSuperMild Java Jazz on the Move (JJ-OTM) in several malls and cafes across Jakarta. The JJOTM is held on the third week of Janu-ary 2013 at the Sumarecon Mall Serpong, Black Cat Jazz & Blues Club, Margo City Depok, Puri Mall, and Supermall Karawaci.

So get ready for the 9th edition of Jakarta International Djar-um Super Mild Java Jazz Festi-val 2013. This spectacular music show only comes once a year. Be sure you don’t miss it!

The President Post/Daniel Trioska

Java Jazz 2013 Press Conference. According to Program Director EQ Puradiredja, there will be about 56 shows per day, spread in more than a dozen stages There will also be tributes to Indonesian legends every day covering Ismail Marzuki, Utha Likumahuwa and Elfa Secioria.