Bring F1 to Indonesia: IMI chairman candidate

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 12/13/2011 10:18 AM

Off track: In this Sept. 24 file photo, Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi of Japan loses a control prior to a crash on the wall during the qualifying session for a Singapore Formula One Grand Prix on the Marina Bay City Circuit in Singapore. (AP/Terence Tan)

One person running to be the Indonesian Motorsports Association’s (IMI) next chairman says he wants to bring Formula 1 racing to the nation.

“If Malaysia and Singapore can do it, why can’t we? Even though this is just my dream, I’ll work very hard to make it happen,” National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen Nanan Soekarna said on Monday in a press statement as quoted by tempo.co.

Nanan, who if elected would join a long line of senior police and military officers heading national athletic organizations, said he wanted to bring all automotive sports under IMI up to the international level.

"We have potential racers. IMI will support them to race outside Indonesia,” Nanan said, adding that he would involve the government, sole-authorized agents (ATPM) and other relevant parties to support the move.

IMI is set to appoint a new chairman at its national meeting later this week in Surakarta, Central Java.

Nanan is competing with Army Lt. Gen. Hotma Mangaradja Panjaitan and businessmen Adiguna Sutowo, Benny Laos, Sadikin Aksa and Johny Pramono to replace the current IMI chairman, Ari Batubara.

Indonesia ratifies global ban on nuclear tests

Associated Press, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 2:30 PM

Indonesia says it has ratified a global treaty banning nuclear test explosions.

Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty specified that the 44 countries with nuclear power or research reactors at the time needed to give formal approval before it could take effect.

With the endorsement Tuesday by Indonesia's parliament, the treaty is now only awaiting ratification from the United States, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

Indonesian lawmaker Mahfudz Siddiq urged the remaining countries - especially the U.S. and Israel - to get off the bench and sign.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million, has three research atomic reactors.

Debt crisis and the future of Europe: Is Indonesia safe?

Winarno Zain, Jakarta | Sat, 11/05/2011 1:07 PM

The Greek drama surrounding its debt crisis is still unfolding, and it is clear by the day that the crisis is more severe than expected.

The resolution of the crisis will take several years and will be very costly and the magnitude of that cost will be beyond the financial ability of the eurozone governments.

Efforts to make decisions to resolve the crisis are facing the risk of being obstructed by policy paralysis resulting from political uncertainties that grip several euro countries.

All these were evident after eurozone leaders finished their summit on Oct. 27 in Brussels. They claimed to have crafted a “comprehensive policy” to contain the European debt crisis. But markets think the policy lacks meaningful details and leaves many questions. It reflects the daunting task of the eurozone leaders.

The problem is getting more serious as the amount of Greek debt that needs to be written off turns out to be larger than previously forecasted. In July, it was estimated that a 21 percent write down of Greek sovereign bonds would be sufficient to give some relief for the Greek government. But the Greek economy deteriorated rapidly, as austerity measures have caused a deeper recession than expected.

According to the IMF, the Greek economy will contract 5.5 percent this year and its debt will continue to rise reaching 186 percent of GDP in 2013. Its bond yield has reached a staggering 24.5 percent, a crushing debt load for the Greek government. That is the reason a 50 percent write off of Greek debt was envisaged by the European leaders during the summit. It should be implemented on a voluntary basis by investors holding Greek government bonds. If it is agreed, then it would mean a de facto default by the Greek government.

The risk is that it could lead to chaos in the credit-default swap (CDS) market that makes eurozone debt harder to insure. It could also lead to other countries having similar problems to Greece demanding the same amount of debt “hair cut”. All this would make banks more skittish in extending loans and this could stall economic recovery in Europe.

The debt crisis has hit European banks severely, as their holdings in Greek bonds have lost their value and significantly weakened their capital and their ability to lend. One Belgian bank had to be bailed out recently, while other banks with their severely weakened balance sheets would not be able to withstand bank runs and another debt default in Italy or Spain.

The agreement reached at the summit means that those banks would have to write down their Greek debt holding by 50 percent, which means a capital injection of ¤106 billion (US$146 billion) would be required by the banks for them to stay afloat. Banks are required to raise their capital ratio to 9 percent next year.

Unlike the US government that still had enough money to bail out some big banks in Wall Street during the 2008 crisis, the eurozone governments have no money to bail out banks. So the banks have to seek money from private investors, or else they have to cut dividends and bonuses.

Another tough issue for the eurozone countries is not only containing the debt crisis in Greece but also how to prevent the contagion of this debt crisis into other countries. Italy is the next worry. Its bond yield jumped from 5.7 percent to 6.1 percent last week, a level considered by the market as in the danger zone, and could exacerbate Italy’s debt burden. Italy is plagued with political uncertainties. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi does not appear to be a credible figure to inspire confidence in the market. Because Italy’s sovereign bond market is one of the biggest in Europe, its default would be catastrophic.

To prevent Italy defaulting means that investors must be persuaded to continue buying Italy’s sovereign bonds. To dispel worries and to inspire confidence among investors an entity called the European Financial System Facilities (EFSF) has been created to bail out governments and banks hit by the crisis. The problem is that EFSF funds of some ¤440 billion ($616 billion) are not sufficient.

A sort of financial engineering was attempted through guarantee mechanisms, whereby the fund is also used for insurance against loss in new bond issuances if there is a write down. In theory, this could “enhance” EFSF funds to ¤1 trillion ($1.4 trillion). To increase its potential funding, a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) would be created to attract funds from emerging economies, such as China and Brazil.

But it is doubtful whether China will lend a helping hand to Europe when it is facing hostility from EU governments on its exports to and investments in Europe. Why would China put their money in the EFSF when Germany and France themselves are reluctant to do the same? Besides, how could bond buyers have confidence in the guarantee by euro governments if they themselves are vulnerable to crises that hit their neighbors?

The debt crisis has strained the sanctity of the eurozone treaty and has exposed some of its flaws. Its members did not surrender their fiscal sovereignty to a supranational body, and the euro governments are unable to impose sanctions on member countries that breach the maximum limit of debt and deficits relative to GDP.

The single currency policy denies member countries any flexible policies in times of crisis. Being tied to monetary union, countries like Greece and Ireland can only improve their competitiveness through brutal and painful cost cutting. Monetary policy is exercised by the European Central Bank imposing a single interest rate within the eurozone. But there is the catch; a single interest rate by the European Central Bank impacted its member countries differently.

A low interest rate benefited such countries as Germany and France, but triggered excessive spending and inflation in Greece. There are rumors that because of the unresolved crisis Greece is thinking of leaving the European Union (EU). The eurozone will not break up of course, because the stakes are too high but many will start questioning its sustainability and viability.

A debt debacle that is more severe than expected would result in lower growth for the world economy than already forecast. This has started to impact the Indonesian economy. Indonesian exports dropped significantly in September, mainly due to a significant drop in exports to the US and EU. Between August and September, exports to the EU and the US fell by 28 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Even our exports to ASEAN, our main export destination, also dropped by 2 percent, due to weak growth in Singapore and the floods in Thailand. As our exports continue to slow down in the coming months, it will be difficult for Indonesia to achieve its 6.4-6.5 percent growth target next year.

To compensate for the slower growth in exports the government should concentrate on policies to spur domestic consumption and investment.

The writer is an economist.

Pilgrimage and the quest for nationhood in Indonesia

M Hilaly Basya, Leeds, UK | Fri, 11/04/2011 8:24 AM

Each year, millions of Muslims worldwide carry out the haj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

For some, the pilgrimage is interpreted as the highest form of worshipping God. For others, prayers around the Ka’bah will be better heard by God than those in other places.

Regardless of their various motivations, Indonesia reached the highest number of pilgrims in the early 20th century (Bruinessen, 1995), during the Dutch colonialism era. Most of these pilgrims stayed longer in Mecca to study Islam.

It is worth noting that the pilgrimage performed by Indonesian Muslims at the time contributed to the strengthening of nationhood ideas among Indonesian Muslim scholars.

Those scholars were able to translate the idea of pan-Islamism spreading in Mecca. They were successful to redefining what is called ummah. They were not trapped to campaign for pan-Islamism as spreading in the Middle East at the time.

Instead of determining the same religion as the basis for ummah, they preferred to define the same territory as the foundation of ummah.

This indicates that the ideas of pan-Islamism travelling to Indonesia have been domesticated.

On the one hand, Indonesian Muslim scholars were able to absorb and adopt the ideas spreading in Mecca.

On the other, they assessed that those ideas could not be implemented in Indonesia completely, as the country has a particular context that is different to the Middle East.

While the emergence of ideas of nationhood were also influenced by Western ideas through Indonesian “secular” scholars, (reformist) Muslim scholars were regarded as the earliest agents discussing and campaigning for nationhood in Indonesia (Michael Francis Laffan, 2003).

Magazines and newspapers such as Wazir Indie (established in 1878), al-Imam (established in 1906), al-Munir (established in 1911), and al-Islam (established 1916) were some of the devices used by these Muslims scholars.

The discourse on nationhood that emerged in Indonesia can be categorized as the travel of ideas. As mentioned by Edward Said (1984: 226) that like people and institutions, ideas also travel.

However, most ideas when travelling from one country to another country or from one society to
another society experience a “dialectical struggle”.

A community that transplants and adopts ideas will place and locate them after negotiating and adjusting the ideas to their new context.

It is worth noting that in the context of early 20th century Indonesia, the ideas of nationhood were a “dialectical struggle” of reformist Muslim scholars who studied and absorbed the rising spirit of pan Islamism in the Middle East during 19th and early 20th century.

Even though their concept of nationhood were not as clear as the later ideas raised by Indonesian “secular” scholars, their attempts contributed significantly to the discourse of nationalism and the modern nation state.

It is also important to emphasize that the rise of intellectual life is dependent on the circulation of ideas from anywhere.

Intellectual creativity that occurred amongst Indonesian Muslim scholars could not be separated from their travelling to Mecca to conduct the haj, and their willingness to convey ideas they learned in that country.

We have great expectations that the pilgrimages to Mecca performed by Indonesian Muslims every year will similarly contribute to the Indonesian people.

It is obvious that worshipping is not devoted to the goodness of God (Allah), but for humans themselves. Indeed, there are many ideas offered by this form of worship.

There was a famous moment in the valley of mount Arafah in which the Prophet Muhammad delivered a speech called Khutbah al-Wada (the last sermon).

In this speech the Prophet called Muslims to respect human rights. This moment will be always celebrated by pilgrims with wuquf (staying) in Arafah, and it is determined as the culmination of conducting the haj. As far as wuquf is concerned, pilgrims are required to pray and think about the messages of the Prophet’s speech.

Unfortunately, there are not many Indonesian pilgrims who absorb and develop the Prophet’s messages. Indonesia is still known as a country in which human rights abuses are rampant.

We often see that on behalf of God, Muslims destroy places of religious worship and kill followers of certain religion as well.

On the one hand, Indonesia is one of the top countries in terms of Muslims conducting the haj every year. On the other, Indonesia is recognized as a country where religious freedom (one element of human rights) is neglected.

We hope that the messages of the Prophet will travel from Arafah to Indonesia. Of course, the messages cannot travel by themselves. There should be creative agents who are committed to adopt and spread the messages to the country. This is probably what God means as by haji mabrur (the successful haj).

The successful haj is not indicated by the fulfilment of a set of requirements, but by the commitment of pilgrims to upholding human rights. As long as this sort of spirit appears among pilgrims, we will see the pilgrimage contributing to a “new nationhood”.

The writer is a lecturer at Muhammadiyah University, Jakarta (UMJ).

VP optimistic Indonesia can win SEA Games

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 10/31/2011 4:23 PM

Vice President Boediono is optimistic Indonesia can come out on top of the medal tally in the upcoming SEA Games, the biggest sporting event in the ASEAN region, which is scheduled to be held in Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, from November 11 to 22.

“I see we have prepared the best for the games. God willing, we will win first position,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Boediono added that winning the games as the host country may have advantages for Indonesia.

On Monday, Boediono visited several SEA Games venues in Jakarta, including the archery field at Bung Karno Sports Complex and basketball courts at the Kelapa Gading Sport Hall.

The 26th SEA Games has a total of 542 gold medals up for grabs in 44 sporting categories.

Historically, Indonesia won the medal tally when hosted the games in 1979, 1987 and 1997.

Indonesia hosts Asia Pacific broadband development forum

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/29/2011 10:09 AM | Business

Indonesia is hosting the Asia Pacific Broadband Development Forum at the Gran Melia Hotel in Jakarta, forum organizer, global telecommunication device and network solution provider PT ZTE Indonesia says.

Leading telecommunications network operators from South Asia and Middle Eastern countries are among participants at the two-day forum that began Thursday.

“We are glad we can host such an important forum, and it will enable participants to share experiences and knowledge amongst themselves,” ZTE Indonesia managing director Fan Xiaoyong said Thursday, as quoted by kontan.co.id.

The first day of the forum featured a tour of three wireline facilities owned by state telco, Telkom — DWDM at Telkom headquarters, GPON and ODN at FX Plaza and an IPTV demonstration at Telkom's multimedia office.

On the second day of the forum, participants will take part in a workshop on Fiber optics (FTTX) and Internet Protocol Television development (IPTV) and LTE technology (mobile communications technology beyond 3G).

The return of Big Brother to Indonesia?

Yanuar Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Manchester, UK | Wed, 03/30/2011 9:07 PM | Opinion

Advances in Internet technology have changed the way people live. For many it has brought the appealing promises of global community, democracy and openness.

Many others fear technological threats such as alienated individuals, anarchy, surveillance and repression. The House of Representatives’ proposed intelligence bill is a clear example of the latter.

The bill, if enacted into law, would give the authorities a free pass to monitor conversations and exchanges on the Internet.

Even worse, the bill would give legal justification to the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to detain anyone suspected of threatening public security based on exchanges on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

While the very same social media have given birth of a new type of civic engagement globally, in Indonesia, in the eyes of the bill’s drafters, technology is a threat.

The bill is an anachronism not only in terms of our knowledge economy and information society, but also when considering the democratic progress the nation has made in the reform era.

What are the roots of this anachronism?

First is the inability of the state to comprehend the complexity of information and communication technology (ICT) and its consequences, intended or unintended. As an example, look at how the Communications and Information Technology Ministry imposed Internet blocks, despite their ineffectiveness, to ban access to pornography. It showed not only the naivety of the government, but also the fear and technical incompetence of government officials.

The intelligence bill indicates a similar level of technophobia. Restlessness voiced through social media is seen as a potential security problem, motivating the bill’s drafters to make people subject to arrest for status updates on social media websites.

Such a view is flawed. Freedom of expression is a civil right. The speech of citizens in any medium is an essential right that must be guaranteed by the state — be it in conventional media such as pamphlets or in contemporary media such as Twitter. The unique features of the Internet and social media cannot alone ensure this right.

For those unable to understand the intricacies of technological innovations, it is easy to feel trapped and see the problems and disadvantages technological progress brings to society, rather than acknowledging and taking advantage of its benefits.

The benefits are legion and unexpected. Facebook was used by civil society groups to mobilize support for Prita Mulyasari as well as Corruption Eradication Commission deputies Bibit S. Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah. The Jalin Merapi civil society group used Twitter to mobilize aid when Mount Merapi erupted.

At the moment, hundreds – if not thousands — humanitarian and environmental “causes” are organized on Facebook, from supporters of the Lapindo mudflow to those who dislike local sinetron soap operas.

Twitter has been instrumental for new civil society movements such as Blood for Life (#BFL) which seeks blood donors, or Save Jakarta (#savejkt), which discuss ideas on improving life in the capital city.

These examples show how the Internet and social media can be used strategically to make social change.

Unfortunately, understanding the rich and nuanced ways that the Internet and social media has transformed our society may be beyond the state’s capacity.

Instead of proactively creating a regulatory framework or ensuring equal access to the telecommunications infrastructure that can help citizens reap the benefits of ICT, the government has used new technology for coercion.

For example, the government’s recent action forcing the makers of BlackBerrys to install Web filters and to build a local server network was interpreted by critics as an exercise of state power aimed at public surveillance.

Perhaps, as Evgeny Morozov said, we all have utopian ideas of the Internet. The very same technology that supports the Internet and social media are as much tools for authoritarian regimes to control or coerce populations as they are for “liberation”.

A quick reality check will show that technology has been used to repress as well as liberate nations.

If the intelligence bill is enacted there is a possibility that civil society activists (including trade unionists, rights activists and political demonstrators) will become targets of the government. The bill would give the authorities a blank check to violate Internet users’ privacy. It is no exaggeration to say that there is a great danger that online privacy may soon just be an illusion.

If we let this happen we will create a “surveillance society” in Indonesia. Orwell’s Big Brother, soon to be more powerful than ever, will come back, watching all of us.

George Washington once said, “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” The quote from America’s first president reminds us of Juvenal’s question: Who watches the watchmen?

The writer is a Hallsworth research fellow in the political economy of innovation at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

SBY says Indonesia needs more entrepreneurs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 02/02/2011 2:15 PM | National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the nation needs to promote entrepreneurs to create jobs and reduce unemployment.

“People will create new product markets and new businesses by becoming entrepreneurs,” Yudhoyono said at the National Movement for Entrepreneurship [GKN] in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

According to the Bureau of Central Statistics, 7.14 percent of Indonesians, more than 8.32 million people, were presently unemployed, Yudhoyono said.

The President said that the government has made jobs creation a priority but would not be able solve unemployment absorbing jobless people into the civil service.

The government currently employs 7.6 million people as civil servants, teachers, lecturers, Indonesian Military members and police officers.

Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syarifuddin Hasan said that the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia was very low, accounting for 0.24 percent of the population, well below an ideal of 2 percent.

“Through this [GKN] campaign, we hope that we can motivate more people to become entrepreneurs in the coming years,” Syarifuddin said.

GM Indonesia set to sell 6,000 vehicles this year

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/24/2011 11:49 AM | Business

General Motors Autoworld Indonesia (GMAI), the sole distributor of Chevrolet, is targeting to sell 6,000 automobiles this year, a company spokesman says.

Sales of Chevrolet Captiva automobiles are expected to account for 70 percents of this target, GMAI marketing manager and spokeswoman Debora Amelia Santosa said at the launch of the Captiva SS in Lippo Karawaci Circuit, Tangerang, as quoted by kompas.com.

Last year saw retail sales of 4,354 Chevrolet Captiva, Spark and Cruze automobiles, as well as Lova and Kalos, which are used for taxis. This figure is around 0.58 percent of the total number of vehicles sold nationwide last year, which reached more than 745,000.

Merapi eruptions cost Indonesia Rp 7.1t

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/24/2011 9:24 AM | Headlines

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Indonesia suffered Rp 7.1 trillion (approximately US$781 million) in financial losses caused by the Mount Merapi eruptions last year affecting Central Java and Yogyakarta.

The losses were not only in the form of destroyed property, but also in the form of potential income losses, such as a decline in hotel occupancy rates and flights arriving at Yogyakarta’s Adisucipto Airport.

“The calculation of the losses was based on various aspects, not only how many hectares need to be compensated. That would be misleading,” Syamsul said, after a visit to victims of lahar floods in Jumoyo village in the Central Java town of Magelang.

“We’ve totaled them up and the financial losses reached Rp 7.1 trillion, but we haven’t calculated losses caused by the impacts of lahar floods because disaster relief efforts there are still ongoing.”

He added that the government would cover all financial losses.

Indonesia AirAsia formulating IPO plans

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 01/24/2011 11:30 AM | Business

Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) president commissioner Sendjaja Widjaja on Sunday said the company would continue with plans to go public, to inject fresh capital needed to fuel IAA's fleet expansion plans.

"IAA shareholders are currently working on plans for the IPO [initial public offering], and we hope we will be ready to offer our shares publicly by the second semester of 2011", Widjaja said as quoted by kompas.com.

"The capitals we hope to gain from this will be used to cover our operational costs and to purchase two new Airbus A320 aircraft, but this plan is still a draft plan that has not been finalized, as there have been talks about purchasing five aircraft instead of just two — in order to comply with Indonesian Aviation Regulation No.1, 2009," Widjaja said.

The regulation requires operators to own a minimum of five aircraft in 2012. IAA currently operates 11 Airbus A320-200 and four Boeing 737-300, but all of these aircraft are leased.

"We are still deciding which underwriter company to use. The selection process has been going since December 2010, and we aim to have chosen an underwriter by February 2011. We want a large, international and committed company to do this job as they will determine the value of the shares and amount [of shares] we can offer,” Widjaja said.

For it to continue operating in Indonesia, Indonesia AirAsia will need to raise US$ 424.5 million (Rp 3,843 trillion) to purchase five aircraft.