Readwrotes Blog

Mon, 07/13/2009 11:26 AM | Business Expanding business opportunities and security stability are all the ingredients attracting foreigners to live in Indonesia . The Jakarta Post' s Lilian Budianto and Rendi A. Witular explore the profiles of foreign nationals residing in Indonesia and the reasons behind their recent migration in large numbers to the country. Here are the stories: Despite the negative news coverage of Indonesia worldwide revolving around Islamic extremism, terrorist threats, natural disasters, rampant corruption and deteriorating hygiene, the country is attracting more foreign nationals than ever. A striving economy, low cultural barriers, a friendly climate and political and security stability have apparently phased out such concerns, luring more foreign visitors than scaring them away. Statistics from the directorate general of immigration obtained by The Jakarta Post recently reveal the extent of this mass migration to Indon...

Markus Makur , The Jakarta Post , Timika | Mon, 07/13/2009 12:05 PM | Headlines A security guard was shot dead Sunday outside a mine in Papua operated by US copper and gold mining behemoth Freeport, a day after an Australian worker was killed in an ambush there. Sunday's attack saw the assailants open fire at vehicles carrying security officers, including officers from the police's Mobile Brigade and anti-terror unit, as well as Freeport security guards. One security guard, identified as Markus Rattealo, was killed in the incident, and five others injured, including police officers. The police fired back, and an exchange of fire ensued, which lasted several hours. Workers at the huge Grasberg mine were prevented from leaving for the Kuala Kencana housing complex or the town of Timika by the gunfight. National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak confirmed there had been an exchange of fire, and said police had deployed...

Alfian , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:26 AM | Headlines PT Multicapital, a subsidiary of mining giant PT Bumi Resources, has won a tender to finance the acquisition of 10 percent of shares in PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT). A consortium of three regional administrations in West Nusa Tenggara province announced Sunday that of all six contenders, Multicapital had "the highest score in all criteria". The consortium - comprising the provincial, Sumbawa regency and West Sumbawa regency administrations - will need US$391 million for the share acquisition, as previously agreed with NNT. "Multicapital will finance all the required costs," Heryadi Rahmat, head of provincial energy and mineral resources office, said Sunday. He added one of considerations in appointing Multicapital was because its parent company, Bumi, had a core business in mining. US mining giant Newmont Corp, NNT's main shareholder...

Rendi A. Witular and Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:26 AM | Headlines A high potential for security threats, drug abuse and refugee inflow has triggered the immigration office to include 15 countries in its latest list of riskiest nations whose citizens are required to undergo strict immigration checks, including a screening by intelligence agencies, when entering the country. A copy of the list, obtained recently by The Jakarta Post, shows Pakistan and Nigeria - two countries with close ties to Indonesia - have been included because their policies open chances for nationals from neighboring countries to use their passport for overseas travel. Nationals from the two countries have been the subject of extra screening over the past year. "We're trying to minimize risks, because Pakistani and Nigerian passports are often misused by people from other nations," says Maroloan J. Baringbing, spo...

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:26 AM | Headlines A number of experts say they expect the future Cabinet to be more professional once incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is officially named the winner of the July 8 election. "Yudhoyono must be willing to establish a more professional Cabinet by selecting more ministers from outside parties," Ray Tangkuti, director of the Indonesian Civilized Circle (Lima), told The Jakarta Post on Sunday in Jakarta. He added Yudhoyono did not have to heed the objections from his coalition partners, because the results of both the legislative and presidential elections showed the incumbent and his Democratic Party (PD) had the upper hand in political power and bargaining position. "Yudhoyono will ignore all objections from his coalition partners, such as the Prosperous Justice Party *PKS*, about Cabinet seat allocation," Ray said. "He knows the PKS's beha...

Wimar Witoelar , JAKARTA | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:22 AM | Headlines A friend of mine who is a seasoned political junkie emailed me the following message: "Hey, didn't you know Wimar? SBY won because of Glomar! The Triple-A gang of Aburizal, Agung, Akbar. Plus Sis, Muladi and others. That is why the total votes gained by the JK-Win ticket were less than the total share of Golkar plus Hanura." Hmm, interesting theory. So, is it true? The answer is that it may not matter. SBY-Boediono's victory, while still unofficial, is convincing. TV host Dalton Tanonaka says the trouble with landslide victories is that there is no story. The election coverage was over on television six hours before midnight, when the English language program was about to go on the air. I have a different view. SBY's Part two resounding victory is a big story because it reaffirms our journey towards democracy and normality. Just like my latest blood test seems ...

Sun, 07/12/2009 11:09 AM | Headlines SBY's victory is a foregone conclusion. Everybody loves him. Older women are even crazy about his conservative hairstyle. Well, at least one woman. "My mother is a big fan of SBY. She parts my little son's hair on the *left* side so that it looks like SBY's hairstyle," my Acehnese friend complained. She told me many Aceh residents chose SBY as they did not know it was actually JK who played the key role in brokering the peace agreement to end the decades-long conflict. SBY also took the credit for fighting corruption, reforming the tax system and creating security and political stability, despite his failure in handling the Lapindo mudflow tragedy. Above all, SBY is successful in generating a good public image, thanks to his relentless presence in the media. People must love him because they believe in what they saw on TV, even though my high school teacher once told me not to judg...

Nurkholisoh Ibnu Aman , Surabaya | Mon, 07/13/2009 9:42 AM | Opinion Banks in Indonesia are being heavily criticized for being too slow to respond to monetary policy and for showing inefficiency in intermediation roles. Despite the aggressive cuts of the Bank Indonesia (BI)-rate in the past five months, banks remain reluctant to adjust lending rates. In comparison to December 2008, the BI-rate has been lowered by 225 basis points (bps), while the deposit and lending rates of banks went down only by 135 bps and 20 bps respectively. As a result, the gap between the deposit rate and the lending rate is increasing. Banks are now actually collecting higher revenue from wider discrepancies. To explain the behavior of such banks, we need to understand the cost structure of loanable funds. The first component is what is usually termed as the “cost of fund”, i.e. the interest paid to deposit customers for third party funds placed in banks. The ...

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 07/13/2009 9:31 AM | Opinion Indonesia’s stocks jumped and the rupiah posted big gains after last Wednesday’s peaceful presidential elections initially gave incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his running mate Boediono a landslide win against the two other contestants. The bullish sentiment reflects the great welcome by the market of a highly probable one-round election, instead of another run-off in September with all the risks of uncertainty during the remaining three months of the current SBY-Kalla administration. This also signals that the market and investors are quite comfortable with the SBY government and want it to continue governing the country for another five years until October 2014. The stronger seems to be the vote of confidence for SBY because the people rest assured that his vice president elect Boediono, a senior economist and former central bank chief with impeccable integrity, wi...

Matheos Viktor Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 07/13/2009 11:28 AM | Features The tricky part about making a set of wind chimes is deciding what to leave out. Choosing which tones to include can be even trickier if the chimes are made from bamboo, glass, shell, stone, porcelain or wood. Tired with the routine of servicing his customers' pianos, Abdul Madjid Gangga decided to create a musical instrument that did not require regular fine tuning. He found his answer in wind chimes. "When I was servicing pianos, I was thinking about a musical instrument that needed tuning only once ever," Abdul Madjid told The Jakarta Post during the creative industries exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center last week. "Although I made a living servicing pianos, the routine of it bored me." As the material used to create wind chimes can have a large impact on the sound it produces, Abdul Madjid spent four years fro...

The Jakarta Post , Yogyakarta | Mon, 07/13/2009 10:40 AM | People JP/Slamet Susanto People who see Hetty Ansing’s paintings are likely to guess that she is Indonesian, such is the authenticity of her depictions of the country. But the 50-year-old Dutch artist has no ties to Indonesia, other than frequent visits to the land she has come to love. Ansing’s artworks depict a complete character of Indonesian society, exploring elements ranging from its natural environment to its traditional culture. The impact of Ansing’s work is such that it has evoked tears among Dutch residents with memories of Indonesia, or Indonesian people living in Holland. “Indonesian society and culture, especially as practiced in Yogyakarta and Bali, are my sources of inspiration”, Ansing said on a recent visit to Yogyakarta. “That’s why many of them think that I come from Indonesia when they view my works.” The painting Plow is a prime example of the Indonesi...

Cynthia Webb , Contributor , Yogyakarta | Sun, 07/12/2009 11:09 AM | Arts & Design Kinkin with two of his works at Via Via Café. JP/Cynthia Webb Kinkin's second solo exhibition "Indonesia Today", opened recently in Via Via Caf*, Yogyakarta. Via Via supports emerging young artists by exhibiting their works, which are seen there by the many foreign tourists who come to this trendy and busy caf* in the heart of the tourist accommodation area. This show can be seen until Aug. 6 The 35-year-old artist is based in Bali, but is originally from Tasikmalaya, West Java. His real name is Abdul Aziz, but he works under his professional name of Kinkin. When he was very young, Kinkin was naturally gifted as a draughtsman, although there was no-one else in the family with artistic talent or interest. Only when he went to study at Jakarta State University (UNJ) did he at last receive formal training. He has the rare talent of being ...