Mixed News

Oxford University mission to save a language spoken by three people

2011-04-21T11:31:00.000+07:00

A team of academics from Oxford University have been sent to a remote area of Indonesia in order to save a language spoken by only three people.

The trio are the last people to speak Dusner, an ancient language spoken in a remote fishing village deep in the jungles of Papua, an Indonesian island.

The scientists were nearly too late as recent earthquakes and flooding nearly finished off the community – which still uses the language in ceremonies like marriage – for good.

Researchers from university’s Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics uncovered the language, and Dr Suriel Mofu set off for Indonesia in October to record and document the language.

But days after he left, flooding hit Indonesia’s easternmost Papua province and the Oxford team could not determine whether or not the Dusner speakers – two woman aged 60, and a man in his 70s – had survived.

Now Dr Mofu has made contact with the Dusner speakers and the 14-month project to record the vocabulary and grammar of the speakers.

Professor Mary Dalrymple, the project’s leader, said: "The flood in Indonesia has been a real tragedy for the inhabitants of this wonderful island and it’s been a nervous few months waiting to hear whether or not our speakers survived.

"But this illustrates why our project is so important – we only found out that this language existed last year, and if we don’t document the language before it dies out, it will be lost forever."

The reason the language has dwindled is that many locals now teach their children Malay as they consider it more useful to get jobs.

But Dusner is still used in ceremonies.

"Our project to record and document this language of Dusner has an urgency about it, because one of its speakers died last year," said Prof Dalrymple.

"The language of Dusner has died out as parents realised that their children have a better chance of going to university or getting a job if they speak Malay, which is Indonesia’s main tongue.

"The remaining Dusner speakers have children of their own, but have not taught them Dusner and so the language will die with them.

"Our project is important to non-Dusner speaking inhabitants of Papua, who want to use Dusner in their sacred wedding and funerary rituals."

It is estimated that half of the 6,000 recorded languages spoken in the world will vanish in the next 50 years.

According to the academics the level of enthusiasm among the Dusner people and the head of the village of Dusner for preserving their language is very high.

The community still perform traditional activities - such as marriage proposals, dowry payment, marriage ceremonies - only the Dusner speakers can use the Dusner language for these occasions.

There is great fear in the community that the people will lose the language when these speakers die.

Since Dusner has never been written, traditional stories and experiences have been passed from onegeneration to another orally.

Source: here

Foreign Investment Climbs Nearly 12%

2011-04-21T03:12:00.000+07:00

Amid a bumper day of positive economic news for the country, the Investment Coordinating Board announced that foreign direct investment in Indonesia rose 11.6 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier.

News of the increase from the board, also known as the BKPM, complemented a standout day on the Jakarta Composite Index. The JCI rose 62.11 points, or 1.7 percent, to a record close of 3,794.76.

Sustained confidence in Indonesia’s economy showed as foreign direct investment rose to Rp 39.5 trillion ($4.6 billion) from Rp 35.4 trillion a year earlier, while domestic investment jumped to Rp 14.1 trillion from Rp 6.7 trillion a year earlier.

“Investors’ level of confidence can be seen here, especially after the central bank showed all the necessary statistics to support it and with rating agencies backing it up with improved ratings for Indonesia,” said Azhar Lubis, deputy chairman of investment controlling and implementation at BKPM.

Total realized investment grew 27.3 percent to Rp 53.6 trillion. Azhar said total investment is projected at Rp 240 trillion this year, with foreign investment accounting for Rp 170.4 trillion of that amount.

Private consumption accounts for about two-thirds of Indonesia’s economy, while investment makes up about 15 percent. The economy is projected to expand by 6.5 percent this year, up from 6.1 percent growth last year.

Azhar said the growth in investment was triggered by growing confidence in Indonesia’s business environment, as well as concrete steps from the government to improve the investment climate.

Destry Damayanti, an economist at Mandiri Sekuritas, said the news from BKPM showed Indonesia’s rising stature among foreign investors.

“This is clearly a positive sign. The talk about it being a good time to invest in Indonesia is finally starting to materialize,” Destri said on Wednesday. “The BKPM is targeting a 15 percent increase in foreign investment, so I think the first-quarter progress is on track and on schedule.

“The investment trend in the near future is also good. One of the drivers is the improvement in Indonesia’s rating, which indicates lower investment risk, better investment climate and good prospects for [economic] development.”

In January, Moody’s Investor Service upgraded Indonesia’s rating to one level below investment grade at Ba1. In February, Fitch Ratings upgraded Indonesia to BB+, while Standard & Poor’s did likewise in March.

Singapore is still Indonesia’s top foreign investor with $1.14 billion in 142 projects. Azhar pointed out that investors from Singapore are actually multinational companies that are not necessarily based in Singapore, but the subsidiaries in Singapore are the ones investing in Indonesia.

The United States was second after Singapore with 24 projects worth $359.1 million, while Japan followed in third place with $345.2 million.

The mining sector was the favorite among foreign investors, receiving $1.02 billion in 79 projects. Infrastructure projects, such as power plants, received $606.7 million, while transportation and communications received $593.1 million.

“We want more investment, but we also know which sectors need more attention than others,” Azhar said.

He also said the fate of a discussed tax holiday would be determined “around August.” The tax holiday would be directed toward investments considered a pioneer in their field or those in infrastructure.

Source: here

Indonesia to invest $10 million in Korea's fighter project

2011-04-21T03:08:00.002+07:00

By Lee Tae-hoon

Indonesia has offered to pay $10 million toward a feasibility assessment of an indigenous Korean fighter jet development program, a defense official said Wednesday.

“Korea’s Agency for Defense Development signed a contract with Indonesia’s state-run weapons agency, Balitbang, on the exploratory development of the KF-X project,” said Chung Jae-yoon, spokesman of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

The KF-X project refers to Korea’s multirole fighter development program that was initially announced in 2001, but then stalled for 10 years.

Under the agreement, Chung said Indonesia will pay 20 percent of the initial study costs for the KF-X project in exchange for allowing 30 of its researchers to participate in the project here over the next two years.

In July last year, Indonesia signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea to invest in the project in return for acquiring around 50 KF-X fighters.

"With the formal agreement with Indonesia, our plan to jointly develop the fighters with international partners is expected to go smoothly," the official said.

Korea's Air Force has been pursuing the KF-X project to help replace its aging F-4/5 fighters.

DAPA plans to select a prototype by late 2012.

Wednesday's deal came less than two weeks after Indonesia selected South Korea as a preferred bidder for its project to buy trainer jets.

The two sides have yet to complete negotiations on price and other details. If a final deal is sealed, it will allow South Korea to export its T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer jet for the first time.

Source: here

Samsung C&T to invest US$150 mln in Indonesian solar power

2011-04-18T12:34:00.000+07:00

Samsung C&T of South Korea plans to invest US$150-200 million in Indonesia’s solar power plant with a capacity of 50 MW.
“The Samsung C&T president has expressed commitment that the company is very serious about developing solar energy in Indonesia,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa said following a meeting with Samsung C&T President and CEO Shin Kim here on Friday.
To develop the project, Samsung C&T was expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia’s PT Land and state electricity company PT PLN in Bali in May 2011 on the occasion of South Korea-Indonesia ministers meeting, he said.
Amir Sambodo, special assistant to the coordinating minister for economic affairs said Samsung C&T was planning to invest US$150-200 million in a solar power plant on the assumption the project would cost US$3 million per megawatt.
To that end, the company had applied for a permit to conduct a feasibility study on the grounds the solar power plants developed by PLN in 10 different places in Indonesia now had a maximum capacity of 1 megawatt, he said.
Amir said Samsung was exploring the possibility of developing a special area for solar power plant in Java, Bali or other islands having the capacity to develop a power plant with a capacity of 50 MW, he said.
The Korean company was in the process of applying for a permit to the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Industry Ministry, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and the Investment Coordinating Board, he said.

SOurce: here

Steel giant plans expansion into E. Indonesia

2011-04-18T12:29:00.002+07:00

Steel giant plans expansion into E. Indonesia

Esther Samboh, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 04/18/2011 10:01 PM | Business

A | A | A |

Luxembourg-based Tenaris says it will boost its investment in eastern Indonesia in a move that will support the government’s economic master plan, according to a minister.

The world’s top producer of seamless steel pipes for the oil and gas industry was interested in establishing a logistical base for its oil business with an estimated investment of “hundreds of millions of dollars”, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said on Friday.

“Tenaris wants to realize the investment this year, as soon as possible. They want to invest in eastern Indonesia, because they see the growing development of gas in the area. I offered Kalimantan,” Hatta told reporters after a meeting with Tenaris executives at his office in Jakarta.

Kalimantan is one of six economic corridors to be developed under the government’s ambitious economic master plan to become one of the world’s 10 biggest economies by 2025.

Other corridors include Sumatra, which will be developed as an energy power house; Java which will be developed as an industry and services special zone; Kalimantan, which will be developed as mining zone and Sulawesi-North Maluku, which will be developed as agriculture, forestry and fishery zones.

The plan also calls for developing Bali-Nusa Tenggara as a tourism and food zone and Papua-Maluku as a natural and human resources zone.

“I told [Tenaris] that we are currently developing economic corridors. We need ports to support the plan. I said they could invest in the Papua corridor or the Kalimantan corridor. They are very interested and asked to be included in the development process,” Hatta said.

Indonesia needs Rp 4 trillion (US$460 million) in investment in the first phase of the master plan before 2014, during which the nation’s economy is expected to grow from 7 to 8 percent.

Tenaris, the heaviest weighted stock on Argentina’s benchmark stock index, is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is the majority shareholder of PT Seamless Pipe Indonesia Jaya (SPIJ).

SPIJ — which was acquired from Bakrie & Brothers, Green Pipe International and Cakrawala Baru in 2009 — operates in the OCTG (oil country tubular goods) processing business, producing pipe and tube products used in the petroleum industry, such as drill pipe and pipe casings, and has heat treatment and premium connection threading facilities in Cilegon and Batam.

Source: here

Investment opportunities on our doorstep

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000+07:00

Investing in Indonesia is starting to look just as attractive as China and India, writes John Collett.

While everyone knows about the merits of investing in China and India, Indonesia barely rates a mention. But fund managers who specialise in Asian shares say the archipelago presents investment opportunities every bit as good as China and India over the long term.

With more than 240 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most populous country. Like India and China, it has a rapidly growing middle class. Its economy may only be half the size of Australia's but it is growing at almost 7 per cent a year.

It rivals Australia as a commodities exporter and Indonesian companies are the most profitable in Asia. It's a far cry from 1997, when the Indonesian government was forced to nationalise the banks after the country was among the most badly hit by the east Asian financial crisis.

As a developing country, Indonesia faces huge challenges but it is enjoying political stability, its sharemarket is attractive and there's a good selection of quality stocks in the resources sector, banking and consumer stocks.

Since his election as president in 2004, "SBY" (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) has changed the investment landscape, according to the Asia portfolio manager at fund manager Five Oceans Asset Management, Rob Nunley.

"He has done a very good job of turning things around in the economy," Nunley says. "Those positives we see in India and China - the middle-class income growth, the positive demographics and urbanisation - exist in Indonesia."

Tens of millions of low-income Indonesians are expected to join the middle class in the next 10 years, which puts Indonesia behind only India and China in terms of the size of the growing consumer market. The youthfulness of its population puts it behind only India and Vietnam in the Asian region.

"The long-term prospects for Indonesia are extremely good," says Kerry Series, the chief investment officer at Eight Investment Partners, which runs the 8IP Asia Pacific Partners Fund. "There are a number of really interesting companies in Indonesia and some of the consumer stocks, in particular, are really good-quality companies."

An example is Ace Hardware, which is listed in Indonesia and is a franchise of a US company. Ace Hardware sells everything from outdoor furniture to power tools. Series says the "return on equity" (a measure of profitability favoured by fund managers) of the companies that make up Indonesia's sharemarket index is more than 20 per cent. No other country in Asia has such high profitability, he says.

Robin Parbrook, who manages the Schroder Asia Pacific Fund from Hong Kong, prefers Indonesia to China and India. "Even though Indonesia has slower economic growth than China, it has a much better stockmarket," he says.

Many Chinese companies are majority government-owned and there is a lot of investor money chasing Chinese stocks.

Parbrook says the current worries with India include the high valuations of Indian shares, rising inflation and a "lot of hot money" that went into India last year.

There is no doubt that Indonesian shares are more expensive than their historical averages following that sharemarket's massive gains over the past two years. In 2009, the Indonesian sharemarket rose more than 85 per cent, in US dollar terms, after it fell sharply during the GFC. In 2010, it rose more than 45 per cent but it has been trading sideways since the start of this year.

Parbrook says Indonesian shares are not that expensive. The sharemarket has historically traded at big discounts to the region because of corruption and after the country experienced the problem of the east Asian financial crisis.

"Indonesia has a lot of potential and it is one of our key overweights in the fund," says Ragu Sivanesarajah, who helps run AMP Capital Investors' Asia Equity Growth Fund. The fund has about 6 per cent of its money invested in Indonesian-listed shares - large relative to the small size of its sharemarket.

Sivanesarajah, a senior portfolio manager with the Asian equities team, says there is no reason why Indonesia's good economic growth rates should not continue.

Eng-Teck Tan, the investment manager of the TAAM New Asia Fund, based in Singapore, says his fund sold all its Indonesian shares - to take profits - in October last year. "There is no doubt that it is very easy to fall in love with Indonesia," he says. "There's its huge population and it is resources rich but the market has run ahead of itself in the short term."

Consumer stocks are expensive, he says. And the stocks that are cheap are the ones that Tan would not want to own. He can find cheaper stocks in Thailand, China and India. Like most emerging economies, Indonesia has its fair share of challenges. Corruption and inefficiency remain significant problems. Many of the leading companies have families as majority owners and corporate government standards can be low.

Some fund managers prefer to hold exposure to Indonesia to companies that are listed on other stock exchanges in Asia, such as Singapore, and have significant business operations in Indonesia.

One of Indonesia's biggest challenges is putting in place the infrastructure, such as roads, ports and rail, so that its enormous commodities-producing potential can be realised.

Investing in emerging markets is always risky. For small investors, the way to gain exposure to Indonesia is through a fund that invests in Asia, says the editorial and communications manager at investment researcher Morningstar, Phillip Gray. He says choosing specialist funds such as those that invest in Asia offers many growth opportunities. However, specialist funds have their own particular risks and should be used as part of a well-diversified portfolio.

Northern exposure

Five Oceans' Rob Nunley has holdings in Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's largest bank, which has restructured its balance sheet and is "very well run".

For exposure to Indonesia's rapidly growing coal sector, Five Oceans is invested in Banpu, which is listed in the Thai sharemarket and owns a large Indonesian coal miner. Banpu recently bought Australian miner Centennial Coal.

Five Oceans also holds shares in the Singapore-listed Jardine Matheson, a "blue chip" company that majority owns the Indonesian conglomerate Astra International, which among other things, makes and distributes motorcycles and cars. The fund manager also owns the Indonesian-listed Indocement.

Kerry Series of Eight Investment Partners holds shares in the Indonesian-listed Adaro Energy and Straits Asia Resources, which is listed in Singapore and owns mines in Indonesia. He is invested directly in Astra International rather than through the parent, Jardine Matheson.

Schroder Asia Pacific Fund is invested in Jardine Matheson, which is the fund's third-largest holding. Schroders' Robin Parbrook favours the Indonesian consumer sector. He says the banks are "good, long-term growth stories" but a "bit too expensive" at the moment. "We will look to buy Indonesian stocks on the dips [in share prices] but the long-term story is good," he says.

Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/money/investing/investment-opportunities-on-our-doorstep-20110418-1dkxd.html#ixzz1Jqis7ERj

Source: http://www.watoday.com.au/money/investing/investment-opportunities-on-our-doorstep-20110418-1dkxd.html#ixzz1JqiJwEAV

Why Indonesia is integral to Asia's economic growth

2011-04-14T05:53:00.001+07:00

Vincent Lagger, fund manager at Swiss & Global Asset Management, examines Indonesia’s role in Asia’s ongoing growth story.

Since the financial crisis, Asia has benefitted from loose monetary policies, low leverage, unabated investment and consumer spending. This positive backdrop translated into a swift recovery, widening the growth gap between emerging and developed economies.

Growth in Asian economies such as Indonesia has been characterised by favourable demographic and social trends, a sound banking system, a diversified economic base, robust financial health and supportive economic policies.

While China and India are commonly considered the engine of future global growth, Indonesia can claim a similar status based on its own merits. Indonesia’s population, which is spread across 17,000 islands, is greater than Japan, France and the UK combined. Indonesia’s central location creates strong supply lines into China, India and Japan.

As a global competitive supplier of energy and soft commodities, Indonesia can leverage both India’s industrialisation and China’s urbanisation. It also has strong exports and is a leading supplier of palm oil, rubber, cocoa, rice, coffee and tea worldwide. For example, Indonesia is the largest global exporter of palm oil producing over 45% of the world’s global production.

The increase of foreign direct investment into Jakarta’s stock market portrays the improving confidence in the countries prospects. There is also a wide range of undiscovered small and mid caps providing ample opportunities for global investors.

Urbanisation trend

Indonesia’s workforce is growing by two million people per year, and the country exhibits the same urbanisation trend as China and India: by 2020 more than 60% of its 262 million citizens (fourth largest in the world) will be living in cities. The region’s corporates rank third among Asian countries in profit growth since 2002, just behind China and India.

Thanks to a sound banking system and a reduction in the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio from 100% to 26% since the 1997 Asian crisis, Indonesia’s sovereign debt earned a rating by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch during 2010 and from Moody’s in February 2011.

Indonesia has witnessed promising political developments with President Yudhoyono heading the first elected government free of IMF guardianship. He is expected to further ramp up public spending to address persistent infrastructure bottlenecks.

An emerging young middle class, political stability and strong ties with its mighty neighbours provide a fertile ground for consumption, resource and infrastructure investments in Indonesia.

Read more: here
Investment Week - News and analysis for investment advisors and wealth managers.

2011-04-14T04:13:00.000+07:00

Rip Curl, the surf apparel brand, released incredible exclusive video footage this week of its team of professionals surfing a little-known wave on a river tidal bore in Indonesia.

This Indonesian bore, located on the Seven Ghosts River, was unprecedented in scale and wave-forming ability as it coincided with an unusually large spring equinox tidal swing that occurs once every 19 years.Tidal bores exist in only a few locations around the world, including Alaska and the Amazon. They occur when incoming tides push against the outflowing river current, forming surfable waves that can travel for miles.

The stunning footage captured last month on land and by boat and helicopter shows multiple barreling formations that the surfers were able to surf after being towed into the waves via personal watercraft.

"I didn't want to have any expectations coming into this trip, but the waves we've scored out here were pretty crazy," said Brazilian Bruno Santos, who logged a 35-minute ride. "People dream of experiences like this—it really is the perfect wave."

Three-time ASP world champion Tom Curren has surfed every major spot in the world. On his trip to the Seven Ghosts tidal bore, Curren said, "This has been the most amazing Search trip in 20 years."Rip Curl's motto is dubbed "The Search," encouraging surfers to explore the world and making films of their adventures.

Source: here

Asian tigers should help poorer neighbours: World Bank

2011-04-14T02:37:00.002+07:00

China and other fast-growing Asian economies that have benefited from global trade have a responsibility to help poorer neighbours enjoy the same opportunities, a top World Bank official said on Tuesday.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, one of three managing directors at the World Bank, said rebalancing the global economy should be about more than just reducing the US trade deficit and trimming China's USD 2.8 trillion reserves. It should also include lifting up less-developed countries.

China's export-driven economy enjoyed 30 years of "more or less peaceful" growth, without the frequent crises that have plagued many other emerging markets, she said in an interview ahead of the World Bank's twice-yearly meetings this weekend.

"They used the global market as their export destination, and that's why they could enjoy very rapid growth for a very long time," Indrawati said.

Other Asian economies hoping to emulate China's exporting model can no longer rely as heavily on voracious U.S. consumers now that the financial crisis has sapped Americans' wealth and borrowing power.

Indrawati, a former finance minister for Indonesia whose name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate, said the crisis has taught smaller emerging economies that globalization can offer opportunities as well as risks.

Countries with close trade ties to the United States suffered steeper economic slides when the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy froze global credit markets.

The Group of 20 rich and emerging economies, a club that includes China, India and other Asian leaders, agreed in 2009 to work toward more balanced growth to try to make the world less vulnerable to crisis.

Much of the focus has been on China and United States, the two biggest sources of imbalance. But Indrawati thinks the rebalancing effort can provide wider benefits.

As China and other large, rapidly developing economies gradually redirect their economies toward domestic demand, they can become a source of support for the entire region's development.

"If the country is big enough -- you talk about China, India or even Indonesia -- they can create their own domestic demand," she said.

"You are going to have a more harmonious development of supply and demand so that you can have growth without inflation or ... financial destabilization. That is the art."

Source: here

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) In Huge Investment Pledge

2011-04-14T02:36:00.000+07:00

The consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) announced that it has decided to invest $100 million in Indonesia in the coming three years.

This fund will be used to build a factory and to expand its distribution market in Indonesia. Indonesia is a growing market for Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) products, with its high economic growth and large population.

The company, which markets more than 50 branded products, is the largest consumer product supplier in Indonesia.

Mohamed Ismail, Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Indonesia president, said, “The ambitious expansion program is designed to bring more P&G consumer products, notably household and personal care products, to more consumers across the country”.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) stocks are currently standing at 62.89.

Source: here

Indonesia Ranked Higher on NR Index

2011-04-14T02:33:00.000+07:00

VIVAnews - Indonesia is ranked 53rd out of 138 countries on Networked Readiness Index (NRI) for the period of between 2010 and 2011 from the Global Information Technology Report (GITR). Last year, as published by the World Economic Forum, Indonesia was ranked 67th out of 138 countries.

Networked readiness is an international assessment of countries’ capacity to exploit the opportunities offered by ICTs by looking at the extent of increase in the use of ICT in a specific country and the factors that enable this.

"The improve in NRI proves Indonesia has been catching up with various progresses on technology, information and communication sectors especially in overcoming digital gap," said Dian Triansyah Djani, permanent representative of the Republic Indonesia to the United Nations, WTO and other international organizations in Geneva, on Wednesday.

Djani said Indonesia records the most significant upswing among all surveyed countries.

There are factors which lead to the progress such as protection over intellectual rights (67th to 57th), extent and effect of taxation (22nd to 17th), government prioritization of ICT (71st to 68th), government procurement of advanced technology (34th to 29th), importance of ICT to government's vision (85th to 62nd), internet acces in schools (59th to 50th), ICT use and government efficiency (90th to 72nd), extent of business internet use (71st to 61st), and capacity of innovation (44th to 30th).

In the 2010-2011 GITR, Indonesia shuts off NR index of major emerging economies as well as European and Latin American countries like Brazil (56), South Africa (61), Poland (62), Greece (64), Turkey (71), Federation of Russia (77) and Argentine (96).

Indonesia among other ASEAN countries are third best after Singapore, while Malaysia is ranked 28th, Vietnam 55th, Brunei Darussalam 57th, Thailand 59th, Philippines 86th, and Cambodia 111th.

Source: here

GE invests 1.2 bln USD to expands operation in Indonesia

2011-04-14T02:31:00.000+07:00

U.S.-based General Electric (GE) has allocated 1.2 billion U.S. dollars to finance its expansion outside Indonesia's key island of Java by opening a brand new office in East Kalimantan province's capital of Balikpapan, local media reported here on Wednesday.

"Our office in Balikpapan would be the fifth in Indonesia and the first one serving outside Java island," GE Indonesia President Handry Satriago was quoted by the tempointeraktif.com as saying.

The opening of GE office in Balikpapan was aimed at providing supports towards rapid development in energy, infrastructure, health and train transportation industry sectors in East, Central and South Kalimantan provinces, he said.

"Our investment in those sectors has reached 1.2 billion U.S. dollars with the revenue of more than 500 million U.S. dollars," the GE executive said, adding that it reaped profit growth of 35 percent from energy, transportation, health and financial services in those provinces.

Source: here

World Economic Forum ranks the world's IT

2011-04-14T02:27:00.001+07:00

he World Economic Forum has just published its 10th annual Global Information Technology report, and the UK is ranked 15th behind emerging "Asian tigers" such as Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. However, Europe remains the most developed area for information and communications technologies, with Sweden taking the top spot for the second year in a row. Sweden is followed by Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, and -- commendably, for such a large country -- the United States. There are four Nordic countries in the top 10, with Iceland trailing in 16th place, just behind the UK.

The rankings are based on 71 economic and social indicators in the Network Readiness Index. These cover the environment in terms of the market, the infrastructure, and the political and regulatory environment, considered in terms of the three main "stakeholders": individuals, businesses and government. While it has many in-depth features, the bulk of the 412-page report -- available for free download as a PDF file -- is made up of country profiles for the 138 countries assessed and data tables.

This indicators include "4.01 Quality of math & science education", where the US is placed 52nd and the UK 55th.

In general, the rankings are an indication of national wealth. The WEF points out that Malaysia, in 28th place, is the only non-high-income country in the top 30. (In my view, it wouldn't be there were it not next door to Singapore, which left Malaysia in 1965.) Libya, which the report says is "similarly rich", only manages 126th place. However, Indonesia made the biggest leap forward in 2010, climbing 14 places to 53rd.

Countries that might well be disappointed with their performance include Spain (37th), which is one spot below China, Italy (51st), Turkey (71st), the Russian Federation (77th) and Ukraine (90th). Those outperforming expectations include The Gambia (76th) and Kenya (81st), which are the top two low-income countries in the rankings.

Performance and competitiveness correlate strongly with PC ownership and broadband penetration, which is why Spain and Portugal score less well by European standards. However, it's sobering to look at global situation. The WEF reckons only 0.4 billion people (6%) have high-speed internet access (better than 5Mbps). Another 0.7 billion people have ordinary internet access (2-5Mbps) while 0.8 billion have narrowband access (up to 2Mbps). That leaves 4.8 billion people -- 71% of the world's population -- without broadband access.

There are lots of futurological assumptions based on the ubiquity of high speed broadband, that don't yet apply to 94% of the world's population, including many millions of people in the US and the UK.

SOurce: here

http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/164018-us-ranks-fifth-nation-network-economy-report.htm

2011-04-14T02:25:00.002+07:00

The United States is no trendsetter in communications and technology as compared to its European counterparts, according to the latest study released by the World Economic Forum.

The report attempts to address the capability and level of success of a nation to benefit from the network economy, co-author of the study, Soumitra Dutta, a professor of Information Systems at the Insead business school, The New York Times reported.

For the second consecutive year, the U.S. finished fifth in the study’s comparison of 138 countries that comprise 98.8 percent of the world’s total gross domestic product: Sweden was first, followed by Singapore, Finland and Switzerland.

According to the report, “the country making the most progress in 2010 was Indonesia, which jumped 14 places to 53rd – in part because of high educational standards and in part because of the importance the government has placed on information and communications technology.”

After dropping two ranks in the last edition, the United States retains its fifth overall place despite losing ground on a number of individual indicators, the report said.

“Remarkably enough, the country features in the top 20 of all nine NRI (network readiness index) pillars. The United States does best in the usage-related categories, where it ranks fifth,” the study continued. “U.S. businesses boast among the highest levels of ICT (information and communication technologies) readiness and usage.”

The report concludes that “while the precise nature of these transformations 2.0 are difficult to accurately envisage, evolving technology trends are pointing to the most likely directions they will take over the next few years—what we term as the move toward SLIM,” an acronym for “social,” “local,” “intelligent” and “mobile.”

The researcher said the U.S. was uneven on many information and communication technologies that affect economic competitiveness. For example, it ranked 76th in the rate of mobile phone subscriptions, 48th in low-cost access to business phone lines and 24th in percentage of households with a personal computer – behind Bahrain, Singapore and Brunei, among others. Dutta said the United States ranked 52nd in math and science education.

Source: here

INDONESIA TO SEE 6.6% GROWTH IN 2012

2011-04-14T02:19:00.001+07:00

Indonesian central bank, Bank Indonesia (BI), forecasted the country’s economic growth to mount between 6.0 to 6.5% in Y 2011 and 6.1 to 6.6% in 2011, a statement issued by BI said Wednesday.

“This performance will be supported with a more balanced growth structure, with investment forging ahead and continued solid performance in exports,” the central bank said in the statement.

BI expects the economy to grow at a brisk 6.4%, with investment likely to take on an enlarged role in building the capacity of the economy.

“At the sectoral level, high growth is predicted in all economic sectors, led by transportation and communications sector, the trade, hotels and restaurants sector and the construction sector”, said the central bank.

The Indonesian currency weakened 0.2 percent to 8,673 per dollar as of 9:44 a.m. in Jakarta, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rupiah has gained 3.5 percent in 2011.

The currency’s appreciation may continue this year, Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution told reporters in Jakarta yesterday.

Still, the central bank wants to ensure the currency won’t strengthen too fast, Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono said at the same briefing.

Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr.

Source: here

Indonesian wins international prize for river clean-up

2011-04-14T02:17:00.004+07:00

SURABAYA, Indonesia — A biologist who enlisted schoolchildren in his fight to clean up an Indonesian river that led to an international prize said he hoped young people will do more for the environment.

Student research into a 41 km (25 mile) stretch of the Surabaya river that flows through Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, prompted 35-year-old Prigi Arisandi into discoveries that helped him become one of six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's largest award for grassroots environmentalists.

Arisandi found that the river, which provides water for 3 million and is also used for bathing by people living along its banks, was contaminated with high levels of toxic effluent. Recently, mercury levels were found to be 100 times the limit set by the World Health Organization.

He and other activists created the first environmental education program in the region in 2000 to educate local communities about biodiversity and water pollution, teaching students about the dangers and using them to spread the word.

"These students are the victims of pollution," Arisandi told Reuters at his Surabaya office last week, in an embargoed interview.

"We place these children as agents of change ... We bring them to the river and there are already thousands of children that we have trained."

Arisandi and other activists have also taken legal action to stop companies from polluting the river and won a case against East Java's governor, who was ordered to reduce pollution.

The $150,000 prize, named after husband and wife philanthropists from San Francisco, honours individuals for sustained efforts to protect the natural environment, "often at great personal risk," according to the prize's website.

The other 2011 winners are from the United States, Zimbabwe, Germany, Russia and El Salvador.

Time to go beyond BRICs hype, focus on '7% club'

2011-02-19T00:10:00.000+07:00

Is anyone else a bit BRIC-ed out? Hey, I completely get the importance of Brazil , Russia, India and China as emerging powers, growth engines and, perhaps, role models. Yet ever since Goldman Sachs Group Inc. squeezed the indispensable four into an acronym, we seem to have lost sight of a wider constellation of hugely promising economies.

Even Jim O’Neill, coiner of Goldman’s now-ubiquitous BRICs, says investors ought to concentrate on a broader basket of “growth economies” as Brazilian, Russian, Indian and Chinese stocks gyrate. It really is time to dispense with this BRICs hype and focus on a more useful yard-stick : the “7 Percent Club.” This concept comes courtesy of Standard Chartered.

It’s a fluid list of economies that achieve that rate of growth consistently over an extended period — and, of course, it includes China and India. More importantly , the nature of the grouping has the power to exert a much-needed peer-pressure dynamic in Asia, the world’s fastest-growth region. It’s an incentive for countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Mongolia and Vietnam on the cusp of membership to try harder.

It’s also a reminder to investors that focusing only on the biggest, sexiest emerging powers isn’t always best. Imagine for a moment a utopia in which theoretically any economy, regardless of population and mix of natural resources can join the 7% crowd.

Cult of GDP

Sure there are caveats here. One is the Cult of GDP. In Asia, GDP stands less for gross domestic product than gross domestic problem. Leaders work to mask challenges with big headline growth rates. They are just as much about advertising as they are a diversion.

Racy data distract investors from the cracks undermining economies and give politicians room to step before the cameras and say we’re moving forward. What matters is that growth reaches those who most need it. So it’s not just a matter of growing faster, but the quality of that growth. By focusing on growth alone without democratising its benefits, governments risk Egypt-like backlashes. Another is environmental.

Were Britain’s Prince Charles to read this argument, he might be tempted to toss his morning tea at the computer screen. In a recent piece in the Times, of London, the prince made an impassioned and logical call for “decoupling economic growth from increased consumption in such a way that both the well-being of nature’s ecology and our own economic needs benefit simultaneously.”

Growing faster

Yet high-income nations tend to do a better job of growing sustainably than poorer ones. It’s also more likely that developing nations will be far more enthusiastic about boosting growth than reducing carbon emissions. So, for better or worse, this issue of growing faster is what it is.

The argument is a simple one. Economies growing 7% annually double in size every decade and more than quadruple in a generation. After three decades of growing at such rates, an economy can be twice as large as one achieving 5%. Calverley points to the experience of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand over the past half century.

Chatter about adding another “I” for Indonesia (BRIICs, anyone ?) or a “K” for Korea (BRICKs) or a “T” for Turkey (BRICTs) is good sport. It just doesn’t get us closer to knowing where to invest and in which sectors.

Source: here

Japan, Indonesia agree to boost strategic partnership

2011-02-19T00:09:00.000+07:00

TOKYO, Feb. 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japan and Indonesia agreed Friday to boost their strategic partnership to secure common interests in the Asian region as the two countries held their first ministerial strategic dialogue in Tokyo.

Visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa met with his Japanese counterpart Seiji Maeharaand Prime Minister Naoto Kan and reaffirmed the two countries' intention to enhance political, economic and security cooperation.

Kan expressed his anticipation that Indonesia will exert leadership this year as the rotating chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will visit Japan, according to Maehara.

Natalegawa asked Kan to make a trip to Indonesia before the ASEAN summit talks slated for October, the foreign minister said.

The premier also welcomed a joint anti-disaster drill scheduled for March by the two countries and other members of the ASEAN Regional Forum, Japanese officials said.

Following the strategic dialogue, Maehara and Natalegawa jointly met the press and said they agreed to cooperate to address regional and global challenges.

Maehara said the two discussed situations in the Middle East, Myanmar, North Korea and border skirmishes involving Thailand and Cambodia, as well as territorial disputes in the South China Seabetween China and Southeast Asian countries.

Source: here

DHL Supply Chain builds multi-user warehouse

2011-02-19T00:08:00.000+07:00

JAKARTA: PT DHL Exel Supply Chain Indonesia, a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL, has begun building a multi-user warehouse worth ¤3 million (US$4.07 million) in Cililitan, East Jakarta, on Thursday.

Company managing director Abdul Rahim Tahir said that the 10,000 square-meter warehouse, aimed to serve customers in the automotive and technology industries, would be one of its largest facilities in Indonesia.

“We are sure that the needs for multi-user warehouses will continue to grow in line with the expansion of various industries as indicated by strong economic growth. That’s why we’re investing in building more warehouses,” he said.

Tahir added that the company also planned to expand its business networks in Indonesia over the next two years by building other warehouses in nine locations — Aceh, Batam, Jambi, Cirebon, Probolinggo, Tarakan, Palangkaraya, Samarinda, and Manado — with a total investment of between ¤20 million and ¤30 million. — JP

Source: here

The new darlings of Asia

2011-02-19T00:06:00.000+07:00

Maria Merricks examines the concerns surrounding China and India and looks at prospects for some of their emerging neighbours.

China and India have long been the darlings of the Asian emerging markets story. However, lately negative headlines have surrounded these economies. Inflationary pressures are causing concern, and fears of a Chinese property bubble are adding to the noise.

Considering the compelling Asian growth story, is it time for investors to look for opportunities elsewhere in the region? While managers say yes, they also agree China, in particular, should not be overlooked.

Ewan Thompson, manager of Neptune’s Asia Pacific Opportunities fund, says the aggressive measures the government and central bank are taking to stop bubbles emerging is positive for the medium-term health of the Chinese economy.

While food price inflation remains a concern, Thompson is confident a slow and steady structural increase in core inflation should not be viewed negatively. Core inflation will mean an increase in wages and consumer power, a key story for China in the next 10 years, he says.

Andrew Beal, manager of the Henderson TR Pacific Investment Trust, is also optimistic. He forecasts inflation at 4%-6% this year – a shade higher than the Chinese are comfortable with, but nothing to panic about.

For Beal, the country still offers plenty of opportunities. The fund has a large exposure to the travel and leisure sectors, which he is confident offer excellent long-term growth.

However, while China continues to provide compelling opportunities, it sits in the middle of “the enormous powerhouse” that is Asia, Thompson says.

“What you have surrounding it is a number of economies with similar, if
slightly smaller, opportunities in terms of themes such as demographics and capital income growth. Some of these economies are pretty significant.”

Indonesia

The Neptune and Henderson managers agree, for example, with the long-term investment case for Indonesia: their funds have 8.5% and 4.8% exposure respectively. Its combination of positive demographics, geographical location and the right commodities makes it interesting.

At 245 million, Indonesia’s population is the fourth largest in the world. And approximately half of the inhabitants are under 30, meaning a large number of people are well positioned to come into the consumption phase, says Thompson.
“The capital income of the country is the second fastest growing in the world after China. Combined with the demographics, this makes for a very powerful mix.”

A key dynamic in the Asia Pacific region is which side of the commodity price trade a given country is on. India, for example, imports 70% of its crude oil requirements – a key problem for the economy, certainly as inflation rises.

Commodity exporters in the region, such as Indonesia, are the beneficiaries. The country’s geographical location makes it a major exporter of palm oil and thermal coal, to the huge markets of China and India.

Adaro Energy is a stock example to play this theme, says Thompson. The company is a major coal exporter in the region, but also benefits from domestic demand as Indonesia’s economy grows.

“Although the country ultimately benefits from commodity exports, it is not just a pure commodity play. The trickle-down effect is also exciting.”

Vietnam

Another country creating ripples is Vietnam. Jason Pidcock and Zoe Kan of the Newton Asia Pacific Equities team say the economy is in its nascent stages of growth thanks to restructuring, market reform and demographic factors.

“With a low market cap to GDP ratio, investors have begun looking to this market. There is significant potential for further reform to take place and its pool of cheap labour provides scope for industry development outside of its primarily agricultural-based economy,” they say.

Despite this, the pair have no exposure to Vietnam because they do not believe it currently presents an attractive investment opportunity relative to other developing Asian economies. They see more sustainable growth coming from Thailand and Indonesia, “where valuations are attractive and a more sustainable political system is in place”. The fund has a 3.2% and 2.1% weighting to these countries respectively.

“Vietnam’s economy is volatile owing to an unstable currency and the lack of a macroeconomic framework,” say Pidcock and Kan. Indeed, currency concerns were reaffirmed earlier this month when the dong was devalued by 7.2%.

Vietnam pure play fund house, Dragon Capital, says the devaluation shows the government is serious about restoring confidence, although it admits everything depends on policy follow-up. The group’s CEO, Dominic Scriven, says the 7.2% hit may seem large but there is a twist.

“The new rate has actually prevailed in business transactions for the past few months, so we believe the de-val will not have a drastic impact on macro outcomes. Tellingly, there was little reaction from the stock market,” he says.

Scriven is insistent Vietnam’s growth story is too good to ignore. It is a frontier country with literacy, work ethics and underlying entrepreneurial dynamism, reinforced by perfect demographics and reignited by market reforms.

“It is moving from pure agrarianism into low-end export manufacturing, with cheap skilled labour as the competitive advantage, and urbanisation and the consumer economy following in train – a lot like Thailand in the 1990s."

With inflationary pressures surrounding China and India, investors may look to some of Asia’s frontier markets. Maria Merricks asks Dominic Scriven, CEO of Dragon Capital, what Vietnam has to offer

How has the devaluation of the dong affected the macroeconomic outlook for Vietnam?It came as no surprise that the State Bank of Vietnam devalued the dong earlier this month. The 7.2% hit might seem huge but the new rate has prevailed in business transactions for the past four months (and was moving up before that too) so we believe it will not have a drastic effect on macro outcomes.

The effect will mostly be confined to the state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which will see their privileges eroded.

What role does the country play in the Asian growth story?Vietnam remains one of the most dynamic growth stories in the region, with GDP cruising at 6.5%-7% a year into the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the country benefits from baby boom demographics, creating a population of 90 million, half of which are under 25. High levels of literacy and basic education has provided a labour force that is not only huge and skilled, but also cheap: there are 1.5 million new entrants to the workforce each year, keeping wages low.

A large domestic economy, backed by irrepressible consumer spending and rapid urbanisation, is a further powerful driver.

Which sectors offer the best opportunities?We look for companies in sectors we think will benefit from the main themes in the country. The themes we see are: income growth and development of a middle class; demographics and urbanisation; financial development and modernisation; and export infrastructure build-up.

We like food and beverage stocks in the consumer sector and banks and insurance in financials. Our top holdings include leading dairy products manufacturer Vinamilk, and Vietnam’s number one private commercial bank, Asia Commercial Bank.

What are the risks and challenges involved with investing in Vietnam?Risks and challenges consist largely of the government failing to institute much-needed improvements in macro policy. This would mean the economy and stock market would continue to be whipsawed by an ongoing vicious cycle of SOE over-expansion, double-digit inflation, high trade deficits and chronic currency weakness.

We are confident the government has recognised it must institute reforms after recent discussions at the Party Congress, and dissent from the National Assembly.

Is investing in a pure-play Vietnam fund favourable over a general Asia Pacific fund?We do not claim it is – or is not. We offer our funds for generic exposure to Vietnamese-listed equities, ideally with outperformance on top. It is up to the investors to decide how they want to integrate that into their own regional strategies.

SOurce: here

Is There an Ikat in Your House?

2011-02-19T00:04:00.000+07:00

It’s all the rage this spring. If you don’t have any Ikat (pronounced ee-kaht) in your home, you’re going to love these pretty patterns. Try switching out your winter pillows for some bright Ikats. Do you have a window that needs dressing up? Ikat patterns are both stylish and cheery and lend themselves to formal panels or casual Roman shades. Pottery Barn even has a line of pretty Ikat bed linens in their new collection.

Ikat is an ancient style of weaving in which the yarn is dyed before it’s woven into geometric patterns. It often has a slightly “fuzzy” look to it. It looks a bit like tie-dyed or batik fabric.

The name Ikat originated in Indonesia but these colorful fabrics are made all over the world. The bright, multi-hued woolen blankets made by women in the Andes and by native Americans in the American Southwest are typical Ikats. In Thailand and Cambodia weavers use lustrous silks to create their fabrics. Uzbekistanis use Ikats for blankets and for their traditional costumes.

However you chose to bring Ikat into your home this year you can be sure of one thing. Your new décor will be right in style.

Source: here

China, Indonesia to step up defense cooperation: ministers

2011-02-18T23:45:00.002+07:00

BEIJING, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie met Friday with Indonesian Vice Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoedin, pledging to promote bilateral defense cooperation.

Liang, also a State Councilor, said China attached great importance to developing friendly ties with Indonesia and was ready to promote the strategic partnership for greater development.

He spoke highly of bilateral defense cooperation, saying remarkable progress had been made, while exchanges and cooperation had been good in security cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels.

"We hope both sides will strengthen cooperation to promote inter-military relations and contribute to peace and development in the region," Liang said.

Sjafrie hailed the rapid growth of defense cooperation between Indonesia and China, saying his country was ready to work with China to promote cooperation in defense and regional security affairs.

He said the two sides should deepen the strategic partnership and strive for peace and stability in the region.

Source: here

Indonesia a 'huge opportunity'

2011-02-18T23:44:00.002+07:00

BIG business is belatedly waking up to the sheer scale of the opportunity represented by a historic shift in Indonesia's politics and economy, according to Ross Taylor, of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council.

Mr Taylor said renewed interest by Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Coca-Cola Amatil, together with Moody's recent credit upgrade for Indonesia, confirmed the growing prosperity and stability of our northern neighbour.

"Indonesia is making this huge transition from being an inwardly focused, lower-class economy to one that's evolving very quickly, with a strong democracy, vibrant economy and emerging and rising middle class," Mr Taylor said.

"That is really good news for Australia. And you've got a number of big (business) players now saying: 'My God, this is a huge opportunity'."

He said Australia had been slow to respond because it had been "overwhelmed by the China phenomenon" and distorted perceptions of Indonesia still lingered.

"You ask people, even business people: 'Give me words about Indonesia.' You get Schapelle Corby, terrorism, dictatorship."

Mr Taylor, a former Wesfarmers executive, was among the speakers at a national crisis meeting in Perth on the state of Indonesian language studies in Australia's universities.

"Never before have we had such a need to be really pushing Indonesian language and never before have we seen such complete lack of interest in the learning of that language," he told the Weekend Australian.

Student numbers at university nationwide collapsed by 30 per cent between 2002 and 2009, according to Murdoch University's Indonesia scholar, David Hill, who organised the meeting.

"Kids will study Indonesian if they can see a benefit to them in terms of career and occupation," Mr Taylor said.

"Can you get by just using English (when doing business with Indonesia)? Absolutely. Is that disrespectful and disadvantageous to us? Absolutely."

When he was with Phosphate Resources in the 1990s, Mr Taylor travelled widely in Indonesia, including remote agricultural areas, to develop fertiliser markets. He said the neglect of Indonesia as an opportunity was not simply the fault of Australian business. "After the fall of Suharto, Indonesia itself was quite internally focused -- they had to be to deal with a whole range of issues. It's only been in the last five or six years, under (President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono), where stability has come."

Mr Taylor said there were opportunities for Australia in areas such as resources, agriculture, infrastructure, technology, management, education, training and tourism. "What (Coca-Cola Amatil) see is a huge emergence of a young, mobile and in a relative sense, affluent community. That's a lot of cans of Coke," he said.

"You've got 235 million people, 40 per cent of the population under 40, a big proportion now moving from poverty level into the middle class, and disposable income is starting to evolve.

"The whole consumer-based economy is booming -- and it's really the consumer-based economy that carried Indonesia through the global financial crisis, so they didn't dip into recession at all."

Mr Taylor thinks growth this year may nudge 7 per cent. In 2009, Indonesia was the third-fastest growing economy in the G20 and is forecast to have a $US1.1 trillion economy by 2015. However, commentators worry about the economy overheating.

West Australian state MP Bill Johnston, the only politician at the language crisis meeting, acknowledges the risks of doing business with Indonesia, but sees enormous benefits.

"I don't think Australians have a clear view of how important Indonesian is to our future," Mr Johnston said.

"We're a highly technical country with lots of capital and a small population base, and they sit next to us with immense resources, including human resources, a very young country, and they're crying out for technology and investment.

"While I acknowledge all the barriers to trade, it is really an opportunity for Australian business -- particularly services." Mr Taylor said prominent companies, including Wesfarmers, still lacked confidence in Indonesia.

"The issue of corruption is still very much there," he said.

And a devolution of power to shire councils, or regencies, had made business messier than during the Suharto dictatorship, when Jakarta was a "one stop shop" for approvals.

"Their infrastructure is absolutely terrible -- roads, rail, power, water," he said.

But here too there were tremendous opportunities for Australian expertise. The Australia-Indonesia Business Council is holding a conference in Sydney on March 7 to discuss two-way business opportunities.

Bernard Lane flew to Perth courtesy of the National Indonesian Colloquium backed by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council

Source: here

Toyota Plans Low-Cost Car for Traffic-Choked Indonesia

2011-02-17T21:13:00.002+07:00

Toyota, through subsidiary Daihatsu, plans to invest 20 billion yen ($238.9 million) to build a factory in Indonesia to produce low-cost cars, Reuters reported on Wednesday. But far from offering freedom, there are fears that a surge of small autos may shut down the capital’s roads.

More car sales will only add to the daily traffic jams in Jakarta, an analyst said. The city administration has predicted total gridlock by 2012, based on estimates of population growth and 15 percent annual rises in car sales.

Daihatsu, which offers vehicles aimed at lower-income consumers, is eyeing production capacity of 100,000 cars per year. The factory is scheduled to begin operations in 2013, producing 50,000 cars in its first year.

The model will reportedly be smaller than Eitos, a low-cost car Toyota launched in India last year, with a sticker price between 800,000 and 900,000 yen.

Toyota Astra Motor and Astra Daihatsu Motor said they had yet to receive details from Japan.

“Daihatsu Indonesia has not received any formal plan from the parent company. Any further details about the new factory have yet to be specified,” said Amelia Tjandra, marketing director of Astra Daihatsu Motor.

Johnny Darmawan, president director of Toyota Astra, also said he hadn’t received notice. “I guess Daihatsu will be the producer for the new car. Daihatsu is the producer for cheaper car types. It could be another collaborated product, such as Avanza and Xenia — similar in design, but aimed for different market segments,” he said.

Jakarta Police data showed total vehicles in Jakarta reached 11.36 million in 2010, 8.24 million of which were motorcycles and 3.11 million were cars and trucks.

Amelia told the Jakarta Globe recently that even in a worst-case scenario — which would include private vehicles being prohibited from buying subsidized fuel and Bank Indonesia raising its benchmark interest rate amid inflationary pressures — car sales would match last year’s pace, a record 764,710 units.

That would put about 12 million vehicles on Jakarta’s chronically jammed roads.

Gunawan, a director at auto loan company Indomobil Finance, said most new cars sold in Indonesia cost around Rp 130 million to Rp 200 million ($14,600 to $22,400).  “In the future, I believe car sales will keep growing because the demand for transportation will always there,” he said.

However, Gunawan claimed increasing car sales were not the cause of Jakarta’s traffic woes. He said a lack of viable mass transportation was forcing people to buy their own vehicles to get around.

Darmaningtyas, a director at the Transportation Study Institute, a non-governmental organization, warned that cheap cars would only make traffic worse.

“Small cars are not a solution to traffic congestion. Instead of motorcycles, small cars will be the common people’s choice. Therefore, there will be more cars on the streets and more congestion,” he said.

China is also aiming for a slice of the Indonesian market. Chinese carmaker Geely launched the budget price Panda in January. At Rp 98 million, it is the cheapest 1,300cc-class vehicle in Indonesia, Geely said.

Source: here

L’Oreal to open largest ever factory in Indonesia

2011-02-17T21:10:00.003+07:00

L’Oreal will build its largest ever factory in Indonesia, expected to be operational this year, in an attempt to take advantage of the growing Asean market, according to press reports.

Speaking at a news conference at the company’s South Jakarta headquarters, L’Oreal Indonesia president Jean-Christophe Letellier announced the factory will be built at the Jababeka industrial estate in West Java.

“The factory will become our biggest in the world and focus on consumer products, especially for Asean countries,” he said.

Building one hub for the region

Letellier went on to explain: “the Asean market is growing very fast so we have decided to build one hub that will support the growth and accommodate the entire region.”

The company’s existing factory is situated in Ciracas, East Jakarta and produces 100 million units a year, however, Letellier explained that the new facility will be able to produce 300 million units a year by next year, with a forecast of reaching its maximum production of 500 million units per year.

The cosmetics giant has invested $100m (€73.8m) in Indonesia this year, half of which is allocated for this factory, which began construction last October, according to Letellier.

He also explained that the company was targeting a 30 per cent growth in annual sales, and expected to attract 50 million new customers in Southeast Asia’s largest market by 2020.

Presence in Asia

L’Oreal’s presence is already felt in Asia, with two factories in Japan and one each in both China and Indonesia.

L'Oreal and Nestle also plan to enter the Chinese market this year with their beauty pill brand Inneov.

Reports stated that L’Oreal currently gets about a third of Inneov sales from markets such as Asia and Latin America and it aims to increase that proportion to as much as 60 per cent in the next 10 years.

Inneov estimates that Asia accounts for about half of the world’s nutricosmetic sales (€1bn) while Europe and the Americas each generate around €500m.

“There is a huge opportunity in Asia,” said Brigitte Liberman, head of L’Oreal’s Active Cosmetics unit, which operates Inneov.

She explained that nutritional supplements for skin and hair, or nutricosmetics, are “part of the routine of Asian women.”

Contact the editor

Source: here

Asian History Lessons

2011-02-16T05:35:00.000+07:00

By PHILIP BOWRING

Published: February 15, 2011

HONG KONG — With Egypt both hopeful and uncertain in the aftermath of Hosni Mubarak’s departure, it is worth reflecting on lessons that may be learned from the fall of two of Asia’s U.S.-allied strongmen, the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Indonesia’s Suharto in 1998.

All three had in common that they followed rigged elections, suggesting that phony democracy can be more dangerous for dictators than none at all (a thought that may give hope in Myanmar). In all three, the military was an important factor but not the driving force, which in each case was the populace in the streets.

The relatively orderly transitions in Indonesia and the Philippines give clues to how a similar result may be possible in Egypt.

Indonesia’s was perhaps the most remarkable and surprising transition, given that Suharto’s downfall coincided with — and was partly caused by — the collapse of the economy at the time of the Asian financial crisis. Much of the banking system had failed and unemployment had soared.

This diverse country also faced rebellions in Timor and Aceh and separatist tendencies elsewhere. Relatively homogeneous ethnically and suffering economic malaise rather than crisis, Egypt faces no such high hurdles.

So how did Indonesia come through? One reason was that it had a constitution, dating to 1945, to which Suharto had always nominally adhered. So when he resigned, the vice president, whose time in the regime had been short-lived, was seen as an acceptable transitional figure.

It helped, too, that political parties that reflected the major political and religious groups of society had operated legally for several years. The media had long been pushing the envelope of freedom.

In the Philippines, the opposition had a figure — the future president Corazon Aquino, widow of an assassinated Marcos opponent — as its standard-bearer. It operated in a country that had never been as tightly controlled as either Indonesia or Egypt. And the Philippines had a small elite used to swapping places in power; they were mostly more interested in money than killing each other.

Egypt now starts with a revoked constitution, temporary military rule and political parties that, with the exception of the Muslim Brotherhood, appear relatively undeveloped. It also, as yet, lacks a person or party to lead. Nor is it yet clear that the Egyptian masses will rally to the idea of liberal democracy as Indonesians and Filipinos have done rather than opt for a new, possibly Islam-based, authoritarianism.

Because of its diversity, Indonesia can only survive if pluralism is its basis. Egypt has no such constraint, but it has had 5,000 years of history to teach it the follies of ideology and extremism.

If Asia is an example, political change will probably not undo the liberal economic tendencies that Mubarak had showed in reversing the socialism inherited from the era of President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Indeed, if Indonesia is any guide, the reaction against crony capitalism will open the economy up to competition.

There is the danger that a reaction against the corruption under Mubarak will lead not just to attempts to recover ill-gotten gains from Swiss banks, but to an attack on the credibility of all business that have prospered under the ousted regime. As in Asia, family wealth is now in legitimate businesses and held through third parties.

For the longer term, Egypt might just get a new set of cronies, or the gradual return of old ones, as has happened in Indonesia and the Philippines. But that is another issue.

In Indonesia and the Philippines, efforts to prosecute past misdeeds soon lost steam, which was a poor reflection on good governance but allowed for an atmosphere of forgiveness that contributed to political stability.

Some Egyptian distancing from the U.S. is inevitable, just as the post-Marcos legislature got rid of U.S. military bases. But nothing fundamentally changed in Washington’s relationship with either the Philippines or Indonesia. By that measure, the most important foreign aspect of the Tahrir revolution will be its impact on Arab politics.

Egypt’s centrality to the Arab world, and to all Middle East politics, give it an importance that surpasses its size. Nonetheless, the “people power” experiences of two larger but less central Asian nations give some encouragement as Egypt feels its way to the future.

Source: here

Defense ministers of S. Korea, Indonesia discuss promoting deeper ties

2011-02-16T05:32:00.000+07:00

SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin met his visiting Indonesian counterpart Tuesday for talks on promoting defense cooperation between the two nations, officials said.

   Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro arrived in Seoul earlier in the day for a two-day visit, officials at Seoul's defense ministry said.

   During the 30-minute meeting, Kim and Purnomo discussed ways of improving military exchanges and cooperation in the defense procurement sector, a ministry official said. The ministry didn't provide details of the meeting.

   Last July, Indonesia agreed to join South Korea's multi-million dollar project to develop a new fighter jet.

   Under the agreement, India will purchase about 50 of the KF-X fighter jets by shouldering 20 percent of the development costs.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin (R) shakes hands with his Indonesian counterpart Purnomo Yusgiantoro before holding talks in Seoul on Feb. 15. (Yonhap)

Source: here

Finland helps Indonesia with renewables

2011-02-16T05:16:00.002+07:00

JAKARTA, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The government of Finland offered Indonesia a $5.38 million grant to help run a program that would advance the use of renewable energy resources, an envoy said.

The countries signed an agreement to encourage the use of wood and other agricultural residues as a source of renewable energy, The Jakarta Post reports.

Kai Sauer, the Finnish envoy to Indonesia, said the energy partnership would encourage the use of renewable energy while at the same time combating climate change and reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

"This program is a manifestation of our commitment to develop the two nations' relations through concrete programs," he was quoted as saying.

He added that both sides expected to vet project proposals from the private sector, non-governmental organizations and research institutions.

The $5.38 million grant is meant to help the Indonesian government sponsor pilot projects and feasibility studies through 2014.

What We Can Learn from the 'Oprah of Indonesia'

2011-02-12T14:25:00.000+07:00

America believes it will always lead the world in innovation and entrepreneurship. It expects to keep coming up with Big Ideas—such as personal computers, iPods, and smartphones. It assumes China will keep manufacturing what it designs and India will keep running its call centers and maintaining its aging computer systems. America thinks it still has a monopoly on the American Dream.

It doesn't realize how much the world has changed.

India has already moved far beyond low-level IT outsourcing and call centers; it is rapidly becoming a global research-and-development hub. Its engineering R&D services industry is now a $10 billion business and expected to grow to $45 billion by 2020. China is investing massively in R&D and already leads the U.S. in such areas as clean tech. And it has learned how to beat the U.S.at its own game in intellectual property. In both countries, entrepreneurship is booming.

I am not talking about villagers setting up vegetable stands funded by microloans or techies starting IT service companies. I am talking about the same type of explosive, fast-growth, greed-based entrepreneurship—and the same types of engineering products and Web technologies—that you find in Silicon Valley.

EXPORTING THE DREAM

And it's not just in India and China where this is happening. In her new book, Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky: How the Top 1% of Entrepreneurs Profit from Global Chaos, former BusinessWeekstaff writer Sarah Lacy shows how similar entrepreneurs in Brazil, Indonesia, and Rwanda are to their kin in India, China, and Silicon Valley. She vividly illustrates how the American Dream has become America's most significant cultural export. Each of these countries faces different obstacles and is taking a different path to economic success. But in every case, it is the entrepreneurs who are propelling their nations forward.

Lacy, who is now a senior editor at the popular technology blog TechCrunch, starts her global journey with the story of Marco Gomes, a Brazilian entrepreneur who grew up in the slums of Brasilia and couldn't afford to attend school. At the age of 12, he worked for an uncle who ran a computer-assembly business. Because his uncle's factory had Internet access, he was able to access the Web. He learned about Yahoo (YHOO) and Google (GOOG) and the founders of these companies. By watching his uncle build his computer business, Gomes saw entrepreneurship as a ticket out of poverty.

Gomes learned how to develop websites and ended up working for an ad agency in São Paulo. Then he had an idea for an online network that would aggregate ad space for blogs. He started pitching this to anyone, anywhere, who would listen. (Even I got an e-mail from him last year.) Gomes found an investor. With $300,000 in the bank, he launched Boo Box—now a highly successful company with more than 20 employees.

POWER OF CONNECTIVITY

Lacy also tells the story of Indian entrepreneur Rajiv Mehrotra. When he was 10 years old, Mehrotra started assembling and selling transistor radios on the side of the road. He went on to build a billion-dollar business in Gurgaon, India, that delivers satellite TV and land lines to rural areas. But Mehrotra wasn't satisfied with its impact on society. He saw a greater opportunity to bring cell phone connectivity to the hundreds of millions of Indians who live in villages that lack electricity and running water.

By enabling them to connect to each other and to the world, he believed he could improve their lives.

Mehrotra couldn't find investors to fund the development of the low-cost, voice-only, solar-powered base stations he envisioned.So in July 2008, he invested $100 million of his own to start a company called VNL to make the technology.Today, his product costs a tiny fraction of the alternatives, requires no electricity, and can be installed by the villagers themselves.It's in use in India and will soon be all across the developing world.The World Economic Forum recognized VNL as one of its top Technology Pioneers,Time magazine included him in its roundup of "Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life," and Fast Companynamed his business one of the 50 most innovative in the world.

Then there's Martha Tilaar, whom Lacy dubs the Oprah of Indonesia, who began her cosmetics, beauty salon, and spa empire decades ago, when hardly any cosmetics companies were in Indonesia, for few saw the promise of selling beauty in the world's largest Muslim country. Tilaar used some of Indonesia's 30,000 indigenous herbs and spices to make beauty products specialized for Indonesia's tropical climate. Aside from building a $50 million business, Tilaar has trained and supplied jobs to thousands of Indonesian women, many of whom had few options other than working in the sex trade.

All these entrepreneurs, and thousands more whom you find in every country, have something in common. They are all:

• Brilliant in being able to see opportunities that others don't see. They have a vision of how they can solve big problems.

• Crazy enough to start something that is both risky and disruptive. Most startups fail, everywhere. That's the nature of entrepreneurship. In Silicon Valley, failure is a badge of honor; so it's O.K., and you can try again. In most other places, if you fail, you become a social outcast and are never given a second chance; there is no safety net.

• Cocky in believing that they can change the world and build a billion-dollar company.

As Lacy writes, these entrepreneurs have an "internal compass that they listen to rather than the world." They ignore what the world tells them and do what their instincts say.

Here is the rub for U.S. competitiveness: The entrepreneurs in emerging markets actually have an advantage over their American counterparts because they have less to lose. They are not confined to doing things the way they're usually done. They have the luxury of starting fresh, and they have more freedom to take risk. This is great for their countries and the world, but we need to understand that these entrepreneurs are already generating the next Big Ideas.

By 2050, America will be the only G-7 nation still among the world's seven largest global economies, according to Goldman Sachs (GS). In other words, the world is changing very rapidly, and we will face many new, aggressive competitors. We can sit back and watch the world rise as we stagnate. Or we can bring in as many of these ambitious entrepreneurs as possible. Today, the world's best and brightest see the U.S. as the greatest land of opportunity. They want to bring their Big Ideas here because there are fewer obstacles in the U.S. and more resources, and they believe they can do more for their home countries by achieving success here. Tomorrow, things may be different.

Wadhwa is a visiting scholar at University of California-Berkeley, senior research associate at Harvard Law School, and director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. Follow him on twitter—@vwadhwa

Source: here

In Indonesia, a Model for Egypt's Transition

2011-02-12T14:23:00.000+07:00

By JAY SOLOMON

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration, seeking to help stabilize Egypt following President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, is looking at the 1998 overthrow of Indonesian dictator Suharto as a model for a democratic transition in a Muslim-majority country, said senior U.S. officials.

National Security Council officials in the past week have been discussing with foreign-policy experts similarities between Egypt's revolution and Indonesia's, which led over a decade to what is one of the developing world's most open political and economic systems, according to these officials.

Key issues U.S. officials are tackling in Egypt, and which were prominent in Indonesia, are how to balance an expected rise in support for Islamists and the continued role of the military.

White House officials have been reading studies comparing Egypt's branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a global Islamist organization, and Indonesia's, which has played only minor roles in post-Suharto governments. A senior U.S. official this week called Indonesia "something that's widely seen as the best example" of where Egypt could be headed.

For Washington, hopeful implications of the Indonesia comparison are tempered by fears among U.S. officials and allied governments that Islamist organizations could hijack Cairo's revolution. They have specifically drawn comparisons to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, which itself reshaped the Middle East.

Many U.S. officials and lawmakers say they don't believe the Muslim Brotherhood will prove as benign a force as its Indonesian counterpart. "I'm very deeply concerned about the Muslim Brotherhood. I don't think they're moderate, but extremists," said Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.).

In the administration's struggle to steer events in the most populous Arab country, the revolution has spawned a litany of comparisons, from the ouster of Iran's shah, which led to an Islamic takeover, to Turkey's delicate balance between secular and Islamic political forces.

In many ways, the analogies are imprecise. Egypt's position at the core of the Middle East's roiling political scene makes it comparable in some ways only to itself.

For the Obama administration, the comparison to Indonesia, the most populous majority-Muslim nation, is at the forefront of its thinking. President Barack Obama experienced the early years of Mr. Suharto's authoritarian rule while living in Jakarta as a boy. He later wrote in his memoirs about the culture of fear that pervaded Indonesian society at the time. Mr. Obama, in a speech Friday, compared Egypt's revolution to Indonesia's.

Both Messrs. Suharto and Mubarak had long military careers and presided over three decades of authoritarian rule with the backing of a powerful army. The octogenarian leaders received generous support from Washington and ruthlessly suppressed communist and Islamist movements. The uprisings that targeted them were driven by youthful populations frustrated in part by corruption and a sclerotic economy.

In the end, both Messrs. Suharto and Mubarak left only after being pressured by their own militaries while handing over power to close confidantes. In Mr. Suharto's case, Vice President B.J. Habibie; in Mr. Mubarak's, long-serving spy chief Omar Suleiman.

A key question now for Washington: How could Indonesia move quickly to a democratic system when Iran couldn't?

Karen Brooks, who helped oversee Indonesia policy in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, says post-Suharto governments were particularly successful because they co-opted Islamist parties that emerged following the dictator's fall.

One of these parties, which has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, campaigned as being untainted by the corruption of the Suharto years. That party, the Prosperous Justice Party, controls 8% of seats in Indonesia's legislature. Islamist or Islam-inspired parties in total hold 28%.

Ms. Brooks notes support for Islamic parties in Indonesia—where 86% of the population of around 250 million is Muslim—is down from the 38% registered in 2004. The Muslim Brotherhood-linked party's support, meanwhile, has remained flat. Indonesians have repeatedly elected presidents from secular parties.

"Thirteen years into Indonesia's democratic transformation, the Islamist parties appear to have maxed out their popular support," Ms. Brooks says. Their inclusion in Jakarta's political process seemed to have "demystified" their allure, she says.

Indonesia waited more than a year to hold an election, giving secular parties time to form. For Egypt to give ample time before polls could qualm fears expressed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, that rapid elections in Egypt would benefit largely the Muslim Brotherhood, the only Egyptian political party seen as prepared to campaign.

Egypt, as a front-line state in the Arab world's conflict with Israel, has a pronounced history of militancy and Islamic extremism. The Muslim Brotherhood also is believed to have a more deep-rooted infrastructure and support base in Egypt than in Indonesia.

It is also unclear what role Egypt's military will play in Cairo's political future. During Mr. Suharto's last days, the Indonesian military refused to crack down on protesters and agreed to a lessening of its own political power. Indonesia's current president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is a Suharto-era general who oversaw a restructuring of the army's role in politics and business. U.S. officials say they don't know if Egypt's armed forces will be so progressive. The military there gave tacit backing to protesters by ensuring their security and right to gather.

"The military sees the writing on the wall and is holding off," said a senior U.S. defense official. He added that it was unclear if this would continue.

Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com

Source: here

Spice girl: Kate Humble's aromatic journey in Indonesia

2011-02-12T14:21:00.000+07:00

Nutmeg was once thought to cure the plague – but for European explorers, the journey to its source in Indonesia's Banda Islands was perilous. Today this remote archipelago is as intriguing as ever

By Kate Humble

There are many foods we consider so commonplace that we attach almost no importance or value to them. Yet the things we now take most for granted – the pepper on every kitchen table, the vanilla that flavours our ice cream – were once responsible for driving Europeans beyond the boundaries of their known world. Back in the 16th century, explorers were undertaking journeys which took them literally off the map, in search of spice islands.

Spices were known in Britain all those years ago, but their origin was a mystery. To reach London's docks they would have been passed from trader to trader, with the price increasing as much as a thousand times from its source to when they were finally sold on London's streets. Severe punishments were handed out to anyone trying to pilfer any, and stories of the magical properties of these exotic substances abounded. When word got out, in plague-ridden London, that a curiosity called nutmeg could cure any sufferer, demand rocketed. It was obvious that anyone who could find its source and control its trade would become very rich indeed. The quest for nutmeg, that little wrinkled kernel we now might grate into a fish pie or a Christmas pudding, changed the world forever.

Nutmeg, we now know, comes from Indonesia. Last year, I made my own journey to the source, while filming Spice Trail (to be screened on BBC2 from Thursday).

I had never been to Indonesia. On the map its 17,500 islands spread over a vast area of ocean make it a bewildering prospect, even for the modern-day traveller. Europeans didn't even know this area existed until the turn of the 16th century, when Portuguese traders established a presence here.

Then there was an even bigger problem: nutmeg didn't grow over the whole of Indonesia. Of those 17,500 islands it could be found on just six, in a tiny, remote group in central Indonesia known as the Banda Islands. From Java, the nutmeg hunters would have embarked on a relay of journeys, using locals to pilot them from island to island.

My search for nutmeg also started in Java – a 17-hour indirect flight from the UK, which is of course nothing compared to the year or more at sea endured by those early explorers. Even today, the Banda Islands are not easy to get to. Two more flights from Java got me to the island of Ambon, and from Ambon there is a twice-weekly flight to Banda Neira. Or not, if the plane is broken, as it was when I arrived.

There is an occasional ferry: a small overcrowded vessel that takes a gut-churning 24 hours to reach Banda. The option I was able to take was rather more pleasant. I made the journey on a privately owned traditional phinisi sailing boat. After 14 hours at sea, I caught a first glimpse of the Banda Islands that was probably little different from that seen by those pioneering Portuguese mariners.

We sailed into a natural harbour dominated by the volcano Gunung Api, which last erupted just over 20 years ago. The undersea lava flow is now one of the great dive sites of the area. If the volcanic soil and high humidity above the surface make the Banda Islands as lush and verdant a tropical idyll as I've ever seen, then the sun, warm sea and volcanic nutrients have all contributed to create one of the most staggering and pristine coral gardens I have ever dived in. The flow, still clearly visible on land, disappears beneath the water under a riot of giant corals as colourful and varied as a herbaceous border. This attracts not bees and butterflies, but thousands of fish of every conceivable size, colour and design.

Banda Neira, just across the channel from Gunung Api, is the main island, home to the airport, the market and 9,000 Bandanese who live largely from fishing and farming. And beyond the only town, the island is thickly forested with, among other things, nutmeg trees.

When the Portuguese reached Banda, trade was conducted with local chiefs, an often-protracted process which nonetheless allowed the merchants to depart with a cargo guaranteed to bring fame and fortune for life. But when the Portuguese were superseded in the early 17th century by the Dutch, things changed for the worse on Banda. The Dutch East India Company wreaked murderous havoc, turning Banda into a series of nutmeg plantations worked by slaves shipped in from Java.

Banda Neira today is a peaceful place, its clean, quiet streets devoid of any cars save a police van. People get around on foot, bicycle or moped. The simple houses are painted in fresh, bright colours, chickens scratch about in front yards and dogs lounge in the shade of the trees that put the island on the world map. There are nutmeg trees everywhere. They're rather pretty, medium-sized trees with rounded yellow leaves and fruits about the size of chestnuts that hang down on long stalks like fat, golden raindrops. When they ripen, the fruit splits to reveal a startling red interior.

Usman, who has an orchard of 200 nutmeg trees on the hill above the town, showed me how to pick the fruit using a basket on the end of a long pole. The red area forms a slightly waxy, petal-like structure covering the seed kernel in the middle of the fruit. This is mace, highly fragrant but more usually seen ground-up in jars on Britain's supermarket shelves, its brilliant red colour faded to a chestnut brown. The seed kernel it guards has a shiny exterior. Beneath that is the little, wrinkled nut that we call nutmeg.

So, what about the English? Where was this great seafaring nation that had as much of an appetite for nutmeg as anyone? Stymied by prevarication and royal politics, they didn't reach the Banda Islands until the Dutch had fully established themselves on all but one of the nutmeg islands. The one that remained is 10 miles away from the main group and is surrounded by a treacherous reef. Only two miles long by half a mile wide, it yielded more than enough nutmeg to risk its perils. In 1603 The English took it, much to the fury of the Dutch.

The island, which is known as Run, is as inaccessible today as it was then. However, the weather and the tides were kind to us and with expert sailing and reef-avoidance by our captain I made it on shore, five centuries after the first English explorers had arrived.

The land rises steeply out of the sea, leaving just a fringe of flat land along which lies the island's main street. There are no cars and the 100 or so resident families perch precariously on its forested sides in houses reached by a labyrinth of stairs and pathways. I wound my way upwards, past a giggling group of school girls who all asked for my autograph – simply because I was the strangest looking alien they'd ever seen.

A breathless climb brought me to the top of the ridge, where in among the villagers' plantations of bananas, papaya and nutmeg, I found a few crumbling ruins. There were the remains of a few steps and the walls of what might have been a house, long overgrown by trees and weeds and used as a hangout by some goats. These are the only reminder that this island was once under English control.

Not that the English controlled it for long. Hot on their heels came the Dutch, who seized it from them. It remained more or less permanently in Dutch hands until, in 1616, a British captain called Nathaniel Courthope came to claim the island once again for James I. The locals, who by now loathed the Dutch as much as the rest of the people of the Banda Islands, were only too happy to give the Englishman as much nutmeg as he wanted in return for protection against the Dutch. A deal was struck. King James adjusted his title to declare himself King of England, Scotland, Ireland and Run. The island became England's first colony.

It wasn't long before the Dutch came to take it back. Courthope (whose exploits are described by Giles Milton in Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History, published in 1999) held on to the island for four years until he was ambushed at sea and killed. For the next half-century the two nations wrangled over this tiny patch of forest. At one stage in the conflict the English sailed across the Atlantic to capture the Dutch-held island of New Amsterdam.

There was a stalemate until some bright spark suggested that both sides simply hold on to the islands they had seized, leaving the Dutch with Run. In 1667, with some reluctance, the English acquiesced. They turned their back on the spice islands and hoped their fortunes might lie further west, with the island they now renamed New York. Run is the reason the citizens of America's greatest city speak English, not Dutch.

These days it is almost impossible to imagine that any of this happened. The islands seem like little tropical idylls, their traditions and cultures intact. There's little lasting colonial influence, as if as soon as the English and the Dutch left, life returned to the way it had always been. The people of the Banda islands still make their living from fishing, heading out at dawn in the shadow of the volcano in tiny, painted boats and returning with their catch to sell in the local market. Every family still has nutmeg trees, which they treat almost like a bank account. If they are short of funds they will harvest the fruit, make jam or candy from the soft outer-casing and carefully separate the mace and nutmeg to dry before they sell them to the local trader.

I joined a group of women gathered on the front porch of one of their homes to help process their nutmeg. They talked about their children, their husbands, the weather and why I had such weird hair.

Tourism isn't much relied on; the transport to and from the islands is simply too unreliable, and once you get to them, there's little to do. There are a couple of guesthouses, a walk to the peak of the volcano, and the chance to swim in a bath-warm sea while frigate birds soar overhead. But the intense heat and suffocating humidity allow for little more than sitting, sweating and looking at the view.

As I did just that, from the look-out on Run, I understood the sheer scale of the achievement of those early pioneers. Of course, it wasn't long before nutmeg seedlings were taken from the Banda islands and cultivated in other, more accessible parts of the world. These tiny patches of land that had suffered so much as the exclusive home of nutmeg were left to slip slowly back into obscurity; a group of rugged, tree-covered islands in the midst of a wide, dark, forbidding sea.

'Spice Trail', presented by Kate Humble, starts on Thursday on BBC2 at 9pm

Travel essentials: Banda Islands

Getting there

* Fly to Jakarta from the UK with KLM (08705 074074; klm.com), Qatar (0870 770 4215; qatarairways.com), Singapore Airlines (0844 800 2380; singaporeair. com) or Emirates (0844 800 2777; emirates.com) via their hubs. Fly to Ambon with Lion Air (lionair.co.id). Reach Banda Neira on NBA Airlines or Pelni Ferries.

Red tape

* British visitors can get a visa on arrival for US$25 (£16.70).

Spice world: The global taste test

Pepper

The pepper we all have in our grinders is the berry of piper negrum, a vine-like plant that originates in Kerala, southern India. Its source was found by the celebrated Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in the late 1400s. Today the plant is under threat from a disease known as wilt, which causes the pepper vines to do just that.

Cinnamon

True cinnamon grows only in Sri Lanka and again, we have the Portuguese to thank for revealing its origin. Cinnamon comes from a tree. The branches are coppiced, the outer bark peeled in the same way you might peel a carrot, and then the yellow inner bark is stripped off and left to dry. It is then layered and rolled to create the cinnamon sticks we are familiar with. It is a long, slow and skilful business.

Saffron

The world's most expensive spice, which sells for about €4,000 a kilo. Saffron is the stigma of a species of crocus. Each bloom is picked by hand, the stigma carefully removed and dried; 200,000 flowers make 1kg of saffron. Today it is grown in various countries including Iran, Kashmir and Morocco. Spain claims to have the highest quality saffron. There is a huge market in fake saffron.

Vanilla

Contrary to popular belief, vanilla originates in Mexico, not Madagascar. It was introduced to the world by the Spanish explorer Cortés. For 300 years it would not grow anywhere else because to fruit, this orchid has to be pollinated by a tiny species of bee found only in Mexico. It wasn't until hand-pollination was discovered by a 12-year-old slave boy on Réunion island that it was grown elsewhere.

Cloves

These are the dried flower heads from the clove tree. Like nutmeg they come from a tiny handful of islands in Indonesia called the Moluccas. They are now also harvested in Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Most of Indonesia's cloves are used to make

Source: here

A.T. Kearney's Global Services Location Index™

2011-02-08T04:39:00.000+07:00

The 2011 Global Services Location Index™ (GSLI) measures the attractiveness of offshore locations in 50 countries against 39 measures across three major categories: financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment.

A dramatic shift occurred in the rankings this year as countries and companies were hit hard by the financial crisis. The financial services industry is among the biggest customers of outsourcing companies, so the impact was significant. Revenue growth fell sharply for outsourcing companies in emerging markets and has not recovered to pre-crisis levels.

Major findings in this year's Index include:

Asia Stays Strong. Asia makes a particularly strong showing in this year's Index, with India, China and Malaysia claiming the top three spots (see figure). Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines are also in the top 10. While India and the Philippines are leaders in terms of industry size, countries such as Thailand and Indonesia are continuing to improve. They still fall behind in higher education, leading to insufficient numbers of qualified workers.

Economic crisis shakes up the rankings. Countries hit hard by the Great Recession became more competitive thanks to falling labor costs and depreciating currencies. Estonia, for example, moves to 11th place (from 18th in 2009) and Latvia jumps nine spots to 13th place this year amid ongoing austerity programs. The United Kingdom advances from 31st to 16th place because of a devaluation in the pound and stagnating wages. Mexico takes the 6th spot in the Index—climbing up five spots from 11th place in 2009—and is now the new leader in Latin America thanks to currency depreciation and near shoring sentiment in the United States.The Middle East becomes more attractive. Egypt further strengthens its position, ranking 4th on the Index and is no long era dark horse in the race for offshore money. The United Arab Emirates, where Dubai serves as a regional services hub, moves from 29th place to 15th.

The Perfect Match

As countries continue to vie for position as attractive outsourcing destinations for corporate suitors worldwide, corporations continue to seek the perfect match—in financial attractiveness, people skills and business environment—to provide services to their corporate customers worldwide. ©

For more information about the findings in the 2011 Global Services Location Index, contactjohan.gott@atkearney.com.

Source: here

Mixed News

Oxford University mission to save a language spoken by three people

A team of academics from Oxford University have been sent to a remote area of Indonesia in order to save a language spoken by only three people.

Foreign Investment Climbs Nearly 12%

Indonesia to invest $10 million in Korea's fighter project

Samsung C&T to invest US$150 mln in Indonesian solar power

Steel giant plans expansion into E. Indonesia

Steel giant plans expansion into E. Indonesia

Investment opportunities on our doorstep

Northern exposure

Why Indonesia is integral to Asia's economic growth

Urbanisation trend

Asian tigers should help poorer neighbours: World Bank

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) In Huge Investment Pledge

The consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) announced that it has decided to invest $100 million in Indonesia in the coming three years.

Indonesia Ranked Higher on NR Index

GE invests 1.2 bln USD to expands operation in Indonesia

World Economic Forum ranks the world's IT

http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/164018-us-ranks-fifth-nation-network-economy-report.htm

INDONESIA TO SEE 6.6% GROWTH IN 2012

Indonesian wins international prize for river clean-up

Time to go beyond BRICs hype, focus on '7% club'

Japan, Indonesia agree to boost strategic partnership

DHL Supply Chain builds multi-user warehouse

The new darlings of Asia

Indonesia

Vietnam

With inflationary pressures surrounding China and India, investors may look to some of Asia’s frontier markets. Maria Merricks asks Dominic Scriven, CEO of Dragon Capital, what Vietnam has to offer

Is There an Ikat in Your House?

China, Indonesia to step up defense cooperation: ministers

Indonesia a 'huge opportunity'

Related Coverage

Toyota Plans Low-Cost Car for Traffic-Choked Indonesia

L’Oreal to open largest ever factory in Indonesia

L’Oreal will build its largest ever factory in Indonesia, expected to be operational this year, in an attempt to take advantage of the growing Asean market, according to press reports.

Asian History Lessons

By PHILIP BOWRING

Published: February 15, 2011

Defense ministers of S. Korea, Indonesia discuss promoting deeper ties

Finland helps Indonesia with renewables

What We Can Learn from the 'Oprah of Indonesia'

EXPORTING THE DREAM

POWER OF CONNECTIVITY

In Indonesia, a Model for Egypt's Transition

By JAY SOLOMON

Spice girl: Kate Humble's aromatic journey in Indonesia

A.T. Kearney's Global Services Location Index™

The Perfect Match