Indonesia has banned a politically sensitive Australian movie about the Balibo Five. Indonesia’s censorship board - the LSF - made the ruling late on Tuesday (2/12), just hours before a planned premiere screening of Robert Connolly’s Balibo. The Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club was forced to cancel the screening just minutes before its scheduled start. The LSF’s decision means the Jakarta International Film Festival will also be forbidden from showing the film as part of its line-up. Festival director Lalu Rois Amri says he is disappointed by the decision and will try to have it reversed. Balibo depicts Indonesian soldiers brutally murdering five Australia-based newsmen in the East Timorese border town in 1975. The Indonesian military was instrumental in convincing the LSF to ban the film, which contradicts the official Indonesian explanation that the newsmen were accidentally killed in crossfire. The film’s release in Australia earlier this year came just weeks before Federal Police announced they would conduct a formal war crimes investigation into the killings. T he probe follows a 2007 coronial inquest that concluded Indonesian forces deliberately killed the men to cover up their invasion of East Timor.(December 2nd 2009, ABC/AAP)
Indonesia’s Cupboards could be Bare of White Sugar within Two Months
Indonesia is in danger of running out of white sugar by early February and shortages in producing countries will make importing additional supplies expensive, industry and government officials said on Friday (4/12). Natsir Mansyur, chairman of the Association of Sugar and Flour Traders (Apegti), said Indonesia now has less than 500,000 tons of white sugar in stock, while it consumes 200,000 tons to 250,000 tons per month. This means that the country would need about twice its current stock to last until the milling season starts at the end of April. “With current stock levels, we will only be able to get by until the end of January,” Natsir said. Achmad Mangga Barani, the director general of plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, on Friday estimated that the current supply of white sugar would only last until February and acknowledged that the government was aware of the possible crisis. Mangga said the total national sugar output for 2009 is now projected at 2.67 million tons, down from a previous estimate of 2.95 million tons. Domestic demand was estimated at 5.15 million tons. The government warned last month that the country faced a projected sugar shortage of 1.2 million tons through June, as the production capacity of domestic producers had failed to keep pace with rising demand. In September, the government lifted limits on sugar imports and slashed import duties to bolster stocks. Meanwhile, traditional sugar exporters, such as India, Brazil and Malaysia, are also suffering from a sugar deficit. The price of sugar on the international market had soared by more than 80 percent as of September, when it hit a 28-year high. The increase is partly due to drought in India and heavy rains in Brazil, which are the world’s two largest producers. India, the world’s largest producer, is expected to import nearly six million tons this year-more than a quarter of its domestic demand. The retail price of white sugar in Jakarta has soared this year, from Rp.6,649 (70 cents) per kilogram in January to a peak of Rp.10,700 during the Idul Fitri holiday in September. The price is now at Rp.10,500. The Coordinating Ministry for the Economy is currently in talks with related departments about raising the quota for sugar imports, Mangga said. Last month the country’s four state-owned banks committed to lending the domestic sugar industry $1 billion to upgrade production facilities, which are mostly outdated. However, Trade Ministry officials declined to comment further on their plans to import more white sugar. (December 4th 2009, Antara News)
Tommy Suharto to Speak on Micro-Business Problem in Bali
Hutomo Mandala Putra alias Tommy Soeharto is scheduled to speak on micro, small and medium-sized business at a seminar themed “Small-and Medium Sized Business (UMKM) After the Crisis” in Bali on Wednesday (2/12). Tommy, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, will present a paper titled “Ideal UMKM-Large Business Synergy” at the seminar to be organized by state-owned Bank BNI in cooperation with TRUST magazine. Besides Tommy Soeharto, other speakers who will appear at the Bali seminar are Achmad Baiquni (BNI director), Ikhwan Asrin (deputy marketing director and business network of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small and Medium-Sized Businesses), Mega Ningsih (a deputy director of Bank Indonesia) and Irwan Makdoerah (director of PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia). The one-day seminar is also expected to be attended by Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika, who is also to open the seminar. TRUST chief editor Bambang Aji Setiady said the seminar was considered important because UMKM constituted the backbone of the national economy. A total of 99 percent of businesses in Indonesia are classified as UMKM businesses. The seminar will be attended by 250 participants from UMKM circles. Some of the participants are entrepreneurs in the UMKM sector who are under the guidance of Bali`s Cooperatives and UMKM Service office, Bank Indonesia Denpasar, and members of Bali province`s National Self-Reliant Community Empowerment Program (PNPM). Besides, participants also come from BNI customers, partners of Bali`s Import-Export Association (GEIB), and other UMKM players in Bali. (December 1st 2009, Antara News)
Safety Compromised for Cheap Fares? Air Asia Indonesia Denies Claims
Air Asia Indonesia has denied allegations that it compromises its passenger’s safety in order to offer cheap fares. “We want to erase a stigma that as a low cost carrier, we compromise our passenger safety with our cheap tariff,” the company’s Safety Director Moeharjanto Sasono explained at a conference entitled, “Communication Strategy in Indonesian Transportation Safety.” He said the airlines fleet regularly undergoes maintenance checks, pilot training is conducted every six months and flight attendant training is conducted every year. “It’s true that the efforts are very expensive but we have to do that. We don’t want to sacrifice safety just for profit,” said Moeharjanto. He said that the company maximizes efficiency to press its tariff. “We only sell seats, a thing that passengers need most. We sell tickets via Internet so we don’t have to pay to travel agents. “We also maximize time after a plane landed. We only need 25 minutes to check and replace things. That’s why we can sell ticket cheaper,” he said. Widijastoro, the company’s Marketing Director, said the general aim was to increase the airlines profile as a safe low cost carrier. (December 2nd 2009, etravelblackboard.com)
Baby Whales Beached on Tabanan Shore
A two-meter long baby whale died after being beached on Nyanyi Beach in the Beraban village in Tabanan, Bali, on Saturday (28/11) while three others were able to swim back to the sea, helped by local people. Dozens of people had worked hard to push the black baby whale back to the sea, even pulling it using traditional boat “jukung.” “There were four of them. The other three which were bigger were able to be pushed back into the sea and never came back again to the shore,” villager Ketut Widayan said. He went on to say that local people sighted the group of whales early in the morning. It took hours to pull them back to the sea. “The whales were separated into two groups; the group of bigger ones were cast ashore in the eastern part of Nyanyi Beach, and the other group of little ones in the west. They all were alive when we saw them on the beach, cast ashore by big waves,” he said. The biggest whale was more than four-meters long. They believed they were young whales probably separated from the pod while migrating. The condition of the little whale was very bad with its skin full of scratches and several wounds. “We have tried to pull it back into the sea but again it was cast ashore. May be it was too tired and lost all its strength though it is still alive,” Widayana said. The case of living whales being cast ashore is rare in Bali. In January 2009 a 14 meter long dead whale was cast ashore in Batu Belig Beach. (November 29th 2009, Antara News)
Nine injured in Batavia Air accident at Ngurah Rai
At least nine passengers were injured when a Batavia Air plane that departed from Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport to Surabaya on Thursday (4/12) morning failed to properly take off following an engine failure. The left engine of the 737-400 aircraft suddenly produced smoke after it took off. The smoke caused panic on board, when three of the passengers opened the craft’s emergency exit door and jumped to the ground from a height of 2 meters. Heru Legowo, general manager of the PT Angkasa Pura I airport management company, explained that the accident occurred when the aircraft started the engine using its engine auxiliary power unit (APU). The pilot and copilot tried to restart the engine with the Ground Power Unit and Gas Turbine Compressor (GTC), “but, one of the passengers shouted loudly when they saw smoke emerging from the plane’s engine,” Legowo said. “Actually, it was not a fire. The smoke came out as fuel residue from the previous flight,” Legowo said. Nur Wahyudi, head of Batavia Air’s Bali office, said there was nothing wrong with the plane’s engine. Asril Azis, a passenger seated at 22A, said he saw flames on the left wing. “I saw it clearly when suddenly a passenger cried out loud ... it’s a fire ... it’s a fire,” Azis said in shock. The three passengers that jumped from the aircraft were badly wounded and are currently being treated at Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar. Six other passengers were treated at Graha Asih Hospital. The aircraft was carrying148 passengers and six cabin crew. (December 5th 2009, the Jakarta Post)
Questions over Dubai Firm’s $600m Project in Lombok
As Dubai World’s debt crisis continues to ripple though global markets, the government on Monday questioned another emirate-owned company’s commitment to a $600 million tourism project in Lombok. “We have already fulfilled all [Emaar Properties’] requirements. It’s now up to them,” said Harry Susetyo Nugroho, deputy minister in charge of tourism at the State Enterprises Ministry. “If they cannot fulfill their commitment, then they should call it off.” The debt-laden developer and the government are facing a deadline at the end of the year to finalize the project, after negotiations have dragged for more than two years. Efforts to save the project have been helmed by special presidential envoy Alwi Shihab, the Investment Coordinating Board (BPKM) and the state-owned Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC), which would be a partner in the proposed tourism joint venture. “As of today, there is no change of commitment from Middle Eastern investors, including Emaar,” Alwi said from Jakarta on Monday. “They are still committed to investing in Indonesia.” Alwi was confident that the dispute over the project would be settled by the deadline. The economic crisis has hit Emaar especially hard, as real estate prices plunged worldwide and financing for projects became difficult to secure. Emaar merged in October with the other three state-owned developers, Dubai Properties, SamamDubai and Tatweer, to cut costs. The new company, which retained the name Emaar, had a debt of 13.4 billion dirhams ($1.7 billion) at the time. Emaar representatives were unavailable for comment. The joint-venture between Emaar and BTDC to transform South Lombok into a world-class resort was announced with great fanfare in 2007 by former Vice President Jusuf Kalla. The plans, however, have faced numerous road blocks. Harry said a major point of contention was Emaar’s demand for 85 percent of the proposed joint-venture company, called PT Emaar Lombok, despite only committing $65 million in funds. “We asked them to invest more funds if they wanted an 85 percent share. We’ll see what happens if they cannot do it,” he said. In June, Emaar granted the government a third and final extension ending on Dec. 31 to finalize the project, but no progress has been made since. BKPM Chairman Gita Wirjawan told the Jakarta Globe last week that he had pledged to sort the matter before the deadline. Harry also said on Monday that the government had questions about a Dubai World unit’s plans to invest in a massive port project in Surabaya. Dubai Ports World, the world’s third-largest port company, and state-port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III, are still in negotiations over the proposed $175 million project. (November 30th 2009, Jakarta Globe)
